The Boston Red Sox have fired manager Alex Cora, with the team sitting last in the American League East.
Less than 12 hours after his dismissal, Cora took to social media to make his first public comments.
Cora’s Social Media Response
Around 1 a.m. Sunday morning, Cora posted a photo of himself and the Red Sox coaches who had been fired. They were boarding a chartered flight back to Boston that had been arranged by the team. The Red Sox had set up a van to pick the coaches and Cora up from the team hotel in Baltimore to bring them to the airport.
“#mypeople,” Cora wrote with a heart emoji at the bottom of a picture of the coaches arm-in-arm in front of the plane. The picture included former game-planning coordinator Jason Varitek, who has been reassigned to a different role in the organisation. The photo also included former third base coach Kyle Hudson, hitting strategy coach Joe Cronin, assistant hitting coach Dillon Lawson, hitting coach Pete Fatse and bench coach Ramon Vazquez, all of whom the Red Sox fired on Saturday.
Three hours later, around 4 a.m., Cora re-posted on his Instagram story a clip from the “All the Smoke” podcast Mookie Betts had appeared on two days prior with former NBA players Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes.
“As quiet as it’s kept, I enjoy watching Red Sox games because of Cora,” Betts said in the opening clip.
Shortly thereafter, Cora posted to X: “Happy!” with a smiley face.
Yankees Manager Reacts to the Firing
New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone, a close friend of Cora’s, was asked about the firing after his game on Saturday.
“Very shocked,” Boone said after the Yankees win. “Certainly surprising and probably caught us off guard. I’ll probably dive into it a little more tonight.
“I have a feeling he’ll do whatever he wants. He’s a great manager, a smart, talented person that I’m sure will have a lot of opportunities available to him.”
Red Sox Struggle in the American League East
The Red Sox fired Cora on Saturday night after a 17-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles. The Red Sox had struggled to a 10-17 record. They were last in the American League East.
The Red Sox arranged for a chartered flight back to Boston for Cora and the fired coaches.