Tigers Hire Scott Harris as President of Baseball Operations

[RandyMarsh]

Its almost like Chris said "find me somebody who is the polar opposite of Al."

[Scottwood]

On paper, it is a great hire. The Tigers might finally have a modern baseball organization.

[Edman85]

19 minutes ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

He can't be worse than the last GM we hired from the NL West. I'm guessing too given that he is younger and most of all worked with Theo Epstein that he's big into using analytics and sabermetrics to build and operate a ball club. Avila always said he was using analytics to construct his roster and farm system, but I'm not sure that Avila understood the analytics he was given to read. 

That last NL West GM was younger than everybody too. I want to say he was the youngest in modern history at that point.

[lordstanley]

49 minutes ago, oblong said:

Official 

 

He looks young enough to be my son. 

[CMRivdogs]

Both Dombrowski and Avilia held duel titles of PBO and GM. I would assume final decision on GM will be up to Harris. He has a nice pedigree even if the Giants took a couple of steps back this season.

[Motown Bombers]

48 minutes ago, chasfh said:

This is the right direction for Baby Doc to go in, versus doubling down on eyeball scouting with someone like Matt Slater. I am optimistic that this means they are serious about going in the right direction, finally.

I notice that they have hired him as President of Baseball Ops. I assume this means they will be bringing on a general manager to report in to him? That's the structure they had in San Francisco, so my early assumption is that Harris will replicate to some close degree the structure they have out there. That would mean we should expect to see one more big front office hire—or promotion?—before Spring Training starts.

Even if they bring on another person for the GM role, I would think that as in San Francisco, Harris would be the guy front-and-center representing the team and its mission to the media and the fans.

Isn't this the same title Domrbowski had? I would imagine at least a right hand man like Avila but better.

[RatkoVarda]

had to be an outsider who can assess current talent and processes without any restraint

turned down Cohen and the Mets last year

fingers crossed they got it right

[djhutch]

I'm glad they went outside the organization as well.  Still surprised they let Al run this last draft.

[chasfh]

2 minutes ago, Motown Bombers said:

Isn't this the same title Domrbowski had? I would imagine at least a right hand man like Avila but better.

According to the 2012 Media Guide, "David" Dombowski's title was "President, Chief Executive Officer & General Manager".

[oblong]

3 minutes ago, Motown Bombers said:

Isn't this the same title Domrbowski had? I would imagine at least a right hand man like Avila but better.

Dombrowski was the CEO and President of the entire organization, business operations in addition to baseball.   This title is not the same.  In theory DD was responsible for the food vendors and electricians and marketing, etc.  

[oblong]

For comparison I believe Chris Ilitch has the title of CEO and so do some other owners. That’s what it took at the time to get DD here. 

[Jim Cowan]

So Chris Ilitch goes out and gets the hottest young talent, from a successful organization.  I don't recall anyone predicting an outcome like that.

[RandyMarsh]

Here's a little write up about the hire from Passan, also highlights some of the issues we've had this year but that's stuff most fans already know about.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/34624852/detroit-tigers-hiring-san-francisco-giants-gm-scott-harris-president-baseball-operations

[bobrob2004]

24 minutes ago, Motown Bombers said:

Isn't this the same title Domrbowski had? I would imagine at least a right hand man like Avila but better.

It's the title Dombrowski currently holds in Philadelphia. 

[Edman85]

You can't hire a GM from another organization to be a GM unless they aren't under contract. You can hire them for a higher title. That's behind almost all title creep.

Anyways, the GM of the following teams is not the top dog in baseball ops:

Brewers, Guardians, Rays, Athletics, Phillies, Cardinals, Dodgers, Giants, Cubs, Twins, Red Sox, Royals

Most teams have 3-6 or so AGM's or VP's (in Baseball Ops), with some having as many as 12-15. A lot of AGM/VP's are, again, promoted to keep from being poached. Kevin Goldstein had a segment on this on his nascent podcast between his Astros and Twins job.  You really like your player development director? Promote him to Assistant General Manager-Player Development, and he can't be hired as Player Development Director.

Anyways, I'm not kidding when I say I deep dived the org charts of all 30 organizations last month. 

In general, your baseball ops org structure:

President, Baseball Ops

General Manager

Assistant General Manager (Special Assistant is somewhere on this tier. Some are ceremonial, like Horton. Some are doing actual work, like Slater/McLeod/Goldstein)

Director

Assistant Director

Coordinator

Manager (Not like AJ Hinch manager. I'm talking in the analytics department, manager is a tier)

And from here it depends on the department.

 

There was remarkable standardization on this front. There are also several duel titles on the executive side that some baseball ops people get

President

Executive Vice President

Vice President

 

Did you know Al Avila was EVP? Did you know Menzin, Sartori, Chadd, Bream, and Garko are VP's?

Edited September 19, 2022 by Edman85

[Edman85]

Anyways, I've got the org chart going into 2022 crystalized, and plan on putting some kind of before/after out there when the 2023 media guide comes out.

[CMU97]

I have been admiring the Giants from afar the past two seasons. Even though they've taken a step back this year, their future is  bright. 

I hope this means we will see about 14 coaches on the roster next year. I'm paraphrasing Gabe Kapler, but he said we want coaches who make our players better. And if you can do that, great!" And you can't argue with their success.   

 

This has potential to be better than hiring DD.

[Edman85]

Good discussion on front office title creep starting about 39 minutes in:

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/chin-music-episode-36-fill-your-holes-with-external-candidates/

[CMU97]

But how is his slider?

I thought I remembered this name. I had to look it up, but I would have met him when he was in the SALLY league with the Blue Claws. Somewhere I  have his autograph. 

 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=harris003sco

 

[Edman85]

Just now, CMU97 said:

But how is his slider?

I thought I remembered this name. I had to look it up, but I would have met him when he was in the SALLY league with the Blue Claws. Somewhere I  have his autograph. 

 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=harris003sco

 

That's not the same guy.

[CMU97]

8 minutes ago, Edman85 said:

That's not the same guy.

Of course not. I was trying to be funny how he might help our pitching staff. Oh well.

[chasfh]

My guess is that Scott Harris felt he was ready for the big chair but knew he'd be blocked in San Francisco for as long as Farhan Zaidi wants to. I'm hoping he took copious how-to-build-a-front-office notes in his three years there as second banana.

[Edman85]

4 minutes ago, chasfh said:

My guess is that Scott Harris felt he was ready for the big chair but knew he'd be blocked in San Francisco for as long as Farhan Zaidi wants to. I'm hoping he took copious how-to-build-a-front-office notes in his three years there as second banana.

He was in on the Mets job last year. He wanted to take the next step and run the show. There is no guessing about it.

[Motor City Sonics]

Working for Theo doesn't make him Theo (See: Matt Patricia), but I like the hire.  He went outside the organization and grabbed a rising star before someone else did.    I'll let you know how I feel about this hire at the end of the 2026 season, I figure that would be a fair amount of time. 

Well.................We've got four young GMs in town that all had impressive resumes beforehand.    They have all done well in their drafts, lets hope Mr. Harris does too.   It's not about your first round pick, it's about your first ten rounds. You get 3 guys out of each draft that can make it to the majors (hitting .333), you're doing great.      Al seemed to be hitting about .150 there, which equaled Tigers GMs since the early 80s.    

[casimir]

1 hour ago, oblong said:

Dombrowski was the CEO and President of the entire organization, business operations in addition to baseball.   This title is not the same.  In theory DD was responsible for the food vendors and electricians and marketing, etc.  

I believe it with the vendors.  Their polo shirt game got stronger upon Dombrowski’s arrival.