If you had told any Red Sox fan last August that by April, Alex Cora would be without a job and they would be sitting in last place of the AL East, you would have been laughed at. But that nightmare has turned into reality for the Red Sox, who are currently 9 games back of the Yankees in the AL East. Despite this, the season is salvageable, as a weak AL leaves them just one game out of a playoff spot despite their underwhelming 17-22 record so far.
After being embarrassingly swept by the Yankees in a three-game series at Fenway Park, many fans of the ballclub had given up on the team and declared the season over, with many calling for hitting coach Pete Fatse and President of Baseball Operations Craig Breslow to be fired. Fatse coached the Red Sox into a bottom-5 offense despite having a similar team on paper to the 2025 team that had been so successful. Under Breslow, the Red Sox have made many extremely controversial roster decisions that resulted in the departures of fan-favorites like Chris Sale, Rafael Devers, and Alex Bregman. While a small minority of fans had fallen out of favor with Alex Cora, most were confident that he would be a part of the solution.
Despite these calls, the team flew to Baltimore for a typical weekend divisional series against the Orioles. In the opener Friday night, Starter Brayan Bello gave up three home runs in the first inning and the Orioles never looked back, adding three more and chasing Bello in the fourth inning, eventually winning the game 10-3. Despite the blowout loss, this was nothing new for the 2026 Red Sox.
The Red Sox had a quick turnaround the next day with a 12 PM start time and another opportunity to begin correcting course. Like the opener, the game got out of hand quickly, but this time, it was the Red Sox taking the lead and not looking back, going up 7-0 after 5 innings and putting up 10 runs in the 9th inning to win 17-1. While only making a small dent in a seemingly insurmountable climb back to .500, there was always a hope that that could be the start of something.
The Sox briefly celebrated the win, did their postgame routines, then headed back to their hotel. Then, a bombshell dropped. The Red Sox had fired Pete Fatse, Kyle Hudson, Jason Varitek, Ramón Vázquez, and Alex Cora. Despite the team underperforming through the first 27 games, seeing such massive changes after a 17-1 win left many fans confused, especially in April.
Chad Tracy was named interim manager shortly after, and the next day, the Red Sox got set to move into a new era for the first time since 2017. The main candidate for the job, Tracy was a perfect fit for the interim spot as he had managed much of the current Major League roster in his 4 seasons with Triple-A Worcester. In that time, he had developed great relationships with many of Boston’s young core such as Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer.
In addition to this, Tracy had been viewed as one of the top managerial prospects around the league, and many wondered if he would receive an opportunity somewhere else in the Major Leagues. Now, he has his chance with the Red Sox, and if they wish to go with an in-house candidate, it’s hard not to see them removing the interim tag from his position, especially if they turn the 2026 season around.
“I think Chad Tracy has the potential to be one of the best managers in MLB,” said HHS student and baseball player Cole Snowden.
Fellow HHS student Will Pollenz agrees, saying, “I think they’ll win a lot of games under him. If I were a gambling man, I would bet on them a ton.”
If not Tracy, the Red Sox have another candidate in-house in current pitching coach, Andrew Bailey. One of the few coaches that survived the purge, the 41-year old has been referred to as one of “Breslow’s guys” and it’s hard to not see why. The former Major League pitcher led the Red Sox to a top-5 finish in team ERA in 2025, which was arguably the biggest reason for their success. Despite this, the underwhelming starting rotation was one of the biggest reasons for the team’s struggles in 2026, and it’s hard to see them overlooking this to promote him to manager.
External options include David Ross, Rocco Baldelli, and Brandon Hyde. All three have experience managing in the Major Leagues, but they all have their drawbacks, and there’s a reason they were fired from their former teams. In addition, there’s no actual evidence that the Red Sox have made moves on any of them.
While it’s easy to speculate now, we likely won’t see any long-term changes until the 2026 season plays itself out. As we’ve learned with the 2025 team, it’s an incredibly long season and things can get turned upside down overnight. Until then, nothing is fully guaranteed.
