Chris Cotillo: Red Sox make clear Alex Cora’s firing a Craig Breslow decision, it was also an act of self-preservation
BALTIMORE — The one clear takeaway from Sam Kennedy and Craig Breslow’s press conference at Camden Yards on Sunday? The decision to fire Alex Cora and a handful of his coaches was cast as yet another “bold” decision made by Breslow — and not Fenway Sports Group. Kennedy and Breslow preached the virtues of collaboration throughout their 25-minute conversation with reporters, but Kennedy, explaining the chain of command that led to the firings, made it clear that his top baseball executive made the call .
“Craig leads our baseball operation, and he’s made several bold decisions and recommendations, and this was one of them,” Kennedy said. “We fully support it, and that’s why we took the action we took yesterday. ” Breslow’s 30 months in charge of Boston’s baseball operations have been defined by bold strokes, including the additions of Garrett Crochet and Alex Bregman before the 2025 season, the blockbuster trade that sent Rafael Devers to San Francisco in June, the decision to draw a hard-line with Bregman in negotiations over the winter and continued, aggressive re-structuring of the baseball operations department that has left many longtime employees marginalized, if not, displaced.
Breslow has developed a reputation around baseball as a ruthless decision-maker who is set on doing things his way and Saturday’s series of firings is the latest — and perhaps — greatest evidence yet. “Ultimately, responsibility for the performance on the field falls on me as the leader of the baseball operation, but so too does the responsibility for doing everything that I can and everything that the organization can do to find solutions,” Breslow said. “Right now, we feel like these changes were warranted.
” Cora’s firing represented the first time a Red Sox manager has been fired during the season in John Henry’s 25 years of ownership and a rarity in baseball considering it happened before the end of April. The swift decision can be explained in part because of a disappointing start — Boston is 10-17, and players have spoken about the club lacking “energy” throughout the season — but also by Breslow taking a proactive approach so that recent history did not repeat itself. In 2023, as the Red Sox hurtled toward another last-place finish, it became clear at some point over the summer that organizational change was possible.
At that time, then-chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom decided to stay the course with Cora, who was privately back-channeling ownership with complaints about the roster and Bloom’s inactivity, especially at the trade deadline. By mid-September, Cora found himself aligned with Henry, Kennedy and the ownership group, a development led to Bloom’s ouster. Bloom did not act quickly enough to insulate him from Cora’s attempt to undercut him.
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