Hours after the Boston Red Sox walloped the Baltimore Orioles 17-1, the team\u2019s most lopsided win in an otherwise dreadful season, Alex Cora returned on Saturday night to the Four Seasons Hotel Baltimore. Awaiting him there, a league source told The Athletic, were principal owner John Henry, CEO Sam Kennedy and chief baseball officer Craig Breslow. They soon informed the manager that he had been fired, along with several members of his coaching staff.<\/p>\n
Despite the team\u2019s awful 10-17 start, the moves were swift and unexpected.<\/p>\n
Around 6:30 p.m., as two members of the coaching staff headed out to dinner, they passed another team employee. The coaches told their colleague that they\u2019d see each other again on Sunday. About 30 minutes later, both coaches were among those who were dismissed.<\/p>\n
In addition to Cora, the Red Sox fired five members of the coaching staff: hitting coach Peter Fatse, third-base coach Kyle Hudson, bench coach Ram\u00f3n V\u00e1zquez, assistant hitting coach Dillon Lawson and major-league hitting strategy coach Joe Cronin.<\/p>\n
Spared in the firings were pitching coach Andrew Bailey (a close friend of Breslow\u2019s from his playing days), as well as first-base coach Jose David Flores, bullpen coach Chris Holt, catching instructor Parker Guinn and assistant hitting coach John Soteropulos. Jason Varitek, the former game-planning coordinator, will have a new role with the team.<\/p>\n
Triple-A Worcester manager Chad Tracy \u2014 son of former big-league manager Jim Tracy \u2014 will take over as Boston\u2019s interim manager. Double-A Portland manager Chad Epperson will serve as third-base coach. Both Tracy and Epperson managed top prospects Marcelo Mayer, Roman Anthony, Payton Tolle and Connelly Early as they came up through the system the past few seasons. Former Triple-A hitting coach Collin Hetzler will serve as a hitting coach on the major-league staff.<\/p>\n
Tracy, 40, was managing Triple-A Worcester on Saturday evening when he left the dugout in the third inning to head to the clubhouse, according to a league source. That\u2019s where he received news he\u2019d been named the Red Sox\u2019s interim manager. Defense coach Iggy Suarez took over in-game as acting manager while Tracy processed the news, eventually leaving the ballpark to head to his home right behind Polar Park and pack his bags for Baltimore.<\/p>\n
On Friday, coming off a three-game sweep by the New York Yankees as the team began a six-game road trip, Cora did not explain why he was roughly 45 minutes late to his media availability session. While Cora can sometimes be late for his media sessions, the excessive tardiness was odd, perhaps the first indication that something more than the record was amiss.<\/p>\n
While Cora and the coaching staff are taking the fall for the immensely disappointing start to the season, there is no denying that Breslow created a disjointed roster for Cora entering this season.<\/p>\n
Breslow\u2019s public pivot this offseason from needing to add more to the offense to doubling down on pitching came after a failure to re-sign Alex Bregman in January. Bregman unified and stabilized a young clubhouse in 2025 and was also close with Cora, dating back to their days together in Houston.<\/p>\n
Through the early part of 2026, the Red Sox have appeared to miss Bregman\u2019s presence and leadership as they\u2019ve flailed at the plate and in the standings. Veteran Trevor Story offers more of a lead-by-example model, and newcomer Willson Contreras, while a leader in his own right, missed most of spring training while away at the World Baseball Classic. Some in the industry have speculated that Breslow miscalculated on how big a presence Bregman offered the young club, leaving Cora to figure out how to handle it all.<\/p>\n
Cora toed the company line all offseason and into spring, saying he would find a way to make things work with the roster, particularly in rotating five players \u2014 Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela, Wilyer Abreu, Masataka Yoshida and Anthony \u2014 through three outfield spots and designated hitter.<\/p>\n
Some within the coaching staff this offseason felt an outfielder needed to be moved to clear up the logjam. A move never materialized despite the Red Sox seeking trade partners for Yoshida as late as the final weekend of spring training.<\/p>\n
Before the season even began, Cora began to acknowledge the strain the outfield situation could cause.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not easy,\u201d he said on Opening Day in Cincinnati. \u201cWhoever thinks that this is easy to move them around, they\u2019re wrong. I\u2019m going to say it like that. It\u2019s not that easy, but I\u2019ll make it work.\u201d<\/p>\n