Red Sox Fire Manager Alex Cora, Five Others In Shocking Housecleaning

[Old Red]

5 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Not according to Francoma's book. 

JH through Theo?

[mvp 78]

1 minute ago, Old Red said:

JH through Theo?

Francoma was at a meeting with Larry, Henry and Tom on 9/30 when he figured out that it wasn't going to work out because of what ownership was talking about. Werner was hung up over a misunderstanding about clubhouse issues of Francoma not being able to control the players, but Tito really just said that he "couldn't reach" some of the players. He wasn't fired by Theo.

[mvp 78]

Go read his book. He talks about the downfall of the Red Sox in 2011. It's interesting. Ownership wanted more marketable stars (Youk, Papi and Pedey didn't count apparently) so they got AGon and Crawford. It was more about the tv show of baseball than the product on the field. It's why they refused to do early get away games. It was all about the failing ratings at the time. 

It's funny because they ended up dumping those guys and then just reversing course and signing Panda and Hanley a few years later for no reason at all except to showcase panda hats every commercial break. These owners are so dumb.

[Hitch]

20 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Easy to hate Breslow since he's (a) the guy who is in charge of adding the players who are underperforming and (b) is unable to communicate to players, media, fans. I've been rather indifferent to Brez since he was hired. He's made some great deals and some pretty bad ones. Right now, the direction of the franchise is entirely on him. If the Sox fail over the next year or two, it's his job on the line. 

Maybe it's just me, but I don't understand hate and vitriol for those reasons.

[mvp 78]

4 minutes ago, Hitch said:

Maybe it's just me, but I don't understand hate and vitriol for those reasons.

People want to be angry at somebody because the Red Sox are horrible right now. He's an easy target. 

[drewski6]

14 hours ago, JoeBrady said:

I like to focus.  The theories around here are all over the place.  When we lose, I get cranky.  When I hear people say that the problem with the 2026 team is that we didn't sign Bichette, Alonso,Suarez & Bregman, and didn't trade for Paredes & Marte, it makes me even more cranky.

well you shouldnt give strangers on the internet the power over you to change your mood

[notin]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

Easy to hate Breslow since he's (a) the guy who is in charge of adding the players who are underperforming and (b) is unable to communicate to players, media, fans. I've been rather indifferent to Brez since he was hired. He's made some great deals and some pretty bad ones. Right now, the direction of the franchise is entirely on him. If the Sox fail over the next year or two, it's his job on the line. 

Agreed.

Breslow is in charge, which carries a certain amount of culpability, but he’s not the reason many players on this team are simply not performing.  
 

To say it’s that he didn’t soend enough ignores obvious issues - such as the fact that 5 teams gave records as bad or worse than Boston’s, and four of them have similar or bigger payrolls.  Two (Mets and Phillies) have significantly larger payrolls.  
 

Breslow has made stupid trades.  Tibbs for May being the most obvious.  I mean, if May was a capable contributor, why would the Dodgers sell him off in a pennant race?  With 2full months left and no more waiver deadline, they were not going to unload any pitcher they thought they might need.  And May was not going to be one they needed and they knew it.  Dumb, dumb trade.  Harrison for Durbin looks bad, but really it’s pure SSS right now snd each player has a lot of baseball left before their control expires.  I didn’t think Durbin was the guy they needed, but he might prove to be an asset at some point…

[notin]

59 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Go read his book. He talks about the downfall of the Red Sox in 2011. It's interesting. Ownership wanted more marketable stars (Youk, Papi and Pedey didn't count apparently) so they got AGon and Crawford. It was more about the tv show of baseball than the product on the field. It's why they refused to do early get away games. It was all about the failing ratings at the time. 

It's funny because they ended up dumping those guys and then just reversing course and signing Panda and Hanley a few years later for no reason at all except to showcase panda hats every commercial break. These owners are so dumb.

The alleged story on dumping Hanley might be one of the worst things I’ve ever heard.

