Alex Cora is healthy and back with the Red Sox
Red Sox Nation, we have our skipper back! Alex Cora is finally back with the club after testing positive for COVID-19 last week and his return couldn’t have come at a better time. Boston looks beyond lost and even when good things happen, they’ve quickly been followed by something bad. Hopefully getting AC back in the big chair will spark this lineup into achieving what their potential would lead us to believe they’re capable of.
Acting manager Will Venable did what he could during his time as the boss but there was a mountain of questionable managerial decisions that would lead to a 1-5 record in the last week. Not everything falls on his shoulders as he’s not the one out there in the batter’s box, playing defense, or throwing the pitches, but his decisions surely didn’t help the situation either.
Cora made his weekly visit to WEEI’s “Merloni & Fauria” as he does every Wednesday and shared that he was back with the club. We had been hearing from Venable in recent days that AC was feeling much better after a week of dealing with COVID and with some negative tests now in the bank, he’s in the Great White North.
"“I’m feeling good,” Cora said on WEEI’s ‘Merloni & Fauria” show. “Here in Toronto ready for tonight. Everything went well as far as testing and all that. Obviously, it hasn’t been an easy week personally, but it is what it is. I think a lot of people have been through this and I’m just happy to get back to work and be in the dugout.”"
I, for one, am excited to get Cora back as we need any and every bit of positivity we can get right now. I’ve gotten pummeled for my realistic outlook on how it isn’t great that the Red Sox have lost so many divisional games already, so maybe AC can change that momentum.
I understand that it’s still very early in the season and guys are trying to shake the rust from the extended offseason off, but we all know how quickly things can get out of hand if the bleeding isn’t stopped.
Now, Cora isn’t some miracle answer to all of Boston’s problems as the Red Sox skipper wasn’t exactly off to a hot start to the season himself. But having an experienced manager in the office and one that this team responds to in such a positive way could offer a spark to this downtrodden team. Just having him back in the clubhouse joking and getting in the ear of this lineup could make a massive difference.
The Red Sox are facing some major issues right now and unfortunately, they’re ones we all saw coming before the season. Boston’s starting rotation currently ranks 27th in all of baseball, the bullpen ranks 16th overall, the defense 18th, and the offense 28th, all rankings provided by FanGraphs.
These numbers are incredibly nauseating and while some of them, mainly the rotation and offense, should rebound as the season goes on, this isn’t a start this team can afford in the AL East.
Sometimes it can be the smallest thing that sparks a team into gear and for the Red Sox, it very well could be the return of Cora. We’ve seen what he’s done in seasons past with these guys and we’ll need him to do it again in 2022.
This squad has shown signs that they can hang with the big guns of the AL East and haven’t been blown out in many games, but they’re just missing that something special. All it takes is one win to get a streak going, here’s to that one win being tonight in Toronto.