With just days remaining in the Detroit managerial career of Brad Ausmus, who the team will not retain, there has been plenty of speculation as to who his replacement will be. Mostly it has been people throwing the usual former managers’ names against the wall to see if the Tigers might be interested, but Thursday night one of those managers is reportedly showing interest back.
ESPN’s MLB Rumor Central shared information from Katie Strang at The Athletic that Arizona Diamondbacks bench coach Ron Gardenhire might want the job:
Gardenhire…is “extremely interested” in the Tigers' gig,
citing “someone close to him.”
Strang added that Detroit has not asked for formal permission from the Diamondbacks to talk to Gardenhire.
The American League Central is familiar territory for Gardenhire, who managed the Minnesota Twins for 13 seasons. He won six division titles and was named the 2010 AL Manager of the Year, but never got the team to the World Series.
Gardenhire was fired by the Twins in 2014. This was his first year on the bench for Arizona.
Just because Gardenhire might be interested in the job does not necessarily mean the Tigers would be interested in him. With a young team and a front office trying to embrace more statistical analysis, an old-school guy like Gardenhire seems to make less sense than a younger manager that is used to dealing with minor leaguers and advanced metrics.
No just NO! He’s too old and wasn’t that impressive w/ Minn. certainly no one else wanted him or he would already be managing. I’m sure he’s interested though. One things for sure: if he was manager, team wouldn’t have to worry about being in “Best looking manager” rankings!