Red Sox ‘Not Worried’ About Impending Roster Decisions Dividing Team

The Boston Red Sox are embracing their biggest roster “issue” at spring training.

Boston’s overflow of depth is a dilemma any team would welcome with open arms. There’s a slew of pitching, infield and outfield options to choose from that’ll prompt a handful of tough decisions to be made in the coming weeks. Red Sox manager Alex Cora, entering his seventh season at the helm, understands that not every decision will come with a friendly reception, and that’s fine.

That’s what comes with the territory of a roster built to contend in the American League East, which the Red Sox haven’t done in the last three seasons. So Cora, eager to restore the franchise’s winning tradition, is ready for whatever comes with fielding the best version of Boston’s 2025 roster on Opening Day.

“Decisions are gonna be made in a few weeks and there’s gonna be people upset,” Cora told WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” Tuesday. “There’s gonna be people that are gonna be sent down and gonna be upset at the manager, and Craig (Brelow). But that’s the good thing about having good players. Three years ago, we didn’t have this conversation. It was like, ‘OK, cool. Let’s try to win 84 games.’ Now we’re talking about the division. You see the projections and all that, and it’s exciting.”

It’s been a rough past three seasons for the Red Sox in which the team has routinely fallen short, whether due to a lack of depth, an injury-riddled roster or defensive unreliability. The front office fully understood that and embarked on an urgent multi-month response that included trading four prospects to the Chicago White Sox for Garrett Crochet, and signing Alex Bregman and Walker Buehler.

This go-around, the Red Sox are fortunate enough to have a veteran-filled cast bolstering last season’s youth-filled crew. And even though the Alex Bregman-Rafael Devers third base debate sparked some preseason fireworks down in Fort Myers, Fla., Cora is confident that everyone is on board with the greater goal: winning.

“As far as the clubhouse, I’m not worried,” Cora said. “They’re grown men and we have adults in the room now. We do. And you see the way they talk. Actually, Alex is working with Raffy at third base. The first thing he did was telling him about glove presentation, all that and Raffy, he got it right away.”

The Red Sox got closer than they’ve ever been in the past three years — since reaching the AL Championship Series — to make some noise last season. Boston entered the MLB All-Star break in contention for a wild-card spot, but that quickly slipped far beyond the team’s reach as injuries and pitching/defensive woes caught up.

Those shouldn’t be issues in 2025.

Boston kicked off its spring training exhibition, opening up against the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday, and received a snippet of what’s to come. Crochet tossed 1 2/3 innings and struck out four while Bregman blasted a home run above JetBlue Park’s Green Monster amid Boston’s 8-7 loss.

Just four weeks remain until the Red Sox officially open their 2025 season.