If the entirety of Red Sox Nation heard John Henry’s peculiar and out of touch comments last week, you’d better believe it’s on the radar of the players and coaches, too.
Alex Cora and a couple of players in the Red Sox’s clubhouse certainly heard Henry’s words, and they retaliated with some of their own…
"I think every fanbase has the right to dream big," Cora told WEEI’s Jones & Mego with Arcand program on Tuesday. “I like John, he’s been amazing to me. There’s certain things that we agree on, there's certain things that we don't agree on.”
"Agree to disagree"
— Jones & Mego with Arcand (@JonesandMego) June 11, 2024
Alex Cora addresses John Henry's comments regarding Red Sox fan's expectations pic.twitter.com/MeYAUkIvxS
Liam Hendriks, a newcomer who hasn’t had much experience at all with Henry, gave an answer that sounded like it came straight from the mouth of a grizzled veteran of Red Sox Nation.
“If we came into spring training with the thought that we weren’t in contention to win the World Series, what’s the point of even (expletive) playing?” Hendriks told MassLive.com
Another member of Boston’s bullpen, he of the constant trade rumors Kenley Jansen, turned Henry’s words into a challenge for his teammates.
“Hopefully, that put a fire under all of these guys in this clubhouse,” he told MassLive. “Be pissed if you want to be pissed about a comment like that and use it to your advantage to be a winner.”
In the first full week of fallout since Henry’s interview, the Red Sox have done just that. Boston earned a hard-fought, three-game series victory over the National League-leading Phillies earlier in the week.
Now, the Sox have a chance to win their first series of the year against the Yankees after an 8-4 victory on Saturday following an 8-1 stinker in Friday’s series opener.
“We play, man,” Cora said with a chuckle after Saturday’s win. “We’re young and we’re gonna lose some games, we’re gonna win some games. It’s a good brand of baseball. It’s fun.”
I’ll agree to disagree, Alex. The stop-and-start nature of the Red Sox’s season, while an overachievement on the field (yet an organizational underachievement off it) is worthy of some credit to Cora, hasn’t been very fun at all.
What is fun is winning, and winning consistently. The Sox have a chance to prove they’re capable if they can close out their series against the Yankees.
As for the impact Cora’s, Hendrik’s and Jansen’s words in response to Henry… sadly, they will make absolutely no difference whatsoever. This is one of the rare cases where the words and actions of fans will carry more weight than that of the manager and the players of teams themselves.
Cora seems headed out the door after the season and neither Hendriks nor Jansen will be around for the longterm. Henry probably sees managers and players as a dime a dozen, and I doubt he’ll have any “come to Jesus” moments in the wake of these critiques.
As I wrote last Sunday, it’s up to you to make the real difference here, Red Sox fans. Do your voting with your time and your wallets…
Cora’s next stop
The rumors of Cora’s potential departure have gone from simply “reading the tea leaves” to bonafide industry insiders openly speculating on the 2018 World Series-winning manager’s future.
Ken Rosenthal on the “Foul Territory” podcast listed a few possible landing spots for Cora should he and the team part ways. Yet Rosenthal wouldn’t go as far as saying it’s a done deal that Cora is headed out the door.
“First of all, I’m putting Boston on this list,” Rosenthal said. “I’m not ruling out that the Red Sox are not going to employ Alex Cora next year.”
Which team could Alex Cora be managing next season if he leaves Boston? 🤔 Ken names the @Dodgers, @Yankees, and @Cardinals as potential landing spots
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) June 13, 2024
Check out @Ken_Rosenthal's insights on the latest episode of Fair Territory!🏟️ pic.twitter.com/laqaCpjXKA
But if it isn’t the Sox, Rosenthal has three destinations in mind that would make a lot of sense for Cora.
“The Dodgers are one, the Yankees are another, the Cardinals are a third, and there are more as well,” Rosenthal said .
Cora to the Dodgers is a talking point that seems like it’s been building steam all year. It is by far the top destination I’ve heard in conversations with colleagues on the topic of Cora’s future, and it makes a ton of sense.
As I’ve said many a time, Cora is a “win-now” manager. And what organization is in more of a win-now mode than the L.A. Dodgers? The Dodgers haven’t been the world beaters everyone expected them to be so far in the regular season, but they’re still sitting comfortably atop the NL West standings and are in prime position to accomplish their goals for the postseason push.
The Yankees would also be a fine fit for Cora. It’s fitting they’re in town this weekend, and I’ve long been a critic of Aaron Boone, who I think should have been fired years ago. It’s clear he hasn’t been able to get the Yankees to the next level, and it surely doesn’t seem to be a talent issue. They’ll win in the regular season under him, sure, but the reality is they haven’t truly come close to winning during Boone’s tenure.
