According to Detroit Tigers GM Al Avila, the team’s rebuilding process is over. After those words left his mouth yesterday, fans understandably began to dream of the previous decade when the Tigers had no problem shelling out some pretty big money to attract star talent to the Motor City.
But Mike Ilitch isn’t around anymore. So will his successor be willing to open up the wallet once again? Not so fast for the team with the 8th lowest payroll in all of Major League Baseball – not to mention around $45 million lower than the MLB average.
Of course, manager AJ Hinch got fans’ hearts racing over the weekend when he delivered a message to potential free-agents, saying that if they wanted to be part of a new winning culture, they’d come aboard or be beaten by the Tigers. Prior to today’s game against the Athletics, Avila said that while adding in free-agency would be part of Detroit’s plan, it won’t be the “main” part.
“Is that a part of it? That’s a part of it” he said. “But that’s not going to be the main part of it.”
Avila then declared that the Tigers would become more “progressive” within their operations.
“We’re looking to be a more progressive organization,” Avila said. “We’ve been a very traditional organization as far as our way of teaching. That will stay. We will not lose our old-school ways by any means, but we want to be a little bit more progressive and start using more technology, more science.”
– – Quotes via The Detroit Free Press Link – –
