Scott Harris’ bare minimum trade deadline inspired no confidence in Tigers fans

It's no secret many Detroit Tigers fans are suspicious of the abilities of team president of baseball operations Scott Harris. Neither his offseason moves nor his trades to date have entirely impressed, and some fans question his lack of aggression while they suffer through an ever-lengthening rebuilding effort. The 2024 trade deadline is not going to change that.

If you didn't like the job he was doing before, you'll look at the total return -- seven prospects, none of whom profile as big difference makers for the franchise -- as well as the rumors that arose, and question exactly what he was doing all day Tuesday. They had the best pitcher traded in a seller's market and the prospects they got in return both bring some rather large question marks along with them.

If you were of the patient sort before, you'll probably look at the new prospects and shrug. It's all a crapshoot anyway, whether they're highly touted or they're not, you'd say, while acknowledging even the Tigers' best trade chip -- Jack Flaherty -- is coming off a month where he missed several starts due to back pain. That's bound to decrease his trade value.

Scott Harris gets a passing grade for the Tigers' 2024 trade deadline moves even if he failed to excite

Ultimately your grade of Scott Harris's trade deadline is probably more of a Rorschach Test of what you wanted him to do heading into the deadline rather than what he actually did. We'll give him somewhere between a C and C+ for his effort. He did the job, but he didn't do anything to improve fan perception of his performance with the club either.

Fans have a right to be sick of this rebuild: it arguably goes back to July 2015, though it didn't begin in earnest until 2017. Seven years of entering every season without a lot of hope while watching fellow AL Central teams float down the standings only to bubble back up while a third-place finish looks like a positive for the Tigers is enough to wear you out. Eventually it cost former general manager Al Avila his job, which led to Harris' appearance in Detroit.

Harris has arguably done little of excitement since and thus has not earned the benefit of the doubt from many. Criticism that he lost Eduardo Rodriguez for nothing after failing to trade him at the 2023 trade deadline is valid. Harris failed to sign any impact players during his first two offseasons, though charitably you can say he found some rebuilding projects, like Flaherty, to get some value out of.

On the flip side, the Tigers committed $24 million to Kenta Maeda, and early returns on that deal are terrible. To top it all off, when speaking with the media earlier this year Harris indicated the team may not even be ready to make any attempts to compete in 2025 either. Depressing stuff for fans who got used to superstars like Miguel Cabrera, Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, and more leading their team into the playoffs every year.

Scott Harris fails to impress with return for Jack Flaherty, but was there good reason?

Fast-forward to Tuesday night. Flaherty was arguably the top pitcher moved at the deadline. Your perception of whether Harris succeeded at the deadline likely rests entirely on how you feel about the Flaherty trade.

The Tigers did manage to get the Dodgers' 2024 Futures Game representative (Thayron Liranzo) for their effort, but the trade turns out best if he is able to stick at catcher, which prospect watchers indicate is no sure thing. Shortstop Trey Sweeney may not stick there either.

Liranzo immediately joined the top five prospect list in the organization in MLB Pipeline's rankings; Sweeney entered at 24th.

Reaction was swift, however, questioning if the Tigers got enough and coloring perception of the trade.

But then more news began to come out. The Yankees reportedly passed on a deal after examining Flaherty's medicals. Could that be the reason Harris wasn't able to get the return people expected from other teams as well?

Did Harris do the best he could in light of Flaherty's back issue, or did he whiff on a deal with Houston that would have sent the return for Yusei Kikuchi to Detroit ? We weren't in the room, listening on the phone. We'll never know. But we expected more and are disappointed.

We assign grades today based on perception. Getting overly excited in either direction about draft picks or prospects seems like setting yourself up for failure. Some will continue to develop. Some will flame out. We're all just basing our thoughts on a single snapshot in time, filtered through people who are not perfect at this either.

Ultimately, while we hoped for more in return at this trade deadline, it wasn't a failure either. Harris gets a passing grade on day one, with the real result to be determined years in the future.

Zoomed out, however: While the trade deadline likely did nothing to destroy Harris' reign in Detroit, it did nothing to immediately bolster his reputation either.