The Cardinals are probably the most realistic destination of the three, as both the Dodgers and Yankees are currently first-place teams. St. Louis has struggled and is 6 1/2 games back of Milwaukee in the NL Central standings. Oliver Marmol has been a .500 manager in his three seasons in St. Louis, and the Cards’ success has fluctuated wildly during that time — they went from a 93-win team in year one to a 71-win team in year two. Now, they’re the Red Sox of the NL Central at 34-35…
If any of those times is most likely to make a move, it’s easily the Cardinals. St. Louis is one of the better-run organizations in the league. They make the playoffs more often than not in recent years, and they’ve shown a willingness to invest in bringing in the talent needed to win. Sounds like a good situation for Cora.
But then again, are we sure Cora wants to keep managing? He’s left plenty of doubt with his comments in recent years, and Rosenthal mentioned an interesting possibility for him in his podcast interview that I hadn’t yet considered…
“It’s going to be really interesting to see what Alex Cora decides. He’s talked a lot about wanting to be with his family and his kids. Could he take a year off? Yeah, I think he could take a year off, or maybe even move to a front-office role. But he’s going to be this year’s Craig Counsell, it certainly seems that way.”
Cora taking a year off would be an interesting play for him. As Rosenthal notes, he’s going to be a hot commodity around the league. But he’s also not in a rush to win — he’s been there, done that — and maybe waiting for the perfect situation will be the most enticing option for Cora.
Rosenthal also gave Cora his flowers for keeping the Red Sox afloat given the team’s bevy of injuries.
“You might say ‘Well, the Red Sox aren’t playing all that great.’ And they’re not, but the fact that they’re around .500 with as many injuries as they’ve had, it’s kind of astonishing to be perfectly honest,” he said.
Cora’s future continues to be one of the more interesting plot points to follow in the 2024 season. With the Sox continuing to stay around .500, too, it’s not likely that they’ll part ways with Cora midseason. So, sorry Sox fans, the Cora rumors are here to stay…
Breslow’s deadline philosophy
Speaking of interesting plot points, the direction chief baseball officer Craig Breslow will take the team at the trade deadline is certainly one of them.
I’ve been asked many a question about how I think Breslow will handle his first trade deadline as the Sox’s baseball ops boss. The truth is, there’s really no way of knowing until we actually see him handle one. He’s a first-time GM, and we don’t have any past patterns to fall back on.
But according to a one recent report, we might have our first inklings…
"Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow is searching for more starting pitching and a short-term solution for shortstop," Jim Bowden reported in The Athletic.
Breslow targeting pitching shouldn’t be a surprise, as he’s given every indication since day one that pitching is his No. 1 organizational priority. But the fact that he’s still looking to add starting pitching given the team’s rotational success this season is a tad surprising.
It’s a welcome surprise, at that. Boston’s starters have been surprisingly great, no doubt. But you can never have too much starting pitching, and we’ve seen that already this season with various injuries to the rotation and losing Garrett Whitlock for the year.
Breslow targeting a starter at the deadline could also be a sign that he doesn’t believe Boston’s rotation will continue to be as successful. Given the struggles for Brayan Bello, who it’s clear was certainly not ready for the ace designation this season and is still working out the kinks — which is completely fine for a 25-year-old — it might not be the worst idea to look to bring in another starter.
And how about a left-hander, for crying out loud? I’ve already floated my desired target of Max Fried…
As for targeting a shortstop… well, finally. The Red Sox’s inability to produce any depth whatsoever at one of the game’s most important positions going on a half-decade now has been one of the biggest embarrassments of the post-2018 Sox era, in my book.
Look, you don’t need to go out and trade for the next Nomar Garciaparra or Xander Bogaerts, but can we at least find a guy who can play the freaking position in the field? Should that really be so hard? Clearly they haven’t been able to develop one, and Breslow is too new on the job to be blamed for that, so it’s good to see that he has his eyes on solutions outside the organization.
If the Sox are continuing down the path to 81-81 by the time the deadline reaches, then don’t expect Breslow to make any big splashes in the way of All-Star-caliber additions (that takes Fried off the table… and no, Atlanta has no reason to trade him as they’re still a contender). But who knows, if they can beat the Phillies and Yankees back-to-back and finally start to distance themselves from .500 a little bit, this team might be worth investing in a little bit this summer…
Gethin Coolbaugh is a columnist for Boston Sports Journal. Follow him @GethinCoolbaugh on X/Twitter.