Detroit Tigers: Grading Scott Harris' first year on the job

It's been a full calendar year since Scott Harris was introduced as the new president of baseball operations for the Detroit Tigers. Not much was known about him at the time, so fans weren't exactly sure what to expect.

Now that he's been on the job for a year, we have plenty of material to go over. Harris hasn't done a whole lot of big moves so far, but it is just a one-year sample size. Plus, again, there's plenty of other material to go over.

We're going to grade pretty much every aspect of his tenure so far, from trades, to free agent signings, to the draft, you name it. If he's done it, we're going to talk about it.

At the end, we'll combine all the grades and come up with an overall grade. Let's get started.

Grading Scott Harris' first season as Tigers president of baseball operations

Free agency: C

It's kind of difficult to grade Scott Harris in free agency because we don't really know how much he's been allowed to spend. We can only assume it wasn't much, since he didn't spend a whole lot last offseason, although it sounded he didn't plan on spending a whole lot anyway. Still, ownership probably plays a huge role here.

However, what he did spend on was pretty hit-and-miss. Matthew Boyd was a dud. He had 5.45 ERA in 15 starts before blowing out his elbow. Yes, his FIP was lower at 4.36, but he still had the same problems — nibble until he couldn't nibble anymore and leave one out over the plate to give up a crippling home run.

He still had swing-and-miss stuff, but at the end of the day, he was the same old Matthew Boyd.

His other free agent signing, on the other hand, was pretty solid. Michael Lorenzen was a very good fifth starter for the Tigers this season. In 18 starts, he had a 3.58 ERA in 105.2 IP. He had a FIP of 3.86. He was good enough to earn his first career All-Star nod.

He was also good enough for the Tigers to trade him to the Phillies at the trade deadline. His first start for the Phils was memorable to say the least, as he threw a no-hitter.

Since then? Lorenzen has been less than stellar in Philly. He has a 5.23 ERA in 43 IP. He's allowing almost two home runs per nine.

The fact that he's struggled so much for the Phillies suggests Chris Fetter and company were able to get much more out of him than the Phillies have. Also, depending on how Hao-Yu Lee pans out, this could be a trade that could work out well for the Tigers.

Harris had made several minor league free agent signings that haven't amounted to much. Chasen Shreve was okay for about four months before getting DFA'd after the trade deadline. Trey Wingenter hasn't been healthy for most of the season. Then again, that's what you get when you shop in the bargain bin. We'll talk more about that later.