Alex Cora lowkey ruined Alex Bregman’s dream Houston homecoming

At long last, Alex Bregman made his return to Daikin Park on Monday night. On the surface, it was a battle between two budding postseason heavyweights. Dig a little deeper, however, and it was a deeply emotional night for Bregman and for others. The All-Star third baseman spent the first nine years of his MLB career with the Houston Astros, winning two World Series. Alex Cora, his new manager with the Boston Red Sox, was Bregman's bench coach in Houston once upon a time. The connections between these teams run deep.

Bregman didn't take long to show his appreciation for Houston with a two-run bomb in his first at-bat of the game — a fitting reminder of what the Astros lost when GM Dana Brown shortchanged him in free agency.

Bregman was promptly booed upon his second plate appearance after rapturous applause beforehand. He finished the game 2-for-4 with a run scored and two RBI, courtesy of that early homer. It had the chance to be something like a storybook return for Bregman... until Cora screwed him — and the Red Sox — over with a baffling bullpen decision.

For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter, and join the Discord to get the inside scoop during the MLB season.

Alex Cora's bullpen mismanagement doomed Red Sox in Alex Bregman's return to Houston

After Bregman gave the Red Sox an early 2-0 lead, the Astros struck back with five runs against Cy Young contender Garrett Crochet. It was the rare bad start for the Red Sox ace, who was removed from the game after four innings with Houston up 5-2.

In the bottom of the fifth, Boston still trailing by three — very much within a competitive margin — Cora made the fateful error of calling on Jordan Hicks from the bullpen. He gave up a walk. And then he gave up a two-run moonshot that stretched Houston's lead to five.

Boston scored four runs in the seventh inning to trim Houston's lead to one, but the damage was done. A better performance in Hicks' place, and Boston may very well have won the game. We'll never know.

Hicks is now up to a 6.42 ERA and 1.57 WHIP on the season. He has 54 strikeouts in 61.2 innings. And yes, he is still making semi-leverage appearances out of the Red Sox bullpen, for no real reason other than his substantial contract and the fact that he was the cornerstone of the Rafael Devers trade.

Alex Cora needs to banish Jordan Hicks to Red Sox purgatory

Hicks has been a complete disaster all season, from his early starts with the San Francisco Giants all the way through his transition to the bullpen and his trade to Boston. He can still push the upper-90s with his sinker, but Hicks isn't missing bats. In fact, he's giving up a 43.8 percent hard-hit rate, in MLB's 25th percentile.

The problem here is that Hicks is still under contract for $12.5 million in each of the next two years. He's locked up through 2027 and there's no way for Boston to extract value from that contract right now. Boston will surely look to trade him in the offseason, but expect the list of suitors to range from negligible to nonexistant.

If there's a silver lining, I suppose it's that Boston got off eight more years of Rafael Devers at a lofty price point? That trade has certainly aged pooly for the Giants, at least in the early going, but the Red Sox just need to keep Hicks out of meaningful innings moving forward. If he's on the MLB roster, he should only receive the lowest-leverage opportunities until further notice. He is clearly the worst reliever in Boston right now.