LAKELAND, Fla. — Detroit Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris, wearing a quarter-zip pullover with the Old English “D” on his chest, walked out of his organization’s facility Monday morning to meet with reporters for the first time in spring training.
The Tigers have been running camp for a week, but Monday marked the first full-squad workout. The first spring training game is scheduled for Friday against the Philadelphia Phillies at Joker Marchant Stadium.
Here are five takeaways from Harris’ news conference:
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Goal for 2023
The Tigers had postseason aspirations last spring training, operating under former general manager Al Avila, but finished with a 66-96 record for fourth place in the American League Central.
The Tigers fired Avila in August and hired Harris in September.
Harris shared his expectations for his first season.
“Our goal for this year is to play competitive baseball as deep into the season as we possibly can,” Harris said. “Coming off 96 losses, there are no shortcuts back to contention. It starts with putting together a team in an environment that can play competitive baseball every day. We are going to play competitive baseball as deep into the season as we can. That’s going to be our goal. We’re going to start there, and then we can build on that.”
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Free agency, third base
The Tigers, despite having the worst offense in baseball last season, did not sign a free agent position player to a major league contract in the offseason. They spent $18.5 million on guaranteed deals for two pitchers — Matthew Boyd and Michael Lorenzen — and signed several position players to low-risk minor league contracts.
“On the position player side of free agency, it’s really tough to find young, controllable position players at reasonable acquisition costs,” Harris said. “I didn’t think it made sense for us to invest significant at-bats in veteran players who will not be a part of this team beyond, say 2023. Those at-bats are too valuable for us. We have to invest those current and future at-bats in some of the young players.”
Instead, Harris traded for four notable position players: Matt Vierling, Nick Maton, Donny Sands and Justyn-Henry Malloy. Maton and Malloy could be part of the long-term solution at third base. Colt Keith is another intriguing player to watch in spring training, though he might not stick as an infielder.
For now, Maton is key to the short-term solution.
“We feel like we attacked that issue this offseason,” Harris said. “How it all plays out, we have to wait until spring training tells us.”
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‘New concepts’
The Tigers have provided players with “a lot of new things” to help their on-field performance. Harris was asked to provide a specific example of something new that will be helpful.
“I don’t know if I can comment in detail,” Harris said. “But we are taking a proactive approach to identifying the shapes that work best for our pitches, how their bodies move and making sure they’re attacking hitters, both in the zone and with their best weapons.”
Harris added there’s an adjustment period for players.
“It takes time for those new concepts to gain traction and produce results,” he said.
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Looming impact
Diamond Sports Group, which owns Bally Sports Detroit and other regional sports networks, could file for bankruptcy. If that happens, the Tigers could lose lucrative broadcasting rights revenue.
The uncertainty, Harris said, didn’t change his offseason plan.
“No,” he said.
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Any moves coming?
A number of intriguing free agents remain unsigned.
The list includes position players Jurickson Profar, Donovan Solano, Gary Sánchez, Luke Voit, Yuli Gurriel, Ben Gamel, José Iglesias, Rougned Odor, starting pitchers Dylan Bundy, Chris Archer and Mike Minor, and relief pitchers Will Smith, Zack Britton, Brad Hand and Corey Knebel.
“We have to be pushing ourselves to try to make this team better at every turn,” Harris said. “That’s what our mentality is. We’re always looking. There aren’t any glaring areas of concern that I would focus on right now, but we’re constantly looking.”
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.