Red Sox GM Craig Breslow won power struggle with Alex Cora: Now no one's left to blame

A night's sleep hasn't made the Boston Red Sox firing Alex Cora and several members of the coaching staff, not the least of which were hitting coach Pete Fatse and game-planning coordinator (and former captain) Jason Varitek, any less shocking. But after hearing from Red Sox CEO Sam Kennedy and Chief Baseball Officer (essentially the GM) Craig Breslow on Sunday addressing the moves, the situation has been made clearer.

Breslow and Kennedy addressed the firings in Baltimore on Sunday, and while Breslow pushed back on using the term "power struggle" between him and Cora, there's no other way to paint it. Breslow, specifically, addressed the roster not performing up to expectations among the team's 10-17 start, which essentially puts the blame on Cora and the coaches, not on himself for the construction of the team. But Kennedy really put the hammer down on that by ultimately putting this on Breslow.

Red Sox CEO Sam Kennedy put all of the onus and pressure on Craig Breslow

Early in the press conference, Breslow not only said he had a "good working relationship" with Cora prior to this decision, but he then said that the decision to fire the manager was one made in tandem between the baseball operations department, led by him, and ownership. And sure, he didn't go rogue and fire the coaching staff by himself without looping in Kennedy and John Henry.

However, Kennedy then clarified that not long after that Breslow made the recommendation to shake up the coaching staff so drastically and then said it was fair to call the decision to fire Cora and the rest of the departures as "Craig-led".

Beyond the general feeling that persists consistently that Breslow is being a bit withholding and disingenuous with his comments getting stronger, this is also a clear message from ownership looking at their pseudo-general manager and his people, who are all still in the building. It's a message that says "we aren't goiing to take the fall for this one if it fails". It's a message that puts all of the pressure on Breslow if things continue to go south with this iteration of the Red Sox.

Craig Breslow can't blame Alex Cora if the Red Sox keep failing

One thing about winning a power struggle is that you then have to prove to the people you answer to that they made the right call. Winning a power struggle means that the fingers that Breslow and his people were pointing at Cora and Co. now only have one direction they can go: directly at themselves.

Breslow is the one who orchestrated the Rafael Devers trade. He's the one that failed to bring back Alex Bregman this offseason. He's the one who banked on pitching and defense while not clearing the outfield logjam and bringing in Caleb Durbin to help finish rounding out the offense. These are all decisions that point to him.

Make no mistake, he and the Red Sox regime are not wrong for being highly critical of the team's start this season. Even if you were dubious of the moves that Boston made under Breslow this offseason, the results have been infinitely worse than what anyone expected from this club. At the same time, however, there is also something to be said about the flawed philosophy with this team and how it was built.

Having good players is a good thing, but having too many creates issues, which is the problem with the outfield that still has Roman Anthony, Wilyer Abreu, Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela and Masataka Yoshida fighting for playing time. That creates a lack of rhythm with the offense, as does not having the best defense behind the fortified pitching as well. That's on Breslow, and Cora was trying to manage that as best he could, not to say he did so perfectly.

But whether he realizes it or not, Breslow has put himself on the hot seat. There's a lot of good that he's accomplished, whether you're talking about Garrett Crochet, the Anthony extension, getting Willson Contreras, and some other moves. But it's also a guy who has questionably handled big-time moves that he couldn't get across the finish line, and who has seemingly been trying to win every battle he's been in, whether in deal negotiations or working with Cora.

He's won now. But that isn't a guarantee that the Red Sox are going to turn it around this season. If they don't after firing Cora and these coaches, though, it doesn't feel outlandish to say that he's the one that will now have the target on his back, and rightfully so.

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