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Exactly this. So Al Avila drafted and signed some young ballplayers. You could have done that. Maybe I could have done that. Acquiring the ballplayers is, relatively speaking, the easy part. Developing them into contributing big leaguers is the hard part, and as a wise man once said, Al Avila couldn't develop film. Half of this lazy article was naming all these guys on the team who were first acquired by Avila. The list included first-rounders Tork, Mize, Manning, Faedo. These are success stories? With periodic exceptions, they've ranged from flashes of slightly above average to awful. Tony Paul also named Jackson Jobe, who has even stepped on the field during a game yet. Of all the first rounders, Riley Greene was the one nut the squirrel found, and he was a consensus pick at #5 overall everyone would have taken—as with Tork and Mize. Then there are the second rounders: Parker Meadows, who took six years to become a contributor here. Kind of a long time for a second rounder, but that's how long it took to iron out the funk in his game. Dingler took four to get his shot. That's pretty normal. But between them? Daniel Cabrera, stuck in neutral and serving as org depth, and Nick Quintana, now floundering in the Reds' system. Al's last two second-rounders, Izaac Pacheco (2021) and Peyron Graham (2022), are still dog-paddling their way through A-ball (although Graham did find his way to Erie for the last game of the season). Third-rounders? Kody Clemens (nepo pick). Andre Lipicius. Trei Cruz. Either gone, done, or out of the Top 30. In the meantime, who have been the most impactful picks for us? Tarik Skubal (9th round). Colt Keith (5th). Kerry Carpenter (19th). Will Vest (12th). Basically lotto ticket rounds, even Colt Keith, the only fifth-rounder from that draft worth a damn. How about undrafted free agent signings? Tony Paul names Jason Foley, Wenceel Perez, and Keider Montero. All from 2016. Foley started seeing trigger time in 2021 and did OK, but didn't really turn it on until last year, the first season of the Harris administration. The other two took eight years—or well clear of the Avila misdevelopment curse—to even start contributing at the big league level. But here's the main takeaway, in case you're missing it: not one of these guys was a success during the Avila years. Not one. They didn't succeed until Scott Harris came onboard and remade the entire scouting and development function. Even Riley Greene, the one success story Al Avila could have fairly claimed, didn't start revving it up until Harris came aboard. The reason any of Avila's guys are even in the organization is because Harris did a deep dive into everyone in the system, keeping those he and his team thought they could save, and getting rid of the rest. In any large group of players there will always be a few who can be saved. That's what's happening here, not Al Avila with some genius nine-year plan in which he cleverly plans to fail spectacularly for seven years then succeeds only after he's been gone for two. And don't get me started on the part about analytics. We're supposed to believe that Al Avila is basically the godfather of Tigers analytics, and Harris's contribution was merely to expand on its usage? I mean, really. Come on.

If we are bashing Benetti, I will say my hope is we don't get JR Simmons telling uninteresting acting stories while the Tigers are clinching this weekend. I've about had enough of that.

He also was bad at hiring people to develop players. Looking at the roster, there's a lot of players he drafted. But it took better people to find the right team to actually develop them.

Al couldn't develop film, let alone ballplayers.

So a second cousin of mine/family friend who used to play for the Wings died last week. Larry Trader, who I referred to as Cousin Larry. He was born in my dad's hometown of 1,500 people and our families spent time together growing up. More with a couple of siblings than with Larry himself. Larry, through the other side of his family, was a cousin of ex-Flame Jim Peplinski. I hadn't spoken to Larry in about 30 years but am sharing a stirring story from his hometown paper on his death, as well as his stats card, as an example of a journeyman player who like so many was a big star growing up and into junior, succeeded in making the NHL and bounced around a lot. Still, patched together a pretty interesting career that paid him quite well for a decade and gave him a lot of stories. Even did some minor league coaching afterwards. NHL including two Original Six teams, AHL, Canadian national team that won a bronze in Moscow, European leagues where he was treated well. A couple of personal stories I have. Larry was called up to the Habs for a cup of coffee one season in the late '80s after Larry Robinson broke his leg. I flew to Montreal from University of Toronto for a game and Larry hooked me up with a ticket to sit beside his wife in with all the other wives. Standing in line to get in at the Forum, I mentioned to a couple of people that my cousin plays for the Habs but you'd know nothing about him. In fact, speaking to the intensity with which the Habs are followed in Montreal, people in those pre-Internet days starting rhyming off a bunch of stats and trivia about Larry, even though he was the fringiest of players. After the game, we went down to the dressing room area (I didn't actually go inside the dressing room) so the wives could kiss their husbands goodbye before the husbands could take a train to Quebec for a game the next night. Then me, Larry's wife and a bunch of other wives all dressed in their fur finery, including Patrick Roy's then-wife, went out for ice cream at a Montreal restaurant. The wives were treated like royalty and I'm sure everyone wondered who was the slobby student with them. A few years later I'm backpacking in Europe, knew Larry was by now playing in Austria, had understood from his mom that she'd told Larry and his wife I was coming and I was to call when I got to his town. In fact they knew nothing about this when I showed up but they took me in and we hung out for a few days. Austrian league didn't play as many games, so it was mostly watching TV before and after Larry went to practice. But one night we went over to the apartment of Moe Lemay and his wife and played cards. That was a riot. Lemay used to play for the Bruins. https://www.eganvilleleader.ca/breaking-news/the-extraordinary-life-and-hardships-of-a-small-town-hero/ The extraordinary life and hardships of a small-town hero

You watch/listen to anyone for an entire baseball season and they are going to start to annoy you. To me the simple fact is when given a passable partner Benetti is elite and we are lucky to have him in comparison to the last couple years. Now when paired with a bad partner and we’ve had a few of them this year he tends to try and do to much to help them.

