Heading into the 2022 Major League Baseball season, Detroit Tigers fans were told that GM Al Avila had built a team that would start competing and that the rebuild was finally over.
Well, we are now 24-38 through their first 62 games and they have what is BY FAR the worst offense in the entire league. In fact, the Tigers team OPS is currently sitting at an abysmal .591 and they are averaging just 2.71 runs per game.
During the most recent episode of ‘The Corner’, host A.J. Reilly said that Tigers fans have been lied to by Chris Ilitch and the product put on the field by Avila is unacceptable.
“We’ve been lied to and we’ve been lied to by the man in charge,” Reilly said on the most recent episode of The Corner.
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Reilly referred to an interview with Tigers owner Chris Ilitch prior to the start of the season in which he claimed the rebuild was over.
“There was an interview that was done where the owner of the Detroit tigers was asked is the rebuild,” Reilly continued. “And his answer was, ‘a hundred percent.’ Well, I got news for you. If the rebuild’s over, why do we have the worst offense in baseball? Why do we have a pitching staff that is thin to the point of breaking?”
“We’ve been lied to and we deserve better. The Tigers have some of the best fans in all of baseball, yet this is the product that this rebuild has gotten us? This is the product that we have to look forward to? If the rebuild is over, that’s unacceptable. It’s unacceptable.”
“How about we take pride in putting a Major League Baseball team on the field,” Reilly passionately continued. “Look after this three-game series, somebody should be looking for a new job.”
A.J. Reilly is done ‘pumping the brakes’ on Al Avila
Reilly went on to say that there was a point in time where he was willing to “pump the brakes” and take a wait and see approach with Al Avila but those days are over.
“I’ve been stewing on this, if you can’t tell,” Reilly said. “I’ve been stewing on this for a while and there’s was a point in time when I hosted a show with my buddy called ‘Straight Shootin’ and I said, we need to kind of tap the brakes and see on this Avila thing…. Well, guess what? I ain’t tapping the brakes anymore.”
“If this is the product that this arduous and painful rebuild has brought us, it’s unacceptable, unacceptable! And Al Avila That lies squarely on your shoulders. And Chris Illich, you allowed it, you allowed it! Maybe you don’t know what you’re doing. I don’t know. I don’t wanna sit here and judge from a position because I’m not in your seat, but I know that this product that is on the field right now is entirely unacceptable”
“The fans of the Detroit Tigers deserve better. So, Al and Chris, here’s my final word. Do better. Be better because this is entirely unacceptable.”
Click here to view the full episode and to hear everything else Riley had to say about Al Avila and Chris Ilitch.
Nation, do you agree with A.J. Riley? Are you also done pumping the brakes on Al Avila and Chris Ilitch?
I have been saying Avila has to go for at least the last 3 years. Avila has to go people-suck it up he is NOT a manager.