The Red Sox are just 27 games into their season. Why make such a drastic change now? Has Boston been that bad?
Chad Tracy is taking over on an interim basis. Who is he and what should the Red Sox expect from him?
The Red Sox aren’t the only team with high expectations off to a poor start. Which managers could be on the hot seat next?
Red Sox bats come alive in win over Orioles (0:54)The Red Sox score 10 of their 17 runs in the ninth inning in a win over the Orioles. (0:54)
Alex Cora’s contract runs through next season. How did he lose the confidence of ownership?
Despite a rout of Baltimore earlier in the day, the 10-17 Boston Red Sox fired their longtime manager on Saturday, along with hitting coach Peter Fatse, third-base coach Kyle Hudson, bench coach Ramon Vazquez, assistant hitting coach Dillon Lawson and major league hitting strategy coach Joe Cronin. The team also reassigned game planning and run prevention coach Jason Varitek.
Why did the Red Sox do all of this now? Could any other managers around the majors be next? ESPN MLB experts Buster Olney, Jorge Castillo and David Schoenfield answer those questions and more after Boston’s stunning announcement.
This is a full flex by Craig Breslow, head of baseball operations for the Red Sox. He didn’t hire Cora, and now he is firing him. In the long and storied Red Sox “Game of Thrones” in owner John Henry’s tenure, Breslow comes out on top; this is his organization, unequivocally.
Jorge Castillo: Because someone must be the scapegoat for atrocious starts — and it’s almost always the manager, even one as accomplished as Cora. That’s how it works in Major League Baseball.
Midseason managerial changes have occasionally benefitted clubs; the Philadelphia Phillies swapping Joe Girardi for Rob Thomson in 2022 before a run to the World Series is a prominent recent example. But these changes almost never move the needle because results are player-driven. The Red Sox’s offense has been dreadful, and its starting rotation, a supposed strength, has underperformed. Was that on Cora and his staff? Probably not.
This case is unusual because Cora wasn’t the only dismissal. Five coaches also were booted, while Varitek was demoted to an undisclosed position within the organization. This isn’t just a managerial change. This was a coaching staff overhaul 17% into a season for a team with World Series aspirations. The results will fall on Breslow, who inherited Cora as manager and decided the Red Sox were better off without him.
Castillo: This was a power struggle, as Buster said, and Cora lost. Cora outlasted Chaim Bloom, but Breslow won this time. The Red Sox have been criticized for their payroll and roster decisions — and rightfully so. But ultimately, the team made the playoffs in three of Cora’s seven seasons before this disappointing start. That gave Breslow the opportunity to remodel the coaching staff to his liking.
Olney: Tracy, a manager in the Red Sox farm system, is highly regarded. The great unknown is how he’ll deal with the big-market media. We’ve seen many managers who are good at X’s and O’s but not good at handling a volume of reporters, and that sort of problem can be revealed pretty quickly.
The Red Sox have a lot of good players, and they should play better. But the lack of power in the every-day lineup is a big-picture problem, and it’s unclear whether a series of in-season coaching changes can make a difference.
Castillo: As Buster alluded to, the Phillies’ Rob Thomson. The Phillies have another expensive roster in a big market off to a dismal start. Thomson’s contract runs through the 2027 season, but that won’t stop Dombrowski and owner John Middleton from making a move if they deem one necessary.
Schoenfield: In his first year at the helm in 2018, the Red Sox went 108-54 under Cora and won the World Series — making a strong case as the greatest Red Sox team in franchise history. Since then, however, Cora has gone 512-487 while missing the 2020 season under suspension for his actions as a coach with the Houston Astros in 2017. While the Red Sox haven’t run the same top-in-the-game payrolls as they did under Dave Dombrowski, you can make the argument that they’ve underachieved in the past five-plus seasons, making the playoffs only in 2021 and 2026 but finishing as high as second only in 2021. Or, at least, they haven’t overachieved. That’s under different front office executives, but as Buster pointed out: Breslow didn’t hire Cora, and ownership has made its choice.
Castillo: Tracy spent nine years in the minors as a player before turning to managing. He managed three seasons in the Los Angeles Angels’ farm system and four as the organization’s minor league field coordinator, before he was hired as Triple-A Worcester’s manager ahead of the 2022 season. His father, Jim, played in the majors and managed the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Colorado Rockies. So, Tracy at least has an education on managing, both through experience and his father. But stepping into the fire in Boston, a market notorious for its passionate fan base and intense media contingent, will be a stiff test. At least Worcester is just 50 minutes down the pike.
Olney: Already there is heavy speculation within the industry that Cora could have an opportunity soon with the Phillies, because of his past success working alongside David Dombrowski, who is now Philadelphia’s head of baseball ops. Cora could be a fit with any big-market team — or small-market team, for that matter — but his past affiliation with Dombrowski (and Phillies’ team leader Kyle Schwarber) is not something Cora will have in other places. The Phillies might have to tack on a year to his three-year, $21.75 million deal. If not the Phillies, Cora will have other opportunities, and perhaps some immediately. Joe Espada is in the last year of his deal with the struggling Astros, as is Carlos Mendoza, the manager of the New York Mets.
Red Sox bats come alive in win over Orioles (0:54)The Red Sox score 10 of their 17 runs in the ninth inning in a win over the Orioles. (0:54)
Even a 17-1 win couldn’t save Alex Cora and his coaching staff.
The Red Sox score 10 of their 17 runs in the ninth inning in a win over the Orioles. (0:54)