Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris announced today that the club has signed manager A.J. Hinch to a long-term extension. Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic was among those to relay the news, adding that the deal was completed the week after the season ended. The details of the new contract were not disclosed but Stavenhagen notes that Hinch’s previous deal ran through 2025. The club also released a statement which announced that Joey Cora will join the coaching staff as third base coach, Anthony Iapoce as first base coach, Ryan Sienko as catching coach and Lance Zawadzki as assistant major league hitting coach.
Hinch, now 49, has now completed three seasons as the bench boss in Detroit. He had previously been manager with the Diamondbacks and Astros, winning the World Series with the latter club in 2017. However, the late 2019 revelations of the sign-stealing scandal in Houston led to Hinch getting suspended by MLB for one year and fired by the club. He was reportedly opposed to the sign-stealing and made attempts to stop it, smashing a monitor on multiple occasions, but the punishment ultimately landed on him for not doing enough to succeed in stopping the scheme.
After serving his suspension by sitting out the 2020 campaign, Hinch quickly garnered interest from other clubs around the league, with Dusty Baker having taken up his previous job in Houston. Despite the suspension, his reputation as a quality skipper hadn’t diminished and he was hired by the rebuilding Tigers. Their first season under Hinch resulted in a record of 77-85, below .500 but their best winning percentage since 2016.
Encouraged by that showing, the club decided to be aggressive going into 2022, signing Eduardo Rodriguez and Javier Báez. But a litany of injuries and some poor performances from those that were healthy led to a disappointing 66-96 campaign. General manager Al Avila was fired and later replaced by Harris, though with the latter getting the POBO title. Hinch survived and the club had another somewhat encouraging season in 2023, getting their win total back up to 78, good enough for second in the American League Central.
It seems that one year together was enough for Harris and Hinch to build a solid working foundation. Harris told Stavenhagen today that he didn’t want Hinch to feel like an inherited manager and offered the extension the day after the season ended. It’s unclear how long the new deal runs but Harris said today that “We are pumped that A.J. is going to be the manager of the Tigers for a long time.”
Just because you can doesn’t mean you should
Same could be said for your comment
Tigers are waiting for their deal with Waste management to be official so they can provide trash cans in the dugout
Shadow – Hinch will punch Oscar the Grouch to show his displeasure, but that will be the extent of it…
second best manager in MLB behind the Ranger manager. Look for the Tigers to win the pennant this year
He’s not better than Craig Counsell.
Wasnt better than francona either
And also second best behind Alex Cora in lying and cheating
Hinch has done a great job of coaxing more wins out of a less-than-mediocre club than they deserve – all three years he’s been here in The ‘D’….love the guy!
“the Ranger manager”
Rickey Henderson, is that you?!
Alumni liars and cheaters get penalized from the Hall, but present ones get rewarded handsomely.
Hmmmmm it’s like no one in the MLB actually cares?? Wonder why that would be?
Pudge Rodriguez is in the Hall. I could name a few others, but prefer not to cause a spit-storm.
cHeATer
Nobody in the game actually cares about it because they know everything was/is so widespread. It’s only the writers trying to goaltend the hall of fame.
“Nobody in the game”…So you now speak for the players “in the game”?….Ive heard DOZENS if not hundreds of current and former players rail against PEDS & cheating in MLB yet your insider information access suggests players don’t care?…Why don’t you tell us your players “in the game” sources?
Players get popped for steroids, they serve their suspension, resume their careers, and continue to be paid handsomely.
He’s a good manager. Not his fault Avila didn’t do his job and give him talent to work with. I think Hinch is the guy to lead the next competitive Tigers team.
Skubal, Manning, Olsen, Mize, Gibson-Long, Madden, Flores, Jobe, Lange, Foley, Vest, Brieske, Faedo, Wentz, White, Hill, Torkelson, Greene, Meadows, Carpenter, Baddoo, Keith, Rogers, Dingler, Bigbee, Jung.
Yeah, other than virtually the entire team, Avila gave him nothing to work with.
LOL, nice try.
It’s on more than just Avila, but it’s been almost a decade since the Tigers have even been average. That’s largely on Avila. Of that list you made, who is a proven building block? For all the high draft picks, not a ton to show for it.
Not that impressive considering it represents 7 years of losing and picking towards the top of the draft. You mentioned some players who haven’t played above AA yet. The big omission were the international prospects he signed, other than Perez and perhaps Montero there are none on the cusp of making a big league roster. Out of your list I see 10 players (11)if you add Colt Keith that I feel good about counting on for this year. Not much to show for 7 years of player acquisition.
True
Avila is a Hall of Fame talent scout so he drafted very well. He stunk at trades and free agent signings so he was not up to the GM gig.
Harris has made nice bargain bin signings but he botched the ERod trade and his drafts will take four to five years to assess so I’m still not too sure what to make of him yet. However Hinch is a great skipper so this is another solid move. Next up, hire the Dodger’s hitting coach and Alabama’s strength and conditioning coach. Then we’d really be cooking with butter.
Cora and Hinch secure in jobs… Pete Rose still ostracized. Go figure.
Pete Rose? How many times did the man lie, and he lied so damn easily? If there is a HOF for lying, he is a unanimous and first enshrinement. None of us are perfect but Good Lord, the man has zero shame. Pass.
