THE STATE OF THE FRANCHISE – Part Three.

by Holly Horning

Last week, we started the discussion about the importance of understanding what was done – or not done – during the previous Tigers’ regime. 

If you did not catch it or need a refresher, here are the first two blogs:

THE STATE OF THE FRANCHISE – Part One.

STATE OF THE FRANCHISE – Part Two.

So why the need to dig back through history?  Especially when some fans say that they simply wish to move forward and don’t want to wallow once again in those inept years?

Because it is very important to understand what really happened during those seasons that created such a huge failure in the attempt to rebuild the Tigers franchise.  The 2 most important reasons are:

1.The need to understand what happened so history will not repeat itself.

2. The need to know exactly what was done – or not – in the failed attempt to rebuild this franchise.  By knowing those details, it allows fans to perform an educated analysis of what this team is currently doing.  It also gives them a basis of comparison between the past and present Front Office leaders.

Very simply, if you don’t know what was done in the past, how are you going to have confidence in the future as the Tigers once again try to rebuild their rebuild?  How will you know if what Scott Harris is doing is either good or bad if you don’t understand whether or not he is making changes to what was done under his predecessor?

Today, let’s focus on the former GM, Al Avila, and the skill set he brought to the Tigers.  He was the de facto leader of the Tigers, setting the example and expectations for the rest of the organization.

To reiterate, all of the information presented today and going forward into the future is being repeated from reports published through legitimate media resources and established journalists. I give no credence to sites that explore gossip or exist for click bait. 

All of the sources used today come from within the baseball industry.  That said, there is always the possibility that what was reported could have been of a complex nature with many additional layers that were not revealed.

Now, let’s dig in……

1.Favoritism got him the job.  Avila was a favorite of Mike Ilitch and was allegedly treated like a son.  Years ago, Mr. I promised Al the GM job.  He gave it to Al before actually “releasing” Dave Dombrowski and without interviewing a single candidate.  We all know that in business, you should never hire a relative or someone with whom you are close.  It clouds perception and makes difficult discussions uncomfortable.

2. The man had no filter.  Unlike his former boss, Avila said everything out loud.  Other teams as well as the fans knew exactly what he was thinking.  He never put himself in a position to bargain from strength.  Remember all the times he said he was trying to trade Player X?  How trade returns were going to be minimal?  How no team wanted players like Nick Castellanos?  Avila is the guy you want at your poker table.

3. He punished employees who disagreed with him or didn’t show loyalty.  In the previous blogs, I wrote about how 1 of Brad Ausmus coaches and the AAA manager were both fired for speaking up and how Avila created a “yes man” culture.  To add to that is the report from 2015 that came from a high-level Tigers employee stating that a decision had been made to fire Ausmus at the end of the year.  Mr. I had been pushing for it.  The leak was reported to have greatly irritated Avila who then decided that he would retain Brad instead and “show” the employee that leaks weren’t allowed.

4. Avila put and kept friends in charge of running the Tigers, instead of infusing the organization with new and more qualified people.  With the departure of Dave Dombrowksi, there was zero turnover within the Front Office, which is highly unusual when regime changes are made.  Avila fired no one and during his 8-year tenure, only hired 1 major decision-maker, Jay Sartori.  Oh, and he did hire his son, Alan, as one of the team’s attorneys.

Contrary to public thought, Al did not hire Dr. Georgia Giblin.  She was matched up by U-M to the Tigers via an internship for her doctorate.  After completing it, Sartori offered her a permanent job.

Likewise, Avila was not the one responsible for bringing A. J. Hinch into the organization.  That credit goes primarily to Tigers VP Scott Bream, who is close friends with A. J.  And we should give some credit to Chris Ilitch who insisted that Hinch extend his 1-day interview and stay in Detroit for 2 more days in order to hammer out an offer and contract.

Additionally, Avila was not responsible for finding Ryan Garko who came to the Tigers at the end of 2021 to head up player development.  Garko had ties to A. J. Hinch, Chris Fetter and George Lombard who pushed for the Tigers to hire him.

Despite industry-wide criticism of how inept his long-time friends like David Chadd and Dave Littlefield ran their player development and scouting/drafting departments, they remained.  They even got promoted.

When it was clear that Dave Littlefield had to be replaced in 2021, he wasn’t fired when Garko came on board.  He was simply moved into another position.

5. He was not respected by other GMs.   Remember my blog about meeting a former GM last year and our discussion about Avila?  His diplomatic response that said everything about Avila’s reputation as a GM?  Add to that the stories coming out of other Front Offices that stated Avila’s trade proposals were “unrealistic” and “laughable.”  More than a couple high-ranking MLB Front Office execs said that Al wasn’t creative enough to be able to design a rebuilding plan and enact it.  That he worked within a very safe box and never took the risks necessary in order to move forward.

