Detroit Tigers give manager A.J. Hinch long-term contract extension and hire 4 new coaches

Updated Dec. 4, 2023 11:41 p.m. ET

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Detroit Tigers signed manager A.J. Hinch to what the team said was a long-term contract extension and hired four new coaches for his staff.

Hinch has managed the Tigers for three years after five seasons in Houston, where he led the Astros to the 2017 World Series title but was given a one-year suspension by Major League Baseball and fired by Houston ahead of the 2020 season for his role in the team's sign-stealing scandal.

“We’re not going to share the terms or details of the contracts for non-players,” president of baseball operations Scott Harris said Monday. “But we are pumped that A.J. is going to be the manager of the Tigers for a long time."

Detroit finished second in the AL Central at 78-84 this year, its seventh straight losing season.

The Tigers also hired Joey Cora as third base coach, Anthony Iapoce as first base coach, Ryan Sienko as catching coach and Lance Zawadzki as assistant major league hitting coach.

Cora spent the past two seasons coaching third for the New York Mets. He held the same position with the Pittsburgh Pirates from 2017-21 and was their infield coach as well. Cora was a bench coach with Miami in 2012 and the Chicago White Sox between 2007-11 after serving as their third base coach from 2004-06.

Cora, who went to college at Vanderbilt in Nashville where the winter meetings are being held, played 11 years in the majors with the Padres, White Sox, Seattle and Cleveland. He made the 1997 AL All-Star team with Seattle.

Iapoce was promoted after managing the Tigers' top farm club at Triple-A Toledo this year. He was a senior hitting coordinator for Boston in 2022 and previously was the hitting coach for the Chicago Cubs and Texas Rangers. He oversaw the Cubs' minor league hitting program from 2013-15 while he was special assistant to the general manager.

Sienko spent the past two seasons as Detroit's field coordinator and director of coaching. He worked for the Dodgers as a catching coordinator and was an associate scout with Baltimore from 2007-15.

Zawadzki spent the past two seasons as hitting coordinator in Boston's player development system.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

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