Red Sox reshape coaching staff ahead of Toronto opener

TORONTO -- The shakeup in the Red Sox’s dugout continued Monday, as Boston made several moves to round out interim manager Chad Tracy’s coaching staff before beginning a series against the Blue Jays.

Two days after parting ways with manager Alex Cora and five other coaches, Boston announced that José David Flores will serve as the club’s interim bench coach after previously acting as first-base coach/infield instructor. Ramón Vázquez had been the bench coach since November 2022 before being among the coaches dismissed on Saturday.

Pablo Cabrera will take over Flores’ previous duties as interim first-base coach while remaining an outfield coordinator. Finally, Jack Simonetty was named interim hitting assistant coach.

The 55-year-old Flores joined Boston’s big league coaching staff in November of 2024 after a three-year stint as bench coach under Tracy in Triple-A Worcester.

Before making the move to the Red Sox’s organization, Flores spent time coaching in the Majors as the Phillies’ first-base coach in 2018 and the Orioles’ third-base coach from 2019-20 -- he was also the infield coordinator for both teams. Flores also worked as an infield coordinator with the Chicago Cubs organization from 2013-2017.

Cabrera, meanwhile, will move into the first-base coach position after working as Boston’s infield/outfielder coordinator to begin the season. The 28-year-old joined the Red Sox organization as a coach with Double-A Portland in 2023.

Simonetty, 26, began the season as a hitting coach with the Florida Complex League Red Sox. He began his pro coaching career with the Boston organization in 2023, working as a Minor League video and technology associate with Worcester in his first season, a player development associate in 2024 and Single-A Salem’s hitting coach in 2025.

Boston already made moves to fill its staff after Saturday’s dismissals. Along with promoting Tracy from Triple-A for Sunday’s series finale in Baltimore, the Red Sox appointed Double-A Portland manager Chad Epperson as their interim third-base coach and brought up Triple-A Worcester hitting coach Collin Hetzler to serve on their Major League hitting staff.

According to a report from MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo, Boston is planning to have Hetzler and John Soteropulos -- previously an assistant under Cora -- assume “hitting coach” titles. However, the team did not announce those moves on Monday.

The moves help fill the roles previously held by former third-base coach Kyle Hudson, hitting coach Peter Fatse, assistant hitting coach Dillon Lawson and hitting strategy coach Joe Cronin.

There were no further changes on the pitching side, as pitching coach Andrew Bailey, bullpen coach Chris Holt and catching coach Parker Guinn all retained their roles.

After securing two straight wins against the Orioles over the weekend under two different managers, the Red Sox will send Ranger Suárez to the mound in Toronto as they look to build some momentum against another AL East rival.