Detroit Tigers to Hire Brad Ausmus as New Manager

Jan 26, 2012; Detroit, MI, USA; Detroit Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski talks at a press conference in the Tiger Club at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

We’ll have to wait for the Detroit Tigers to make an official announcement, but for now the ‘sources’ are chiming in that Brad Ausmus will be hired to replace Jim Leyland as the team’s skipper.

Ausmus, who played for the Tigers in 1996, 1999, and 2000, has very little managing experience, but he was interviewed for several of the open positions across baseball this offseason.

We’ll have to see who he hires for his coaching staff, but a guy like Ausmus, who doesn’t have much history with a coaching contingent, may be inclined to keep several of the members of Leyland’s staff. Reports already exist stating the Gene Lamont will return as bench coach. That’s all well and good, but most fans are probably most interested in finding out if pitching coach Jeff Jones will be back.

The Tigers are following the example of the St. Louis Cardinals who hired Mike Matheny, a former big league catcher, to be their manager without any managing experience above little league. They didn’t really skip a beat. Ausmus will have some learning and growing to do, but the Tigers are a team of veterans that know what it takes to get to October and win games in the Postseason.