In the aftermath of the Boston Red Sox's surprise firing of manager Alex Cora and six other coaches, emotions rattled around the fanbase and MLB, as a whole. One anonymous reaction stood out to Red Sox fans for its hilarity and accuracy, maybe even both: "It's like sh---ing your pants and changing your shirt."
Rob Bradford of WEEI reportedly woke up on April 26, the day after the firing, to the explicit text from a former Red Sox player. As of this writing, his tweet of the expression has over 14 thousand likes.
Red Sox fans quickly took off speculating who the unidentified player might be. Cora's history with Boston is long — he was a player in the Sox organization from 2005-08 and he managed dozens more players from 2018-26. Jonathan Papelbon was a popular guess, but he tweeted out a statement that the quote didn't come from him, which Bradford confirmed. Dustin Pedroia — both Cora's former teammate and someone who was managed by him for two years — was another frequent prediction.
On May 1, the utterer of the now-viral quote appeared on Bradford's podcast, "Baseball Isn't Boring." It's Josh Beckett.
Former Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett gave now-famous quote on Boston's firing of Alex Cora
Morning podcast: It's a great time to talk to Josh Beckett
— Baseball Isn’t Boring (@BBisntBoring) May 1, 2026
Listen: https://t.co/PFQdOCFijp https://t.co/bjp3HQae4I pic.twitter.com/yFNhdAF3Dt
Beckett said he thought the quote was more than appropriate for the situation, and multiple people approached Bradford to agree. The podcast host said some division rival reporters and even Buster Olney approached him to ask who the quote came from. Beckett appeared on the podcast to take ownership of the statement.
"I just thought his temperament, his leadership skills... I've played with some great bench players that had leadership skills that really went beyond the guys that played every day... I know AC really well and I thought he was the perfect guy to be there and kinda stable that ship," Beckett said.
Reactions from multiple insiders and national reporters largely agree with Beckett's statement. Cora is seen as one of the best managers in baseball and quitting on him this early in a new season (and promoting a bunch of minor league coaches to the majors) feels like punting.
At the same time, Cora had been Boston's manager since 2018 and a new voice in charge could be needed. Two things can be true. Cora reportedly wouldn't allow chief baseball officer Craig Breslow to remove any members of his coaching staff (hitting coach Pete Fatse, in particular, was on the hot seat) without also removing him, and the CBO may have felt he was left with no choice.
No matter what happened behind the scenes, the Red Sox are very much in a pattern: Trade or fire someone of a high profile in the organization, blast them to the media, move on, pretending (badly) like nothing happened, repeat. Given Boston's record and public perception in the last seven years, that pattern is obviously not conducive to success in this league. Beckett sees clearly, and it's time for ownership to come to its senses and finally get to the root of its problems, which will be easier said than done (because the problem is ownership).
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