Welcome to Detroit, Ron Gardenhire. The detroit tigers announced that they have found their replacement for Brad Ausmus as the new skipper and he is a longtime divisional rival.

According to MLB guru and The Athletic writer Ken Rosenthal, Detroit is prepared to ink Gardenhire to a deal this week. The former Minnesota Twins skipper had a lot of success in the Twin Cities on a very small payroll. The Tigers are hoping he brings that knowledge and magic to Motown and can get Detroit back to its winning ways.

New skipper brings instant credibility

Gardenhire will bring experience into the dugout of a Tigers team that went from being a veteran team to one of the younger squads in the American League -- practically overnight!

Gardenhire managed the Minnesota Twins for 13 seasons and spent 2017 as a bench coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks. While his career numbers (1068-1049) may not blow many critics away, they really should.

The Twins won the AL Central six times under Gardenhire in 13 seasons. So, basically, in terms of numbers, the Twins were more than competitive every other year under his tenure. Reports indicate that the Tigers initially began with a list of 50 possible candidates when they started their search for a new on-field general.

Avila had a list of 50+ candidates?

Detroit interviewed several candidates before deciding to go with Gardenhire, including Colorado Rockies bench coach Mike Redmond, former Braves skipper and current Miami Marlins third base coach Fredi Gonzalez, Houston Astros bench coach Alex Cora, San Francisco Giants hitting coach Hensley Meulens, and bench coach Joe McEwing of the Chicago White Sox.

Many insiders and Tigers fans believed that Detroit might go with someone internally, as the Tigers reportedly interviewed several current coaches as well. Third base coach Dave Clark and first base coach Omar Vizquel were interviewed before Gardenhire, but in the end, GM Al Avila was reportedly leaning toward someone who had experience for the next Tigers manager.

The Tigers finished the 2017 MLB season with a dismal 64-98 record, which put them in last place in the AL Central division. That was a far cry from the spring training expectations they began with. With stars like Justin Verlander, Alex Avila, and JD Martinez gone, the team went with a youth movement for much of the second half of last season. Avila and Martinez are free-agents who both expressed interest in returning to Detroit in 2018.

One thing is for sure, it will be an interesting offseason in Motown for Tigers fans.
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