The Boston Red Sox fell to five games below .500 with a 4-3 loss to the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday evening. It's the latest disappointment in a long string of letdowns from this Red Sox team, which mere months ago was propped up as a potential favorite to win the American League.
We can assign blame all around. Craig Breslow whiffed on a few key additions and has mismanaged Boston's complicated injury list. The players themselves just aren't playing good baseball. And, of course, there is the manager. When your team looks sloppy and disengaged, the bus naturally finds itself on top of you.
Alex Cora sounds resigned to his fate
Alex Cora is a better manager than he probably gets credit for. He has been dealt a bad hand this season. But even he seems to know how this all ends — with him receiving a pink slip as the front office attempts to cover its own you-know-what.
"We keep making the same mistakes," he told reporters after the loss, which saw Los Angeles pull it out in extra innings. "We're not getting better. At one point, it has to be on me, I guess — right? I'm the manager, so, you know, I gotta keep pushing them to be better. They're not getting better."
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Either way, the Red Sox struggles will land at Cora's feet
To his credit, Cora is will to look inward and accept the criticism coming his way. Not every coach is. I'm a long-suffering Sixers fan on the NBA side, so I'm intimately familiar with Doc Rivers' unique brand of deflection. Cora is taking it in the chest and saying what needs to be said.
That said... this feels like a turning point in Boston. If this season does not improve, there's no way Cora survives it — even after signing a three-year extension. Craig Breslow has said the Red Sox are committed to Cora, but he also said Boston's higher-ups "have conversations every day" about what the team is missing. Eventually, what's missing will be a new voice in the clubhouse, because that's always how these spirals of failure end.
Excuses won't fly after an aggressive offseason
Cora cannot help the spate of injuries infecting Boston's rotation, nor the ongoing absence of key sluggers like Alex Bregman and Triston Casas. In reality, this Red Sox team is just not operating at full strength. It's not quite as complicated as folks like to make it out to be.
Failure isn't an option when the payroll skyrockets and contending expectations are made clear, however. Boston operated with aggression in free agency and the brass will want to see results. If Cora can't magically muster results eventually, serious changes will be underway.