Detroit Tigers' Scott Harris explains why he didn't add more offense in offseason
LAKELAND, Fla. — The bosses agree.
The Detroit Tigers shouldn't be talking about winning the American League Central, not when it hasn't happened since 2014. It's been a long nine seasons without postseason baseball in Detroit, but the Tigers are currently tied for the second-best odds to win the division in 2024.
Players such as left-hander Tarik Skubal have already shared their postseason aspirations.
"I don't want to speak for anyone else, but I'll speak for myself," Skubal said. "Our division was pretty wide-open last year. I want to win the division and get to the playoffs. I think that's why you play the game, to play playoff baseball and compete for a World Series. That's where I'm at mentally."
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President of baseball operations Scott Harris refused to talk like that. Manager A.J. Hinch, who signed a contract extension after last season, wouldn't talk like that, either. Harris and Hinch met with reporters Wednesday on the first day of workouts for pitchers and catchers in spring training.
The two leaders didn't put Skubal-like expectations on the Tigers in the 2024 season.
"The goal right now has to be the step in front of us," said Harris, entering his second season with Detroit. "This is a talented group, but it's a young group. It's going to be one of the youngest position playing groups in baseball. We haven't earned the right to talk about division titles or playoff berths yet. We have to focus on getting a lot better over the next six weeks."
"We understand where we want to be and what we want to do," said Hinch, entering his fourth season. "We're unafraid to talk about winning games. We obviously want to have a winning record. We haven't earned it yet, and we haven't played any games. The end-of-season review comes at the end of the season, not at the beginning."
Here are four more takeaways from what Harris said Wednesday at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland, Florida:
Recapping the offseason
The Tigers acquired outfielder Mark Canha in a trade with the Milwaukee Brewers and picked up his $11.5 million club option. After that, the Tigers signed starting pitchers Kenta Maeda (two years, $24 million) and Jack Flaherty (one year, $14 million) and relief pitchers Andrew Chafin (one year, $4.25 million) and Shelby Miller (one year, $3 million).
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"We had a busy offseason," Harris said. "We started fast with the Canha trade. We were trying to find ways to increase the overall talent in the organization. There were two main priorities for us. We wanted to add a veteran bat that could strengthen the middle of our order but also mentor our young hitters. Those guys are really hard to find, but we found one in Mark Canha, and we're thrilled to add him to this group. The second priority for us, we wanted to be self-aware about the team that we're about to run out there in 2024. It's going to be a lineup that's going to be filled with young hitters.
"As we know from watching baseball over the last decade or so, sometimes an offense filled with young hitters is a little bit unpredictable. We wanted to strengthen the pitching side of the ball. We wanted to make sure that we had a staff — a rotation and a bullpen — that can keep games close. We felt like we added significant pieces to the rotation with Jack and Kenta and to the bullpen with Chafin and Shelby. You guys are going to see, when we start getting on the mound, there's a lot of stuff in this pitching staff. There's going to be a lot of competition for the spots. That should help us keep games close and take some pressure off the young hitters and allow them to have a bigger influence on the outcome if it's a closer game."
Biggest area for growth
The Tigers and Oakland Athletics were tied for 26th among the 30 teams with an 89 wRC+ last season. The 8.4% walk rate tied for 19th, while the 24.2% strikeout rate tied for 23rd. The Tigers posted a .686 OPS in the 2023 campaign, ahead of only the Chicago White Sox (.675) and Athletics (.669).
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Simply put, the Tigers weren't good enough on offense and didn't score enough runs last season.
"Our at-bat quality can improve the most," Harris said. "Coming into this year, we knew that we were going to have a lot of young hitters populating our lineup. We should expect these young hitters to struggle at times. We should be expecting the offense to sputter at times, so we tried to build a dynamic pitching staff around them to keep games close. It has never been harder for a young hitter to translate their minor league numbers into big-league performance, so we have to create the right influences around them. That's why Mark Canha is here."
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Why not more offense?
Aside from Canha, the Tigers are relying on young hitters Spencer Torkelson, Riley Greene, Kerry Carpenter, Colt Keith and Parker Meadows to carry the workload on offense in 2024.
The Tigers declined to acquire a veteran third baseman, such as free agents Matt Chapman or Justin Turner, this offseason. The Tigers also declined to fill the vacant designated hitter role with a veteran slugger, such as free agents J.D. Martinez or Jorge Soler, this offseason.
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"We have a young hitter either in the big leagues or pretty close to the big leagues at almost every position," Harris said. "We have to commit to those guys. There aren't a ton of at-bats available for another everyday-type bat. We felt like there was room for one in Mark Canha, and then the rest of the additions would be sort of supplementary to the everyday lineup."
The Tigers don't want to block prospect Jace Jung from possibly taking over as the everyday third baseman in the second half of the season. Meanwhile, the Tigers want to keep the designated hitter spot open for a multitude of players to allow for lineup flexibility.
Canha, who celebrates his 35th birthday on Thursday, hit .262 with 11 home runs, 49 walks and 79 strikeouts across 139 games last season with the New York Mets and Brewers. The nine-year MLB veteran has an elite .364 on-base percentage over his past six seasons, from 2018-23.
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The Tigers traded for Canha in hopes that his advanced approach at the plate will influence the young hitters who are expected to carry the production on offense.
"We got to give these guys runway," Harris said. "We have to commit to these young hitters because it's in the best interest of the organization, both in the short term and the long term. I'm going to be hyper-focused on that all year, but we shouldn't be surprised if some of these young hitters with a lot of prospect fame do struggle at times."
Early season struggles
The Tigers have struggled at the beginning of the season in each of Hinch's three seasons as the manager. It was an 8-19 record in April in 2021, a 7-13 record in April in 2022 and a 10-17 record in March/April in 2023.
Slow starts have doomed the Tigers for three years in a row. Remember, the Tigers finished just nine games behind the first-place Minnesota Twins in the AL Central last season.
Harris was asked how he can make sure the Tigers get off to a fast start in 2024.
"By having a really competitive camp," Harris said. "We got to focus on getting the most out of every single bullpen, every single batting practice on a backfield. Just because it's on a backfield doesn't mean it's not important. We're the type of team that has to continue to get better. We have to build a ramp towards Opening Day, starting now."
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers' Scott Harris explains why he didn't add more offense
