The Tigers have struck a new deal with general manager Al Avila, with the team announcing the move following a report from Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press. It’s said to be a multi-year deal.
Avila’s precise new contract terms aren’t yet known, but he had previously been working under an agreement that ran though the 2020 campaign. Clearly, then, ownership has given him a strong vote of confidence and clear mandate to continue the organization’s rebuilding effort.
Outwardly, the Detroit organization has struggled massively since it installed Avila following the ouster of long-time GM Dave Dombrowski in the middle of the 2015 season. The Tigers made a run at contending in the ensuing season, but fell short of the playoffs. Ever since, the club has been dreadful, racking up two-straight 98-loss campaigns and carrying a 28-54 record entering play today.
There obviously have been positive developments in the team’s talent pipeline, which was notably dry at the time Avila took the helm. The Tigers cracked the top-ten farm rankings of MLB.com at the start of the 2019 season, though they didn’t fare quite so well in the most recent rankings of Baseball America and Fangraphs. All would agree that the Tigers have some premium talents now in the system, led by recent 1-1 draft choice Casey Mize and fellow hurlers including Matt Manning, Franklin Perez, Beau Burrows, Kyle Funkhouser, and Alex Faedo. All but Perez, who was picked up in the Verlander swap, were recent top Tigers draft choices.
Some would argue those improvements have not been substantial enough, or haven’t come as quickly as they should have. There’s a case to be made, to be sure, but it’s also fair to point out that Avila had an exceptionally difficult slate of contracts to deal with. Unlike the division-rival White Sox, whose best veterans were relatively youthful and playing under appealing extensions, the Tigers hit the reset button with a host of massive contracts. The returns achieved for the Tigers’ veterans don’t seem terribly fruitful at present, but it’s also hard to say in retrospect that Avila could or should have done better at the time for well-compensated players such as Justin Verlander (link), Justin Upton (link), Ian Kinsler (link), Justin Wilson and Avila’s own son, Alex Avila (link). It’s not as if the Tigers ever had much hope of moving Miguel Cabrera and Jordan Zimmermann — or Victor Martinez and Anibal Sanchez, whose contracts have since expired — which has made it hard to fully draw down the club’s payroll.
If there’s one deal that’s really raised questions, it’s the J.D. Martinez swap. But indications were at the time that the market was much more limited than was generally supposed from the outside; perhaps the most questionable aspect of the organization’s decisionmaking was not to move Martinez earlier. The timing question is certainly relevant also to now-injured hurler Michael Fulmer, who might have brought back a haul had the Tigers marketed him early in his career. There’s an argument to be made that the team also missed a window on Nicholas Castellanos, who was in at least some demand at previous points but can now only be marketed as a rental piece this summer.
It remains to be seen how Avila will handle not only Castellanos, but controllable pitchers Matthew Boyd and Shane Greene, at this year’s deadline. But he’ll enter the summer trading period with the full backing of ownership and a lengthy timeline upon which to cast his gaze.
Whatever one’s perspective on Avila’s work to date, Tigers chairman Chris Ilitch made clear that Avila has handled his position as the organization prefers. As Ilitch put it in a prepared statement: “It’s clear to anyone that follows Tigers baseball that our organization is undergoing a significant transformation. I’ve been impressed with Al’s leadership and focus, and the steadfast way he has led our baseball operations since becoming GM.”
bad move
I agree. Other than Mize, who would have been picked first overall by all 30 teams so it’s not like AA found a hidden gem, the Tigers farm system is really weak.
You obviously know zero about the Tigers drafting and the rise from the worst minor league system to number 8. You are clueless. The Tigers are collecting some of the best young arms and now have turned their attention to position players. It takes years to turnaround an organization that routinely traded away all their young players and sacrificed their 2nd an 3rd round picks in Al’s first draft. He still drafted Manning who is a future ace. Without naming all the good things he has done, its clear that by inheriting a team devoid of minor league talent, heavily burden with bad contacts, that he has done a very good job. The only thing you know is the “mainstream” opinion without really knowing all the good he has done. It takes 4-6 years of drafting high to get a new core, Astros lost over 400 games 2011-2014 Cubs lost over 300 games in a 3 year period so I suspect all the idiots who are critical now, will be squarely on the bandwagon in 2021 and 2022.
