The Boston Red Sox are working towards a new chapter in the story of this franchise. With that said, will the current skipper feel the pressure next season?
We can all agree that this season was one that should be forgotten as soon as possible. The owners have already come out and made it clear that the path the Red Sox were heading down wasn’t the one they had in mind. Granted they’ve also done an impressive job of not accepting any of the blame, but we’re in for some serious changes in the next year or two either away.
The first casualty of the reckoning stemming from the stink of a season that was this past year was Dave Dombrowski. He was hired by FSG to spend money and win a championship and he did exactly that. When the wins didn’t come this season he was the first to be shown the door. In the following weeks, the owners would point much of the blame towards him effectively making him a scapegoat.
Boston’s offense this year was still one of the best in the league despite finishing where they did in the standings. Assistant hitting coach Andy Barkett was dismissed last week and is the first coach to be let go during the Alex Cora regime. It feels like these were just the first in what may be an overhaul this winter as the Sox try and change their fortunes for 2020.
That brings me back to the man at the head of the coaching table, Alex Cora. The Boston skipper came in like a comet in 2018 and led the Sox to a 119 win season and a shiny new World Series championship. His sophomore season at the helm would be the opposite as everything that went right in 2018 went wrong this past year. Cora never broke from supporting his squad during the campaign and would never let his faith in them waver.
In my eyes, Cora is the absolute right man to lead this team and we know what he’s capable of in the good times and the bad. Never once did it feel as if his voice was being ignored in the clubhouse as we’ve seen with managers in the past. If anyone is going to lead the Red Sox during this new chapter it has to be Cora.
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Now, that’s not to say that every move Cora made this season was the right one. Hell, I can admit that I’ve been pretty critical of him and rightfully so. There were far too many times that what felt like an obvious decision was pushed aside for another due to analytics or tired baseball tropes. One of the more egregious was pinch-hitting Chris Owings over Brock Holt because the pitcher was a lefty.
"“(Owners) John Henry, Tom Werner and I spent a lot of time yesterday with Alex and spent some time with the players and expressed our confidence and support for Alex and the incredible job he has done,” Kennedy said. “”He has been everything you would want in a manager and I can’t speak more highly of Alex and the job that he’s done. And the job I know he’ll do as we move forward.”"
Sam Kennedy made it known after Dombrowski’s firing that Cora was safe as the manager of the Red Sox ahead of the 2020 season. So he’ll be fine through the offseason and spring training, but will the bosses be singing the same tune if April isn’t pretty again?
It’s hard to say at this point as right now they feel loyal to Alex but they may also be giving him just enough rope to hang himself. If 2020 kicks off in a similar fashion that 2019 did then I can’t imagine they’ll be as chipper about AC.
This offseason will be the true test of where this team is heading and if Alex Cora is the right man. Two years into the job it still feels like he is but if Boston botches another offseason then he may not get the time to prove it. The Red Sox have the pieces to be competitive and only require a few tweaks here and there to get back on top, but can they do it?
“Cora Magic” was a major factor on the path to the Commissioner’s Trophy in 2018. Every intuition, premonition, and gut feeling Cora had paid off. Of course, he used the analysis that is made available to him but more often than not it felt like he was trusting his instincts. I think if AC trusts himself over the numbers in 2019 then Boston can be a success again. If not, then I fear he may find himself on the hot-seat as the season progresses and could be clearing out his desk come October.