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.

Draft: B

Many people may be surprised by the respectable grade for the draft, but allow us to delve into why.

Harris opted to take a player in Max Clark, whom he believed had the highest ceiling in the draft, over Wyatt Langford, who could help the Tigers out sooner rather than later. Many people are still upset about that, especially since Langford as raked ever since he was drafted, and is already in Triple-A in the Texas Rangers system.

But here's the difference — Clark is an 18-year-old drafted out of high school, and Langford is a 21-year-old drafted out of college. Of course Langford is going to be ahead of Clark in his development. He's got three years on him.

Clark can still be great player. He may not even be done growing yet. Pump the brakes, people.

With that out of the way, the rest of the draft is looking pretty solid so far. Harris and Mark Conner took a different approach than the Avila regime, opting for the best hit tools possible, rather than just taking the best college player available and hoping for the best.

That looks to be a pretty good strategy so far, though it's still very early. Kevin McGonigle was considered by many to be a first-round talent, and the Tigers nabbed him with the 37th overall pick. He hit .350 and walked more than he struck out in 18 games in Low-A.

The Tigers took nine high school players in total, which was the most prep players they had taken in years. It's a different strategy, and we're here for it.

Harris gets a B for the draft. The early returns have been solid. Hopefully they stay that way.

Handling of prospects: D

Remember when Harris said the Tigers would be earmarking at-bats for young players? Up until recently with the promotions of Parker Meadows, Andre Lipcius, and Sawyer Gipson-Long, we really hadn't seen any of that.

Quad-A players like Zach McKinstry, Zack Short, Andy Ibanez, and for a while, Jonathan Schoop and Eric Haase were getting at-bats over prospects that deserved a chance to prove themselves.

There's no reasonable explanation as to why Colt Keith and Justyn-Henry Malloy aren't on the big league roster right now. Neither of them have anything left to prove in the minors.

For now, they better be on the team next year, because if they're not, then we get to talk about fun things like service time manipulation. But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. For now, he doesn't get a kind grade for prospect promotions.

Waiver claims: D

I'll throw this in here too since it's been a big talking point. We did an article about this recently as well.

Short story: Tyler Holton has been a heck of a find. Other than that? Harris' waiver claims have not brought anything positive to the organization. If you want the long version of this story, here's a link to that article.

This all goes back to one of Harris' key buzz phrases from his introductory press conference: calculated risk. Where have we seen any of that? So far, it looks like Harris is afraid to take any risks at all.

Calling up a big-name prospect would count as a calcuated risk. Making a big trade, or trading a prospect for a big league player would be a calculated risk. Signing a free agent of any kind is a calculated risk. We've seen very little of this.

This is the one thing we really want to see from Scott Harris moving forward. Take some risks — any risks. There's no risk involved in claiming a fringe-big leaguer on waivers. Do something impactful. Even if it doesn't work, you can at least say you tried.

Final grade: C-

Sure, Rome wasn't built in a day. Scott Harris wasn't going to turn the Tigers around overnight. But the lack of effort is what really frustrates us.

I started a new day job a few months back. I sure wish I could get a free pass my first 90 days, let alone my first year.

A C- feels just about right, as you can flunk your way through a test and still pull a passing grade. That's essentially what Harris has done his first year in office.

This is a massive offseason for Scott Harris and the Detroit Tigers. He needs to prove himself. We need to see substantial changes to this team. The American League Central is ripe for the taking. The Twins are going to win this division this season with a win total in the mid 80s. There is a huge opportunity here.

Another offseason like last year, and we'll start to get into some bad, bad territory.