In a surprising move, the Detroit Tigers have released general manager and team president Dave Dombrowski from his contract.

Owner Mike Illitch made the announcement Tuesday, August 4th. With Dombrowski's departure, assistant general manager Al Avila will be promoted to general manager and vice president of baseball operations.

Illitch released the following statement regarding the move, courtesy of Tigers.com:

I would like to thank Dave Dombrowski for his 14 years of service. Together we've enjoyed some success, but we're still in aggressive pursuit of our ultimate goal: to bring a World Series title to Detroit and Michigan. I've decided to release Dave from his contract in order to afford him the time to pursue other career opportunities. I feel this is the right time for the Tigers to move forward under new leadership.

Dombrowski has been in Detroit since 2002. The Tigers won 938 games during his tenure and made five playoff appearances, according to his Wikipedia page.

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