Fire Brad Ausmus
Guy has been a shit manager since coming here. That is all. Oh and it's Monday. Bring the downvotes.
He's had two really bad nights in less than a week. Given Game 2 of the Baltimore series and all of last season, we are in store for many more.
Incredible that the Tigers weren't interested when Joe Maddon was on the market. Dombrowski seems to have a real pride issue.
All GMs have a pride issue.
And yet some of them still manage to overcome their pride and win the World Series.
we'll be just fine without you. . .
You can't really say if the Tigers did or did not have interest. Of course both sides would deny such things, but in the sporting world the back alleys are king for information sharing out of the public eye.
Maddon was a lock for the Cubs. It was one of the most poorly kept "secrets" in baseball. There is no realistic offer Dombrowski could have made that would have changed his mind.
rabble
Taking Miggy out is not debatable. In this type of game and with his bench options, it was insane. I guess you'll have to take my word for it that I said that at the time, not in hindsight.
Glad the game was on ESPN. Kruk was certainly a lot more dubious of Ausmus's managing than Rod Allen would have been.
Salvador Perez has by far the highest CS% in the game. You can't count on a steal there. Have to keep your best hitter in a game that always could have gone on for who knows how long.
I'll take his throwing results for the whole season over a sample size of one incident.
Ausmus is bad. I think we can call this a fair verdict by now.
Davis was 6 for 6 in his career against Perez going into that. Martinez hit the third pitch he saw, than they had Davis in scoring position with 0 outs.
That's the likely scenario. I probably would've gambled and ran Davis once he was on second. It's harder to throw down to third with a right handed batter in the box. Best case scenario is that Perez throws it away or you only need a flyout to win.
I'm thinking of taking the gamble because they wouldn't expect it for the reason you outline, it's wet so the ball may be harder to handle, and I would trust Rajai to go only if he has a good enough lead. I would get booed if it doesn't work, but after Cespedes, I don't like my chances of getting a base hit.
Victor hit the third pitch in that at-bat.
Victor slapped the ball to the left side to beat the shift. If Davis is on second, KC can't play the shift since they need someone at home on 3rd in case Davis steals. It's impossible to know if Victor would have actually got a hit in that at bat since it would have been a totally different scenario.
I've always wondered why the Tigers refuse to get bullpen help over the past few years...
Nathan sucked and was a past-his-prime gamble when he signed him. If he shelled out the money on the bullpen, I would understand, but this has been the least invested part of the team and it shows.
Who was lights out the year before...hindsight.
He has attempted to address it...bullpen success is predominantly based on minor league development, who many of our prospects have been traded over the years to compete now.
I didn't like the signing when it occurred, but that's not the point. There should be a plan to groom some of these guys we're trading away into big league relievers. If not for injury, it would have worked for Zumaya.
I would rather still have Drew Smyly in our bullpen and give Max the $200M contract, as opposed to trading Smyly away for David Price who is likely to walk in the offseason.
The Tigers haven't refused, just the guys they have spent on haven't performed or been the right ones. I still blame Dombrowski for this though.
"Refuse" to get bullpen help?
You mean signing Joe Nathan, Joba Chamberlain, and Tom Gorzelanny, and trading for Ian Krol and Joakim Soria doesn't count?
Say what you will about the methods. Personally I'd be happy if we never again signed another over-35, $10 million closer. But saying Dombrowski "refuses to get bullpen help" is just ignorant blather.
The problem is not that he doesn't try to fix the bullpen. It just seems like he doesn't have a plan other than "Let's sign the cheapest old reliever we can find." If our young starters don't work in that role, we trade them as opposed to developing them into relievers. I think Mike Henneman is back with the organization. Maybe he can help with transitioning them into solid one-two inning guys.
This happened once...with Nathan...so your suggestion that this is a systematic thing is ludicrious and ignorant. Players with Age upon acquisition:
Kroll: 23
Chamberlain: 28
Gorzelanny: 31
Nathan: 38
Soria: 29
Wilson: 27
Alburquerque: 24
Other players such as Rondon and Zumaya have run into injury problems.
Chamberlain, Kroll and Alburquerque are total liabilities. Don't know much about Gorzelanny or Wilson, but given the bullpen's track record over the last 4 years, I'm highly skeptical.
Soria is looking pretty good, but that's not going to cut it for us. KC's bullpen, even without Herrera, is still so much better than everyone. Makes the Tigers pitchers look like a JV squad.
And I'm worried about Sanchez in the starting rotation. He hasn't looked very sharp this year.
I'm sorry to say it, but I think this is going to be the year the Tigers don't make the playoffs.
None of the guys you listed, outside of Rondon and Zumaya came from our system.
Todd Jones was 38 years old and had stats more suitable for a middle reliever.
Fernando Rodney was in his low 30s when he was handed the closers job. And all we did was let him walk so we could save money and get Valverde off the bargain bin.
Valverde was 32 or 33 after he flamed out in Arizona. He had the perfect save season, but was bailed out a lot that season. After that, those same hard hit balls found the holes in the defense or the seats.
We didn't get a closer in 2013 and tried to work with Benoit (35 y.o.) and that was another roller coaster ride.
And you follow that up by signing a 39 year old pitcher coming off a career year (yeah that don't sound fishy) to a three year contract?
So yeah, I know DD is doing something with the bullpen. Someone has to sign and trade for these guys since we didn't draft them.
are not cheap. and the as a free agent, the tigers did not have to give up any prospects to get nathan, who just came off of a unhittable season.
the tigers wanted to sign andrew miller this off season but couldn't justify paying basically 3 closers for well over $30mm for 2015; which is logical.
also, rondon should be just a few weeks away. hopefully, he deepens this bullpen.
i would DFA him and have an extra bat on the bench; preferably a lefty.
His being on the team instead of a fifth outfielder with some pop is stupifying to begin with. Very poor roster management.
As for this game, Ausmus needed someone to play first and apparently didn't trust any of his outfielders to do it. Thus the only positional guy left on the bench: Perez.
Are Tigers fans ever happy with their manager? This board used to regularly have threads calling for Leyland's head as well.
Do you think the issue is the fans? It's not some kind of wild stretch to say a franchise could hire two horrible strategists in a row, especially when it's the same man doing the hiring.
You are the problem. Leland, for all his warts, was a damn good manager. You idiots would turn on Maddon if he was here bc of his sometimes odd managerial decisions
bats the pitcher 8th. pretty stupid. larussa did that too. stupid decision but still good managers.
When you're trying to win a championship, you don't hire a rookie manager period. Leyland had his faults, but at least he had been there before and the players respected him. I wish Ilitch had forced Dombrowski to go after someone like La Russa or Torre. The Wings couldn't win until they finally got Scotty Bowman.
Personally, I'm fine with a rookie manager if they are properly vetted. Sometimes you have to wonder if Ausmus was quizzed on what he would do in certain game situations, which should be a critical part of the hiring process.
The Cardinals don't seem to regret choosing Mike Matheny.
You’ve got a point there, but at least the Cardinals had won the WS before Matheny got the job.