Red Sox Shortstop Story Questions Team Direction After Firing Cora, Five Coaches

The Boston Red Sox entered the 2026 season with hopes of reaching the postseason for the second straight year. The front office addressed pitching woes by adding Ranger Suarez, Patrick Sandoval and Sonny Gray to support ace Garrett Crochet.

Alex Bregman left in free agency, but Roman Anthony, Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela and Marcelo Mayer built a solid young core around veterans Willson Contreras and Trevor Story. Top prospect Kristian Campbell, 23, struggled in 2025 but held promise. Manager Alex Cora, who won the 2018 World Series, returned for stability as one of the three longest-tenured skippers with the same club.

Six weeks later, Boston languishes in last place, 10 games behind the New York Yankees. The team has been outscored overall. Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow fired Cora and the entire hitting coaching staff, seeking a leadership shake-up.

The move backfired. After a weekend series against the Houston Astros, players aired public disagreements. Boston won Friday but lost 6-3 Saturday and 3-1 Sunday. In the Sunday extras, Rafaela grounded into a game-ending double play with the bases loaded.

Contreras told MassLive the dugout felt different without Cora. "It’s different with Alex not here," he said. "But after Cora got fired, the guys got loose a little more because I feel like the tension was gone…That’s what I felt. That’s my own opinion. When Alex wasn’t in the dugout (anymore), the team was kinda like loose. But that doesn’t matter. We have to play better. We have to find consistency. We have to get better, we have to be better."

He pointed to the young players' inexperience. It "probably doesn’t help that the lineup has a number of young players who don’t have much experience in dealing with slumps," Contreras added.

Marcelo Mayer fired back. "To me, that’s just kind of an excuse: blame the young guys," he said. "But at the end of the day, we’re all playing baseball, we’re all pros. We all know what we need to do. I don’t think we’re doing a good job with runners in scoring position. When you don’t do that, you don’t score runs."

Trevor Story questioned the team's direction after the firings. The rotation has suffered injuries, including Crochet's shoulder inflammation. Playoff odds sit at 24 percent for one of baseball's richest franchises in a major market.

Mayer has a point on clutch hitting. Boston posts a .695 OPS with runners in scoring position, ranking 23rd of 30 teams. The lineup bats .243; the league-leading Atlanta Braves hit .300.