TedYazPapiMookie

Sale lost his mojo by sitting for nearly two months. What never made sense was shutting him down to try to proactively avoid his typical dead arm from previous seasons. Taking that much time off is like restarting from spring training. That's why Sept looked like it did for Sale. No mojo from knowing he had the Cy Young in the bag and Cora told him to sit because he thought he was smart and could avoid the dead arm interruption by resting him. Cora is a big rest guy. It gives the scrubs time to play when it comes to the hitters, and it kills the momentum of the starters who don't like "resting" like Cora did as a player. They lose their edge. Once a five man rotation is created you don't want unexpected rests, you only want resting when the PITCHER says he needs it.

Hamilton belongs in AAA. Campbell belongs at 2B since we owe Story $70Million, Anthony needs to play 1B for 2025 and taking time from either Duran or Rafaela will hurt the team incredibly. Duran on offense and Rafaela on defense. Mayer needs to raise his game on defense and has to go through the hitting adjustments that Campbell is trying to make right now. There will be a book on Mayer just like there is now one on Campbell and both young players need to learn how to adapt as their book gets built and implemented by other pitching staffs. Anthony will need to go through the same process just like every rookie does. Once Bregman gets back, they will need to decide Story's future.

I'm sorry for your lack of comprehension about pitching. Ask others about what it would mean to lose out on 2 weeks of prep work right before a 162 games season begins. I think you will be surprised what experts say about the damage that can be done to arms by making that massive mistake. You completely fabricated Cora's reputation because he was a bad player and he graduated to a bench coach with responsibility for the mood in the dugout and creating cheating schemes. That's not prep for a managerial job. NO EXPERIENCE IS NO EXPERIENCE. He proved it ever since that he was not qualified even if you like him. Cora NEVER maximized anything other than cheating. His daily moves kill the ball club and have EVERY year he's been in charge. Bad line-ups, bad pitching staff handling and bad in game strategy. He's a buffoon when it comes to managing. Like I've said before, his gift of gag is his strength as a bench coach and a manager doing post-game interviews. The game itself escapes him. Pulling JD, giving away a game a series by playing the scubs way too much, trying to coach pitching as a former bad infielder. Not the track record of a winner but it is a track record of a well-connected former bench jockey who has pull with the right people. Worst manager in baseball on top of being a cheat. There is NOTHING to admire about Cora as a man or a manager. He cheated the game of baseball and the players who have been a part of the industry over the last 140 years. That's unforgiveable and it should have landed him on the banned list for life along with the other cheaters.

I think it's a bit of a stretch to call pulling JD too early in the game as bad luck. That's called bad managing.

