The Red Sox are moving on from six coaches, reports Alex Speier of the Boston Globe. According to Speier, the departures from Alex Cora’s staff include first base coach Andy Fox, bullpen coach Kevin Walker, assistant hitting coach Luis Ortiz, mental skills coach Rey Fuentes, trainer Ben Chadwick and bullpen catcher Mani Martinez.
Fox was promoted to first base coach this past season. He’d previously spent time as Boston’s field coordinator. Fox had been in the organization for more than a decade. He played parts of nine seasons in the big leagues as a utility infielder, spending the bulk of that time with the Diamondbacks and Marlins.
Ortiz, who briefly appeared in the majors with the Red Sox during the mid-1990s, had been an assistant hitting coach for the last three years. Ortiz held the lead hitting job on Chris Woodward’s staffs with the Rangers between 2018-21. Ben Rosenthal has overlapped with Ortiz as an assistant to primary hitting coach Peter Fatse in Boston.
The Sox tabbed Walker as bullpen coach during the 2020-21 offseason. He’d spent the shortened season as an assistant pitching coach. Boston’s bullpen has generally been middle-of-the-pack over the past four years. The relief group was a disappointment this season, finishing 24th with a 4.39 earned run average and 23rd in strikeout percentage (21.9%). The bullpen cratered down the stretch. Only the Nationals’ relievers had a lower strikeout rate in the second half. No team had a worse ERA after the All-Star Break than the Sox’s 5.45, while Boston relievers led MLB with 16 blown leads.
That’s not all on the coaching staff, of course. The front office’s deadline pickups of Lucas Sims and Luis García didn’t work. Kenley Jansen missed most of September, while Chris Martin was shelved for the bulk of July. Nevertheless, the bullpen was one of the biggest factors in the Sox falling out of the Wild Card race, so they’ll look for a new voice. Strengthening the group in front of Rule 5 success story Justin Slaten and a hopefully health Liam Hendriks should be an offseason priority for Craig Breslow and his staff.
Probably would have let the hitting coaches go too. Drastic shift in philosophy from the first half to the second half led to an anemic second half offense
Rsox – How so? The swing-hard and swing-at-everything approach was throughout the season, was there more?
Early in the season they (at least seemed like) were more patient, taking walks, the baserunning was much better and the reliance on the long ball wasn’t as prevalent. The last 3 weeks of the season seemed like they were striking out at least a dozen times per game
I think it is deeper than that. IMO, the most important component in OPS is OBP.
2004 1st
2007 2nd
2013 1st
2018 1st
2023 13th
2024 8th
Maybe, possibly, this has to do with age and experience. Or coaching. Or drafting. Or development.
But we need more guys on base, and that generally means less Ks. Sometimes this is just part of the toolkit, but we have:
Rafael 151/15 K/W
Romy 58/12
Hamilton 80/22
And with the guys that have 300 or more PAs, we have only 2 guys with a K/W of less than 2.5, and only one under 2.0.
JoeBrady – I agree, OBP is the single most important stat to most batters if the team is to win. You seem to be a math guy – why do you suppose the inventors of OPS chose to count batting average twice? OBP is partially batting average and partially walk rate so why would one half of the stat be more important than walk rate and isolated power? Power should be equally important with average and walk rate but OBP says no, average is twice as important. I’ve never understood that.
SLG is Batting Average and Isolated Power
OBP is Batting Average and Walk Rate with a few minor adjustments for sacrifices
So if a player hits .300 with an ISO of .200 a walk rate of .060 his OPS is calculated as .300+.300+.200+.060= .860
If another player has the exact same number of at bats but produces the following results is he really a lesser ballplayer?
He hits .250 with and ISO of .250 and a walk rate of .060 so his OPS is calculated as .250+.250+.250+.060=.810
Now there is a third guy with all parameters the same but he produces a .350 average, an ISO of .200 and a walk rate of .060.
His OPS is .350+.350+.150+.060=910
High average guy gets a .910 OPS
Medium average guy gets a .860 OPS
Low average guy get a .810 OPS
The variance is driven by the batting average since it is counted twice. Is batting average twice as important as ISO? If these three guys were evaluated without a weighted system they would be the same but instead the power hitter with high ISO finishes 100 points behind the high average guy. Note this OPS is independent of runs scored or runs batted in so why is it relevant as a measurement of a hitter?
I’ve always had issues with OPS because like you I think OBP is a far more relevant stat. How about you?
This applies to the Red Sox and what you are saying because if a guy like Rafaela hit for average but swung wildly at pitches out of the strike zone his OPS would not be impacted as much if he dropped his average instead and yet built up his ISO.
The coaches need to focus on raising the average and walk rate for all players. The team needs more base runners, more timely hitting by possibly rethinking the batting order and hitting to all fields to increase the frequency of not hitting balls to where the players are located raising the hitting BABIP.
Your last comment about K/W ratios. Are you suggesting the players are walking too little or striking out too much? Or I guess both could be the answer too. How much of this statistic is caused by discipline, pre-game prep in the cages, pre-game prep with the metrics group analyzing the pitchers and environmental issues like weather conditions, ball park or umpire strike zone? Could batting order also contribute to the problem because players are hired to hit a certain way. Duran isn’t asked to be home run hitter like Devers and O’Neill isn’t asked to hit like Duran so placing them in the order based on what’s asked of them could be part of the K/BB problem
You’ve pointed out several key issues that need to be addressed in the off season.
I agree with your premise, but it’s hard to find ways to effectively address some of the causes for the high K/BB rates.
OPS is a reasonable first approximation to stronger models of run scoring. OBP times SLG would be closer, but you can’t eyeball that one.
The Red Sox only have a few good position players – Devers, Duran, Abreu, and when healthy Casas and Story. But the last two weren’t healthy this year and so the lineup was overexposed. Hamilton, Rafaela, and Wong are bench players on a good team. Gonzalez might not even make the roster.
Striking out less is a combination of swinging at the right pitches and making contact with those you swing at. Various issues there with different players in the lineup, but I believe it is more complex than just the coaching.
TFF17 – I find your generalizations interesting. For example, Cedanne Rafaela is a 23 year old rookie and you have written him off as a player not good enough to be on a good team despite him having an OPS over .800 in five short seasons in the minors. This conclusion is based on his first full season producing a stat line batting out of the 9th spot in the order of .246/.274/.390/.664 after only having 48 games at AAA and only 219 plate appearances to prepare himself for MLB pitching. He had 15 HRs and 19 SBs in his rookie season after not playing much at AAA and he’s designated not good enough at age 23!! WOW. Harsh judgment.
FYI when Devers played in his first full season in 2018 for Boston his stat line was similar to Rafaela’s 240/.298/.433/.731/ with Cedanne having a slightly higher batting average, a slightly lower OBP, a slightly lower SLG and a slightly lower OPS. He also stole 16 more bases while hitting just 6 less home runs. He also made 9 errors at SS and 3 at CF while Devers made 20 at 3B.
I’m sure glad you weren’t in charge of evaluating Devers because he might have been declared not good enough after the 2018 season just like you did with Rafaela. Heck, Devers got to bat 5th despite his horrible average that year not 9th. He also didn’t sit when righties pitched like Abreu did when lefties pitched. Abreu enjoyed treatment similar to Devers while Rafaela was treated like Duran when he came up. The bias in the front office and manager have a lot to do with the success of the player and how quickly it happens. I think Duran proved that treating a player like crap doesn’t always deter them from being great. I hope Rafaela can take the same attitude while proving he will be an eventual all-star., strike outs or not.
