Rays extend Cash through ’24 season
The Rays, who won the most games among American League teams that didn’t make the playoffs, have rewarded manager Kevin Cash with a contract extension that runs through 2024, plus a club option for 2025.
The 40-year-old had one year remaining on a five-year, $5 million deal he signed when he replaced Joe Maddon after the 2014 season.
The Rays surprisingly won 90 games this year, finishing third in the AL East behind the Red Sox and Yankees, despite trimming payroll last winter and purging the roster again in July to transform themselves into a young team with a promising future.
Cash has led Tampa Bay to a 318-330 record over four seasons. Stairs fired: The Padres fired hitting coach Matt Stairs after one year on the job as the team continued to rank at the bottom of the majors in key offensive stats.
General manager A.J. Preller confirmed the move. The rebuilding Padres finished last in the NL West at 66-96, five losses worse than 2017.
Stairs’ replacement will be the Padres’ 10th hitting coach since Petco Park opened in 2004. He had replaced Alan Zinter, who was fired Sept. 1, 2017.
Stairs spent the 2017 season as the hitting coach for the Phillies, his first professional coaching position. He played parts of 19 seasons in the major leagues with 12 different franchises, including five seasons with the A’s. Vendor not ill: Tests show that a food vendor at the Tigers’ stadium who was fired after video surfaced showing him spitting on a pizza that apparently was intended for a customer doesn’t have any communicable diseases.
Authorities say 20-year-old Jaylon Kerley tested negative for sexually transmitted diseases, HIV and hepatitis. Kerley is charged with felony and misdemeanor crimes.
The video appeared on Instagram. Officials determined it was recorded Sept. 21 during the Tigers game against the Royals at Comerica Park. Kerley later was fired.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said her office has been inundated with phone calls from the public asking if Kerley has certain infectious diseases.
Defense attorney Carla Marable says Kerley has autism and “understands that what he did was absolutely wrong and he’s remorseful for his actions.”