Will Cora be back in ‘24?
- Thread starter Sandy Leon Trotsky
- Start date
Sure. But what value does Cora add after a decision has been made? Coaching, feedback re: the decision, adapting the decision on a case-by-case basis to maximize player utility? Ultimately if he makes the team better than a theoretical replacement, he should stay. But it's not like we're the Rays and have a ton of individual success stories.
Good point regarding his contract.
Some humility that he hasn’t performed well is needed though. The “I’m good” sounds pretty tone deaf to me
The lack of accountability for their own play is really disconcerting to me.
View: https://twitter.com/JamieGatlin17/status/1707038774373294367
View: https://twitter.com/JamieGatlin17/status/1707038774373294367
Yah. My reaction as well. Go ask the angels how “winning” the trade deadline propelled them to the playoffs.
And those “pitching” reinforcements would have helped our offense which has cratered in the last month+ how?
Agree. That's why I chose this thread for that quote. The inability to play competent baseball the last 2 seasons after the trade deadline is pretty crazy.
It’s a very minor thing but I chafed at the light tone Cora took addressing the topic of his return. It game across distancing himself from the poop show and almost dancing on Blooms grave…like “of course I’m back, this wasn’t a me-thing”. That said, any manager would have had a problem with a GM who put near term winning at the MLB level so low on the priority list, year after year.
Anyway, Im not 100 sure he comes back as manager and wonder if the FO recognizes they are all math nerd clones that need someone with deep baseball experience away from spreadsheets in leadership (edit-to provide an alternative perspective at the most senior level).
They may also simply have vetted all realistic options against Cora before being definitive.
Edit - Apologies for typos I’m two hours post opp and nibbling oxy. Back to bed.
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@Bob Montgomerys Helmet Hat has bingo IMO
Technically Cora is “back” next year because he is under contract for next year.
Just like bloom was “back” next year. Until he was not.
Ownership can say he is back next year because thats technically the truth. (Aka the “vote of confidence).
Wait.
They in the spring HAVE NOT BEEN PRACTICING OFF THE FLORIDA MONSTER???????
What the actual hell?
They in the spring HAVE NOT BEEN PRACTICING OFF THE FLORIDA MONSTER???????
What the actual hell?
I see Cora saying he wants to spend more time in Jet Blue which doesn't suggest they haven't been practicing there before. It suggests he thinks it hasn't been enough.
That sort of thing probably isn't the purview of the front office. It's the manager. So if they haven't been practicing enough in front of the Jet Blue monster, that's on Cora. Good he wants to correct that, I guess.
I imagine there are limits to how much practice on the wall there will translate to Fenway considering the big hole in the Jet Blue wall. Balls surely don't bounce of that net the way they do off of solid wall.
He's right. Doing drills/practicing on the back fields kind of sucks and is kind of relegated to backups/subs. Yeah, use that replica diamond more; surprised it's just coming up now.
Yeah, this seems obvious and something they should have been doing for a while. Also, I wonder how much time they spend on defensive drills in general. I feel like I’ve read some anecdotes about other teams like the Rays doing tons of drills all the time and the Sox not so much. Whatever amount they’ve been doing, they need to do more — again, this should be obvious to any manager.
It only took him 5 years of watching his team play shitty defense to figure out it might be a good idea. Maybe in 6 more he'll figure out that infield drills could be helpful.
For all his faults, at least Jimy Williams understood this (incidentally, both Jimy and Cora have almost the exact same winning percentage as Sox skipper...of course Cora's is juiced by the 2018 team, so the cumulative stats don't tell the whole picture).
When we lived in Fort Myers, basically all the practices were held on the back fields. They may have used Jet Blue for some occasional live BP, but I never once saw it happen and I went to quite a few practices over the years. This goes back to the year they opened w/ Bobby V as manager through several years under John Farrell. We moved before AC took over, but it seems like he’s kept it the same.
Also, to be clear, "playing the wall" was not a non-issue with this team, but it 100% has not been the biggest issue with this team.
Totally crazy thought here. . .but since they're only going to use 3-4 guys in LF, why not practice in front of the Monster itself at some point?
Do they get kicked out of Fenway during all non-game hours?
Do they get kicked out of Fenway during all non-game hours?
They would have to pay overtime for the commute from Florida, since they can only practice during Spring Training.
