POLL: What grade do you give Angels manager Brad Ausmus for his 2019 campaign

[Angel Oracle]

If they did let Ausmus go after one season, it wouldn't be the first time a Halos manager didn't last beyond his first season.

Del Rice (1972) and Cookie Rojas (1988) 

[Blarg]

His in game management is almost non existent. On several occasions he has left Pujols on the base paths in the 9th inning, needing one run to tie or win. That just irks the shit out of me that you can take station to station safe baseball to that extreme level of stupid and still have a job as a manager. 

 

[Dick B Back]

You know who is loving this thread....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Taylor]

I give him an NL for "no lasagna."

[mmc]

A lot of my disappointment with him is also with Eppler for only putting him in because he’s his buddy.  I feel like our managerial search was a total farce, Ausmus was always getting the job, and I liked every candidate we brought in more than him.

[Stradling]

22 minutes ago, mymerlincat said:

A lot of my disappointment with him is also with Eppler for only putting him in because he’s his buddy.  I feel like our managerial search was a total farce, Ausmus was always getting the job, and I liked every candidate we brought in more than him.

Why do you believe this is true

[Stradling]

There’s more evidence that if he would’ve hired Josh Paul or Erik Chavez that he was simply hiring his buddy based on the fact that they worked for years together in the Yankees front office.

[Broad Street]

I gave him an F because he’s a Fakking bad manager. He was bad in Detroit, and while he didn’t have much to work with here as far as starters, nothing has changed. I’d like to see him fired at the end of the year. 

[mmc]

Anyone who is willing to discredit the bad he’s done here because the pitching has been awful should be reminded of what he did in Detroit with a Scherzer-Verlander-Price-Porcello rotation.

[Roy Hobbs]

34 minutes ago, mymerlincat said:

Anyone who is willing to discredit the bad he’s done here because the pitching has been awful should be reminded of what he did in Detroit with a Scherzer-Verlander-Price-Porcello rotation.

Those 4 pitchers were only together for one year, and the Tigers finished 90-72 in 1st place. I'm not defending Ausmus but you need to have the facts right for them to mean anything.

[kevinb]

While I don’t believe a manager is all that important. You as a coach player or whatever are paid to win games. This team blows. It’s a 4th place team and this team gave up a long time ago. I gave him a D. I can’t imagine anyone would give him a grade higher than that. This team must be better next year and must be in the playoffs or both he and Eppler will be looking for new jobs. 

[Pancake Bear]

Heh. I rolled my eyes seeing people gave him an F. Then I looked who, and nodded. No surprises. 

I didn't like Ausmus prior to his time with the Angels. I didn't like him being a candidate for manager. I didn't even like him being in the front office before we know Sosh was retiring. But I trust Eppler reasonably well, so I decided to wait it out before complaining (much).

I gave Ausmus a B. I'll explain why. 

Ausmus is a better manager than Scioscia in ways that I can measure. Let me qualify that. 

I can observe his lineup cards: These are indisputably superior to Scioscia's. E.g. Scioscia benched players at absurd times (right after a big game). Ausmus rewards them by moving them up in the lineup. Scioscia always put Pujols in at 3-4. Ausmus only did so when Pujols earned it. 

I can observe this in bullpen management: He gave Allen the shot at closer that his paycheck entitled him to and moved him off after a reasonable amount of time. He puts his best pitcher in the toughest spots and his next best pitcher in the closer role. This is smart baseball. There is no perfect bullpen management, but Ausmus' decisions are far more intuitive than Scioscia's.

I won't give Brad credit for the opener, because I doubt that was his initiative, but it is a smart decision, as anyone with an ounce of sense would know (or would figure out with five minutes of research). I doubt Scioscia would use an opener as much as Ausmus, and that would be his traditionalism getting in the way. 

I can't comment on things I don't know, like how he handles the clubhouse and relates to the players and staff. My impression of him during the Skaggs incident was positive. 

I'd think about giving him an A, but the wins haven't been there. I'm skeptical that that is really his fault. Anyone who compares the Angels with the Yankees is a first class idiot who hasn't done a shred of comparison. But just in brief: The Yankees had better depth to begin with (some of you people still don't seem to grasp how badly Dipooto's incompetence and Arte's ignorance nuked this franchise and set us back years), allowing them to fill holes much easier. They have the deepest and best bullpen in baseball by a long shot. Their offense was and is better than the Angels. And they have three pitchers who combined for an average of 140ip each this year with solid results.

