The Detroit Tigers are currently in a rebuild, there is no question about that. But what is extremely concerning, at this point, is that we should be seeing a clear light at the end of the tunnel. Yet as I write this article, it feels more like we are at the beginning of a rebuild rather than nearing the conclusion and that is the fault of Tigers’ GM, Al Avila.
On Monday, Chris McCosky, who covers the Tigers beat for the Detroit News, put out an article saying that he will not call for Avila to be fired because it is, “pointless.”
In the article, which was addressing the many fans who email and tweet at him claiming that he is afraid to rip the team or to call out Avila for his failures as a general manager, McCosky says he does not have the power to get Avila fired and those claims are “absurd.”
From The Detroit News:
But waging a Fire Avila campaign? Pointless. It just makes no logical or practical sense to beat the drum for something that’s not going to happen. As if Ilitch is going to wake up on the third day of the second month of the season and eradicate the front office of his baseball team, scrap a plan that he’s endorsed since the day they traded Verlander, and start over.
Not after three productive drafts and another critical one on the horizon. Not while the cornerstone pieces are still developing.
Not going to happen.
Well, Chris, you may not be willing to call for Avila’s job but I am.
Now, do I think I have the power to get Avila fired? Of course not. But as a die-hard fan of the team, I am absolutely going to voice my displeasures with him as a general manager, with the hope that this article will reach the eyes of Chris Ilitch. (They have before)
I have spoken to Al Avila in the past and he was a very nice man, who was willing to chat with a local blogger about the future of the team. But just because Avila treated me well does not mean I am going to defend him for the moves he has made and I am certainly not going to lobby for him to stick around any longer.
Sure, the Tigers have gotten some good prospects over the past few years but to be honest, when you have top picks in the MLB Draft, it would take somebody who has never even heard of baseball to get those picks wrong.
Avila has failed when it comes to trades and he has failed when it comes to finding free agents. My (and other Tigers fans) biggest fear, is that Al is still running the show when it is time to pick up some big-time free agents to push the team into contention. I just don’t trust that he is the right man for the job and I am hoping (and praying) that Chris Ilitch sees the light and realizes that now is the time to move on, even if the 2021 MLB Draft is right around the corner.
Avila a disgrace to the GM title. Name one draft pick hitter that he’s made that could start on any other team. The Tigers are forever doomed if he stays on the job.
If you consider this team will lose a 100 games, for the 8th time in franchise history. Al Avila will have been a part in some way of 5 of them and in charge for 3 of them. We don’t have squat for everyday players in our outside of Tork and right now he looks a long way from a major league roster. Nothing this guy has done had been productive.