Boston Red Sox players do not appear happy with the team’s decision to fire manager Alex Cora, or the way they went about it.
The Red Sox fired Cora on Saturday with the team off to a 10-17 start, prompting a great deal of surprise around the baseball world. That apparently extended to the players, many of whom found out about the decision via social media.
Some Red Sox players found out about the details of the firings of Alex Cora and the coaches on social media, like the rest of the world, I'm told.
— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) April 26, 2026
"We're gonna meet together tomorrow as a team," Sam Kennedy told MasLive. "We wanted to meet with Alex before talking to anybody…
Red Sox president Sam Kennedy said the team would be addressed on Sunday. That, apparently, did not go well. General manager Craig Breslow was the only member of team leadership to speak to the players, and according to pitcher Garrett Whitlock, players were not allowed to ask questions.
“They made it very clear that we get paid to play baseball and we need to just focus on playing baseball,” Whitlock said, via Tim Healey of the Boston Globe.
In general, the mood of the players appeared quite negative. Shortstop Trevor Story said he wanted to clear the air with Breslow, and said the coaching staff did not get a fair shot.
Trevor Story is not happy with the decisions and says he wants to clear the air with Craig Breslow today. Says “some of the best coaches in the world didn’t get a fair shot.”
— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) April 26, 2026
Cora was seemingly made the scapegoat for the team’s 10-17 start, even though he has won a World Series as manager and few really blamed him for the issues. Cora himself seemed to believe he got a raw deal, at least based on his social media activity.
There had been past rumors about something of a power struggle between Cora and Breslow. If these reactions are any indication, the players are more supportive of their former manager, which may be a problem for Breslow in the future.
