Tigers dismiss two athletic trainers after injury surge that may have doomed their 2026

The Tigers kicked off their offseason by letting go of first base coach Anthony Sanders and assistant pitching coach Juan Nieves. Sanders was a newcomer, hired away from the Orioles in the 2025-26 offseason, but Nieves held various positions within the Tigers organization from November 2020 to the time he was fired.

According to Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic, who first reported the Sanders and Nieves departures, two more staff members are being let go. Athletic trainers Ryne Eubanks and Chris McDonald will not be on the payroll in 2027.

"That's one of those things, in a year with a lot of injuries, are you parting with trainers just to part with trainers? If you recall, there was a big training staff shakeup when Scott Harris took over," Stavenhagen said on Tiger Territory. "It seemed like then they really changed their methodology. I have zero insight into if there was any issue with the methodology or if that's another thing where you're just making the change for the sake of making the change."

Starting with Justin Verlander in early April, the Tigers lost a staggering 24 players the IL over the course of the season, some of them more than once. Eight of those came in May.

Tigers fire athletic trainers Ryne Eubanks and Chris McDonald after a season plagued with injuries

Stavenhagen did note a potential yellow flag. "The Tigers have kind of been burning through coaches under AJ Hinch the past few years," he said. "This year, they parted with Joey Cora midseason, two different changes at the end of the season. Word is starting to around, like, 'hey, why are the Tigers going through so many coaches?'"

He also said that the quality control position, which was vacated by Billy Boyer when he moved to third base to cover for Cora's firing, has not been filled yet, but the Tigers may be interviewing "at least one former big leaguer" to fill that role.

High turnover rates can be a bad sign for any employer, and although shuffles do happen across baseball, it can't reflect incredibly well on the Tigers.

When it comes to athletic trainers, though, it's a lot easier to understand after the kind of year the Tigers had to weather. Hopefully, the replacements who come in will help keep Detroit at least a little (but, please, a lot) healther in 2027.

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