Boston Red Sox
“I like where it’s at and switching things like that in the middle of a season, especially at this level, is hard to do.”
Alex Cora and Craig Breslow reportedly butted heads over parts of the Red Sox roster earlier this season. Barry Chin/The Boston Globe
May 5, 2026 | 5:27 PM
2 minutes to read
Speaking a day after the Red Sox fired manager Alex Cora and several of his coaches, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow pushed back against talk of any clash of baseball ideologies between himself and Boston’s longtime manager.
“Characterizing the relationship as a power struggle is unfair,” Breslow said of Cora. “I have looked at these roles as a partnership. … Ultimately, this is about needing to do everything we possibly can to give ourselves the best 135 games [to go].”
But, a new story from The Athletic shed some light on an area of the Red Sox roster over which Breslow and Cora butted heads earlier this year.
“A league source said that Breslow and Cora disagreed in spring training about where to play Caleb Durbin and Marcelo Mayer,” The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey wrote. “Breslow wanted Mayer at third with Durbin at second, but [interim manager Chad] Tracy said there’s no plan to make that switch at this point.”
There were questions entering spring training about how Boston would augment its infield defense after a 2025 season in which the Red Sox led MLB with 116 errors.
With Alex Bregman signing with the Cubs in free agency, Durbin felt like a natural fit at the hot corner, where he spent a majority of his reps with Milwaukee during his rookie season.
Mayer projects as a natural shortstop, but with Boston not budging over moving veteran Trevor Story over to second, the 23-year-old infielder has primarily played at second and third so far up at the big-league level.
Even if Breslow reportedly prefers Durbin at second and Mayer at third, the results have been promising — at least defensively — with Durbin at third and Mayer at second so far during the 2026 season.
Durbin’s production at the plate has been a major concern, with the 26-year-old infielder batting .165 with one home run, 11 RBI, and just a .248 slugging percentage over 33 games. But, he leads all MLB with six defensive runs saved at third base so far this season.
“I like where they’re at,” Tracy said of Boston’s current defensive alignment. “Especially right now, both of them are playing really well and Durbin has been exceptional at third base, his defense. So I like where it’s at and switching things like that in the middle of a season, especially at this level, is hard to do.”
According to FanGraphs, the Red Sox currently lead the majors in defensive runs saved at 30.
Even with Boston making major strides on the defensive side of the ball, the Red Sox still sit in last place in the AL East with a 14-21 record.
Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.
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