If it takes years, how come the Mariners have been able to go from the worst farm system in Baseball to top 10 in 6 months? Also, the Tigers don’t have a single impact bat in their system. And the only pitchers performing in their system are the first rounders, and I count 4 pitchers that are performing above average. And if a team can only hit on their first round pick, they will never survive a rebuild. The Tigers have failed on the trade market, and failed in every round other than the first. And the only reason the Tigers are a top 10 system is because of Mize, who was given to them for being bad. Take Mize out, and the Tigers are back to the bottom third.
Actually the Tigers were ranked near the top ten before Mize was drafted. I think Dkaner is on the right track in his thinking. 24theKid, I don’t think you know exactly how progression through the minors works. It’s not always about the numbers. It’s a learning process for the minor league prospects. Maybe you can revisit this in 4-5 years as you can’t accurately analyze a draft or a trade for prospects in the short time AA has been GM.
It is not worth making for compete until the Yankee Cashman retires. Based on Cashman guidance, the Yankees invested big big big in player development so even their okay prospects can realize all potential. How many other systems have almost all prospects coming up and doing good.
Tigers only chance is for her lucky because the empire strikes back is where we are.
The Mariners had talent o the major league roster that they could move. The Tigers didn’t. Pretty simple.
Here’s what I think you’re missing Dkaner…
You mentioned the Cubs and Astros, who did something similar, but both those teams were able to turn those teams around ground up in 3-4 years, not 4-6. Both those teams had THE top ranked farm at that point, had their core in place and major league ready at this juncture. The Tigers aren’t near that clip. They shouldn’t be 8th, they should be 1,2 or at least 3 at this point. As 24thekid said, they don’t have a single impact bat in their farm, and they do have a few pitchers, but pitching is extremely volatile and the Tigers would need incredible luck for all of those few guys to pan out. I’m not saying you have to pull the plug on Avila now, but I think it’s safe to say that in comparison to the teams you mentioned he’s done a poor job, and is well behind the pace of Luhnow and Theo. By the 4 year marker Theo had taken the Cubs to an NLCS and was 12 months from a world championship. Luhnow took the Astros at the same time and was 10 games over .500 by year 4, and won a World Series the year after the Cubs did.
What do you mean the Tigers didn’t have talent? They had Verlander, JD Martinez, Justin Upton, Avila, Boyd, Fulmer, Justin Wilson and Shane Greene. That’s more talent than what the Mariners traded off, especially because Fulmer was considered a potential ace at that point.
Yeah Cam, this is not correct. And the Cubs had nothing, Matt Garza, Ryan Dempster, and Alfonso Soriano I believe.
Mariners had players people wanted in trades. Seattle is a horrible example. A Team is like 20 years with no playoffs & you use them in your argument? Seriously? You dug a hole, your argument is weak so stop now, it’s embarrassing.
Number 12 before Mize jumped to number 8 on the way to top 5
Astros under 500 2009 thru 2014 was under 500 2007 to 2014 6 of 8 years. Learn to do research it’s embarrassing for you
Talent people would trade big prospects for only JV & JW had returns. Upton VMARt no market & huge contracts. You baseball acumen is very poor.
Cubs weee under.500 2010 to 2014 over .500 since 5 years. Astros took 7 years. The Tigers have two back to back 98 lost seasons will lose 100+ this year & next. Will most likely have top 3 minor league ranking by the end of 2021 which is the time most of the 2016-2018 draft guys come up maybe a 2019 guy as well. It takes 6 years of drafting & since they had no 2nd or 3rd pick in 2016 because they signed Upton & Zimmerman , it made it worse. Al Avila gets a B+ & if Manning Mize Faedo Burrows are starting by 2021, he gets an A!
