How much longer will Detroit Tigers fans have to deal with the failure of a general manager that is Al Avila?
After all, Avila has been the Tigers’ GM for roughly seven seasons now and he has clearly failed to rebuild what was a once proud franchise.
Well, for those of you who are hoping (and maybe even praying) that Avila is fired, we have some potentially good news to pass along.
According to Lynn Henning of the Detroit News, Avila will likely be fired following the conclusion of the 2022 season.
Lynn Henning says Tigers GM Al Avila will likely be fired
Now, it is important to note that Henning is not “reporting” anything here but rather letting us know what he believes will happen at the conclusion of the season.
From Detroit News:
Avila clearly stayed away from late trades that were judged by him to be shaky swaps. Whatever the Tigers crowd thinks of Avila, he wasn’t, in good conscience, going to feather another team’s nest and not get adequate flesh in return.
“Nothing moved the needle,” Avila told reporters.
So, now for the season’s final two months — which most likely will be Avila’s final weeks as Tigers GM.
There are no assurances, of course, that Chris Ilitch, who functions as Tigers owner, will replace Avila.
But there will be little choice.
Ilitch has to understand he has lost the fans in 2022. Most of Comerica Park’s customers went along with a marathon rebuild, which always was going to be lengthy, owing to the bloated mess of a ballclub Avila inherited in 2015. A year ago, it looked as if the fans’ patience and Avila’s persistence had paid off.
But this year’s nightmare has turned more into a death-spiral following last year’s revival. It’s as far as Tigers Nation can go.
Nation, do you believe Chris Ilitch will finally fire Al Avila?
Where’s Randy Smith when you need him?
I am not an Al Avila fan by any stretch. The buck stops with him. However, how many times have the Tigers traded less than stellar talent, and these players go on to become all stars on other teams? Why can’t the Tigers recruit and develop players? Blame the scouting. The tigers use franchise players from other teams as their free pass to easy street. That won’t work any more. Fans want to see a good team with different players being heros each day. Verlander had one basic pitch, a fastball. The Tigers pitching coaches never taught him finesse pitches, and would have destroyed him in another year with permanent injuries. They were right to trade him away – one of five Cy Young award winners now gone and doing well elsewhere. The hitting coaches have obviously failed miserably. Detroit is a AAA level club at best. It is costing the owner millions of dollars in net profit. I have not listenened to, or watched a single game this year. I quit eating pizza too. The owner just doesn’t care enough about the game and has taken the value of the franchise down by at least half. Maybe the owner should be fired – or MLB should make him pay the league for any shortcomings in expected over actual revenue. He is hurting MLB – all other teams through incompetence. Maybe his going broke is the best thing that can happen.