Story by
Everything Craig Breslow, Sam Kennedy said about the Red Sox firing Alex Cora
- Story by
- Everything Craig Breslow, Sam Kennedy said about the Red Sox firing Alex Cora
Boston Red Sox head of baseball operations Craig Breslow and team president/CEO Sam Kennedy addressed reporters Sunday morning, just over 12 hours after news broke that the team fired manager Alex Cora as well as most of his coaching staff.
Read everything Breslow and Kennedy had to say during the 25-minute press conference below.
Advertisement
Sam Kennedy:Thanks for being here this morning, everybody. I just wanted to start off with a couple of quick thoughts. I want to thank Alex Cora, all of the coaches and their families for what they’ve meant to the Boston Red Sox . AC’s impact on Boston and our city will be felt forever. The memories that we all share from 2018 are going to last a lifetime. He’s a friend to so many in Boston and across New England, and so that contributed to making this a very difficult decision. So we thank him and wish him well. Yesterday was definitely painful, but we felt it was a necessary move, and we felt it necessary to take decisive action to achieve the goal of a fresh start for the 2026 season. We have full confidence in the players in that room to perform at the very highest level, get us back to playing baseball in October, which is the goal. Ultimately, what matters is the performance on the field at the major league level, and a new beginning starts today. So with that, we’ll open it up for any questions that you have.
On when the decision was made
Kennedy: Made the decision yesterday morning and got on a plane to come down here and talk with AC and the coaches in person.
On why the decision was made so early in the season
Advertisement
Breslow: Sure. Well, first, I just want to echo Sam’s sentiments about Alex, what he’s meant to this organization and staff, and thank them for all of their contributions. But answering your question directly, it really comes down to the belief that we have in the players and the belief that we have in the group to accomplish what we set out to accomplish. By acting today, it gives us 135 games ahead of us. So we’ve got almost a full season’s worth of run to take advantage of this fresh start and ultimately to compete for a division and deep postseason run in the way that we talked about it and envisioned and believed heading into spring training.
On Breslow changing his mind about early-season coaching decisions
Breslow: Yeah, again, you know, ultimately, responsibility for the performance on the field, it falls on me as the leader of the baseball operation, but so, too does the responsibility for doing everything that I can and everything that the organization can to find solutions. And right now, you know, we feel like this change, these changes were warranted, and we’re really, you know, excited about the chance for Chad to come in and be a consistent, stabilizing voice. And one that, you know, a majority of our player group is familiar with.
On what specifically changed his mind
Advertisement
Breslow: Well, certainly the performance on the field has not been what we expected. And beyond that, again, this is a decisive, you know, and convicted demonstration of the confidence we have in our player group.
On Breslow’s working relationship with Cora
Breslow: You know, I actually think I have a very good working relationship with Alex. Certainly neither of us was, you know, was satisfied with the start that we got off to, but we continued to bounce ideas off of each other, to put all potential solutions on the table. Ultimately, you know, as an organization, as a baseball operation alongside ownership, we reached the decision yesterday to make these changes.
On the process of coming to the decision
Advertisement
Kennedy: Yeah, look, Craig leads our baseball operation, and he’s made several bold decisions and recommendations, and this was one of them. And we fully support it, and that’s why we took the action we took yesterday.
On John Henry’s reaction
Kennedy: I think it’s evident by his presence here that this was a collaborative decision and we were together as a group.
On what was not working with Alex Cora’s approach
Breslow: Yeah, I could say that, you know, I don’t think it’s productive to get into the merits of an individual decision or action outside of saying that. Again, we believe in. In the group of players that we have in the clubhouse down the hallway, and we believe that a new direction is warranted, new voices and something that enables us to take a fresh start.
Advertisement
On keeping the bulk of the pitching coaches despite the challenges on the mound
Breslow: Sure, it is true that we have fallen short in terms of the performance across, you know, hitting, pitching, defense, base running. But as it relates to kind of the staff and trying to tease out, you know, exactly what’s driving that, you know, have confidence in the pitching group’s ability to turn that around, you know, and I think we’ve seen evidence of that with, you know, with Ranger and with Garrett and, you know, have the full confidence in that group to be able to get us on track.
On choosing Chad Tracy as the interim manager
Breslow: Chad has been in the organization for a while. He’s managed at the highest level of our minor league system, and he’s familiar with meaningful relationships with a majority of our roster. Given just kind of the young players that we do have, he’s demonstrated an ability to get the most out of that group. And I think equally important is his ability to build relationships with veteran guys and earn trust and respect, and then also just to be a consistent and familiar and stabilizing voice.
Advertisement
On how long Tracy will serve as interim manager
Breslow: You know, we believe that Chad is the right guy to handle this transition, you know, and we’re going to put all of our effort into supporting him to do that, and we’ll kind of figure out where that leads us.
On hiring a permanent manager mid-season
Breslow: We could be. It could also be that Chad is exactly what we’re looking for. We have full confidence in him. We believe that to be the case. But anytime a team is not performing, I think you have to look at all options.
