Cora - Yay or Nay for 2023?

Would you bring back AC in 23? Do you think the Sox will bring him back?

  • I would bring him back, and I think the Sox will bring him back

    Votes: 278 82.7%
  • I would not bring him back, but I think the Sox will bring him back

    Votes: 48 14.3%
  • I would bring him back, but I don't think the Sox will bring him back

    Votes: 8 2.4%
  • I would not bring him back, and I don't think the Sox will bring him back

    Votes: 2 0.6%

  • Total voters
    336

brandonchristensen

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I feel like the Sox are the only team in baseball (other than the Nationals whenever Natstown was a thing) who constantly make little league mistakes.
 

streeter88

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I don’t like Cora either, do we blame the 2023 season outcomes so far on him? What can he really change - I guess only defense and choice of reliever. Both of which continue to be mediocre over multiple seasons now.

On the other hand, starting pitching has been really good, and hitting has been better than I thought - well until this past few weeks. Sox are above 500 - just. The team has been mostly fun to watch, which has surprised me.

So Cora gets - I dunno maybe a B-? But mostly because I couldn’t see them competing at all, and so far they have.
 

radsoxfan

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This is probably a dumb question, but how much control does a major league manager have over defense and fundamentals during the season?

I presume they don't have full practices during the season often (or at all?). Can Cora make a big impact? Is this a spring training problem? Should he be giving them more quizzes about different scenarios during batting practice? Is it more a failure of the farm system? Not prioritizing this when making trades and FA signings?

There obviously seems to be a deficiency here, but I just don't know how much of it is Cora's fault.
 

jon abbey

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I am genuinely not sure what a MLB manager actually does these days, I'm sure it depends in part on the organization.

Do they make the lineups? Again I think it depends on the team, but I think in general a good bit of this comes from the front office giving the manager strong suggestions.

Do they make the pitching changes? Again, maybe, but if I ran a team I would leave this to the multiple pitching coaches and basically have the manager just follow their advice.

Do they generally try to inspire and focus the team? Yes.

Do they do the press conferences and other media relations? Yes.

I guess I'm just saying I think it's harder than ever before to get a good idea of what a manager's input and impact actually is. Aaron Boone seems to be pretty bad at mid-game moves, but his phone calls to Aaron Judge last winter helped get Judge to come back to NY, so that counterbalances a lot of dumb reliever choices in regular season games IMO.
 

SemperFidelisSox

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There have been stories for years, going back to when Maddon was manager, that the Rays are one of the few teams who regularly take early infield practice and run drills.
 

teddywingman

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This is probably a dumb question, but how much control does a major league manager have over defense and fundamentals during the season?

I presume they don't have full practices during the season often (or at all?). Can Cora make a big impact? Is this a spring training problem? Should he be giving them more quizzes about different scenarios during batting practice? Is it more a failure of the farm system? Not prioritizing this when making trades and FA signings?

There obviously seems to be a deficiency here, but I just don't know how much of it is Cora's fault.
I'm on the same page. Seems to me that if a player has made it to the highest level in the game, they don't need a manager telling them where to be and where to throw.
 

Harry Hooper

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There have been stories for years, going back to when Maddon was manager, that the Rays are one of the few teams who regularly take early infield practice and run drills.
Similar stories about the Twins under Kelly and then Gardenhire running some serious infield & positioning drills deep into the season relatively close to gametime.
 

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There have been stories for years, going back to when Maddon was manager, that the Rays are one of the few teams who regularly take early infield practice and run drills.
In the day and age of the "player's manager," I wonder if it's tougher and tougher to get players to respond well to this.
 

radsoxfan

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I'm on the same page. Seems to me that if a player has made it to the highest level in the game, they don't need a manager telling them where to be and where to throw.
Yeah a lot of these things are basic... "try not to throw the ball over someone's head", "back up the cases", "hit the cut off man" kind of stuff. Is Cora on the hook for that? It's like blaming Joe Mazzulla when Jaylen keeps dribbling the ball off his foot.