Great questions. 1 - By 2021 Mookie was gone and Bloom was destroying the 2018 roster. I predicted 5 years to recover from the loss of Mookie, but I thought that could be shorted if the draft contained mostly College players that would graduate to the MLB faster. The college guys I liked included Leiter and Rocker from Tennessee, Frelick from Boston College seemed like a good fit, Matt McLain from UCLA, Colton Cowser Sam Houston State and Jordan Wicks Kansas State. They were all part of the Pipeline Top 20 that were in college. I didn't expect Leiter or Kumar to make it to the fourth spot, so I was focused on Cowser and Frelick. This was the second year grabbing a California HS infielder (Yorke in 2020). It made no sense to push out the recovery from dumping Mookie and Price by going young. What we didn't know in 2021 was Bloom was going to devastate the 2018 roster not just dump Mookie. 2 - When a player goes fourth in the draft, I expect GREAT play from the ballplayer and GREAT numbers. Pedestrian results to me are documentation of a reach when drafting. Here are Mayer's performance numbers: As a HS Player Mayer's first season in Boston was at age 18 and his advancement was not rapid 2021 ROK where one would expect him to dominate - .275/.377/.440/.817 7 SBs - 10 errors 70 chances 2022 A where again I expected him to dominate - .286/.406/.504/.910 16 SBs - 10 errors 228 chances 2022 Hi-A promoted there after 66 A games - .265/.379/.449/.828 4 SBs - 2 errors 78 chances 2023 After playing 91 games as a 19 yr old in 2022 he only played 78 games as a 20 yr old in 2023 2023 Hi-A (Again) 35 games - .290/.366/.524/.890 5 SBs - 7 errors 99 chances 2023 AA 43 games - .189/.254/.355/609 4 SBs - 3 errors 137 chances 2024 Mayer had an injury limiting his games played in 2023 2024 AA (Again) 77 games NOTE First excellent season .307/.370/.480/.850 13 SBs 2024 AAA promoted there but didn't play due to injury Is it wrong to expect more from the fourth pick in the draft as a High School Player? Maybe. Jordan Lawler was another highly rated HS infielder in the 2021 draft and went two picks later than Mayer. At ROK he only played 2 games so lets skip to his 19 year old season where he played at ROK, A, Hi-A and AA ROK - .368/.500/.526/1.026 A - .351/.447//603/1.051 Hi-A - .288/.385/.477/.862 AA - .212/.299/.353/.652 He mastered Hi-A by age 19 but crushed ROK and A ball unlike Mayer who was simply solid. At age 20 Lawler started at AA - .263/.366/.474/.840 33 SBs AAA - .358/438/.612/1.049 3 SBs in 16 games He played 14 games in September at the MLB level that year. 2 full seasons before Mayer arrived in the MLB. It's all about expectations. What Lawler did was my expectations for Mayer as a HS player but had Bloom chosen a college player like Cowser or Frelick he would have had help for the MLB team sooner. Cowser - Became a full-time player in 2024 after a September call up in 2023 - 2024 .242/.321/.447/.768 9 SB He started two years earlier than the HS player which is why I wanted College Draft picks not HS. Nothing against Mayer except he's never lived up to what I expected from an early first round pick like Lawler did and he clearly took much longer to develop his skills than a college player and Boston has been talent deprived since 2020. Last point about defense since you brought it up. Mayer's fielding percentage at SS in the minors is .953 which is miserable. He has been consistently bad since his .953 average is also his 2024 fielding percentage. It's not terribly higher than Devers"!!! Campbell was drafted in 2023 and was Minor League Player of the Year in 2024!!! He's got a lot more to fall back on than Mayer. His defense at SS was .971 18 points higher than Mayer. His defense at 2B was .979 26 points higher than Mayer at SS, and his fielding percentage this season at 2B is .975 while he's perfect at LF and CF so far. He was a SS until 2022 then in college he got put at 2B when a returning letter was the incumbent SS. He only played one season at 2B in college, but Boston drafted him thinking Mayer was the SS of the future so that made Campbell the 2B of the future. With Mayer's injuries Boston had Campbell split time at SS and 2B in 2024 because Mayer's injuries were happening too often. Mayer has only been in 5 games and 2 are at SS where he's had 2 plays and 1 error. That's consistent with his history. He's flashy like a Bichette and just as unreliable with too many errors. My personal choice is Campbell at SS but if it's Mayer then stop playing Campbell in the outfield and let him concentrate on 2B because he's more consistent than Mayer on a day-to-day basis. We lived through 8 seasons of Devers I'm sure Mayer won't create as much heartburn on defense as Devers did. It's too bad Cora doesn't use a merit system for picking his starting line-up. The team would be a lot better.

If it's alright with you I'd like to add a few things you left off. 1 - 2017 Cora concocted a cheating scheme that ended the post season for the Red Sox. That's not on Farrell, Cora is to blame. He cheated and impacted up to 90 games and then brought the cheating to Boston in 2018. 2 - While some lucky hunches worked throughout the season, not making him a good manager just a lucky manager but for every lucky good thing there was a dozen bonehead moves. How many games did Cora pinch run for JD with him on first with two outs in the 6th or 7th inning and a small lead and then watch Cora's star reliever Robles (Latin bias managing the bullpen) blow the lead and Boston had to come back with some scrub batting for JD in the bottom of the 8th or 9th? Those loses could have been avoided. 3 - The managerial change HURT the team. At least 12 more games could have been won without Cora's many, many mistakes like I mentioned in the previous point. That's how good the talent was that Cora inherited. He completely destroyed Sale's chance for his first Cy Young after Farrell saw him just barely fall short in 2017 when Corey Kluber had the most phenomenal post all-star game run. Sitting Sale like he did cost the team many wins. 4 - 2019 was DESTROYED by Cora because as you pointed out there were many, many pitching jnjuries caused by Cora's decision to invite the starting staff to show up 2 weeks late for Spring Training. They opened in Japan and a West Coast trip without a proper preparation for the season. Eovaldi went down and Sale and Price struggled due to not having a proper prep time in Spring Training. All those mistakes are on Cora and Cora ALONE. Worst manager in the MLB for years. Now give me a list of how he won games because normally coaches can easily lose games with mistakes but the wins most often happen when player perform at an elevated level due to an excellent skill set that is acquired by a GM.

