This is a monster month for Detroit Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris.
He will run his first draft for the Tigers starting Sunday night. The trade deadline approaches on Aug. 1. And at some point, he’ll have to make some big decisions about some prospects. Namely, when is he going to start calling guys up?
No pressure, Scott.
Just don’t screw this up.
“I couldn’t be more excited about the draft,” Harris said last week on Bally Sports Detroit.
For good reason.
The Tigers should walk away with a stud in the first round. They hold the No. 3 overall pick in a draft that most believe has three clear elite prospects, though they’re not without their risks: LSU outfielder Dylan Crews, the winner of the Golden Spikes Award as the top amateur baseball player in the country (but there are rumors he wants more than slot value); LSU right-hander Paul Skenes, arguably the best draft-eligible pitcher since Stephen Strasburg in 2009 (but we know all too well what can happen to pitching prospects); and Florida outfielder Wyatt Langford, who might have a higher upside than Crews (but with a shorter track record in college after sitting for most of his freshman year).
So, in many ways, the pressure will be taken off Harris — at least, with the team’s first pick. He could simply take the one of the three who falls to him.
Now, there could be a little twist that will actually benefit the Tigers: The Pittsburgh Pirates could take a high school bat at No. 1, and pay him under slot value to save up money for later picks, leaving Harris his choice between the two collegiate stars left after Washington Nationals pick at No. 2.
But no matter what happens, the Tigers are positioned perfectly to get a fantastic prospect.
“We’re gonna get a really talented player at No.3, but it’s important to remember we got 20 more picks after that,” Harris said on Bally Sports Detroit. “We have 20 more opportunities to find pitchers who can pound the zone with their best shapes, who can keep hitters off balance. We have 20 more picks to find hitters that dominate the strike zone, and hitters who are athletic enough to be real assets on defense. So that’s what we’re gonna look for. We’re gonna try to take the best player we can find at every pick, and we’re pretty excited about the depth of talent in this draft.”
When you consider the state of this organization, and the desperate need for offensive weapons, I’d be stunned if the Tigers don’t take a bat with their first pick.
In all likelihood, a college bat.
Besides, Tigers fans would freak out if they took another pitcher.
But I’m telling you, Skenes is wicked talented.
FRIDAY NIGHT MOVES: Jonathan Schoop designated for assignment by Detroit Tigers just before All-Star break
An entirely new draft room
After Harris officially took over the organization in early October, he promptly dumped Scott Pleis, who was the amateur scouting director under former GM Al Avila, and hired Rob Metzler, the Rays’ senior director of amateur scouting for seven seasons, as his assistant GM.
Harris also hired Mark Conner from the San Diego Padres as the new amateur scouting director.
So that’s the new brain trust.
How will those three approach this draft? Nobody knows for sure.
Which casts some doubt about what the Tigers will do.
“We are debating long into the night about every player,” Harris said.
How is Harris doing?
At such a crucial moment for this organization, this seems like the right time to take a deeper look at some of Harris’ decision-making, if only to better understand what he might do in the draft.
More than anything, he has been pragmatic and methodical, willing to look for talent anywhere, as he studies this organization and tries to get a firm grip on what it needs.
Entering this season, as several pitchers were recovering from arm injuries, Harris decided to beef up the Tigers’ rotation with a couple of one-year deals: Matthew Boyd for $10 million and Michael Lorenzen for $8.5 million. It made sense with the uncertainty about when the team would get back Tarik Skubal, Casey Mize and Matt Manning.
Boyd has been lost to Tommy John surgery, and Lorenzen is headed to the All Star Game.
Meanwhile, Skubal and Manning have returned to a team that is still fighting for the American League Central. Even though it has lots of holes.
By focusing on the pitching side, Harris left the offense vulnerable. Granted, he can’t be asked to fix everything in less than a year. But every decision he makes has consequences.
Instead of making a big splash in free agency and getting a bat, Harris has just nibbled around the edges, signing dozens of players while the offense remains inconsistent.
This team has so many holes that watching Harris’ moves is like watching somebody famished at a buffet. He grabs a little bit of everything. All kinds of ways.
He has tried to add depth and talent, signing players to minor-league contracts, trading for others and even doing a bit of Dumpster diving with some waiver claims.
And I mean that in the nicest way possible.
Some of those moves look smart.
Like picking up Zach McKinstry (via trade with the Chicago Cubs for minor-league arm Carlos Guzman).
Or claiming Tyler Holton and Andy Ibáñez off waivers (from the Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers, respectively).
Or signing Chasen Shreve to a minor-league deal and getting Mason Englert as a Rule 5 draft pick (from the Rangers).
All of those have been successful, to varying degrees.
But some of his other moves have fizzled out. Like trading for Nick Maton and putting him at third base. That didn’t work.
Harris seems to take a shotgun approach to finding talent. Again, that’s admirable. He seems to say: If I keep shooting, eventually I’ll hit something.
Harris is coy about how his crew is doing it, talking about getting guys with pitch shapes and particular swings and approaches.
To this point, Harris and his front office has been able to find some players, seemingly out of nowhere.
Which is the same approach needed for a successful draft.
So, even more than that No. 3 pick, I can’t wait to see who they select in the later rounds.
The trade deadline
After the draft, one of the biggest questions facing Harris will be what will he do at the trade deadline?
It is likely that Harris will trade pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez.
So, what is Harris’ early track record on trades? It’s mixed.
He has made two significant trades:
1. Sending reliever Gregory Soto and utility player Kody Clemens to the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for Maton, outfielder Matt Vierling and catcher Donny Sands.
2. Sending reliever Joe Jiménez and cash to the Atlanta Braves for prospect Justyn-Henry Malloy.
The results are certainly not complete yet, but here’s how they look now:
Vierling struggled in May. But after recovering from a back injury, he has heated up over 20 games in June and July, hitting .364 with a 1.031 OPS. Meanwhile, Maton struggled so bad in Detroit he got shipped to Triple-A, and Sands can’t hit his way out of Toledo.
As for the other deal, Malloy looks like he’s for real at the plate, although he has struggled at third base.
What about the kids?
Harris kicked off this crucial month by cutting Jonathan Schoop on Friday, eating about $3.5 million in salary. It was a bold but necessary move. You could even argue it was overdue. But the ripple effects are intriguing. In the short term, cutting Schoop allowed the Tigers to open up a spot on the 40-man roster. In the long term, it could clear more space for a prospect.
Somebody who can play second and third. Hmm. Somebody like Colt Keith, perhaps?
Which brings us to the big question: When might the Tigers bring up the youngsters such as Malloy, Keith or Parker Meadows?
Will any of those three be ready in 2024?
The answer to that question is going to dramatically alter what the Tigers do in free agency, after they clear the contracts of Schoop and Miguel Cabrera.
At some point here, Harris needs to see the prospects, just to have a better sense at what the 2024 roster might look like, and who to target in free agency.
So, all of this sets up a wild situation.
No pressure, Scott.
We aren’t asking for much in your first draft and the next couple of months: Just land a franchise-changing bat, stock up the minor leagues, uncover some gems in later rounds, fleece another GM or two at the trade deadline, bring up the prospects at some point and squeeze every ounce out of this roster while getting ready to fill all the holes in free agency come winter.
Oh, all right, we would settle for a few of those things, at the very least.
Contact Jeff Seidel at jseidel@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @seideljeff.