After the slightest bit of suspense, the Jason Varitek situation has been resolved. Varitek will return to Alex Cora’s coaching staff in 2026, in the same position of game-planning coordinator and run-prevention
coach (go ahead and feel free to roll your eyes at that one). Next year will mark Tek’s 30th season with the Red Sox. It will also be his 15th year since his retirement, meaning he’ll have spent as much time with the Red Sox in a non-playing capacity as he did as a player. (Alex Speier, Boston Globe)
So the coaching staff in 2026 will look almost exactly the same as it did in 2025. The only change is that John Soterpulos, who originally came from Driveline before moving to the organization’s minor league coaching staff, will join the big league team as Pete Fatse’s assistant hitting coach. (Chris Cotillo, MassLive)
Speaking of minor league instruction, the Red Sox are reportedly making “sweeping changes” to the way they coach minor leaguers, this in response to the team’s now-perpetual defensive issues. The Sox will add full-time defensive coaches to each minor league affiliate, and also create a new position of defensive coordinator to oversee instruction across the farm system. “I think what some of our [major league] defensive lapses have done is caused us to take a look internally around the way that we are developing players,” said Craig Breslow. (Jen McCaffrey, The Athletic)
It’s not like the Sox are completely hopeless defensively, of course. They may have the single best defender in the whole game in centerfielder Ceddanne Rafaela. Nuff Cedd was just given the 2025 Fielding Bible Award for big league centerfielders, though he lost out on the Defensive Player of the Year Award to Giants catcher Patrick Bailey. (Fieldingbible.com)
Hopefully the minor league defensive program starts bearing fruit the way the minor league pitching development program already has. After seeing promising debuts from Hunter Dobbins, Payton Tolle, and Connelly Early in 2025, the next arm to watch is Luis Perales, who is impressing with his triple-digit heat in the Arizona Fall League as he recovers from Tommy John and prepares to compete for a roster spot in spring training (the 22-year-old is already on the 40-man roster). (Jen McCaffrey, The Athletic)
