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Detroit Tigers Rumors: Could Brad Ausmus be on his way out?

By Matt Pelc |

In the “well duh” news of the day, CBS Sports is reporting that Brad Ausmus‘ job as Detroit Tigers manager is in serious jeopardy.

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Jon Heyman writes that fans are blaming him for the current state of affairs for the last place club and “people familiar with the Tigers’ situation wonder if ‘players stopped playing for him.'”

That’s a damning revelation if true, that players would just stop trying to win because of a manager. It is as much of an indictment on the players as it is the manager. With that said, anyone who has watched this team this year cannot be surprised, especially with the horrendous showing over the last six weeks or so.

Then there is this, which would lead credence to the sudden sour relationship, and suprising dismissal of Dave Dombrowski last month.

Ausmus’ chances to survive may have taken a hit when longtime Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski, who hired him, was released from his contract. (That also was an indication of just how unhappy the team-owning Ilitches are). The hiring of Ausmus, who had no managerial experience to speak of (he managed Team Israel in the World Baseball Classic) was made by Dombrowski. Some say the Ilitches were skeptical about replacing the iconic Jim Leyland with a relative neophyte, even a neophyte with a Dartmouth degree and 18-year major-league catching career.Al Avila, the new GM, also supported Dombrowski’s call to tab Ausmus, but the voices against have grown stronger as the Tigers have slid. Upon taking the GM job, Avila said only that Ausmus would be kept through the season, telling folks he would be spending the remainder of the year “evaluating.” – Heyman, CBS Sports

We have often remarked that in recent weeks on our podcast, Ausmus remains somewhat aloof from his players. He didn’t get involved in the James McCann–Jose Iglesias dugout disagreement and said he didn’t know what was happening at first.

Fans have really been fired up because of his delay in getting out to protect his star player, Miguel Cabrera, from being thrown out of a game earlier this week after an argument with an umpire. That is something you see managers do all the time, but apparently not from Brad.

Listening to his media sessions these days is akin to telling my kids they have to do their homework, giving terse responses and non-answers to reporter’s questions. This could be a sign that Ausmus may have mentally checked out of the season and knows he’s merely a lame duck at this point.

Had the Tigers underachieved this horribly and the three players that they traded were still around, I would have to believe Ausmus would have been gone by now. But after the trading deadline deals, the firing of Dombrowski, the on and off field issues, they probably didn’t want to completely capsize the rocky boat in-season.

The Tigers’ season will end on Sunday, October 4. You can safely place your money that Brad Ausmus will be fired on Black Monday, October 5.

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