Red Sox fans have tough questions for Alex Cora amid another clubhouse controversy

As if a 1-5 start weren't bad enough — including a 6-4 loss to the Houston Astros on Wednesday in which not even Garrett Crochet could save them — the Boston Red Sox have now added "clubhouse dysfunction" to the ever-growing list of things that have gone wrong at the start of the 2026 season. Starting catcher Carlos Narvaez was an abrupt scratch from Boston's lineup on Wednesday afternoon, and when asked why, manager Alex Cora sure made it sound like a disciplinary issue.

"Let's keep it between me and Carlos," Narvaez said, via Christopher Smith of MassLive. "and he understands, this is something that happens on every club. It just happens to be early in the season and I think it's the right thing to do."

I have no idea what Narvaez did to warrant getting benched; it's entirely possible he earned his involuntary day off. And Cora isn't wrong there: This is the sort of thing you see happen on every team in every season, whether it's because a player was late to the ballpark or didn't run out a ground ball or any of a million other mistakes that pop up over the course of 162 games.

Except, well, it happens to Cora's Red Sox a lot. To the point where you start to wonder whether the finger should be pointed at the one constant through years of intermittent drama: the manager himself.

Surprise, surprise: Alex Cora has beef with yet another Red Sox player

The Narvaez incident continues a long-standing pattern of Cora finding ways to be at odds with various members of his clubhouse. He spent the entire 2023 season engaged in a cold war with outfielder Alex Verdugo. That same year, breakout rookie Triston Casas apparently ran afoul of some Boston veterans for his, uh, "unique" way of preparing for games.

In 2024, it was closer Kenley Jansen getting raked over the coals by Red Sox fans and media after news broke that he'd left the team before the end of the season while on the IL — only for everyone to later realize that he did so to be with his ailing mother. And then, of course, there was the Rafael Devers drama last spring, which began with Cora putting his best hitter on blast publicly and ended with Boston dumping him to San Francisco for what amounted to essentially nothing.

At the time, it was easy enough to explain them all. Verdugo hasn't traditionally been the easiest guy to get along with, and his lack of hustle on the bases in the midst of a slump at the plate was justifiably the last straw. And as for Devers ... look, no one covered themselves in glory during that whole saga, but his stubborn refusal to return to the field after injuries pushed the Red Sox roster to a crisis point was hard to stand behind. Cora doesn't manager the roster, and he's not responsible for the actions of his players.

But again: Verdugo, Devers and Jansen are all gone now. The one thing that all of these stories have in common is Cora. At what point does that become damning in and of itself? At what point do we hold Cora responsible not just for uneven results on the field, but for an ability to manage disparate personalities in a way that keeps a lid on things — especially considering his own checked past?

With Rafael Devers gone, it's time for Alex Cora to face the music

Let's not forget that Cora originally parted ways with the Red Sox after the 2019 season due to his role in the Astros' sign-stealing scandal while he served as Houston's bench coach. MLB's own findings reported that Cora was "the only non-player involved in the subterfuge". And yet, despite all that — and despite an Athletic report alleging that Boston had engaged in its own illegal sign-stealing operation in 2018 — the Red Sox welcomed him back a year later as though nothing had happened.

Obviously, these are two separate issues. But it's simply to say that there were character concerns with Cora even before this most recent stint as Boston's manager. And it's fair at this point to question whether he has the right constitution to help a team navigate all the ups and downs that come with forcing a bunch of very proud athletes and coaches to work together over the course of a long, long season.

Because right now, the answer sure seems to be no. The players change, and yet we're still dealing with the same old thing. Even if Cora is justified in benching Narvaez on Wednesday, a manager is responsible for the behavior of his players, and the fact that there's another issue in need of addressing — just one week into the 2026 campaign — suggests a culture problem at the very least. And unlike earlier years, Cora doesn't have excuses, or on-field performance, to fall back on anymore.