“MONEY” BALL

By:  Holly Horning

You’ve heard the expression “throwing money at the problem,” right? A strategy meant to override, not really solve, the issues surrounding the problem. You just want the problem to go away. You also really aren’t interested in resolving the problem. That would take too much time and too much effort.

Money solves a lot of problems. But what if you take it away? What happens? What do you see?

The real truth. A warts-and-all picture of exactly how well – or not – an organization or strategy is running.

And this is what is happening with the Detroit Tigers.

It’s a return to real.

It’s midnight in Detroit and that golden coach has almost turned completely back into a pumpkin.

In other words, the money that has fueled the Tigers’ success over the past decade, has been taken away.

What should we expect to see now?

Before we get into that, let’s venture back in time to when Mike Ilitch bought the team. For the first 14 years of ownership, Mike was a thrifty man and kept the Tigers payroll very low. And during those years, the Tigers finished above .500 only once. The team became the laughing stock of MLB and it was known that players refused to consider Detroit as a landing spot. That is, until Mr. I had to overpay Pudge Rodriguez to come to the Tigers and set the ball in motion for others to follow.

With the hiring of Dave Dombrowski, Mr. I started opening his wallet yearly. For the next 12 years of his ownership, the Tigers only finished below .500 3 times.

And if you believe that the team actually became a solid, well-run organization during this time, you’re probably mistaken. Sure, he brought in better people to man the Front Office but he did little else to strengthen the organization outside of his management team and roster.

The great success the team had for a decade? It was all due to the money, honey.

Money can mask a whole lotta problems.

Effectively, Ilitch bought his team of mercenary MLB players. They were, for the most part, not developed within the organization. Only a handful of their prospects were actually good enough to make the cut. Players like Justin Verlander and Rick Porcello. You’d be hard-pressed to come up with more.

And that is a statement about the Tigers farm system. The inability to scout and develop talent beyond a couple players. The need to go outside the organization for the vast majority of their players during their decade run.

But no one really cared back around 2006. The Tigers started winning and few cared about the farm system which was now effectively off the radar.

The first real groundswell over the lack of depth in the minors came during Dave Dombrowski’s last year as GM when he was forced to start trading away stars because he had no more prospects he could sell to other teams.

During that decade, the Tigers increased their payroll yearly until it became MLB’s second highest. Lots of money, spent the right way, can buy lots of wins.

But as studies demonstrate, there is no correlation between the highest payrolls and winning championships. And as we found out, when the Tigers got to the playoffs, we saw their weaknesses – defensive holes, no bullpen, station-to-station running and a live-or-die by the HR mantra.

Mr. I passed away in February 2017 but his son, Chris, had taken over the decision-making earlier than that. The real payroll cutting began in 2017. And the Tigers returned to .395 baseball that same year, stayed there last year and is on schedule to potentially beat out the record set in 2003.

For that winning decade, we heard only about the newest and shiniest free agent signings. There was nothing about improving, updating or advancing the organization. Nothing about analytics, a plan to improve the shoddy fundamentals, updated training and conditioning programs, etc. Nothing.

That’s because all the money – for that past decade and even earlier – was poured into the most visible part of the organization. The roster.

A move akin to focusing on the fruit of the tree instead of nourishing the roots so the fruit can continue to grow and be harvested for years to come. A move akin to being mesmerized by the shiny gold object but realizing later that when you scratched through the surface, the interior was tin, not gold.

Mr. I may have poured millions into signing star players, but he did nothing to improve or update the structure of the Tigers organization. A team, for the record, that has always had the dubious distinction of being the last in MLB to adopt new ways of doing things.

And now it’s time to pay the piper.

In just 2 years, payroll has been slashed nearly in half and there are strong indications that it will be reduced even further. The decent players are all gone – or will be, shortly.

We are already seeing what happens when this money goes away. The old Tigers of the early Ilitch years are coming back. The ones who are re-treads or one-dimensional players who have problems at the plate and in the field. Sloppy play, unfocused play and mental errors galore.

A roster now so thin that the team is missing a 5th starter and a regular first baseman. Players who can’t be replaced and also can’t be benched because there are no other viable players to fill the void.

The money is gone and the warts have returned. In actuality, they never went away. All the money thrown at building the team masked the real issues going on underneath. The proof that this organization turned into a good one is merely an illusion.

The Tigers, no matter how much we have loved them, continue to be a poorly-run organization. Always the last to adopt the latest technologies, trends and strategies and clinging to the old ways, as exemplied by MLB’s longest continuous group of Front Office personnel going back 25-30 years.

An insular group that doesn’t change in membership or believe in hiring fresh faces with new ideas from outside the organization. They hang onto the old baseball lifers when every other team is hiring younger individuals with advanced degrees and specialties who are versed in the latest analytical and technology information. The Tigers are also the Ellis Island of MLB as every former player, coach or manager can find sanctuary here when forced out by failing with other teams.

It’s a team that embraces loyalty over accountability and winning. It’s an organization often characterized as “underachieving” during the years when they had stellar talent and one of the greatest rotations in the history of baseball.

It’s a team that hangs onto employees with no discernible recent accomplishments on which to hang a hat. We see this in the signings and development of prospects, the failure of defensive training and the multiple years of having the worst offensive records. Yet, the people in charge remain.

It’s a team that threw a lot of money at these problems because Mr. I wanted that ring. It is this money that has masked what is fundamentally broken underneath the shiny, exciting roster of the past decade.

And now that payroll is continuing to be dumped, don’t expect this team to be competitive anytime soon. Especially when we see the zillion holes in the current roster and look to the minors. There are maybe a couple players who will pan out.  Overall, the minor league teams are not showing great promise.

And this is where the rubber doesn’t meet the road. This is still a team in tear down mode. We see no real signs that this team is rebuilding. We cannot point to any progress or feel comfortable knowing that rising talent will soon be in Detroit.

And the reason why is because this team has not invested in itself. They don’t have the structure, the people or the culture in place that creates a winning environment. They tolerate losing and regular sloppy play without sending messages or holding anyone accountable. They keep Front Office executives who haven’t been able to point to regular accomplishments in years. Heck, they actually promote them to higher positions!

But they continue to tell us that the team will be competitive within a couple years. It is lip service and nothing more. It is an attempt to create hope and keep as many fans supporting them.

It’s a team that is returning to those “dark years”. It’s a team without money. It’s a team that doesn’t feel it’s important to invest in their structure by updating learning or how business should be done.

And it’s a team that won’t be competitive again unless Chris starts pouring millions and millions of dollars into buying another roster – or a giant broom is used to sweep out the Front Office.

Let’s hope it’s the latter.

---

Totally Tigers loves your comments!  But please remember that responses are only published if they address today’s topic, are respectful and do not exceed the maximum 3-4 sentence response length.  All rules are at:  https://totallytigers.wordpress.com/commentsrules/.