Brock Holt told a story you can find on the internet about a teammate in Boston who threatened to bring a gun into the locker room and then singled out Holt as one of his primary targets.  Holt warned his teammate not to say things like that as he (Brock) had to report it, but reportedly the teammate didn’t back down and recant.

Holt to this day refuses to identify the teammate, but several days later, Hanley was released.  I was surprised at the time that the Sox cut bait wuth Hanley, but it makes sense after hearing this story…

[mvp 78]

3 minutes ago, notin said:

The alleged story on dumping Hanley might be one of the worst things I’ve ever heard.

Brock Holt told a story you can find on the internet about a teammate in Boston who threatened to bring a gun into the locker room and then singled out Holt as one of his primary targets.  Holt warned his teammate not to say things like that as he (Brock) had to report it, but reportedly the teammate didn’t back down and recant.

Holt to this day refuses to identify the teammate, but several days later, Hanley was released.  I was surprised at the time that the Sox cut bait wuth Hanley, but it makes sense after hearing this story…

I listened to the podcast that Brock first disclosed the story on. Pretty wild. Can't believe we didn't hear about this for a decade. 

[dannycater]

Hey haven't been here in a while, I'm excited about the Sox, we got Devers, Betts, Bregman, a workhorse in Crochet, a phenom in Bello, the best closer in baseball, then we got Anthony. It's exciting times around here. Cora probably the best player's manager out there. Go Sox!

[notin]

4 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

I listened to the podcast that Brock first disclosed the story on. Pretty wild. Can't believe we didn't hear about this for a decade. 

Maybe Brock didn’t feel safe until recently?

And in all fairness, he never actually named Hanley. It could be coincidental.  It was probably Sandoval.  That makes more sense.

And, completely unrelated, does Hanley read this forum?

[mvp 78]

12 minutes ago, notin said:

Maybe Brock didn’t feel safe until recently?

And in all fairness, he never actually named Hanley. It could be coincidental.  It was probably Sandoval.  That makes more sense.

And, completely unrelated, does Hanley read this forum?

It was definitely Hanley. He stated that it happened in TB early in the 2018 season and that the player was let go a few days later. It only lined up with Hanley. 

[JoeBrady]

14 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

True, *you forgot Narvaez .726>.617 but also...

2025>2026

Durbin .721>.524

IKF .625>.499

Monasterio .755>.678

 

Too small a sample size, and those differences are de minimis, imho.

[notin]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

It was definitely Hanley. He stated that it happened in TB early in the 2018 season and that the player was let go a few days later. It only lined up with Hanley. 

Hanley is clearly insane and owns a gun, which is why I was (jokingly) reluctant to accuse him…

[mvp 78]

5 minutes ago, notin said:

Hanley is clearly insane and owns a gun, which is why I was (jokingly) reluctant to accuse him…

Living in FL, I throw caution to the wind every time I leave the house. 

[notin]

17 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Living in FL, I throw caution to the wind every time I leave the house. 

I live in Chicago.  We don’t have crocodiles, which is good because if we did, they’d have access to and know how to use automatic weapons…

[Old Red]

🤭

[moonslav59]

6 hours ago, Old Red said:

JH through Theo?

I believe the wording was something like "a mutual departure," but the word was the upper brass had soured on Tito.

[JoeBrady]

9 hours ago, Hitch said:

I've been somewhat surprised by how many people are going to bat for Cora and the coaches.

Surprised?  We have fans that thought that Devers was grossly overpaid, untradeable, but traded for peanuts, and shocked that we traded those future peanut stars.  All in the same paragraph.  Their favorite Red Sox are whomever we just got rid of.

[JoeBrady]

7 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Ownership wanted more marketable stars (Youk, Papi and Pedey didn't count apparently) so they got AGon and Crawford.

That was such an utter disaster.  Crawford, at his best, was an Ellsbury close, and you don't normally need two of those.  And Youkilis was one of the best 1Bs in BB, and they wanted to re-convert him to a 3B at the age of 32.  Choice #1 should've been Beltre.  Choice #2, if they felt the need to let Beltre go, should've been Headley.

