Several other heads of baseball ops could’ve made the Garrett Crochet trade if armed with the assets Craig Breslow wielded (hat tip, Chaim Bloom), and if they didn’t have to surrender any of the three prospects coveted most — Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer, and player development darling Kristian Campbell. How many other current big league managers could’ve guided this bunch with assorted Abraham Toros, Nathaniel Lowes, Nate Eatons, and David Hamiltons to the playoffs? Also, Cora was the driving force behind the signing of Alex Bregman, who changed the clubhouse culture.
Plus, Cora lost arguably his best hitter twice during the season. First, when the Sox traded Rafael Devers in June, and then on Sept. 2 when rookie sensation Anthony suffered a left oblique injury that sidelined him for the rest of the season.
ESPN’s Karl Ravech nailed it wrapping up the Red Sox’ Game 1 win over the Yankees: “People give credit to the Guardians for their style, this was a very Alex Cora-style victory.” You could say that about the whole Sox season for the 2018 World Series champion.
2. Mike Vrabel, Patriots coach — Forget hoodies, the new sartorial symbol of coaching excellence in New England is the Vrabel vest. While he looks like he just came from REI, it’s the ROI (return on investment) of Vrabel’s program that looks on-brand. Not only are the Patriots proving they can take advantage of bad football, they displayed they’re capable of beating A-list teams by taking down the Bills last Sunday.
The prisoner of the moment view would put Vrabel in the leading spot, coming off the Patriots’ flag-planting 23-20 victory, which snapped the Bills’ 14-game, regular-season home winning streak. That gets the Rosevelt Colvin calm down.
But it’s undeniable that Vrabel has instilled a level of belief that allows the Patriots to punch above their talent level. The Vrabel vibes are legit, and so is the impact of the collaborative approach he instituted among the offensive coaches to facilitate Drake Maye blossoming.
3. Joe Mazzulla, Celtics coach —Jack ’em up Joe has a chance to diversify his coaching philosophy with a remade roster that will be sans Jayson Tatum for a while.
The inscrutable Celtics coach won a championship in 2024 and doesn’t get the credit he fully deserves for his feel and culture. While it’s easy to point to the talent Mazzulla has enjoyed during his tenure, the NBA landscape is dotted with alleged super teams that imploded, just ask the Suns. Mazzulla harmoniously blended a collection of talent, headlined by Tatum and Jaylen Brown, into a T-E-A-M, dodging NBA ego landmines.
The mark against Mazzulla is that he’s the Marcus Smart of coaches. His greatest strength — his unshakable confidence — is also his greatest weakness. It’s still hard to shake the image of the Celtics blowing 20-point, second-half leads at home to the Knicks in the first two games of the 2025 Eastern Conference semifinals. The Celtics, who authored NBA records for 3-pointers attempted and made, shot themselves into oblivion, as Joe of Arc refused to deviate from his 3-point dogma. The apogee of this intractability was Boston launching 19 of 20 third-quarter field goals from beyond the arc in Game 1.
Mazzulla is cooking up a faster pace of play for the 2025-26 Celtics. We’ll find out just how adaptable a coach he is.
4. Marco Sturm, Bruins coach — This isn’t a commentary on Sturm’s capability, only the brevity of his coaching résumé. He’s a first-time NHL head coach. Thus far, the German has the Bruins humming with Teutonic efficiency. Sturm’s task is going to be snake-charming more offense out of his charges and the basket of forwards not named David Pastrnak or Morgan Geekie.
Unfortunately, the Bruins’ bench is booby-trapped because Black and Gold brass always believes it supplied Boston’s bench boss with a playoff-caliber roster, even when that’s a dubious determination. Team president Cam Neely and general manager Don Sweeney are the Supreme Court justices of Boston sports — they have jobs for life. The coaches are fungible fall guys.
However, Sturm wields a reputation for developing young players from his time in the Kings organization. Getting an untapped NHL talent such as Casey Mittelstadt or prospect in the mold of Fraser Minten to pop would be beneficial for Sturm and the Bruins’ leading-heavy lineup.
5. Pablo Moreira, Revolution interim coach — Don’t blame Moreira for the Revolution’s woes. He’s the caretaker coach after the Caleb Porter era (or error) ended with a thud on Sept 15. On paper, Porter, one of only six coaches to win multiple MLS Cup titles, was an inspired choice as the successor to Bruce Arena, whose tenure ended in ignominious and indecorous fashion in 2023. But Porter’s vision never completely clicked and neither did the Revolution’s attack under him. Porter ended with a 17-35-12 mark in MLS play and a club-record-tying 21 losses in 2024. The Revolution need to find the world’s football version of Vrabel.
Christopher L. Gasper is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at christopher.gasper@globe.com. Follow him @cgasper and on Instagram @cgaspersports.
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