By Tiffany Williams –
BOSTON — The Boston Red Sox are locking in their leadership for the future, exercising club options on Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow through 2030 and removing the interim label from Chad Tracy after a dramatic turnaround that has transformed Boston’s season.
Tracy has been named the 49th manager in Red Sox history and agreed to a three-year contract running through the 2029 season with a club option for 2030. The moves put Breslow and Tracy on parallel tracks as Boston commits to the two men overseeing a club that has surged since Tracy took over in April.
“Craig and Chad are two exceptionally talented leaders who have earned these opportunities in very different ways,” said Red Sox President & CEO Sam Kennedy. “Over the last three years, we have watched Craig bring clarity, discipline, and conviction to the work of building our baseball operation. Chad was asked to step into a difficult situation with little notice, but the trust he immediately commanded at the major league level was earned through years of work across our organization. What this team has accomplished over the past several months has been historic. Results matter greatly in this business, but so do judgment, character, and the ability to bring out the best in others. Craig and Chad have demonstrated all of those qualities, and they have earned our confidence in leading us forward.”
Breslow, 46, was hired as Boston’s Chief Baseball Officer on Oct. 25, 2023. A member of the Red Sox’s 2013 World Series championship team, he became only the fourth former Boston player to lead the club’s baseball operations and the first since Haywood Sullivan served as general manager from 1978 through 1983.
The Red Sox have gone 254-226 under Breslow during his three seasons in the position, a .529 winning percentage. That is the third-best record in the American League and ninth-best in Major League Baseball during that period.
Before returning to Boston, Breslow spent five seasons in the Chicago Cubs organization. He most recently served as Assistant General Manager/Senior Vice President, Pitching in 2023 after beginning his front-office career with Chicago in 2019 as Director of Strategic Initiatives.
Breslow became Director of Pitching/Special Assistant to the President and General Manager in 2020 before serving as Assistant General Manager/Vice President, Pitching during the 2021 and 2022 seasons. His work included implementing data-based processes throughout baseball operations and helping develop the Cubs’ pitching infrastructure.
Tracy’s rise has been much faster — and unfolded in the middle of a season that was slipping away.
The 41-year-old made his Major League managerial debut as Boston’s interim manager on April 26. The Red Sox entered that day at 10-17 with a .370 winning percentage, tied for the second-worst record in the American League.
Since Tracy took over, Boston has gone 74-55, a .574 winning percentage that ranks second in the American League and fifth in the Majors.
The turnaround included a stretch that rewrote the franchise record book. Boston went 27-3 from July 3 through Aug. 7, producing the best 30-game stretch in Red Sox history.
The Red Sox ripped off 15 consecutive victories from July 3 through the first game of a July 22 doubleheader, tying a franchise record previously reached by the 1946 Red Sox. Boston finished July 21-4, a .840 winning percentage that became the best for any calendar month in franchise history with a minimum of 20 games and the third-best July record by any Major League club.
Tracy’s path to the Boston dugout ran directly through Worcester.
One day before becoming Boston’s interim manager, Tracy earned his 499th career minor league managerial victory. He had managed the Triple-A Worcester Red Sox since 2022 and guided the WooSox to a winning record in each of his four full seasons from 2022 through 2025.
Before joining the Red Sox organization, Tracy spent seven seasons in the Los Angeles Angels system from 2015 through 2021. He managed Low-A Burlington in 2015 and High-A Inland Empire in 2016 and 2017 before serving as the Angels’ minor league field coordinator from 2018 through 2021.
Tracy also spent eight seasons as a professional player after the Texas Rangers selected him in the third round of the 2006 First-Year Player Draft out of Pepperdine University. He played in the Rangers, Colorado Rockies and Kansas City Royals organizations from 2006 through 2013.
At Pepperdine from 2004 through 2006, Tracy earned West Coast Conference Player of the Year and First-Team All-Conference honors in 2005.
Now the former WooSox manager has the permanent job in Boston, while Breslow has additional years to continue building the organization. After a season-changing run that began with the Red Sox sitting near the bottom of the American League, Boston has made its decision on who will lead the club forward.