New Detroit Tigers GM Jeff Greenberg 'critically involved' in Cubs' World Series team

The search for a new Detroit Tigers general manager is over.

The team announced Thursday morning that it has hired Jeff Greenberg, an associate GM for NHL's Chicago Blackhawks, for the position. President of baseball operations Scott Harris, whom the Tigers hired one year and two days ago, brings in someone he's familiar with to join him in the front office.

“It’s an extraordinary honor to take on this role with one of the most historic franchises in Major League Baseball,” said Greenberg in a statement released by the team Thursday. “Throughout my conversations with Scott, Chris Ilitch and the rest of the team with the Tigers, it became clear that this organization is headed in a great direction with an incredible culture of development and innovation that I’m excited to be part of. Another constant message in those conversations was that Tigers fans want to see winning baseball deep into October. I’m excited to get to work with our front office on off-season and longer-term plans to make that our reality.”

Here is some more information about the new Tigers GM:

Chicago roots

Greenberg, 37, worked for the Blackhawks 16 months, when he joined as an associate GM to revamp the team's analytics. It was a brief stint in a new sport for Greenberg, who worked with the Chicago Cubs front office for over a decade before switching teams in the Windy City.

Greenberg worked for the Cubs from 2011-2022 in multiple positions in the front office. He started as the director of pro scouting and baseball operations, then director of baseball operations before finally being promoted to assistant GM in November 2020.

Greenberg is credited with growing both the Cubs' and Blackhawks' analytics departments. He was in the Cubs organization when they won the World Series in 2016, helping create data systems for identifying and developing talent alongside Harris, Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer. Hoyer said in 2022 that Greenberg was "critically involved in forward-thinking decisions" when constructing the Cubs' championship roster, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Similar paths

Harris, one year younger than Greenberg, will still be running the show as the president of baseball operations while Greenberg will be second in command. The two worked together in Chicago as they climbed the ranks of the Cubs' front office. They followed similar paths of being promoted to assistant GM for the Cubs before being poached by other teams.

Harris was hired as GM of the San Francisco Giants in a similar process in 2019. Harris joined Giants president of operations Farhan Zaidi one year after Zaidi was hired as president. Greenberg will work with Harris on talent acquisition, scouting and analytics but it remains unknown how they will split responsibilities.

Work history

Greenberg has almost always worked in professional baseball, dating back to his internship with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2006 and 2008. Greenberg went to Columbia law school with the hopes of working in baseball full-time, inspired by Epstein's run with the Red Sox and the movie "Moneyball."

While at Columbia, Greenberg worked for the MLB and the Arizona Diamondbacks before graduating in 2011. He was hired by the Cubs a year later.

Baseball in his blood

Greenberg's father, Chuck, is a lawyer who formed a group the purchase the Altoona Curve of the Eastern League (Double-A) in 2002. Greenberg later helped buy the New Jersey Cardinals, moving them to State College, Pennsylvania, in 2006. Later that year, he and his group bought the Myrtle Beach Pelicans.

In 2010, the Greenberg-led Rangers Baseball Express, which included Nolan Ryan, won an auction to buy the Texas Rangers. The group beat out a group led by Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban at the price of $593 million. But a year later, Greenberg, then the managing partner and CEO, stepped down and sold his interest in the team.

Then in 2014, Greenberg and Scott Sonju bought the Frisco RoughRiders, another Double-A team, this one affiliated with the Texas Rangers.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: New Detroit Tigers GM Jeff Greenberg goes way back with Scott Harris