I have to say this is a bad hire, even though we're years away from contending and this job will consist mainly of babysitting young players. It's really disappointing to hear about how far behind we were in analytics, I never thought we were leading the pack but after JV's turnaround due to the wealth of information he was given in Houston just shows how far behind we were. Ausmus said that he didn't use a lot of advanced stats because he didn't have access to them with the Tigers, that's a big factor in the team being disappointing over the years. Usage of analytics could have been the difference between a disappointing playoffs and winning a world series, especially considering that at one time had 4 current or future Cy Young winners in their rotation.
I understand that the team needs to get younger, faster, cheaper and every mid market franchise has to do that, even the Yankees did that, but it's really sad when you understand how far the front office has to go. I have very little confidence in Avila, he might draft or collect some young talent by default but he's not going to outsmart other GM's, especially when he thought signing Mike Pelfrey was a good idea. If we had a strong analytics department, that never would have happened.
I would have much preferred a Gabe Kapler or another young guy who brings a fresh perspective to this franchise. Gardenhire says the right thing about analytics but I can't help but think that he sounds like your grandpa saying he wants to try snapchat.
