CLEVELAND -- If Brad Ausmus were still around and the Detroit Tigers were still planning to contend for a playoff spot in 2018, Tuesday would have been a busy night on Twitter and talk radio would have been filled with critical callers this morning.
Instead, many of the key decisions made by new manager Ron Gardenhire in Tuesday night's 2-1 loss to the Cleveland Indians have been scarcely noticed, let alone debated.
That's partly because it's early April, it's cold and many fans haven't yet turned their full attention to baseball. But there's another reason that will come into play again and again in 2018: Gardenhire is making decisions with a long-term view, and sometimes those will conflict with short-term realities.