There was a lot of frustration and finger pointing during the playoffs against Baltimore, and some fans railed against rookie manager Brad Ausmus.
Some fans were particularly angered that he didn't keep Anibal Sanchez in for one more inning the other day.
That being said, should Ausmus be axed along with some of the folks in the bullpen?
Detroit News columnist and baseball writer Lynn Henning says no. He writes:
Ausmus had a bumpy rookie season made far rougher because of relief pitchers who too often left the skipper accountable for a bullpen's bad work.
It wasn't fair, even if Ausmus at times was too devoted to roles, as he was in the ALDS, when the erratic Joba Chamberlain pitched in two games and Al Alburquerque failed to make a single playoff appearance.
The skipper learned that managing a pitching staff is far different from catching for a big-league staff, which had been his 18-season experience before the Tigers hired him in November of last year.
Ausmus, though, is expected to be safe, and he should be retained, all because players determined the Tigers' division championship as well as its three-game nosedive against the Orioles.
There was no shortage of criticism for Ausmus on Facebook the pas few days.
Tigers fa Sheldon Rosenberg posted this on Facebook:
Ausmus is totally inept as a manager. The game is way over his head. Pinch hitting Hernan Perez (who had 5 at bats all year) in the bottom of the ninth, with the tying run on base? Brad, that was just plain stupid!
Henning writes that it appears all but certain star pitcher Max Scherzer will not return.
He writes:
Scherzer is likely headed out of town. The Tigers won't necessarily spend the $144 million they offered Scherzer on a free-agent pitcher in the realm of James Shields or Jon Lester.
They likely will shop for a lower-cost option, perhaps on the level of the deal they made three years ago for Brad Penny. They will hope at least one of their young starters — Robbie Ray, Kyle Lobstein, Buck Farmer, Drew VerHagen, Jonathon Crawford, Kevin Ziomek — contends for a job in spring camp.
