It's not often a team fires its manager after a 17-1 win, but that's exactly what the Boston Red Sox did Saturday. Manager Alex Cora and most of his coaching staff were let go. The Red Sox are currently in the AL East cellar at 10-17. Even with Saturday's 17-run outburst, their offense ranks 23rd with 4.15 runs per game.
"Alex Cora led this organization to one of the greatest seasons in Red Sox history in 2018, and for that, and the many years that followed, he will always have our deepest gratitude," Red Sox owner John Henry said in a statement. "He has had a lasting impact on this team and on this city. He has led on and off the field in so many important ways.'
It has been a very busy few months on the managerial front. Nine teams went into the offseason without a manager and the Red Sox are the first to change managers in-season, though they probably won't be the last. Here now are five managers whose seat is getting pretty warm after the Red Sox moved on from Cora.
The brain trust insists they're sticking with Mendoza, but the Mets will have to start stacking wins soon. They're 9-17, they recently had a 12-game losing streak, and they had a slow-motion collapse out of the postseason a year ago. Also, Mendoza is in the final year of his contract. Disappointing team plus lame-duck manager often equals a managerial change.
The Phillies snapped their 10-game losing streak Saturday but still have baseball's worst record (9-18) and run differential (minus-50). This is an older win-now team that isn't winning, so conditions are ripe for a managerial change. There are already rumblings that Thomson could be in jeopardy. His contract runs through 2027, though so did Cora's with the Red Sox. Having a year remaining on your contract doesn't mean your job is safe when you're the manager of an underperforming team.
At 10-18, the Astros have the AL's worst record, and you can blame their MLB-worst 6.04 ERA for that (no other team is worse than a 5.48 ERA). Espada, like Mendoza, is in the final year of his contract. So too is GM Dana Brown. Brown would not be the first GM to fire the manager in an effort to save his own job. Fair or not, there have been rumblings about Espada's job security since last summer.
This one seems unlikely, but the Mariners are underperforming at 13-15, and they needed their current three-game winning streak to creep within two games of .500. Seattle came into the season as a World Series contender and arguably the best team in the AL. If the team doesn't find its footing and begin to rattle off wins soon, Wilson could be made the scapegoat. There's pressure on POBO Jerry Dipoto and really the entire organization to win now.
It has been a bumpy first month for Vitello, who became the first person to jump straight from the college ranks to a big league managerial job without any professional coaching or playing experience. Vitello's failed speeches and old grudges may not to be to blame for San Francisco's 12-15 start, though they certainly don't look great. POBO Buster Posey would have some major egg on his face if he has to move on from Vitello less than a year after hiring him. File this one under "very unlikely but not completely impossible."