Chad Tracy Quickly Proving He Was Right for Red Sox Job

Stepping into Alex Cora's shoes isn't easy

Apr 26, 2026; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Boston Red Sox Interim Manager Chad Tracy looks on before a game against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images | Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images

The Boston Red Sox appeared, for all intents and purposes, to be a team in turmoil two weeks ago.

When chief baseball officer Craig Breslow and Fenway Sports Group shockingly fired manager Alex Cora and five of his assistant coaches, it fell upon interim manager Chad Tracy to keep the ship from capsizing. Since then, the Red Sox have gone 6-4, capped off by a sweep of the Detroit Tigers this week.

Certainly, the Red Sox and Tracy still have a lot more to prove if they want to compete for the playoffs this year. But what the past two weeks have definitely taught us has been that Tracy was the right man for a difficult moment in Boston.

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Tracy saying, doing all the right things

May 2, 2026; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy (17) stands in the dugout before a game against the Houston Astros at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images | Eric Canha-Imagn Images

Coming from the Triple-A ranks has its disadvantages, which mostly have to do with the ins and outs of daily moves and lineup changes. But Tracy was in a uniquely beneficial position, having seen so many of the current players on the young major league roster come through Triple-A Worcester in the last few seasons, and he's using it to his advantage.

“Coming in here and talking to the players, addressing the players, was honestly pretty low on the list as far as things I had to worry about,” Tracy said Wednesday on WEEI's "Rich and Ken with Ted Johnson." “Because I had developed a pretty good rapport with a lot of them over the years, so that was just kind of reacclimating with them and that happened pretty quickly.”

The moment that really stood out this week, though, was when Tracy stepped to the microphone on Tuesday night, after Framber Valdez had blatantly thrown at veteran Boston shortstop Trevor Story, and called the two-time All-Star left-hander "weak."

That was an early leadership test, and Tracy passed it with flying colors. He wasn't stoking any fires unnecessarily or insinuating that the Red Sox would throw at someone in retaliation. But he had his players' backs, and not in a performative or preachy way.

Whether Tracy will or should remain the manager beyond this season remains to be determined. But he deserves to have the job for Boston's last 125 games, at the very least, and he's showing the characteristics you'd want to see if he were going to stay for the long haul.