Detroit Tigers: Ranking the American League Central's front offices by competence

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It is hard to really evaluate the Detroit Tigers' front office at this point. Scott Harris was only hired less than a year ago and while Harris has made some impactful decisions for the Tigers already (for better or worse), most of them won't bear fruit for a while. He inherited most of this Tigers' roster and minor league crop and given that they are in the middle of rebuilding/retooling, it is hard to give too much credit or blame just yet.

A better way to look at things for now is to see the kinds of moves and decisions that the Tigers front office is making and compare them to what is happening around the rest of the division. It won't necessarily help predict how some of these long-term moves will play out, but it can give us a better sense of the types of opportunities that may be being missed and the mistakes they are avoiding.

Ranking the American League Central's front offices by competence

Ranking front offices can be done a lot of ways, but these rankings are going to be purely subjective. A huge deep dive into data and projecting value added versus value lost could be fun, but can also lead to cherry-picking data which is less than great. Also, information is very incomplete with this sort of thing as we don't know exactly what is going on behind the scenes and what directives these front offices may be operating under. In short, these rankings are a quick glance and are very fluid as things can change quite quickly. No one should take them as gospel.

Anyways, enough of the caveats. Let's take a crack at ranking the AL Central's front office.

5.) Chicago White Sox

This is an easy one as the White Sox essentially don't have a fully functional front office anymore thanks to the dumpster fire that is the White Sox's 2023 season. Instead of contending for the division crown, the White Sox have been so bad that they fired VP Ken Williams and GM Rick Hahn. It appears as though Chicago has settled on promoting Chris Getz to being their head baseball guy which could be problematic given that he was a part of the executive team that put the White Sox in this mess to begin with.

The White Sox's problems run very deep from their culture and chemistry to just not having the right talent at the right positions. If Getz presses the right buttons, it seems like Chicago could become a contender again pretty quickly and the front office would move up the rankings. However, it is hard to envision a whole lot changing that soon and with the rumors that Getz would like to hire former Royals GM Dayton Moore to join the front office, this new administration could bring in a whole new set of problems.

4.) Kansas City Royals

The Royals' front office can't be completely to blame for the franchise's troubles. They have never really had ownership that is willing to invest heavily in the roster and the current front office is having to untangle years of bad drafts and subpar player development. You would think that Kansas City would have more young talent to show for all of those high draft picks of theirs in recent years beyond Bobby Witt Jr., but they really don't.

However, JJ Picollo and co. have yet to be able to show anything that gives one the impression that they can build a competent pitching staff or that they are willing to be particularly creative in the moves they make to bring in some actual high upside talent. The Royals will always be a tough baseball market to find sustained success in and this is only Picollo's first full year, but so far the results leave something to be desired and the Royals look like they could be bad for a long time.

3.) Detroit Tigers

The Tigers fit right in the middle of the pack here as yet another front office that is only just getting started. Harris has a lot to sort out including the mess that is Javier Baez's contract and right now, it seems like the front office has taken a slow, methodical approach to the changes they are making. How that approach changes starting with this offseason will determine a lot about what to make of this post-Avila era.

The bad news is that that means Detroit did decidedly little at the trade deadline including not moving some players they probably should have and not trying contend in what has been a terrible division this year. However, Detroit's draft class led by Max Clark looks extremely promising and with Colt Keith and Justyn-Henry Malloy soon to arrive, the Tigers could be a really decent spot for 2024 if the front office doesn't sit on their hands during the offseason.

2.) Cleveland Indians

This is a tough one because it often feels like the Guardian compete each year despite themselves. Ownership will not let them spend and their track record of developing bats is very suspect, However, they still find a way to contend in the division each season despite those issues. Some of that is due to the fact that the AL Central is the weakest division in baseball, but Cleveland does get some things right.

First, they can really develop and turn out some pitchers even if it feels like they can't keep them around for long. The Guardians also did the team a huge solid by giving Jose Ramirez a lengthy and much deserved extension even when it is not in the team's character to do so. One can quibble with their process and self-imposed limitations at times, but Cleveland generally fields a pretty good team each year and that is something. What will be interesting is whether or not the possible retirement of Terry Francona impacts the results on the field.

1.) Minnesota Twins

Finally, we come to the Minnesota Twins as the top ranked front office in the AL Central. The Twins are yet another example of a team that has payroll limitations and who certainly don't get every move right. However, the Twins' front office under Thad Levine should be applauded for their willingness to take chances at times as well as the amount of young talent they have accumulated in recent years.

The Josh Donaldson signing didn't work out and the Correa deal isn't looking great, but for a team like Minnesota to even attempt to play in the deep end of the free agent market is encouraging. They were also able to nab Cy Young candidate Sonny Gray at a bargain rate and have some exciting young players in Joe Ryan, Royce Lewis, and Alex Kirilloff on the roster with Walker Jenkins and Brooks Lee on the way. They certainly don't nail every move, but Minnesota gets a lot of credit for actually trying in a division full of apathy.

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