I don't begrudge any player with talent, only the ones that think their talent is far greater than it really is. Bregman is a REAL 3B, Dever has always been a DH playing 3B and thinking he's a REAL 3B. That's my disconnect between Devers and Bregman. It's the same issue I've had with Mayer and Jeter Downs. So much hype that wasn't substantiated with performance. I hope Mayer lives up to expectations but so far, he hasn't when I read his performance history knowing the star players Bloom passed on in that draft. Campbell was a nobody who rocketed to fame like Mookie. Swihart was the front office darling when Mookie erupted and buried him in his fame. It's dangerous to over-hype a player, ask Jeter Downs!! If you walk into a room with two people and one is brilliant and knows it and the other is not, but he thinks he is, I find the brilliant one highly tolerable, but the other one annoys the crap out of me. That's Jeter Downs and after 4 years of stats that's Mayer to me. Guys like Rafaela, Campbell and Duran are the under the radar players who actually perform without much respect. Why no respect? I have no idea other than the front office doesn't stand in their corner when fans and media pick at minor issues and make mountains out of mole hills but the worst fielder in history playing 3B for 8 seasons is acceptable and they want to see if he's better at 1B when it's clear that a fielding glove is a foreign object to him. JD got $22 Million a year with better numbers than Devers when he got over $30 Million a year while we watched Mookie's new team win multiple rings. How messed up is that?

Each year I break down each series throughout the year and predict the season wins based on most series being 3 games and each team is either GOOD, AVERAGE or BAD. Good teams win series 2-1, Average teams win 2-1 when at home and lose 1-2 if in Boston. The BAD teams get swept 0-3 if in Boston and finish 1-2 when they are at home. Simple formula that generates an annual prediction. This year it predicted 79 wins. Going into the ATL series, the team is 1 game behind the prediction at a 78-win pace. In 2024, the system said 68 wins and they had 81 thanks to beating up NY, TOR, TB and TX compared to the prediction. The team exceeded expectations against the four teams by 10 games. In 2023, the system said 74 wins and the team won 78 mostly because they did better against TOR and NY than expected. In 2022, the system said 78 and the team won 78. The individual series were not very accurate, but the greater and lesser wins balanced out. Boston beat up the weak teams to excess and lost more than expected to the good teams. Looking forward in June this year's club plays should go 13-11. With Bregman out, that seems like a very aggressive number. July is 13-12 and August is 12-16 and September is 12-12. As long as Bregman is supposed to be out, I think only the August and September predictions look reasonable. June and July could be losing months. August along with May were the most difficult months so Bregman needs to be back for August. Prior to this year, the talent level was significantly lower but with the addition of Crochet and Bregman the talent level sky-rocketed to a highly competitive level. Not high enough to win the division but definitely high enough to make the last playoff spot. By next year, if all the youngsters get to play and don't get hurt, this team will be the most competitive it's been since 2019 before the injuries hit.

