Tracy reflects on 'whirlwind' first month with Red Sox 

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Just over a month into his tenure as interim manager of the Red Sox, Chad Tracy has experienced a lot in a short amount of time, all the while trying to help get his team to play up to their capabilities. While that has proved to be a challenge, Tracy has managed to keep things in perspective while the club has compiled a 13-14 record under his watch. In a recent sitdown with MLB.com, Tracy spoke about several topics relating to his first month in the Majors.

MLB.com: What is the best way to describe what the last month has been like for you?

Chad Tracy: Whirlwind. In a moment’s notice, you are packing up [from Triple-A Worcester], and the next day, you're in a completely different spot than you were the day before and had no plan on being there -- so it was crazy. And then from there, just kind of taking each day a step at a time to make the necessary adjustments to your new normal. I think we're getting there now, but yeah, it's been crazy.

MLB.com: That Sunday in Baltimore, when you managed your first game, how long ago does that feel like now?

Tracy: It was a month ago, but it feels further away than that, based on just all the stuff going on around it. Yeah, it feels longer than that.

MLB.com: Is that somewhat because the team has struggled to gain momentum, or just because of all the things you've had to acclimate to?

Tracy: Both, probably. The ups and downs. At times, we’ve started to play well, and at times, we haven’t. Plus all the things that are new to me, and acclimating to those. You put all that together, it just feels longer ago.

MLB.com: Baseball is baseball, and you’ve been managing for a while now. But you were used to managing with development being the number one priority. Now, winning is the No. 1 priority. What has that adjustment been like?

Tracy: That part’s been fun, actually. Your whole mindset in Triple-A is you’ve got to keep an eye on who’s an immediate option for the big league team. How do we make that person better, and/or, how do we prepare them for what they're going to be asked to do up there? And then, when you get here, everything you're doing, whether you win the game or not, is revolving around that. I think most people who coach in the Minor Leagues for a long time, you embrace the thought of getting to a space where the whole mindset of the day is about winning the game.

MLB.com: It's one thing to just become a Major League manager all of a sudden after years in the Minors. But you went to the Red Sox. It’s Boston, and everything’s magnified and scrutinized here with the fans and the media. How has that aspect been for you?

Tracy: Having watched my dad [former Major League manager Jim Tracy] go through it for years, I had a pretty good sense of what that is. I don't want to say you're fully prepped, but more prepared for it than maybe others, just because I've seen it firsthand. I understand people have a job to do and have to report on the team, and there are some times that's going to be positive, sometimes it's going to be negative. And, in your own mind, if your focus is on what you can control, which is everything around your team, you’ll be OK. You can't control what people say, what people write, but you can control your club. So when you keep it that way, usually you’re in a decent spot.

MLB.com: Good segue, because my next question is about your dad. You have the ultimate resource in him, and I'm just wondering how much you’ve talked to him, especially since you got the job here in Boston, and what the feedback has been like from him, and how that whole dynamic has gone?

Tracy: I talk to him all the time. We always talk, but we're talking a lot more now, just because we can go through games and talk. He always watches, him and my mom are watching every single game. He managed in big and small markets, he managed as an interim. So, every single thing I'm encountering, he has. He's right there for me with an answer, ready to answer the phone, even if it's at 11:30 at night.

MLB.com: You have a lot of relationships with the players on this roster, because they played for you in the Minors. What has it been like building relationships with veterans you don’t have much history with?

Tracy: Maybe the only interactions you've had with them is through Spring Training, which those count, too. So they know who you are, but they haven't had you as their manager. So the big job is to earn people’s trust and have them know you're going to do what's right by them, but you also have to do what's right by the team.

They have to look at you as a guy that is going to take the bullets for them when they need to be taken, and that takes time. It’s not about what you say. Almost always with leadership, it’s how you act and behave that people are going be watching. And you hope over time with your actions, that those veteran players, you win them over.

MLB.com: How much faith do you have in this team to go on that elusive run, especially when you get cornerstones like Garrett Crochet and Roman Anthony back?

Tracy: If we get fully healthy and get everybody back to where we need them to be, and at least the way the bats have trended over the last 10 days, with the way I know that our starting rotation can pitch, and, when we're fully healthy, what the back of our bullpen can look like -- then you start to pair that with runs, there's better in there than what we showed. There's no question about that.

And with the American League [struggling as a whole], which I've not seen in a long time, you consider yourself fortunate that we're not very far out of it. A stretch where you win 12 out of 15 or 16, you'd probably look up and go, ‘Hey, man, we're the third Wild Card.’ It’s there. We have to put it all together, though.