The Boston Red Sox made two major organizational announcements Tuesday morning: removing Chad Tracy's interim tag, naming him the full-time manager, signing him to a three-year deal, and exercising their options for the 2028 and 2029 seasons on Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow’s contract. 

Breslow and Tracy joined team president Sam Kennedy on Tuesday afternoon for a press conference to announce the moves. 

Here’s what you need to know about what they said: 

“Abysmal,” those were the words from Sam Kennedy when discussing the start of the 2026 season. But despite the brutal start and growing noise around Breslow’s job security, one thing became clear during Tuesday’s presser: he never lost Fenway Sports Group's trust. 

Kennedy described the process of deciding whether to exercise Breslow’s options as taking place throughout the summer, signaling that his job was never truly at risk.   

“I thought that the criticism was unfair; I understand why… but, at that moment, a lot of us felt that this is an organization and we’re teammates and we need to stand up for each other,” Kennedy said of his decision to publicly back Breslow early in the season. 

Kennedy emphasized that Breslow’s role as a member of the 2013 World Series-champion Red Sox taught him what it takes to win a title, which was hugely important to ownership. 

By allowing him to fire former manager Alex Cora, FSG gave Breslow an opportunity his predecessor, Chaim Bloom, did not have: the ability to pick his own manager. 

Naturally, there was a feeling out process between Breslow and Tracy upon naming him the interim manager on April 25, as the two had only worked together tangentially prior to naming him interim manager. 

However, throughout the summer, one thing became incredibly clear to those following the team: Tracy was far and away the right person to be leading this group beyond the 2026 season. Breslow echoed that sentiment on Tuesday, saying, “Chad and I had some conversations, but it became pretty clear early on that Chad was the right person at the right time to lead this group.” 

However, both Tracy and Breslow stayed focused on turning things around and clinching a playoff berth. “We did our best to make sure that any conversations that took place about his future, we didn’t allow to become a distraction, given what we were trying to accomplish on the field,” Breslow said. Now that they have secured their place in the postseason, the inevitable became a reality.

Along with Cora, the team fired six members of the major league coaching staff and replaced them with interim coaches from within the organization. Among those currently holding interim positions are bench coach Jose David Flores, third-base coach Chad Epperson, first-base coach Pablo Cabrera, and hitting coaches Colin Hetzler, Nelson Paulino, and Jack Simonetty. 

“We’ll figure that out after the season,” Breslow said when asked about the status of the remaining interim coaches. “Everybody is consumed with figuring out how we play as well as we possibly can this last week, and we prepare for the postseason,” he continued. That said, Flores will likely remain bench coach, given his close relationship with Tracy, which dates back to their time in the same roles with Worcester. 

The Red Sox will look to turn the page on the morning’s festivities as they open up the final homestand of the regular season in game one of a three-game set with the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday night. Payton Tolle (9-6, 3.02 ERA) will get the start opposite fellow rookie left-hander Parker Messick (12-9, 2.57 ERA) for Cleveland. First pitch is set for 6:45 p.m. ET.