Nashville, Tenn. — Anyone running low on holiday shopping ideas, especially if bound by a reasonable budget, might want to toss the list at Al Avila.
He just knocked off a shopping trip in nearly record time that filled the Tigers’ bags and boxes with most of what they were hunting ahead of 2016. Three relief pitchers for their battered bullpen. Two starters for a rotation that needed heavy armaments. A left-fielder. A back-up catcher.
And he did it in his first autumn as Tigers general manager.
Wednesday’s final, essential prize was left-handed reliever Justin Wilson, a power-armed, probable set-up man the Tigers got in an affordable deal (Detroit’s trade goods: prospect pitchers Chad Green and Luis Cessa) with the Yankees.