The Detroit Tigers on Wednesday fired General Manager Al Avila after his failure to rebuild the team into a winner.
"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," said Christopher Ilitch, Detroit Tigers chairman and CEO, in a statement. "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."
Avila was expected to be fired, it was just a matter of when.
The Tigers are 43-68 and are in last place in the AL Central.
Jason Beck of MLB.com writes:
The long rebuild seemed to be turning when the Tigers -- under new manager A.J. Hinch -- jumped to 77 wins last year, their best season since 2016. However, Detroit sputtered this season with a bevy of injuries and struggles from several young players, including Torkelson. An anticipated selloff at last week's Trade Deadline yielded just a couple of prospects for soon-to-be free agents Michael Fulmer and Robbie Grossman.
The Detroit Tigers today announced they have parted ways with Executive Vice President and General Manager Al Avila, effective immediately. pic.twitter.com/i8f6guLNXa
— Tigers PR (@DetroitTigersPR) August 10, 2022