Hamilton is a favorite of Cora’s since they bonded when he was at UT and Wong is hard to evaluate since he didn’t do much for years and then suddenly had a great year in 2024. Is that his norm or an outlier? I have no idea. I think we need more time to evaluate him. When I think back to the 2024 season and sensational catches in the field, I think of Rafaela first. To me, asking a 23 year old to play two tough positions and split time at them after they only got 48 games at AAA is a very daunting task. I disagree with your assessment on Rafaela. I want to see what off season adjustments he makes in hitting and whether he gets to play full time in center field because he is as close to JBJ as I’ve seen in the Red Sox organization with respect to defense. Sometimes great players come in small packages, like Pedroia.
Where did I write him off?!? Rafaela is *23*. But in 2024 he would not have been a starting player on a good team and should not be written in for 500+ PA. I don’t see any issue getting him 300-400 PA in a bench role where he WOULD be an asset, while he continues to work on his skills. Other teams and other players have gone through this just fine.
As for specific concerns, Rafaela walked in just 2.6% of his plate appearances this year, just 1.8% in the second half. It is a testament to his raw talent that he is still a passable hitter, but there were just two hitters in all of MLB with 400+ PA and a walk rate under 3% last year, and Ernie Clement isn’t my idea of an up-and-coming star. I don’t see how it is outrageous to suggest that Rafaela needs to improve on this to be a starter on a good team?
Your comparison with Devers is patently silly.. Rafaela is 23, while Devers put up a +6.5 WAR at the age of 22. But you do realize that I’m not in charge of evaluating either one, right?!? I’m not sure why you would even suggest otherwise?
You put a lot of emphasis on “treating a player like crap”, but I’m not sure what you even mean by that? Duran kept getting chances until the point that he started performing — and then he played regularly. In 2022 he only got 223 PA in the majors because he was hitting like Rafaela that year. Didn;t stop him from continuing his development and eventually becoming a very good player, right? Why would holding back a bit on Rafaela’s playing time ruin him?
I see Hamilton as a good third middle infielder. He can handle both 2B and SS competently, hits lefty (while most middle infielders are RHH), and offers some speed off the bench. He can start in a pinch, as he did this year, but he is in my opinion most valuable off the bench.
Not sure what to make of Wong. If his defense at catcher doesn’t improve, I’m not sure he is useful in any role. He doesn’t hit well enough to be an asset at 1B or DH, and a catcher needs to be defensively sound.
Despite your “disagreeing” with my assessment on Rafaela, I wholeheartedly agree with your closing lines. I want to see what off-season adjustments he makes in hitting. He is defensively superb. If he can build even a LITTLE plate discipline into his game, then he can be a very good player. Really our only difference is that I’m focusing on where he is now, where you are focusing on what he might become.
I will again note that the comment to which you responded was focused on *LAST* year, in which his lack of plate discipline left him badly overexposed in the lineup. I have hopes that next year will be better.
I will note one dilemma — Duran is also an excellent defensive CF (and seems to still be getting better). While Rafaela’s best position is CF, you aren’t going to sit Duran to play him there, and Duran’s range is largely wasted in LF. Also need to figure out playing time for Anthony (best suited for RF) and Abreu (himself a GG candidate in RF).
Some have suggested trading Abreu, but his trade value is lagging far behind his performance. Nor does that resolve the problem of having two CFs. Teams very rarely trade the #1 prospect in baseball, so I’m assuming that Anthony is untouchable. Duran is their best player.
Thus if Rafaela does make the offensive strides we hope for, the Red Sox will have *four* strong defensive outfielders, all meriting regular playing time. A good kind of problem to have, but a problem nonetheless…
I’m not the one making the decisions — please remember that — but one possible resolution would be to continue to get Rafaela playing time on the infield. Even if that isn’t his best position.
TFF17 – When I read your comment I didn’t realize you only mean for 2024 that he would sit. I thought you were saying his future was what you described. I understand now.
Your comment about Devers seems to indicate you lost track of what we were talking about. You simply said Rafaela was a bench player on a good team. You didn’t include the context that your comment only applied to 2024, you added that as part of your response. My whole point about Devers was that he had a similar year to Rafaela’s in his first full season. You scoffed at my comment by saying that he did better the next year. NO KIDDING!!! That’s the point I was making about Rafaela. He too could come back next year just like Devers and have a career year. You don’t seem to be sticking with the points you made that prompted my response. I never suggested anything about Devers other than that he experienced a similar first full season. For you to say my Devers comment was patently silly is both rude and reflection on how much you aren’t actually comprehending what we are talking about. It was an outstanding comparison because it proved a kid could have a bad first full season and rebound to become a great hitter.
Duran got stuck in the 9th hole just like Rafaela. This is common practice for Cora. He’s treated many, many players like crap including Chavis, Dalbec, JD Martinez and others by placing them in locations in the order that under utilized their skills. Yoshida may be the best example. He comes from Japan with an ability to get on base and spray the ball all around the ball park. That screams #2 hitter. Cora hit him in an RBI spot in the order because he is a useless manager. Duran and Rafaela are a scary duo batting 1/2 but instead Rafaela sits until the 9th spot and then Duran bats behind him. If Duran bats in front of him, the pitchers have to throw more strikes and Rafaela goes fishing for bad pitches less. Instead, he bats 9th with a slug in front of him so the pitchers can take full advantage of his aggressive swinging. The irony is he finishes tied for second in RBIs with Duran at 75 while the stud Devers only has 83. He finishes 4th at Runs scored with 70, 11 ahead of Abreu who hit in the heart of the order, 25 more than Yoshida because he was several batters ahead of Rafaela who was the only guy likely to drive in Yoshida and 16 ahead Wong who also bat in the heart of the order. These should all be HUGE red flags that the line-up was built all wrong.
To conclude, your comment for me suggested a status of a player not a comment on a single season. That’s what prompted my response because I completely disagreed with it as a statement of his future. The clarification of what you meant makes my response moot. We don’t disagree. The cheap shot about my Devers reference was very unnecessary and completely out of context because I was arguing something you apparently agree with, any player can have a not so great first full season and still go on to be a great hitter.
I’m certainly not going out of my way to defend Cora’s lineups! I think the biggest problem with batting Yoshida second is the number of LHH stacked at the top of the lineup, but there are worse issues.
Duran led the team in PA with RISP. (He also led the team in PA.) Rafaela had just two fewer PA with RISP than Devers, and hit much better in those PA than he did overall – as you say he sees more strikes with runners on base.
If Rafaela can bring up his OBP a bit, he could be a nice #2. But I don’t think his abysmal plate discipline is entirely due to where he bats – it was a concern in the minors as well.
Nobody knows what the future holds. I didn’t predict that Duran would break out as he did this year (especially defensively). Key is for the kids to keep working on their skills.
Do you expect Casas to have a breakout year as well? We’ve seen flashes from him, but no consistency yet. Next year is the key age 25 season – when most good power hitters really get it going.
