USA Today's Bob Nightengale made it clear that despite the Boston Red Sox's brutal start to the 2025 campaign, manager Alex Cora's job is safe.
"The Boston Red Sox may be playing sloppy and mediocre baseball, but manager Alex Cora’s job is safe," Nightengale wrote.
While it definitely makes sense that the Red Sox are comfortable sticking with Cora, a proven World Series-winning manager, if he doesn't change how he's handling Marcelo Mayer's playing time, his job status might not remain as safe as it is right now.
Mayer was out of Sunday's lineup against the New York Yankees for the second game in a row and the fourth time in the last six games. No, he isn't hurt. He's been out of the lineup strictly because the Red Sox have faced four left-handed pitchers in the last six games. While they admittedly have been scoring runs with Mayer on the bench, there's no reason for this trend to continue.
Marcelo Mayer has always handled LHP fine in the minors with a .272 career AVG and never below .250 in a season.
— Eric Cross (@EricCrossMLB) June 8, 2025
Having him sit in four of the last six games because a LHP is on the mound just so we can play bench bats is completely inexcusable and extremely frustrating. pic.twitter.com/2LgJTdFyla
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Alex Cora needs to play Marcelo Mayer every day for him to flourish at the MLB level
I get wanting to shield young left-handed hitters from tough left-handed pitching, and it's not as if Cora hasn't done this with other left-handed hitters. It took years before he was comfortable playing Triston Casas against left-handed pitchers, and Wilyer Abreu still doesn't play against most left-handers. Still, it feels as if sitting Mayer down as often as Cora has is only harmful to his development.
A simple question worth asking is, how do the Red Sox expect him to be a cornerstone piece for them if he's only going to play against righties? Isn't sitting top prospects the worst thing a team can do for their development? Sure, eventually Cora might trust him against lefties too, but why not give Mayer some run now?
I'd get it if the Red Sox had stars playing over him, but while Abraham Toro has played well at third base, it's not as if he's a star. I'd also understand if the Red Sox were facing dominant left-handers every day, but I wouldn't call guys like Tyler Anderson, Yusei Kikuchi, and Ryan Yarbrough impossible for left-handed hitters to hit against. In fact, left-handed hitters have an OPS 360 points higher against Anderson than right-handers, and the Red Sox still sat Mayer in favor of Toro.
Plus, let's not forget that Toro has also played first base, which would remain an option as well.
Mayer didn't dominate left-handed pitching in the minor leagues, but he wasn't overmatched either. I'm not sure why the Red Sox are so unwilling to give him a chance against a single left-hander. It's easy for this to get glossed over when Toro is playing well, but when he inevitably starts to struggle a bit, hopefully, Cora can make the necessary adjustment.