Red Sox Fire Cora & 5 Coaches; Name Triple-AAA Worcester Skipper Tracy as Interim Manager

During the intermission of the Roger McGuinn concert on Saturday night in Arlington, I learned that the Boston Red Sox had fired Alex Cora as their new manager while also dismissing five of his coaches.

Although the Red Sox had their biggest win of the season with a 17-1 thrashing of the Baltimore Orioles this afternoon (including a 10-run 9th inning), it was not enough to save Cora's job nor that of five of his coaches who were shown the door. Bench coach Ramon Vazquez, hitting coach Peter Fatse, third base coach Kyle Hudson, assistant hitting coach Dillon Lawson and hitting strategy coach Joe Cronin were dismissed along with Cora. Jason Varitek, who served as the game planning and run prevention coach, will be reassigned to another position within the organization where he has spent the past 30 years with two World Series rings in 2004 and 2007.

Prior to Saturday's win against the O's, the Bosox had lost 6 of their last 7 games including getting swept by the New York Yankees at Fenway Park earlier in the week. They are 10-17 and 8 games back of the Yankees in the AL East. That record is tied for second worst in the AL along with the Kansas City Royals with the Houston Astros sitting at 10-18.

Cora was first hired to manage the Red Sox prior to the 2018 season. In that inaugural season, Cora guided the team to a franchise best 108-54 resulting in a World Series title. The team would dismiss him prior to the 2020 season after his role in the Astros sign-stealing scandal had been revealed. After a single season with Ron Roenicke at the helm. the Red Sox brought Cora back in 2021 and guided them to another post-season appearance reaching the ALCS where they were eliminated by the Astros. The Red Sox returned to the post-season last year with an AL Wild Card berth but would be dispensed with by the Yankees.

Alas, Cora might not be unemployed for very long as speculation abounds that he is waiting in the wings to be the new manager of the Philadelphia Phillies who tonight snapped their 10-game losing streak. Despite the win, the Phillies 9-18 record is currently the worst in MLB. While Phillies President Dave Dombrowski has said that Phillies skipper Rob Thomson is not on the hot seat, Cora's availability might change that equation. After all, it was Dombrowski who hired Cora to manage the Red Sox when he was President of that organization.

Replacing Cora in the dugout is Chad Tracy who has been the manager of the Triple-AAA Worcester Red Sox since 2022. This is not the Chad Tracy who played third base for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago Cubs, Florida Marlins and the Washington Nationals for 10 seasons. This Chad Tracy was a minor league journeyman outfielder in the Texas Rangers, Colorado Rockies, Kansas City Royals and Baltimore Orioles organizations between 2006 and 2014. Between 2015 and 2021, Tracy was in the Los Angeles Angels organization as a minor league manager and later a minor league field coordinator.

Of note, Tracy's father Jim was a big-league manager for 11 seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Pittsburgh Pirates and Colorado Rockies. The elder Tracy led the Dodgers to an NL West title in 2004 and the Rockies to a NL Wild Card berth in 2009 after the team started 18-28 under Clint Hurdle. Can the younger Tracy do with the 2026 Red Sox what his father did with the 2009 Rockies? Or can no one turn around this year's edition of the Red Sox?