TFF17 – I agree that Duran should be the CF and I believe that RF should be Rafaela’s position because like many prior players dating back to Dwight Evans, they believe RF is more difficult field to play because it has nearly as much ground to cover, it faces the sun during many games and is the farthest throw to 3B so Rafaela’s arm is more suited to play the position than Duran.
If you watch Abreu it’s as much of a joke that he is a gold glove candidate as it was Verdugo. They have similar weaknesses and strengths and the measurements for a good outfielder are crap when it comes to metrics. Both Verdugo and Abreu suck at going back on a ball and reaching up to catch it. If a great outfielder like Rafaela was making the play he would be successful because his hand/eye coordination on reaching for a ball over his head is far better. Those missed balls by Verdugo and Abreu don’t count against them as they should because idiot score keepers don’t take into account that most above average fielders would catch them.
They are considered hits because evaluating how good a player catches balls over his shoulder going backwards is not a parameter of the metric. Abreu needs to platoon at DH while Anthony plays LF. He can’t hit lefties so he can’t play full time. He’s excellent trade bait since the world doesn’t realize how weak he is thanks to faulty metrics and Cora’s choices for when he plays and where he bats in the order. The fact that Cora hits him too high in the order helps his trade value.
I agree with your assessment of Duran and have since the days when he was first in CF and made a couple of bad routes in his rookie season. It shouldn’t have been an indictment of his skills, it was a learning experience that is necessary in CF in Fenway.
So, if Rafaela bounces back after making adjustments to his hitting, I am of the opinion the outfield is set for a decade with Anthony, Duran and Rafaela. If not, then Abreu can be the right fielder going forward and maybe he can learn how to track down the balls over his head and hit lefties.
The Statcast data likes Abreu’s ability going back a heck of a lot more than you do. He is no Rafaela, obviously, but he is better than most of the clowns you see in RF around the league. I agree that the official scoring is worse than useless for outfielders (and barely useful for infielders).
Agreed that Abreu’s inability to hit lefties is a major weakness in his game. He reminds me a lot of Trot Nixon… I don’t consider that a fatal flaw, though, when his production vs. RHP is better than what most hitters can do with full time play.
Also, Abreu as a platoon DH would be a step down from Yoshida. Even last year, Yoshida was better than Abreu vs. RHP (as well as being slightly less horrible vs. RHP).
If I didn’t believe Abreu was a very good defensive RF, I’m not sure I would see a role for him on this team at all.
TFF17 – I consider Casas the most likely to replace Devers as the top power hitter on the team. As such, I can live with league average defense. I think he is a cornerstone of the team just like Devers and Duran on the hitting side. I hope both Campbell and Anthony will join that list in a year or two. Five stud hitters makes for a playoff team if the pitching continues to improve.
Injuries are always a worry. Devers, especially, since he has played many years without any major injuries and that’s very unusual. He’s too slow defensively to do serious damage to himself on defense but he scares me as a base runner and as a hitter. His violent swing lends itself to oblique stains which can ruin most of a season, especially if he is rushed back. Also, like all the better hitters, HBPs on the hands and forearms ruin many seasons. Boston needs good health as part of their journey back to the top of the division.
I’m very curious to see how Meidroth progresses. I like the way he is trending compared to many of the more popular players like Mayer and Bleiss. We need to see who can have big years in the minors two years in a row. Like so many of the players (Teel, Anthony, Campbell) one excellent step forward is a great sign but not a guarantee of future success.
The last few weeks have been the first time since Dombrowski got fired that I like things being discussed in the media like Devers moving to DH, Yoshida being traded and more money being spent. It’s foolish to believe any of it since the rumors have been wrong so consistently but for the first time in years, the right topics are being address except changing the status of Cora. It’s yet another albatross that goes with several of the contracts but can be worked around if Breslow starts leading rather than coasting.
Two thumbs up for Casas. I’m also glad you recognized the RISP situation with Rafaela. Some guys are natural clutch hitters. It doesn’t improve their overall average or prevent them from striking out too much but it does tend to help a team win games, and that’s really important when your team skill level isn’t the highest in the division.
When you look at RBIs and see a player with an effective average with RISP, you’d hope the manager would put two and two together and move the player into a spot in the order where his clutch gene makes a bigger difference.
TFF17 – I agree on all your Abreu points. Funny thing is, he is very similar to Verdugo but I consider him an upgrade to Verdugo so a trade with the Yankees would make sense once they get tired of Verdugo’s uniqueness. I’m being polite with respect to Verdugo’s peculiar behavior at times..
TFF17 – I have a very different philosophy than Cora when it comes to using the skills I have at my fingertips with respect to hitting. I’m old school. You have a Yoshida that goes to all fields, you put him behind a speedster like Duran or Rafaela. You always put your top four OBP guys at the start of the order and your best hitter bats 3rd. So for me, Duran, Yoshida, Devers and Casas would be a logical top four except they are all lefties. That would prompt some teams like TB to use lefty openers against the Red Sox.
That’s the problem with this team. List your best hitters and you’ll see a lefty dominance that is limiting them severely.
Duran, Story (if he could hit like the old days), Devers, Casas, Rafaela, Yoshida would work because Rafaela would maximize his RISP skills, Yoshida would maximize his hit to all fields skills, Devers and Casas will have more runners on than in 2024 and guys like Abreu and Wong would be farther down in the order where the focus is somewhat less.
Ideally, a right handed 3B power hitter joins the team and swaps out for Yoshida that way your top of the order can be Duran, Rafaela, Devers, Power 3B, Casas, Story, Abreu, Wong and the 2B.
If the 2B is upgraded to Campbell and the LF is upgraded to Anthony and your catcher is upgraded to Teel, you have an excellent line-up with no holes that will continue to improve for several years..
Not impossible that Campbell could be that athletic RHH OBP guy we need. I like Rafaela better batting sixth.
Agreed that the excess of LHH is a tactical nightmare for the team. I like the idea of signing a good 3B and moving on from Yoshida.
I like Rafaela, but JBJ was much better.
Second half problems maybe has to do second time through the league, no adjustments.
spit – I definitely believe the league adjusted to Bailey’s new pitching approach.
Too bad they renewed the manager; he should be on this list out the door also!
sheer – Sadly, they still would have extended Cora even after his latest 2nd half collapse.
This could be a prelude to that, Sheerterror. Corporate move, remove a layer of management preventing the next level of management from blaming the lower layer.
Mental skills coach? Really? If they continue to broaden coaches away from the physical, I might still have a shot at being a big league coach one day. I cannot help with your swing, but I might be able to help your with mother issues.
So much money is invested into baseball performance that even a slight benefit from an ~$80,000 investment is worthwhile.
I know, it just struck me as funny.
To me, it is like rock bands playing for $millions$ while arguing with their writers about $thousands$.
hiflew – Obviously Rey didn’t work enough with Rafaela ….. or Rafaela tuned him out.
At least Bello improved in that area.
It seems odd to me they are firing the bullpen catcher. I mean, is that even a paid position? What distinguishes one bullpen catcher from the next? I mean I’ve never heard a pitcher complain about the doofus who is catching them in the bullpen. It would be like one of those guys who get paid to dance around with a sign on a busy street corner getting fired for holding the sign wrong.
Ignorant – Funny comment!!
