Boston

Red Sox

Tracy will take over after the team announced the firing of Alex Cora. The 45-year-old has been the manager for Worcester — Boston’s Triple-A club — since 2023. A good showing over the final 125-plus games will give him a shot at keeping the gig for good. The club also promoted Chad Epperson as third base coach and Collin Heltzler to be a part of the hitting staff from Worcester.

Passan reports that the Red Sox also have fired hitting coach Peter Fatse, third base coach Kyle Hudson, bench coach Rámon Vazquez and game-planning coach Jason Varitek. This comes after the Red Sox picked up a 17-1 win over the Orioles on Saturday, but this was likely in the works for a long time. Even with the win, Cora and Boston had just a 10-17 record, and the Red Sox will turn to a new leader in hopes of salvaging the season. Cora has compiled a 619-541 win-loss record while leading Boston to a championship in 2019 over his eight seasons as skipper. An interim manager will be announced after the decision becomes official.

Contreras collected a pair of RBI earlier in the contest before taking position player Weston Wilson deep for a garbage-time homer in the ninth inning. It counts all the same for fantasy managers, who certainly don’t mind a little stat-padding during the late stages of a one-sided affair. It was his fifth round-tripper of the season and second time he’s gone deep in the past week.

Monasterio ripped a pair of doubles in the early stages of the one-sided affair before launching a grand slam off lefty reliever Keegan Akin in the ninth inning to put the metaphorical cherry on top of a much-needed three-hit performance. It was his first round-tripper of the season. He’ll continue to see at-bats against left-handed pitching, but he’s mostly limited to reserve duty right now.

It was a much-needed rebound performance for Crochet after getting torched for 16 runs over 6 2/3 innings combined over his previous two starts. The 26-year-old fantasy ace looked like his usual self in this one, leaning heavily on his four-seam fastball, and limiting Baltimore’s red-hot lineup to just five baserunners. He generated an encouraging 12 swinging strikes, and gave up only seven hard-hit balls, needing just 90 pitches to navigate six frames. The scoreless effort lowered his full-season ERA from 7.88 to a more respectable 6.30 through six starts. He’ll square off against the Astros at Fenway Park in his next outing on Friday.

Cora added that Brayan Bello will make his next start on Wednesday against the Blue Jays after being lit up for eight runs over 3 1/3 innings on Friday against the Orioles. Gray appears on track to return in early May against the Tigers. The interesting question is whether top pitching prospect Payton Tolle will be shipped back to the minors when that happens. It’s a variable to consider for fantasy managers rostering the fire-balling southpaw following an impressive debut against the Yankees earlier this week.

Mayer made a prominent base-running mistake during the ninth inning of Friday’s lopsided defeat, but he’s been one of the few bright spots for the Red Sox recently, hitting .300 (6-for-20) with a pair of RBI over his last seven games. The 23-year-old former top prospect is hitting just .222/.296/.365 with one homer and one steal through 22 games overall. It’ll be veteran Isiah Kiner-Falefa at the keystone on Saturday afternoon to face Orioles lefty Trevor Rogers.

Not great. Anthony hasn’t played since Tuesday due to a lingering back issue. It’s worth noting that the Orioles have tough lefty Trevor Rogers on the mound for Saturday afternoon’s matinee, so he might’ve been on the bench regardless of his health status. It’ll be struggling Jarren Duran in left field in his place. The 21-year-old showed flashes of superstar potential when he reached the majors last year, but he’s gotten off to a brutal start this season, hitting .225/.361/.325 with one homer, four RBI and two steals through 22 games. He’s presumably day-to-day heading into Sunday’s series finale.

Arias went hitless following a surreal hot streak where he homered in three consecutive games and six times in a seven-game span since April 14. The 20-year-old prodigy finished with just eight round-trippers in 116 games last season. His combination of elite plate skills and emerging over-the-fence power at a premium defensive position will position him as an elite fantasy prospect by midseason, if he’s not there already.

His 403-foot shot to right-center barely cleared the deepest part of Camden Yards while also being a homer in 29 of 30 parks. Abreu’s hot start carried him closer to the middle of the order -- but he’s still hitting just .218/.306/.291 in his last 15 games even after this outburst. Boston’s problem is that, well, nobody else is really hitting well enough to push Abreu back down the lineup anyway. With an .845 OPS, it’s hard to be upset with the performance for his draft price, but Abreu’s .269/.321/.346 line against lefties continues to loudly speak to the idea that he should be a platoon player.