Cora sends message: 'We're still the Boston Red Sox'

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- It was the night before Monday’s first full-squad workout and several of the most important members of the Red Sox’s brass were enjoying dinner together when Dustin Pedroia joined the proceedings for a minute or two virtually.

“[Assistant GM] Raquel [Ferreira] and [chief baseball officer Craig Breslow] and [manager Alex Cora] and Eddie [Romero] and I and a few others got a FaceTime from Dustin, and he reminded us who’s still out there on the market and what opportunities might be out there,” said Red Sox president/CEO Sam Kennedy. “We appreciate that perspective from Pedey. He was very clear about his feelings.”

In other words, Pedroia is right there with many Red Sox fans these days who would like to see the club add another significant player or two before the regular season starts.

As much as the Red Sox appreciate and respect what Pedroia has done and who he is, they appear primed to stay true to their well-documented philosophy for this season, which is to focus on the improvement of the team’s young core as the best way to rebound from consecutive 78-84 finishes.

In a Monday morning meeting that involved ownership, the front office, the coaching staff and players, it was Cora who set the tone for the season.

His message, in its simplest terms?

Ignore the noise. Control what you can control.

“It was a great message from Alex Cora, who reminded everybody how special the opportunity is to be in big league camp, No. 1, but also to be the best version of the Red Sox, a reminder of what this organization has been about and what we want to be about, which is playing competitive baseball into October,” said Kennedy. “And just trying to focus on what you can do to control the outcomes versus what others are saying. It was a really strong, powerful message, I think.”

It was a message Cora said he had been thinking about for a while.

“You’ve just got to find your identity. That's the most important thing,” said Cora. “Whatever we have gone through the last few years, we’re still the Boston Red Sox. You try to get better in certain areas. It’s not that you’ve got to be close-minded and not look around at what other organizations are doing to improve.

“But around here, we’re doing it the right way, [even though] the results didn't happen for two years or three out of the last four years. On player development, the philosophy’s a good one. The way we go about it in the big leagues is a good one.”

Cora was impassioned as he spoke to the large gathering.

“Remember who you are,” Cora instructed his players. “It doesn't have to do with free agents or your [prospect] rankings. If you look at the body of work [of the Red Sox] the last 20 years, we’ve been very successful, I don't care what people think. There's four rings to show for it. You're always looking for a North Star or whatever, or trying to be like that or be like this. Sometimes, doing that, you forget who you are.

“Let's not forget that. I don't care what people think, [mentioning] the two last-place finishes [the last two years] and all that. We’re really good at what we do. And I think we’ve got to get back to that.”

One area the Red Sox need to improve at, Kennedy acknowledged, is to sign their key young players to extensions. The club should have a willing participant in Triston Casas, who said Sunday he’d like to play with Boston “forever.”

Interestingly, Kennedy said that the club needs to work on building deeper relationships with players in their formative years and added that Breslow has already prioritized that.

“I think we need to do a better job of making it personal and Bres is probably the absolute perfect person to do that,” Kennedy said. “I think building those personal relationships and the connection with these guys is important because they have choices and have options.

“I know it’s something that Bres is focused on, and starting [the process] earlier is probably a lesson. We've not had a ton of success [recently] of extending our own guys. We have in the past. It's been a great recipe for success, to look back over our 23 years here. I think starting those conversations earlier is a good idea.”