Ex-Tigers manager Brad Ausmus set to interview for Reds' opening

Brad Ausmus has made it clear that he wants to manage again, following a disappointing four-year run with the Tigers.

He might soon get that chance.

According to The Athletic's C. Trent Rosecrans, Ausmus will interview for the Cincinnati Reds opening in the coming days. The Reds fired Bryan Price in April, and replaced him with interim manager Jim Riggleman.

Ausmus is one of at least eight candidates being targeted by the Reds, according to baseball writer Jon Heyman.

"All along I kind of hoped I could get back in the dugout,” Ausmus, who spent this season as a special adviser in the Los Angeles Angels' front office, told The News' Chris McCosky in August. “I took kind of a soft year, schedule-wise this year, and then I was hoping I could get back in the dugout.”

Ausmus, 49, was hired by the Tigers prior to the 2014 season, despite no previous managerial experience.

He made the playoffs in 2014, but the Tigers were swept by the Baltimore Orioles in the ALDS. They missed the playoffs from 2015-17, finishing with the worst record in baseball in 2017, his final year.

Ausmus was 314-332 in his four seasons.

The Reds have one of the five current managerial openings, along with the Minnesota Twins (Paul Molitor), Toronto Blue Jays (John Gibbons), Angels (Mike Scioscia) and Baltimore Orioles, who reportedly fired Buck Showalter on Wednesday. Ausmus has been seen as a possible candidate to succeed Scioscia.

There also were rumblings the Chicago Cubs could be looking for a new manager, after Joe Maddon's team was eliminated in the National League wild-card game by the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday night. But reports say he will return for 2019.