Jarren Duran Reportedly Waved Off Reporters In What Was The Worst Red Sox Player Reaction Of Alex Cora's Stunning Firing
I hate this shit from Jarren Duran.
The Red Sox fired Alex Cora Saturday night around dinnertime (what an old man word to use). And I get it, these players are human, and so they're going to have human reactions to their boss being fired in the middle of a series before we even get to Memorial Day. We all agree, the timing was a stunner.
But this is 🤡 behavior. From the Athletic -
At the start of clubhouse availability, outfielder Jarren Duran spent several minutes changing from one outfit into another as reporters hovered around his locker. Finally, he turned around, side-eyed a reporter who asked if he had some time, and waved the back of his hand toward the horde to dismiss them without saying a word.
That's just being a dink to be a dink. Also, why is he trying on multiple outfits?
Duran was supposed to be a team leader this year. Trevor Story said as much in spring training.
“I think Jarren is gonna take a big step in that, as he did last year. I guess it’s a good problem to have when you have guys that are coming up, and they have to kind of grow into the player and the leader that you expect them to be.”
This crap is the opposite of being a leader. Duran's blowing off the media led to one of the team's youngest players being the first to speak on Cora's firing in the Sox clubhouse Sunday morning.
This left 21-year-old Roman Anthony as the first player to speak for the team in the clubhouse in front of cameras.
“I don’t think anyone really expected it,” Anthony said of the decision. He said he preferred to let a veteran describe the specifics of the meeting. At the end of the day, when we take the field, it’s on us,” Anthony said. “It’s not AC’s job to go out there and do the things that we’re expecting to do as players. So, I mean, it’s nobody’s fault but ours.”
At least one of the younger players gets it. Duran clearly doesn't.
Yes, Sox players were not happy with Cora's firing.
Trevor Story did not think the group got a fair shot before the firing. “If this shows us anything, it’s we’re here to play baseball, and that’s it. We don’t make decisions. We don’t have any input on that.” Veteran reliever Garrett Whitlock said something similar.
“They made it very clear that we get paid to play baseball, and we need to just focus on playing baseball. … So that’s where we’re at.”
Story went on to laud new manager Chad Tracy, someone he had been with in the Rockies organization. But Story is also one of the players who could be most affected by the move - Cora had anointed him the full-time shortstop, even though Marcelo Mayer is a much better defensive player at this point. You can argue that Mayer at short and Story at second base is best for the team, but Core refused to make that move; we'll see if Tracy does.
Talented lefty Connelly Early was still name-checking Cora after his win on Sunday.
Here's what I would say to the players - The Red Sox were an abysmal 10-17 at the time of Cora's firing. If you wanted your manager to still be here, you should have played better.
Should Breslow have been fired, too? Yes. ✅
Is the start more about Breslow's roster than Cora's managing? Also, yes. ✅
Did John Henry and the team look bad in the way this went down? 100% ✅
Was Alex Cora such a good manager that it's unfair he was fired? ❌
No.
Cora has a lot of friends in the media, and I have no doubt this will get messy. But I'm sorry, he should not have been untouchable. His tenure will be remembered as good to very good, but not great. You can't miss the playoffs three years in a row, constantly have slow starts at the beginning of the season, and be as bad at ABS Challenges as the Red Sox were and STILL be called great.
Clearly, this is now Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow's team. I think he stinks out loud, and I don't think Chad Tracy will save the day, but as HogDale pointed out in our Emergency Podcast Saturday Night, one of two things will likely happen now.
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1. The team will continue to struggle, miss the playoffs, and Bres gets fired.
2. The team responds to the change, goes on a run, has a good season, and makes the playoffs.
I think it's fair to ask what route most fans are rooting for.
Alyssa Piazza. Getty Images.New manager Chad Tracy kinda looks like Breslow, but talks like an actual human being.
Love this. I am rooting for Tracy. He's a baseball lifer, and his dad, Jim Tracy, was a longtime MLB manager. By all accounts, the players like this guy, and it helps that many on this roster (Anthony, Mayer among them) played for Tracy at AAA.
He is also undefeated as Red Sox Interim Manager, as the Sox won Sunday 5-3 to win the weekend series in Baltimore.
Series Stock Watch:
📈Stock Up: Chad Tracy. Undefeated, duh
📈Stock Up: Wilson Contreras. Drove in seven on the weekend and looks like the team's best hitter.
📈Stock Up: Garrett Crochet. Looked 'back' on Saturday in a strong outing.
📈Stock Up: Chad Tracy, again. LOVE the Red Sox stole four bases in the win.
📈Stock Up: Orioles social media team.
📉Stock Down: Brayan Bello. Another bad outing. AAA-bound in the next few weeks?
📉Stock Down: Duran. Brutal comments on Sunday.
We went live on Sunday afternoon for Episode 27 of Dirty Water - A Boston Sports Podcast. We talked about the Red Sox winning and the rest of the Red Sox news of the weekend.
⚾ Cora out, Tracy in
⚾ Where did all these Cora SuperFans come from?
⚾ Will Buster Olney be okay?
⚾ Kutter's Fresh Cora take
⚾ Tracy gets the Red Sox running
⚾ John Henry is a 🤡
⚾ Trevor Story to 2B?
⚾ Duran dumb comments
⚾ Carrabis had the Cora news first
⚾ Roman batting third?
⚾ Plans for the lineup
⚾ Sox vs. Cora to get messy
⚾ Kutter is sick
⚾ Shoutout MutStack
⚾ HogDale is smiling again
And just so much more.
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