Dombrowski Out As Tigers Gm, Avila In

**douglasm** · August-04-15, 04:55 PM

Saw it on the Freep site. I'm of two minds here. The Mariners are underperforming this year, but whose fault is it, GM Jack Zduriencik, manager Lloyd McClendon, the guys in the radio booth? No, it's the players. It's easy to fire a GM, at least easier than firing the whole team, or at least major hunks of it.

**401don** · August-04-15, 05:18 PM

Originally Posted by douglasm

Saw it on the Freep site. I'm of two minds here. The Mariners are underperforming this year, but whose fault is it, GM Jack Zduriencik, manager Lloyd McClendon, the guys in the radio booth? No, it's the players. It's easy to fire a GM, at least easier than firing the whole team, or at least major hunks of it.

Jon Paul Morosi at Foxsports, who still lives in Ann Arbor, says the consensus is that it was not a firing. Dombrowski told Ilitch he would like to explore other options at the end of the year when his contract expired and Ilitch decided it would be best to leave now. This is a favor for Dombrowski as it gives him first crack at the prime jobs coming up. I do think Dombrowski was well respected around the league and gave the Tigers a high level of respectability. On the other hand, Avila should have respect among the many Latino players in the league. At the end of the day, money talks when it comes to free agents. The Tigers have to start developing some of their own pitchers. You cannot simply sign a bunch of veterans every year for a million bucks each and hope it turns into a good bullpen.

**Dbest** · August-04-15, 05:21 PM

Originally Posted by 401don

Jon Paul Morosi at Foxsports, who still lives in Ann Arbor, says the consensus is that it was not a firing. Dombrowski told Ilitch he would like to explore other options at the end of the year when his contract expired and Ilitch decided it would be best to leave now. This is a favor for Dombrowski as it gives him first crack at the prime jobs coming up. I do think Dombrowski was well respected around the league and gave the Tigers a high level of respectability. On the other hand, Avila should have respect among the many Latino players in the league. At the end of the day, money talks when it comes to free agents. The Tigers have to start developing some of their own pitchers. You cannot simply sign a bunch of veterans every year for a million bucks each and hope it turns into a good bullpen.

Nice post, totally agree..

**Jimbo** · August-04-15, 06:15 PM

Originally Posted by Dbest

Nice post, totally agree..

Does this mean another few years with Alex Avila. The best .185 hitter in baseball.

**Dbest** · August-04-15, 07:05 PM

Originally Posted by Jimbo

Does this mean another few years with Alex Avila. The best .185 hitter in baseball.

I listened to the press conference and he said the whole father/son thing has been awkward from the get go. He even specifically mentioned asking DD not to draft his son. Hard to argue with what they got out of that pick, but its time to move on. I was glad he addressed it, what he said may have been for show though...