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Former Boston Red Sox folk hero Kevin Millar still has faith that manager Alex Cora can turn the struggling team around despite the many problems Boston has had through the first third of the season.
Much was expected of the Red Sox this season after they acquired star pitcher Garrett Crochet from the Chicago White Sox, signed former Dodger starter Walker Buehler and closer Aroldis Chapman in the offseason. When the team added third baseman Alex Bregman prior to the start of spring training, there was a thought that the Red Sox might be able to challenge the New York Yankees in the American League East.
Instead, the team is 30-34 and has fallen to fourth place in the division. Bregman was the most productive and best player on the team through mid-May, but he suffered a quad injury that could keep him out two months or longer. While veteran Rafael Devers is hitting well after a poor start, his decision that he would not attempt to play first base following the season-ending injury suffered by Triston Casas has rubbed many the wrong way.
Millar defended Cora and the way he has managed the team. “They’ve been struggling,” Millar told WBZ’s Dan Roche on Wednesday. “Alex Cora can only do so much, right? You’re the manager. The GMs and the organizations give you the players, they spend the money and then you only could do what you could do. But we all know there’s something just not right.”
Cora has been criticized despite Millar's defense
The Red Sox have struggled in nearly every area. The defense has been poor once again and so has the team's base running. While Crochet has lived up to expectations, the other starting pitchers have struggled to establish themselves.
Cora has regularly pulled his starters in the fifth inning or earlier, leaving the bullpen with the responsibility of holding leads. The relief pitchers have done a decent job, but that unit has also slumped in a number of key games.
However, the biggest problem has been the team's tendency to leave runners on base. Hitters like Trevor Story and Wilyer Abreu have regularly failed when facing key late-inning situations with runners on base. The Red Sox have struck out 588 times and rarely take advantage of their opportunities to bring runners home with less than two outs.
Cora has mainly defended his team and shown confidence that his players would come around, but he was disgusted with his team earlier this week when he admitted that his team is “not getting better.”
