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.
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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 $21.75 million through 2027.
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A 10-17 start would be his undoing, the most recent indignity a three-game sweep by the rival New York Yankees, which set in motion the mind meld between Breslow, Kennedy and Henry that resulted in respected Class AAA manager Chad Tracy’s promotion to the big club.
To be clear, the players love Tracy, are rooting for him, want to salvage these last 135 games of the season. At the same time, tight-lipped as they tried to be, it was hard to avoid the notion that this was a franchise adrift.
"It’s kind of up in the air what the true direction is," Story said before Sunday’s game. "And those are conversations that need to be had, and they'll be had today.
"I came here to win, and I came here to be successful, and we had a flash of that last year. We were looking to build on it, obviously, not off to a great start, but some of the direction needs to be cleared up a little bit."
Clarity did not come in a brief pregame meeting with Breslow, Kennedy and Henry.
"I spoke. They spoke," Story said. "We'll have our talk. We haven't had it yet."
Indeed, Story was out of Sunday’s lineup and said he had an immediate date with Breslow. Yet it’s not likely Story will be assured of franchise direction with words, when actions have said so much more.
'He had our backs'
Story was signed by previous GM Chaim Bloom to a six-year, $140 million before the 2022 season. By September 2023, Bloom was gone.
Bloom had succeeded Dombrowski, kicked to the curb in September 2019, less than a year removed from the last Red Sox championship team, led by Betts and J.D. Martinez and a pedal-to-the-medal front office.
After Bloom, Breslow – a World Series champion with Boston’s 2013 team – was tabbed to run baseball ops. The past two post-Dombrowski regimes have only dabbled in negotiations with franchise-type players, with just one winter of true aggression: Breslow’s trade acquisition of ace Garrett Crochet and signing of Alex Bregman to a three-year, $120 million deal with two opt-outs.
Just like that, Boston made the playoffs, though it was dispatched by the Yankees in the wild card series. Yet that progress was met by a winter of discontent: Bregman fled for the Chicago Cubs, who offered him a bit more money and a no-trade clause.
Rookie Marcelo Mayer and Caleb Durbin – likely more suited to a utility role – would hold down second and third base. Accordingly, the Red Sox have spent most of this young season in last place in home runs and OPS.
And for that, Cora – 620-541 as Red Sox manager, greatly respected in the industry, largely revered by his players – was fired?
No wonder the reaction of every Red Sox polled Sunday led with one word: Shocked. Particularly with the news dropping in the late afternoon hours following a 17-1 victory over Baltimore.
Reliever Garrett Whitlock said he found out when Story FaceTimed him after he’d gone to bed. Story got a call directly from Cora. Second-year star Roman Anthony found out via "a simple announcement from the team."
And Tracy was summoned to exit Worcester’s dugout Saturday to field a call from Breslow. The Class AAA manager was now managing the big club.
The aftershocks would soon hit the roster in Baltimore.
"I can only speak for myself. I'm shocked," says Whitlock, who was snared in the Rule 5 draft from the New York Yankees in 2021 and grew into an elite set-up man. "AC was my second call when I got Rule 5’d over here, and when they told me I made the team, (Varitek) broke down and cried.
"That meant a lot to me, too."
Cora’s human touch and deftness handling the media ingratiated him to the organization. So much that they brought him back after a one-year sidelining after his role in the Houston Astros sign-stealing saga was revealed.
They made it all the way to the ALCS that year.
"He had our backs every single day," says Story. "He was very truthful with the players, and took bullets for us and did everything you can ask for and more as a manager, and just can't express how thankful I am to have had played for him.
"I got a lot of love for that guy."
And what of the club’s top leadership?
'I committed to Bres'
If one thing was clear about the Red Sox franchise in the Bloom-Breslow era, it is this: Boston is no longer a destination.
The club could not get a foot in the door in negotiations with superstars like Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani. The club is estimated by Forbes to be worth $5.25 billion, and with its own television network, is far better positioned than 90% of major league franchises from a revenue standpoint.
Yet under Fenway Sports Group, the club has often finished second or worst in bidding for talent. That’s what made the whiplash of the past 15 months – signing Bregman, alienating and then trading slugger Rafael Devers, losing Bregman, fielding a pop-gun lineup, firing Cora – so maddening.
Especially 27 games into the season. What gives?
"It really comes down to the belief that we have in the players," Breslow said of a group that includes Durbin (.531 OPS), Mayer (.661 OPS), Jarren Duran (.549 OPS, 55 adjusted) and DH Masataka Yoshida (29 homers in four seasons since Bloom signed him).
"Certainly, the performance on the field is nothing, what we expected. And beyond that, again, this is a decisive and convicted demonstration of the confidence we have in the players."
Breslow mentioned multiple times not the 27 games it took to make the decision, but rather the 135 remaining. That turnaround will fall to Tracy, who could be the interim manager briefly, or for a long time, replaced by an exterior option or not, Breslow said.
Perhaps a compass would help.
"It’s a shocking feeling, right?" said second-year star Roman Anthony, who returned to the lineup after a five-game absence due to a back malady.
Anthony committed long-term to the Red Sox, signing an eight-year, $130 million contract before his rookie year was over. He has little choice but cast his lot with those who made that commitment.
"I committed to Bres," says Anthony. "I committed to Mr. Henry, I committed to Mr. Kennedy. I committed to the city and the people around me and to my teammates. And I'm gonna continue to hold that commitment, and the goal for me, and the standard for me, is not gonna change, right?
"Like, we're, again, we have 130 plus games here to go, you know, we can still win the World Series. People on the outside probably don't agree with that, and a lot of (expletive) is going on right now, but the standard for me remains the same, and my commitment to this team, this city, these people, is still the exact same."
Perhaps that might change down the road for the 21-year-old, should more regime change mark his tenure, more fruitless seasons or frustrating playoff sequences, more near-misses when it comes to splash improvements to the team.
For now, it is up to Breslow to prevent all that from happening. Kennedy made clear it was his call. And the weight of its consequences will not be going away.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Red Sox left questioning team's direction after Alex Cora firing