True. Which brings up a second point. Cora may have another pressing concern like the WBC next year. Not that I didn't really enjoy his musings on the glories and honors and all that stuff re: Team Puerto Rico as the Sox face-planted out of the gate. He seems like such an intelligent baseball guy at those all-important press conferences.
Your last sentence is spot on, and is the only thing that helps me understand why management (appears) ok to keep him around next year. Fourth best record in the AL East over the last 5 years should lead to his dismissal IMO
Best MLB Record Over Last Five Years | StatMuse
How does a team have 14 hits and only score 2 runs?
To me,that indicates poor situational hitting…. Which indicates poor coaching.
To me,that indicates poor situational hitting…. Which indicates poor coaching.
Surprising? For me it's fucking mind numbing. And BTW Alex, you've got the real McCoy available to you for 6 months of the year. Might want to take advantage of that as well. Seriously speaking, this is a reaction to what has been painfully obvious to all of us and IMO the Jet Blue part of this equation deserves minimal attention. The defensive play concerning the LF wall in Fenway is important, but seems to me to be an incredibly small part of the poor defensive this team has displayed. Having a replica at Jet Blue is nice and can help with positioning and getting a feel for the dimensions, but I suspect the wall there plays quite differently.
Article says Cora will be part of the “brain trust” involved in hiring the next Chief of Baseball Operations, and that he told the Sox he’s not ready for the role.
https://www.thescore.com/mlb/news/2728001
What the actual fuck is going on?
https://www.thescore.com/mlb/news/2728001
What the actual fuck is going on?
Or polaroids. I mean if Cora had an actual systemic accomplishment he could point to that would be one thing. But it's not like he's a wizard at bringing new pitching along. Or the same re: position players.
If he's getting a stacked team he'll be fine. Sort of that, it's just going to be more of the same.
Kind of interesting that all the people caterwauling about him here can't imagine how that might be the case.
I think most of us just want to see actual results on the field. (That does not involve cheating.)
I’m complaining because the results aren’t there. Yes he won a World Series, but doesn’t own it when they suck, and they suck way too often. That’s poor leadership
I'm pumped for next season. Baseball savant that he is, Cora's going to fly in the face of conventional thinking and spend extra time on fundamentals. And he's going to do it right from the get go, starting as soon as they get to spring training. That right there is the guy we need our boys of summer calling "Skip".
This is crap. First, your “stacked team” was decried by many posters here as being inferior to each of their playoff opponents in 2018. Remember a short pen? Remember that Price apparently choked in the playoffs? (Some of the filthiest language on this site was directed at him - Cora believed in the guy).
Second, Cora does have a systemic accomplishment. He can manage the hell out of a team in the playoffs. I think we both realize there’s a huge difference between playoffs and regular season. Francona also had this ability. (Farrell did not, whatsoever, and every other Sox manager proved deficient here).
Now, the primary architect of regular season success is a point to debate. I think it is hugely GM driven. The regular season manager approves the lineups, manages the health of the pitching staff, and protects the players from media and boorish fans. That’s it.
Shrug. Well then, I look forward to his managing the hell out of this team in the playoffs this year. Let me know how that goes.
Going into the 2021 ALCS I assumed that the biggest advantage the Red Sox had over the Astros was the manager. Not to take away from how Cora managed the bullpen in 2018, but excellent pitching makes all managers look good.
Does Cora know how all his recent comments sound like he was completely checked out during the entire season? It's almost like once he wound them up during Spring Training that his job was done. Did he not notice all their deficiencies throughout the year? Or did he just assume after one month in that the time to start working on some issues was next year?
It's pretty much par for the course with the majority of public statements he makes. Vaguely stand-up statements, followed by vague philosophy and positive nuggets. "Look, what can I say? We know we're better than this. It's a grind. We have to try harder and get better. We have to get Hernandez hitting again. Kluber threw the ball really well - that curve on the 2-1 count to blah blah blah, just have to tip your cap because he went down and got it, blah blah blah, can't give a team like that any extra outs, blah blah blah."
To be clear, I don't think he/the coaches don't do stuff. I'm certain they do.
I just think it hasn't been effective at producing ML results. No matter how the press conferences go, or how personable he is, or which reporters like him.
I am puzzled as to why he wants to come back. Two last-place finishes in a row. This September was embarrassing. He went 22-34 starting August 1st. The team is likely to field and pitch better next year, maybe. I will believe it when I see it. The division is full of good young rosters.
Everytime he opens his mouth I move further from "ambivalent" and closer towards "fire him now".