DKaner, we’re talking about GM performance. The Cubs didn’t begin to rebuild under Theo until he was hired in the 2011-2012 offseason. Same with the Astros and Luhnow. Those two guys have thoroughly outperformed Avila thus far. Whether the Mariners made the playoffs in 20 years or not has no bearing on whether they have individual trade pieces or not, and I’m not even sure what your argument means. I really try to not be demeaning to others in here as it seems like that’s the way these days. That said, your series of responses to both me and others lashing out at them are not only a poor attempt at bashing others, they’re among the least intelligent posts I’ve ever seen on this site. Talk about how your system is number 3 when you actually get there. And if those 4 are starting for you in 2021, you’ll have survived the regular SP prospect attrition with incredible luck, and you’ll still be two years behind Luhnow and Theo. And you still won’t have a World Series or 2-3 LCS appearances. I’m not concerned with the Tigers 98 loss seasons, I’m concerned with their lack of impact offensive prospects in the minors and the return on their trades. And if you want to give Avila an A like those guys got, he needs a championship and another LCS appearance by then. Hey dude, stop drinking before you post.
Bencole, thanks for responding to that guy. I’m also not sure what the Mariners missing the playoffs for 17 years has to do with them getting a getting a return on their players.
Also, why is this guy responding from two different accounts? One is Dkanner, the other is Davidkaner. Just seems like a bad troll job as he comes back with only attacks and not actual relevant information.
Yeah, agreed. Hard to comprehend what he was saying and what I could didn’t make much sense.
Boyd, Fullmer and Greene are still with the team. Boyd hadn’t taken his step forward until this year. Neither had Greene. Trading Fullmer after his rookie season would have been ludicrous. What does it tell the fans if you trade away the first young player to come thru? I don’t remember the Yankees trading Judge, Houston moving Springer, or the Cubs trading Bryant. I’m sure they could have gotten a lot if they did.
Keep in mind, Zimmerman and Upton was Al’s picks.
Ben I could not say it any better. Excellent post.
Verlander, JD Martinez, Upton and many others were traded… for not much
They don’t have a position player in the system that is going to be on the team in the 2021 year, so how will they be good on 2021?
Because Dipoto is trade happy and the crown jewels of the Cano-Diaz deal (Kelenic and Dunn) are very highly touted prospects, not to mention that they’re both doing well this season.
It’s an extension they could have waited on. Already signed until 2020. At least wait until after the trade deadline. Could have been addressed this offseason.
Not for him. He gave himself a new contract
In AA we trust.
Thank you for McCann!
He changed his swing. He tried to be like JD Martinez and do the launch angle. He worked hard in the off-season changing his swing. I give him credit because he could not himself out of a phone box and was hitting .200 leading the team in K’s. He is now a completely different hitter and hitting in a much smaller park, when he hits a good line drive, it has a chance to go out. You should extend him now.
I am not dissing the Tigers.
Just glad he is with the Sox now and I wish Sox extend him ASAP.
Avila’s son was a good backstop for the Sox as well.
Enjoy that .405 Babip while it lasts.
I don’t get caught up in analytics.
Besides he calls a great game and helped Giolito develop!
I like this extension and personally believe he is the right man for the job. I know I am in the minority most likely.
I agree. I think when the rebuild is done in 2021 or 2022, the AA haters will think twice about him. For those haters, at least the Tigers don’t have Randy Smith, the architect of 43-119 around anymore!
I suspect Randy Smith was constantly interfered with by ownership. The Tiger rebuilt and had a good start to a good team by 1997. Then, the whole team was changed several times.
Read what I wrote and I think many of may realize what a horrible position he was in after taking the job.
https://www.blessyouboys.com/2019/7/5/20683439/al-avila-the-trade-deadline-the-inflection-point
Yeah it was a little rough for him, but Theo had it worse. He has virtually nothing if value to trade.
Of
Oof rip tigers fans
Ugh, please kick him upstairs. He’s made a handful of good moves and a ton of bad ones since taking over. The rebuild needs to include the administration as well as the players.
This guy can’t rebuild the Tigers. Take a look at their everyday lineup. Who has he brought in since taking over that can hit? A joke!!!
Brandon Dixon wasn’t a bad pickup.
Backups are backups for a reason.
Dixon is a starter. Now.
I think AA is fixing our farm. Some of his free agent signings have been shaky. Hopefully good run of playoffs coming in just a couple few years.
Don’t hate him but don’t love him. More towards the hate because this rebuild is going way slower than it should. Tigers don’t have much in the farm system when it comes to positional players.
Why in the world wasn’t Yordan Alvarez in the JV trade? Even if it was for him straight up. Don’t tell me Houston said he was untouchable they were smelling a World Series ring and possibly another one this year. The right words should have got it done. Enough for these 3 prospects for 1 deals. Getting back these crap assets is what is hurting AA reputation. (But it’s trade deadlines for mediocre players, teams aren’t going to give up much) – That is literally his job, to improve the team. Don’t give me that crap either. Other GM’s are doing it.
