BoSox Injection
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Boston Red Sox managerial merry-go-round from last decade

By Rick McNair

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - AUGUST 21: The sun sets during the third inning of the game between the Boston Red Sox and the Philadelphia Phillies at Fenway Park on August 21, 2019 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - AUGUST 21: The sun sets during the third inning of the game between the Boston Red Sox and the Philadelphia Phillies at Fenway Park on August 21, 2019 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – AUGUST 03: Manager Alex Cora #20 of the Boston Red Sox argues with home plate umpire Mike Estabrook after Cora was tossed from the game in the fourth inning against the New York Yankees during game one of a double header at Yankee Stadium on August 03, 2019 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – AUGUST 03: Manager Alex Cora #20 of the Boston Red Sox argues with home plate umpire Mike Estabrook after Cora was tossed from the game in the fourth inning against the New York Yankees during game one of a double header at Yankee Stadium on August 03, 2019 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /

Alex Cora once played for the Red Sox and looking at his statistical chart five others. Cora was a utility player – good enough to give you a few weeks, but not good enough for the long haul. Given a starting role the inevitable looking for an upgrade was usually attached to Cora’s benching or departure.

Cora took not the usual path to the top slot with a series of coaching and managerial jobs – usually in the baseball bushes but jumped into broadcasting with ESPN. Then an opportunity came knocking with the Astros as bench coach and the pathway it usually presents to managerial opportunity. With an Astros World Series ring, Cora became hot property and Boston took the plunge.

No manager ever had a more profitable first season or make that any season than Cora did in 2018. A team record for wins and keyed by a playoff execution of the Yankees is always a plus. Cora’s team cut like locusts through a wheat field, putting the Astros to the golf course and Dodgers another year of disappointment. Everything went right which sets up 2019 for everything to go wrong.

Was it resting the players too much in spring training? The collapse of the pitching staff? Clubhouse distractions? All the buttons that were pushed in 2018 were golden and turned to swamp gas in 2019. Then the woes begin. Cora was Dombrowski’s guy and DD is gone. Cora may be implicated in a sigh stealing mess while with the Astros. Cora is now in charge of a team in transitions and 2020 may be a season of evaluation.

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Cora is the first Hispanic manager the Red Sox hired and therefore will have the dubious honor of being the first Red Sox Hispanic manager fired. Managers get fired and even very successful managers get fired. What Cora does have is the clubhouse and an ability to motivate young players and understand his roster – a leftover from his playing days. But if the Red Sox post another 84 wins and not playoff Cora will be gone.

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