Bullpen catchers have a job beyond just catching the ball. The idea of throwing a bull pen used to be an exercise issue for the body but now it’s about working on very specific aspects of each pitcher’s game. Behind the bullpen catcher is the bullpen coach who is responsible for making improvements and resolving issues for each pitcher. If the catcher isn’t effective implementing his plan the guy needs to go because that’s his job. It makes sense to me.
From Yogi Berra to Harvey Dorfman and beyond, many people have talked about the mental game of baseball.
Yogi said 90 percent of the game is physical, the other half is mental. Great philosopher, our Yogi!
Reds – Yogi needed a Mathematics Skills Coach.
I was thinking of submitting my resume for bat-picker-outer coach or on deck circle sweeping coach.
Any business with hundreds of millions of dollars invested in ~40 people will have resources for their mental health and performance. That’s just good business sense.
This won’t fix anything
Boston won’t be fixed until Cora is gone and Henry spends again
sad – If Henry allows Breslow to put together a team like 2018, not even Cora can mess it up. Talent overcomes ignorance.
Fever – I’m not sure whether Breslow has the stones that a guy like DD has to put a 2018-like roster together.
On the one hand I like the decisiveness it took to make the sale-grissom trade. It showed a departure from the hand-wringing dithering ways of Bloom. The substance of the trade didn’t work, nor did the deadline deals to shore up the pen. But at least he made the deals to *try* which was an improvement.
So the question will be whether some on-the-job-experience will improve the quality of outcome in Breslow’s trades. But the willingness to commit to a course seems improved over prior years at least.
GASox – I think and hope Breslow will get better with experience.
Hey now that the Trop roof is gone, do they replace it now despite the fact they will be demolishing the entire stadium in 4 years? I guess the question is, how much would it cost to replace the roof? I don’t think playing elsewhere for at least a year is out of the question.
Fever, odds are that yes they do fix it. Contractually they’re obligated to provide the Rays with the facilities, and, insurance should foot the bill right?
I’m not sure how efficient breach fits the bill because I don’t get the feeling there’s the most goodwill between team and municipality – im thinking after how the current lease agreement has been leveraged/used against the team’s desire for improved facilities.
But i dont see the team going out of its way to help the municipality make a windfall via keeping insurance proceeds and ending the lifespan early.*
* = if the municipality were to offer a chunk of the cash to the team to buy out its end of the lease however, that’d change the calculus
GASox – Fantastic insight, thank you!
And what are you doing up at that hour? LOL
I was getting ready to fly back from a worcester trip.
I relapsed a couple months ago so now I have to head up there every 3.5 to 4 weeks for extra testing since my numbers are trending worse than devers’ defense 😉
Need management willing to fund aggressive moves, though. That was why DD quit and that is the biggest reason why they have been mediocre since.
The Red Sox are now a “mid-market” payroll, and getting “mid-market” results. Eventually they will be competitive with teams like MIN, DET, KCR (once their current crop of prospects graduates), but they are some $100M of payroll away from competing with the big boys.
We’ll see if Henry is willing to allocate some of that this winter – they are roughly $90M under the CBT, and of course the big market teams regularly exceed that mark.
GASox – Sorry to hear. I’m flying into Worcester in a couple weeks, I will leave some positive vibes for you.
Last time I left an unopened bottle of vodka there. Lol
Tff – With Minnesota are you banking on just new ownership, or do you see talent there?
They’ve been decently competitive over the years, I respect what they’ve been able to do with a modest payroll.
That said, I don’t want to see the Red Sox put themselves in that group. The Red Sox are easily top five in revenue and should be top five in payroll as well.
tff – I hope you’re right about the Red Sox. Last year they sunk from 3rd to 4th in revenue, I’m expecting another drop this year although hopefully they will remain in the Top 5.
I know they are banking on the new uniforms next year, hopefully no more new patches on the jerseys.
Fever – I couldn’t find it on my trip. I think Cora had it while filling out line-up cards
Who cares about the uniforms? At my age I can barely see them anyways. Want to bring in fans and dollars, put a winning product on the field. Fenway is nice enough, but Fenway with a bad team is a losing proposition.
GASox – Well I left it in a trash can, so if anybody would find it Cora would. You know how he’s fixated on trash cans!!
You know, if Cora and Beltran would endorse a trash can line tons of people would buy it. Stamp or print their autographs on each one.
Marketing genius
tff – If the new uniforms help fund payroll, I’m all for it.
If the revenue from them is going straight into FSG’s pocket, then all I can say is I hope they aren’t some ugly color like puke green.
I do like the St. Paddy’s Day green jerseys, matched with either white pants or black pants.
GASox – I think if Altuve ever gets a podcast, he should call it “What’s The Buzz?” and his first guest should be Ruth Buzzi.
And I think he should do PSA’s as well, “Don’t Drive Buzzed”.
So, you are sad and tormented about the Red Sox as well as the Mariners.
Yep I feel bad for them getting worse and worse
Yeah, I mean, the Red Sox have only won four championships since Seattle last won one. I see why you feel for them so.
Sad tormented – For what it’s worth, I really like Dan Wilson as the new Manager. He played under some outstanding coaches throughout his career and understands pitching at a level that exceeds most managers in baseball, especially the one in Boston. I think Seattle’s future is bright.
wait the bullpen coach actually impacts on-field performance? i thought they just answered the phone and passed along instructions
dasit – They are involved in more, such as training and coordinating the pitchers.
They also observe side sessions for pitchers and help make decisions on which relievers may be available on any given night. Some guys sitting in the BP dugout during games may not be even available but you don’t want your opponent to know that.
after 45 years of baseball fandom not sure how i didn’t know that
Future HOF pitching coach Brent Strom can fix the Red Sox pitching issues, he finally realized major internal issues with the Dbacks after consulting with Roger Beshens Football Slider. Red Sox should hire Strom and have Roger Beshens do individual sessions all throughout the organization with pitchers, this would expedite the time pitchers develop. Whoever they hired last year and previously doesn’t know the techniques needed for that Roger Beshens Football Slider.
Brent Strom has no chance of going to the HOF. I don’t think there is any pitching coach in the Hall for coaching reasons.
Dave Duncan, imagine if he knew the Roger Beshens Football Slider.
Imagine if Mazzone knew it and taught it to Maddux, Smoltz, Glavine, Avery, even Charlie Liebrandt, Charlie would have been more famous.
Andrew Bailey did a solid job his first year in. I expect the pitching to improve. No pitching coach can improve the fact that Kutter Crawford threw almost everything straight down the plate with very hittable velocity for two straight months
How can the pitching improve when the minor league system can’t teach the Roger Beshens Football Slider right? There’s no reason to pay a 100M or even 80M for a pitcher. How do you think Giolito got good? He learned the Roger Beshens Football Slider and shortened his arm path. All this can be taught in very little time with Roger Beshens as a consultant or pitching coach.
Beshens just consulted with Strom in May and Ryne Nelson made huge steps with his RB Football Slider.
I think we are going to find out that shortening the arm path is a primary contributor to TJ.
It’s criminal the way the sweeper is taught, other than Roger Beshens. A bad tilt will kill an arm and that’s the cutter.
