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Detroit Tigers: 3 players the organization failed or mishandled

By Matthew Scheidel |
Boston Red Sox v Detroit Tigers
Boston Red Sox v Detroit Tigers / Mark Cunningham/GettyImages
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The Detroit Tigers have failed or mishandled a lot of players over the years

The Detroit Tigers have done a lot of players dirty over the years. Virtually every talented player under the Al Avila regime was done a disservice due to the incompetence of Avila and the player development staff he had.

In addition, there were also some stars the Tigers have had over the years that the team just downright failed. The team had so much talent in the early 2010s. It's a shame they never won a ring.

Today, we're going to highlight a few of those players. There will be two younger players that the Avila adiministration mishandled, and one player that was around on those teams in the 2010s that the team completely failed. Let's get started.

RHP Alex Faedo

Faedo was drafted in the first round in 2017 out of the University of Florida. He pitched in the College World Series that year and was hitting 97 mph on the radar gun with his fastball. But when he got to the Tigers minor league system, he was hanging around 94. Everyone has been wondering about that since he was drafted. Well, we may finally know why that was the case.

Back in spring training, it was revealed that the Tigers had Faedo change his arm slot when he was drafted to avoid injury, according to an article from Evan Petzold of The Detroit Free Press. As it turns out, he ended up having Tommy John surgery in 2020 anyway.

This spring, the Tigers had him change his arm slot back to a three-quarters arm slot. Here's what Faedo had to say about the change, according to the same article from the Freep.

It's more of my natural arm slot," Faedo said. "They've always been like, 'When did you start trying to raise your arm slot?' I was like, 'When I first got here.' It was one of those things with prior people (in the organization) that I wasn't throwing correctly. As a player, you're like, 'All right, I have to change, this is what I'm being told.' (The new coaches) relayed to me that was incorrect. What I was doing (in college) was correct, like the guy that they drafted.
Alex Faedo

I imagine this has got to be frustrating for Faedo. Being told to change something that didn't need to be changed only to have it not work and then be told that what he was doing orginally was right all along has got to be incredibly infuritating.

To add insult to injury, there's been some growing pains in changing back to his old arm slot. He had a rough spring training, posting an 11.81 ERA in 5.1 IP. His slider looked good, but his fastball was sitting at about 92 mph with no life whatsoever. It was straight as an arrow, and even minor league hitters were all over it.

You really have to feel for him. He was a first-round pick for a reason. He was really good at Florida. The Tigers completely messed him up while trying to cover their rear ends. Now at age 27, his chances to make an impact at the big league level appear slim at best.

RHP Matt Manning

Another first-round pick, Manning was selected ninth overall in 2016. He was Al Avila's first draft pick. He's another top pitching prospect that hasn't panned out so far, and the Tigers did him no favors.

In spring training, Manning talked about what he wished the Tigers had told him to do in the minors as opposed what they actually told him to do. Here's a Twitter thread, again from Petzold.

Manning said later in that thread that all he did was use his fastball in the lower minors, and since it was working, he never changed anything. But when he got to Triple-A, teams started hitting his fastball, so he had to make some adjustments.

The fastball has always been Manning's bread and butter. He used to be able to touch triple digits with it, but various circumstances have caused the velo to dip over the years. What's always been the key to his success is his abilty to command the heater. When he does, he's lights out. When he doesn't, it's not pretty.

Still, having good secondary pitches is obviously very important for a starting pitcher. If he had a plus curveball to go along with his fastball, it would make him that much better of a pitcher. His slider is still a work in progress as well. He's basically had to develop in the big leagues, which is not something that anybody should have to do unless they're a Rule 5 pick.

The Tigers mishandled two straight first-round pitchers. If that isn't an indictment on the Avila regime, then I don't know what is.

Miguel Cabrera

You can't say the team mishandled Miguel Cabrera, at least early on. He started out at third base, where he looked rough, and moved him to first base, where he was much better. They moved him back to third when they signed Prince Fielder, and he held his own. At the plate, he's been one of the greatest hitters of all-time. He's been one of the greatest Tigers of all-time, even though his best days are far behind him.

Where the Tigers failed him comes in the fact they never won a ring with him. That's just criminal. They had a player of this caliber and couldn't build a proper team around him to win a championship. They won a pennant with him in 2012, but never got all the way to the top. That's so tragic.

If the Tigers had won a World Series during the period from 2006-2014, then that would have made this long rebuild much easier to stomach, at least for me personally. Coming up short so many times, especially with all the talent they bad just makes all this losing so much harder to swallow.

Not winning a ring when Miguel Cabrera was in his prime is one of the biggest tragedies in sports history. He may have won a championship with the Marlins in 2003, but the Detroit Tigers absolutely failed him. They couldn't build a championship team around him.

Next. Detroit Tigers: This team is an embarrassment. dark

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