Tigers should have waited til this trade deadline before an AA extension.
This complaint is definitely a hindsight = 20/20 situation. The offseason after the trade, Franklin Perez was higher on the prospect rankings than Yordan was. Yordan has clearly surpassed him since then but he wasn’t an Acuna at the time. I understand the argument that they should have been after quality over quantity, but your example is all about hindsight
The people who hate him do not understand how difficult being a GM for a rebuilding team is. You have to be able to project how good a very young player will be years in advance, with limited sample size. You also have to know the right time to deal a player, outside of fulmer I think he has successfully done the latter part. Fulmer was expected to do much better and nobody could have predicted the steep drop off he had. Avila has done a great job finding pitching prospects and while he doesn’t have enough hitting in the farm yet, there’s still pieces to trade and multiple drafts left during the rebuild. I think if you’ve got a guy like Avila who has a plan in fixing the mess in Detroit, why screw it up and not bring him back and let someone completely change the rebuild.
the fix comes at the causative level ….what we are seeing is symptoms of DDs mismanagement.
nobody should complain about JM. the player saw the writing and stepped it up…A2 didn’t miss anything about JM.
I wouldn’t have even extended Al Avila for a mop job.
He has made the Tigers worse.
I did not like how he handled the firing of Chris Bosio
They stink!
On August 4, 2015, Avila was promoted to general manager and executive vice president of baseball operations and they have gotten worse every year!
Who is in charge of the Tigers, who is the boss of that outfit! They have no idea as to what in the world they are doing!
Four years of silliness! And more are coming
Orioles fan saying the Tigers stink! How ironic! But this is what a rebuild looks like, and it is painful.
The Tigers are years into the rebuild stage and can you honestly say they’re leaps and bounds ahead of the Orioles? The O’s don’t have Casey Mize but they do have Adley Rutschman and 4 other top 100 guys. I. Think both teams are about as far off from contending.
Tigers have really one -2 ML assets in Boyd and Greene and that’s about it for talent infusion. They play in a much softer division but I like the ChiSox core of hitters more than I like some pitchers who haven’t yet made it. The twins are going to be there and the Indians have plenty of high value assets to eventually unload if they don’t run this team out the whole way. I’m not saying the sledding will be any easier in Baltimore but 3 years into the rebuild I expect/hope there is more talent in the pipeline.
Miggy is the main chore of a very young tigers team…
I would have waited till after the trade deadline. He has some very important work to do before then in terms of trading.
I agree. What did the Tigers have to lose if they just waited after the season to make the final decisions? Is the market for GM’s this barren?? Giving Castellanos an extension today makes more sense than Al’s.
No, he wouldn’t have gotten stolen by anyone, Avila isn’t a sought-after guy. Agree all the way around but Castellanos won’t take the 2 year $10 million extension he’s worth.
All we know is it’s a “multi-year deal.” I’d say 2-3 years is all he should command. The “rebuild” should be producing substantial fruit by then, or not. Giving him a contract longer than that is paying him for a product still under development as if it were guaranteed to work.
Whenever you’re evaluating any GM/FO, you have to remember the market, revenue streams, etc. I don’t think Avila’s done a BAD job…..but he really hasn’t done an aggressively good one either. They’ll be back (they have too much money not to be), but it’ll take longer than perhaps it should.
And he’s got some pretty sharp guys in Cleveland and Minnesota to deal with; and the White Sox are certainly a team of the future. And I wouldn’t sleep on Moore in KC; he’s done it before with lower revenues. Everybody kind of chuckles at the AL Central, but I don’t think they’ll be chuckling a couple of years from now.
This could be alot worse.. Team has the pitching in farm.. We have good trade pieces RN in green boyd and Nick cast. I imagine they are asking for high infielders that are young and mlb ready in minors look for boyd to fetch a big haul possibly 3-4 bats. Nick will be a 1 for 1 like the cubs trade a few years back for candy. With a few low levels mixed in… Green will bring back 1 top 100 prospect hitter… Everything goes to plan by 21 with the cap space that frees up we will add hitting I imaging if Ron stays it will be young speedy team with good pitching and good defense.. Detroit found out they can’t slug there way to a Ws at Comerica Park . they must win it with young pitching and defense
Castellanos won’t bring you anything at all of value
Candy was not a one for one trade.
