OT: Brad Ausmus and the Tigers
Since his debut in 2014, I think this will be the 27th thread created regarding his tenure as the manager of the Tigers on this site. After going 90-72 in his first year and losing in the ALDS to the Orioles, the Tigers have gone a collective 196-206 (including their current record), with zero playoff appearences. After today's beat down by Cleveland, I would like to believe that soon they'll fire him before or during the All-Star break.
It isn't always the managers fault, some say it's also Avila, but something needs to be done. This team at one point was built for World Championships, and now they are scrapping the bottom of the barrel. What a disappointment.
Thoughts?
SELL! SELL! SELL!
The fire sale was going to be this spring, but they stopped at moving Maybin. The Tigers were expected to do some buying last summer at the trade deadline.
Given the values around the trade deadline, pulling back this spring and waiting until then for better offers seems like the right move.
Chris Illitch needs to focus on bigger picture. No young talent, horrible farm, aging contracts. Need to find the right person to lead us forward. It's def not company-man al avila.
That's why they went through that half baked fire sale last offseason. If they continue down this dumpster fire of a season, there will be a fire sale to shred payroll for the next owner. Avila won't be GM next season or in 2019 because there will be a new owner by then.
Chris Illitch has alot to think about regarding both his GMs. Ken Holland has outlived his usefulness and should have been gone when Yzerman was ready to step into the GM role. Avila is lost.
Ironically I think Ausmus would be a good choice for the kind of team the Tigers will be post fire sale. He's good with young players. He just was not the right choice when the team was loaded for a pennant run 4 years ago.
Thank You!!!!!
Losing Dombrowski was huge
You went from Dombrowski and Smokey to Avila and Ausmus.
Two of these things are not quite like the other.
They also had big Mike's open wallet, not sure if that exists anymore so that probably had something to do with it.
Until he was gone. I'd love to see him light a fire
under this team. But I think he has had enough travel
and being away from his family.
To keep Ausmus. My wife thinks he's cute and he works cheap.
The team reflects his personality. Boring, unemotional, and ambivilant.
The only positive about this miserable season is knowing we don't
have to put up with his sorry ass any more.
is cute and does not take a salary.....give him a call if that's the criteria to save the day.
He likely will make many of the same moves as the current brain trust.....
But on the bottom of the list with Tigers' issues.
Contracts, aging veterans, a system designed to win in the 1990s. Ausmus sucks, but he can only do so much with what he is given.
That trio almost pitched us to the WC last year. Where Dombrowski and Avila failed is in building a bullpen. That's why we missed the playoffs last year and that's why we have a losing record now.
If old Ilitch would've paid Scherzer what he was worth, we may not be having this discussion anyway.
The Tigers have the 3rd worst winning percentage in the AL! At some point you have to blame the manager. Sure, Avila can be held responsible too, but I don't get how some people keep claiming that Ausmus isn't a problem. If he's managing the Red Sox, what is their record? Time to move in another direction.
Hopefully they can move a few pieces and speed up the rebuild process. Tiger fans are going to have to watch a few years of bad baseball before it gets better, so they might as well get a jump on it now.
Agreed. The talent Ausmus has been has been flawed, but the team has performed below its talent level during almost his entire tenure.
it's time for a serious house-cleaning and a new philosophy. Unfortunately, it will mean accepting more losses in the short run, and success never carries guarantees. Long-term mediocrity, likely, awaits us.
Which--hey--pretty much aligns the Tigers' stars with the rest of Detroit's teams!
I don't know that many people are trying to completely absolve Ausmus of any blame in this, but he is a lot lower on the list than many people want to admit. There are a ton of uneducated fans who just scream about Ausmus, while completely ignoring how flawed the roster is.
This is probably correct. Let's say there's a 1% chance firing him makes a difference. That's still a greater chance than not firing him.
But it's not about this season, is it? It's about the future of the franchise. He's not a good enough manager to win a World Series, IMO, so there's reason to keep him just because "he's not the sole problem."
The money is negligible in the grand scheme of things, and I'd love to see Omar get a shot.