BALTIMORE — It was the fourth inning and Chad Tracy was busy managing the Worcester Red Sox Saturday afternoon at Polar Park when he got a message in the dugout from Red Sox director of player development Brian Abraham to call Craig Breslow.
“My initial reaction was that maybe there was a player move we needed to talk about or something like that,” said Tracy. “I went inside and called Bres. The content was fairly simple. He told me what was happening, what had gone down and said they were going to make me the interim manager of the Boston Red Sox.”
What had gone down, of course, was the firing of Alex Cora and more than half of his coaching staff. That meant that Tracy, who had managed at Worcester since 2022 and spent years in the minors, was getting his opportunity to manage in the big leagues.
“I was silent for a second,” said Tracy, recalling his conversation with Breslow. “My immediate thought was of Alex, Rámon (Vázquez) and some of the people that I’ve gotten to know very well. But also, the excitement and the heart gets going. I’m like, ‘What an amazing opportunity.’ But even in that moment, toeing the line between happiness and internally battling, (thinking) about people I care about.”
Alternately elated and conflicted, Tracy had a game to manage Sunday, which he did successfully, winning his major league debut, 5-3 over the Baltimore Orioles.
The visitor’s clubhouse inside Camden Yards, which had been through the same emotional ringer in the previous 18 or so hours, erupted in celebration. His players doused their new manager in a cocktail of beer, champagne and shaving cream in honor of the milestone.
Not only was the victory his first in the big leagues, but it was also the 500th win of his managerial career, a milestone pointed out by first base coach Jose Flores.
“It was awesome,” said a beaming Tracy. “The guys celebrated it with me, dumped some beer on me and stuff, but it was really special.”
Tracy was also presented with the lineup card and a ball from the game, to be sent to an authenticator and framed for posterity.
It was the culmination of a crazy weekend that saw Tracy pack hurriedly Saturday, fly from Worcester to Baltimore and arrive at the team hotel between 1:30 and 2 a.m. Even then, he was occupied with some conversations with members of the organization, while returning texts from friends and family members offering congratulations.
Sunday morning, there were more conversations, and a chance to address the team for a few minutes after Breslow explained the staff changes.
In the chaos of the past 12 hours, Tracy said talking to the players — many of whom have either played for him in Worcester as they climbed the minor league ladder or spent time with him on rehab assignments — was when he felt most relaxed.
“When I started seeing the players before the bus left (the hotel),” he said, “each player I saw it just started to calm me more. The more conversations I had with them, the more it calmed me. One of the things I shared with them (in addressing the clubhouse) was, of all the chaos and stuff that’s been going on, stepping into the room was probably the calmest I’ve been. Looking around the room, probably 75 percent of the guys have played for me. So I’m not speaking to a bunch of guys who don’t know who I am or what I’m about.”
Asked before the game Sunday to share his managerial philosophy or style, Tracy said he was adaptable.
“Style, I think it’s predicated on who’s on your team,” he said. “If you have a (certain) style and the players don’t fit that style, that can be foolish. I think it’s about adapting to your team. What do you have? What are you capable of doing? We have athletes, we have speed, so I look at that like, ‘Well, we’ve got to get people on base. Let’s move, let’s be aggressive. That’s what worked last year when it was going, You get these guys on base and we start creating havoc.’ So I look at it like, ‘What is on your team and how do you use the tools and skills of what’s on your team the best way to help your team?’”
Before he knew it, the game beckoned, and Tracy felt a sense of normalcy as players began preparing. It was time.
“I felt like when they came out into the dugout, it was about baseball,’' he said. ”There’s been a lot going on and a lot of talk about it. We had a ton of meetings to go through things for them to get comfortable with me and me to talk to them. When we got out there, it was like, ‘Now we get to play baseball.’ So I felt like they were right where they should be.”
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