Blaming Ausmus for the Angels not having the Yankees' results is grade school level simple-mindedness.

I like Aus. I'm glad he's here. I'm shocked to be saying that, but it's true. If he gets fired, it won't be for the on-field product, it will be for things I can't observe, and that's fine. I hope he stays, though.

[Stradling]

17 minutes ago, Roy Hobbs said:

Those 4 pitchers were only together for one year, and the Tigers finished 90-72 in 1st place. I'm not defending Ausmus but you need to have the facts right for them to mean anything.

And they had a shit bullpen.  @mulwin444 likes to break down that three game series they lost in the playoffs.  

[Pancake Bear]

Just now, Baghdad Strad said:

And they had a shit bullpen.  @mulwin444 likes to break down that three game series they lost in the playoffs.  

Dumbrowski teams pretty much always seem to have a shit bullpen. That's why it's a shock they won last year. Apparently he's learned since Detroit. (Like Ausmus.)

[Stradling]

1 hour ago, mymerlincat said:

Anyone who is willing to discredit the bad he’s done here because the pitching has been awful should be reminded of what he did in Detroit with a Scherzer-Verlander-Price-Porcello rotation.

Who’s discrediting the bad he has done here?  

[TroutAdell]

I gave him an F. This has been the most uninspiring team I can remember. He is horrible at handling the pitching staff and seems disengaged at times. 

Frankly, I blame Eppler for making a lazy hire. I blame Eppler for his inability to put a decent staff together in his tenure. Eppler should be the head of player personnel for the minors. I have no faith in him to sign the needed pitching this offseason. I don’t look forward to Ausmus mishandling another season of pitching. 

[Stradling]

Rack em!

[Broad Street]

1 hour ago, Sean-Regan said:

I can observe his lineup cards: These are indisputably superior to Scioscia's. E.g. Scioscia benched players at absurd times (right after a big game). Ausmus rewards them by moving them up in the lineup. Scioscia always put Pujols in at 3-4. Ausmus only did so when Pujols earned it. 

What? There’s been numerous times throughout the season where a player had a good game and Ausmus benched them right after. The only difference in lineups is Ausmus’s willingness to move people up and down occasionally. 

[stormngt]

6 hours ago, Chuckster70 said:

Let's turn the tables here a bit. 

What do you LIKE about Brad Ausmus from his tenure with the Tigers and first year with the Angels.

I'm struggling to find one good thing about this guy. It's bad enough his playing career was below average. 

He does adjust his lineup based on who is performing. 

[Pancake Bear]

10 minutes ago, Kody Mac said:

What? There’s been numerous times throughout the season where a player had a good game and Ausmus benched them right after. The only difference in lineups is Ausmus’s willingness to move people up and down occasionally. 

Assuming that’s usually related to a pre-planned off day. Unless I’m completely off base, he doesn’t do it nearly as much as Sosh. Scioscia did it pretty much on cue. “You went 3/5? Take the next day off. You haven’t gotten a hit in a week? Let’s play you again for the 15th straight day. “

[eligrba]

It is not apparent if Ausmus understands the strengths of his players. It looks like he just assigns roles to players.

Doug White gets an F for me. The A’s seem to assemble a functional pitching staff every year without many internal options. How do they get so many pitchers to consistently improve when playing for them?

[Chuck]

Anyone that gave Ausmus an A or B is just trolling. Sorry.

[Chuck]

1 hour ago, TroutAdell said:

I gave him an F. This has been the most uninspiring team I can remember. He is horrible at handling the pitching staff and seems disengaged at times. 

Frankly, I blame Eppler for making a lazy hire. I blame Eppler for his inability to put a decent staff together in his tenure. Eppler should be the head of player personnel for the minors. I have no faith in him to sign the needed pitching this offseason. I don’t look forward to Ausmus mishandling another season of pitching. 

I'm borderline with you on this take, but I'll give Ausmus and Eppler another year to prove me wrong. 

I have a feeling I'll be bumping this thread next year around this time, unfortunately. 

[ten ocho recon scout]

8 hours ago, gurn67 said:

He was given historically bad starting pitching. No manager could have won with that.

And ohtani and upton starting late, simmons hurt, la stella, skaggs, etc etc....

This team held its own until the bottom dropped out.

[Broad Street]

I for sure give Doug White an F minus. I’d give him a Z if I could. Dude is trash.