The Red Sox are currently in last place in the American League East and they've made sweeping changes to the dugout.
Update, 7:16 p.m. ET: According to Gabrielle Starr of the Boston Herald, Varitek was not fired, but he is being given another role in the organization. It's unclear what that is at this time.
7:10 p.m. ET Despite a massive 17-1 victory on Saturday afternoon, the Boston Red Sox have made unfathomable changes to their coaching staff, according to Jeff Passan of ESPN.
The possibility of major changes was first noted by Jared Carrabis of the Section 10 podcast and then corroborated by Rob Bradford of WEEI before Passan came in with the official report.
The Boston Red Sox fired manager Alex Cora, hitting coach Peter Fatse, bench coach Rámon Vazquez and game-planning coach Jason Varitek, sources tell ESPN.
While the Red Sox won today, they are 10-17 and in last in the American League East. Massive change is coming in Boston.
Cora managed the Red Sox for parts of eight seasons over two stints, going 620-541 and winning the World Series in 2018. Thought to be untouchable for a long period of time, Cora outlasted decision-makers Dave Dombrowski and Chaim Bloom, but he couldn't outlast Craig Breslow in this case.
A former Sox player, Cora will be highly-coveted by other organizations, but it's unclear if he'll want to jump into another opportunity immediately or if he'll wait until the offseason. He still had two years left on his Red Sox deal (including this one), so there is no rush to decide what's next.
Varitek is one of the most beloved players in Red Sox history, as he was the team captain and played for 15 years. He helped the Sox win the World Series in 2004 and 2007, earning three All-Star appearances along the way.
Buster Olney of ESPN added the following context:
On top of these four changes, Julian McWilliams says the Sox also fired assistant hitting coach Dillon Lawson. He had previously been with the New York Yankees. Passan later added that third base coach Kyle Hudson has also been fired. The Red Sox officially announced the moves, adding that hitting strategist Joe Cronin was also let go.
The Red Sox are one of the most disappointing teams in baseball in the early going. Despite Saturday's 17-run outburst, the offense has been anemic and the pitching staff has underwhelmed as well.
Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora signs a baseball for a fan prior to a game against the Detroit Tigers at Fenway Park. Bob DeChiara-Imagn ImagesThe following came from a Saturday morning piece from our own Zach Coe:
...they rank at or near the bottom of the league in almost every offensive metric. Boston is in the bottom five in baseball in batting average, runs scored, on-base percentage, and isolated power. They also rank dead last in home runs and slugging percentage. Similarly, the approach at the plate for the Red Sox offense has been all over the place, chasing at the 10th highest rate in the sport at 30.9%, while they are swinging at just 62.5% of pitches they see in the strikezone.
....Now in its sixth turn, the Boston starters have a combined ERA of 5.31, the fourth-highest among any major league staff. That is thanks in part to two disaster starts, one from Garrett Crochet in Minnesota, and another from Brayan Bello in Friday night's loss in Baltimore.
Crochet did pitch well over six innings in the win on Saturday.
We'll have much more on this story as information becomes available.
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