Trammell on Hall of Fame, Tigers rebuild, Gardenhire

Came back from a post-Thanksgiving week off by chatting with Alan Trammell and Lance Parrish last weekend during their annual baseball camp at Wayne State University. Trammell talked about his renewed Hall of Fame candidacy in a story on the site, but he also talked about a number of other topics, including the Tigers’ current rebuilding project and his second career teaching the game. Some tidbits …

• On his love for teaching the game: “Just thinking back years and years ago, I think about the people that mentored me, and I’ve kind of given the same message to kind of pass the torch. Part of my job and my duty is that, no longer do I play, but I did experience a lot of things and I have some knowledge that I would like to pass along. I’m really just passing along information that I was given. And I guess to a certain degree, as we get older, it still kind of keeps us young at heart. It keeps me active. But I do love the game. There’s no place I’d rather be than on a field. This is the next-best thing.”
• On the Tigers’ rebuilding project: “I know that we’ve got a huge challenge, but we all know that. It’s always a challenge. Even if you’re supposedly picked to win, it’s never going to be handed to you. But the process of what we had to do is what I’d call painful. I think the fans have, from the reactions that I’m listening and reading, it sounds like they understand it’s something that we had to do. Whether you like it or not, it’s painful, but it had to be done, and I think [GM] Al [Avila] and the guys are doing what they need or what they have to do. We’ll see what happens. I know it’s probably, realistically, going to be tough for a couple years. But who knows? That’s why you play.”
• On new Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire: “The one thing you know, and I witnessed it, is Gardy has been through similar as far as rebuilding, so he’s not afraid. There’s got to be patience. That’s not to say that it’s not going to hurt sometimes. Some times it’s going to hurt more than others. That’s always going to be the case, whether you’re good or bad. I hope the fans understand that. I think the product is going to have some energy. I think there’s obviously probably going to be some mistakes, but that’s part of the learning process. I’m a big Gardy fan, not that I wasn’t with Brad; I’m just saying that we’ve got to move on. I’m sorry for what happened but that’s part of baseball we all understand when we get into it. But Gardy’s a good baseball man, and I think for what we were looking for, for this new position that we’re in, that he was the right man for the job.”
• On his experiences from Tigers’ last big rebuild in 2003–05: “We’re going to have a lot of new players, a lot of young players, a lot of people that need to learn the ropes so to speak. But the opportunity is here. Thinking back to the start of my career, and for anybody that’s ever played in the Major Leagues, first of all you need an opportunity. The opportunity is here for I don’t know how many guys. Now it’s up to them to take advantage of that. There’s jobs open. Go for it. That’s kind of the message that I would give: ‘Hey, guys, it’s here for you. You want to play in the big leagues? Well, here’s your opportunity.’ It’s a good time to be a Tiger, it really is, if you want to try to make it.”
• On seeing prospects he has worked with in Tigers system the last few years now nearing the big leagues: “We’re starting to see when guys tighten their games up, and that’s really what a Major League player is. It’s not that they’re perfect — nobody ever is — but they have less mistakes. And that’s what we’re preaching from the organization. You learn how to do it correctly and you learn how to do it right, and when you become a Major League player, the difference is less mistakes. That’s the demand of you. If you’re going to stay at this level, it’s pretty cut and dry, and the guys that make less mistakes have a better chance to stay. And that’s one of the things that I felt like, from the upbringing that I had, that I was taught very well. But there are guys here that are going to be given opportunities.”