SAN DIEGO _ If Al Avila was coached on what to say before his first media session of this year's winter meetings, it would have been too obvious.
In front of an unusually sparse crowd inside the Detroit Tigers' eighth-floor suite at the Manchester Grand Hyatt resort on Monday evening, the buzz-phrase emerged: "Build it back up."
As in: "Our mindset is to move forward and build back up." And: "We're at the point where we need to build it back up."
Reporters were told the Tigers could add free agents as needed and that he was aiming to make the team better in 2020. He said position battles could help push their young players to develop and the organization wanted to compete in the big leagues while continuing the youth movement in the minors.
"That's our intent," he said. And one more time: "To try and build on that."
For the third consecutive winter meetings, the Tigers appear to be a non-factor. They are not in play for first- or second-tier free agents, and they've traded "pretty much everybody that we can trade," Avila said, and they're still answering questions about the Rule 5 draft.
They lost 114 games last season; logic suggests they could be in line to lose 100-plus more. Their farm system is closer to middle-of-the-pack than top tier, and squandered opportunities have added up.
But on this evening, with no needle-moving prospects, Avila played the part of used car salesman while the big issue that continues to plague the Tigers' process was evident.
"As we're here now at the winter meetings," Avila's opening statement began, occasionally glancing at a sheet of paper, "and we're going through this process, as far as the guys here in this room and over there, going over our situation, our mindset is to move forward and build back up."
Three times in his opening statement and seven times total, he mentioned some variation of building back up.
The message the Tigers wanted Avila to deliver was one of optimism _ they sense the fans' frustration reaching a boiling point and they know confidence in the front office is at a low point.
Instead, he offered words that he won't be able to back up.
They are not done with the teardown. They are heading into the season with a mix of inexperienced, underwhelming players similar to last season's. Even if they are ready, and if Avila does have the ability to add free agents as needed _ and they need a bunch of them _ then where's the beef?
Such spin on the Tigers' current situation falls woefully short when just two weeks ago, the team failed to acquire Jonathan Villar, a 28-year-old second baseman who was four Wins Above Replacement last season, is projected by MLBTradeRumors.com to earn $10.4 million in salary arbitration, and was placed on waivers by the Orioles in a cost-cutting move.
The Tigers did not claim Villar, who instantly would have become the team's best player, plug important holes at second base and as a leadoff hitter, give manager Ron Gardenhire some much-needed talent and stability, and perhaps provide some potential trade value for the front office.
None of the other 29 teams claimed Villar, they will argue. There's a reason, they'll say. But this is exactly the kind of move you make if you're a bad team with money to spend trying to get better. After Villar cleared waivers, the Marlins _ yes, the Marlins, who have finished in last place in each of the past two seasons _ traded a borderline prospect for him.
It is here we must note that Avila's boss is Tigers chairman and CEO Christopher Ilitch, and that all signs point to him being far less generous with his family's money for baseball players than his father, Mike, was, which played an important part in the team falling into this rebuilding mess in the first place.
The Tigers have needed three years to arrive at the "build it back up" point. They have received little for their lot of trades, passed on some that they should have made and quite simply have not done a good enough job of building their foundation in player acquisition and development.
Now, with some teardown still left, they are staring at an inadequate pile of construction supplies that have been promised to build the next great Detroit baseball mansion. Their trade resources have been exhausted, outside the hope of a team meeting their high trade demands for left-hander Matthew Boyd.
Their finances will be those of a low- to mid-market team _ the Tigers were awarded a competitive balance pick for meeting market-size and revenue requirements. It likely is not enough to expedite the process.
But the latest message delivered _ one of a last-place team ready to turn the page, of having money to spend, of optimism, of inching ever closer, of excitement _ is awfully similar to the first message of this process: It might be a "retool," not a "rebuild," consistent in the fact that it's more lip service than substance.
