BREAKING — Alex Cora has finally broken his silence on one of the most emotional decisions in modern Red Sox history.
When the news broke that Rafael Devers had been traded, the baseball world didn’t just react — it gasped. For Red Sox fans, it felt like heartbreak layered on heartbreak, a painful echo of stars lost before. And until now, the clubhouse remained quiet, the organization offering only carefully measured statements.
But this week, Alex Cora opened up.
Sitting inside the dimly lit interview room beneath Fenway Park, Cora spoke with a mixture of clarity and weight — the sound of a manager balancing loyalty to a player, commitment to his team, and the emotional undertow of a decision no one wanted to make.
“People think it was simple,” Cora said. “It wasn’t. It was one of the hardest conversations I’ve ever had.”
According to Cora, the trade wasn’t driven by emotion or impatience. It grew from a crossroads the organization could no longer avoid. With multiple roster holes, a depleted pitching staff, and a farm system stretched thin, the front office reached a point where they had to choose between one superstar and a complete reset of organizational direction.
“No one in that room wanted to move Raffy,” Cora insisted. “But we had to think about the bigger picture — not one season, but the next five, the next ten.”
Cora emphasized that Devers handled the decision with the maturity expected from a franchise cornerstone. The two spoke privately the night before the trade was finalized, sharing what Cora described as “a difficult, emotional, but honest conversation.”
“He deserved the truth,” Cora said. “And I told him straight — this wasn’t about who he is. It was about what the team needed to become.”
Even so, the backlash from the fanbase was immediate. Boston felt blindsided. Supporters demanded answers. Why trade a homegrown slugger? Why break up the core yet again? Why repeat history?
Cora didn’t shy away from those questions.
“Boston cares,” he said. “That’s what makes this place different. When you lose a player like Raffy, they don’t just lose a bat — they lose a part of their baseball life. I get it.”
But he also pushed back against the narrative that the Red Sox were directionless.
“This wasn’t giving up,” he said. “This was choosing a path — and choosing it fully.”
He praised the players acquired in the trade, noting their importance to future competitiveness. Though he didn’t reveal specifics, he hinted the return package could reshape Boston’s identity in ways fans don’t yet see.
“We didn’t do this to rebuild,” he said. “We did this to reposition.”
Still, even Cora admitted the emotional cost was heavy.
“When I walked into the clubhouse the next day and saw his locker empty… yeah. It hurt.”
For now, Boston enters a new era — one without the player who defined its lineup for years. And as Alex Cora made clear, the weight of that choice will linger.
“But we move forward,” he said. “That’s baseball. That’s Boston. And that’s what Raffy would want us to do.”
Leave a Reply