UPDATE: General manager Al Avila issued a statement regarding the report suggesting Ausmus will be dismissed after the season:
"I spoke to Mr. Ilitch today and to Brad and I can reconfirm that our evaluation is ongoing and decision has not been made."
-----
UPDATE: The Tigers may already have Ausmus' successor in mind.
Ron Gardenhire, who has been out of baseball for the past year after being let go by the #Twins, is the heavy favorite to replace Ausmus.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) September 11, 2015
Source: Nothing has changed. Ron Gardenhire will replace Brad Ausmus in Detroit.
— Justin Spiro (@DarkoStateNews) September 11, 2015
-----
Last week rumors suggested Detroit Tigers' manager Brad Ausmus was in danger of losing his job after the team slipped into last place in the AL Central. Well, they've since fallen further behind and sit 19.5 games behind the first-place Royals and three games behind the fourth-place Chicago White Sox.
And that's bad news for Ausmus.
"A source within the Detroit Tigers' front office who has been in contact with Local 4's Bernie Smilovitz over the past two weeks says that Brad Ausmus will be out as Tigers manager at the end of the 2015 season," Detroit's Channel 4 (WDIV-TV) reported last night.
"The source said new General Manager Al Avila wants to bring in his own manager for a fresh start. Owner Mike Ilitch reportedly wants to bring a championship to Detroit, but doesn't feel Ausmus is the guy to do it. Ilitch is reportedly unhappy about miscommunication with the players and strategic mistakes on the field."
That report was confirmed this morning.
"Owner Mike Ilitch intends to fire Ausmus after this season ends, according to a person with knowledge of the front office's plans," George Sipple of the Detroit Free Press reported this morning. "The person asked not to be identified late Thursday because he was not authorized to discuss the situation publicly. The person said that former Tigers president and general manager Dave Dombrowski 'fought off ownership so that it didn't happen much earlier.'"
Ausmus' contract runs through 2016, but it appears as if he'll be dismissed before he can fulfill that pact. The former 18-year MLB veteran finished 90-72 in his rookie season as manager last year and led the Tigers to a fourth consecutive AL Central title. However, the club was swept in the ALDS at the hands of the Baltimore Orioles.
Then came 2015.
Detroit endured a lot of injuries while their starting rotation and bullpen continue to rank among the worst in the league. The team then fired Dombrowski in early August and named assistant GM Al Avila to the position. When Avila spoke to the media during his introductory press conference, he didn't exactly give Ausmus a vote of confidence beyond 2015.
"Brad Ausmus is our manager for the rest of the season for sure," he said. "I have all the confidence in him. I think he's done a good job ...
"Just like everything else from here on out, everything will be evaluated. Our staff will be evaluated, our major league club will be evaluated, and we'll make decisions moving forward after that."
There has been a fairly decent turnover of managers in the MLB this season, so it's likely Ausmus has no trouble finding another gig before 2016.