There has to be some expectation on these guys once they've made the majors.
 

YTF

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Yeah a lot of these things are basic... "try not to throw the ball over someone's head", "back up the cases", "hit the cut off man" kind of stuff. Is Cora on the hook for that? It's like blaming Joe Mazzulla when Jaylen keeps dribbling the ball off his foot.

There has to be some expectation on these guys once they've made the majors.
Managers as well, no? I mean aren't the managers and coaching staffs responsible for instruction and correcting flaws that they see? When it comes to hitting we always hear about extra time being put in at the cage and in the video room, swing corrections, hand positions, etc... We hear about guys working on pitching mechanics, strength and conditioning etc...Maybe it happens, but I've yet to hear Cora say "Yeah we're going to dedicate more time to base running techniques, fielding drills, situational positioning, cutoff drills etc...". It seems that when it comes to these aspects of the game the usual response is that "We have to get better.". I'd like to hear, "We going to dedicate ourselves to spending a bit more time on the field to reinforce certain fundamentals."
 
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Red(s)HawksFan

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I feel like the Sox are the only team in baseball (other than the Nationals whenever Natstown was a thing) who constantly make little league mistakes.
Could that be a perception aided by them being the team you watch the most/follow the closest? I don't know your viewing patterns so maybe it's not that. I do think sometimes we're too close and simply see this team doing frustrating things that other teams do as well, only we don't see them as often to notice. I mean, there are currently 15 or so teams with similar or worse records that have to be doing some stupid shit to be where they are. They're not all small market, low budget teams that don't have enough talent to be competitive. It's the Mets and Phillies and Padres and Mariners and Guardians (all 2022 playoff teams) that are limping along at or below .500 as well.
 

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Could that be a perception aided by them being the team you watch the most/follow the closest? I don't know your viewing patterns so maybe it's not that. I do think sometimes we're too close and simply see this team doing frustrating things that other teams do as well, only we don't see them as often to notice. I mean, there are currently 15 or so teams with similar or worse records that have to be doing some stupid shit to be where they are. They're not all small market, low budget teams that don't have enough talent to be competitive. It's the Mets and Phillies and Padres and Mariners and Guardians (all 2022 playoff teams) that are limping along at or below .500 as well.
The Braves have committed one more error than the Red Sox so far this season. I imagine some of them have been stupid.
 

Ferm Sheller

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I feel like the Sox are the only team in baseball (other than the Nationals whenever Natstown was a thing) who constantly make little league mistakes.
Like erroneously concluding that the pitcher has "a rubber arm" or that a hitter "can't hit, he can't hit, he's a whiffer"?
 

mr_smith02

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I'm on the same page. Seems to me that if a player has made it to the highest level in the game, they don't need a manager telling them where to be and where to throw.
I don't think it is a case of needing to tell them as it is more of a case of needing to practice more. Yes, we are talking about practice. Tiger Woods reportedly practiced on the range and practice green 10-12 hours a day. Even the great players need practice.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-BR1mXwtB0
 

E5 Yaz

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The Braves have committed one more error than the Red Sox so far this season. I imagine some of them have been stupid.
While this is undoubtedly true, being a better team the Braves have more of a margin for error than the Red Sox. When a marginal team like Boston makes mistakes on fundamental matters -- pitching, hitting or defense -- well, it just magnifies why they are a marginal team
 

Petagine in a Bottle

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They can practice all they want (which probably isn’t much), but they’ve got a roster filled with guys who are either below average fielders and / or are playing out of position.
 

Papo The Snow Tiger

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I'm on the same page. Seems to me that if a player has made it to the highest level in the game, they don't need a manager telling them where to be and where to throw.
I'm with you 100% on this one Teddy. Baseball defense isn't like football where you have intricate blocking schemes, ever changing defensive schemes, precise timing concerns and lots of moving parts. There's only a few of things any defensive fielder can do in any given scenario, and they should know what they're going to do in any of them before each at bat begins. By the time they reach the major league level they should have been in any situation literally hundreds of times. If players are graduating to the major league level and not sound in the basics, it's an organizational failure and not the manager's fault.
 

