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Jason Varitek, who won two World Series with the Red Sox as a player, is out as game-planning coach.

The Boston Red Sox suddenly fired Jason Varitek, their beloved World Series catcher and coach, in a shocking organizational shake-up Saturday. The club said that Varitek will be “reassigned” within the organization, according to reporter Ari Alexander of WHDH TV in Boston.

The Varitek move came as part of a widespread purge after the Red Sox started the season at 10-17 despite an estimated $196 million payroll, per FanGraphs. Manager Alex Cora headlined the firings. Most of his coaching staff was also ousted just hours after a lopsided 17-1 Red Sox victory over the Baltimore Orioles.

The stunning afternoon bloodbath ended Cora’s run in Boston at seven-plus seasons. Varitek will remain somewhere inside the organization that he joined nearly three decades ago, but apparently not as a coach in the dugout.

ESPN insider Jeff Passan broke the news, confirming that Cora was out along with hitting coach Peter Fatse, bench coach Ramón Vázquez, third base coach Kyle Hudson, major league hitting strategy coach Joe Cronin, and assistant hitting coach Dillon Lawson. Varitek, who served as the team’s game planning and run prevention coach, was not fired outright, only from his coaching position. MLB.com confirmed the Red Sox reassigned him to a new role within the organization, with details to be announced at a later date.

Worcester Red Sox manager Chad Tracy, 40, now takes over as interim manager, according to a report by Red Sox beat writer Chris Cotillo. Tracy has run Boston’s Triple-A affiliate since 2022. Chad Epperson, manager of the Red Sox’s Double-A Portland Sea Dogs affiliate, steps in as interim third-base coach.

Varitek’s Decades-Long Boston Red Sox Tenure

The Varitek move is the one that will sting Red Sox Nation most. The 54-year-old Georgia Tech product was acquired from the Seattle Mariners on July 31, 1997, in a trade that also brought Derek Lowe to Boston. In one of the most favorable trades the organization ever made, then-general manager Dan Duquette sent struggling reliever Heathcliff Slocumb to Seattle for Varitek and Lowe.

Varitek spent 14 seasons behind the plate as a catcher, was named one of only 19 team captains in the club’s 125-year history, and was the backbone of World Series championship rosters in 2004 and 2007 — the titles that ended Boston’s 86-year championship curse.

Varitek retired after the 2011 season having slashed .256/.341/.435 with 193 home runs and 757 RBIs across 15 major league seasons, all in a Boston uniform. He moved immediately into the front office as a special assistant to general manager Ben Cherington in 2012 and never left the organization, transitioning eventually into his coaching role.

Red Sox principal owner John Henry issued a statement expressing gratitude for Cora’s contributions while acknowledging the difficulty of the decisions.

“These decisions are never easy, but this one is especially difficult given what Alex has meant to the Red Sox since the day he arrived,” Henry said, WHDH reported.

Boston Red Sox Offense Drives Firings

The numbers made the firings inevitable. Boston entered Saturday’s game at 10-17, dead last in the American League East and 7 1/2 games behind the first-place New York Yankees. Even with a dramatic 17-run outburst against Baltimore, the Red Sox ranked last in home runs (18), 28th in slugging percentage (.354), and 26th in OPS (.667), according to stats assembled by Sports Illustrated reporter Ryan Phillips.

The lineup has simply been disastrous top to bottom. Jarren Duran, the 2024 All-Star Game MVP, is batting .198 with a .258 on-base percentage. Shortstop Trevor Story in the fifth season of a six-year, $140 million contract, has struck out 37 times in 27 games. Highly-touted prospect Roman Anthony is slashing .225/.351/.325 with just one home run and is nursing a back injury. The offensive dysfunction spread so broadly that the front office clearly made the decision to rip up the entire coaching infrastructure and start again.

Cora led the Red Sox to the 2018 World Series title in his first season as manager and compiled a 620-541 record across eight seasons in Boston. In 2024 he negotiated a new, $21.75 million contract that runs through the end of 2027. Cora served a one-year suspension in 2020 stemming from his involvement in the Houston Astros‘ sign-stealing scandal during his time as Houston’s bench coach. Boston reached the postseason three times under Cora, most recently falling to the New York Yankees in the wild-card round last season.

The 2026 Red Sox had been expected to build on an 89-win campaign that returned them to October baseball for the first time in four years. A 1-5 road trip to open the year threw cold water on those hopes before April was half over.