Re-Tracy-ing Chad Tracy’s First Week in the Majors

By @MLBatMat | A Couch King Sports Network Blog | May 4, 2026

Seven games. One week. A 3-4 record. If you’re looking for a magic bullet, keep looking. Chad Tracy is not going to single-handedly fix the 2026 Boston Red Sox. But if you’re paying attention, there are some real things worth noting about what has changed since Alex Cora was shown the door on April 25th.

Let’s Re-Tracy it.

The Record, in Context
Tracy went 3-4, marginally better than Cora’s .370 winning percentage, but the record isn’t the point right now. What matters is what Tracy didn’t have. Crochet was placed on the IL before Chad had the opportunity to start him. Sonny Gray? Also on the shelf. Ranger Suarez lasted only four innings Sunday before leaving with hamstring tightness. You tell me how many managers go 3-4 without their top three starters healthy, across two series losses. Not many.

The Defense: Zero. As in Zero Errors.
In Tracy’s first seven games, the Red Sox did not commit a single error. Not one. That is not a small thing for this franchise. They finished first in the AL in errors in 2021, 2023, 2024, and 2025, and second in 2020. Through the first 10 games under Cora this year, they’d already committed 11. The broader defensive picture is just as encouraging: Boston leads all of baseball with 25 Defensive Runs Saved, five ahead of the Dodgers, and ranks second in Outs Above Average. Abreu, Anthony, and Contreras have all been among the league leaders at their positions. This team can field.

The Baserunning: He Said He’d Run, He Runs.
Under Cora, the Sox averaged 0.59 stolen bases per game. Under Tracy, it’s 1.0. He announced the philosophy in game one, swiping four bases against Baltimore. Through seven games, they’re 7-for-9 in attempts. This team isn’t going to hit its way out of trouble. The speed is real and Tracy is deploying it. That’s the right call.

Two Guys in the Lineup Every Day
One thing I love that Tracy has done: Jarren Duran and Marcelo Mayer have been in the lineup every single day he’s managed. Both of them. Every game. Whether that lineup card is being written by Tracy or Craig Breslow, I’m not entirely sure, but whoever is responsible, keep it up. Both of those guys belong in there daily, and for whatever reason that wasn’t always the case under Cora.

The Uncomfortable Truth
Runs scored per game dropped from 4.15 under Cora to 2.57 under Tracy. The weird part: batting average is identical at .233, OBP virtually the same. They’re getting on base. They’re not cashing in. Left on base jumped from 6.81 per game to 8.00. That’s a situational hitting problem, and only the hitters can solve it.

There was some chatter yesterday about friction in the clubhouse between Contreras and Mayer. I’m not buying it. Don’t let the baseball media manufacture a crisis here. Mayer is a ballplayer who wants to play baseball, nothing more. And Contreras, hothead tendencies aside, is becoming exactly the veteran presence this clubhouse needs. His comments were taken out of context. Move on.

The Bottom Line

Tracy didn’t fix the Red Sox in a week. Nobody was going to. But the defense is better, run prevention is down over a run per game, the bases are being used, and Duran and Mayer are in the lineup every day. All of that without Crochet, Gray, or a functional back end of the rotation. The tone has shifted. Whether it becomes anything more depends on whether Craig Breslow picks up the phone.

We’ll keep watching.