Red Sox Fan Chris Brockman Was 100% NOT On-Board with Alex Cora’s Firing

The Boston Red Sox fired manager Alex Cora and most of his coaching staff this week, and Chris Brockman, a lifelong Red Sox fan, was not on board, telling Rich on air that the franchise has stopped being serious about winning.

The firing came during a stretch in which Boston had actually started to play, winning two in a row including a 17-1 demolition under Cora before ownership pulled the plug. The optics, Brockman said, made the bad baseball worse. The team sent the dismissed coaches to the airport in a van labeled Coaches for Hire.

"That's the name of the service," Rich said, reading the lettering off the van. "What a great move. We're a first class organization."

Brockman did not soften it.

"What is there to say? We're an embarrassment," Brockman said. "We're the Marlins in fancier clothes. Like, we're not serious. Totally not serious. Do not care about winning. Just sell the team if this is how you're going to behave."

The call-in segment that set up the Cora conversation had already put Brockman on his heels. A Rockies fan named Evan in Denver phoned in to needle TJ Jefferson about the Mets being swept in New York by Colorado, a Rockies team coming off one of the worst seasons in baseball. Jefferson pivoted to the NFL Draft and reminded the room that the Mets and Yankees sit at opposite ends of the standings while his Yankees had just won eight in a row.

Brockman's frustration with Boston's ownership ran deeper than the firing itself. He pointed to John Henry's absence from the press conference and to the way players were handled when they tried to weigh in.

"John Henry did not show up to the press conference and didn't talk," Brockman said. "And when the players wanted to give input, he said, 'No, no, no. You're here to play baseball.' Told them to shut up and dribble essentially. Great. Cool. Really exciting. I'm sure everyone's pumped to put that uniform on every day."

Rich pushed back on the timing, noting that Cora had won a World Series in Boston and that the 2021 club had been a couple of plays from another World Series appearance. "I'm stunned," he said. "I would not have guessed that."

Brockman's read on Cora was that the manager is probably better off out of the building. "Alex Cora is probably happy to be done with this organization, this front office," he said. "Like complete joke. I'm not switching. I'm still going to watch. I still care, but like what are we doing?"

The Yankees, meanwhile, kept winning. The Phillies, Brockman noted, are the only team keeping his Red Sox company at the bottom of the early-season standings.