With former boss Alex Cora in town, it seems clear the Red Sox will soon need a new

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Could these Red Sox be the most average Red Sox in Red Sox history?

They’re not a .500 second-inning team with no hits in the seventh inning of a 5-0 loss to Detroit on Thursday, but that’s their default state. Alex Cora’s team had records of 1-1, 2-2, 7-7, 9-9, 10-10, 19-19, 22-22, 24-24, 26-26, 27- 27 and 28-28.

Rob Manfred’s MLB has, let’s say, the top eight: Philadelphia, Yankees, Cleveland, Baltimore, Dodgers, Kansas City, Milwaukee and Atlanta. He has a clear bottom six – the Mets, Oakland, Angels, Colorado, Miami and White Sox.

That leaves 16 in between, from the Twins winning-12 in a row and losing-7 in a row to Cincinnati and Houston, slowly healing and climbing after a 12-24 start. Therein sit the Red Sox, paralyzed on offense and regressing on the mound, hoping to be among those who stumble upon something.

Baseball’s best April pitching staff is 18th in May ERA, with Tanner Houck (2.27) the only regular starter with an ERA south of 5.00. The offense hasn’t been great, but it’s certainly in the bottom third and will average less than four points per game this month unless it scores 11 on Friday.

They are fine. In any case, according to current expectations. (Just ignore the Red Sox Hall of Famers who remembered Thursday night, right?)

“I really like this group. This is a group that we have to teach the game to. Not just before, but during and after, and the day after,” Cora told the Globe’s Julian McWilliams on the “Baseball Isn’t Boring” podcast Thursday. “We’re going to see big things, and we’re going to see things where we have to say, ‘Ah, that’s not going to work.’

“Overall, it’s a group that right now, we’re where we are. We understand that we are behind in the division, but are in the hunt for a wild card spot. I believe that with Triston (Casas) and (Masataka) Yoshida, the offense will take off. Pitching, you have to stay healthy. We’re getting to the point where one more injury is going to put us in a tough spot. . . . If we (stay healthy) it should be fun. We will play meaningful matches in September.

It’s quite a change from November 2017, when Cora arrived in Boston days after the Astros team he was bench coach for won its first World Series. They felt ascendant. It’s been the same for the Red Sox, 93-69 and AL East champions in back-to-back years, with a core on the cusp of something bigger.

“For a lot of people, it’s a challenge,” he said during his introduction about the Red Sox’s expectations. “But for me, that’s not the case.”

He was right and we know what happened next. First, for them, the greatest Red Sox season any of us will ever see. Then, for Cora, punishment — first with the 2019 flop, then with whatever the 2017 Astros became.

He returned a different man to a different team in November 2020, cleared to return to the sport after an 11-month absence and giddy, in his words, “to have the opportunity to manage again and get back to the game I ‘have loved all my life’.

You’re excused for forgetting – 2020 has been a bit of an affair across the board – but there was a time when returning didn’t seem safe. The possibility of Cora and his former Houston boss AJ Hinch ending up in opposite dugouts seemed remote.

The Tigers hired Hinch that same offseason; one week earlier, Actually. Three seasons later, they are straddling the same quagmire, more similar than different.

Tarik Skubal (7-1, 2.01 ERA), whom the Sox are thankfully missing this weekend, would face Houck for the AL Cy Young if awarded today. Their bullpen was the first surprise, but there was a similar return to the expected level after a difficult May.

Aggressive on the bases? Check. Inconsistency of the expected core of the command? Check. The general ups and downs of a “let the kids play” mindset? Check.

The biggest difference? Hinch signed a long-term contract extension in December. It was already thought that it would be signed until 2025; Although the length of the new deal was not revealed, president of baseball operations Scott Harris emphasized that Hinch would be manager “for a long time.”

Cora’s professional status would be a larger question if the team was more front-of-mind in New England, but also if the conclusion didn’t seem written. Almost no one believes that Cora, who often insists on a world beyond management, will be back in 2025.

He began his conversation with McWilliams by talking about arriving at the park later than his first days in charge, and when McWilliams joked that Cora got a deal similar to the $70 million Tyronn Lue got got to stay with the Los Angeles Clippers, the manager laughed at the idea of ​​what’s next.

“Just enjoy every day,” he says.

Hinch, like Cora, was kept in place during a regime change. The Tigers fired Al Avila, the team’s manager for two decades, at the end of the 2022 season, replacing him with Harris and general manager Jeff Greenberg. Yet while Cora expressed little concern about his contract ending soon, Hinch continued to speak openly about a long-term commitment to what Detroit was building.

His extension came a few weeks after megabucks Craig Counsell was traded to the Cubs, and among all parties, it was clear how much they enjoyed working with each other.

Say what you want about Cora, but there’s no doubt that many would have gotten far less from this list than he did. Hope has never left town here, the margins of contention still seem reasonably within reach even when Enmanuel Valdez is seventh on the team in plate appearances.

Neither he nor baseball boss Craig Breslow shied away from talking about the future when reporters questioned him this spring, with Breslow noting: “Alex has been pretty candid about his comfort with the situation. Likewise, I said how excited we are for him to lead this team.

Only three Boston teams have finished tied with a .500 average, the last in 1985. It was a disappointment despite a Wade Boggs batting title, with the Sox losing their last four games after a hot September and shooting less of 2 million in a full season for the last time. moment in their history.

A year later, Roger Clemens won the Cy Young and the Sox went to the World Series to start three division titles in five years. It can happen quickly, with the right ingredients.

But you need the right leader, and it appears all parties are at peace as the Red Sox will be shopping for a new one this fall.