YTF

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I'm with you 100% on this one Teddy. Baseball defense isn't like football where you have intricate blocking schemes, ever changing defensive schemes, precise timing concerns and lots of moving parts. There's only a few of things any defensive fielder can do in any given scenario, and they should know what they're going to do in any of them before each at bat begins. By the time they reach the major league level they should have been in any situation literally hundreds of times. If players are graduating to the major league level and not sound in the basics, it's an organizational failure and not the manager's fault.
So then fuck it? The manager and coaching staff are absolved from attempting to fix flaws? If it's a matter of issues with arm positioning for throwing accuracy, foot work, working with players to find better routes to the ball or proper cut off procedures we just throw our hands up and say, "Not my fault." or should there be every effort made to help the player improve those flaws?
 

Sandy Leon Trotsky

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I'm with you 100% on this one Teddy. Baseball defense isn't like football where you have intricate blocking schemes, ever changing defensive schemes, precise timing concerns and lots of moving parts. There's only a few of things any defensive fielder can do in any given scenario, and they should know what they're going to do in any of them before each at bat begins. By the time they reach the major league level they should have been in any situation literally hundreds of times. If players are graduating to the major league level and not sound in the basics, it's an organizational failure and not the manager's fault.
Well it’s a mental preparedness thing isn’t it? Yes they all are likely physically similar and know what they are supposed to do but mentally is a day to day, game to game thing which again to me is a management thing.
 

brandonchristensen

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Could that be a perception aided by them being the team you watch the most/follow the closest? I don't know your viewing patterns so maybe it's not that. I do think sometimes we're too close and simply see this team doing frustrating things that other teams do as well, only we don't see them as often to notice. I mean, there are currently 15 or so teams with similar or worse records that have to be doing some stupid shit to be where they are. They're not all small market, low budget teams that don't have enough talent to be competitive. It's the Mets and Phillies and Padres and Mariners and Guardians (all 2022 playoff teams) that are limping along at or below .500 as well.
Certainly. But I watch a lot - and the teams they play don’t seem to make the same mental errors the Sox do as often. But I definitely have a more critical eye towards the Sox than other teams.

Just feels like they don’t excel in any aspect of the game.
 

radsoxfan

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So practice would benefit them?
My hunch is there is a coaching/practice deficit that could be addressed to help on the margins.

But 90% of the defensive performance is probably baked in already with below average defenders, (sometimes) playing out of position, and a poor fundamental base.

We can blame Cora if we want, and some of that may be justified. But a lot of the issues seem basic and mostly on the players (and the FO who brought in the players).
 

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My hunch is there is a coaching/practice deficit that could be addressed to help on the margins.

But 90% of the defensive performance is probably baked in already with below average defenders, (sometimes) playing out of position, and a poor fundamental base.

We can blame Cora if we want, and some of that may be justified. But a lot of the issues seem basic and mostly on the players (and the FO who brought in the players).
But some players do improve on D over the years. Raffy and Verdugo are two examples of players who certainly seem to be better this year. The organization deserves some level of credit for their role in that
 

Papo The Snow Tiger

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So then fuck it? The manager and coaching staff are absolved from attempting to fix flaws? If it's a matter of issues with arm positioning for throwing accuracy, foot work, working with players to find better routes to the ball or proper cut off procedures we just throw our hands up and say, "Not my fault." or should there be every effort made to help the player improve those flaws?
There's a reason Cora is called the manager and not the head coach. Yes, the coaching staff is there to help fix physical flaws that develop, but aside from yelling at a guy or sitting his ass down there's not much Cora can do if an outfielder rainbows a throw over the cutoff man's head or if a cutoff man doesn't know where he's supposed to be sixty games into the season.
 

