BALTIMORE — Multiple Boston Red Sox players expressed anger and confusion over the team’s decision to fire former manager Alex Cora and the pregame message from chief baseball officer Craig Breslow.
Veteran shortstop Trevor Story called Cora and others who were fired “some of the best coaches in the world,” and said he “felt like they didn’t get a fair shot.”
He also said the message and explanation from Breslow were not satisfactory and that he needed to talk to Breslow “today.” Story said he wished the clubhouse had been consulted first, but that’s “not the nature of the business.”
“If this shows us anything,” Story said, “it’s we’re here to play baseball, and that’s it. We don’t make decisions. We don’t have any input on that.”
Added right-hander Garrett Whitlock: “They made it very clear that we get paid to play baseball, and we need to just focus on playing baseball. … So that’s where we’re at.”
The players, who showed candidness rarely seen immediately after such drastic changes, did not speak during a pregame meeting, Whitlock said. They did not ask questions. Breslow spoke for two minutes, and new manager Chad Tracy spoke for three to five minutes. Red Sox team president Sam Kennedy and owner John Henry stood by a wall in the clubhouse during the meeting and didn’t speak.
Over and over again, players described a clubhouse in shock. They also expressed confidence in Tracy, and largely expressed confidence in the player group, though Story said, “It’s kind of up in the air what the true direction of the franchise is.”
At the start of clubhouse availability, outfielder Jarren Duran spent several minutes changing from one outfit into another as reporters hovered around his locker. Finally, he turned around, side-eyed a reporter who asked if he had some time, and waved the back of his hand toward the horde to dismiss them without saying a word.
This left 21-year-old Roman Anthony as the first player to speak for the team in the clubhouse in front of cameras.
“I don’t think anyone really expected it,” Anthony said of the decision. He said he preferred to let a veteran describe the specifics of the meeting.
“At the end of the day, when we take the field, it’s on us,” Anthony said. “It’s not AC’s job to go out there and do the things that we’re expecting to do as players. So, I mean, it’s nobody’s fault but ours.”
Cora was one of five coaches let go Saturday evening, alongside hitting coach Peter Fatse, third-base coach Kyle Hudson, bench coach Ramón Vázquez, assistant hitting coach Dillon Lawson and major-league hitting strategy coach Joe Cronin.
Emotions were still raw on Sunday morning, even inside a clubhouse where electronic music served as a backing track. Story offered the longest explanation to reporters, given the relative dearth of veteran voices on the team. He described Cora as a “players’ manager” who took bullets for the team. Anthony got to see Cora in person before he left on Saturday night.
Whitlock thought back to 2021, when he found out he made the team as a Rule 5 pick. It was then that he broke down crying with Jason Varitek, who was previously the team’s game-planning coordinator and will now be reassigned to a new, unspecified role within the organization.
If there was optimism to be found anywhere, it was in the man Breslow chose to replace Cora. Several of the team’s young players, including Anthony, Marcelo Mayer and Connelly Early, played for Tracy at Triple-A Worcester just last year. Whitlock walked up to Tracy on Sunday morning and told him he loved him. Story called Tracy “a great baseball mind” and that he’s excited for him, even if he “hate(s) that it came this way.”
Anthony said that everyone who goes through Worcester loves the skipper. The uncertainty, though, is in what comes next.
“We can still win the World Series,” Anthony said. “I know people on the outside probably don’t agree with that, and a lot of s—‘s going on right now. But for us, and for myself — at least I can speak for myself — the standard for me remains the same. My commitment to this team, this city, these people, is still the exact same. I still feel the same way. I love where I play, and I want to be here for a long time.”