This could be alot worse.. Team has the pitching in farm.. We have good trade pieces RN in green boyd and Nick cast. I imagine they are asking for high infielders that are young and mlb ready in minors look for boyd to fetch a big haul possibly 3-4 bats. Nick will be a 1 for 1 like the cubs trade a few years back for candy. With a few low levels mixed in… Green will bring back 1 top 100 prospect hitter… Everything goes to plan by 21 with the cap space that frees up we will add hitting if Ron stays it will be young speedy team with good pitching and good defense.. Detroit found out they can’t slug there way to a Ws at Comerica Park . they must win it with young pitching and defense
Didn’t screw up the 1st over all pick, beyond that… hasn’t done jack. Shade of negative here, but I think he keeps the Tigers in “rebuild mode” longer than the talent acquired requires. So not the worst negative possible but he could have moved some strong pieces sooner to really accelerate this process. That said, he over values his own players (I do not think of this as a negative out of hand but hurts the process for the fans).
The Tigers today are victims of the outrageous missteps of Mike Illitch. Avila took over a disaster and is still hamstrung with a few terrible contracts (Cabrera’s is one of the absolute worst ever given in MLB history, Zimmermann’s a complete bust, while they are still paying JV and Fielder).
MLB drafts are a total crap shoot, you never know what you’re going to get or how injuries may derail a career, so it’s mostly luck. The Tigers have been horribly unlucky, for decades, with their drafting (although Matt Anderson’s pick will never been excusable).
It doesn’t matter who the GM is, Illitch’s son reigned in the spending and this team is likely going to play terrible baseball for years and years to come. There is not a single man on the active roster who would be considered a core player who could be built around. And in the minors… what, a couple promising pitching prospects and the kid they just drafted, plus whoever they wind up getting for Boyd, Castellanos and Greene when they unload them in the coming weeks… only through free agency could this team be turned around and ownership isn’t opening their wallet like that any time soon.
Agreed on all except the draft. It’s not a crapshoot, the best win at it. They don’t win at every top pick, but they do win their top picks as an aggregate. You don’t win at the draft, you’re fired and you should be.
Hard to take over from the notorious Dumbroski. The farm system gutter and the King Of overpay.
Would have waited a month before making that decision. Castellanos decision already looking like a missed opportunity, and the Tigers could have waited to see how he’d handle Matt Boyd. This idea of an extension didn’t have to be rushed for a guy with a questionable level of success.
I seem to have missed the opportunity they had to move Nick. No one wanted a bad 3B, and last two years, no one wanted a bad OF. What were the offers AA turned down?
“Clearly, then, ownership has given him a strong vote of confidence and clear mandate to continue the organization’s rebuilding effort.” An unnecessary sentence at best. Obviously he has ownership’s confidence, otherwise he wouldn’t have been extended. At least take out “then” to make it less verbose.
That was only a word that was unnecessary. Yours was a whole reply. Please come here to talk baseball, not grammar. Clearly, then, you might get stronger votes of confidence.
Extending Avila empowers the GM to make the best decision for the Tigers long term with his various trade assets rather than imposing a personal timeline on the Club’s success. Smart move by ownership. Avila has a few valuable assets he should sell high on. The clear front liner is Matthew Boyd followed by Shane Green and potentially a few other pitching pieces. The only untouchable on the big league roster pitching wise is Rookie Spencer Turnbull who represents the first of the young arms coming up the pipeline.
Boyd represents the best available starter on the market for clubs looking for a controlled arm. I don’t think he can be marketed as an ‘Ace’ but club control through 2022 should attract significant interest.
Green’s sparkling 1.09 ERA isn’t matched by his 3.79 FIP, but his sub .9 WHIP limiting walks/hits will make him attractive to virtually every contender. I think after the potential available lefties under contract (Hand / Vazquez), Greene is the best available RH reliever outside of Ken Giles. Won’t return a top 20 prospect but should return a top 75 type plus a couple low level throw ins.
What Boyd commands is highly dependent on his next 3-4 starts.