YTF

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There's a reason Cora is called the manager and not the head coach. Yes, the coaching staff is there to help fix physical flaws that develop, but aside from yelling at a guy or sitting his ass down there's not much Cora can do if an outfielder rainbows a throw over the cutoff man's head or if a cutoff man doesn't know where he's supposed to be sixty games into the season.
Seriously? You don't see the manager as the team's head coach? So who's the head coach? Who calls the shots when it comes to the day to day on field decision making and putting the team and its players in the best position to succeed on the field?
 

mwonow

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Since the not-lamented days of Butch Hobson, I've at least sometimes used the stuffed monkey approach to evaluating managers. "Is it Butch's fault this team is bad? Probably not. But could they have finished [last, in the example I'm talking about] with a stuffed monkey on the bench?" If yes, go ahead and can the manager, there's no real downside to ditching a guy who doesn't raise the floor.

This Red Sox team is painful to watch in the field, which is one area where you might think Cora/"a manager" could make a difference. They are also most likely headed for last in the division. Is it Cora's fault? I would think for the most part, no. But would they be worse than last in the division and horrific in the field with a stuffed monkey on the bench? Again, probably not. So...it's probably not a slam-dunk that he should be fired, but there's no compelling reason to keep him, either.

If you think that Cora is uniquely capable of developing the young talent expected between now and 2025/2026, I'd be inclined to view this differently. But I don't think he's some kind of development guru, either (see, for example, this team is awful when it comes to fundamentals in the field)
 

Papo The Snow Tiger

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Seriously? You don't see the manager as the team's head coach? So who's the head coach? Who calls the shots when it comes to the day to day on field decision making and putting the team and its players in the best position to succeed on the field?
A manager's job is to run the game. A coach's job is to instruct. Maybe a manager can determine if a pitcher is tipping pitches and correct that, but if a major league manager has to teach a weak armed major league outfielder that it's important to hit the cutoff man on a routine single then there's something very wrong. Would you expect a medical school professor to have to teach their students basic biology?
 

grimshaw

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I believe a good deal of the issues lie on this being a bridge year where some details around the edges weren't emphasized as much as giving the appearance of a competitive team. The roster make up to me is the bigger culprit than anything Cora could be doing better but will be less of an issue once internal promotions occur and longer free agent contracts are handed out. The roster seems to be incohesive but still ok despite that.

Looking at the fielding bible, the Sox as usual are bad at defensive efficiency though they are up from "rancid" last season.

Here are defensive runs saved by position with MLB ranks in parentheses. As reference, here is the fielding bibles calculations for determining this. https://fieldingbible.com/Fielding-Bible-FAQ.asp#:~:text=What's a good Defensive Runs,average fielder at the position.

Catcher +1 (tied 14th). McGuire is a -4 in limited innings. I think he is a problem unless he gets only one start a week since the arm just isn't there and he adds only 75 mph exit velocity opposite field base hits and masturbation joke opportunities. Interesting for Wong is that he is bad at framing, and he would be a top 3 defensive catcher otherwise.

1st base -3 (tied for 2nd worst). Casas has been pretty terrible, though his defensive rep is fringe average so maybe he'll improve enough to be ok. If fielders threw him the ball instead of the dirt in front of him, things would improve immensely.

2nd base -5 (tied 2nd worst). I'd much prefer they keep Story at 2b when he comes back. That would be the single biggest run swing for any position despite Hernandez' errors. Valdez is too early to write off, but Bloom isn't really helping Cora out right now trying to wedge him in. Now that his bat has come back to a more realistic performance level, I think he belongs in AAA for some boot camp training. Otherwise, he seems like a non speed dial call up at best.

SS -2 (tied 22nd). Despite all of the errors, Hernandez can still make great plays and has been an above average defender there for his career. I think where the DRS has helped is that he has been better than average at higher difficulty plays. If there is such a thing as a fielding slump, this is it. The errors, which haven't been a factor in his career at SS are just killing him. If he had an average number, he'd be a top 10 defender since his range rates very well. Managing this position is on Cora since he isn't plug and play anymore.

