The Boston Red Sox entered play Saturday at 9-17, tied with the Kansas City Royals for the worst record in the American League and the second-worst record in baseball, behind only Philadelphia. Boston has underachieved in nearly every facet of the game, leaving fans questioning what needs to change to get things back on track. As a result of the slow start, could Red Sox manager Alex Cora find himself on the hot seat? 

It has been a struggle, to say the least, for the Red Sox at the plate; 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. 

On their most recent homestand, the Red Sox scored just 13 runs in seven games against the Tigers and Yankees with a .180 batting average en route to a 2-5 stint at Fenway. 

What has been most surprising about Boston's start to the season has been the performances of their starting rotation, which entered the season with the second-highest projected fWAR of any major league staff, behind only the Dodgers.

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.

Cora has reiterated on numerous occasions after victories, the Red Sox path to winning consistently is by strong pitching performances from their starters. 

Cora is in the second year of a three-year extension that was signed in July of 2024. According to The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal on the Foul Territory podcast, Cora would be owed around $10 million if they were to fire him, which Rosenthal says "gives him some security". 

When asked if there is a higher likelihood that the Red Sox can right the ship and make the playoffs, or one of Cora or Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow gets fired, "they can make the playoffs, the American League is not all that strong, as we have seen, if they can get their pitching together, find some offense... then the playoffs are not unrealistic" Rosenthal said. "If they don't, we've seen Red Sox ownership before; they look for scapegoats," he continued, adding that it would be Breslow who could see the seat heat up rather than Cora if things don't turn around. 

Rosenthal's line of thinking makes sense given that Cora has survived three different head decision makers since joining the organization in 2018. Cora was briefly fired by Boston while serving a one-year suspension for his involvement in the Astros' sign-stealing scandal in 2020. But Fenway Sports Group made their opinion of their former utility man clear when they rehired him ahead of the 2021 season, and again when they gave him that three-year extension in 2024. 

It would stand to reason that ownership would once again side with their manager, choosing to part ways with Breslow rather than Cora if things don't turn around, but with 135 games still to be played, there is still plenty of time for that to happen. 

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