Al Avila held the role of general manager for the Detroit Tigers between 2015 and 2022. During that stretch, the team struggled to find consistent success, finishing with a 404-573 record — a winning percentage of just .414. His time leading the front office was marked by a lengthy rebuild and, ultimately, no postseason appearances.
During his time with the Tigers, Avila made some solid moves, but, it was the bad moves he made that eventually got him fired. One of the worst moves Avila made was signing Javier Baez.
A Damning Admission by Al Avila
In a recent interview with Tony Paul of The Detroit News, Avila made a damning admission about what one of his analysts told him before he made the decision to give Javier Baez a 6-year, $140 million deal.
“We knew the swing and miss was there,” Avila said. “My analyst was telling me there was regression there but nobody could have predicted the falling off a cliff the way that he did.”
Wait, what?!?! An analyst was telling Avila that Baez was regressing and he still signed him to a mega contract?!?! Un-freaking-believable.
Flash Forward
Since signing with the Tigers, Javier Baez has played in 360 games. In those games, he is batting .221 with 32 home runs and 163 RBIs while striking out 341 times and walking 62 times. Heading into the 2025 season, Baez is coming off hip surgery, and the hope is that he can somehow turn things around and contribute to the team in a positive way. As it stands, Baez’s contract goes through the 2027 season.
