Word came down late Tuesday afternoon that the Tigers were relieving Dave Dombrowski of his duties as general manager/president.
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Dombrowski might have had his fill of the day-to-day trappings of being a general manager and wants to follow the path of a Theo Epstein or Andrew Freidman or Andy MacPhail and graduate to an overseer title of baseball operations. Owner Mike Ilitch’s son, Christopher, has taken on a bigger role, which could limit the outlandish payrolls the Tigers have maintained in recent years.
Dombrowski brought several AL championship titles to Detroit but could never close out and bring home the one that truly mattered, a World Series title. In a statement, owner Mike Illitch said that Assistant GM Al Avila has been elevated after Dombrowski, whose contract was to expire at the end of the current season, was allowed to leave to pursue “other career opportunities”, with various teams expected to vie for his services. However, they remain 8.5 games above the Minnesota Twins and 11.5 ahead of the Detroit Tigers, with whom they begin a series on Tuesday night. From 2011 through 2014, the Tigers won more games than any other Major League Baseball team, reaching the postseason in all four seasons, including three trips to the ALCS, and another appearance in the World Series, in 2012.
It’s probably ultimately immaterial who made the final decision – perhaps it was mutual – but it is curious that the Dombrowski and the Tigers continued the partnership through the trade deadline.
He presided over Detroit’s AL-record 119 losses in 2003, but he eventually built one of the top rosters in baseball.
“He took that team from the bottom up, made everyone better, and had them winning year after year”.
It’s easy to say now that trading for Miguel Cabrera was an obvious move, but it wasn’t at the time, not when the price was Cameron Maybin and Andrew Miller, whom some considered untouchable prospects.
The free-agent market just got more interesting.
Dombrowski spearheaded an impressive turnaround in Detroit, but failed to deliver a World Series for the Tigers.
“We can make a strong push to win this year” certainly stands out as odd right off the bat. Some executives think that he will go to the Blue Jays where he can either be the general manager or president along side Alex Anthopoulos.
“Obviously it’s tough. I’ve been with Dave since the beginning of my career”, Verlander said. The day before, David Price left, and now Dombrowski is gone, too. “I know everyone here and I’ve been involved with all of our decisions for a long time”. “We were sellers at the deadline, but we still have a good enough nucleus to win this season”.
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Either way, the Tigers went from teetering on the brink of contending to being a complete mess of a team without an ace pitcher, without a star outfielder and without a general manager.
