Ausmus Returning as Manager in 2016

**401don** · September-26-15, 04:16 PM

Avila's first big decision and he blows it big time. Yes he's a good guy but I've never been so disappointed with the on-field decisions of a manager as with Ausmus.
There's nothing he could do with the starting pitching but the bullpen management has been terrible. Things like having only two decent relievers and when the game is on the line neither are available because they were wasted in a blowout the night before. Worst situational hitting and base running I've ever seen has been this year. The Tigers must lead the league in being thrown out on the bases both in caught-stealing and at home. The lack of hustle running to 1st base is part of the reason for leading the league in ground into double plays. I could go on but I feel ill.

**canuck** · September-26-15, 04:33 PM

Originally Posted by 401don

Avila's first big decision and he blows it big time. Yes he's a good guy but I've never been so disappointed with the on-field decisions of a manager as with Ausmus.
There's nothing he could do with the starting pitching but the bullpen management has been terrible. Things like having only two decent relievers and when the game is on the line neither are available because they were wasted in a blowout the night before. Worst situational hitting and base running I've ever seen has been this year. The Tigers must lead the league in being thrown out on the bases both in caught-stealing and at home. The lack of hustle running to 1st base is part of the reason for leading the league in ground into double plays. I could go on but I feel ill.

I hear their goalie's on the blink too.

**ABetterDetroit** · September-26-15, 05:58 PM

Shit. This is not good news. Its going to be Tigers on the cheap in the foreseeable future.

**Ray1936** · September-26-15, 07:32 PM

I'm surprised, to say the least. But I have to admit he was hamstrung this year by a lousy pitching staff and real lack of TIMELY hitting. Well, win or lose, don'tcha love going out to the ballpark on a summer evening?

**jmarie** · September-26-15, 07:40 PM

I've been neutral while all the rumors have swirled. The majority of the reason we are in last place is due to our pitching staff. We'd be there [[or close enough to the bottom) with any manager.

**KJ5** · September-27-15, 12:38 AM

Well, at least his wife won't get beat tonight.

**erikd** · September-27-15, 12:48 AM

Originally Posted by jmarie

I've been neutral while all the rumors have swirled. The majority of the reason we are in last place is due to our pitching staff. We'd be there [[or close enough to the bottom) with any manager.

I feel the same way. I'm not in love with Ausmus, but I'm also not buying the idea that the team was lousy because of his managing. Going into the season, it was clear that the Tigers had no chance of going winning anything with this terrible bullpen. People can try to criticize Ausmus for mismanaging the bullpen, but the fact is that he had nothing to work with anyways. We can look back at every blown lead and say that he should have used Alex Wilson instead of Chamberlain/Rondon/Alby/Feliz/Gorzelany/Hardy/Farmer/etc., but it's just not realistic to use Alex Wilson in every game that has a close score in the late innings.

The lack of depth in starting pitching was also a critical flaw in the construction of this team, and was a huge factor in their downfall. With Verlander and Sanchez coming off of injuries, and Simon and Greene being unproven starters, it was a huge misstep to not bring in another starter to fill out the rotation.

The Tigers never have a chance with all of the holes in the pitching staff, and the blame for that is on Dombrowski, not Ausmus.

I have always been a big fan of Dave Dombrowski, but I don't know what the hell he was thinking when he left the pitching staff with all of these glaring holes.

**Cincinnati_Kid** · September-27-15, 09:18 AM

Avila says during his presser, that the Tigers are playing hard and haven't quit. What games has he been watching? They appear to be mailing it in to me. Lackadaisical play seems to be the norm lately. I understand that the kid's need to play, to see if there is someone who might help them next season and they're going to make mistakes, and the injuries to their star players, took there toll as well but some of the veterans look disinterested at this point in the season. I don't think Ausmus is a good manager, and they are just honoring his 3 year contract to see if he and the team improves in his final year. Just my take.

**401don** · September-27-15, 10:53 AM

Originally Posted by Cincinnati_Kid

Avila says during his presser, that the Tigers are playing hard and haven't quit. What games has he been watching? They appear to be mailing it in to me. Lackadaisical play seems to be the norm lately. I understand that the kid's need to play, to see if there is someone who might help them next season and they're going to make mistakes, and the injuries to their star players, took there toll as well but some of the veterans look disinterested at this point in the season. I don't think Ausmus is a good manager, and they are just honoring his 3 year contract to see if he and the team improves in his final year. Just my take.

