Last Saturday, the general manager of the Red Sox, Alex Cora, arrived at his Baltimore hotel to find himself face-to-face with the Sox’s CEO, Chief Baseball Officer, and principal owner, who told him that he was being fired, effective immediately. Five other members of the coaching staff were also relieved of their duties that day. Ironically enough, the fired staff were then escorted away from their hotel in buses from a service called “Coaches4Hire” — a service the Red Sox could use now!
Cora was a former infielder with a 10-year MLB career across multiple teams, including the Red Sox, and had served as the team’s manager since 2018 (save for a one-year suspension after a sign-stealing scandal in 2020) and led them to a World Series win that same year. However, the Red Sox have only made it to the postseason playoffs twice in the eight years since then. It is no wonder that Cora and a bulk of his coaching staff have taken the blame for the Red Sox’s less-than-desirable start to the season. Although Cora ended his tenure with a 17-1 win against the Orioles, the Red Sox have had a dismal start to the season with a 10-17 win/loss record and a spot at the bottom of the American League East. (The author is a Mets fan and cannot comment further on bad track records.)
The decision to sack Cora and the other coaches has proved controversial. Some fans online were ecstatic about the news, exclaiming that the “Cora curse” was over, while others saw the firings as missing the real problem, blaming the team’s struggles on less-than-ideal roster moves made by Craig Breslow, the aforementioned chief baseball officer. @redsoxkatelyn on X (formerly Twitter) joking about the Red Sox’ sudden lack of coaching staff, said, “You, yes you reading this, YOU are coaching the Boston Red Sox tomorrow.”
Red Sox players themselves expressed dissatisfaction and shock with the decision and have not been afraid to speak their minds. Pitcher Garret Whitlock told the Boston Globe that the bosses “made it very clear that we get paid to play baseball and we need to just focus on playing baseball.” It is also interesting to note that one of the few coaches not fired on Saturday included a close friend of Breslow’s.
On Sunday, the Red Sox played their first game under new interim manager Chad Tracy, who had been called up from the Red Sox’s Triple-A (the highest level of play in minor league baseball) affiliate, aptly named the Worcester Red Sox. We’re only one game in, but it started well enough: the Sox clinched a 5-3 victory against the Orioles to win the series. It’s too early to say how the Tracy era will pan out or how long he’ll be allowed to stay, but it sure doesn’t hurt to win after less than 24 hours on the job.
Contact the editors responsible for this article: Finley Tipton and Katie McCabe
