The Detroit Tigers have surprised at 36-37 after finishing with the worst record in the Major Leagues last year.

However, Al Avila says the club won't change their plans, either this season or in the long-term.

"It's good that the team is winning," Avila said. "What it shows is that we have young players here that have talent.

"When you put together a team of good young players like we have, you would hope that they rise to the occasion and play to their capabilities. Some will, some won't, just like when you draft players or you sign players in the Latin market and you bring them through your system. The hope is that you have more that perform well than don't, and right now we have been performing well. [Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire] has done a great job, [pitching coach Chris] Bosio's done a great job, the coaching staff. We're on a good path, and there's nothing bad about that."

The Tigers are in the playoff hunt, but they won't be buyers on the trade market in the wake of Miguel Cabrera's season-ending injury. Avila also admitted that he'll listen to offers, although it's too early to say whether Nicholas Castellanos and Michael Fulmer could be on the move.

"I don't have a mandate to trade anyone," Avila said. "And we've not picked up the phone, and we're not going to pick up the phone and say we're trading so-and-so. That's not our intent here.

"Our intent here is to be open-minded, and if somebody offers us something that quite frankly makes us better as we move forward, then we have to really seriously consider that. And as we do move forward, which are the guys here that we feel may be here for the long-term? That's not a decision that we could make a month ago, or that we can make right now. I think that's a decision that, as we move forward, it will get us closer to that."