Monday, April 27, 2026

Newsletter Excerpt, April 27, 2026 -- "Mailbag"

This is a preview of the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter, an e-mail newsletter about all things baseball, featuring analysis and opinion about the game on and off the field from the perspective of the informed outsider.

You can subscribe to the newsletter for one year for $79.95 using your PayPal account or major credit card. (Zelle users, please email me for details.)

--
 
For all of Alex Cora's past success, he simply hasn't shown the ability to effectively manage a roster on the younger side. That he continued to platoon Marcelo Mayer with Isiah Kiner-Falefa and otherwise regularly pulled Mayer vs. left-handed pitching is a glaring example. Maybe this young core will lead Boston to its next great postseason run, maybe it won't. But a great manager should be able to adapt to the hand he's dealt. It doesn't seem as though Cora was able to effectively do that. 

-- Brian K.

I haven’t written it so much as Slacked and BlueSkied it, but Cora’s handling of Mayer is, to me, a firing offense in and of itself. From moving him off shortstop in favor of a 33-year-old Story to platooning him with waiver bait, just a total failure to understand the talent he has. 

-J.