Mean spring
First-year manager Brad Ausmus put to test as Tigers hit bumpy road early
LAKELAND, FLA. Just four months ago, Brad Ausmus was one of the luckiest guys in baseball, hired to manage the Detroit Tigers, perennial World Series contenders who are loaded again.
These days, a week before their season opener, those congratulatory text messages have turned into condolences.
Sunday, it was the announcement that contract talks are over with Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer and the Tigers, meaning he will be a free agent in November, spending perhaps his final summer in Detroit.
Friday, it was the news that setup man Bruce Rondon is out for the season, headed for Tommy John surgery on his pitching elbow.
And Thursday, it was Tigers President Dave Dombrowski announcing shortstop Jose Iglesias is likely out for the year with stress fractures in each leg.
So how was your extended weekend?
If that’s not enough punishment for a rookie manager, the Tigers traded slugger Prince Fielder and veteran starter Doug Fister before Ausmus had a chance to put on his uniform.
No wonder Ausmus joked the other day that he might have to resort to one of the favorite vices of his predecessor, Jim Leyland, to help change the karma.
“I just went out,” Ausmus said, “and bought my first pack of Marlboros.”
If he really wanted to go Full Leyland, Ausmus could abandon his plan to hold postgame briefings in a press room and instead sit behind his desk half-dressed, smoke in one hand, a fork in the other. Don’t count on it. “I’m not trying to be Jim Leyland by any stretch of the imagination,” Ausmus told USA TODAY Sports. “I’m not saying there aren’t some similarities between the two of us, but I’m not trying to imitate Jim Leyland in any way.”
Ausmus, who has never smoked, no longer even plays golf. Doesn’t play cards. His form of relaxation is surfing near his home in Del Mar, Calif.
Unfortunately, the surfboard is in the garage until next winter, unless he can slip away when the Tigers visit the San Diego Padres on April 11-13.
“Jim Leyland predicted that I’d look like Gomer Pyle by the end of the season,” said Ausmus, 44, whose hiring immediately drew a bevy of tweets from Tigers fans swooning over his sex appeal. “I’ll try to keep working out, but I know there will be plenty of nights I’ll just plop down on the couch and open up a cold beer.”
Ausmus, who spent 18 years as a big-league catcher after being drafted in the 48th round, sits back and laughs. If he’s anxious about the season, he refuses to show it. Not to the players. Not to the media. Not even to his friends.
“He’s such an even-keel guy, you would never know they had anything go wrong this spring,” said Baltimore Orioles scout Dave Engle, one of Ausmus’ closest friends. “He’s been thrown a few curveballs, but this hasn’t affected him at all. He’s so stoic.
“You can tell a lot by a manager when things go wrong. By the way he’s handled this, with all the qualities he has, I really believe he’ll be managing the next 20 years.”
No one has ever questioned Ausmus’ intelligence. He is a graduate of Dartmouth, where he majored in government, and never received a grade lower than a B. His favorite book is A Schopenhauerian Critique of Nietzsche’s Thought, written by his father, Harry, a retired European history teacher at Southern Connecticut State University.
“When I was calling around to learn about him,” Dombrowski said, “Moises Alou and Todd Jones told me, ‘Everybody knew he was the smartest man in the room, but he got along with everybody.’
“Sometimes when you get guys who are extremely intelligent, the ability to relate to everyone is not always there. He’s not like that at all.
Want to know how smart he is? Listen to Los Angeles Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis, who was mentored by Ausmus during the 2010 season, his last in the big leagues.
“I caught in the big leagues before I met Brad,” Ellis said, “but I didn’t consider myself a major league catcher until after we met. It’s the best thing that happened in my career, learning from Brad how to prepare, how to work, go- ing over scouting reports, everything.
“He even had me stay with him at his condo in Manhattan Beach instead of a hotel. I didn’t have to do anything but drive and get the dry cleaning. But two months into my stay there, it came to me why he liked me. He wanted to exploit me to use the HOV lane so he wouldn’t get stuck in L.A. traffic. And he always loved to have a nice vodka on the ride home, so I always had to drive.
“Really, I can’t say enough what he did for my career, so I’m going to take the opposite (Ian) Kinsler approach. I hope the Tigers go 158-4 and the only games they lose are the four against us in interleague play.”
Randy Smith, the San Diego Padres vice president of player development, acquired and traded Ausmus five times, and he was one of his bosses the last three years when Ausmus was a Padres special assistant.
He knew this day would eventually come, only if Ausmus wanted it.
“I’ve known since 2000 that he would be a big-league manager,” Smith said, “but I also knew he didn’t have to manage to complete his life. If he managed, great. If not, he’d be surfing and hanging out with his wife and kids.
“What’s going to make Brad a great manager is that he’s very comfortable living with his deci- sions. Some guys make a decision and agonize over it. He’s going to make a decision and it will be definitive. The players will look at him and see there’s not a doubt.”
Ausmus already has the respect of the Tigers. He runs a tough camp, the players say, while also keeping a loose vibe. He has forced rookies and newcomers to introduce themselves all spring during their morning meetings, talking about their backgrounds and answering questions.
Some are even sent on assignment, such as the trio of rookies who were ordered to go to the circus, returning with a full report and even a video to go along with it.
“He’s definitely a player’s manager,” veteran outfielder Torii Hunter said.
The billows of cigarette smoke hovering in the manager’s office are gone, along with that old school feel. There’s rarely a profanity uttered during interview sessions, and Ausmus is always fully dressed,”his desk in order.
“I try to keep it professional,” Ausmus said. “Would you rather have me do the interviews in my underwear?”
The man does have a sense of humor, which sure is coming in handy this spring.