Heartbreak News Now: The Detroit Tigers football head coach and two players have announced their departure from the team.
Nashville, Tennessee The Detroit Tigers signed manager A.J. Hinch to a deal that the team claimed was a long-term extension and also added four new coaches to its staff.
Hinch spent five seasons in Houston, where he contributed to the Astros’ 2017 World Series victory. However, due to his involvement in the team’s sign-stealing scandal, he was fired by Houston prior to the 2020 campaign and given a one-year suspension by Major League Baseball. Since then, he has spent three years managing the Tigers.
On Monday, Scott Harris, President of Baseball Operations, said, “We’re not going to share the terms or details of the contracts for non-players.” “But we are extremely happy that A.J. will manage the Tigers for a very long time.”
Detroit finished second. The Tigers also added Ryan Sienko as catching coach, Joey Cora as third base coach, Anthony Iapoce as first base coach, and Lance Zawadzki as assistant major league hitting coach.
Cora spent the previous two seasons as the New York Mets’ third base coach. In addition to his current position, he served as the Pittsburgh Pirates’ infield coach from 2017 to 2021. Cora was their third base coach from 2004 to 2006; he then spent time as a bench coach with the Chicago White Sox from 2007 to 2011 and Miami in 2012.
This year’s winter meetings are being held at Nashville’s Vanderbilt University, where Cora was a student. She spent eleven seasons in the major leagues with the Seattle Mariners, White Sox, and Padres.
Iapoce was promoted after heading the Tigers’ top farm squad in Triple-A Toledo this year. Before accepting a position as senior hitting coordinator in Boston in 2022, he served as hitting coach for the Chicago Cubs and Texas Rangers. His role as special assistant to the general manager during 2013–2015 included overseeing the Cubs minor league hitting program.
For the previous two seasons, Sienko was Detroit’s field coordinator and director of coaching. He worked as the Dodgers’ catching coordinator in addition to being an associate scout for Baltimore from 2007 to 2015.
For the preceding two seasons, Zawadzki oversaw hitting for Boston’s player development program.
Detroit: Ron Gardenhire was answering questions during his usual Zoom session with the media on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.
He informed general manager Al Avila of his imminent retirement, which became effective immediately a few hours later.
As the third season of his three-year contract came to a conclusion, Gardenhire, 62, said, “Just talking to Al started out as a pretty routine thing.” “I told him I was retiring after we had a few discussions.
Ron Gardenhire
“I had thought about doing it at the end of the season, but I’ve already told Al that I’m leaving because of how I’ve been feeling since I had a food poisoning episode in Minnesota, in addition to my stomach problems, tension, and worry.
Bench coach Lloyd McClendon will lead the team in its final ten games of the season.
As Gardenhire said, “I want to avoid putting anyone else or Al under any pressure.” “I know I have to look for myself, but this place has been amazing. When you’ve been stressed out all day and your hands are shaking, it’s not fun to go to a stadium.
“I just told Al that I’m going to take a moment to myself and step back.” I have to look after my wife, my kids, and my grandkids.
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Gardenhire is finished.
Gardenhire finished the clubhouse by thanking and hugging his coaches and every player. About 4 p.m., Avila was giving McClendon an update on the situation on the field.
“Today is a very sad day for the Tigers organization, Avila said. Let me just say that Gardy had one of the best managerial careers in Major League Baseball history. We are getting closer to our goal of bringing championship baseball back to Detroit after three seasons of his assiduous work and leadership.