Whiff, whiffs again. Ahahaha!
One has nothing to do with the other and you know it.
All br9ke the MLB rules. All have no integrity. I see no difference between a Hinch, Cora, Rose, or the roid users.
All shouldn’t be allowed near a dugout.
So you see no difference between actively breaking the rules yourself and failing to stop someone else from doing so? Must be nice on the top of purity mountain. Hinch deserved his punishment but it was obvious his boss was fully behind it. He would have simply been fired if he put his foot down too hard and blatantly disobeyed his GM. Much different than Rose cheating and then lying continuously about it and Rose was one of my favorite players growing up.
“He would have simply been fired if he put his foot down too hard and blatantly disobeyed his GM.“
It’s called having integrity.
“All broke the MLB rules”..I like Pete Rose, but I do tend to agree with you. ZERO tolerance for insider gambling on MLB and ZERO tolerance for PED cheaters.
@Stathead, I am a Red Sox fan. Roger Clemens, but I don’t give him a pass because he was one of my favorite players.
Cheaters are cheaters, bro.
Pete Rose is literally a pedo.
Find another hill to die on
Bang the celebratory trash cans
Detroit must be well stocked with variously tuned waste cans in the dugout, full complements of kicks, snares, racks, and toms corresponding to any pitch imaginable. Go motor city kitties!
Good move to lock him in. Continuity during their competitive phase. Now let’s see them sign some more players for him to manage.
Good move. The Tigers are lucky to have him.
He’ll probably have a higher salary than half his roster.
How come this guy is getting more love than Cora?
Hinch actually has “some” management talent. Cora’s a doofus.
Intetesting…so hinch is good..cora sucks yet cora managed a world series winner without hinch but hinch needed coras help to “win” one..
Like I said, why is he getting more love? All I’ve seen is opinions or false info. Cora has management experience whether you like it or not.
You can hate Cora all you want, but at least base your reasoning off facts.
Somehow this guy is innocent but Jeff Luhnow can’t get a job sacking groceries.
Lunhow was the reason this wasn’t shut down. He was obviously supporting it and would have fired Hinch if he shut it down. Luhnow set up the and kept the operation funded. He’s getting what he deserves.
Lunhow was the reason this wasn’t shut down. He was obviously supporting it and would have fired Hinch if he shut it down. Luhnow set up the and kept the operation funded. He’s getting what he deserves
Signing Hinch to this extension is a mistake. He relays too much on analytics and has no instinctive sense as to what to do in actual game which is why he 1) puts Alex Lange in to close a game even though he’s blown the last 4 games, 2) played Maton at 3rd for 100 games when he proved he could not hit a breaking ball; 3) pinch hits a left handed hitter as soon as a left handed pitcher comes on in relief and 4) has en entire roster made up of super utility players who can all play at least 5 positions.
With Harris and Hinch running this team, the Tigers won’t win anything anytime soon and as a fan I’m pissed!
Hey chicken little. The sky is not falling.
Things are looking up in Tiger town with all those “utility players” like Rogers, Tork, Keith, Baez (ok not looking up there), Canha, Greene, P. Meadows, Carpenter. Oh wait, they will all be playing one position for the most part and the only spot where your logic might apply this year is to 3b and…the utility players. Strap in for the Tigers winning the AL Central this year. Hopefully that wipes away your doom and gloom!
Please share some of whatever it is that you’re smoking as you’re definitely living in some false sense of reality
They finished 2nd and the Twins have lost a ton of pitching already and replaced it with nothing. They got worse and we will be better with full seasons of Malloy, Keith and maybe P.Meadows added to the core hitters (Greene, Tork, Carpenter, Canha, Rogers).
What the Heck are you talking about?
You are welcome to root for another team is you are that upset.
I like the direction of the Tigers, including this. The next 2 seasons are going to be fun – the Year of the Colt followed by the Year of the Pennant!
That cheater should have been banned for life.
Tigers make the 2024 postseason
Good move by the Tigers. He would be highly sought after if the Tigers did not extend him at some point.
Just out of curiosity, what would have been more “enough” action to stop the sign stealing than smashing a few TV sets?
“He was reportedly opposed to the sign-stealing and made attempts to stop it, smashing a monitor on multiple occasions, but the punishment ultimately landed on him for not doing enough to succeed in stopping the scheme.”
This is such BS. Portrays Hinch as some kind of victim. He’s a grown man, if he wanted to stop it he would have.
Agreed, Sharks. If you cannot control your own team’s behavior, then you’re not really qualified to manage.
Banged it out didnt they?
By far Harris’s best signing so far! This leads me to believe that the club will become active in free agency in future, otherwise Hinch wouldn’t have tied himself to a ship with no engine. Now a couple more pitchers in free agency and maybe a couple of second chance hitters and let’s see what the youngsters can do. I’m for playing Colt, and JHM next season to see if they’re legit. But sign a couple of low cost backups just in case, can’t have too many players to choose from
It seems odd that a team would sign its manager to an extension in early October, and the news doesn’t get out until Dec. 4. And even then, we don’t know the contract length or how much money will change hands. Why the mystery?
Well, Greenberg is.an expert at FO double talk, trying.to.sound intelligent while saying absolutely nothing, the same absolutely nothing all the other GMs have said for.decades……
Dante had it in for.me since.
before.time.began…..
I.give.up…..