At long last, Al Avila got his man.
It had been more than two years between the time Avila first contacted veteran manager Ron Gardenhire, late in the 2015 season, and Friday afternoon, when he helped Gardenhire put on the Detroit Tigers home uniform for the first time.
A lot has changed in those two years: The Tigers are no longer a win-now team. They are no longer a collection of household names. Their expectations have fallen fast, from aiming for the World Series to hoping for simple respectability.
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But what has not changed is Avila’s belief that Gardenhire, who was introduced as the 38th manager in franchise history, is the exact kind of baseball man Avila wants running his team.