MLB can’t even come out and say there are 2 different sliders a traditional slider and non traditional Roger Beshens Football Slider. MLB can fix everything if they speak the truth, but their propeller heads and media love the attention.
Who suffers? Every pitcher around the world.
What is taught in the Pitching lab? Why is a there a bogus scheme shifted fake? ALL this nonsense and lies are ruining arms and young pitchers trying to learn just how to throw that Roger Beshens Football Slider.
There’s not one pitcher that shortens his arm path that doesn’t throw the Roger Beshens Football Slider. It’s just like a catcher.
It doesn’t hurt the arm cause it’s just like throwing a Football. What hurts the arm is if they are a little off center or have a bad tilt. I think weighted balls are a contributor. A lighter ball would be ok, NEVER a heavier ball.
Flapjax55 – I agree and I’ve seen it impact pitchers who also catch in high school. If not TJ then rotator cuff injuries.
More and more upper management personnel are recognizing it’s all about teaching pitchers that Slider, inside the lines it’s called the Roger Beshens Football Slider. The Sweeper, Gyro that’s the RBFS, If you don’t know it Google it click images,video.
Nobody teaches it better than Roger Beshens, he was consulting with Strom, (Ryne Nelson) development all 2024 even in the Dbacks clubhouse.
Strom recently said there was a major internal issues, that’s the issue and it needs to be taught ALL throughout the organization. Dback’s AAA, AA failed miserably in having higher tier RB Football Slider guys ready. If the Red Sox hired Roger Beshens in ONE MONTH there would be DOZENS of guys advanced. Realize Giolito couldn’t avg over a K an IP until 2019 guess what pitch he learned? Guess why he shortened his arm path? Roger Beshens Football Slider.
I would venture a guess and say this is Roger Beshen’s burner account.
No, I met Rog the Dodge in the Dbacks Clubhouse May 23 2024.
He was with Stromy by the pitching machine with names on it.
Cole spit out a Football Slider. The machine is only 55 feet back not 60, that might be a good thing tho.
That’s cool. I hope the slider works out for them.
Mental skills coach Rey Fuentes may need a therapist to deal with this.
Most therapists already have their own bc they understand the value. Fuentes may need multiple.
This is hilarious! Cora the Incompetent gets whatever needed protect his ego from responsibility. At the press conference, he blamed youth and inexperience for the team failing, and now the team gets rid of nearly everyone that worked with and for him. It has become increasingly crystal why the players quit on him routinely.
The team didn’t quit. You don’t watch the Red Sox.
Very nice and concise couple of sophisms.
What is the evidence that they quit? I think Cora got the extension because he got the most out of this group of players. I thought it was obvious when watching the games. A couple of examples: Pitchers wouldn’t have pitched career high innings if they quit. Story and Casas could have quit and taken the rest of the year off, but they wanted to come back as soon as possible.
All – I’m 50/50 on your comments. I agree that they didn’t quit, they over performed for a very long time and reality set in.
I disagree why Cora got an extension. He has been connected to ownership since 2018 when they hired him. He has some strong ties from relatives and friends of relatives so his status in the baseball community far exceeds his talent. He had no managerial skills when he got hired except being a manager who could relate better than Farrell could to Latin players. The Dodgers hired Roberts in 2016 and set a new precedent for backgrounds of managers. Cora wasn’t a catcher which was vogue for a while, Cora wasn’t a pitcher who could handle the pitching staff along with his pitching coaches like Farrell, Cora was a bench coach who spent most of his career on the bench but he was Latin and spoke two languages and was considered a steal from an admired organization in Houston.
The Red Sox followed in the Dodger footsteps because Friedman was considered a brilliant GM (I disagree but nobody cares that i do!) Cora was adding comfort to all the young immature Latin players like Devers and many of baseball’s elite Latin players had family ties to him or his family’s friends. In other words, he was well connected through the Latin baseball community.
To this day, I believe that has to still be the reason he manages because he has proven to be god awful at his job other than keeping the Latin players happy. I know you like him but he is killing the team’s chances at success. His moves in 2018 nearly cost him a ring, his moves in 2019 got people fired and Mookie to move elsewhere, his moves in 2020 showed no signs of improvement and since then he’s still riding on his one successful year of 2021 when the players all played way above their normal skill level. He takes credit for it. He throws players under the bus whenever he wants to. He back stabs GMs. He cheats and gets minimally punished.
And it’s my belief many players avoid playing in Boston due to his Latin bias. That’s hard to prove since so few have agreed to come to Boston since the greatness was disbanded by Bloom, but clearly we have not been successful recruiting top flight players and part of the issue is the manager, part of the issue is the commitment of ownership to winning since 2019 and part of the issue is the team revolves around Devers and his decision to field at 3B when it’s in conflict with the best interest of the club.
So thumbs up on not quitting and thumbs down on Cora get the most out of his players. If you had said Latin players, I probably could have agreed. I think Price and Mookie might agree and many many more who are now departed from the Championship team.
Sagacity: I have always said that Cora is basically an average manager. If you agree the players didn’t quit and they overperformed, I would think you would agree he is worth keeping. His moves in 2018 did not nearly cost them a ring. They won 108 games and were 11-3 in the postseason with an injured Sale and Price and Porcello working out of the bullpen. He was arguably great in 2018. I think the Red Sox succeed or fail as an organization, not because of Cora. There is a huge coaching staff and analytics department giving him advice. I’m would bet he is taking some of it, if not a lot of it. I don’t agree with your speculation about Latin bias. If the Red Sox are offering good money, I think the free agents will come.
Suit: if you want to argue that players will come if good money is offered, what is your counterpoint to good players refusing to visit the team and even hear the offer?
I refer, specifically, to last winter when the top Japanese talent didn’t even visit, despite visiting other nearby (geographically speaking) clubs, and, point to Boston’s relatively decent track records with Japanese export player signings whether it was dice-k, Koji, gurrently Yoshida, etc etc etc.
Of course it’s not *only* last offseason, and not only Nippon league players that have spurned boston of late…. but, generallynspeaking, there has been a heightened level of disinterest – for a number of reasons, not only this purported Latin bias 5o be fair – but the reality is what it is
GA: Good to see you. It’s hard to say what happened, assuming it is true. They don’t need to travel to Boston to hear an offer. Maybe their preliminary offer was lower than other teams, so no use visiting. Maybe the Japanese food is bad in Boston. Who knows.
Suit – and that’s the rub. So little of what we hear can be confirmed true or false unless it happens on film or in front of a reporter. Heck, even this site is called rumors filled with ‘news’ stories…
However, I give my information 3 levels of weight.
There’s the highest weight: that’s info there is indisputable information of. We can see Ortiz beat the pulp out of a bullpen phone.
Then you’ve got 95% of what’s out there – one side says something, but, you never really know if that’s how it was meant or how it really went down. Your classic he said she said.
Then there’s the lowest weight: We know last winter and the full-throttle bs. We know it wasn’t true. We know the Astros cheated, claims they didn’t we know are untrue. Etc etc etc.
It’s a personal judgment call to decide how you weigh that middle stuff, if there’s more reports or more circumstantial stuff combining do you push it higher? Thats where personal opinion kicks in.
To me I feel the obvious lies are quickly disproven, but, many times persistent rumors are based in fact, and, there have been playing time decisions that just aren’t supported by results or analytic data that happen to break along the latin/non Latin line so…. I’ll give the benefit of the doubt that there is maybe something to it in my opinion on this one.
