Insights into “fixing this” can come from just a block away.

In 2022 the Tiger’s fired Al Avila as their GM. He might be one of the worst GM’s of all time. However, he selected some promising draft picks who are only now just starting to perform (sound familiar?) which is actually not amazing as we picked so high every year cause of being terrible (sound familiar?)…and even then the prospects may be average to great as they are so young and have massive talent swings (sound familiar?). His trades were bad and his FA signings were abhorrent and lacked any kind of direction (sound familiar?). IMO, outside of draft picks the one good decision he made was hiring Hinch (coach). Hinch is a big “development” guy but Al seemed to be playing a totally diff game of his own which is still YTBD. The tension grew immediately upon his hire because Al was bad at his job and Hinch was good at his…but the players were BAD (sound familiar?). So bad in fact that I as a lifelong Tiger fan could barely watch and was losing hope…until:

In comes our new GM Scott Harris. Have you watched him talk about his vision/desires for this team and what actions he is taking since being hired to see it come about? It’s crazy commitment to a world-class baseball development program up and down the org…and his owner is supporting him thus far (as I believe Gores would with a new GM - feel free to downvote me on that, but he has let Weaver do it his way for the most part…also the owner is staying around everyone, he’s not selling anytime soon). Now, the team still lacks talent and Harris didn’t do an amazing job in his first offseason even though he got completely screwed by one of our players because of a poorly structured contract from Al (strikes again!). However, he’s already started this offseason much better and I think this was the plan all along to wait a year and see what we have. He immediately knew it wasn’t good enough and started to take action.

The point is, Harris has a plan that he is working and is committed to along with alignment within the org (he fired and replaced so many people). He’s been clear about it and I’ve seen him making decisions that match his vision for the team. A new GM completely changed my posture and feeling about the Tigers moving forward…Hinch and Harris (both good to great at their jobs) have a shared vision and while the talent didn’t change much this last year MOST of the players got better in Harris’ 1st year!

Personally, I see a lot that the Piston’s can learn here. I don’t think Weaver has been a good GM, but I do think he’s done decent to great at times in the draft room. However, like Avila, I think this team needs someone with a new/updated/clear vision. Someone who is good at their job.

Do you see crossover? Am I nuts in my thinking here? I think Weaver is clearly the fall guy…you?