In a surprising move, the Detroit Tigers announced on Tuesday that general manager Dave Dombrowski was released of his contract to pursue other opportunities outside of the organization. Dombrowski's departure comes less than a week after he oversaw the trades of David Price and Yoenis Cespedes. Despite rumors that he might be leaving the Tigers following this season, those two deals seemed to indicate that Dombrowski would be returning for his 15th season as the team's chief decision-maker. 

"I would like to thank Dave Dombrowski for his 14 years of service," Tigers Owner Mike Ilitch said in a statement, via the team's official website. "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."

While it appears that move was mutual, it likely came together relatively quickly. There's no reason to believe that Detroit would have let Dombrowski make those two franchise-altering moves if it had envisioned him leaving in such short order. This seems to indicate that the GM came to ownership, asking it to let him out of his deal. 

After missing the playoffs in Dombrowski's first four seasons as the Tigers GM, his personnel moves enabled them to make the playoffs in five of the past nine years, earning a World Series appearance twice.