This is how I feel. There's just been an abundance of bad mental and physical play the past couple of months. I get the feeling Cabrera is moody and doesn't always give 100% when the team has nothing to play for and his teammates are playing poorly. If both he and Victor have been hobbled so badly that they can't run at close to their normal slow speed then why are they playing so much during these meaningless games?
On the bright side I think Norris is a solid starter and they probably have one more among the other 2 kids they got at the deadline. A bounce back healthy Sanchez will be critical. They need a lefty left-fielder and if they can't bring in a new centerfielder to hit lead-off then they better re-sign Davis to platoon with Gose.

**Smirnoff** · September-27-15, 03:01 PM

As mentioned before; this is a great "new direction" by the new GM & old owners........insane, same regime will equal the same results.

**sirrealone** · September-28-15, 07:43 AM

I wonder if there's someone else that they have their eye on that they can't get until next offseason.

**emu steve** · September-29-15, 03:10 PM

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...rnoon-20150929

Tigers need to really turn it around. Tigers lost 200K in attendance and that probably means sales of tickets the last two months of the season were puny.

That said, the Tigers [[and other teams) score big on 'dynamic pricing' which is a gold mine when tickets are in hot demand.

With demand way down [[I wouldn't be surprised to see the Tigers flirt with 2.25M next year, down from say 3M not long ago), they aren't going to be able to jack up a 50 buck ticket to 75 bucks.

**401don** · September-29-15, 03:29 PM

Originally Posted by emu steve

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...rnoon-20150929

Tigers need to really turn it around. Tigers lost 200K in attendance and that probably means sales of tickets the last two months of the season were puny.

That said, the Tigers [[and other teams) score big on 'dynamic pricing' which is a gold mine when tickets are in hot demand.

With demand way down [[I wouldn't be surprised to see the Tigers flirt with 2.25M next year, down from say 3M not long ago), they aren't going to be able to jack up a 50 buck ticket to 75 bucks.

Article states that the attendance decline of 200,000 cost the Tigers about 5.5 million in revenue. I thought the attendance in August and Sept. was tremendous considering the plight of the team. They might have mentioned the Tigers saved 11 million in salaries to Price & Cespedes after the trade so they were actually ahead by 5.5 million. I'm not advocating a salary dump. It worked because of so many pre-sales and great weather in September. Revenue will indeed decline dramatically next yr. if they don't improve the roster but let's see what they do 1st. Still a poor article by Crains.

**emu steve** · September-29-15, 03:41 PM

Originally Posted by 401don

Article states that the attendance decline of 200,000 cost the Tigers about 5.5 million in revenue. I thought the attendance in August and Sept. was tremendous considering the plight of the team. They might have mentioned the Tigers saved 11 million in salaries to Price & Cespedes after the trade so they were actually ahead by 5.5 million. I'm not advocating a salary dump. It worked because of so many pre-sales and great weather in September. Revenue will indeed decline dramatically next yr. if they don't improve the roster but let's see what they do 1st. Still a poor article by Crains.

I went to the Labor Day game and the paid attendance and the in-the-park attendance was like two completely different numbers.

I bought three tixs on Stubhub for about 25% of face value.

I think the paid was around 30K. We estimated the actually attendance say 10 - 12K.

Fans, season ticket plan holders of any variety, ate a lot of tickets at the end.

I just hope and pray that the Tigers' don't fall into decline like the Phillies, Red Sox, etc.

**jmarie** · September-29-15, 06:35 PM

Originally Posted by emu steve

I went to the Labor Day game and the paid attendance and the in-the-park attendance was like two completely different numbers.

I bought three tixs on Stubhub for about 25% of face value.

I think the paid was around 30K. We estimated the actually attendance say 10 - 12K.

Fans, season ticket plan holders of any variety, ate a lot of tickets at the end.

I just hope and pray that the Tigers' don't fall into decline like the Phillies, Red Sox, etc.

Labor Day was really hot, too, which may have hurt attendance. We only used two of our four tickets on Labor Day. I didn't even bother exchanging the unused tickets because they've been playing so poorly.

**jackie5275** · September-30-15, 01:06 PM

Originally Posted by emu steve

I just hope and pray that the Tigers' don't fall into decline like the Phillies, Red Sox, etc.

Up until a few weeks ago when the Phillies got a new GM, they were in a bad way because their old GM and their owner, too, to an extent just didn't give a care and did nothing to improve that team.

**401don** · September-30-15, 01:21 PM

Last start Ausmus pulls Norris after 65 pitches during a perfect game. Last night he leaves him in for 55 stressful pitches in the 1st inning. When asked why he says because he wanted to stretch him out for his next start, a meaningless last game of the season. I can`t believe we have to put up with another year of this idiot.