Al Avila's optimism is futile; it's time for Tigers to start selling

SAN DIEGO – The Detroit Tigers are listening.

They should be calling.

General manager Al Avila told reporters on Friday at Petco Park that he remains hopeful the Tigers can back on track. That was a baffling position to take, even before the team’s seventh consecutive loss.

Avila spoke about keeping his options open and how a lot of teams wait until July 1 to decide whether or not to become sellers.

It shouldn’t matter what other clubs choose to do. The Tigers should aggressively be seeking to sell off any and all pieces as soon as possible, starting with outfielder J.D. Martinez.

“If there is any interest out there, I have to open myself up to being flexible and listen to what might come our way,” Avila said.

Avila needs to be more flexible than that. He needs to start blowing up the phones of his fellow GMs, rather than taking a wait-while-losing approach before the July 31 Major League Baseball trade deadline.

“In our situation, right now it behooves us to experiment and explore,” Avila said. “I'm not going to be out there pushing anybody, by any means. I told you guys that's not the way I operate. But clubs will know that we will listen if there's anybody that's interested.”

The Tigers, starting with their GM, need to be a lot less stubborn in the coming days.

They were reluctant to jettison a struggling, veteran reliever until it became obvious to everyone that Francisco Rodriguez couldn’t be trusted in any situation.

Tigers manager Brad Ausmus has been reluctant to move designated hitter Victor Martinez down in the batting order, even though it would behoove them to have J.D. Martinez hitting behind Miguel Cabrera.

Ausmus said what everyone expects him to say, that the players are still trying to win.

“If we start winning, we can probably convince Al to pull his ear from the (phone),” Ausmus said before a 1-0 loss to the Padres on Friday night. “It’s on us to do that.”

The Tigers seem to be fueled by hope these days, rather than reality. Avila spoke about having the month of July to turn things around.

But hoping for a turnaround just seems hopeless.

I asked Avila what he’d seen to make him think a turnaround was possible, and he pointed to “spurts of very good play.”

Even if they do suddenly get marginally better, does anyone really believe this team is capable of a long playoff run?

If the Tigers aren’t going to sign J.D. Martinez to a long-term contract – and there’s nothing to suggest the team plans on adding another significant contract in the future –- than the top priority for Avila should be to get the best deal possible.

Right now.

There’s no reason to wait – certainly no reason to wait for others to call with offers.

It may be true that teams aren’t willing to give the Tigers what they want for a player of Martinez’s caliber. But it would be insane for the Tigers to keep him and only get a compensatory draft pick for him in the future.

Right now, the Tigers are sitting on the sidewalk, waiting for someone to buy their lemonade. If they wait too long in the sweltering summer sun, they'll just be left with a sunburn and a bunch of lemons.

They finally made the right decision Friday in parting ways with a reliever who repeatedly showed he has nothing left. They should take the next logical step and apply that thinking to the rest of the roster.

They should aggressively seek to move J.D. Martinez, Alex Avila and Justin Wilson, among others.

It’s understandable for Ausmus and the players to exude false confidence. They see a lot of games left to play and want to believe there are better days ahead.

But there’s no excuse for Al Avila to delay the inevitable.

Stop waiting by the phone.

Start calling.