Detroit Tigers: 6 things you missed from Scott Harris’ GM Meetings presser

We finally heard from Detroit Tigers president of baseball ops Scott Harris about his offseason plans

The GM Meetings are underway, and we’ve already had our fair share of Detroit Tigers rumors. But we also finally heard from Scott Harris about his plans this offseason to upgrade the Tigers roster.

Harris talked about a number of things related to the roster, what positions he thinks need improving, and also talked about some non-roster related stuff. He didn’t go into a whole lot of detail about anything, but there were still some interesting nuggets.

The presser wasn’t broadcast anywhere, so you likely missed it. Not to worry, we’ve go you covered. In this piece, we’re going to go over six things you might have missed from Scott Harris’ first press conference of the offseason. Let’s get started.

Javier Baez will be Detroit Tigers starting SS on Opening Day 2023

Scott Harris said that he expects Javier Baez to be the Tigers starting shortstop on Opening Day next year, which squashes any hope that they would upgrade the position and move Baez to second base.

Harris elaborated on why he’s sticking with Baez, calling his defensive struggles last year “an anomaly.”

Harris is the president of baseball operations for a major league baseball team, and I’m just a blogger/writer on the internet, but I fear he may be mistaken here. If anything, his anomaly came in 2019, when he put up a whopping 31 outs above average. He has not come anywhere close to that any other year in his career.

This is obviously somewhat disappointing to see. I only say somewhat disappointing because nobody was really expecting the Tigers to pull the trigger on moving Baez to 2B and signing another shortstop. It is only one year into a six-year deal, after all. Again, best-case scenario for the Tigers here is that Baez finds his swing again next year, turns the clock back to 2018 when he finished second in NL MVP voting, and opts out of the contract.

Scott Harris is all in on Spencer Torkelson

Spencer Torkelson’s name came up at the GM Meetings, and Harris said the team is “still bullish” on Tork.

Tork gets a nice vote of confidence from the new boss. It makes sense not to completely give up on a former No.1 overall pick after one lackluster season. But what if he flops again next year? It wouldn’t hurt to sign someone on a minor-league deal (let’s say a Jake Lamb or a Yoshi Tsutsugo) just in case he still hasn’t figured it out.

So we can scratch one position off Scott Harris’ to-do list. Hopefully it doesn’t come back to bite him.

Scott Harris is willing to do anything to improve the roster—including trading prospects

Here’s one thing that was quite refreshing. Scott Harris said he is open to anything in regards to improving the roster—even if it means trading away prospects.

This is so nice to hear. No longer will the Detroit Tigers solely rely on free agents or in-house options to improve the roster. Scott Harris is here to do big boy things.

No more tanking. No more planning on being bad for 3-5 years. Harris wants to get better, and only wants to get better. This front office will finally start operating like a modern baseball front office.

The thing to look forward to the most with Harris is sneaky good moves that seem odd on paper. but end up paying dividends in the long run. An example would be this past August when the Giants acquired J.D. Davis and prospects from the Mets in exchange for Darin Ruf. In 207 plate appearance with the Mets, Davis had a wRC+ of 102. In 158 plate appearances with the Giants, that number jumped to 142. Hopefully we can see more shrewd moves like that from the Tigers going forward.

Scott Harris said he’s already received calls from other teams about the Detroit Tigers relievers

Scott Harris’ phone has already been ringing quite frequently. He said the team as already received several calls regarding some of the Tigers players, specifically their relief pitchers.

This is interesting because there has been a narrative mostly built up by the fans that the Tigers don’t have any tradeable assets. This proves that they certainly do, even if it’s only amongst one position group.

Again, if there’s one thing we think we can count on for the Detroit Tigers under Scott Harris, it’s that there will be more trades. He seems like he will be far more creative than Al Avila when it comes to improving the roster, which will be a much-welcome change.

Scott Harris has yet to make a decision on Jeimer Candelario’s future

Jeimer Candelario has one year of arbitration remaining before he becomes a free agent. He is projected to make about $7 million in arbitration. Because of that and his lackluster 2022 season, many people, us included, feel like his time with the Detroit Tigers will come to an end this offseason. But Harris has yet to make a decision on him.

Given the previous two season prior to 2022, it’s possible that this past year was an anomaly. He put up a 3.8 bWAR in 2021, and had a great shortened season in 2020. He could be a bounce back candidate.

But in order for that to work, the Detroit Tigers will have to take a calculated risk—that would mean bringing him back on a lower salary. Given that there aren’t very many options out there for third baseman—in free agency or in trades—this could be a real possibility.

Other nuggets from Scott Harris

Before we wrap this up, here are a few other nuggets from Scott Harris’ presser. First of all, it sure sounds like Miguel Cabrera’s days as an everyday player are over. Harris explained that he has a plan for Miggy in 2023, and it sounds like him playing once a series or so is definitely part of that plan.

Harris still maintains that he is in no hurry to hire a GM, which makes sense. He’s got a lot on his plate right now. My guess is that we won’t see a GM hire until after the new year.

Lastly, he talked about Comerica Park’s dimensions. He had no real update to share on that, but he did say that he’s taking everyone’s opinions into consideration—both pitchers and hitters.