First, with Devers, Cora told him he's never going to use his glove again. In all his years here in Boston it was the first time I agreed with Cora. In 2017 after 14 errors in 1/3 of a season I said the kid has to be a DH and suggested JD play the outfield to maximize the defense. JD was not a good outfielder, but damage would have been far less. NOBODY should wish for Devers to play 1B or 3B. His only defensive skill is at DH. Theo had advanced scouts all over Latin America and one of them found Devers at age 14 and a published scouting report suggested he was the future of the Boston Red Sox. That's 14 years ago in 2011. He was signed by Boston after that and has been a prima donna since. Long before Cora got here, the Latin coaches in the farm system raved about his hitting and constantly suggested his defense was improving. It was a bold-faced lie. His fielding from 14 years old until now has always been horrendous and that's why he has the most errors by an active 3B in all of MLB baseball after less than 8 full seasons. His real fielding percentage lies between .940 and .880. League average is over .960. No amount of metric massaging can turn that bad a fielder into an acceptable player on defense. They need to burn his gloves. There are so many acceptable alternatives, but Bregman was an extraordinary alternative. I am thrilled that we made the move. What a huge difference on defense and his offense has been better than expected. Casas, while a league average defender has shown some sparks of becoming an excellent hitter and potential all-star, but his weird personality seems to trigger excessive negativity from the fan base. If folks stop trying to push him out the door, he might be an all-star someday given a fair chance at 1B and an end to his injuries. That's why I say you bring up Anthony to play 1B, a power hitting position and let 2025 be his year to train there with the understanding 2026 will see him back in the outfield with Casas as the 1B. It give Anthony and the team needed at bats that will develop his MLB offense sooner rather than later. This team won't be in the playoffs this year so why not make the rest of the season about building a cohesive team with the young players. Move Story to 3B until Bregman returns and put Mayer at SS to see if his issues on defense in the minors are a long-term problem or something he's gotten past. If he doesn't work there, try Campbell and put Mayer at 2B. Go for the next month with Anthony at 1B, Campbell at 2B, Mayer at SS and Story at 3B. The outfield can stay as Duran, Rafaela and Abreu/Refsnyder and Devers at DH. The fans can watch their future team develop and grow on offense and defense. If things start clicking, maybe they will have a chance for the playoffs but don't let that be the priority. The priority needs to be more playing time for the future starting line-up and stop over-sharing playing time with guys like Wong, Toro, Sogard, Hamilton and Gonzalez. Set a batting order that makes sense with Duran lead-off, Story second until Bregman is back, Devers third, Campbell fourth, Anthony fifth, Narvaez sixth, Mayer seventh, Abreu/Refsnyder 8th and Rafaela 9th. Let them get used to the order for the future. The line-up is balanced with right- and left-handed hitters but they may not deserve to bat in their future slots in the batting order today but do it anyway so they can have a vision of their future. This team would resemble the Orioles from 2 years ago or the Astros before they started winning big. Winning will happen but not this year. This might bring the success sooner rather than later and it should be fun for the fans who have had to put up with retreads or AAA players like Hamilton and others since 2020. I say the front office needs to be bold and set the future right now and let fans enjoy watching their growth. There will be bumpy times, but the future will come sooner this way.

Counterpoint to what? Seager and Semien were both better than Devers and Duran when they went to Texas. That is why Boche signed up in Texas. He also got deGrom. Cora came to Boston with Mookie, Bogey, Benny, Price, Sale and they added JD and Kimbrell. The 2018 Red Sox were much, much better than the 2023 roster of the Rangers and Boche won with less but there was a huge jump in wins with Boche that is evidence of the impact of adding players and a great manager. The 2017 Red Sox with an excellent manager that had pitching experience was a very strong roster that won the division that just needed someone to replace Papi and no cheating from Houston to win in 2018. DD got JD to replace Papi and the rest is history. FYI.... You could have managed the 2018 and won more than 108 games!!

1 - No experience as a manager is NO EXPERIENCE as a manager. Bench coaching is coddling players and educating them on how to cheat. Media compatible is where on your list of managerial skills? It's not near the top for me. 2 - The Red Sox roster was off the charts in 2018. In 2019 too except Cora screwed up ST by asking SPs to show up 2 weeks late since they pitched in November!!! Who does that except a manager who is clueless. Once DD was fired in 2019, the roster was dismantled by Bloom and I don't hold Cora responsible for the results. 3 - I have a crazier theory on why he was rehired. It made absolutely no sense to support a guy who cheated in up 90 games including the playoff games AGAINST BOSTON where Sale suddenly got rocked like never before. Cora had saved the owners money and dignity by lying to the commissioner about the Red Sox scandal that he was a part of. My theory is Cora went behind DD's back to implement the Video Room scheme, but he let ownership (Henry) know about it because they became very close after he made Cora his token effort at diversity. By forcing the whistle blowers to recant their original stories and by working with the Players Association with a gag order to all players the commissioner had no evidence despite everyone knowing they did it and Cora was involved. Payback for his part in the cover-up got the guy guilty of the biggest scandal in baseball history in Houston a reprieve from Baseball Jail and a job in Boston as payback for all he did for Henry. 4 - Never said a word about Story. That is just a hyperbole to over emphasize your argument. I already stated that I don't blame Cora for Bloom's many, many mistakes. To me Cora and A Boone are the two worst managers in baseball. Both are considered less serious brother in baseball families where they were known for shortcuts instead of hard work. Both have many, many connections inside the industry that allowed them to get offers they weren't qualified for, and both are social animals whose top skill is the gift of gab but clearly not the gift of managing.

