Detroit Tigers President of Baseball Operations, Scott Harris, made a major hire on Thursday. The club has named Jeff Greenberg as the 20th General Manager in Tigers’ history.
Speculation as to when and where Harris would find his right-hand man has been ongoing since he took over last October. For his part, Harris said all along that he’d make this hire when he had the right person for the job. There were few rumors about potential candidates in the past year, but in the end Harris made a really intriguing hire in Greenberg.
Jeff Greenberg certainly wasn’t a household name until the Chicago Blackhawks hired him in April of 2022 from the Chicago Cubs, where he’d worked in a variety of roles from 2012-2022, advancing to Director of Pro Scouting and eventually Director of Baseball Operations before taking the Blackhawks job. That move from hockey to baseball made some national news at the time, and adds a little intrigue as Greenberg now takes over as the Tigers’ General Manager.
Harris and Greenberg worked together under Theo Epstein and then Jed Hoyer for nearly a decade, winning rings with the Cubs in 2016. Previously, Greenberg had also worked briefly for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2008, and then in video analysis and player development with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2010, where he presumably would have gotten somewhat acquainted with then DBacks manager, A.J. Hinch.
The Blackhawks hired Greenberg in order to build out their computer systems, integrate information flow throughout the organization, and to develop their analytics department, so that seems to be the area of expertise. However, his roles with the Cubs illustrate that he was adept in a lot of areas within the front office in both scouting and player development.
Harris’ statement on the hiring was posted on the Ilitch Companies News Hub.
“I’m thrilled to add an executive of Jeff’s quality to our baseball operations leadership team,” said Harris. “Throughout this search, it was important for me to find someone who can fit seamlessly into the culture we’re building here. I also wanted to bring in someone with a fresh perspective and new ideas that could challenge us on a daily basis and make us all better as we strive towards our goal of bringing postseason baseball back to Detroit. We’re excited to welcome Jeff, his wife, Erin, and their sons, Leo and Sam to the Tigers family.”
Here is a link to an interview from Columbia Law School, Greenberg’s alma mater, from a few years back about his work with the Cubs.
Kyle Davidson, GM of the Blackhawks, seems to view this as a major loss for his franchise, so we’ll take that as another positive sign.
#Blackhawks assistant GM Jeff Greenberg takes the GM job at the Tigers. If you recall, Greenberg was a finalist for the Hawks GM job & was immediately hired when Kyle Davidson ultimately got the job. A tough loss for the Hawks, but a sign they seem to be hiring the right people. https://t.co/rkyIiXivtV
— Jay Zawaski (@jayzawaski) September 21, 2023
It’s hard to have too strong an opinion about this so early. It’s an interesting hire, certainly, so we’re pretty happy with it as far as that goes right now. Greenberg’s background and versatility seem to make him a great fit for the job, and the familiarity and similar background in the game to Harris should make for a good working partnership. Beyond that, we’ll see how it goes.