3b -3 (tied 24th) Whatever the improvements Raffy had made at the beginning of the season are gone. The left side of the infield has definitely cost the team some wins vs what was expected from them performance wise on both ends. It would be nice if one or both of those guys took some accountability since they are very influential players in the clubhouse. Maybe it's being attempted behind closed doors, but when the manager is calling out the team, it's not working.

LF -2 (tied 25th) Fenway is a tough ballpark to save runs in if you're a leftfielder. I think Yoshida is as advertised as a below average, but not awful guy. Ideally he would be a DH, but that's probably not what he signed up for, and he'd have to wait in line anyhow. Curious if Bloom could have signed him anyhow because then you could have found ways to improve LF defense.

CF -3 (tied 27th) Duvall is the definition of place holder and he has probably hurt the fielding aspect somewhat, but I don't believe he would necessarily be better than average there at his age and lack of recent innings there. The start was great, but it sure seemed like they killed a huge portion of Hernandez' value by signing him.

RF +6 (3rd) Not much to say. Dougie took the ball this offseason and ran with it. Major props, and most definitely a point in Cora's favor for lighting a fire under him.

Now the manager/fielding guy related stuff:

Infield shifts +5 (tied 10th) The fact that a shitty defensive team has had very good defense when shifting has to be a star in Cora's and the analytics department favor too. They are positioned in areas they can best succeed.

Outfield shifts-9 (2nd worst) They are severely lacking here, particularly when Verdugo has been so good. Whatever good the positioning has been for the infield is worse for the outfield.

Pitchers -5 (3rd worst). The three components for DRS for pitchers are a mix of holding runners on, good plays/misplays and fielding bunts. In other words, the first component is immense, and this is where the Sox. This to me is a combination of coaching since they had spring training to figure some of this out or to a bigger degree, an indifference by Bloom. Signing a guy like Jansen who is a -2 so far, was a major roll of the dice given the weak defense too. They are 7-10 in 1 run games. Being bad around the margins hasn't helped. DRS are numbers that will fluctuate dramatically because of all the short contracts but seem like something a smart organization stays ahead of the curve on.

To give an idea of how important holding runners on is, 11 runs saved is the single highest number that any team at any position has had to this point. One of those teams is the D-Backs and their pitchers. The Dodgers are -11. Noting that these two teams are tied in the standings, it may come down to that kind of edge to get a playoff spot.

In my opinion, the best ways to improve the team through coaching is benching Hernandez into a utility role. Maybe move him to 2b and roll the dice with the other guys there when Arroyo is back. I would give Wong more of an 80/20 split over McGuire. Maybe give Wong breathers against teams that don't run much, but extend him for series against intelligent base runners.

I would also consider Turner at 1b (where he is already a +2) more while Casas can just focus on hitting. The optimal alignment would be those two flipping this year, but then you're weighing the benefits of squeezing out a win or two vs effing with Casas' development. I think I'd do it anyhow if you're trying to win.

I'm not sure how much data is needed for outfield shifting, but maybe they can see where there they can improve in this aspect.

Overall, the fault lies more on Bloom than Cora to me though I believe a good part of that is due to it being a bridge year. Mayer and Rafaela could be defensive difference makers in the next few years and we can focus more on complaining about developing pitchers.
 
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joe dokes

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Seriously? You don't see the manager as the team's head coach? So who's the head coach? Who calls the shots when it comes to the day to day on field decision making and putting the team and its players in the best position to succeed on the field?
You can't un-coach stupid.
 

