The Detroit Tigers are back! Not really, but recently hired President of Baseball Operations Scott Harris has turned the team after their 2015 fire sale and subsequent fall off.
The Tigers made it back to the playoffs in 2024 after 10 years of spending October at home, and they won the wild card round against the Houston Astros. There were many factors involved in the Tigers playoff run: the stellar bullpen, Tarik Skubal’s dominance, some clutch hitting and base running, good defense, and, of course, luck.
But most of those playoff drivers were the results of different roster moves, and sometimes even the lack of roster moves. And it could be argued that the biggest of these drivers was manager AJ Hinch. But he doesn’t play the game, the players on the roster do. And Scott Harris shapes the roster. So, an argument, a strong argument, can be made that Scott Harris is ultimately responsible for the Tigers’ reappearance in the playoffs.
Harris’s true impact started in 2023 when he acquired catcher Carson Kelly, who had been released by the Arizona Diamondbacks. With Kelly needing a roster spot, the Tigers released then-backup catcher Eric Haase. Kelly spent part of both 2023 and 2024 splitting time behind the dish. Fast forward to the 2024 trade deadline, and the Tigers were able to flip the once-cast-aside Kelly for two prospects from the Texas Rangers.
Some other strong moves from Harris were his most recent free agent class, signed before the 2024 season. The class included Andrew Chafin, Gio Urshela, Jack Flaherty, and Mark Canha. All on expiring contracts, Harris flipped three of them for prospects and released Urshela in favor of the team’s younger players.
All of these trades of course gave the Tigers an abundance of young talent and made an immediate impact, notably shortstop Trey Sweeney.
However, Harris could’ve easily gotten even more highly regarded young talent, but he passed on the opportunity in favor of the talent he already had. That opportunity was the potential trade of Tarik Skubal, widely regarded as the most dominant pitcher in baseball, who still has two more years on his contract, Skubal would’ve easily been worth what the other three Tigers got combined. But, Harris held onto Skubal in what was probably the right move, especially since he is presumably going to win the Cy Young award as the best pitcher in the American League.
Under Harris, the Tigers have come a long way. The Al Avila tenure, especially towards the end, was a tough watch. Lucky for the Tigers, Scott Harris is in town now, and with the way the team has been trending of late, the future is looking bright.
