2016 Redux

The 2016 Edition of the Tigers Team Was Abrupt 

The amazing thing about the 2016 incarnation of the Detroit Tigers is just simply how terribly they could play at any given moment.

Cut, take two.

The amazing thing about the 2016 incarnation of the Detroit Tigers is just simply how incredibly they could play at any given moment.

I wrote about this eight years ago. 

I am re–writing about it again today.

Because it WAS the roller coaster effect.

Mr. Avila. 

August 4, 2015, the direction of the Detroit baseball franchise changed. Dave Dombrowski was out as the president and general manager and his longtime assistant Al Avila was now in charge. It's reported the Avila had it in his contract that he would be paid like a GM and could not interview with other teams for their GM openings. Suddenly after an awkward trade deadline scenario where we dealt players to teams with records similar to ours after saying we would be buyers, the Tigers were a much worse team not worth watching with a GM … with a son on the team. Not to mention a manager on the hot seat twisting in the wind.

I believe that Avila intended to fire Brad Ausmus but once one of his lieutenants leaked the information to the media, he had to backtrack and "keep" him. Into the 2016 season, in fact. Ausmus was out–managed many times and he also over–managed many times. The Washington Nationals hired a similarly under–qualified manager around the same time the Tigers hired Ausmus when they brought in Matt Williams. Realizing the team was talented but way underperforming, the Nats fired Williams and brought in a true manager, Dusty Baker. The Nats ended up as a good baseball team in 2016.

The change at the top with no–change in the middle manager seat probably caused much more than confusion in Tiger town. The constant rotation of players from Toledo to Detroit and back to Toledo got old — Buck Farmer up and down 19 times in those seasons. Okay, maybe that's part of the reason the Tigers cannot develop players. Constant injuries finally caught up to Anibal Sanchez; Sanchy as they call him. Remember how we questioned the signing of Mike Pelfry from the moment the ink hit the paper. He signed a two–year $16 million contract. Meanwhile, our old buddy Doug Fister (don't get a Tiger fan started on that deal with the Nats) signed a one–year deal with Houston for $7 million. The large contract for Justin Upton (basically the old Prince Fielder albatross of a contract) was lauded but with caution.

It's was a long season of ups and downs. The team looked amazing then amazingly terrible. And that's not to say that eventually Brad Ausums won't be a good manager — it just won't jell in Detroit.