A CHANGING OF THE GUARD

by Holly Horning

Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwansaa and even Festivus came early for us this year.

The Tigers finally have their Tigers Way.

But it took awhile.  Avila said at the end of 2015 that he wanted to create one.  And now we found out that the process actually started 2-3 years ago.

Many assumed that it would be a manual that many teams had decades ago.  A cookie-cutter way of doing things.

But that’s so old school.  This system is so much more.

First came the development and growth of the analytics department.  And with that the techie tools like the super computers, Rapsodo machines and high-speed cameras were introduced.

The first official new employees who helped kick this off were Sam Menzin and Jay Sartori.  Menzin was actually hired under Dave Dombrowski and evolved into his current position.  Avila hired Jay Satori just months after he was promoted to GM.

But as the Tigers were ramping up their analytics, the same old school guys were still in charge.

Ron Gardenhire and his band of buddy coaches.  And Dave Dombrowski’s clique that dated all the way back to Montreal and the Marlins.  Throw in a heapin’ helpin’ of Pittsburgh on the side.

It was baseball’s oldest Front Office and coaches.  Not ideal when you have invested in the latest and greatest and need everyone to become technologically savvy.

At best, it would be a tremendous learning curve.  At worst, employees simply giving lip service to the process but not actually using it.

Quite frankly,  it’s a huge ask to get everyone who spent careers not working with computer print-outs or sophisticated machinery to adopt these advanced skills.

The Tigers started with 2 different “quality-control” coaches who were supposed to take reports handed to them and translate for the manager and players.

And we know how well that all worked out.  Especially when you have a former manager, still very influential within the organization, publicly stating that he didn’t believe in that “stuff.”

The first piece of evidence in a changing of the guard was the hiring of Kenny Graham and Director of Pitching Development, Dan Hubbs to oversee an overhaul of the player development system while Al Avila started looking critically at the overall organization with a goal of seeing how the Tigers could improve.

Dr. Georgia Giblin also came on board to direct their performance science efforts.  Rumor has it that her role will be expanding soon.

And then everything changed at the end of the 2020 season with the hiring of A. J. Hinch. (And this topic will be covered in an upcoming Back to the Future installment, so please save your comments about his hiring and who hired whom until then.)

The Tigers had finally abandoned the hiring of executives, managers and coaches who had connections to the old boys network of the past.  No more Expos, Marlins, Pirates or former established Tigers.

The Tigers had started to cast a wider net and pull in employees from top teams known to have superior Front Offices and player development systems.

Hinch, of course, is best friends with Scott Bream.  Both worked together with the Padres.

Scott Coolbaugh came from the White Sox where he was credited with improving the team’s offense.

George Lombard came from the Dodgers.  He was the first of the onslaught of Dodgers moving to Detroit.

Chris Fetter was signed by the Padres when both Hinch and Bream were there overseeing scouting and player development issues.  And before he moved to Michigan, Chris was a minor league pitching coordinator for the Dodgers.

As the 2021 season started to wind down, the Tigers continued to make moves.  Menzin and Sartori were promoted.  David Chadd was moved out of Detroit and put back on the minor league circuit.  Dave Littlefield was demoted although the Tigers avoided using that description.  Littlefield is considered to be Avila’s closest confidante.

Another one with Dodger ties, Ryan Garko, was hired as VP Player Development and that’s when things really started to get moving.  Garko, like Hinch, was a catcher at Stanford although at different times but both worked under the same coach.  He also knows Fetter from their time with the Dodgers. 

With Garko now in charge, 19 long-term scouts and coaches were released.

Following Garko from LA was Gabe Ribas, Director of Pitching.  He replaced Dan Hubbs, who was with the Tigers for 1 year.

Then the new pitching coaches followed:  Stephanos Stroop (Dodgers) and Steve Smith, Casey Mize’s college pitching coach and new Upper Level Pitching Coordinator for the Tigers’ AA and AAA systems.

And as the Tigers make the case to field an entire team of former Dodgers, Ryan Sienko was hired to become the Director of Coaching, Field Coordinator and catching coach.

If you read TT on Twitter, we were the first to announce the newest Dodger hire, Tony Cappuccilli, several days ago.  Tony will also be in Player Development.

Unclear is how much Al Avila’s influence is in recruiting Dodgers.  He father was and remains a legend there.  In fact, Alex Avila’s godfather was Tommy Lasorda.

The changes continue to trickle down.  Garko continues to broom Player Development.  After hiring his top people to direct, oversee and coordinate development in the minors, he’s been systematically moving into the organizations and going after coaches and managers.

One of the biggest changes so far was the firing of Tom Prince, former player and friend of Jim Leyland who was hired to manage AAA after being fired by the Pirates.  He was also friends with Ron Gardenhire. You might remember the hostage swap in which the Tigers got him and Pittsburgh got Don Kelly.

Despite a winning record, the Tigers were unhappy with Prince.  Lots of injuries including Alex Faedo, Franklin Perez, and Joey Wentz during his tenure.  Concerns over Beau Burrows’ failure.  And Mize and Skubal struggling beyond expectations when they came to Detroit.

In an earlier blog, I had reported on Hinch’s weekly calls to Prince to check in and request weekly written reports.  I had mentioned that A. J. was evaluating Prince’s work.  And you know he was updating Al Avila on what he was seeing and hearing.

The issue is that in AAA, when you have drafted top prospects, winning is expected.  It’s not an indicator of actual success.  It’s all about how effectively players are being developed.

And the bottom line is that the players weren’t making the advances they should have been.

(In a future blog, I will write about the characteristics of the top player development systems in MLB and the standards that are set by them that the Tigers are trying to emulate.)

In Prince’s place is new AAA Manager, Gary Jones.  He was Hinch’s former minor league manager.  Along with Ryan Garko, all 3 were with the Padres.  Jones has an impressive record and won 4 Manager of the Year Awards.

Expect more changes as Garko continues to put the pieces of the puzzle together.  He, Chris Fetter, George Lombard and others are bringing their experience in working with some of baseball’s best minds:  Andrew Friedman, Gabe Kapler and Farhan Zaidi.

Even Al Avila recently said “We’re looking to be a more progressive organization…We’ve been a very traditional organization as far as our way of teaching….We want to be a little bit more progressive and start using more technology, more sciences. We want to start being able to write up plans for our pitching and our hitting across the board, starting from the Major League level all the way down.”

This will be the new Tigers Way.

And really, it’s about time.  The Tigers have been mired in the old, outdated ways for decades now.  And despite their extensive minor league system, they have very little to show for it.  It’s one reason why Mr. I had to go out and buy a team.

It’s also why this rebuild has taken so long.  The Tigers have had to start from scratch.

We’ve been tough on this organization and rightly so.  But we also have to give credit to them when they make the effort to adapt and improve. 

Chris Ilitch has recognized what needs to change.  He keeps talking about building a sustainable team in which the Tigers build a pipeline of prospects through solid drafting, scouting and development.

Rome certainly wasn’t build in a day.  Even Theo Epstein didn’t broom the entire Cubs organization in 1 year.

This will take time.  At least another year of evaluation and further editing of personnel who fail to meet certain performance bars.

But the old guard is gradually being pushed out. Out with the old, in with the new.

Who will be next?

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