Sports take: Will Alex Cora make the Red Sox better in 2020?

 

I went on the record in a previous post as being against bringing back Alex Cora to manage the Red Sox, and I haven’t changed my mind: My gut feeling is that the move to bring Cora back, announced Friday, may yet backfire due to the stain he has on his record after his significant role in the 2017 Houston Astros sign-stealing cheating scandal, for which he was suspended for the 2020 season.
Moreover, it does seem clear that Cora was more the choice of owners John Henry and Tom Werner to increase the club’s PR after a dismal year in which the NESN ratings dropped sharply during the COVID-19 2020 season than it was the choice of Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom.
The choice came down to Cora and Sam Fuld, who held a developmental post with the Philadelphia Phillies, but who had previously worked closely with Bloom in Tampa Bay. That final two made it easier to pick Cora, who by far has the better experience. while Fuld has never managed and would have been a bigger gamble.
Yet many teams have been hiring first-time managers, so  that in itself shouldn’t have disqualified Fuld.
Which is why it’s not a stretch to believe that the owners and management team, and perhaps some members of the baseball operations group, thought Cora was the best choice because they know him, which may have made Bloom feel compelled to go along with the choice.
Yet the pick is fraught with risk.
In 2018, the Sox had a veteran squad with a couple of younger guys like Rafael Devers and younger veterans who had won back-to-back AL East Division titles in 2016 and 2017. Now, for 2021, Cora will be inheriting a team with a horrendous pitching staff and holes at several major positions, including second base and a rotation that will be without Chris Sale until June or July due to his Tommy John surgery and may be without Eduardo Rodriguez for at least part of the season after his 2020 battle with COVID-19 left him with an inflamed heart.
Other question marks are left field with Andrew Benintendi, who missed a lot of the season with an injury after he had a real bad start to the year; center field with Jackie Bradley, who is a free agent; and first base, where rookie Bobby Dalbec may have the inside edge, but had limited playing time in 2020.
So Cora won’t have the easy time to the playoffs that he had in 2018, and given that he was far less effective as a manager during the team’s 84-78 season in 2019, when they missed the playoffs, Cora may not be the panacea to what ails the Red Sox.
BOTTOM LINE: Cora is a familiar face, but it’s far too early to say whether his presence alone automatically makes them a better team.