On John Henry speaking to the media
Kennedy: Yeah. John, Bres and I have been together for the past 48, 72 hours and have been working on this process together, so leave that at that.
Advertisement
On who will serve as bench coach
Breslow: We’re still working through that. You know, obviously things have moved pretty quickly and particularly for Trace, but what I told him is we want to make this as comfortable as possible. And so I want him to give some thought to that. And I know he’s got relationships with many of the people on staff, and we’ll kind of figure out exactly who takes on those responsibilities.
On if Craig Breslow led the decision-making process
Kennedy: Absolutely. I mean, we hired Craig to be our chief baseball officer. He runs the baseball operation. We are a front office led baseball operation. And our job is to support the entire group the best we possibly can. And that’s what we did in this instance.
Advertisement
On other coaching additions to the team
Breslow: There will be. We’re still kind of working through the specific logistics, but again, kind of similar to answering that bench coach question. Once Trace has a chance to get his feet under him a little bit, we’re going to talk through, you know, where he feels like he can be complimented.
On Jason Varitek‘s role moving forward
Breslow: Yeah, we’re still working through that and having conversations and, you know, obviously Tek is an incredibly meaningful and important and revered member in this organization who has a ton of respect from me, but I think those conversations are best handled in private.
Advertisement
On if Varitek’s role will not be in uniform or in the dugout
Speaker A: Yes.
On decision to go all in with firing Cora instead of firing a few coaches first
Breslow: Sure. I think in terms of what was under consideration, again, when the performance on the field is not what you expect, you have to put all options on the table. But we decided kind of broader change and new voices and new direction was appropriate here.
On speaking to the players
Breslow: Yeah, just spoke to the players. Trace just spoke to the players, and I think that they are an incredibly talented and mature group, and certainly the fact that they have a relationship with Trace has helped, and we’re going to be here to support them.
Advertisement
On if the players’ perspectives were taken into consideration
Breslow: No, I don’t think it’s fair to ask players if they think change is appropriate. At least in my experience is as a player, that question has never been brought to me. You know, I think my job, our job as an organization is to try and support the players as best we can, to try and create the environment around the players that allows them to perform at a really high level. And we felt like this decision allows us to do that.
On player support or dissent in the clubhouse recently
Breslow: I think Alex has incredibly strong relationships with, with the players, with the staff, I think that’s evident in terms of the connection that he’s able to make and the communicator that he is. But again, I think kind of trying to figure out exactly what player sentiment is can be very, very difficult.
Advertisement
On concern about blowback or frustration about the decision
Kennedy: Listen, when you underperform, there’s always concern about blowback. Our job is to do the best we possibly can to block out the noise and make the right decisions for the franchise. But we are, we are well aware the passion in Red Sox Nation is unlike anywhere else and goes with the territory is what we sign up for. We’ve been around for a long time. We’re from here. We know exactly what our fans expect and it’s our job to achieve our goals and we have underperformed and that’s a large reason as to why we’re sitting here right now.
On Breslow second-guessing his roster construction
Breslow: Well, I think you work backwards from the last statement, which is how we’re performing and we are clearly not performing up to our expectations, up to the players’ kind of historical track records. I think we need to do everything possible to get there and then determine exactly, you know, kind of whether or not this was the right strategy. But step one is getting players to perform, you know, the way that they have historically, the way that we believe that they can, and putting support in terms of staff and resources around them in order to do that.
Advertisement
On the process of letting Cora know at the hotel Saturday
Kennedy: I’ve just at a high level say it was critically important to John and to myself and to Bres to have the conversations in person directly with those impacted. And that’s what we did. Everyone handled those conversations professionally. They’re really hard conversations because you build relationships over a long period of time. But it was really important to us, regardless of choppiness that may come with making a decision like this on the road. It was just important that we had those discussions directly with the guys impacted.
On how long the meeting with Cora was
Kennedy: Not going to get into specifics about meetings, but appreciate those guys and how they handled it.
Advertisement
On what prompted the decision
Breslow: Yeah, I mean, I would start by saying when the product on the field is not, you know, it’s not what you had expected, you have to be willing to consider everything. I would also say that baseball is not a sport that lends itself to being evaluated game to game. Right. And so, you know, I don’t think you look at any individual performance and say that is a reason. I just, I don’t think that’s fair. I don’t think that’s a great way to make decisions. Ultimately, when we made, you know, when we reached a decision, we executed on it. And this is really about looking forward. It’s about the amount of season that’s in front of us. It’s about our belief in the players and it’s about. About giving them every possibility to get where we want to go.
On what qualifies success for the rest of the season
Breslow: I don’t think our goals have changed. We talked all off season, all spring training about building a team that could compete for the division and making it to the postseason.
Advertisement
On if Cora was given the option to remain as manager with different coaches
Breslow: I don’t think it makes a ton of sense to get into specifics of conversations.
On what they want Tracy to do with the team
Breslow:I don’t have a specific set of, you know, this is the way that things need to be run. We brought Trace in because we believe in his ability to connect with people and build relationships and because of his baseball knowledge and that he was a very successful manager in AAA. You know, I think our job as a front office is to provide the manager and the coaching staff with the best support and the best information we can to enable them to make the decisions in real time that they see fit.