6. Other Front Offices said he was too dependent upon an inner circle in the decision-making process.  Some baseball execs said that Al leaned upon others for info and advice much more than they saw with other organizations.  That he wasn’t confident in making independent decisions.  Two of those were David Chadd and Dave Littlefield, who were both broomed by Scott Harris.

Another was Jim Leyland, who was a constant presence at Comerica.  He sat for many of the home games in the GM suite, busily taking notes.  To share with whom?  And he always sat next to Al at every spring training game.  He was part of the War Room during the official drafting process, sitting immediately to Avila’s right with Chris Ilitch to his left.  In an interview, Leyland discussed what his responsibilities were during the draft days.  He was part of the decision-making process.

Al assigned some scouting and roster building duties to JL as well.  It was Leyland who was responsible for the signings of Jordy Mercer and Josh Harrison.  Coincidentally, both of them former Pirates.  Leyland occasionally still helps out the Pirates when needed (ex – helping the new manager acclimate to his job).  He was also responsible for several other swaps of players and personnel with Pittsburgh including getting Don Kelly a coaching job and hiring Tom Prince to manage the Mud Hens.  All of these moves are usually done by the GM, not a “special assistant.”

7. There was no sense of urgency in implementing new policies or meeting a timeline of rebuilding.  In 2015, Avila said that over the winter, the Tigers would develop a Tiger’s Way manual but nothing was done for 6 years until Ryan Garko was hired and put one into place in just several short months.

In 2015, he hired Jay Sartori to develop an analytics department.  But the organization slow-walked its development for over 5 years, hiring just a handful of people while the rest of MLB had departments with 15-40 employees.  In 2021, the analytics department started growing once again which coincided with the hiring of Hinch and Garko.

Given this baseline, what are we seeing now with Scott Harris in charge? Let’s compare the standards outlined above with what is happening now. (Each number above has its corresponding number below.)

1. Chris Ilitch specifically went outside the Tigers’ organization to find a new leader despite multiple journalists all believing he would simply promote 1 of the 3 Asst. GMs.  He interviewed multiple candidates and pulled in a number of outside advisors to give him a well-rounded opinion on who might be the best fit.  Scott Harris has zero ties with the Tigers and worked with no one at Comerica in a previous career.  He came in fully independent.

2. Harris has taken a page from the Dombrowski handbook and has rarely shown his hand.  He does not speak about intent or strategy.  Not a word leaked out about the draft and everyone was surprised at how well everything was kept under wraps.  As maddingly as it may be for fans, Harris is a consummate poker player and appears to be dealing from a position of strength.

3. At his initial press interview, Scott indicated that there were serious problems with the Tigers’ corporate culture that needed to be solved.  They included the acceptance and sharing of new ideas and opinions.  We are reading stories now that mention the back-and-forth discussions between department heads and formulation of policy that involves multiple decision-makers.

4. Harris broomed a substantial part of the organization when he took over, focusing on those departments that regularly could not boast of accomplishments.  He brought none of his friends to Detroit.  No one came with him from San Francisco – or for that matter from the Cubs either.

Instead, he gathered a group of individuals who came from over half a dozen top organizations.  All of whom were gainfully employed, had impressive buzz about them and were desired by other teams.

There are still some former Avila regime members at Comerica.  It will be interesting to see if Sam Menzin and Jay Sartori survive what is expected to be a second round of employee cuts after this year.

5. Harris is still young but he gets impressive props from former bosses like Rob Manfred, Theo Epstein and Farhan Zaidi.  Did we ever hear from others in the industry about Avila’s skills?  Um, no…

6. We still don’t know whether Scott has an inner circle of advisors.  We do read about the changes to the Tigers and how many others are involved in the new decisions.  But we also get a sense that Harris is making a lot of moves on his own so it would appear that he is much more independent and confident in his decision-making.

We also know that Jim Leyland has been returned to being the figurehead that all special advisors are supposed to be.  Mascot and grandfatherly duties at spring training. And he was nowhere to be seen during the drafting process.

7. Since his hiring, Harris has been moving quickly in brooming the organization, expanding departments and hiring many new people.  We are already seeing the results of his moves, esp. in player development and drafting.

At this point, we still do not know at what stage he believes this organization is at.  He may not even know all the answers yet.  He’s given no timelines nor has he shared the strategy that will allow this team to rebuild.  This first year is shrouded in some secrecy and signs point to Harris and his execs doing a reassessment of everything before they make major moves.

But I suspect that this off-season will tell us much, much more about what the Tigers are addressing and how quickly they will move going forward.

It is then that we will be able to more accurately compare the former and current regimes.

Later this week, we’re going to delve into the overall organization – specifically the departments responsible for selecting, developing and growing the talent that feeds a rebuild. Today, let’s keep the conversations focused on the former GM.  (I know that many of you want to want to discuss his trading skills but we’re going to save that topic for Thursday so please hold off on those comments for then.)

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