Alex Cora’s Accountability Problem

Cora did not have a good season as an overall team leader and strategist

There are fans in all 30 MLB cities that criticize their manager’s in-game decisions. Boston is no different. It’s fair game to criticize Alex Cora on his lineups, pitching decisions, and in-game pinch hitting and pitching changes. These are good topics for discussion, but that’s not what I want to talk about today. Today I want to talk about the big picture.

Michael Lombardi, long-time football GM and Bill Walsh disciple, calls the head coach the Chief Figure-It-Out Officer. It’s no different with a baseball manager. Alex Cora is responsible for everything that happens on the field. He has position coaches. They should be operating at his direction in areas such as defensive fundamentals, situational hitting, baserunning, etc.

Accountability

In 2006, Alfonso Soriano joined the Washington Nationals. He had been a second baseman his whole career, but the Nationals wanted him to play outfield. He told manager Frank Robinson that he would not move from 2B. Robinson told him that he had two options, play outfield or sit on the bench. He played outfield.

Alex Cora had one clubhouse problem in 2025, Rafael Devers. He had a good relationship with Devers and could have nipped the issue in the bud, but he wanted to be Raffy’s pal instead. This led to the front office and owner getting involved and everything went to hell from there. He should have told them Raffy is my DH, and I will not ask him to play 1B. I fill out the lineup card. Case closed.

He also did not hold players accountable for their play on the field. There were boneheaded defensive plays, throwing the ball all over the field, catcher’s interference, terrible situational hitting, and bad baserunning to name a few. These problems started at game one. Did anyone see any corrections of these issues as the season progressed? The Cora apologists love to talk about the “best defensive outfield in baseball” (a Merloni coined phrase) and the “elite SS play” of Trevor Story. How’d that all play out in the playoffs?

Strategy

The Red Sox list eleven assistant coaches on their MLB page. Eleven, including infield instructor, outfield instructor, catching instructor, and “game planning and run prevention coach” Jason Varitek. That’s wonderful. Do these guys operate in a vacuum? Do they all decide individually how they are going to “instruct” the players? No, they should all be taking direction from the manager. The team should be built around his vision, if he has one. I get that hitting is an individual sport (“A man stands alone at the plate” – Capone) but there has to be a defined strategy in certain situations such as with runners in scoring position.

Defensive Fundamentals

I’ve heard Cora apologists say that he is not responsible for teaching major league players fundamentals. They should have learned those in the minors. Maybe so, but what should a manager do when he sees poor fundamentals? Talk about it in press conferences? Maybe it actually is a manager’s responsibility to be a teacher as well as a coach. The Red Sox led the majors in errors in 2025. They were also second in 2024 and 2023. You know who had the fewest errors in baseball in 2025? The Texas Rangers. They also had the 4^th fewest in 2024 and the 2^nd fewest in 2023. Their manager for those seasons was Bruce Bochy. Do you think he had something to do with that? Damn right he did.

Situational Hitting

People love to blame Peter Fatse for their poor situational hitting. Who is holding the coaches and players accountable for the terrible approach at the plate with runners in scoring position? In 2025, these are the Red Sox MLB ranks with RISP

OPS with RISP – 16^th

OPS with RISP, 2 outs – 21^st

Strikeouts with RISP – 30^th

Strikeouts with RISP, 2 outs – 30th

The Red Sox struck out with runners in scoring position more than any other team. If you watched the games, you could see why. There was no RISP approach other than swinging for the fences. There was no “B hack.” There was no going with the pitch to the opposite field, no putting the ball on the ground or forcing the defense to make a play. Five Red Sox had over 100 strikeouts. It was home run or bust. There was no attempt by Cora to correct this. Don’t blame Peter Fatse. This falls squarely on Alex Cora’s shoulders.

Baserunning

The Red Sox’ best baserunner by far in 2025 was Roman Anthony. He scored from first base on a number of occasions. He made smart decisions. He was obviously taught well in the minors. He wasn’t with the big club long enough to be infected with the baserunning bug. This also applies to coaches. Third base coach Kyle Hudson had a terrible year, either sending or holding runners when he shouldn’t. This played out in game 2 of the Yankees series when he held up speedy Nate Eaton from scoring when the ball got past Ben Rice. The Red Sox ended up leaving the bases loaded (surprise) and lost by one run. Fun fact, Kyle Hudson is also the outfield defense instructor.

It All Ties Back to Accountability

In my last column, I gave Cora credit for winning 89 games with a depleted roster, and I stand by that. He mixed and matched his lineups and pieced together a rotation that was mostly successful down the stretch, but we all saw their fundamental failings with our own eyes in the playoffs. The Yankee series was winnable, and they let it slip away with bad defense, baserunning, and situational hitting. That’s on Cora. When the 2026 team returns healthy (hopefully) will these same problems persist? I see no evidence that Alex Cora is willing to hold his coaches and players accountable for bad fundamental baseball.