After Boston’s rout of Baltimore yesterday afternoon, the baseball world was left shocked when Alex Cora, along with several other coaches on the team, were fired Saturday evening. It’s not a secret that the Red Sox have been underwhelming this season so far, after high expectations. This morning, Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow and Team President Sam Kennedy held a press conference in Baltimore. Here are some takeaways:
Who Is Replacing Alex Cora?
It was announced shortly after the firing that Chad Tracy would be the interim manager. Tracy was the manager in Worcester and ended up managing many of the current players on the Red Sox. Breslow said multiple times that he had full confidence in Tracy and that he should gel with the guys well. The interesting part about that is that Breslow said that he’s not against hiring someone else mid-season. The team hasn’t been in this situation since 2001, when Joe Kerrigan took over for Jimy WIlliams. It’s a long road to the end of the season, so it makes more sense to keep Tracy for now. If he turns the team around and does well this year, there shouldn’t be a reason not to keep him. But the permanent manager is still a debate.
Where Was John Henry?
A big talking point was about John Henry’s role in the decision. It was made clear by both Kennedy and Breslow today that Henry had a big role in the process of firing Cora. However, in the press conference today, Henry was nowhere to be found. He made the flight down to have this meeting, he’s still in Baltimore, so the question begs; where is he? According to Chris Cotilo, Garrett Whitlock said that in a team meeting this morning, Breslow and Tracy showed up. Henry and Kennedy did not.
Garrett Whitlock says Henry and Kennedy did not address the team in a quick team meeting this morning. Breslow and Tracy spoke.
— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) April 26, 2026
In fact, there were some contradictions in who made the decision as well. According to Tyler Milliken, Breslow claimed the move was a joint decision between Henry, Kennedy, and himself. However, later on in the conference, Kennedy said this move was led by Breslow. If Kennedy’s right, how big was John Henry in this action?
Pretty weird to see Craig Breslow paint the decision to fire Alex Cora as a joint decision, before Sam Kennedy makes it very clear this move was led by Breslow. pic.twitter.com/BhvwjLsZax
— Tyler Milliken (@tylermilliken_) April 26, 2026
Accountability on Breslow
Breslow was asked a question early on in the conference regarding his former stance on early decisions. A few weeks back he had mentioned that making major early season decisions, such as firing a manager, could somehow make the team worse. When asked what changed in his stance, he didn’t exactly answer the question directly. Instead, he took accountability for the poor performance thus far this season. This was a little unexpected, seeing as there had been rumors that Cora and Breslow weren’t aligned on certain things, roster construction being one.
Speaking of roster construction however, when asked if Breslow had any doubts about the way the roster currently is, he said the next step is to get the players back to how they typically performed. The way things are going right now, roster construction is certainly an issue, including certain moves that Breslow himself made this offseason. It was clear today that the two of them didn’t answer a whole lot of questions clearly today.
Overall, the press conference was a very confusing one that seemed to provide more questions then answers. Despite having a temporary plan in place, they didn’t answer about how things with Cora went down. Henry wasn’t there to address questions. Breslow admitted the roster construction flaws were on him, but that shows incompetence on him as well. The shocking news leaves this franchise in a troubling place. As of now, the struggles that plagued the beginning of the season don’t really have full time solutions. With players on edge about this situation too, the future of the franchise looks uncertain.
(Top Image Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images)
