Anatomy of a Collapse: Who is Responsible for the 2026 Red Sox?

“Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be” -John Wooden

The Red Sox are 2-8 after 10 games. Yes, it’s only 10 games but the numbers are beyond awful:

Offense is down across the board. They’ve scored 36 runs compared to 63 in the first 10 games of 2025. Hitting with RISP and strikeouts are terrible. Starting pitching has been awful. The back end of the bullpen has been fine but the middle, particularly Greg Weissert and Johan Oviedo, has been putrid. And of course, the “much improved” defense and run prevention is anything but improved. They are in the bottom third of the league in most of these metrics.

Who’s to Blame – Door #1

John Henry is the annual punching bag for Red Sox fans. Chants of “Sell the Team” have been raining down at Fenway Park over the last 4 days. Normally, I would be one of the chanters, but Henry did something this year that he hasn’t done since 2018, he opened the safe and ponied up the money. The payroll at the start of the season is the highest ever for a Red Sox team, somewhere around $268M. The first CBT threshold is $244M, which Henry did not exceed last year and even traded away Rafael Devers to make sure he didn’t.

The second CBT threshold is $266M and most people said there was no way he would go over it. But he did. Now he could certainly dump salary later in the year to get under the 2^nd threshold, but I’ll give him his props. He was willing to give Alex Bregman a long-term deal. He gave Ranger Suarez a long-term deal. Did he “go cheap” on a power bat? He did allow spending on three infielders, just not the ones anyone wanted. More on that later.

Who’s to Blame – Door #2

When a team is playing poorly, the manager is the likely target. Alex Cora has been hammered this year for his lineups and his bullpen decisions. Let’s face it, I don’t know of a manager who isn’t criticized in these areas, and it just gets worse if the team is playing poorly.

As for the lineups, he is taking quite a bit of heat for leading off with Roman Anthony, who has struggled in the leadoff spot. Trevor Story in the 2 hole is also curious, given his propensity to strike out. Red Sox Nation wants Jarren Duran leading off and Anthony third, and I don’t disagree. Story was finally moved to 5^th in the lineup in game one of the Brewers series.

The “outfield logjam” (as it’s being called by Red Sox Twitter) is also another puzzler. Why wouldn’t Cora just start Anthony, Rafaela, Abreu, and Duran every day? That’s his best lineup both offensively and defensively. He has said he has to “mix in Masa.” Why? I think he is following orders from the front office. They will not DFA Yoshida and their hope is he will play well so they can trade him and not have to eat his entire salary.

In terms of the bullpen, Greg Weissert has been his primary choice in the middle innings, and it has not gone well. Same for Johan Oviedo, who was supposed to be the fifth starter, but was relegated to the bullpen, pitched horribly, then went on the IL with an elbow strain. What a fiasco.

Who’s to Blame - Door #3

When the offseason started, the team’s needs were clear. The Red Sox needed power in the lineup, a legitimate top of the rotation arm, and middle relief help. Craig Breslow put all his eggs in the Alex Bregman basket. They didn’t even give Pete Alonso, Kyle Schwarber, or Bo Bichette a look. When they whiffed on Bregman, he panicked. He had already signed a good player in Willson Contreras, but he knew he needed another bat and his choices were Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Caleb Durbin. How are they working out?

Breslow also failed to address the “outfield logjam.” He couldn’t move Yoshida, and he overvalued Duran to the point that no team would give him what he thought was a fair trade. So he punted, and left Alex Cora with a steaming pile of odorous excrement.

I’m not ready to call Ranger Suarez a bad signing, but he has not looked good early on. Same with Sonny Gray, who was a curious signing given his poor performance against the AL East. Johan Oviedo, who was brought in to claim the fifth starter spot, lost out to Connelly Early, went to the bullpen, pitched dreadfully, then went on the IL. Not ideal.

So, the Red Sox are left with a lineup with very little home run power, an infield that continues to make errors, continued poor hitting with RISP, and plate approaches that lead to excessive strikeouts. They also have middle relief that continues to give away games in the rare case when they have a lead.

I’m putting this season right on the head of the Chief Baseball Officer. Is there more blame to go around? Sure, but as stated previously, John Henry ponied up the cash and Alex Cora is doing the best he can with the players he has. I always go back the Jimmy Johnson line, “Great players win championships.” The roster construction is what’s holding this team back. The lack of power and the organizational philosophy on hitting is what’s holding this team back. The lack of offseason focus on the bullpen is what’s holding this team back.

To paraphrase John Wooden, it will only be a failure if you fail to do something about it. I would love to see another executive be the one to fix this team, but I doubt that’s going to happen. I also have zero faith that Craig Breslow can fix the issues that haunt the team, issues of his own doing. We’ve all seen his deadline deals. I’m not sure how they will get out of this predicament and my fear is they will fire Alex Cora as the sacrificial lamb. I think that would be the wrong move. I also don’t think Henry and Kennedy have the balls to fire Breslow in-season, so get ready for a potentially very long year.