The change of manages won't change the culture too much but it might significantly improve Breslow's chances of being successful. He needs to pick a manager he's confident in, that he has worked with before and trusts his knowledge. He must have observed the tricks that Cora has pulled under DD and Bloom and played the long game to gain full control that a GM should have. If Cora is moved elsewhere not promoted, then Breslow won the chess game, but it took entirely too long for the Red Sox fans. I say let Breslow make this his team and then measure his success on his choices. Nothing is guaranteed but if you look at what Boche did in Texas because he brought his pitching coaches to a team that needed better infrastructure, I think that could happen if Breslow can go get the manager he wants and bring the coaching staff that they can influence to join the Red Sox in addition to the guys Breslow has already brought. There is no guarantee that will work every year because of injuries but Texas is significantly better than it was before Boche.

Wow. I guess the players didn't have anything to do with the success of each team. When someone thinks the manager is that important, it's hard to use logic to convince you otherwise. I get you are a Cora fan. I'm not a Cora fan based on his performance, not the team's performance. I've learned in the short time I've been on the website, people with strong opinions about people are not open to the facts so I'm good with you believing Cora is something completely different than I believe. I watched him play and didn't respect his work ethic. I watched him be a bench coach inventing ways to cheat and I've watch him make daily mistakes as a manager. That's good enough for me to draw the conclusion that he's not only a bad human being who cheats but he's also a terrible manager and player. Therefore, I agree to disagree with you. Thanks for your opinion.

Just tried a response and it worked. Thanks for any help you have provided!!

I think that response is indicative of his lack understanding of the game and his unwillingness to work hard just like when he was a player who never put in the effort to be better. A manager has to be finding new ways to improve what is failing. Maybe, he should actually play his best players everyday so everyone has less pressure on them to perform because they actually know their role. Who is the 1B, the 2B, the RF, LF and CF? Every day it's a new combination because he wants to keep all the bench guys who aren't really MLB players happy. Pick a line-up that makes sense should be next on his agenda. 1 - Duran LF 2 - Abreu/Refsnyder RF (Abreu vs RH pitchers) 3 - Devers DH 4 - Campbell 2B 5 - Mayer 3B 6 - Rafaela CF 7 - Narvaez C 8 - 1B of the day (go get a real 1B or bring up Anthony to play there in 2025) 9 - Story SS Stop pulling pitchers too soon or too late. If a pitcher during the 5th inning is sitting at 4-6 hits given up and 1 or 0 walks, don't pull him without giving him a shot at finishing the inning. A win shouldn't matter to the pitcher but the manager's confidence in him does. Most importantly, Cora needs to explain to the press and fans what his coaches are doing to improve the defensive mistakes and what the coaches are doing to stop the many hitting skids currently existing for very good young players. Dedicate the coaching staff to the 9 hitters and 5 or 6 starting pitchers and put the rest of the bench guys on a back burner for now. Fix the current problems don't strive to keep EVERYONE happy because NOBODY is happy when you take that approach except the guys doing well.

All day it's been happening

The second I hit reply to a post. It is centered on my screen and a pop-up window.

As of today I have started getting an unfamiliar message. I have only been on the site a short time and have waded through the trolls to find intelligent baseball fans and now I get this message - "You may not multi-quote any more posts. You can quote up to 50 posts at once." Who imposed this on my account and why? These rules don't appear to apply to participants that fall into the troll category so why me? Is there a topic that has been broached that is off limits? Does not believing in metrics disqualify me from multi-quote posts? How does one have a conversation without multi-quote posts? I'm a new guy on the block and I have not found a facility to ask questions about the website. This forum appeared to be the closest thing but it's not clear. Can someone help me understand what has happened and why?

Based on the current emphasis on Latin players and the lack of success with Japanese players, I see no reason for Boston to seek Japanese players until there is a new manager who will play people based on performance. Duran is going nowhere. He's going to be an all-star level player for years to come in Boston. Masa, even if fully healthy someday, isn't part of Cora's plans for the future.

