Why The Tigers Shouldn't Give Up On Ausmus // Reason #238
Okay, so there is some sarcasm in the post title. I've posted about Ausmus before, so you know that I think he is doing the best anyone could do in his situation. Yes, he makes mistakes. But so does anyone else.
I read a really great article that made this interesting point: we've been through this before with Bruce Rondon.
Tigers Nation got pretty fed up with Bruce Rondon. They all would have been happy if we had traded him away. But a sports writer put it this way, "Imagine another team had a young fireball pitcher who can throw the fastball over 100 mph. But he was wild and inconsistent so the team let him go. The Tigers pick him up (or trade for him). Tigers fans would be majorly excited." The point is, be patient. Don't give away a player any other team would basically salivate to have on their team.
The same principle was applied to Ausmus in the article I read. Ausmus has managed for three years. He managed a veteran team to the playoffs in 2013, did the best he could with a team beset with injuries last year, and dealt with some pretty major injuries this year, yet we are doing much better than last season.
If the Tigers don't re-sign Ausmus, we are giving up on a manager who has been through the fire and back. We would essentially be saying to the baseball world, "Here is a manager we've trained and seasoned. Who wants him?"
I'm not saying he doesn't still have things to learn. But we've sat through his first three seasons of his managerial career, and haven't done half bad. You look at the way Ausmus and his staff have handled the three kids in our rotation, and I think you can see that he's learned things.
No one is asking me, but I would stick it out with Ausmus. I'm not saying offer him a five-year contract or anything. Probably the most sensible thing to do is go year to year. Maybe a two-year deal. The flip side of the coin is, who is out there to replace him? As far as I know - and again, I'm not in the know - there aren't any seasoned managers looking for a job. Would we really be able to get anyone better? It'd be a shame if we let a manager with three years experience go, and ended up with another rookie manager.
We'll see what the Tigers do. The season is over (I am not ready to talk about that yet), so Al Avila should be making a decision soon. Or at least making his decision public. He and his staff are smart and want what's best for the team. I trust that whatever decision is made is what they feel will be the best direction for this team going forward.
I read a really great article that made this interesting point: we've been through this before with Bruce Rondon.
Tigers Nation got pretty fed up with Bruce Rondon. They all would have been happy if we had traded him away. But a sports writer put it this way, "Imagine another team had a young fireball pitcher who can throw the fastball over 100 mph. But he was wild and inconsistent so the team let him go. The Tigers pick him up (or trade for him). Tigers fans would be majorly excited." The point is, be patient. Don't give away a player any other team would basically salivate to have on their team.
The same principle was applied to Ausmus in the article I read. Ausmus has managed for three years. He managed a veteran team to the playoffs in 2013, did the best he could with a team beset with injuries last year, and dealt with some pretty major injuries this year, yet we are doing much better than last season.
If the Tigers don't re-sign Ausmus, we are giving up on a manager who has been through the fire and back. We would essentially be saying to the baseball world, "Here is a manager we've trained and seasoned. Who wants him?"
I'm not saying he doesn't still have things to learn. But we've sat through his first three seasons of his managerial career, and haven't done half bad. You look at the way Ausmus and his staff have handled the three kids in our rotation, and I think you can see that he's learned things.
No one is asking me, but I would stick it out with Ausmus. I'm not saying offer him a five-year contract or anything. Probably the most sensible thing to do is go year to year. Maybe a two-year deal. The flip side of the coin is, who is out there to replace him? As far as I know - and again, I'm not in the know - there aren't any seasoned managers looking for a job. Would we really be able to get anyone better? It'd be a shame if we let a manager with three years experience go, and ended up with another rookie manager.
We'll see what the Tigers do. The season is over (I am not ready to talk about that yet), so Al Avila should be making a decision soon. Or at least making his decision public. He and his staff are smart and want what's best for the team. I trust that whatever decision is made is what they feel will be the best direction for this team going forward.
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