{"id":632590,"date":"2026-04-26T19:17:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T19:17:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/632590\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T19:17:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T19:17:15","slug":"angry-red-sox-players-blast-front-offices-purge-of-alex-cora-multiple-coaches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/632590\/","title":{"rendered":"Angry Red Sox players blast front office\u2019s purge of Alex Cora, multiple coaches"},"content":{"rendered":"

BALTIMORE \u2014 Multiple Boston Red Sox players expressed anger and confusion over the team\u2019s decision to fire former manager Alex Cora<\/a> and the pregame message from chief baseball officer Craig Breslow.<\/p>\n

Veteran shortstop Trevor Story called Cora and others who were fired \u201csome of the best coaches in the world,\u201d and said he \u201cfelt like they didn\u2019t get a fair shot.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also said the message and explanation from Breslow were not satisfactory and that he needed to talk to Breslow \u201ctoday.\u201d Story said he wished the clubhouse had been consulted first, but that\u2019s \u201cnot the nature of the business.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this shows us anything,\u201d Story said, \u201cit\u2019s we\u2019re here to play baseball, and that\u2019s it. We don\u2019t make decisions. We don\u2019t have any input on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added right-hander Garrett Whitlock: \u201cThey made it very clear that we get paid to play baseball, and we need to just focus on playing baseball. \u2026 So that\u2019s where we\u2019re at.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019t speak.<\/p>\n

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, \u201cIt\u2019s kind of up in the air what the true direction of the franchise is.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

This left 21-year-old Roman Anthony as the first player to speak for the team in the clubhouse in front of cameras.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think anyone really expected it,\u201d Anthony said of the decision. He said he preferred to let a veteran describe the specifics of the meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, when we take the field, it\u2019s on us,\u201d Anthony said. \u201cIt\u2019s not AC\u2019s job to go out there and do the things that we\u2019re expecting to do as players. So, I mean, it\u2019s nobody\u2019s fault but ours.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cora was one of five coaches let go Saturday evening, alongside hitting coach Peter Fatse, third-base coach Kyle Hudson, bench coach Ram\u00f3n V\u00e1zquez, assistant hitting coach Dillon Lawson and major-league hitting strategy coach Joe Cronin.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cplayers\u2019 manager\u201d who took bullets for the team. Anthony got to see Cora in person before he left on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s game-planning coordinator and will now be reassigned to a new, unspecified role within the organization.<\/p>\n

If there was optimism to be found anywhere, it was in the man Breslow chose to replace Cora. Several of the team\u2019s 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 \u201ca great baseball mind\u201d and that he\u2019s excited for him, even if he \u201chate(s) that it came this way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anthony said that everyone who goes through Worcester loves the skipper. The uncertainty, though, is in what comes next.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can still win the World Series,\u201d Anthony said. \u201cI know people on the outside probably don\u2019t agree with that, and a lot of s\u2014\u2018s going on right now. But for us, and for myself \u2014 at least I can speak for myself \u2014 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BALTIMORE \u2014 Multiple Boston Red Sox players expressed anger and confusion over the team\u2019s decision to fire former…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":632591,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,5156,591,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-632590","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-boston-red-sox","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632590\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/632591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}