Just over one month ago, the Boston Red Sox fired longtime former manager Alex Cora and six other coaches on his staff, including team great Jason Varitek.
A breakdown from Rob Bradford (as well as the team's continued poor offensive results) reveals that not much has changed but the pitching since Chad Tracy took over — the staff's ERA has dropped from 5.08 in the season's first month to 3.47 in the second. Meanwhile, they have the worst team batting average with runners in scoring position since the firings were made.
Even Craig Breslow has admitted that the coaching changes haven't gone over as he'd hoped. The third-year Red Sox chief baseball officer spoke to Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic to assess the firings, and his answers don't inspire much confidence (subscription required).
“I certainly wouldn’t look back at our win-loss record over the last month and say it was this incredible success,” Breslow said. “But I think we’re starting to more consistently put together good at-bats... We have to put all aspects of the game together to make sure we’re winning more games.”
McCaffrey also notes that Breslow knew his job was on the line before the season started. Neither of his predecessors, Chaim Bloom or Dave Dombrowski, lasted more than four years in the CBO position, and the Red Sox's front office has been one of the most volatile in the league since 2018.
Red Sox fans exhausted by lack of accountability after many rash decisions by Craig Breslow
Many of Breslow's decisions reflect the rashness and desperation of someone who knows their job is at risk. Most recently, it was firing Cora and the six other coaches on his staff. Before, it was scrambling to trade for Caleb Durbin after the botched Alex Bregman reunion, trading Rafael Devers after the front office couldn't quell drama it started, and giving the Los Angeles Dodgers an insane return in exchange for Dustin May, a DFA candidate, at the last trade deadline.
It would be one thing if any of these moves worked out for the better in Boston, but none have. The Red Sox lost in the Wild Card round last season, didn't learn from their mistakes so their lineup remains powerless, and they're at a season-worst nine games below .500 on May 27.
How firing Cora was going to fix Boston's exceedingly obvious roster issues remains unclear after a month. Tracy has tended to play hot bats, like Mickey Gasper or Nick Sogard over Durbin, which has helped the offense look better, but they still can't hit for power or score runners, and continue to make costly baserunning decisions.
Breslow has been gifted an underwhelming American League this year —just four teams have winning records, as of this writing, and the Red Sox are, somehow, four games out of a Wild Card spot. Whether or not he should be encouraged to make another trade to try and net the club a big bat is worthy of debate. Sure, the season might be salvageable, but Breslow's choices are historically poor, and if his job is on the line as he says, letting him determine more of the future is a risk.
There's no accountability in Breslow's statement, no accountability from ownership, and Red Sox fans are over it. Cora might've played some part in Boston's poor start this year, but the month following his dismissal shows that roster construction has always been the issue, and Boston needs to own up to it.
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