The Red Sox are making another staff shuffle, and this one sends Chad Epperson back to the minors with a new title.
Boston announced on Oct. 21 that Epperson, who served as the club’s interim third base coach, will take over Chad Tracy’s former job as manager of the Triple-A Worcester Red Sox, according to Chris Cotillo of MassLive. At the same time, interim first base coach Pablo Cabrera is headed back to his previous post as defensive coordinator in the Sox’s minor league system, Cotillo reported.
What Boston hasn’t sorted out yet is who will replace Epperson and the other coaches who have been reassigned on the major league staff, Sean McAdam of MassLive reported.
The move comes after a season in which the Red Sox were dealing with a coaching overhaul and a temporary setup in the dugout and along the lines. Epperson had been managing the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs before the shocking April 25 firing of Alex Cora and five other coaches on his staff thrust him into the big-league picture.
His run as third base coach had its rough patches early. Epperson made several brutal send decisions for Boston, and slower runners were thrown out at the plate by wide margins while the offense struggled to score. The Red Sox had to push the envelope because runs were hard to come by, but those outs at home kept costing them precious chances.
He also found himself in the middle of one odd moment when he ran into fair territory to judge a deep ball in left field. Baltimore’s relay wound up being so clean that the “safe” call was overturned, which meant MLB never had to weigh in on whether the play itself was legal. Still, it was the kind of scene you almost never see from a major league baseline coach.
Now Epperson is headed to Worcester, a job that amounts to a promotion given his interim status in Boston. He’ll be stepping into a role Tracy made very popular among players there, and he’ll have a tough act to follow.
Epperson has never managed at Triple-A before, but he did manage a Frontier League team in 2002 before returning to the Red Sox organization. After a shaky beginning in the majors, he settled in during the second half of the season and finished without any more drama.
Boston believes his background makes him a strong fit for the job. He knows the farm system well and already has relationships with a number of WooSox players from his time in Double-A, which puts him in position to handle Tracy’s old post.
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