YTF

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A manager's job is to run the game. A coach's job is to instruct. Maybe a manager can determine if a pitcher is tipping pitches and correct that, but if a major league manager has to teach a weak armed major league outfielder that it's important to hit the cutoff man on a routine single then there's something very wrong. Would you expect a medical school professor to have to teach their students basic biology?
First off,your analogy is apples to watermelons. Students don't get to med school without knowledge of basic biology. However, baseball players often arrive to the bigs needling additional instruction. Alex Cora played in over 1200 MLB games over the course of 14 seasons. 1146 of them as a middle infielder and 61 as corner infielder. With that sort of pedigree I would hope that he as my manager would be more than capable of coordinating if not running sufficient cutoff drills. FWIW I've not advocated for Cora to be let go, but if he has the same vision for his responsibilities to the team as you do, perhaps he does need to go because this organization looks to be depending on a very young core of talent in the not so distant future. If Cora's not willing to play some sort of role in their development at the major league level then we're screwed.
 

trs

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First off,your analogy is apples to watermelons. Students don't get to med school without knowledge of basic biology. However, baseball players often arrive to the bigs needling additional instruction. Alex Cora played in over 1200 MLB games over the course of 14 seasons. 1146 of them as a middle infielder and 61 as corner infielder. With that sort of pedigree I would hope that he as my manager would be more than capable of coordinating if not running sufficient cutoff drills. FWIW I've not advocated for Cora to be let go, but if he has the same vision for his responsibilities to the team as you do, perhaps he does need to go because this organization looks to be depending on a very young core of talent in the not so distant future. If Cora's not willing to play some sort of role in their development at the major league level then we're screwed.
I certainly agree with your conclusion here, but I also think that @Papo The Snow Tiger's analogy of med school is somewhat apt. Maybe "basic biology" is a bit of a stretch, but I don't think you'd have to try too hard to find Year 1 med school professors bemoaning knowledge gaps of their first years. Yes, getting into med school is hard, and you would think that those without the necessary skills and knowledge would get weeded out in the application process, but getting into the big leagues is even harder. Harvard Medical School alone "admits" more each year than MLB!

Joking aside, I do think that Cora and the coaches need to set aside a bit more time for developing certain skills that need more attention. The MLB season is rigorous and they play almost every day, so practice time is limited, but perhaps a look at the day in day out schedule makes sense. Yes you could argue this should happen in the minors but with all the moving from different franchises, hard to rely entirely on that.
 

geoflin

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I think part of the problem is Cora's passive, non-creative approach. Game 1 Saturday while facing a lefty both Hernandez and Reyes started. Why not put Reyes at SS and Hernandez at 2B? That's the game Kike made 2 throwing errors from SS. Game 2 bottom 8th, 2-2 tie, 2 on 2 outs, Kike batting. Why not pinch hit Turner? Yes, it would leave the Sox short an infielder for the 9th, but Wong has played 2nd before both this year and last year and could have again for 1 inning. Obviously there's no way to know if either of these moves would have worked out but what's happening now isn't working either. Kike at SS is a disaster and he's not hitting enough to make up for it.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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I think part of the problem is Cora's passive, non-creative approach. Game 1 Saturday while facing a lefty both Hernandez and Reyes started. Why not put Reyes at SS and Hernandez at 2B? That's the game Kike made 2 throwing errors from SS. Game 2 bottom 8th, 2-2 tie, 2 on 2 outs, Kike batting. Why not pinch hit Turner? Yes, it would leave the Sox short an infielder for the 9th, but Wong has played 2nd before both this year and last year and could have again for 1 inning. Obviously there's no way to know if either of these moves would have worked out but what's happening now isn't working either. Kike at SS is a disaster and he's not hitting enough to make up for it.
Turner has played six innings at 2B already this season. While Wong obviously could do the job too, there's a simpler option.
 

joe dokes

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First off,your analogy is apples to watermelons. Students don't get to med school without knowledge of basic biology. However, baseball players often arrive to the bigs needling additional instruction. Alex Cora played in over 1200 MLB games over the course of 14 seasons. 1146 of them as a middle infielder and 61 as corner infielder. With that sort of pedigree I would hope that he as my manager would be more than capable of coordinating if not running sufficient cutoff drills. FWIW I've not advocated for Cora to be let go, but if he has the same vision for his responsibilities to the team as you do, perhaps he does need to go because this organization looks to be depending on a very young core of talent in the not so distant future. If Cora's not willing to play some sort of role in their development at the major league level then we're screwed.
I think the assumption that he's not involved with that stuff is baseless, post-hoc rationalization of "why he sux."
There's a pretty large set of MLB players for whom no amount of "additional instruction" is going to improve upon a lack of certain non-physical skills.
 