And choice #1 for LF should've been Willingham, who Oakland got for nothing.

[moonslav59]

8 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

Surprised?  We have fans that thought that Devers was grossly overpaid, untradeable, but traded for peanuts, and shocked that we traded those future peanut stars.  All in the same paragraph.  Their favorite Red Sox are whomever we just got rid of.

...and somehow bringing this up is saying we are okay with where we are in teh standings.

[JoeBrady]

On 4/30/2026 at 8:50 AM, mvp 78 said:

Just because you like Tek the player doesn't mean he's a good coach. 

My guess is that Tek doesn't even want the job.  He's been in a supporting role for 12-13 years.  If he wanted to become manager, he'd have left a long time ago.

[Old Red]

17 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

My guess is that Tek doesn't even want the job.  He's been in a supporting role for 12-13 years.  If he wanted to become manager, he'd have left a long time ago.

According to sources Tek isn’t that highly regarded outside of Boston.

[moonslav59]

3 minutes ago, Old Red said:

According to sources Tek isn’t that highly regarded outside of Boston.

Despite the abrupt exit, outside perspectives generally hold that Varitek has a high-value, experienced coaching future, particularly for his ability to prepare catchers and pitchers. 

Google search

I'm not doubting your statement, but what are your sources?

[JoeBrady]

7 hours ago, drewski6 said:

well you shouldnt give strangers on the internet the power over you to change your mood

It's more my accounting need to be logical.  There can be no doubt that the reason for our slow start is a combination of Story, Duran, Anthony, Crochet and Bello.  And almost no doubt that Alonso, Bregman, Bichette, Marte, Suarez or Paredes would've made would've made any improvement relative to their acquisition cost.

[JoeBrady]

3 hours ago, notin said:

I live in Chicago.  We don’t have crocodiles, which is good because if we did, they’d have access to and know how to use automatic weapons…

How long would the crocs last?  Everyone in Chicago would be wearing crocodiles boots within a week.

[moonslav59]

13 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

It's more my accounting need to be logical.  There can be no doubt that the reason for our slow start is a combination of Story, Duran, Anthony, Crochet and Bello.  And almost no doubt that Alonso, Bregman, Bichette, Marte, Suarez or Paredes would've made would've made any improvement relative to their acquisition cost.

Narvaez has dropped a bit, too.

Newcomer everyday players have done worse than 2025, too: Durbin, IKF and Monasterio. (Contreras is doing very well.)

[JoeBrady]

58 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Narvaez has dropped a bit, too.

Newcomer everyday players have done worse than 2025, too: Durbin, IKF and Monasterio. (Contreras is doing very well.)

I'm okay with some small variance.  But as I've posted before, if Story, Duran and Duran had their 2025 OPS, then we'd be tied for 8th in OPS.  Those three, plus Crochet & Bello, is where 90% of the problem is.

FWIW, you can do the same exercise with Crochet & Bello.  If we substitute their 2025 ERAs for their 2026 ERAs, our new ERA would be 3.32, good for 4th in MLB.

And I know that some guys will always go sideways, but I see no reason to pretend that this isn't the problem, or to pretend that Bichette and Alfonso is the solution.

[Old Red]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

Despite the abrupt exit, outside perspectives generally hold that Varitek has a high-value, experienced coaching future, particularly for his ability to prepare catchers and pitchers. 

Google search

I'm not doubting your statement, but what are your sources?

An interview with McAdams by Shu on the Big Jab.

[notin]

1 hour ago, JoeBrady said:

That was such an utter disaster.  Crawford, at his best, was an Ellsbury close, and you don't normally need two of those.  And Youkilis was one of the best 1Bs in BB, and they wanted to re-convert him to a 3B at the age of 32.  Choice #1 should've been Beltre.  Choice #2, if they felt the need to let Beltre go, should've been Headley.

And choice #1 for LF should've been Willingham, who Oakland got for nothing.

I think they anticipated Ellsbury departing after 2011, so the replaced him a year early when the opportunity presented itself…