DETROIT – The Detroit Tigers fired pitching coach Chris Bosio, saying he made insensitive comments to another team employee.
"I have to take seriously what the comments were," Tigers General Manager Al Avila said, declining to give details. "And the action we took was appropriate."
The Tigers promoted bullpen coach Rick Anderson to replace Bosio. Anderson was the Twins pitching coach from 2002-14 under manager Ron Gardenhire, now the Tigers' skipper.
Avila said what Bosio said violated team policy and his contract, though Avila otherwise spoke highly of Bosio: "He definitely was a good pitching coach."
"We're sorry to everyone that it affected," Tigers righthander Alex Wilson said. "It's not a good day here. It's a sad day. But we're going to move forward, and hopefully this brings us closer than we've ever been."
Bosio, 55, a former major league pitcher with Milwaukee and Seattle, was in his first season as Detroit's pitching coach after serving in the same role for six years with the Chicago Cubs.
The Cubs didn't renew Bosio's contract after last season even though the Cubs had the lowest ERA in the majors from 2015 through 2017.
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