Author Topic: How important is Alex Cora to the Red Sox?  (Read 5286 times)

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How important is Alex Cora to the Red Sox?
« on: July 26, 2021, 11:08:52 PM »

Online Roy H.

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How much of the Sox bounce back this season can be attributed to Alex Cora?  I'm generally a believer that, outside of football, coaching is a bit overrated.  Outside of really terrible manages (Bobby Valentine), I've never thought that coaching made a gigantic difference.  I've always believed that a coach can win or lose a team a handful of games over the course of a season, but the difference between first and last place?  Not so much.

Is Cora truly exceptional?  Was last year and/or this year a fluke?  Or, is coaching just way more important than I think?


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Re: How important is Alex Cora to the Red Sox?
« Reply #1 on: July 27, 2021, 12:41:20 AM »

Offline libermaniac

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I think Cora is worth 10 games to this team. He just makes the environment around the clubhouse so light and fun while also building confidence in each and every player. Look at Kike … he could have given up on him, like I did, after his horrendous stretch to start the season. But, he’s patient and seems to have a good knack for who to play when. I’m sold. 100%.

Re: How important is Alex Cora to the Red Sox?
« Reply #2 on: July 27, 2021, 03:51:07 AM »

Offline Ed Monix

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It's amazing the effect Cora has had to this team, perhaps he's a bit like Phil Jackson, as an elite man manager.

But like Roy alluded to, last season performance could have looked worse because of extenuating circumstances, as playing through a pandemic with large overhaul in players, while operating under a new manager would have taken a huge toll on the group.

On a side note, have you noticed that the MLB has allowed the Nike logo on the uniforms. This has to be a precursor to having a sponsor patch on the other side, just like the NBA. The NHL will be right behind, followed by the NFL...they all were waiting for the first greedy domino to fall.
« Last Edit: July 27, 2021, 03:58:24 AM by Ed Monix »
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Re: How important is Alex Cora to the Red Sox?
« Reply #3 on: July 28, 2021, 10:59:53 PM »

Offline BudweiserCeltic

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How much of the Sox bounce back this season can be attributed to Alex Cora?  I'm generally a believer that, outside of football, coaching is a bit overrated.  Outside of really terrible manages (Bobby Valentine), I've never thought that coaching made a gigantic difference.  I've always believed that a coach can win or lose a team a handful of games over the course of a season, but the difference between first and last place?  Not so much.

Is Cora truly exceptional?  Was last year and/or this year a fluke?  Or, is coaching just way more important than I think?

I'm a believer that coaching doesn't really matter until your reach the Playoffs, but I do belief that work done behind the scenes matters a lot for the season, and it seems that he excels at that. When we won the WS he was great in the Playoffs, so yeah I think he deserves a lot of credit, but how much... can't say. But it's been a drastic change year to year on how the team has performed.

That said, we've had a lot of come from behind wins, so an argument can be had that our record overstates how well we've played. By the same token, we've had a TERRIBLE pitching rotation, so one can argue the best is yet to come with Sale joining soon and Houck pitching extremely well and hopefully will figure into our rotation going forward.

And I'll hijack the thread to mention that they robbed Jarren Duran from an inside-the-park home run.

Re: How important is Alex Cora to the Red Sox?
« Reply #4 on: July 29, 2021, 02:39:15 AM »

Offline libermaniac

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And I'll hijack the thread to mention that they robbed Jarren Duran from an inside-the-park home run.
I didn’t see it that way. It’s pretty obvious they don’t send him home if the outfielder doesn’t bobble the ball trying to pick it up. Great, exciting play either way. Someone needs to teach Duran to rely on his third base coach. Don’t they teach that in little league?

Re: How important is Alex Cora to the Red Sox?
« Reply #5 on: July 29, 2021, 10:05:43 AM »

Offline JBcat

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I think it’s much more complex than simply having Cora back in my opinion.   For 1 having Bloom round out the 26 man active roster and 40 man roster very effectively has put us in a very good position.  2 health, we didn’t have Erod all of last season, Eovaldi parts of it, and Pivetta didn’t start pitching for us until the end of the season.  In a shortened season it created a lot of variance to having a bad season. Nothing is more important than starting pitching, and of our normal 5 starting pitchers this season only Erod has missed 1 start with the others not missing any.  Cora plays a huge part in that though as he manages the pitching staff very well.

On offense it’s nice to have the old JD back.  Is that because of Cora, or because he was out of sync last season not being able to watch video of his at bats during a game?  They are allowing players to do that again and with how technical JD is I believe it’s really helped his resurgence.   Our offense was actually good last season, but JD has helped bring it to another level along with the performance of others.

Bloom’s offseason additions feels 2013ish with Ottovino, Whitlock, K Hernandez, Renfroe and more.

Re: How important is Alex Cora to the Red Sox?
« Reply #6 on: July 29, 2021, 02:07:48 PM »

Offline BudweiserCeltic

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And I'll hijack the thread to mention that they robbed Jarren Duran from an inside-the-park home run.
I didn’t see it that way. It’s pretty obvious they don’t send him home if the outfielder doesn’t bobble the ball trying to pick it up. Great, exciting play either way. Someone needs to teach Duran to rely on his third base coach. Don’t they teach that in little league?

Meh, how often are those called errors in the outfield? Particularly when the ball bounces off the wall just because you couldn't manage a clean grab? He got robbed I say. And to think if he didn't hit the ground rule double the other day against the Yankees, he might've had another one that day... or a triple. I like the kid, hopefully he can get more consistency going forward with his AB, but loving the speed and also some key hits.