Detroit Tigers offseason grades: Ownership keeps grades low

Chris Ilitch: F

I won't spend too much time on this because I've already spent too much time and words on it this offseason. The Tigers could have added impact talent to this roster to make them competitive in 2023, but once again Chris Ilitch wouldn't allow that to happen.

If the Detroit Tigers are ever going to be competitive in the long term, they're going to need support from ownership. We saw how well that worked for team from 2006-14. They were a perennial playoff contender and won two American League pennants. Ever since the team stopped spending, they've been awful. This team needs to start spending money again if they're truly going to be competitive.

Scott Harris: B-

Given what Harris had to work with from a financial standpoint, I'm not sure what else he could have done in terms of free agents. It's hard to improve the team through free agency when you're handed a shoestring budget.

Again, where he can really do some work is through trades, and that was his primary method of upgrading the offense. And once again, he did pretty well in that area.

What almost made me drop his grade down to a C was something I wrote about earlier this week, and that's not having a plan to replace Jeimer Candelario. Again, non-tendering Jeimer Candelario wasn't the issue, it's not finding a suitable replacement for him.

But that's really the only major thing you can be mad at Harris for. Again, ownership hampered his ability to add to the roster via free agency. But he could have swung a trade for a decent major-league caliber third baseman.

Overall grade: D

This is was a very disappointing offseason for the Detroit Tigers. They had the money to add some quality talent to the roster, but they chose not to. That's a shame. This team could have been competitive if they wanted to be, especially in a weak AL Central.