Interim Red Sox manager Chad Tracy carries himself with such confidence and clarity that one might assume he has been leading the big-league club for years.
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BOSTON — During his Sunday morning media session at Fenway Park, Chad Tracy sounded less like the Boston Red Sox manager and more like a Tripadvisor reviewer when discussing his living situation. “Still in a hotel right now,” Tracy noted. “A nice hotel, which is helpful, especially with the kids here. We’re well taken care of for now. Eventually, we’ll move into an apartment or something a bit more permanent and get some of the stuff out of the office.”
The word “permanent” carries different weight when talking about big-league managers, especially in Tracy’s case. Checking the game notes before Boston’s 4-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays, Tracy was still labeled as “interim” manager. That designation signals that, for now, he is simply the temporary replacement for Alex Cora, who was dismissed without ceremony. What comes next is uncertain. Perhaps the Sox will catch fire like they did under Joe Morgan in 1988—12 straight wins after John McNamara was fired—and Tracy will earn the full-time job, shedding the interim label. Alternatively, Boston could bring in a new manager with previous major-league experience. Or, given the direction of front-office thinking, don’t rule out Craig Breslow, the Red Sox chief baseball officer and systems analyst, installing a robot in the dugout to handle all in-game decisions. (Stuck in nostalgia, I picture the robot from the original “Lost in Space” looking pretty cool.)
Breslow’s decision to fire Cora and several coaches was flawed, and the execution was clumsy. Consider Jason Varitek, the longtime Red Sox catcher who won two World Series titles, being “reassigned” from his role as game-planning and run prevention coach. Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez was still voicing his displeasure when he visited Fenway last week for a 125th anniversary celebration of the franchise’s first home game.
Despite the turmoil, the relatively unknown Tracy has brought stability to the chaos. His demeanor is relaxed, his answers to endless questions about the starting rotation, batting orders, and the status of injured stars Garrett Crochet and Roman Anthony are confident and clear—so much so that you’d think he has been running the big club for years. That, of course, is not the case. Tracy was summoned so quickly from Baltimore to replace Cora that many of his belongings remain at his old apartment in Worcester, where he managed the Triple-A WooSox. His former Worcester roommate, WooSox pitching coach Dan DeLucia, now has the place to himself. As for the couple of Coors Lights Tracy left in the fridge? “Dan likes to have a Coors Light every once in a while, so I bet he drank those,” Tracy joked.
That Tracy can inject lighthearted banter into his daily duties does not mean he is the long-term answer for the next five years. It does suggest he is not overwhelmed by the situation. As such, his promotion to manager—interim or otherwise—represents a move by a modern baseball executive, Breslow, that taps into a practice over a century old: giving a big-league managing job to a minor-league lifer.
Tracy, who turns 41 on the Fourth of July, played parts of nine minor-league seasons, including some independent ball. Like all minor-leaguers willing to do whatever it takes to survive, he played everywhere: catcher, first base, outfield. He managed in the Angels’ minor-league system for three seasons, and
