Jon Heyman of FanRag reports that the New York Mets have reached out to former Tigers manager Brad Ausmus regarding their managerial opening. Heyamn says that Ausmus is “on the radar” of the Mets and that the two sides have had one conversation thus far.
On the one hand I can see Ausmus fitting in with the Mets as, reportedly, Sandy Alderson’s beef with Terry Collins was that he managed by his gut and didn’t carry out the front office vision the way Alderson would’ve liked. Ausmus, despite his poor showing in Detroit in the past couple of years, is more of an intellectual type and always seemed like a good company man in Detroit. His m.o. back when he was a backup catcher toward the end of his career was to be hyper-prepared, compiling reports on opposing hitters and helping his teammates prepare, almost like an assistant coach. That sort of left-brained approach likewise translates better to what Alderson expects from a manager.
At the same time, Ausmus was given a veteran, recently-contending team with the Tigers and often seemed smaller than the task at hand. When times were tough he seemed like a deer in the headlights, and that was under the relatively minor pressure of the Detroit media. How will he handle a team that, while it struggled in 2017, is still laden with veterans and expectations, all cast against the New York media?
I dunno. I think Ausmus probably deserves another shot at some point. One where he’s grown up with the team rather than one in which he’s coming in following the departure of an old guy and is expected to continue a pattern of recent success, however interrupted it has been. Stranger things have happened, I suppose, but the Mets’ situation does not seem well-suited for him, or him for it.