Tigers Hire Brad Ausmus To Replace Leyland

The Detroit Tigers have hired former catcher Brad Ausmus as their new manager. Ausmus will be taking over for Jim Leyland, who was in Detroit as manager from 2006-2013 and retired about 2 weeks ago. Ausmus was a catcher for both the Tigers and Houston Astros, as well as the San Diego Padres and LA Dodgers from 1993-2010. He had 2 separate stints with Detroit, one in 1996 and another from 1999-2000. Ausmus was a very smart player who was thought of to be a future manager around the league, although people probably did not expect it to be this soon. I would like to provide an example of why Ausmus can be successful, even though he has no big league managing or coaching experience.

In 1964, the New York Yankees hired legendary catcher Yogi Berra to manage. Berra had just retired in 1963, and had no big league managing or coaching experience. Few people in the New York media thought that this move would work out. But Yogi proved them wrong, leading the Bronx Bombers to erase a large deficit and win the AL Pennant. Yogi was then foolishly let go by the organization who he had made his name with. It is true that that Yankee team led by Mickey Mantle was talented, but so is this Tiger team that Ausmus is taking over. Miguel Cabrera, Max Scherzer, Austin Jackson, Justin Verlander etc. should make the transition to big league manager a lot easier for Ausmus then, say, a guy like Mike Redman in Miami.

I am excited to see what Ausmus brings to the table, and Detroit fans who have grown tired of Leyland's old school style should be energized by Ausmus's youth.

That's it for this article. Thank you for reading.