The Boston Red Sox have been underwhelming in nearly every way so far in the 2025 season. With Alex Bregman on the injured list, Boston's offense is flailing, all its starters, besides Garrett Crochet, routinely struggle to get through five innings, the defense has been horrendous as ever, Roman Anthony remains in the minor leagues and Marcelo Mayer was only called up out of utter desperation.
Despite the many issues, skipper Alex Cora has maintained that his team will work its way through its failings. The Red Sox only seem to be getting worse, though — they hovered around a .500 record until May, and they've lost a season-worst five straight games.
Growing unrest among Sox fans has some calling for Cora's job. He was asked on "WEEI Afternoons" if he and his coaches are concerned about their job security, to which he responded, "not really." He noted that he doesn't discuss questions about job security with Boston's other coaches.
But, maybe if Cora was at least a bit concerned for the safety of his job, more changes would've come to Boston's lineup by now. The team's circumstances have changed after the season-ending injuries to Bregman and Triston Casas, but there is zero excuse for playing Trevor Story every day amid one of the fiercest slumps in Red Sox history. His .191 on-base percentage since April 22 is as close as it gets to an automatic out in a lineup that needs as much offensive help as possible.
Alex Cora confident in Red Sox job security despite team's underperformance through the first third of the season
Cora is the one with the power to open a roster spot for Anthony. The Red Sox can afford to bench Story and move Ceddanne Rafaela to shortstop to open a roster spot for the No. 1 prospect in baseball, and his .441 on-base percentage would do wonders for the lineup.
It doesn't do to dwell on Cora's job security, though. The Red Sox signed him to a three-year extension in July 2024, and there's little to no chance of him being fired before he's even a third of the way through the deal.
The Red Sox have had a losing or perfectly average record for the last three seasons, and fans are discouraged about the team's lack of progress, but a lot of the stagnation isn't Cora's fault. 2024-25 was the first offseason in over half a decade that the front office was fully bought into, and Cora didn't have a competitive lineup to work with in recent seasons' past.
Still, the Red Sox should be better this year. They can't continue to use the same lineup with the same slumping hitters and expect the outcome of games to change. Cora's job isn't in any danger this year, but fans are right to be frustrated with how Boston's season has gone.