Evidence? You’ve been watching and you haven’t noticed? It’s not everybody, it’s not storming out in a loud frenzy, this ‘quitting’ is that modern crap were you just go through the motions. It’s commonly referred to as “quiet quitting”. Where the players play but their efforts, usually utilized to will the team to victory at all costs, have dwindled or dried up. Even if the players show up and produce personal bests, (since their livelihoods depend on their production and skill), it doesn’t mean their engaging purposefully for the team anymore. As it’s not mutually exclusive to play everyday or rehab for the team’s success.
Why are they “quiet quitting” on Cora? Well, the evidence is in their loud-mouths. Formerly, Verdugo did plenty of rebelling and despite a once-hugely positive figure with the Sox, was ushered to our hated rivals without remorse. The dumping of Sale despite clearly being in excellent form hollowed out their veteran presences. And Jansen’s dismal early departure can be added to the list of guys who went sour on the team. It takes a lot of mismanagement for this to happen.
But ultimately what was most telling that the players were “quiet quitting” was from the season wrap-up interviews. As much maligned by fans these past weeks, it was rightfully so because they were filled with excuses. Most startling was when Cora made statements that blamed the team’s inexperience and lack of maturity for the season’s failings. This stood out to me as amazingly terrible leadership. I couldn’t imagine any manager with the respect of the clubhouse to publicly rip the players instead of taking the onus of a failed season on themselves.
Too many of these things happening under one manager without leading to a firing isn’t escaping the players. However, what can they do. Those that expressed it outwardly were removed. All the players have left is to disengage and play for themselves. So what we saw when the team went from closing-in on a wild-card spot prior to August, to falling flat, is emblematic of this happening. And a direct reflection of Cora failings to hold the players together in common goal.
Now, it’s normal for teams to move on from managers when there are collapses. It happened to Tito after fried chicken beer video games debacle in ’11. Seattle did just so. Servais got the axe after failing all season to turn the worse than lackluster Mariner’s offense around. It caused them to blunder another playoff chance wasting the league’s best pitching rotation. The situation in Seattle despite how much they beloved Servais, is clear just like with any sinking ship, the captain goes too.
But not for Cora, who instead got even more security for the same managerial failures. This disconnect in reality for Red Sox putting Cora over reason is reinforced by the firing off all those coaches. For him to succeed in regaining the player’s ears, he needs new voices that don’t sympathize with the what the players have experienced.
Until Cora is outed, the players will continue to realize he isn’t worth giving their full devotion beyond collecting their paychecks.
I haven’t noticed any quiet who and I’m not sure we could discern that from afar. Please post links to the quotes/interviews you think show quiet quitting. Please also post a link to the Cora quote about inexperience and lack of maturity. I am not finding that quote. We need the exact quotes if we are going to discuss them. I think it is a pretty big leap to say the coaching changes are all to protect Cora. Breslow is likely still evaluating the organization and making changes.
Correction (first sentence): I haven’t noticed any quiet quitting and I’m not sure we could discern that from afar.
All – I think we see things about the manager from varying heights. From the Goodyear Blimp, Cora’s managing may not look bad even in 2018 but if you dig into several key fundamental shortcomings I think you will see what I see:
1 – Cora has stated in April of 2018 that he was going to manage like Hinch so he wrote out a schedule of off days and posted on the wall in his office. When asked why he sat Mookie in the second week of April he stated it was his day off according to the schedule and bragged that he learned this approach from Hinch. The next question was why are you following a schedule and ignoring the off days and rainouts and resting the star players when they need it instead. The response he mumbled was incomprehensible. The manage by numbers approach of a rookie manager screams DON’T HIRE HIM because he has no experience at how to handle his ball club.
2 = In game decisions. When Cora first starting doing illogical things during games when selecting pinch hitters, selecting when a pitcher should be pulled, selecting the next pitcher to pitch and when to play small ball he constantly suggested it was his gut that told him to do it. His guts success rate was below the Mendoza line in 2018 and every year since.
3 – Starting rotation selections along with reliever selections. Cora has a tendency to add starts in the rotation so players are more well rested. He does the same with fielders as well. When asked why so many days off for your best players, his answer was simple, That’s what Hinch did and look how well that worked out. I immediately thought of being in school and watching a student copy off another person’s test. Is that really who you want running the ball club or would you rather have an experienced guy who they are copying off?
There are hundreds of scenarios that people on this website can reference when Cora made a poor choice. I have always objected to him taking credit for when something went right and blaming others when something went wrong. ANYONE who thinks the ball players on the 2018 team didn’t earn the world series ring and give Cora ANY credit for it simply don’t understand MLB baseball. This isn’t little league where the coach inspires you to be better. These are professional hitters that spend endless hours in cages working on hitting with multiple coaches. These are pitchers that throw hundreds of bullpens under the supervision of knowledgeable pitching coaches to fine tune their craft. A come on guy you can do it!!!, from Cora doesn’t win games but bringing Robles in when you have far better pitchers available at that point in the game can lose it.
The 2018 deserves credit for overcoming Cora’s stupidity and winning 108 games. That’s a tough enough task by itself but when you add so many bad moves and mistakes in the batting order, the pitcher sequencing and the use of your star players, the 2018 team made a monumental season of 2018. They overcame their greatest adversity, Cora as the manager!!
If you can’t observe the Latin bias, that’s your issue not mine. It’s very obvious unless maybe you are a Latin person then you may think it is simply the way to look at the players. If you don’t see the favoritism toward Devers even when he was having a terrible year in 2018 then you are ignoring the facts. If Benny started to slump, there were no hesitations. It’s no shock that Price, Sale and Porcello never performed to the level they did under Farrell. It’s no surprise that Sale and Price got pulled earlier than they should have been but guys like Martin Perez stayed in games when he should have been pulled. The examples are countless and overwhelming. If you don’t see that, you must be looking away on purpose.
I get that you like Cora and I can’t find a logical reason for it. Bobby Valentine had more redeeming qualities and I hated him as a manager.
How can you give Cora any credit for what happened in 2018 when you haven’t criticized him for every year since then that he has managed (not 2020)? If you went into your managers office for an annual review and the last time your review was “meets expectations” was 6 years ago wouldn’t you expect to be fired? He got a three year extension. That’s totally illogical and it’s killing the organization.
Again, I’m aware I won’t change your mind but at least open your eyes and start seeing what’s really happening. From his line-ups, to his use of the bullpen, he’s a complete dolt.
Sagacity: You may be right. However, I see Cora as basically an average manager in a typical analytics-driven organization. With all the people involved, I’m not sure how decisions are made. I imagine you also think Dave Dombrowski, Chain Bloom and Craig Breslow are also complete dolts for hiring or extending the complete dolt Cora.
Suit:
DD needs a flyer in Cora. When he hired him the cheating aspect was not yet known in Houston. And Cora’s return was not under DD.
It’s possible DD saw a good interview, and, saw strong competition from HOU the last few seasons and was giving it a shot – again, remember, this was all pre-cheating scandal.
