Jones & Keefe: How much of the Red Sox underachievement falls on Alex Cora

WEEI-FM / WEEI

Watch Jones & Keefe: How much of the Red Sox underachievement falls on Alex Cora - WEEI-FM / WEEI on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00Cora just got handed a big, giant, fat extension.

00:03I don't think he's going anywhere, Keefe,

00:04but I am looking at him for the team's underachievement.

00:08On some level, that's on the manager.

00:10Why are you pitching to Vlad?

00:11Why are you sticking with Giolito into a sixth inning?

00:14Why do you keep going back to Slayton?

00:15Why are you sticking with Whitlock for multiple innings?

00:17At some point, the manager has to push the right buttons.

00:20We give him credit when he pushes the right ones.

00:22At some point, when you're pushing the wrong ones,

00:24we've got to call it out.

00:25So I don't think he's in any jeopardy of losing his job.

00:27I don't think it's a hot seat issue,

00:29but I do look at him for their underachievement at 18-18

00:33and go, he's right in the middle of it.

00:35He's a big factor.

00:35Do you know what their record is in one-run games?

00:38I don't know the record.

00:39I believe they've blown the most one-run games in baseball,

00:42eight or nine, but I don't know what their record is.

00:43They're four or nine.

00:44Yeah, so nine is the answer.

00:46Right, so you're a 500 team.

00:48That swings the other way.

00:50That's pretty dramatically different.

00:51He had that answer last week, which I didn't love,

00:53about pitching to Vlad Guerrero.

00:56It basically boils down to, well,

00:58No, this came out after our show.

01:00You're right.

01:00After our show, he's like, well,

01:01basically, if the game mattered,

01:03I would have walked him.

01:05If it was the ALCS.

01:06ALCS.

01:07Yeah, just say you screwed it up.

01:08You screwed that one up.

01:09Don't say, oh, we're just trying.

01:11I forget.

01:11Trust our pitchers or whatever.

01:13That's exactly what it was.

01:14Oh, it's early in the year.

01:15I'm just trying to put trust in my pitchers.

01:16No, no, no.

01:17Vlad Guerrero.

01:18It's not like you're walking some scrub.

01:19You're walking Vlad Guerrero.

01:20You still have to get Santander out.

01:21So why do you think he answered it that way?

01:24To find a way to deflect all blame?

01:27See, that's what I think.

01:28I think he's just shirking blame.

01:29Deflecting blame is a good word for it.

01:31And yeah, I just think right now,

01:34maybe you're feeling it a little bit.

01:35He knows he's not managing great,

01:36so he doesn't want to put any more on his plate

01:38or any more blame on himself, rather.

01:40So I thought that was a dissatisfactory answer as well.

01:44No, they need to be a lot better

01:46because Cora's been here with one of the best teams

01:49in Red Sox history,

01:50and they ran all the way to a World Series title.

01:53He's been with some not-so-good teams,

01:55and they've come in last place.

01:57You know, he had the one kind of surprise year in 2021

01:59where they did get to the ALCS.

02:01Yep.

02:01But then he's had a bunch of games where,

02:03I'll give him all the excuses in the world.

02:05You didn't have a great roster,

02:06but you were in it at the trade deadline,

02:08and then you just fell apart afterwards.

02:11So, like, is he a great manager,

02:14or, like, how much credit does he deserve

02:15if this team does well?

02:17Right now, you do have the expectations.

Category

Transcript

Recommended