Red Sox Predicted To Make Shocking Alex Cora Decision Before All-Star Break

To call the Boston Red Sox's season a disappointment so far would be a major understatement.

At 30-35, Boston fell 10 1/2 games out of first place with a 9-6 loss to the New York Yankees on Friday night. They gave up five runs in the first inning, their third first-frame blowup in the last four games, and added to their league-leading total with two more errors.

The sloppy, uninspiring brand of baseball the Red Sox have played all year has put heat on manager Alex Cora, who is still in year one of the three-year, $21.75 million extension with which he was rewarded last July.

It would be positively stunning to see Cora let go so early in his tenure, for a multitude of reasons. That's not stopping one opportunistic Boston radio host from predicting it, though.

On Thursday, Jermaine Wiggins of WEEI proclaimed that Cora was unlikely to make it as far as the All-Star break, which is barely over a month away.

“Cora will be gone by All-Star break,” Wiggins said. “They're going to continue to play like this. They might be double digits [back] when it comes to a wild card spot. And I don't think if you're the front office, Breslow and those guys, I think it's time to pull the band-aid off. What's 14 million or whatever you owe him?”

There's a stark contrast between the way Cora was viewed by many at this time last year, when people were terrified he would leave after his old contract ran out, and this year, when an improved Red Sox roster is playing even worse than the young, flawed team we saw a year ago.

However, not only would it be the wrong decision to let go of Cora in the middle of this season (who are they going to promote to interim coach that's going to right the ship, anyway?), but it's simply not happening.

Teams can back out of contracts early, but this early? That sends the wrong message to the rest of the sport, especially future candidates for the job.