Tigers Fire Bell, Promote Parrish

Buddy Bell wanted answers. It cost him his job.

The Detroit Tigers, losers of 22 of their last 27 games and owners of the worst record in the American League, fired Bell as manager Tuesday. Bench coach Larry Parrish was named interim manager for the rest of the season.

With a $28-million payroll, one of the lowest in baseball, the Tigers went into Tuesday night’s game only 15 games shy of their second 100-loss season in three years.

There had been speculation about the move for nearly a week, after team owner Mike Ilitch publicly gave glowing praise to the job General Manager Randy Smith was doing but stopped short of praising Bell.

“He’s had a difficult job in terms of mixing very young players with veterans and being able to deal with it when it’s not going well,” Ilitch said Friday.

Bell said that his relationship with Smith, once warm, had grown cold.

“Our relationship hasn’t been good for a while,” he said. “I think it was just the losing and we both got tired of it. At the end, there was no communication at all.”

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The Montreal Expos signed outfielder Vladimir Guerrero to a $28-million, five-year contract extension, locking in a budding star and breathing new life into their downtown stadium project.

Guerrero, 22, considered by many the most gifted player in the club’s 30-year history, will be paid $1 million in 1999, $3.5 million in 2000, $6 million in 2001, $8 million in 2002 and $9.5 million in 2003.

The deal is the highest ever for a player with less than two years of major league service, topping the $23.25-million, five-year deal agreed to last March by Nomar Garciaparra and the Boston Red Sox.

“There have been questions about our ownership’s commitment to the new ballpark in Montreal, and I think this answers a lot of those questions,” General Manager Jim Beattie said.

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The Kansas City Royals activated pitcher Kevin Appier, who had been sidelined the entire season, from the disabled list.

The Royals also activated first baseman Jeff King from the disabled list and purchased the contracts of catcher Tim Spehr and outfielder Jeremy Giambi from triple-A Omaha.

Appier has sat out the entire season after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on March 24 to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder. He injured the shoulder in a fall at his home during the off-season.

Royal Manager Tony Muser said the right-hander, the former ace of the staff, will pitch out of the bullpen for the first few days. Appier averaged 12 victories a season for the Royals after joining the club in 1990.

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The Toms River, N.J., team that defeated Kashima, Japan, on Saturday to win the Little League World Series championship, was honored by the New York Yankees before Tuesday night’s game against the Oakland Athletics.

Each of the youngsters ran onto the field with a Yankee to take their respective positions for the national anthem.