No sooner did we write last week about the Red Sox’ need to clean house by either getting rid of the team’s manager, Alex Cora, or the de facto GM, Chaim Bloom — or both — the team ran off a six-game winning streak, albeit against a shorthanded Yankees team and a .500 Minnesota Twins team.
But Boston returned to form later this week, dropping its last two games against those Twins to fall back to 39-37, good enough for, you guessed it, last place in the AL East.
Just because the team goes on occasional runs or sometimes leads one to believe that they just might have something going, they revert to form and turn in duds, like losing two out of three to the 29-48 Colorado Rockies — at home — last week.
So we’re sticking by our guns and recommending that the Red Sox make some changes.
If they were to change managers, who would be some logical candidates? Let’s take a look.
Sandy Alomar, Jr., Guardians first base coach: Alomar was an All-Star catcher and the son and brother of big-leaguers. Since 2009 he has been on the Cleveland coaching staff, and he took over as manager when former Red Sox manager Terry Francona stepped aside with medical issues in 2020, going 28-18 and leading the team to a wild-card berth. He turned down the bench-coach job in 2021, choosing instead to coach first base instead so he could work with players more on baserunning. Alomar has interviewed for numerous MLB managerial openings, including one with Boston a few years ago.
Brad Ausmus, Athletics bench coach, former Tigers, Angels manager: Ausmus was a well-respected catcher, and he did win 90 games and a division title in his first season as Tigers manager in 2014, which is no small feat given how abysmal that team has been lately. Unfortunately for Ausmus, the Tigers regressed after that with losing seasons in two of the next three years, and he won just 72 games in his only season as Angels skipper. Ausmus is a New Englander, having been born in Connecticut and attended Dartmouth; he apparently enjoys the analytics of the game and reportedly is well-liked by players.
Carlos Beltrán, Mets front office: This hiring would be the epitome of chutzpah, as the Red Sox would be replacing one cheater from the Houston Astros' sign-stealing scandal of 2017 with the player who apparently was the ringleader on the field and in the dugout for Cora’s shenanigans in Houston. Still, the former Royals star outfielder was actually hired as manager of the Mets prior to the 2019 season but lost that gig before ever managing a game when his role in the Astros’ scandal surfaced. Since then, Beltrán spent a year on the YES Network as a game analyst for the Yankees, and this season is working in the Mets’ front office. Beltrán was a very well-respected player and is a borderline Hall-of-Famer that the Astros players identified as a leader in the clubhouse, although as mentioned, that may not have been a very good thing.
Carlos Febles, Red Sox third-base coach: Another former Royals player, Febles spent six seasons as the second baseman in Kansas City from 1998 to 2003. He has served for the Red Sox organization since 2007, doing everything from minor-league manager to minor-league coach before becoming the third-base coach at the big-league level in 2017. Febles has used data from the analytics department to work with players on defensive positioning and was previously considered for the managerial job in Boston when Alex Cora was suspended for the 2020 season.
Demarlo Hale, Guardians bench coach: Hale has been in coaching for over 20 years, and has been mentioned as a managerial candidate numerous times, although approaching age 62, he may not be generating that much interest anymore. He managed in the minors with the Rangers, then joined their coaching staff before becoming third-base coach with the Red Sox under Terry Francona in 2006. He then bounced around with stints with the Orioles, Blue Jays, and Braves coaching staffs before rejoining Francona in Cleveland in 2021, and like Alomar Jr., took over the Guardians the final two months when Francona had medical issues.
Joe Maddon, former Rays, Cubs, Angels manager: In 19 seasons as a skipper, Maddon has a winning percentage of .532, winning a pennant with the low-budget Rays in 2008 and a long-awaited World Series championship in 2016 with the Cubs. Maddon has long been praised for his work in implementing analytics, but it is not certain that the 69-year-old is still interested in managing or would take on a rebuilding project like the one in Boston, but it would certainly be an intriguing possibility if Maddon, like his former GM, Theo Epstein, would be interested in leading both the Cubs and Red Sox to championship seasons.
Will Venable, Red Sox bench coach: Another in-house managerial candidate, Venable is a Princeton alumnus and a nine-year MLB veteran. He is the son of former big-leaguer Max Venable, and spent some of his childhood growing up in Japan and the Dominican Republic. Venable also has roots in Chicago, as he served as a special assistant to Epstein with the Cubs before joining their coaching staff in 2018. He was considered for the managerial opening in Boston, but instead joined the Red Sox as a bench coach, and has filled in as manager when Cora has been unavailable over the past few seasons.
David Ross, Cubs manager: Like his former teammate, Jon Lester, the likeable Ross is one of the few former ballplayers who can boast that he played on two World Series curse-busters, the Red Sox and the Cubs. Ross just got a two-year extension (with a club option for a third year) with Chicago, but his team is just 36-38 this season and his career managerial record is just 215-243. Still, he was beloved in Boston as a member of the 2013 World Series championship team as a catcher, and I doubt that Cubs would have a problem eating the money owed to Ross next season if the Red Sox came calling this off-season.
Next week: Potential GM candidates.