Tigers GM Avila assures Ausmus he’ll manage rest of season

CLEVELAND The first thing Detroit Tigers general manager Al Avila did Friday morning was call Brad Ausmus.

“And let him know that I’ll find out what was going on,” he said Friday afternoon, hours after the Free Press learned that Ausmus will not return for his third season as manager, according to a person with knowledge of the front office’s plans.

The next call, Avila said, was to team owner Mike Ilitch, who confirmed that the news didn’t come from him and reconfirmed that nothing has changed with Ausmus’ status.

Sometime after those conversations, Avila released a statement through the Tigers, saying, “I have stated several times since becoming executive vice president of baseball operations and general manager that we are evaluating all personnel, and know that includes the players, the manager and his staff, and minor league operations. In fact, I re-confirmed with Mr. Ilitch and manager Brad Ausmus this morning that these evaluations are on-going and decisions in any of these areas will be made by the end of the season.”

Asked whether he had complete certainty that Ausmus will manage the team through its final scheduled game of the season, Oct. 4 against the Chicago White Sox, Avila said, “Yes.”

The Tigers are in last place in the American League Central Division with a 64-76 record, after a 7-5 loss to the Cleveland Indians on Thursday.

Avila said no contract-extension talks have taken place between the Tigers and Ausmus. He has one year remaining on his three-year contract, signed before the 2014 season, and the team holds a one-year club option on the deal.

As for the plan to fire Ausmus, the person with knowledge of it told the Free Press late Thursday that “Dave Dombrowski fought off ownership so that it didn’t happen much earlier.” The person asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to discuss the situation publicly. Also late Thursday, Detroit’s WDIV-TV started reporting that Ausmus would be out after the season, which ends Oct. 4 in Chicago against the White Sox. Channel 4 sports anchor Bernie Smilovitz cited a source in the front office who he said he had been in contact with for the past two weeks. The person was not further identified.

Dombrowski was released from his contract as president and general manager Aug. 4. Avila, who had served as the assistant general manager since 2002, was promoted.

Ausmus is 154-148 nearly two full seasons as the Tigers manager. In 2014, the team went 90-72, winning its fourth consecutive AL Central title before being swept out of the playoffs by the Baltimore Orioles in the AL Division Series. This season, they have fallen from first to worst in the division and are on the outside looking in at the postseason.

Avila termed the reports of Ausmus’ impending departure an “awkward situation.” The only way to tackle it is to deal with it and move on.

“It’s not so much a difficult situation,” Avila said, “it’s more of an awkward situation because it caught everybody off-guard when, all of a sudden, you see this report. So once I found out, the first thing I had to do this morning was call Brad.”

And in that conversation, Avila told him that he was still under evaluation and remained the manager of his team.

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