Chad Tracy Is The Man: What Present and Former Red Sox Players Have To Say About Boston's New Manager

Worcester, MA — Following a 17-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles, the Boston Red Sox organization shockingly relieved Alex Cora and several members of his coaching staff of their duties. Among the changes in the coaching staff, Worcester manager Chad Tracy was promoted to interim manager of the Boston Red Sox.

While Tracy was managing the Red Sox to a 5-3 victory on Sunday that clinched not just his first major-league win but also his 500th career managerial win, players both past and present gave their thoughts about the newest Red Sox manager.

“He’s more than ready to be a big-league manager. I think those guys are gonna be pumped to have him and ready to play their asses off for him,” former Red Sox pitcher David Sandlin stated when asked about his former manager getting the promotion to Boston.

“Trace is the man. He’s a player’s manager, just a guy that doesn’t have an ego and knows how to get the most out of his players. For me, he was a really calming voice when all the alarm bells were going off during the relieving experiment last year.” Sandlin, who only played for Tracy and Worcester for the final two months of the 2025 season, is hardly the only former Sox player with fond things to say of Tracy.

“[He] holds guys accountable and knows how to encourage the guys to put in the work,” former Red Sox pitcher Hunter Dobbins explained. Dobbins spent parts of two seasons in Worcester, getting to spend plenty of time with Tracy, especially in 2025 when he bounced between Worcester and Boston. “Couldn’t be happier for him to get this shot and [Chad] Epperson as well.”

Tracy is no stranger to the Boston organization, having managed their Triple-A team since the 2022 season. A former ball player himself, the new Red Sox manager spent eight years playing in the Rockies, Rangers and Royals organizations where he hit .265/.336/453 in 857 games. After being let go by the Royals organization in 2013, he spent the remainder of 2013 and all of 2014 with the York Revolution of the Atlantic League before retiring. 

Following his retirement as a player, Tracy began his coaching career in the Los Angeles Angels' system. First as the manager of the Class-A Burlington Bees in 2015 before managing the High-A Inland Empire 66ers from 2016 to 2017. Following the 2017 season, Tracy was the minor-league field coordinator for four seasons before being named Worcester's manager for 2022. Since joining the Red Sox organization, Tracy had been a consistent figure in Triple-A, as he led the WooSox to a winning season every year, including back-to-back 79-win seasons in 2023 and 2024.

And just as Tracy is no stranger to the organization, the players in Boston are no strangers to him either. Of the active roster, half of them have spent time developing under him. Including rehab assignments, 16 of the players currently in Boston at the time of his promotion have played for him. And that’s not even taking into account his presence during spring training and being an important member of the staff in major-league camp.

“He’s the ultimate professional. I think he commands the respect of everyone in the room and he’s a really smart baseball mind,” Nick Sogard explained Sunday while talking to the media. Sogard has ample experience with Tracy, having played 387 games under him. “I had a lot of good relationships with the guys that got fired, so that was a bummer for me personally. But I’m really happy for Trace.”

For someone like Tracy, a former third-round pick who made it to Triple-A as a player, this has been a call he’s been waiting for. An experience that even the players knew was special.

“I’ve seen over the course of the years here, so many players get called up. They pack all their stuff in the cart, so it’s kind of unique to see that with the manager and hitting coach. That felt like a unique experience and was cool to see someone I care about a lot fulfilling a lifelong dream,” Sogard told the media when asked about the emotions of seeing Tracy off after Saturday’s victory in Worcester.

In the moment of it all, the players knew they had a game to play, but the outside noise was creeping into the back of their minds. They couldn’t help but wonder what was going on, especially after Tracy left the dugout. Instead, he never returned for the remainder of the game. Defensive and third base coach Iggy Suarez instead handled the remainder of the game, and he'll now serve as the interim replacement in Worcester. 

“We didn’t know if a trade was happening, but we just tried to win the game it was all we could worry about. So, we were focused on that. Then we got back in, he was in street clothes already. So, then it was like, oh, all right. He was like ‘hey guys, you know, stuff happened and they asked me to go up and be an interim manager’. We were all like, dude you deserve it,” Nathan Hickey explained. Hickey had spent parts of three seasons under Tracy, playing a total of 224 games for him.

Boston will be in good hands with Tracy at the helm, a baseball lifer that has a track record of holding the respect of all within a room. He’s the right man to replace Cora following a disastrous start to the season. With the season looking grim and a roster filled with young talent and veterans alike, Tracy will now be tasked with continuing what he managed to do in Worcester for so long: help develop players while holding the team to a respectable standard of winning.