In honor of the Magic Number being 4 - I give you a childhood favorite of mine - who wore the number. Aurelio Rodriguez

Erie wins 3-2.

Perez trying to look all cool after the catch but can’t hold back the grin

nothing in there we haven't rehashed here a dozen times. There is nothing wrong with holding that Avila did not do a bad job acquiring young talent but that that is only one - albeit important part, of a GM/POBOs job and that Avila was bad at almost all of the of the rest of those parts. His FA signings were on balance bad, he got his clock cleaned as a trader, and while he may have known what direction the franchise had to go coaching/technology wise, he lacked sufficient energy/urgency about getting there.

Happy HOCKEY IS BACK DAY!

To be honest today is the first time I felt certain they’re going to make it. I don’t know what the odds will show tomorrow but it’s got to be 90 now? a week from tonight we will be watching our team in the playoffs.

It’s sunny in my driveway right now.

Comerica Park - Detroit, MI Game Time Forecast: Partly Sunny 71 Listen: 97.1 The Ticket Watch: Bally Sports Det Starters: RHP Zack Littell RHP Keider Montero

Twins already down 3-0 in the 1st.

I’m starting to get excited. I’m starting to enter into Deadpool terrain, and making an educated wish.

Perez taking that extra base was a veteran move.

Erie won the Eastern League title. Cool.

Posts like this are the reason I still come here. Thank you.

Try telling Tony Paul this, I guess. In any event, to the degree that drafting is a crapshoot but development is less so, I have some level of confidence that the Harris team knows better than most what high school players they select will develop into with the next three to five years.

Avila is responsible for employing the team of scouts who gave him the advice on whom to draft, so he takes full responsibility for the advice they give him, and that goes double if he actually followed it. Yes, Jake Rogers is left from sending the Astros Justin Verlander, who could still pitch at the top of his game for anyone who could unlock it, plus $40 million. And Olson is the one trade piece Harris inherited whom he could save and get value out of.

well, I might like to think so, but Randy Smith apparently could not.

bumper sticker on Tony Paul's car: "Al Avila - Not Completely Incompetent"

I am tired of that and the endless feel good human interest stories and other sideshow events. Bally can always launch a soap oprea if they wanted. I want a baseball broadcast

Thank you for sharing all of that, really interesting stuff.

Boy, the beat media sure do miss Al Avila and his way of making their jobs so, so much easier.

I love Benetti and I'll be thrilled to have him for as long as the Tigers possibly can. I have no problem with him working other games, and don't take it as some slight on the Tigers that he does so. He does go off the rails occasionally, but that's OK with me. He's a marked improvement over Mario and Shep, and that's all I care about.

The dad has also chimed in agreeing with this NIL agent. Could very well be true or then again maybe not. NIL agents have burst on the scene and they aren’t real agents per se. No agent worth their salt calls a verbal promise with an assistant coach a closed deal and sells their client on it.

The Detroit Tigers pitching staff is ...

I remember liking Bob Ufer. I was a child.

I've listened to Dan Dickerson for several entire baseball seasons and he has never annoyed me even once. I agree that we are lucky to have Benetti in comparison to the last couple of years.

Rules committee in pro sport never seem to miss an opportunity to shoot their sports in the foot.

None of this really matters anymore. It’s truly a week to week league. Anyone can beat anyone. Just look at this past week. Who had Carolina dominating at Vegas. SF losing to a decimated LA team in a stadium taken over by Niner fans Broncos destroying the Bucs on the road Hapless Giants beating Cleveland on the road Saints scoring only 1 TD and losing Redskins crushing Cincy on the road and again scoring on every possession.

Friday: Ty Cobb.

I mentioned this around Labor Day weekend. The 7-2 in the Orioles/Royals string of 9 games has been so huge in this run. 85-77 seemed best case back then, and now it would be a disappointment.

I think the primary lesson team have to take from the Tigers is that if the back of the rotation is weak, and you can match an opposite hand reliever with one of your weak starters, the you clearly get an advantage in platoon splits. All you need to exploit the strategy is a deep bullpen, since you are burning one extra pitcher at the start of the game, but deep bullpens are pretty much a standard requirement today anyway. If the league doesn't step in to stop the practice, I can't see why other teams won't follow. Then eventually teams will respond on the other side of the ball by increasing their valuation of switch hitters and/or hitters with lower platoon splits,

ok, who had "before the season even starts" for his kwahi leonard injury bingo? cause he's already having knee surgery.

Blewett is a very appropriate name for a Twins player

Opposite. Twins losing 4-0.

What's sad is that I have to check carefully now, because a lot of what's real looks like it should be satire. Or maybe that's wishful thinking.

Henderson and Higgins for Houston. Git-r-dun Brad!

First rule of warfare is that you can't start one and then complain you get back worse than you gave. Not the way it works in the real world.

On top of Jim Leyland day that was my 6 year old daughter's first time at a Tigers game.

Minds will be melted when he brings Flaherty back as an FA in the offseason.

Maeda, Baez, and Torkelson better show up to Lakeland in the BSOTLs next February.

My only care on this right now is the hope we are picking 31st or 32nd.