Alex Cora’s Opening Day loss shows his rookie stripes

Rookie manager Alex Cora has his hands full, and he didn’t help himself on Opening Day.

The Boston Red Sox are one of the best teams in the American League. On Opening Day, they were playing the garbage fire that is the Tampa Bay Rays. Boston bats were mashing throughout most of the game, and the Rays had nothing going for them. That is, until the horrendous 8th inning. With lefty Chris Sale on the hill, it seemed like a guaranteed win, and he did his job. Unfortunately, Beantown’s bullpen blew the game with the Sox up 4-0.

Furthermore, walks killed the team’s chances at a comeback. Although, wouldn’t it have been smart to matchup against lefty Denard Span, who got the game-winning hit? Southpaw reliever Bobby Poyner would have been an ideal fit to handle Span. The outfielder was hitting .226 off of lefties. Perhaps the skipper didn’t want him in that situation to start his MLB career, which is fair. Still, it would’ve been a smarter decision over keeping Carson Smith struggling.

To add insult to injury, Cora didn’t pitch star closer Craig Kimbrel when it mattered most. Per ESPN:

"For what we’re trying to accomplish here, we need him for the long run and not just for one out on Opening Day. When that situation presents, probably later [in the season], we’re talking about in 15 days or something like that when he’s really ready, he’ll be in that situation."

Kimbrel gets payed for those key situations, that’s how he makes his living. There’s no good reason why he shouldn’t have been on the hill at that moment. Sure, he’s going to be needed down the line, but you could say that for anybody. He was in Boston watching over his daughter while she was treated at Boston Children’s Hospital for a couple weeks, so that could another reason. As a manager, you need to be able to make decisions on the fly.

Cora said he’d goes through with his game plan, no matter the situation, adding “I’m not going to change my mind because there’s a lot of stuff going on [at that point in the game].”

It’s a nice thing to have when your manager is confident in his decisions, but if it lessens your chances of winning, it shouldn’t be an option. Cora is a rookie manager, and it is showing. It’s good that he sticks to his guns, but get a second opinion.

Next: Ichiro gets well deserved tribute home

With that said, the Red Sox don’t need a John Farrell 2.0. The Red Sox postseason chances will depend on if Cora can manage on the fly or not. If he can’t do it on Opening Day, will he do it in game 162? He can’t reasonably expect for everything to fall into place every game. A good manager can seamlessly adjust their decision making in a heartbeat. For Cora, that will determine how far the Red Sox will go in October.