Alex Cora is back in the Boston Red Sox dugout, which should mean good news for the ballclub. It’s also good news for fans who want insight into how the game is played at the highest level in this day and age.
Cora loves talking about baseball and has been an open book when asked the right questions. He recently spoke with 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Tony Massarotti on “The Baseball Hour,” and the conversation was a delight for those wanting a little more insight on the organization’s decision-making processes.
Here are some of the biggest takeaways from the chat:
— The Red Sox weren’t the ones who changed Andrew Benintendi’s approach
We’ve already looked at this one, but Cora’s candid comments about the former Red Sox outfielder were certainly newsworthy. It will be interesting to see how Benintendi responds in Kansas City.
— Cora’s TV stint might have made him a better manager
In between his playing career ending in 2012 and being hired as the Houston Astros’ bench coach in 2017, Cora spent some time at ESPN. He credits that tenure as opening his eyes to the power of analytics, or as he likes to call it, “information.”
“They were feeding me this information, the research department, and I was in awe of the cool things you can look at,” he said. “That prepared me going into 2017. Also, I noticed my early interviews to become a manager, I felt I was behind a little bit in this aspect. People think I know the game, but I needed to get into the game and the way front offices work, evaluating players. I think going to TV helped me.”
— Information, information, information
Not sabermetrics, not analytics but information.
“There’s not a perfect way of managing the game, but I do believe information is part of the process, and how you apply it that makes a difference.”
He pointed at the now-famous decision to pinch-hit for Rafael Devers with Eduardo Nunez in Game 1 of the 2018 World Series after starting Devers against the left-handed Clayton Kershaw.
— Feel still plays a role in Cora’s decision-making process, though.
Case in point: Cora’s decision to let Eduardo Rodriguez face Yasiel Puig in the 2018 World Series, resulting in a potentially series-altering blast from Puig.
“The Eduardo Rodriguez who was pitching in that inning is not the Eduardo Rodriguez in the middle of the summer when he was pitching every five days,” Cora said. “That’s Eduardo’s first start in, what, three weeks? So I went, I’m going with this and I trust Eduardo, too. Having (Joe Kelly and Matt Barnes) in the bullpen — which, they’re a positive matchup against Puig — but I was like, you know what, this is (Rodriguez’s) game. It almost cost us that game, and it almost put the Dodgers back in the series.”
— Chaim Bloom allows him to make his own decisions
Cora pushed back on the notion the baseball operations department fills out the lineup card based solely on numbers. For example, Enrique Hernandez isn’t the prototypical leadoff hitter, but he’ll probably start the year atop the order to allow Cora to stretch out the lineup with hitters like Dever, Alex Verdugo, Marwin Gonzalez and Franchy Cordero.
“In the numbers world, it doesn’t make sense, but in the baseball sense, it does. (Bloom) knows that, and we talk about it.”
— Cora gave insight on the value of having advanced scouts in the clubhouse
Basically, it comes down to having people who can look at the data, look at what they see on the field and weld those together to present digestible information to players and coaches.
“The advanced scouts, yeah they do an outstanding job watching the game in person — we used to have a lot of them going to games and they scouted the teams you were going to play, and they give you great information, but there was always a gap between the scout and the player,” he said. ” … So, you’re telling me his fastball is doing this, and then he can show them with the video his sequence: “He goes up in the zone and this is his fastball, and then after this pitch, he’ll tunnel the breaking ball off that,” and he goes back and forth with the player. It’s a easier way to prepare the players.”
— The Red Sox are still figuring out the pitching plan
Cora admitted to question marks about each of his five starters, while also expressing confidence in the organizational pitching depth. That depth, he said, should allow the club to skip turns in the rotation to keep everyone fresh.
As for the bullpen, they’re still figuring out usage.
“We’ve got a mix and match in a sense where we have a lot of good relievers that we can match up with you and we can get righties and lefties out, but we’ve gotta find the right tunnel, the right matchup for our relievers. I think we’re in a comfortable situation doing that because we’re so versatile.”
— Cora loves Verdugo’s approach
The skipper revealed Verudgo hates taking batting practice on the field because it makes him more likely to try and hit home runs. Despite Verdugo’s spring-long slump (5-for-27), Cora is confident he’ll be ready to go April 1.
— The “new” baseball is a legitimate factor to watch in 2021
Major League Baseball will change the ball in 2021, a move that should reduce the number of home runs hit after record numbers of dingers in recent years. Cora actually thinks it could benefit players like Verdugo or Jose Ramirez if the home run is slightly devalued.
— Don’t be surprised if Christian Vazquez’s approach looks different in 2021
When pressed about which players on his team might be affected by a new baseball, Cora pointed to Vazquez. The catcher more than doubled his career home run total with a career-high 23 blasts in 2019 and slugged .457 a season ago. Cora, though, thinks he could benefit from a tweak to the approach.
“I think he has pull-side power when he hits the ball out in front and it’s a perfect swing, but Christian can be an all-around hitter,” Cora said. “I love putting the hit-and-run on with him in 2018. I don’t want him to get caught up on the ‘I’m a power-hitting catcher,’ because he’s not. Actually, he can be a complete hitter, .280 with 15 home runs and drive in 70. Those guys, if you can catch like Christian and he hits like that, those guys make a lot of money.”
— Finally, there’s an unsurprising amount of optimism for 2021
“We have a good baseball team, a really good baseball team in a division where there are four teams that are good (maybe) great,” Cora said. “Everybody has their question marks. If you play good baseball over 162 games, good things can happen, and I do believe we have a good baseball team.”
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