We talk a lot about the supposed value of GMs being able to their their own manager. Neither Chaim Bloom, nor Craig Breslow got that opportunity, as Alex Cora was seemingly foisted upon both by ownership. And even as he’s fired Cora, Breslow still hasn’t really gotten that opportunity, as Chad Tracy predates his Red Sox tenure. So, is that why the interim tag hasn’t yet been removed from Tracy? “I think he’s been good for the team and a great manager so far. He’s been there for us,” said Ceddanne
Rafaela. “He’s a great person; that’s first. I think he gave everybody the freedom to play the game and do what they needed to do. He cares about us and not just what we do on the field.” (Peter Abraham, Boston Globe)
Meanwhile, Alex Cora is still working through the emotions of his firing, recently saying on a podcast that he has three different competing emotions about how it went down. “I’ll say it again, it’s three different feelings: happy for my family, upset that they didn’t let me finish the job and honestly, relieved I don’t have to go through scouting reports and the matrix and talk to the media twice a day and live in the bubble of, ‘We have to do this.” (Chris Cotillo, MassLive)
Regardless of what you think of either Tracy or Cora, in baseball no manager is successful without production from the players on the field. The Sox have gotten plenty of that from Wilyer Abreu this season, and he was just honored with his second American League Player of the Week award. (Aiden Stepansky, MLB.com)
But last week was last week. This week, the Red Sox find themselves on a three-game losing streak during which they haven’t hit a single home run. And last night’s loss featuring strong pitching but a languid lineup looked early similar to the way they were losing games at the beginning of the year. (Rob Bradford, WEEI)
In that sense, Adley Rutschman is returning to action at the perfect time. “I miss playing,” Rutschman said. “I want to be out there, and to be able to go out and play baseball is such a blessing. And I think you realize that when you’re on the IL and you’re not able to play it. For me, it’s just excitement. This team’s rolling. This locker room, the guys are really tight, as you can tell. So I’m just excited to be a part of it.” (Tim Healey, Boston Globe)
And hopefully Rutschman will be soon followed by Roman Anthony, who recently started hitting off a pitching machine. “All things are positive,” said Chad Tracy. “Let him keep taking steps, temper expectations until he crosses and checks all these boxes, then we’ll see when we can get him here.” (Daniel Yanofsky, NESN)
