As the Red Sox consider what manager Chad Tracy’s coaching staff will look like in his first full season in the job, one clarity emerged Wednesday: José David Flores will remain the bench coach, a league source said, after serving as interim bench coach last season.
Flores previously served as the first base coach under then-manager Alex Cora. He also served as Tracy’s bench coach with Triple-A Worcester in 2022-24.
The Red Sox, however, are returning two other interim coaches from the major leagues to the minors in key player development roles.
Chad Epperson, who coached third base for most of last season, will be Worcester’s manager in 2027, a league source said. He was previously the manager of Double-A Portland and has worked for the Red Sox since 2002.
Additionally, Pablo Cabrera, who served as first base coach and field instructor for most of 2026, will return to his position as the farm system’s defensive coordinator, a source said. He just completed his fourth season with the organization.
That leaves at least two vacancies on Tracy’s staff for 2027.
There are three others with the interim title whose status is unknown: interim hitting coaches Collin Hetzler and Nelson Paulino (both recalled from the minors), as well as interim bullpen catcher Drew Ehrhard (retired as a Double-A player to take that job).
All of the above stems from the Red Sox’s April 25 firing of Cora and six coaches. Needing to rebuild the major league staff on the fly, baseball executive Craig Breslow & Co. filled the holes with in-house options, a group led by Tracy, who had been the Triple-A manager.
Iggy Suarez, who moved from Triple-A defensive coach to interim manager in Tracy’s place, will become the top affiliate’s bench coach, working under Epperson.
Tim Healey can be contacted at timothy.healey@globe.com. Follow him @timbhealey. Alex Speier can be contacted at alex.speier@globe.com. Follow him @alexspeier.
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