Alex Cora on Hot Seat? Firing of Red Sox Manager Predicted to Come Before All-Star Break

Newsweek

10 hours ago

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This was supposed to be the year the Boston Red Sox were back.
In 2018, Alex Cora's rookie year as manager, the Red Sox put together the best season in the history of the franchise — a history that dates back to the founding of the American League in 1901. But since 2018, the Red Sox have provided little for their fans to get excited about.
In that historic 2018 season, Boston won 108 games, breezing past the 106-year-old team record of 105 in 1912, the first year the Red Sox played in a brand-new facility named Fenway Park.
The 1912 Red Sox defeated the New York Giants in the World Series, but took eight games to do it, winning 4-3 with one game tied. The 2018 Red Sox blew away the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games.
But those glory days seem like distant memories now. From that season, only All-Star slugger Rafael Devers and manager Alex Cora remain — and according to a prediction by one prominent Boston sports commentator, Cora will not last much longer.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA - JUNE 01: Manager Alex Cora #13 of the Boston Red Sox looks on during the first inning against the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park on June 01, 2025 in Atlanta, Georgia.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA - JUNE 01: Manager Alex Cora #13 of the Boston Red Sox looks on during the first inning against the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park on June 01, 2025 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
"Cora will be gone by All-Star break," said WEEI Radio personality Jermaine "Wiggy" Wiggins, a former tight end for the New England Patriots and four other NFL teams.
"They're going to continue to play like this. They might be double digits (back) when it comes to a wild card spot," Wiggins continued, on a Wednesday broadcast. "I don't think if you're the front office, Breslow and those guys, I think it's time to pull the Band-Aid off. What's $14 million or whatever you owe him?"
Wiggins was referring to the fact that the Red Sox, with fewer than 100 games left to play in the season, have performed well below preseason expectations.
After an offseason that saw the acquisitions of ace lefty starter Garrett Crochet and two-time World Series-winning third baseman Alex Bregman — as well as former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Walker Buehler and veteran bullpen closer Aroldis Chapman, among others — numerous experts predicted the Red Sox would be a playoff-caliber team.
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Some went so far as to predict that the Red Sox would top the Yankees in winning the AL East, and reach as far as the World Series.
All of that remains theoretically possible, of course, but with 64 games in the books, the prognosis doesn't look good.
Last year's Red Sox finished at 82-82, their third straight season without topping the .500 mark. After 64 games, that edition sat at 32-32.
This year's Red Sox head into a weekend series with their arch rivals, the New York Yankees, at 30-34, two wins behind last year's pace. Perhaps fortunately, the Yankees also got off to a slow start, so the Red Sox are now nine games off New York's pace at the top of the division, compared to 12 1/2 games at the same point last season.
On Thursday, Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow appeared on WEEI and was asked about Cora's future. While he did not say Cora's job was in danger, he didn't exactly give the 49-year-old manager a ringing endorsement either.
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"We're always going to be anchored to what is best for the team, and we have a lot of confidence in Alex as the leader of this group," Breslow told Wiggins on the broadcast. "We have conversations daily about everything that we can do to get us back on track. That's where our focus is, and that's where it will remain."
Cora missed the COVID-shortened 2020 season as he served a one-year suspension for his role in the Houston Astros' sign-stealing scandal when he was bench coach for that team.
Cora returned to the Red Sox in 2021 and led an overachieving roster to 92 wins, a wild card postseason spot, and all the way to the AL Championship Series, where they lost to the Astros in six games.
Otherwise, in his five full seasons as Red Sox manager since the triumphant 2018 campaign, Cora has posted only two more winning seasons: 2021 and 2019, when the Red Sox slumped to a third-place finish, and failed to qualify for the playoffs with an 84-78 record — 24 games behind their regular season record the previous year.
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