Al Avila Wraps Up Tigers Season: Ausmus Can 'Get Through Almost Anything'
By Ashley Scoby
@AshleyScoby
The MLB playoffs are in full swing, with wild card matchups kicking off on Tuesday. But instead of watching his team, Tigers general manager Al Avila spent time this week having lunch with reporters to wrap up a disappointing 2015 season. It was a far fall for the Tigers, who started the season expecting to compete for a playoff spot. Instead, they ended their season at 74-87 on Sunday, good for last in the AL Central.
The biggest storyline throughout the latter half of the season was whether or not manager Brad Ausmus would be fired. The Tigers came into the season with a lot of talent, but skidded early, then traded away David Price, Yoenis Cespedes and Joakim Soria at the trade deadline. After that, the season more or less fell apart, and reports surfaced that Ausmus would be fired at the end of the season.
Avila released a statement last month expressing his confidence in Ausmus, and announcing he would stay on as manager for the 2016 season.
"I always said your true self comes out when things don't go well," Avila said. "When things go really bad, that's when you find out who your friends are. That's when you find out what that inner self is, what you're made of. And he showed me that he (Ausmus) was a tough guy and he can get through almost anything. So I'm assuming in the good times he's gonna be even better."
Avila is confident that those good times could be on their way. He hopes to acquire two starting pitchers during the offseason to add to the rotation that includes ace Justin Verlander. One of those guys he expects to be a "top three" pitcher in the rotation, and the second would be considered a little lower than that.
Verlander had an excellent second half of the season, and his general manager believes that performance was the biggest positive during an otherwise rough season.
"I think the biggest positive we've got is that Justin Verlander showed us here at the latter part of the season that he's back to normal," Avila said. "He's a top-of-the-rotation type starter that can lead this team back to playoff contention, and that's a great start because otherwise it would have been very difficult."