All – It was clear when Cora was hired originally the decision was made from above Dombrowski’s position. The owners in a TV interview got asked about the Red Sox issue of diversity and the owners responded that they have a plan in place to remedy the situation. Two weeks later Cora was hired and the pros were: 1- He’s been in the baseball world for years, 2-He studied under Hinch in Houston and 3- He was bilingual.
Subsequently, we all found out about Hinch being a cheater along with Cora and Beltran. Bi-lingual isn’t a good enough reason to hire a manager that must make key decisions daily about pitching which he knew nothing about, batting orders which he knew nothing about and resting star players appropriately which he knew nothing about. As a bench jockey, he favors greater bench use than normal managers because he relates to their roles and it makes him a player coach in his mind. I don’t think the star players see it that way but clearly the guys who get more playing time than they should love him.
I also don’t believe Bloom or Breslow had a say in his hiring. You saw the bitterness at the end with Bloom. I fully expect a similar sentiment from Breslow as Cora continues to make mistakes that cost the team games.
All- you know politics affect personnel decisions in both sports and the business world. Cora has some very high up ties with the decision makers. Personally, I thought when Dombrowski was GM and Bloom was GM he had meetings without the GMs and directly communicated with the key owner he is connected to. I think that is a good way to make for a difficult relationship with your boss the GM, especially if he is pushing his agenda and having the owners support him if the GM disagrees with what Cora wants to do. Clearly that was the case with Bloom. With Dombrowski, I think Cora shared the Video Room scam with his owner connection and that’s why he got to keep his job. I think he traded his silence for his job because the owners would have received both financial punishment and severe reputational impact if it came out they knew and supported the cheating. I’ve read about these theories on other websites and to me they make the most sense as to why Cora keeps getting re-hired. Clearly, it’s not his skill set.
The good news is that I am not here to sway you against Cora just to identify the issues I have with him because I want Boston to win again. I want elite pitchers like Sale and Price to come to Boston and not have to worry about what Cora is going to do to change their career paths. You must have observed how much better Sale did in ATL and Eovaldi seems so much happier in TEX. Price, never got a chance to re=establish his greatness because of COVID and his heart condition but I truly believe he would have had he not had the heart issue. No star pitchers has thrived under Cora and there is good reason for it. He has no understanding of greatness in players and he has no idea how to respect an elite player. Devers has been his only exception. That’s why great players haven’t come to Boston since Dombrowski hired JD Martinez to replace Papi in 2018.
GA: Sagacity and I weren’t discussing cheating at all. Dombrowski is a smart guy. Dombrowski hired Cora in 2018 and he said this in 2020 after Chaim Bloom rehired Cora:
“Of course it was completely up to the Red Sox if it was this one or another job. But I didn’t have any question he would because he’s a good person. He’s a good manager, which of course is important, but he’s a good person. He made a mistake. He paid his dues for the mistake. If you do that and you handle yourself well society is forgiving in those things. You see other people who have been involved in sports and the world, really, they bounce back. So, yes, I did think he would be, and I would think — there are no other jobs now — but if the Red Sox didn’t hire him someone down the road would hire him quickly because he’s so good.”
audacy.com/weei/sports/red-sox/dave-dombrowski-isn…
I’ll take Dombrowski’s word for it. As I said, I think Cora is an average manager.
Suit: where I was bringing in the cheating is that the results Cora put up were inflated by the cheating.
You look better at your job if you get a boost in the results, and that’s where his prior cheating comes in.
As far as the rest of the quotes, I’m not sure. DD isn’t typically the type to burn bridges and throw people under the bus so I take it with a grain of salt, especially since it’d be egg on his face to say he was duped and made a bad choice
Sagacity: I just haven’t seen any evidence that most of the things you are saying regarding Cora are true. If you want to post links to articles with quotes from people in the know, I will read them and consider what they say. I suspect Cora met with ownership and worked to get Bloom fired because Bloom was not win-now enough for Cora, but I don’t know this for sure. I don’t see how you can say things like Eovaldi is much happier in Texas without a direct quote.
GA: Sounds like Dombroswski thinks highly of Cora. I think Dombrowski is not afraid to burn bridges. He was asked if he considers John Henry a friend and he said “No.” He also said, “I don’t think I was treated right” in Boston.
masslive.com/redsox/2022/10/dave-dombrowski-john-h…
All – My two favorite teams are Rangers and Red Sox so I watch them daily including post game interviews. Eovaldi is too classy to directly talk trash about Cora, instead, he can’t stop raving about his new manager and pitching coach. Observing his body language during interviews after both wins and losses in both organizations I believe he looks much happier now than before just like Mookie does in LA.
To me, I like observing players at specific points in time and reading their body language and overall attitude. When Sale was dominant in 2018 and was the starting pitcher in the all-star game he was on a real high since it was two years in a row. A week later in a TV interview with Sale standing behind him Cora announced that he was putting Sale on the IL because he had a shoulder issue and the look on Sale’s face said it all, he was pissed. When the camera was turned on him and he was asked about it, he stated he would do whatever it takes to get back in the line-up. So I think the defining comment or moment that your are hoping to find to document the precise feelings of a professional athlete is not likely to happen as you are suggesting.
My advice, watch TV interviews and the reactions of the players during the interviews. The rolled eyes, the body language and the folding of the arms and stiffness in the body. Come to your own conclusions. Like I said, I’m not trying to push you into hating Cora, I’m simply suggesting there are tell tale signs that define his relationships with the executives, co-workers and his players. Maybe you’ll read them differently than I do. I see lots of animosity among certain types of players and lots of love from those who benefit from him being manager. It’s almost a direct flip flop from when Farrell was the managers and one segment of the team thought he had too many rules and the other part of the team loved his discipline. In the end, Cora is here for 3 years and everyone has a right to believe in him or mock him for his moves. I’ve been in baseball a very long time and I mock his behavior especially when compared to managers like Bruce Bochy. The whole atmosphere around the Rangers is more comfortable than the Red Sox. The tearing down the roster that Bloom did destroyed the team chemistry that existed in 2018 and even 2019. Since then it appears that many are on pins and needles when it comes to fitting in and feeling confident they will be there a while. That’s not the case in Texas. It’s a family environment like in 2017 in Boston and even when JD got added and Holt and he had their HR ritual in the dugout. To me, the dugout now looks likes a map of the Burroughs in NY with each click representing a different ethnic background and closeness to Cora. You need another team that has a family atmosphere to see just how family-like the Red Sox aren’t. Cora is at the heart of that segregation and has been since arrived. I wish he had stayed in Houston.
I wish we had hired Dusty Baker when he was available or even better Bruce Bochy but our front office has ties at the top with the biggest cheater of all time in baseball. That’s both sad and pathetic. And there is nothing fans can do to change it so we live with it and point out the daily mistakes.
All – The issue between Henry and Dombrowski was a big one. Dombrowski signed up and told Henry the over spending from the Cherington era was not on him and he expected cap money to build a winner. Henry doesn’t like when employees put demands on him but he agreed and Dombrowski delivered 3 Division Championships and a Ring. Then when Mookie voiced his concerns about the treatment of Price by ownership on the Eckersley situation Henry decided he didn’t want Mookie in Boston so a low offer was made to Mookie for less money than they offered Devers. Dombrowski went to Henry to give Mookie the $9 Million dollar raise he wanted in 2021 to $36Million a year and he got turned down. Dombrowski brought up their agreement and Henry decided to fire him less than a year after winning the world series. That’s why Dombrowski said what he said about Henry. He really doesn’t believe he was treated right by firing him for wanting to maintain a top level of talent to go for more rings. There was no bridge to burn with Henry. Henry had already burned it to a crisp.
