Top 10 Most Fun Candidates To Be Next Red Sox Manager

Much like the at the end of The Office (spoiler alert) when Dwight Schrute is named manager, jumps on the desk and yells “Dwight Schrute is manager!!!” To raucous applause, then only seconds later Creed Bratton jumps on his desk and screams “Creed Bratton, is the new manager!” and everyone sort of ignores him. That’s kind of where I am when it comes to the position of Red Sox manager right now. Chad Tracy is fine, he was thrust into a terrible situation: replacing a championship winning manager in April and taking the helm of a team that was set up to fail from a roster building perspective.

That being said I don’t get excited about having a Craig Breslow-Cylon like Tracy being the manager for the foreseeable future. The problem is, who do you replace him with? And who would get you excited? The blow from firing Cora could have been cushioned if it led to Jason Varitek finally getting his chance to manage the Boston Red Sox, but that Duck Boat has sailed. (Or however Duck Boats are propelled, not really sure. I don’t think it’s a sail but with this Red Sox season, Duck Boat propulsion should not be a priority.)

Having some fun, here are my 10 most fun Red Sox managerial candidates for 2026 and maybe beyond.

10. Dan Shaughnessy

One of the harshest critics of the team for longer than I have been alive, let’s give Dan a year at the helm with a “don’t’ call us, we’ll call you-team-option for 2027” that neither side will pick up. This feels like a bad 90’s sports movie where the team gets tired of getting raked over the coals by the know-it-all journalist, so they hire him to replace their manager. Hilarity ensues in what turns into a heart warming tale of walking a mile in another man’s cleats. Walter Mathau plays the writer-turned manager, Gus Bradstreet and Jack Lemmon plays his journalist pal Pete Kimball, who invariably turns on him because Gus sympathizes with the players and sees the error of his ways when the team loses a heart breaking ALCS game 7 to the arch rival. The final scene shows Gus giving a sympathetic speech to his places because he finally gets what a tough job it is to manage a big league ball team and who watched it all from the shadows of the dugout tunnel. You guessed it, Pete Kimball. Did you get goosebumps? (For the record, I would have loved this movie, critics would have hated it. Probably would have had a title like “Taking the Helm” or “Grumpiest Old Men in Baseball.” (Also, if Shaughnessy is named manager, I’m demanding that Bob Ryan be named his bench coach. Seeing the two of them in full uniform, stirrups included, would be worth the price admission, to the game and the movie.)

9. Jonny Gomes

I don’t really know what he’s doing right now, in fact I saw a guy catch a home run in center field the other night and I could have sworn it was him. (Remember when he caught a home run in the Monster seats a few years ago?) The team would have intensity, he’d probably stuff Craig’s number crunchers in a locker and honestly, I sort of feel like that’s what this team needs. This club could use a little of that 2013 magic. Speaking of……

8. Mike Napoli

I actually thought this guy was on the fast track to being a big league manager when he first got into coaching and then something happened. I’m really not sure what it was, perhaps he can’t get out of his own way or has some growing up to do, but for all the same reasons as Gomes, Napoli would be fun to have back in the mix.

7. Wally

Because it would be nice to have someone in this organization not say anything stupid on a daily basis.

6. Kevin Millar

From one end of the talking extreme to the other, I love Kevin Millar. Count me as one who enjoys when he joins the booth on NESN broadcasts. Common sense approach guy, who has a good view of the entire baseball landscape which I feel like would have to help. Also, he’d be entertaining, but also be a players coach in a good sense. Imagine all the “Cowboy Up!” type mantras he’d have up at the ballpark. You could make a mint off of all the t-shirts he’d print.

5. Pedro/Big Papi

Package deal, one does offense and one does pitching, defense can’t get worse so it can figure itself out. This would either be the most fun thing ever if they succeeded or the saddest thing since Toy Story 3 if it didn’t. I choose to believe that we’d become the #1 destination for Latin players, John Henry wouldn’t be able to say no to Pedro and David, so we’d sign them all and essentially become the Dominican WBC team. (Look at that roster, I’d be very VERY okay with that.)

4. Jared Carrabis

Similar in some ways to the Shaughnessy hiring, but would be a more modern movie. Carrabis hosts the Red Sox focused Section 10 podcast (as well as Baseball is Dead) but his hiring would be the equivalent of “your most knowledgeable Red Sox fan friend actually getting to run the team.” All the common sense moves and second-guessing texts you send during a game would get used on the big stage. I’d be a fan just to see what would happen if someone who watches all the games, unfettered by the complications and politics of becoming a big league manager could succeed. (Note, I’m a listener of Section 10, and the Portland Sea Dogs hosted a Section 10 night at Hadlock on Friday night. It was a great time, perfect 76 degree night, the kind of evening at the ballpark that makes you wonder why you don’t do this every night?!

3. Dustin Pedroia

Apparently he’s been turning Sam Kennedy down for months about doing anything in an official capacity with the ball club and I can’t say that I blame him. Though now that the Varitek relationship is strained to the degree that it is, Pedroia now takes the mantle of the former player that people won’t stop harping on becoming the new manager until it either happens or we find out that he’s doing something else. (Right now, we hear that he wants to coach his boys. Nobody knows how old they are or to what level he’ll coach them. If the Red Sox are patient, maybe we draft the Pedroia boys as soon as we can, so Dustin has to follow them into the organization? Is that entrapment? I mean we have D’Angelo Ortiz in the system, why not an infield full of Pedroia’s? (Side note, how fun would it be if we had 2-3 Pedroias and an Ortiz in the line up? Sign Michael Yastrzemski and we’re cooking with gas!

2. David Ross

This is the “John Farrell: Makes the Most Sense” award-hire. Ross seemed like a slam dunk of a hire when the Cubs made him the replacement of Joe Maddon but for a lot of reasons it didn’t work out there. He’s someone that all jokes aside, I would have my eye on if I was the Red Sox. He’s broadcasting games currently and much like Terry Francona, I could see him becoming a good manager the second time around. He’s a former Red Sox World Series champion, fan favorite, has a sense of humor but knows his stuff and has stayed around the game. If I was to put money down on “logical hire who the fans would actually get excited about” I’m putting it down on Rossi. (Could David Ross be to the Red Sox what Mike Vrabel is to the Patriots?)

1. Kevin Cash

This would be the best hire they can make. Cash has been tremendous with the Rays and I’m really not sure how. They don’t spend money, once they develop a prospect they have to trade that prospect and start over again, which all leads me to believe he must be a helluva manager. (I also want 2007 World Series champion battery mate-turned pitching coach Kyle Snyder in the deal too. Now that there’s a limit to how many times you can go out to the mound, why not? I think I’m done with the Andrew Bailey-experience. He’s a Craig guy, clean sweep, no more soup for you, NEXT!) Plus, by taking Cash, you’re also hurting a division rival. I’m not sure I’ve heard Cash speak since the 2007 World Series, so I honestly don’t know if he’s a Ray for life or we could send a prospect to Tampa and bring him to Boston. I really don’t have a clue what his allegiance is to Tampa, but as they say, I think this off-season you have to make him say no to you.