Avila on moving into new facility: It’s like the Beverly Hillbillies
Al Avila’s voice was going on Thursday, the result of what he called getting sick while flying back and forth between Florida and Detroit. It was difficult timing, since he had a big part in MLB’s second annual Grapefruit League Media Day followed by a speaking role at the Florida Governor’s Baseball Dinner.
Still, his message was pretty sharp. When someone asked about the difference between their old Spring Training complex and the renovated version, he had an analogy ready.
“You guys remember how tiny and small the offices and the clubhouse and the weight room was,” Avila said. “We had no dining area, no kitchen. We had nothing. So to come and see this, is like the Beverly Hillbillies going from a little shack to Hollywood.”
Yes, he used a Beverly Hillbillies analogy.
“How was that,” Avila asked reporters jokingly. “You guys can use that.”
He had plenty more topics in discussion during his first lengthy session with reporters since Spring Training began a few days ago. I wrote on the site today some of his Mike Ilitch memories and what he expects with Chris Ilitch in charge, but here are some other topics …
On a quiet offseason: “I’m actually very happy in the sense that we have a good team on the field. We feel real good about it. Our players, if you’ve talked to our players, they seem genuinely happy to be together again. They really feel they have a chance to win, which is really a great thing because they believe in themselves. I think you see some unity in the team that guys feel more comfortable. I think you’ll see guys pulling for each other more, and right now — including the baseball players, the staff, the front office — we feel very good about this team. We’re happy that it turned out this way.
“Obviously there were some things that we were thinking we would be able to do that quite frankly the market wasn’t there to do. So instead of forcing the issue and doing something that might hurt the team, not only now but in the future, we figured let’s stay the course and let’s play it out for a little bit longer. We feel we have a good team, good enough that we have a chance to win.”
On the offseason market: “There were a lot of teams in transition, a lot of teams rebuilding. There were more teams looking for the younger players and trying to keep their younger players. Guys that we have, guys that are proven Major League producers, quite frankly didn’t have the worth that you would’ve thought. The players that people valued were young guys that you had control over, that were inexpensive, even though maybe they hadn’t produced anything yet but obviously the potential’s there. So that’s the kind of market that we found ourselves in, and quite frankly wasn’t a good market for us to play in, so we decided to stay the course.
“Mr. Ilitch could’ve said, ‘Hey, you know what, I want you to dump salary and go get a couple of A-ball prospects for whoever you can.’ But that never happened. That, to us, was a good positive. I’d rather have this team that I know is a good team. It’s not an old team, it has the majority of players in their prime mixed in with a few young guys and a few old guys. It’s a really good mixture of players. Now, you can argue it’s too right-handed. You can argue we don’t have that premium 100 mph reliever. You can argue all those points, which is all well-taken. But it’s a good team with a chance to win, and it’s better than having a bad team with no chance to win.”
On whether that market will continue: “I just think that it’s almost like real estate, the stock market. There’s always a transition, and every year’s different. Every half-year can be different. I think it’s a phase. You build a club, at some point, there’s going to be a transition in that club. Players don’t play forever. Every club will have a transition. Sometimes it’s multiple clubs. Right now in Major League Baseball, you have an incredible amount of good middle infielders, shortstops, second basemen. There have been other years that have been short on catching. Other years have been short on pitching. Every year’s different, and it’s cyclical. You just have to go with what you can do that’s best for your club today, and then move on and see how things develop.”
On tough decisions looming with Anibal Sanchez and Mike Pelfrey: “The players will tell you what to do based on health and performance. Sometimes that just takes care of itself. Sometimes it could be difficult. Sometimes, just like I mentioned, things kind of develop on their own depending on health and performance. There are going to be some decisions to make at the end. …
“You’ve got Pelfrey coming back. He’s got to come back. He knows. We’ve talked. He’s at a point right now where he’s got to do something. Anibal Sanchez, same situation. He’s got to do something. That can be good in that if you see something good there, now all of a sudden you’ve got good depth. You’re talking about tough decisions. I hope I have a lot of tough decisions to make at the end of spring training. That’s what you hope for, because if those guys are all healthy and all perform well, then the tough decisions you’re happy to make.”
On heavy presence in World Baseball Classic: “We have more than the norm. We have the most, 15 guys. Some of them are guys that Dave Littlefield and David Chadd signed.
“It’s not a big concern at this point really. Our biggest concern was with guys like Fulmer and even Alex Wilson, who’s pitched a lot. Right now, they’re not slated for the first round, so by the time the second round comes in, if they need them, they should be prepared to be able to help at that point without too much concern. The fact that a lot of guys is an honor for us, to tell you the truth. We signed enough guys that we should be covered in spring training when these guys are in and out.”
On inactive offseason making things difficult for out-of-options players like Steven Moya and Dixon Machado: “There are more tough decisions to make, because obviously you can’t keep them all. There already have been some clubs that have put their guys that are in that kind of bubble on waivers going into spring training. I’ve noticed those things, and we’ve elected obviously to not do that, because I just don’t think at this point it does us any good. We’re going to bring everybody to Spring Training. You always have the injury factor, so that might take care of a decision right there. Or at the end of the day, somebody has a good spring and you decide to keep him instead of another guy. We’d rather make those decisions late in spring training as opposed to before even getting into spring training.
“A lot of things can still happen. Last year we made a couple of trades at the end, and it turned out to be OK for us as far as the return. Also, there’s going to be other players available. You might see some players on waivers later on in spring training. You might see some minor-league free agent guys. Every spring training, there’s going to be a transition.”
