After 22 years with the Detroit Tigers organization, the team has decided to replace their general manager.
Avila served seven years in the position after he was hired in August 2015, during which the team finished below .500 all but one season.
An excerpt of a statement from the Tigers organization attributed to owner Chris Illitch was shared by Sports Illustrated, and can be read below.
“Once I decided to make a change, I sat down with Al and thanked him for his nearly 22 years of service to our organization. Al’s loyalty and dedication has served as an example to all during his time as a leader in our baseball operations department.
“I will oversee the search process for our next baseball operations leader, in collaboration with several members of our baseball and business operations executive teams.
“I want to re-establish our momentum and progress towards building a winning team and I am driven to find a talented executive to help us do that. They’ll be entering an organization with many foundational elements in place and an exciting path forward. Tigers fans deserve a winning team, and I’m highly focused and committed to deliver that to people of Detroit and Michigan.”
Illitch laid out some direct goals for the franchise.
“With new baseball operations leadership will come a fresh perspective toward evolving our roster and maximizing our talent to reach our objectives. To be clear, our goals are to build a team that wins on a sustainable basis, qualifies for the playoffs, and ultimately wins the World Series. ”
The Tigers were 43-68 as of the firing.
Avila’s overall record remains at 404-573.
The team did not make the playoffs during his tenure, and traded away fan favorites including Justin Verlander, who is having a Cy Young caliber season this year ate age 39, and JD Martinez.
Wow.
Chris Ilitch on shedding payroll and trading away players like Justin Verlander and JD Martinez: "I didn't trade those players away. Right? Our general manager did." pic.twitter.com/yTuQodyVOO
— Brad Galli (@BradGalli) August 10, 2022
Potential candidates for a new GM include Dana Brown, the Braves’ VP of Scouting, and Randy Flores, the Cardinals’ Director of Scouting, among others.