I think we agree about DD's personality. He got run out of town when he refused to continue as GM when the owners refused to pay Mookie the $420 for 12 that his agent requested. It was a $9Million dollar raise from his 2020 salary. Heck JBJ was making $11M per year and he was easily replaced with a lesser defender but far better hitter and they would have had $2Million less payroll. I think the owners, specifically Henry, had image issues and was embarrassed publicly when he kept getting asked about diversity. He had a self-image problem and a big ego and you could see how agitated he was when the Red Sox won their ring and the media credited DD not Henry for the great success. I also believe we got JD thanks to DD accepting and being supportive publicly of Cora. The rift between Cora and DD started when Cora regularly back-doored DD with respect to discussions with Henry. Frequently, DD would listen to Cora quote Henry in press conferences, and it looked to me as if it was new news more often than not and it looked like he recognized that Cora used that relationship to get what he wanted. Later, Cora did the exact same thing with Bloom. Cora has always had more power than the GMs and I believe that's why DD is not still here in Boston. By the time the World Series was over and DD got most of the camera time, there were far too many pictures published with Cora and the owners without DD. At the time, it looked to me that the owners were jealous of DD's climb in status within the baseball industry. He was becoming bigger than the owners with respect to who was responsible for the incredible success of the Red Sox in recent years. My take was not "spineless Patsy". He rolled with the punches and made deals on payroll spending thanks to his support of the Cora decision. I bet he regretted the decision when he saw the way Cora backdoored him. Ausmus and Gardenhire had SO MUCH more baseball acumen than Cora it was clear he had no business being a manager with his experience level. The odd part about the diversity issue is that it was Cora's Latin background that Henry cared about because Ausmus is Jewish and that would have checked the diversity box as well. Think about this!!! Ausmus coached Price successfully when he finished 2nd in the Cy Young race of 2015 and was consider one of great young managers in baseball. He was a former catcher which is supposed to be the best source for great managers. My opinion is if DD gets his guy the Boston Red Spx would be looked at like LAD is looked at today. Mookie would be here, the would probably have multiple rings and a roster more similar to the Phillies current roster than the Pirates!! Cora has truly been a nightmare compared to the Ausmus alternative.

I'm confused. Why are you showing that press conference. That's not what I referenced in my response. Of course he's at the introductory press conference, he's the GM. The press conference referenced was ownership's diversity press conference. I can't be more clear than pointing to Ownership stating they have a plan for diversity and the 3rd most likely of three managers being announced 11 days later as the selection because he's bilingual. Ownership clearly picked the least qualified to satisfy the diversity issue.

Campbell has been really rough at 2B? That's just not true. His .981 fielding percentage is league average. Mayer is the one with fielding issues as he proved in his first game at 3B. Campbell is a SS asked to play 2B and is league average at 2B and perfect in CF and LF. Why cheap shot him? Anthony either plays 1B or Abreu/Refsnyder need to sit because you can't give up Rafaela's exceptional play in CF. Abreu hits RH pitchers well so the team is better off with Anthony up playing 1B and not having to bench Abreu/Refsnyder platoon. When Bregman gets back they could try to force Mayer into 1B unless his defense improves, then they can consider sitting the $70 Million dollar man.

This is from an article by Scott Lauber on Oct 22, 2017. "Boston's decision to hire Cora comes after an expedited 11-day search. Within the past week, Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski met with three candidates -- Cora, former Detroit Tigers manager Brad Ausmus and longtime Minnesota Twins skipper Ron Gardenhire, who has since been hired by the Tigers -- before settling on Cora, who also interviewed for openings with the New York Mets and the Tigers. Cora quickly emerged as the Red Sox's top candidate. Dombrowski traveled to New York on Oct. 15 to interview Cora on an off day in the ALCS. A few days later, Cora spoke by phone with Red Sox owner John Henry." RJ Anderson wrote this on Oct 22, 2017 "While Cora's big-league experience is plentiful, he's a relative newcomer to the bench. This season was his lone year as the Astros' bench coach. He'd previously done broadcasting work, while also serving as the general manager of the Puerto Rico national baseball team. Former Detroit Tigers manager Brad Ausmus was one of the Red Sox's other top candidates. Ausmus had previously worked with Red Sox team president Dave Dombrowski in Detroit." Two weeks prior the owners met with the press about diversity and what the owners were going to do about improving it. Henry stated they have a plan in place. No Dombrowski at the press conference. Then they do an 11-day search that identifies 3 candidates. One diversity candidate, one close friend of Dombrowski's who he had a great working relationship with in the past and an extremely qualified Gardenhire. The latter two did not address the promised diversity issue that was to be remedied by Henry not Dombrowski. Henry solved the diversity issue with his choice of managers and Dombrowski supported his decision but would have preferred Ausmus if you read between the lines. Why wouldn't he prefer an experienced manager who he had worked with? Draw your own conclusions. For me, this was pretty straight forward. Henry wanted diversity and got it and Dombrowski had a mandate to hire him ahead of Ausmus.

