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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.

Major props to Hinch for the early hook before the wheels come off. While this might complicate pitching decisions later in the week, I LOVE the "win now" urgency.

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

Mario > Benetti > Everyone Else > Shep I like Benetti better when he’s with Petry, because Dan doesn’t indulge his silliness. However, I like Dirks much more than Petry. That’s my quandary and why it’s not easy being me.

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

Whoever is currently in charge says they know best what to do and how to do it. I still remember Avila (or Chris?) declaring the rebuild was over. Then we went out and lost about 200 games the next couple of seasons. And yeah, Harris may do a good job. But the results will be on the field and the standing, not by talk.

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.

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"

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

IMO, Shep always seemed like he was just filling in. Like a temporary broadcaster. I never disliked the guy, he always just seemed...meh.

The Detroit Tigers pitching staff is ...

I WANT FREE CURLY FRIES

I don't mind jokes and stories in moderation. A decent joke or a concise story can really add to the experience. I like Dan on TV because he calls the game as though he's on radio. I acknowledge that a lot of people hate that very thing.

I’m just saying I think the Lions are the better team. I also think water tends to find its level around this time and through the next few weeks. Weird stuff happens in the first few weeks, that we all look back on in week 15 and say “how did they beat them?!” Because teams like Cincinnati will go on a run and win 8 of their next 10, while teams like Washington will lose eight in a row. Not claiming either of those will happen, but they tend to. It’s a week to week league to some extent, but the better team should still win more often than not. There will never be a year with 16 teams at 9-8 and the other 16 at 8-9. Though that would be fun.

FA is a harder task because they are expected to come in day one and start. They also need to be a culture fit with the organization and have a clean record off the field. These are a lot of boxes to have to check before bringing someone on. They would probably have more success in FA just finding players that meet box 1 of getting it done on Sunday but that is not how Brad builds his teams. Hard to argue with his method since it’s working even with the FA misses.

You're in the minority

Overall, I like the younger analyst on TV to send the signal to the audience that this is not just an old fart game. Kirk Gibson was MY Tiger growing up but i'm into my final few years in the workforce and have kids in college. The next generation needs to be represented. Craig Monroe probably won't resurface but, others can. Carlos Pena has been a very interesting voice when i've tuned into him. Seems like we have a lot to gain from more Alex Avila, Andy Dirks and others who may want to stay in the game rather than just count their paychecks. I don't know how we ever get him in the booth but Justin Verlander after he retires would be interesting.

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.

During my now 36 years of running a small business I have always said success comes to those who best manage change and that is so true with this years Tiger management team after the trade deadline. So no matter if MLB changes opener rules Harris and Hinch will adapt. Perhaps that’s the biggest difference from the prior management team.

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,

Fangraphs has it at 87 pct.

Harris Walz sign humblebrag 😉

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.

I can't believe this. This is nuts. We're talking Magic Numbers and ****. Wow.

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.

He asked for one, we gave him a carton

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.