SEATTLE — Red Sox manager Alex Cora has seen it all in trade deadlines past. In 2018 and 2021, his club received major reinforcements in Steve Pearce, Nathan Eovaldi and Kyle Schwarber. Last season, he had to navigate an awkward scene as the Sox dealt catcher (and veteran leader Christian Vázquez) despite being in the American League wild-card race.
Cora doesn’t plan to address his team ahead of what could be a busy deadline but knows it’s a topic that’s on the mind of his players. Some, like Rafael Devers, have publicly voiced their desire for the team to add. Others, like James Paxton, Adam Duvall and Alex Verdugo, might be worried about their futures. In the manager’s chair, Cora’s focus is on each day’s game.
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“I think living it as a player, nobody had to explain to me what people are doing or what we’re thinking,” Cora said Sunday. “Obviously, I was kind of like the 25th man on the roster but I was in tune with everything.
“Right now, where we’re at and what’s going on, everybody’s looking at what’s going on right in front of us and around us. That’s the best way. They’ve got questions and people get anxious and all that, but at the end, you have to perform. You’ve got a job to do. It sounds very business-like but you’re getting paid to play baseball.”
Cora, like any manager with a team in a pennant race, acknowledged he’s hopeful chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom adds to the roster before Tuesday at 6 p.m. ET. After navigating the last month with just three traditional starting pitchers, Cora could use an arm or two as July turns to August.
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“There’s 30 managers in the big leagues and nobody would say, ‘We don’t deserve to keep going,’” Cora said. “That’s the nature of my job. My job is to put these guys in a position to be successful every day. I understand the game, I understand the business part of it, but we’re gonna keep pushing. I think we have a vision and the vision is to keep winning. That’s it.
“We do think the group is a good one. Obviously, we want to get better but we know we’ll get better soon (when key players like Chris Sale and Trevor Story come off the injured list). That’s the other thing. It’s a lot different than last year.”
The Red Sox lost their final two games to the Giants over the weekend but have played good baseball for a long period and own a 16-7 record since June 30. A strong July has vaulted the club back into playoff contention; entering this week’s series in Seattle, the Sox are just 2 ½ games behind the Blue Jays and Astros for the final AL playoff spot.
After describing the Red Sox as “not bad and not great” throughout their middling first three months, Cora believes his group has turned the corner. Still, he believes it’s Bloom’s job, and not his, to decide if the Red Sox have “earned” additions before Tuesday.
“Now, we’re not taking people by surprise,” Cora said. “(Other teams) look at us and go, ‘They’ve got a good team. They’ve got a good lineup. They can pitch. They should be better defensively.’ But the earning or not earning, that’s not mine to judge.
“We love the group. I think this is a group that has done an amazing job the last month and a half. This is not like a two-week think. It has been going on for a while, with our strengths and weaknesses. Like I’ve always said, there’s not a perfect team out there. I think the closest perfect team (the Braves), we just beat them twice this week.”
More important to Cora than what happens at the deadline are two upcoming series against fellow wild card contenders. The Red Sox are just two games ahead of the 54-51 Mariners and will host Toronto for a pivotal three-game set next weekend to begin a long homestand.
“The atmosphere and the way people are talking about the team, I saw a lot of people here (in San Francisco) throughout the weekend,” Cora said. “Seattle, we always get a lot of people. The weekend should be fun in Boston. I think people are buying into it. It’s fun to watch. It’s a different brand of baseball. We’re not relying on the homer. We’re running the bases very aggressively. We’re pitching. It has been fun the last few weeks.”