Interesting review of Cora's days in Boston. He came to Boston an unqualified manager who got to inherit a phenomenal team because diversity was a hot topic and the Latin players had issues with a manager who didn't speak Spanish in the United States on an American team. Enter the bilingual Cora with the gift of gab for the reporters, his bleeding heart for cast away bench guys like he was and a knack for cheating. It was a perfect storm to hand Dombrowski and force down his throat. What did Dombrowski do, like the professional he is, he went out and got Cora a guy named JD Martinez to completely stack an already very talented offense and add him to his already stacked pitching staff. Even Cora couldn't lose with the 2018 team and so many times it sure seemed like he was trying to lose to keep his bench players liking him. There was nothing a bench jockey like Cora could teach a Mookie Betts or Bogey or JD and so Cora simply had to fill out the line-up card and not make too many in game mistakes. After the players won the rings, he made one of his biggest mistakes by telling the SPs to show up to Spring Training late and the rest is history. 2019 was Cora's disaster first ruining the start of the season, then ruining his newly re-signed star pitcher's elbow with some sage pitching advice from a back-up infielder. Then the world found out Cora had no character or integrity, and the owners apologized to him for having to fire him with the promise of hiring him back. 2020 was a disaster as we watched the best player since Ted Williams get shipped out by the new henchman hired to dismantle the 2018 champs. It took him four years, but Bloom destroyed the organization with his poor signings or lack of signings and then he stuck a stake through the heart of fans by paying the worst 3B in history over $30Million a year for a decade when he was nothing more than an above average hitter who couldn't play defense. Cora managed as status quo during the Bloom dismantling. They didn't seem to get along any better than Dombrowski and Cora all because Cora liked to have a direct line to the owners circumventing his bosses. When Bloom got fired Cora should have gone too for completely different reasons. Bloom dismantled the talent and Cora never learned how to do any aspect of managing other than meeting with the press and keeping the bench players happy. He never learned how to set a line-up. He never learned how to handle a pitching staff. He never knew when to play small ball or go for the big inning. He simply coasted in his cushy job and dodged bullets from the press when he made his many mistakes. Status quo worked for him because he never had a work ethic when he played and he didn't have one as a manager. He just wanted to be liked by everyone. Now Breslow has provided TWO key replacements for Betts, JD, Bogaerts, Benny, Price, Sale and Eovaldi: Crochet and Bregman. The Bregman add was a double bonus by eliminating Devers' baseball glove. This team got upgraded significantly but if you look at the 2018 versus this team you can still see a big gap in talent that needs to be filled with experience from some of the early draft choices made by Bloom when he was tanking the team. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, but we really don't want to have the train driven by Cora anymore. It's time to get a fresh, unbiased face who chooses his line-up based on talent and not nepotism, country of origin or previous relationships. We need a manager that understands the TEAM concept so guys like Devers don't continue to develop from the farm system. When Mayer commented about how great he is, it was a red flag that the Devers farm player pedestal still exists, and it sets expectations of player privileges that should not exist. Breslow played his cards well because there were two massive problems when he got his job. 1 - Devers playing 3B and 2 - Cora being the manager. The pitching staff improved when Breslow brought in his people and it's too bad he couldn't immediately bring in his own manager. I think it would have shown ownership it was time to invest in the team again but instead Cora led the team to another mediocre season in 2024. Now it's happening again in 2025. It's time to part ways with Cora and bring in an experienced manager with a working relationship with Breslow. It needs to be his call because if it doesn't work, there is nobody to blame other than him. No more focusing on diversity instead of baseball. The fans want the most qualified manager not the best connected. I guess we really have observed radically different scenarios under Cora but we both have come to the same conclusion for the future.

Anthony makes perfect sense at 1B right now. With the timetable for Bregman being so long, this team's pitching isn't good enough to make up for it's lack of hitting. Get Anthony the reps at 1B and have the big 3 prospects in the line-up asap to go with Duran, Rafaela, Abreu, Narvaez, Story and Devers. That's your future team so start the future right now. Rafaela's defense will improve from GREAT and hit hitting will improve from bad so he absolutely needs to stay in centerfield because his upside hitting is better than JBJ's was and his upside fielding might also be better than JBJ's was. Abreu is the real question mark if Anthony goes to 1B. Abreu can't hit lefties so you need Refsnyder for the games vs lefty starters.