Over the past few seasons there have been many firings of long time managers and hiring of new generation of coaches. Ron Gardenhire has been replaced by Paul Molitor, Joe Maddon has moved on as Kevin Cash made his debut as Rays manager, Dusty Baker has been out of the game for a couple years, and so on. However, not every new captain of the ship works out. After two seasons of replacing Jim Leyland, Brad Ausmus is elected to remain the manager for the 2016 season, despite the Tigers going under .500 for the first time in 6 years. Despite managing the Red Sox to a championship in his first season with them in 2013, 2014 and 2015 were horrific seasons, but John Farrell will stay on for the next campaign.
Brad Ausmus had only a brief managing stint before being hired as the Tiger’s manager in November 2013. Brad is one of the youngest managers in history at 46-years-old, and has been called a “brilliant mind” by Joe Torre when he was a member of the Dodgers in 2009. Despite helping the Tigers to an AL Central title in 2014 with a very talented team, his inexperience started to show in the first round as they were swept by Buck Showalter and the O’s. In the first couple months of the 2015 season, the Tigers looked promising after not changing their roster much during the offseason, but again Brad Ausmus as a young manager was not able to lift the Tigers over obstacles, as they failed to finish the season at .500 or better. With David Price and Yoenis Cespedes already with other teams, the bullpen a disaster, and stars getting old, Brad Ausmus is not the right fit for the Tigers. The GM is already gone, so why not get rid of Brad Ausmus. In order for the Tigers to get back to the top, the pitching needs to get better, and an inexperienced manager will not improve the pitching staff.
John Farrell has been known for his work with young prospects, as he helped develop the Indians farm system in the early 2000’s to be one of the best. So, when he was named the manager of the Red Sox in late 2012, he was the right fit, as the sox had a young team under the influence of money ball after trading away veteran stars like Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford. However, 2014 and 2015 Boston saw the team fall to last place in the division. The decision to bring Farrell back for 2016, reveals that the Sox are still living in the past. It’s not 2013 anymore, in order for the Sox to return to glory, they have to get the facts straight and see that they have been in last place the last 2 seasons, so someone needs to get fired.
Brad Asmus and John Farrell started out well as managers of their teams, but after miserable 2015 campaigns, they don’t seem to be working out anymore. The Red Sox and Tigers need some big changes to return to the top, so new managers might need to be put into the plan after the 2016 season. The Red Sox and Tigers GM’s have not done what is needed in the offseason in order to win a championship, so hopefully acquisitions made during the upcoming offseason can help these managers lead their team to the 2016 playoffs. Next season will be the last chance for Asmus and Farrell.
