This post is part of a series. Click here for the introduction. Click here for part 1.

The first GM hire I remember taking note of for the Tigers was Randy Smith in 1996, so we’ll begin our front office review there. Randy Smith came from the San Diego Padres, where he became the youngest GM in baseball history at that time (29 years old). He had a wunderkind reputation and the Tigers were all about that. With Mike Illitch preparing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a new ballpark, Smith was asked to both keep the payroll down and remain competitive so attendance wouldn’t tank entirely. This is know (by me, anyway) as the Detroit Special, which has plagued each of the four major franchises at one time or another. This typically does not work, as you may have guessed. So Smith, unable to sign many free agents or wait patiently for draft picks, started making trades. Most of these were low stakes, long shot for long shot deals with no real results for either team. He did pick up Damion Easley for Greg Gohr; Easley was a very productive player for the Tigers, but that was kind of an exception for Randy Smith trades.

His biggest swing was for Juan González, one of the best power hitters in baseball for the Texas Rangers. Of course, the new Comerica Park was huge, particularly in left field, where the pull hitting righty “Juan Gone” hit most of his home runs. González had hit a home run every 14.3 at bats in his career to that point (337 in 4831 AB for the Rangers), but managed just 22 in 461 AB for the Tigers in 2000 (21.0 AB/HR). Whether this was solely due to the brand new Comerica Park is doubtful, but González clearly thought so, referring to it as a “horseshit ballpark” halfway through the season. Juan was Gone to Cleveland the next year after turning down a long term deal with Detroit. He promptly hit a home run every 15.2 AB. The Tigers dodged a bullet on that one, however, as injuries meant this was his last productive season.

The Tigers had a terrible first season under Smith (56-106), but bounced back to 79-83 in 1997. Hopes were high, and Smith was named Executive of the Year by MLB. That was, unfortunately, the high water mark. After losing seasons in ’98, ’99, 2000, and 2001, an 0-6 start to 2002 meant the Sword of Damocles fell on Randy Smith and the sword bearer himself, team president Dave Dombrowski, became his successor. Dombrowski arrived fresh from his first opportunity to run a team, the Florida Marlins. Under Dombrowski, Florida won the 1997 World Series by buying up all the free agents, winning the World Series, and then immediately trading off all their assets for prospects under direction by ownership to slash payroll. Florida fans were pissed with principal owner Wayne Huizenga at the time, but the prospects acquired by Dombrowski during the sell-off actually helped the Marlins win another title in 2003.

Illitch now had his new ballpark and a new sense of impatience. However, the Tigers did bottom out with that terrible 43-119 team before bouncing back. In 2004 and 2005, Illitch began spending under Dombrowski’s free agency direction, signing plenty of veterans. Not all stuck around or were particularly productive, but Iván Rodríguez, Carlos Guillén, Kenny Rogers (no, not that one) and Magglio Ordóñez were key signings, which led to that amazing 2006 trip to the World Series. He chose grizzled veteran Jim Leland to coach the team, which proved wise. He was adept at trades as well, bringing in Plácido Polanco and, later on, Miguel Cabrera. He also drafted well, picking up Curtis Granderson, Rick Porcello, Andrew Miller, and, of course, Justin Verlander. If you draft, trade, and sign players well, success is going to follow. The Tigers were contenders from 2006 to 2016. Dombrowski left in 2015 and went on to win a World Series with the Red Sox in 2018. He is currently the Philadelphia Phillies GM.

His assistant GM, Al Avila, took over for Dombrowski. He has approached the current rebuild patiently and through the draft. He has said he intends to spend on free agents once the young core is in place, which should be next year, with Matt Manning, Riley Green, and Spencer Torkelson soon to arrive to join Casey Mize and Tarik Skubal. Akil Baddoo and Victor Reyes have been astute Rule 5 pickups, and Willi Castro and Isaac Paredes could be big league contributors as well. On a more negative note, Avila has been criticized for overvaluing his trade pieces and holding on to them too long. Matt Boyd was having a dominant first half of 2018 and could have brought back plenty in return, but the word is Avila was asking a king’s ransom and nobody was willing to pay his price. Since then, Boyd has been terrible and has lost most of his trade value. This year, through three starts, he has been very good, but he’s 30 now and not on the same timeline as the current batch of prospects. Rumor has it he could have traded 2016 Rookie of the Year Michael Fulmer for Alex Bregman, but passed. Bregman is one of the best position players in baseball, and Fulmer (predictably, due to a violent throwing motion) suffered an arm injury and has had Tommy John surgery. He’s looking good with his new, smoother mechanics this early this year, so maybe Avila will be proved right, but Tiger fans are a little disgruntled with their GM right now. The next 2 years will be key.

I’d say I am least convinced by Avila in terms of current Detroit GMs. He has been in place longest, but did have to deal with 2020’s Covid shortened 60 game schedule (with no minor league season at all), a definite issue when trying to develop young players. As I said, the next 2 years will be key. With the lack of position players in the pipeline, both Avila and Chris Illitch will have to get free agency right, and we don’t have much of a track record for either of them. I’m 50/50 on whether the Tigers will be good in 2023, but I do like the top 5 or 6 prospects right now. Being optimistic in the face of meager evidence is what it means to be a Detroit fan, right? Right! On to the coaching staff next week. Further up and Further in!