Advertisement
On if the decision came down to wins and losses, energy of the team or other off-field matters
Breslow: I mean, ultimately this is the big leagues and it is a results oriented business and we need to win more games, we need to perform better. Some of those things that you talked about, they might be underlying in a way that not being in the clubhouse every day, I don’t have the perfect appreciation for. But from our perspective, like I said, this is about looking forward and moving forward and the opportunity to have a fresh start starting today.
On if they would classify Cora as successful
Kennedy: Oh, without a doubt. Alex will go down as one of the best managers in Red Sox history. Incredible track record. And as I said at the outset, you know, he leaves a great legacy in Boston, and we’re very grateful for it.
Advertisement
On if the power struggle characterization between Cora and Breslow is fair and accurate
Breslow: No. I think characterizing a relationship as a power struggle is unfair. You know, I look at these roles as a partnership, you know, as someone that I can bounce ideas off of, he can bounce ideas off of. Ultimately, again, this is about needing to do everything we possibly can to give ourselves, to have the best, you know, 135 games from here forward.
On what Breslow has to prove now
Breslow: Yeah, I mean, ultimately, I think when anyone signs up for these jobs, they’re taking responsibility, they’re taking accountability for the performance on the field. You know, what I need to do at this point is to be a kind of calming, steadying voice for the players, for the staff, and to continue to provide as much support and resources as I possibly can.
Advertisement
On when coaching staff changes first came up
Breslow: I don’t have a specific date. You know, I think, you know, we went into, you know, when it came into spring training, confidence in our coaching staff and, you know, confidence in the roster. We didn’t get off to the performance, the start that we had wanted, and then, you know, in the same way that you would ask questions about process, about players and roster, ask questions about staff members. But ultimately, like Sam has said a number of times here, when we reached the decision, we felt like the most kind of respectful and fairest way to proceed was to execute on it as quickly as possible.
On deciding who stays and who goes
Breslow: Yeah, again, you kind of try to evaluate what you believe best positions the group to be successful going forward.
Advertisement
On what the past few days were like for Breslow
Breslow: Yeah, on a human level, on a personal level, it’s incredibly difficult. These are people that you build close relationships over multiple years. They are really, really good people, good fathers, good husbands. And so, you know, I think we tend to think about only the professional aspect of this, but the, you know, the human side makes it just unbelievably difficult. You know, wrestle with these things. But when you get to the point where you feel like this is the best decision for the organization and the best decision decision for the players, no matter how difficult you have to do it.
On if Breslow considered waiting
Breslow: Yeah, I mean, I think you always consider the alternatives. Right? And, you know, being, being too late is maybe equally problematic, more problematic as being too early. But when you’re talking about people’s lives and people’s jobs, you want to make sure that you are fully confident that it’s the right decision.
Advertisement
On if Cora was put in a position to succeed
Breslow: Yeah, I mean, I think we’ve talked about the fact that, you know, ultimately the accountability for the roster falls on me and this was a challenging roster to manage just keep given kind of the position player group. That’s something that I acknowledge and I acknowledged it with Alex, talking to him yesterday.
On how the relationship with Tracy will differ
Breslow: I worked intimately with Alex for two plus seasons. Chad and I have kind of worked together and spent time together as I’ve visited Worcester. But, you know, I think it’s going to be a hard question to answer until we have a chance to build that relationship and build that trust. You know, my hope is that it is a very collaborative partnership. And, you know, he views me as someone he can bounce ideas off of. I view him as someone that I can bounce ideas off of. And together, you know, we’re able to make great decisions for the Boston Red Sox.
Advertisement
On what it means to be a front office led organization
Kennedy: Look, we have to empower our chief baseball officer, Craig, and his team to run the baseball operation. There’s a sacred sort of partnership between the front office and the clubhouse. And so that’s what I mean by that. Craig and his team are leading the baseball operation. They have been ever since we hired him. And so that’s what I meant by that. And our job is to identify the people to lead the baseball operation and to get behind them and support them at every turn.
On concern about the perception of the Red Sox organization
Kennedy: Yeah, change is really hard. And it’s not something that we seek out. It’s on us in ownership and executive leadership to identify the right people for every area of the organization from baseball operations to the business side. And so that’s ultimate accountability is with us. And we have to get this to you. Getting back to October last year was a huge first step. And again, as I said earlier, ultimately performance at the major league level is really all that matters. And we’ve got to win baseball games to get back to October and get there on a consistent basis. And this year the goal is to do that and take that next step forward when we get there.
On John Henry’s participation in the players’ only meeting
Kennedy: Yeah, John was part of the meetings yesterday and a part of the meetings that we just had this morning.
On if John Henry left
Kennedy: No.
On the importance of Henry speaking to these changes
Kennedy: Look, Craig and I have a job to do and this is our job.
On Breslow and Kennedy staying through the game
Breslow: I’m going to stay on.
Kennedy: Craig’s going to stay with the team
Breslow: through the. Yeah, through the end of the road trip.
Read the original article on MassLive . Add MassLive as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
