Tigers hire former Alex Cora acolyte as first base coach after Red Sox firing spree

The Red Sox were the talk of the town back in April, when they fired manager Alex Cora and a slew of coaches toward the end of the month. Boston was 10-17 at the time, and internal strife between Cora and Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow seemed to have been mounting for some time.

The incident yielded a lot of memeable moments — the fired coaches being carried away from the Orioles' Camden Yards in a van marked "coaches for hire," then posing for a group picture, all-smiles, by a plane — but it released a host of new names onto the coaching market.

Unsurprisingly, Cora has been the hottest ticket. He was immediately offered a job with the Phillies, who fired Rob Thomson three days after the Red Sox fired Cora, but declined. Philadelphia turned to bench coach Don Mattingly instead, and he's since signed a two-year extension to remain at the helm.

The Tigers seem more than satisifed with AJ Hinch (though fans would oftentimes disagree), but they fired first base coach Anthony Sanders and assistant pitching coach Juan Nieves a few weeks ago. On Tuesday, they hired former Red Sox third base coach Kyle Hudson, one of the victims of Boston's firing spree, to take over in Sanders' vacated role.

Tigers hire former Red Sox third base coach Kyle Hudson as new first base coach

Detroit also fired athletic trainers Ryne Eubanks and Chris McDonald in October, after injuries decimated the roster in May and issues persisted through the rest of the season. They added former Astros catcher Martín Maldonado a few days later as their quality control coach, a position that wasn't formally filled after Billy Boyer shifted to third base following Joey Cora's firing mid-season.

Hudson is a former outfielder who spent time with all of the Orioles, Rays, Phillies, Angels, and Dodgers but only broke into the majors for 14 games with Baltimore in 2011. He was hired as the Red Sox's first base coach and outfield instructor ahead of the 2023 season and was moved over to third in 2024.

Tigers insider Cody Stavenhagen noted that Detroit seems to have a hard time holding onto their coaches, and that's been something other teams around the league have noted. High turnover isn't flattering in any field, so hopefully Hudson will stick, at least for a little longer than Sanders did.

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