The Boston Red Sox fired Alex Cora early in the season and brought up Triple-A manager Chad Tracy to replace him as the interim manager.
Things under Tracy were not immediately better, as he inherited an underperforming team with lots of question marks and injuries piling up. However, at some point, things took a turn, and the Red Sox became one of the best teams in baseball.
Tracy's team had a 15-game winning streak to claw back into contention and has really been hot for about a month and a half. They are on a five-game losing streak right now, but it's clear that they are capable of making a run. Throughout all of this, however, the team has not dropped the "interim" tag off Tracy's manager title.
“I think that’ll be discussed between him and (Craig Breslow) at the appropriate time," Red Sox's president and CEO Sam Kennedy said on "The Greg Hill Show" on Thursday. "It's obvious to everybody what a great job he's done. I know him and Bres will talk about that at the right time, and truly, truly he and everybody in the front office are focused on the task at hand. That will get addressed and we'll go from there. I mean, it’s obviously on everybody’s mind and let’s be honest, it’s really important that we have that settled at some point here. So that conversation will happen between those two guys at some point here soon, I think.”
Tracy has gone 54-39 as a manager in the big leagues. What he has done, given the circumstances of his arrival, is truly remarkable.
It would not be a surprise for the Red Sox to name Tracy the long-term manager after the season ends. He is clearly great at what he does, and has the respect of the clubhouse. He has givcen the Red Sox no reason not to see him as their long-term manager.