The wait is over. The Boston Red Sox have officially removed the interim tag from Chad Tracy, announcing him as the club’s full-time manager ahead of his first ever postseason appearance.
Tracy’s deal is for three years which run through 2029 with a club option for 2030. The team also announced that they have exercised the 2029 and 2030 club options on chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, keeping the pair together for the next several seasons.
“Craig and Chad are two exceptionally talented leaders who have earned these opportunities in very different ways,” Red Sox CEO Sam Kennedy said in a statement on Tuesday morning.
“Over the last three years, we have watched Craig bring clarity, discipline, and conviction to the work of building our baseball operation. Chad was asked to step into a difficult situation with little notice, but the trust he immediately commanded at the major league level was earned through years of work across our organization.”
“What this team has accomplished over the past several months has been historic. Results matter greatly in this business, but so do judgment, character, and the ability to bring out the best in others. Craig and Chad have demonstrated all those qualities, and they have earned our confidence in leading us forward.”
It became increasingly clear over the past few months that Tracy earned the full-time role. Taking over a 10-17 ballclub on April 25th following Alex Cora’s shocking dismissal, Tracy steadied the ship to complete a remarkable turnaround that put the Red Sox back in the postseason.
Highlighted by a June, July, and August that featured a 15-game win streak and saw the team climb from a basement dwelling 32-46 on June 24th to 64-51 on August 7th, Tracy’s leadership sparked one of the most memorable summers in Red Sox history, which could build into something bigger with a deep postseason run.
Under Tracy, the Red Sox are 74-55 with six games remaining before the Wild Card round. The 41-year-old managed over 1000 games in the minor leagues beginning in 2015. Joining the Red Sox organization in 2021, Tracy served as manager of the Triple-A Worcester Red Sox for four seasons, earning Baseball America‘s award for the best managerial prospect in both 2023 and 2024.
Fans had called for Tracy’s interim tag to be removed months ago, and it became a big topic of conversation during the scorching July run. He and Breslow consistently shrugged off these questions about his future, shifting focus to the next game and the rest of the season. But now after clinching the postseason on Sunday, the Red Sox chose the perfect time to make the big announcement.
In a week’s time, Tracy will get the biggest test of his young career, more than likely descending on the Bronx for a three-game Wild Card series against bitter rival the New York Yankees. Until then, the Sox will get the long-awaited boost of knowing who their Skipper will be for the foreseeable future.
As for Breslow, it would have been impossible to imagine ownership committing to his future with the club just three months ago. When Boston was at its lowest point this year before the pivotal four-game sweep of the Yankees in late June, Breslow was under fire.
With the team seemingly destined to sell off parts at the trade deadline and fail to return to the postseason, the third-year executive seemed doomed to the same fate that claimed the few that came before him, getting fired just a few years into his tenure. But as he indicated immediately after firing Cora, there was an extreme belief in the group to turn things around, which ultimately saved his job.
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