BigJimEd

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There's a reason Cora is called the manager and not the head coach. Yes, the coaching staff is there to help fix physical flaws that develop, but aside from yelling at a guy or sitting his ass down there's not much Cora can do if an outfielder rainbows a throw over the cutoff man's head or if a cutoff man doesn't know where he's supposed to be sixty games into the season.
Do you think a manager's job is much different than head coaches in other pro sports? What about the rest of the staff?
 

chrisfont9

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My impression is that players thrive more on routine, and moving guys around is not the way to survive the high pressure environment of MLB. The whole problem is that the middle of the defense has been maddeningly roiled by injury since day 1. Someday we will have guys settle into their positions? But it hasn't happened yet.
 

Moviegoer

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A manager's job is to run the game. A coach's job is to instruct. Maybe a manager can determine if a pitcher is tipping pitches and correct that, but if a major league manager has to teach a weak armed major league outfielder that it's important to hit the cutoff man on a routine single then there's something very wrong. Would you expect a medical school professor to have to teach their students basic biology?
So should he be fired because he's terrible at that? Because he really is bad at running games.
 

Papo The Snow Tiger

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Do you think a manager's job is much different than head coaches in other pro sports? What about the rest of the staff?
I do think there are differences between being an MLB manager and other head coaches. Obviously, baseball is different than other sports. and a manager has considerations that aren't in the cards for head coaches in other sports. In no particular order, baseball is the only sport that I can think of where the usage of a player has to be monitored. In other sports a player should be available if healthy, but in baseball a manager has to monitor, or manage, the workload of his pitching staff. You just can't start your ace every day, and sometimes your best reliever for a given situation may just not be available. A manager also shouldn't start the same catcher in a day game following a night game. About the only similar thing I can think of is a hockey head coach not wanting to start the same goalie on consecutive nights. Also, baseball is the only major US sport that literally plays every day, meaning that there are times the manager may see the need to give one of the best players a day off. Playing every day also puts practice time at a premium. If Bill Belichick sees something that needs to be worked on he can dedicate a day of practice to the issue. If the Red Sox are in the midst of nineteen games in nineteen days stretch would he really want his team out on the field practicing on a hot humid afternoon? Finally baseball is the only major US sport I can think of where there isn't unlimited substitution. If Linus Ullmark has a rough start, Jim Montgomery can pull him for a stretch to get his head together, bring in Jeremy Swayman, and then send Ullmark back out after a few minutes. When a baseball manager makes a change it's a committment. I'm not saying being a manager is any easier or harder than being a head coach, it's just different.
 

Papo The Snow Tiger

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 18, 2010
1,409
Connecticut
So should he be fired because he's terrible at that? Because he really is bad at running games.
No, if anything I think Cora deserves some slack because of what he has to work with. He's far from perfect, but the front office deserves a huge part of the blame with the roster construction.
 

Rovin Romine

Johnny Rico
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SoSH Member
Jul 14, 2005
23,691
Miami (oh, Miami!)
I do think there are differences between being an MLB manager and other head coaches. Obviously, baseball is different than other sports. and a manager has considerations that aren't in the cards for head coaches in other sports. In no particular order, baseball is the only sport that I can think of where the usage of a player has to be monitored. In other sports a player should be available if healthy, but in baseball a manager has to monitor, or manage, the workload of his pitching staff. You just can't start your ace every day, and sometimes your best reliever for a given situation may just not be available. A manager also shouldn't start the same catcher in a day game following a night game. About the only similar thing I can think of is a hockey head coach not wanting to start the same goalie on consecutive nights. Also, baseball is the only major US sport that literally plays every day, meaning that there are times the manager may see the need to give one of the best players a day off. . .
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