Tigers' Brad Ausmus mum on job status, thinks fate already decided

Brad Ausmus once again had the chance to say he wants to manage the Detroit Tigers next season. He again declined.

He said he doesn’t think anything that happens the remainder of the season will have a bearing on his future with the organization, and he thinks his fate already has been decided.

“I would imagine,” Ausmus said Wednesday, when asked if he thought the decision has been made. “Al’s known me for four years.”

Tigers general manager Al Avila, asked earlier this month if Ausmus could return, said: “There’s a lot of different possibilities. I can’t say that’s out of the question.”

Ausmus entered Wednesday's game against the Oakland Athletics with a 312-323 (.491) record as Tigers manager.

It was Ausmus who jokingly brought up the topic of his future Wednesday morning. He was talking about where Nick Castellanos would hit in the batting order next season, along with Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez.

Ausmus had been praising Castellanos, who entered Wednesday on a 16-game hitting streak. Although Castellanos has switched from third base to rightfield this month, Ausmus said he thinks Castellanos still should win the Silver Slugger Award for third base this season in the American League. The award is given to the best offensive player at each position.

Castellanos is batting .429 (27-for-63) with a 1.249 OPS with nine doubles, five home runs and 18 RBIs during the hitting streak. He's hitting .271 with 34 doubles, 24 home runs, 10 triples and 94 RBI in 146 games.

“He can handle it,” Ausmus said of Castellanos hitting in the middle of the order. “I’m not worried about him handling it anymore. He can absolutely handle it.

“Next year you’ll have Miggy, and Victor has another year. The manager will have to figure out where they all hit.”

The manager. But who will that be? Only Avila knows for sure whether he wants it to be Ausmus or someone else.

Asked if he wanted a decision sooner or later, Ausmus shut down the conversation.

Asked if he wanted to be back, Ausmus didn’t give a yes or no answer.

“I’ve been asked that before,” Ausmus said. “I’m not getting into it.”

Maybe he just doesn't want to be part of a rebuilding club. Why else would he refuse to say he wants to be back? Except that he previously has seemed open to managing a young team on the rebuild.

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Earlier this month he said: “I think there’s a lot of upside to young players. Experience is great but there’s a lot of upside to young players because of the enthusiasm and energy and the will to learn. But I won’t talk about my situation.”

I asked James McCann today if he had a sense that the decision already had been made and he said he had no idea.

“Played for one manager in my career,” McCann said. “That’s all I know. I don’t know how all that stuff works. That’s not my decision or my role.”

But McCann did say he’s learned a lot from Ausmus, who was a big-league catcher for 18 seasons.

“That’s not my place to make that decision for the future of this organization,” McCann said. “I’ve got nothing but respect for Brad and have learned a lot from him.”

On whether Ausmus would be a good fit managing younger players, McCann said he thought Ausmus had several experiences to share.

“Honestly, he hasn’t had a young group of guys until this season,” McCann said. “It’s been a veteran-heavy team. He’s got a lot of experience. He’s been a young player. He knows the learning curve. He knows how that transpires over time.”

Ausmus was asked if an argument can be made that it makes more sense for him to be managing a young team than him managing the team he first took over, without having managerial experience.

“I think you can make that argument,” Ausmus said. “That’s it. I’m not getting sucked in anymore. We’re done. I’m not talking about it.”