Terry Foster: Don't Be Surprised Players Are Defending Brad Ausmus
By Terry Foster
@TerryFoster971
Do not buy into Tiger players coming out of the closet to defend Manager Brad Ausmus.
Players always defend their managers and coaches in public during a fire storm. When was the last time you read a quote from a player that said their coach was doing a poor job and should be fired? That just doesn't happen. Now you might get an off the record off to the side comment. But you are going to get thoughts more like the one James McCann gave to Chris McCoskey of the Detroit News.
"The manager's not the one who plays," he said. "It's the players. The manager is not throwing balls over the plate. He's not the one fielding. He's not the one hitting it. There is only so much blame you can throw that way. I wouldn't put any blame on the coaching staff or Brad as the manager. Put it back on the players."
Former manager Jim Leyland said Ausmus is doing a great job. Come on. Use your brain. You know that is not the case. Ausmus still makes rookie mistakes that cost the ball club. He does not show signs of being great in the future.
The Tigers limped home with a fortunate 6-5 victory over the Baltimore Orioles. The key plays were a Justin Upton popup double where the outfielder lost the ball in the sun and a check swing strike out that was not called against J.D. Martinez. After the umpire blunder Martinez and Miguel Cabrera hit home runs which proved to be the winning hits.
Players are right. Ausmus is not hitting the ball or fielding it. But does he earn confidence and trust in the clubhouse? My guess is no.
Here is how athletics works. If the manager or coach has his team in first place he is praised by players and is being pushed for coach of the year. If the team is hovering in last place then players take the blame.
Let's take a look at Golden State coach Steve Kerr. Is he a great coach or does he have a great team in front of him? They even turned to Luke Walton who won with this team and got a head coaching job with the Los Angeles Lakers. I do not know if Walton is a great coach or benefited by having a great team.
The Tigers appear to be a team still trying to win a World Series. If that is the case why not hire a manager with experience who knows how to handle players and tough situations? Instead they went with an unproven commodity and he has been trying to find himself.
"We are not out there questioning his decisions," J.D. Martinez told The News. "I think it's more on us than anyone else. We're the ones out there playing. We're the ones not hitting. We're the ones not scoring runs or not getting guys out."
What did you expect him to say?
