FanPost

Tigers History Of First Round Picks-One HOF, A Few MLB Players, Many Busts

A quick look back at the Tigers history of first round picks and its enough to make you sick to your stomach. Its not that they missed, its that they missed badly. We are talking about guys who never even got close to the majors. At least Dave Dombrowski’s signing of Free Agents put MLB talent on the field and they had to sacrifice back to back years of 1st round picks to do so but if history tells you anything, it was the right call. During Dave Dombrowski’s tenure he placed legitimate MLB players on the field so those who want to crap on his time here, all you have to do is look at their drafting history and you will probably come to the conclusion that his way wasn’t too shabby. His got us Justin Verlander Andrew Miller, Rick Porcello, Nick Castellanos, Cameron Maybin, Chance Ruffin, Jonathan Crawford to just name a few and they were all either on the MLB team or used in a trade to acquire MLB talent. You go deeper and beyond Dave Dombrowski tenure, you will find bust after bust.

This brings us to Al Avila

This past September we all got just a little taste of his drafting prowess (2015) with the call ups of Beau Burrows and Chrisin Stewart. However, its his 2016,2017,2018 and his next two drafts 2019 & 2020 that will shape the Detroit Tigers for the next decade. With the rennasance of the Milwaukee Brewers, Philadelphia Phillies, Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros, you know a tear down and rebuild can work. KC, Cleveland, TB & Oakland have shown that you can draft correctly and make a run before they have to sell off their assets and start over. You can also be Cincinnati, Seattle, and a few others that never make the playoffs and seem to be stuck in the middle or sink to the bottom with never making it to the playoffs. We all do not want that and I am sure Al wants his legacy to be that of a winner.

Don’t judge Al this winter, he doesn’t have much to work with. Don’t judge him this summer if he does not knock your socks off with a huge trade at the deadline. Don’t judge him for what happens in 2019 period. Start judging him on the 2020 team which coincidentally is the final year of his contract. Lost in all this 2018 off season season is that Al only has two years left on his contract. This is important because there has been this "rumor" that the Tigers might be sold. Not just to Dan Gilbert but there’s been rumors ever since Chris Illitch took over the team. I started thinking why doesn’t Chris Illitch just throw a ton of money at teams and get rid of Zimmerman and Cabrera? Well, if he wants to sell the team, I don’t see the point of wasting money to get rid of these players unless you plan on keeping the team for the next decade. Its like finishing your basement before you list your home and find out that you would have received the same amount of money had you not spent that money. If Chris Illitch is really committed to the Detroit Tigers for the next decade, he will find a way to rid himself of these two big contracts in a similar fashion that Mariners and Marlins got rid of Cano and Stanton. If he does not move them, then 2020 when Al Avila contract is up, don’t be shocked to see that the Tigers are for sale. If he extends Al Avila, then that changes things because that’s another 5 year commitment that would only hurt the Tigers resale value. A new owner would definetly want a new GM and a new GM would most likely want to pick his own coach. What if Chris just doesn’t want Al Avila as his GM? Al has been with the organization a very long time and has been a loyal soldier so I don’t see Chris firing him or not renewing him unless he was committed to the Tigers beyond 2020. 2019 off season will be interesting because you don’t want Al Avila being a lame duck GM heading into the 2020 season. if you want him to go out and start signing better qualify FA after the 2019 season, you better extend him 3 to 5 years after this next season.

In case you forgot how bad the Tigers history is in regards to their first round picks, here’s a link. Read and weep!

http://www.espn.com/mlb/draft/history/_/team/det

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of the <em>Bless You Boys</em> writing staff.