The Red Sox Are Slumping Badly Since Trading Rafael Devers

You clearly addressed the obvious issues with the team but you missed a lot of minor issues impacting the games.  Lets start with the things that you criticized that may not have been mistakes.

1 - Duran going for second on a single is a "normal" approach to the game for him.  He's usually safe and the lifeless team could have used a spark.  It took a perfect throw to get him.  For me, that's a smart risk.

2 - Playing the top 3 prospects is a good thing because this team is going nowhere even with Devers.  Bloom got rid of almost every once of talent in the organization and Breslow has not yet replaced.  Losing Sale was a Breslow mistake but gaining Crochet has been excellent along with Bregman.  To increase the talent level the prospects need to play against MLB competition so sending Campbell down was a huge mistake.  He's not learning anything while playing lesser competition, he's just losing confidence.  Had Cora supported him like Anthony and Mayer he might never have faced the first adversity of his career.

Cora mismanages the batting order and is doing a terrible job subbing pitchers throughout the game.  The fastest way to get better is fire Cora and bring back Campbell and drop Hamilton, Wong and Sabol and sign a veteran back-up catcher who can hit over .150.  

As far as being a buyer or a seller at the deadline the answer is both.  They need to clear salary from Yoshida and possibly Story at the deadline and if they can get anything for Buehler they should trade him.  With Breslow bringing in his own manager I thinks would pick up significantly, especially the clubhouse.  Baseball might be fun again for all the players not just those preferred by Cora.  

The coaching staff needs to dedicate itself to the huge number of prospects on the roster and the new manager needs to use some logic when building the daily line-ups.  To improve the defense put the best defenders in the right positions for each player.  LF Anthony, CF Duran and RF Rafaela, DH/4th OF Abreu and Rafsnyder.  Story until Bregman returns at 3B, Mayer at SS to see if he can play it better than in the minors, Campbell at 2B or SS based on whether Mayer is cutting it at SS.  Toro at 1B with Gonzalez as the Corner Infield reserve and Story as the middle infielder reserve.  

Try Rafaela and Campbell at leadoff and Duran in the 2 hole with Bregman in the 3 hole and Anthony in the 4 hole.  See if the top 5 or 6 hitters can be from the prospect group plus Duran.  Keep the platoon guy near the bottom of the order with Toro and Narvaez.  Long term, it's more likely their skills will rank them as the bottom 3 hitters in 2026 and beyond.  

Breslow has $30Million a year to fix the pitching so he needs to pick up two excellent arms for the rotation so some of the starters can upgrade the bad relievers we have.  Chapman needs to be extended along with Bregman.

4 hours ago, Bellhorn04 said:

You really find it hard to get through a post without firing Cora.

And your accusation about Cora playing his favorites makes no sense.     

A lot of people would simply say "I disagree" that Cora plays his favorites, but you are always kind enough to take it a step further by saying it makes no sense because you don't see it the same way.  Thanks for exaggerating the point.  I'm not saying he just started playing his favorites, it's his normal activity as Manager since 2018.  Check the history of specific Latin players versus white players.  There is prejudice that has been exhibited by Cora since he took over.  One of the most blatant was Robles.  How many games did he blow for the Red Sox when better relievers were available.  Martin Perez, Raffy Devers, Wilyer Abreu, David Hamilton to name a few.  He's not 100% pro-Latin and anti-white but a fair evaluation would show his true tendencies.

I believe managers should play the best players, not the ones they baby sat as children, not ones from their home country and not ones they became friends with when the they were in college.  Those are my rules for a manager.  You don't need to agree with them.  You have a right disagree and many do that support Cora.  Ever notice how Sale struggled with Cora, Price struggled with Cora and Kluber struggled with Cora?  But a crap pitcher like Perez thrived under Cora because he pitched far more than his talent should have allotted him?  The examples are endless and that's just ONE area of Cora being a bad manager.  If he only had one issue as a manager, I wouldn't be so fanatical about my dislike for his managerial skills.  The evidence to me is overwhelming and I get that it isn't to you.  Which is why we can respectfully disagree but seldom does a disagreement on this site come with respect.  Instead, I get it makes no sense not I respectfully disagree.

8 hours ago, notin said:

As much as many gripe about Cora giving starters “rest days” and scheduled days off, those days are more about getting playing time for the bench…

Well someone should tell him that the goal of baseball and sports in general is to, oh I don't know, win??? The evidence is clear, Alex Cora and the whole organization puts winning way down on his list of priorities. And decades and decades of baseball says you dont have to rest pitchers like this.

The more money they make the more protective they get. The more protective they get, the wimpier they get. The wimpier they get, the easier they get hurt. They're painting themselves into a smaller and smaller corner.

6 hours ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Wow, until now I underestimated how much this is a racial thing for you.

His track record speaks for itself.  The cheating is unforgiveable but the racist choices he's made are very disturbing.  Baseball should always be about performance to me.

6 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

He plays the roster he’s given.

So, you think Breslow is pulling up guys like Hamilton and Wong and NOT Cora?  That may be true, but I find it highly unlikely.  Cora played Kiki Hernandez who he baby sat when Kiki was a child and Kiki never hit above .239 during his entire career.  Better players sat so he could play a bench person.  If a starter takes two days off a month he plays 150 games.  If a player can't play 150 games (exclude deaths in the family etc) then they need to find a new profession unless they are a catcher or pitcher.  

I believe the way the relationship works between a manager and a GM is that the manager has input into the call-up process he isn't simply given guys selected by the GM in a vacuum.  Based on the historical choices since 2018, I don't believe Cora had no input in the process.  Too many of the same guys being called up under Cora have history with him.

8 hours ago, Bellhorn04 said:

I believe a lot of it is based on the theory that it keeps players from being worn out at the end of the season.  I agree that the fact that it also gets bench players some time adds to it making sense.  

Throughout a season players must play through pain.  Ripken played 162 each year and played through the pain and is in the Hall of Fame so it can be done but the expectation for the average Joe is less.  2 sits per month means 12 games off out of 162 or 150 games played.  There are injuries that could lower that number but the base number each month for hitters that are not catchers is 2 games off.  Anything more is a manager wanting to reward bench guys at the cost of losing games. 

Cora is famous for it.  He identifies with bench guys because he was one for his whole 14-year career.  The man hit .243 for 14 seasons.  After his 28-year-old season he never played more than 100 games a year.  He never played the normal 150 (for his era) because he wasn't good enough.  Now his proteges take way more than 12 games away from starters.  Why?  Supposedly to keep the players fresher.  If you ever played 150 games, you know it's not an issue of rest, it's simply an issue of politics within the clubhouse.