Detroit's new baseball manager, wearing a No. 7 jersey, voices gratitude for "a very exciting opportunity.
Brad Ausmus signed a three-year contract with a fourth-season option, The Detroit News and other media report from a press conference at Comerica Park late Sunday afternoon. .
This is the first big-league managerial gig for Ausmus, 44, who has spent the last few seasons as a special adviser in the San Diego Padres front office. . . .
“I am well-aware you don’t generally get dropped into a situation like I will this coming season,” Ausmus says.. . .
“After thorough research, information-gathering, and interviews by some people that helped me,” said Tigers president and general manager Dave Dombrowski, “and many conversations in baseball, we feel that we’ve made a tremendous selection to guide us.” . . .
Owner Mike Ilitch did not attend the press conference.
The new manager's name is pronounced AZZ-miss.
Sunday, 8 a.m.:
"All signs pointed this morning that Brad Ausmus would become the Tigers’ next skipper," according to Free Press sportswriter George Sipple and others.
During his 1993-2010 career as a catcher, the Ivy Leaguer played for the Tigers in 1999-2000 and was an American League All-Star in 1999.
Ausmus, 44, has become the hottest managerial candidate around. He has interviewed for at least three jobs this off-season, including the Tigers’ opening to succeed Jim Leyland. . . .
Ausmus interviewed with Dombrowski on Monday. “It was a really good baseball discuss,” Ausmus wrote in a text message. “I enjoyed talking to Dave and his staff, and I thought it went well.” . . .
He has been a special assistant with the San Diego Padres since 2010. He spent 18 seasons in the big leagues, including two stints with the Tigers, who twice traded for him and twice traded him away.
The unconfirmed hiring buzz began Saturday with a report by Adam Spolane of Houston's SportsRadio 610. Jon Heyman of CBS Sports and Ken Rosenthal of foxsports.com later said their sources agree that Ausmus is the choice of Tigers president and general manager Dave Dombrowski.
tigers are hiring brad ausmus as manager, confirmed. 1st reported @AdamSpolane
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) November 3, 2013
In Sipple's analysis, "Ausmus’ candidacy is exceptionally interesting for three reasons:"
- His lack of managerial experience
- His lack of any previous working relationship with Dombrowski
- The Tigers’ all-in desire to win the World Series next year, which will afford the new manager little if any time to learn on the job.
Actually, the ex-catcher does have a brief bit of managing experience -- as skipper of Israel's 2013 team in the World Baseball Classic. He was inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.
In his Detroit News column, Lynn Henning suggests the religious status "will stoke a sense of kinship between Ausmus and the Tigers’ deep Jewish audience.
In that context, there has been something of a void in the Tigers’ profile dating to the end of Hank Greenberg’s hallowed years in Detroit.
Henning welcomes the apparent choice as "a fairly remarkable choice," as well as "a calculated risk."
Ausmus is serious and compelling and clearly sold Dombrowski
At CBS Sports, blogger Danny Knobler posts:
Everyone who knows Brad Ausmus believes he'll be an outstanding manager. . . .
Hiring Ausmus, who has never managed professionally, . . . is a big gamble for a Tigers team that has been and will continue to be in win-now mode. . . .
The Tigers are taking a gamble, there's no doubt about that. But if you're going to gamble, why not gamble on someone who has a chance to be great?
Leyland, 68, publicly announced his retirement from managing Oct. 21, two days after the Tigers were eliminated in six games by the Boston Red Sox in the American League Championship Series.
Ausmus, a 44-year-old Dartmouth University graduate, had 1,579 hits and a .251 batting average during 18 seasons, according to Major Leaguer Baseball. Year-by-year stats are here.