Cora and Dombrowski were always cordial. Dombrowski can’t have liked having a know nothing Manager forced on him to replace an excellent manager but he was a company man and never suggested what a huge mistake it was. Maybe he didn’t believe it was or maybe he figured Henry gave in on not holding him accountable for the Cherington financial mistakes so he let the Cora hiring slide. Either way, he knew his job was to assemble a great team for less than the CAP and he did. He simply had to hope Cora wouldn’t screw it up but if he did he expected Cora to pay the price for not succeeding. Well, the roster was so strong that even Cora couldn’t stop them so no heads needed to roll, or so it seemed. So there was never issues presented in the press but when asked if Dombrowski minded that Cora often met with Henry without Dombrowski he avoided the topic so nothing negative could be implied. I think Dombrowski underestimated the depths that Cora could go to when trying to get his way. Houston had not become an issue yet.
So, if you think Dombrowski was cool with Cora, that’s your choice. I hope at least you acknowledge that Cora had a huge part in both the Houston and Boston cheating schemes. If you don’t see that I think it’s a waste of my time to tell you more facts about Cora. He was a shortcut guy as a player, as a bench coach and as a manager. His work ethic has sucked his whole life based on what I observed during his playing years, he cheating year in Houston and his managing in Boston. Rather than doing the homework other managers do, he uses his gut to make decisions. That’s a gambler’s mentality not a hard working mentality. That’s Cora.
Sagacity: Where are you getting all these details from? I’m not sure if I should believe it or not. Regarding 2018: MLB’s investigation of the 2018 Red Sox went on for months and uncovered no evidence of cheating. They admitted this in their report when they said they have a “factual dispute”, “largely have no direct evidence” and “no written record, recording or other contemporaneous evidence of the underlying events”. There was no evidence and the conclusion of cheating “on at least some occasions” was clearly based on speculation as MLB’s investigation failed to document a single occasion of cheating. The report which is still available on MLB.com.
Didn’t see Fatse’s name on the list of coaches that were let go. Obviously an oversight, right?!? Heh…I mean, they couldn’t have possibly decided to let all of the other coaches go and not him, right?!?
Just the fact that the Sox had the second-highest number of whiffs in the league should be cause for the firing of Fatsy. Bring in a real coach. And a real manager.
Let – And Duran improved by ignoring Fatso’s advice, he said so himself.
when did Duran say anything about ignoring Fatse’s advice?
Why do teams keep trying to make Hendriks happen?
Because he is one of the greatest guitar players ever.
But more seriously, he was one of the best relievers in BB for four straight years before the injury.
What happened to getting on base?? The Sox used to be great at that now they swing at everything! Not a tool for success.
This. This team was at it’s best this year when Duran, Hamilton and Rafaela were wreacking havoc on the bases, then the second half happened and they became a strikeout machine swinging for the fences on every pitch
Firing the bullpen catcher should do the trick.
Along with firing the hot dog vendor and the beer guy. Clearly, that’s where the problem lies. (insert eye roll here)
draker – I heard it was between the bullpen catcher and Cora and in a very close vote, the bullpen catcher got picked.
Red Sox don’t know what they are doing with their pitching.
It’s all about teaching the Roger Beshens Football Slider from 2018, it’s now called the sweeper and gyro. In ONE MONTH Roger Beshens can take guys with good velo and control and turn them into a Glasnow, Taillon, Flaherty, Giolito, DIaz, Degrom and 600 more that throw it.
NONE of those guys threw the RB Football slider before the 2018 season.
NONE. There’s a reason for that, They had no clue the Grip, Tilt and Wrist action, Roger Beshens teaches. Roger just helped Ryne Nelson with that football slider, he was in the Dbacks clubhouse May 23 and there’s a video of him teaching it to Strom. If the Red Sox or other clubs are smart they will contact Roger, ask for that video and the techniques that Nelson didn’t know are in that video.
How many teams had employed the Beshens slider so far?
have employed
EVERY ONE as of 2024.
Matt Blake (2019) and Ethan Katz would be nothing without learning the Roger Beshens Football Slider.
Roger Beshens proves the Sweeper and Gyro have the same Grip, Tilt and Wrist action, only difference is the lower arm angle makes it sweep.
Talk to Roger Beshens for 30 minutes about his Football Slider like Brent Strom just did in May and you get a guy like Ryne Nelson turn his career around.
Remember in ONE Month back in May 2018 Roger Beshens taught Glasnow, Taillon, Musgrove, his Football Slider and the Rays noticed Glasnow in June. It’s that easy. Roger Beshens knows techniques other’s don’t because he threw 20,000 of them. That’s why Strom brought him in the Dbacks Clubhouse. If you want to see the video of Beshens showing Strom his techniques, contact him that is a H$ll of a resume.
Glasnow was stuck in the Pitt bullpen with a 82 CU and great fastball but had NO indication of breaking through until that RB Football Slider. He called it a slutter in TB he called it a CU (thrown with less effort but same shape as Football SL) that’s not Rogers fault. Glasnow said to Clevenger he got sick of sucken and it was organic like a roll. lol
The Sweeper and Gyro is the Roger Beshens Football SLider.
The Sweeper and Gyro are sliders.
Beshens teaches it on center grip, throw like Football, Stiff Wrist. Strom wanted to know how to shape it that’s why Roger Beshens was in the Dbacks Clubhouse but there was another technique, one that Ryne Nelson didn’t know. Pitchers that don’t throw the Roger Beshens Football Slider take a long time to develop and most don’t.
Why do you think Skenes is so good? Roger Beshens Football Slider. If you want someone to teach the Roger Beshens Football Slider do you want someone that read his messages that never threw it or Roger Beshens?
Notice the analysts, announcers and even pro pitchers and ex pro pitchers, When someone throws a sweeper they wont say the Roger Beshens Grip, tilt and wrist action? They won’t cause that’s how people they know get the pitching job. They don’t want to tip the others off. This has been going on since May 2018. Michael King was the only one that said he throws the Roger Beshens Football Slider and the Yankees teach it the same way, throw like a football, stiff wrist.
The Red Sox need to stop pretending they didn’t eff up bringing Cora back by firing everyone but him. He’s got to go (again). He hasn’t shown he can win without cheating. He’s a black mark on the organization. Take out the trash.
How long until Joey Cora is hired?
I see the Red Sox are in the blame everyone else for Cora’s incompetence stage. Next up, Full Throttle!
Yeah it is the coaching that caused this team to mid the playoffs again. It has to do with management and the owner who has directed Bloom and Breslow to do it cheaper with the minor league system. Boston is a high market baseball city and they have missed the playoffs for 4 of the last 5 years. You need a combination of rookies, veterans, free agents and key trades at the trade deadline. Picking up Paxton who is made of glass because he is cheap was absurd. With Henry controlling the purse strings and Breslow at the helm, I just don’t know. The embarrassed themselves last year with the “Full Throttle” BS and I believe this years saying when I see it. I still feel Brelow is in over his head.