DETROIT — Less than a year ago, the Detroit Tigers were unloading veterans at the trade deadline. Now they own the best record in baseball and are preparing to buy.
“I hope so,” said Scott Harris, the club’s president of baseball operations, during an appearance on 97.1 The Ticket on Wednesday morning. “We’re 20 games over .500 right now. We’re playing really well. I think we’re preparing to add to this team in July, but we’ve got to keep playing well to put ourselves in a position to do that.”
The Tigers are poised to be deadline buyers for the first time since 2014, a sharp reversal from last summer, when they dealt away starting pitcher Jack Flaherty, left-handed reliever Andrew Chafin, outfielder Mark Canha, and catcher Carson Kelly in the days leading up to the deadline.
Twelve days later, they began a 31-13 surge with a 5-4 win over the San Francisco Giants, a run that clinched their first playoff berth since 2014.
Ironically, some of those trades ultimately helped the Tigers by freeing up roster spots for players who contributed down the stretch. That’s why Harris will consider both short- and long-term impact when evaluating moves ahead of the deadline, which falls on July 31 at 6 p.m.
“We’re going to be pragmatic at the deadline,” Harris said. We’re going to take a cold, hard look at our weaknesses and try to turn those weaknesses into strengths. If we identify a specific weakness and the market has players available who we think can address that weakness, we’re going to chase those players aggressively. It’s always been my approach in Chicago and San Francisco. We don’t really get caught up in the headlines or the momentum. We just hunt for players that we think can help us.
“Philosophically, I don’t consider anyone untouchable. But my job is to position this organization to win as much as we can. I don’t think trading players who could be impact big leaguers for a long time in Detroit is a smart thing to do. We’ll look at both sides of a potential deal and try to make the ones that help us get to the next level — this year and in the future.”
As might be expected for the team with the best record in baseball, the Tigers don’t have a long list of glaring holes. And what that list looks like seven weeks from now may depend on health more than anything else.
“I don’t really know right now because we’re still banged up,” he said. “Pitching-wise, we’re still down four starters plus José Urquidy. And in the bullpen, Alex Lange is down, and we lost Jason Foley. So I think there’s some time for us to get healthy and see what the roster looks like before we identify the specific weaknesses we want to address through the trade deadline.”
Detroit Tigers chairman and CEO Chris Ilitch (right) chats with president of baseball operations Scott Harris (left) and general manager Jeff Greenberg (center) while watching a spring training workout on Feb. 20, 2024, in Lakeland, Fla. (Photo by Evan Woodbery, MLive.com)Evan Woodbery, MLive.com
Some more comments from Harris on the radio interview:
(On a trade affecting the Tigers’ excellent chemistry)
“It’s a great question. The first thing we ask ourselves when we set out to add a player — whether via free agency or trade — is: ‘What kind of guy is he? What kind of teammate is he? Is he going to lift up the entire clubhouse, or is he going to drag it down?’
“We do a lot of work behind the scenes on all of these players. We talk to former teammates and coaches to figure out what kind of person they are before we add them. This offseason, I think we added some really good baseball players, but we also added a lot of culture to the clubhouse.
“With respect to adding and subtracting, it’s just the nature of the beast. We try to do it in an empathetic way. We’re hyper-conscious of what makes this team good and want to make sure we don’t disrupt that. Chemistry is going to be front and center with any potential addition. We’re going to spend a lot of time on it and make sure we don’t disrupt one of the best things going for us right now.”
(On the urgency to capitalize on this opportunity in 2025)
“For those watching the minor leagues, our system is dominating on both sides of the ball. We’re one of the best overall pitching staffs across all levels and one of the best offenses. We’re hitting the ball hard and making really good decisions at the plate.
“This organization is about as healthy as it’s been. We feel this team is going to continue to get better. We’re going to continue to add impact talent through our farm system to this group of players who are already going to stay and play together for a while.
“So it doesn’t feel like a moment where we have to maximize our chances this specific year. We’re going to do everything we can to win the World Series this year. But there’s a real feeling that if we keep doing our jobs and keep playing at a high level, we’ll have multiple opportunities to win the World Series.
“Anyone who’s followed an organization for a long time knows the best way to win is to put yourself in the mix every single October. We haven’t done anything yet. We don’t have it all figured out. But there’s a real feeling of momentum here. I’ve seen it before. I was in Chicago when we had young talent already performing in the big leagues and more on the way. That’s a pretty good blueprint for making noise in October year after year.”
(On extending ace Tarik Skubal, who is under team control through 2026)
“I love watching him pitch. I’m really proud that he’s a Tiger right now. Sometimes it sounds a lot easier to just lock someone up and get a deal done because you feel like it. It’s a lot harder than that.
“We’ve taken a very intentional and targeted approach to retaining young players. I said on my first day here that we want to acquire, develop, and retain young talent. We’ve already done it once with one of our young players in Colt Keith. We’re really proud of that deal. But one thing we’re not going to do is talk about negotiations before a deal is reached. It’s not fair to the player, it’s not fair to the organization, and it’s not fair to the industry to float out offers or counters. These things are hard to get done. We’re working as hard as we can to keep this group together because we think they’re still young, still talented, and still getting better. We’re going to try to keep them around as long as we can.”