'Shocked' by Alex Cora firing, Red Sox left questioning team's direction
It was Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow’s decision to fire manager Alex Cora, and the weight of its consequences will not be going away.
BALTIMORE — As Craig Breslow sank into his chair to explain away the most stunning decision in Boston Red Sox history since Mookie Betts was dealt away from Fenway Park, the club’s chief baseball officer wore a morose and weary look on his face. Alongside him, Sam Kennedy, the team’s typically cheery president and CEO and conduit to owner John Henry, was reading the Beantown obituary for Alex Cora, fired as the club’s manager in a stunning move less than 24 hours earlier on Saturday, April 25. On one hand, Kennedy dished out the finest ingredients one could find in a C-suite word salad ("Painful but necessary," and "a new start begins today") and on the other acknowledging Cora will "go down as one of the greatest managers in Red Sox history.
" As Kennedy spoke and Sunday morning unfolded, a few things became apparent: This was Breslow’s decision to fire Cora and five more coaching staff members, including franchise icon Jason Varitek, Not Kennedy’s. And not principal owner John Henry, who kept alive his six-year streak of not talking to the media. Opinion: Fired already?
MLB's best managers know 'unfairness comes with the job' As a later conversation with shortstop Trevor Story would reveal, Breslow’s clubhouse explanation of the firing, held just moments before the media briefing, did not go well. And Cora’s firing only illustrated the ugliest side of what should be the most successful franchise in baseball this century: Hardly anyone, no matter how successful, gets out of Boston on their own two feet. Not Terry Francona and Theo Epstein, smeared and unceremoniously sent elsewhere after delivering Boston two World Series championships in 2004 and 2007.
Not Dave Dombrowski, architect of the greatest of the Red Sox’s four world champions in 2018. Not Betts, traded after a mild contract impasse to the Los Angeles Dodgers , where he’d win three more championships as his Boston tenure fades further in the background. And now Cora, rookie manager for that 119-win 2018 team, ostensibly one of the most secure managers in baseball, owner of a three-year contract extension that pays him $21.
Continue to the original source for the full article.