Detroit Tigers News: Brad Ausmus moves to Los Angeles

Brad Ausmus will not be managing next season, but he will still be working in the major leagues. Yesterday, the Los Angeles Angels hired Brad Ausmus as a special assistant to the GM.

It’s a smart move for all parties involved. Tigers fans often griped about specific managerial decisions made by Brad Ausmus, but he is undoubtedly one of the bright minds in baseball. It’s a smart decision by the Angels to bring Ausmus in as a consultant, and Ausmus gets to take that year off from the skipper position, and gain experience on the inner workings of the front office.

The move provides Ausmus both flexibility and learning potential as he waits to find the managerial job that suits him. We wish him all the best.

2018 scheduling notes

The Tigers released their spring training schedule, and while it’s merely procedural event, it does present a couple interesting games. At least as interesting as spring training games can be...

That would be all of the match ups against the Yankees, considering what happened the last time they played. Obviously, there’s a very good chance that not a single player involved in the previous dust up will be playing, but the teams clearly don’t like each other.

In other scheduling news, the Tigers are releasing a five-game ticket package that celebrates the 1968 championship team. Buying the package gets you five Saturday games, but more importantly, four bobble-heads and a replica jersey. With how bad the Tigers are going to be next year, there’s going to be a need for some giveaways to draw fans. It seems the team is aware.

Damon on deck

After drawing the collective ire of all Tigers fans for their omission of Lou Whitaker from their Modern Era list, the BBWAA released their list of 2018 nominations where former Tiger Johnny Damon makes his first appearance. Did I accidentally spell his name Jhonny, the first time I wrote that sentence? You bet I did. Other notable additions to the list are Chipper Jones, Jim Thome, and Tigers’ former first base coach Omar Vizquel. But, with the seemingly random decisions made by the BBWAA, not to mention the ongoing omission of steroid users, the hall of fame process feels completely useless at this point.

Ian Kinsler, still in demand

Ian Kinsler continues to be mentioned in trade discussions, and will be all the way up until he is actually sent to another city. The latest team to reach out is the New York Mets, but numerous other teams are involved, and some even envision Kinsler playing somewhere other than second base (beware of Athletic’s newspaper pillaging paywall.)

Around the horn

There are a lot of ways to rebuild a team, but they are all painful. 2018 free agent bargains that are all still too expensive for the Tigers. Who will be the next first time MVP (other than Mikie Mahtook.) The Braves are taking it on the chin for circumventing the international amateur market. Giants are favorites to land Giancarlo Stanton, Cardinals are still in play.

Justin Verlander is awesome