Scott Harris On Why Javy Baez Is Still A Tiger And When They Will Actually Spend | The Daily Ticket

We’ve been waiting for Tigers President of Baseball Operations Scott Harris to talk to the media and he finally did on Tuesday. Harris went on the MLB Network and addressed a litany of issues involving the Tigers including when they will actually field a respectable payroll, how the prospects are coming along and why Javier Baez is still a Detroit Tiger? Jeff Riger brings you all the details on the latest episode of The Daily Ticket.

Listen live: https://www.audacy.com/971theticket/listen
Visit our website: https://971theticket.com
Subscribe on Twitch: https://twitch.tv/971theticket
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/971theticketxyt
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/971theticketxyt/

hey everybody what’s going on Jeff rer another episode of The Daily ticket this one for a hump day the 29th it’s May it’s 2024 how you doing hopefully you’re enjoying your hump day by the way thank you for always watching The Daily ticket listening subscribing rating reviewing you guys are the best I appreciate it the more you do it the more episodes we do of the daily ticket maybe hopefully I don’t know help me out rate review follow subscribe get the word out let’s make the daily ticket huge or if you don’t want to I totally understand anyway I got good news today I think it’s good news Scott Harris the president the baseball operations finally talks finally Tigers off to kind of an infuriating start yes they one game under 500 yes like maybe you thought they’d be a 500 team yes they’re better than in years past but we all know we’ve talked about it at nauseum they’re damn near 10 games out of first place in the AL Central they’re like three games out of the Wild Card race yes at the recording of This podcast they’re at a three-game winning streak they got rained out yesterday double dip today great pitching match up we get to see Terk scuo for the Tigers Paul SK in game two gets to go for the Pirates but I think we’ve all had these questions like why didn’t Scott Harris do more what does Scott Harris think of jav bayas when the hell is there going to be a payroll we’re happy with so Scott Harris went on MLB Network with Brian Kenny and he answered the majority of these questions here’s the problem though listen I’m happy he went on with Kenny I’m happy he went on TV I’m happy he finally spoke I am truly I am so I give him credit but didn’t do it locally like I hate when guys go nationally because you know what’s going to happen he’s never going to get a followup he can say whatever he wants he can spew whatever he want to spew spew might be a little tough of a word I shouldn’t say that he can say whatever he wants I’ll I’ll stick with that and Brian Kenny wants to get done with the interview I thought Brian Kenny did a great job but he’s not gonna ask follow-ups here locally if he came on 97 with the ticket if he went on with the beat writers and talked to them there’d be follow-ups Scott Harris wouldn’t just be able to say something and then not have to back it up so I really wish he would spoke locally and maybe he still will but all we have right now is nationally so we’ll give you that so yesterday MLB Network Scott Harris went on with Brian Kenny we already told you that let me play you some of the hits all right and then I want to react to some of the hits so I I think what what we’re wondering more than anything is why is the Tigers payroll so low why 60 million bucks below League average $16 million for the payroll migy off the books and you thought they would spend more money they’ve spent less money it seems like and yeah they went out and they made some moves they got Kent the mayada and they got Jack flarity and they got Mark kanana and they got Gio Ella but for the most part I mean guys like me wanted bigger moves when will we see a bigger payroll when will we see Chris illich spending a little coin when will be that time well Brian Kenny ask Scott Harris that take a listen to was answer yeah I mean from the moment I got here um Chris illich uh said that we would have the resources uh we need to to build a really competitive club and to build a club that can sustain winning over over a long period of time you we’re not quite there yet as far as you know spending at that level because we need to build the foundation of this team um to put us in a position to supplement it with um you know some free agent signings in in in um the upcoming Winters you know I have confidence that that the resources will be here the illage family has always always supported the Tigers and they are ready and and eager to do it and I’m actually sitting in the the world headquarters for Little Caesars right now because we have scouting meetings across the street in uh at little Caesars and I’m I’m confident that the resources will be there we just have to um we have to develop the core that we’re going to um spend around and uh we also have to Target the players in uh upcoming Winters that can really help us all right so here’s a couple things I have so many questions about this answer and that’s why I wish he did this interview locally so somebody could follow up my number one question is when’s this going to be when you gonna spend money he talks about this core is it this core like guys like Riley green and Spencer torque wlson and Colt Keith and krie Carpenter is it this core or is it some other core like I like how he says oh yeah Chris is g to spend but he gives you no time frame of when the spending is going to happen is it gonna happen this year is it gonna happen next year is it gonna happen the year after that and by the way why can’t you simultaneously spend a little bit nobody’s asking you to be the Mets nobody’s saying go out and get sh Otani for 700 million how about just an average payroll because we do know you can equate payroll to makeing the postseason but what core what core needs to be developed I don’t know I don’t know these answers this answer agitates me because your payroll is way too low and nobody’s asking you to break the bank but I want to win again I know you want to win again the tigers are Meed in the longest playoff drought skid in Major League Baseball haven’t made the playoffs in a decade and listen I don’t think any Miracle is going to happen this year so it’s going to be 10 years after this year when they miss again is it too much to ask to spend just a little bit like this sounds like a rebuild gotta develop the core like what the hell we’ve been doing here I get it man this isn’t all Scott Harris’s fault he’s only been here for this is year two but my God you got yourself a pretty good pitching staff you couldn’t complement that with some veteran bats I know that bill Pen’s been struggling of late I just don’t understand why you can’t do both simultaneously let’s develop the core and go get some veteran players that can actually play baseball and help you out I didn’t like the answer I just don’t know when the time frame is how long do we have to sit around how long the other thing too by the way is by the way he answered this question and we knew this already but this year doesn’t matter this year is a let’s evaluate year this year is hey I’m going to punt it away I understand the AL Central is better than people thought the Guardians are red hot the Kansas City Royals are a good team that just swept you but man oh man oh man it would be nice to spend just a little bit of money and by the way I know Chris does spend like Chris and Mike gave Al a half a billion dollar to spend Unfortunately they spent spent it unwisely Chris spent for jav bayz Chris spent for rrod unfortunately e-rod Bamboozled Scott Harris and jav bayz turns out to be one of the worst players if not the worst players in baseball so I get it maybe they’re a little apprehensive to spent but when can we get that please and here’s the other thing too I mean all these things just pop in your mind we’ve talked a lot about Terk scoel should you trade him should you not he’s got two years of control he’s one of the best lefties in all of baseball hell he’s one of the best pitchers in all of baseball by the way this sounds you got to trade him right this sounds like a rebuild you got to develop some core we don’t know who the core is so this sounds like a rebuild so you got to trade him do you trust Scott Harris to trade him you gotta believe whoever you trade him to you could raid their firm system if this is a rebuild which that quote sounds like this is a rebuild right even though he didn’t come out right in say it don’t you have to trade scoo because his time frame makes no sense for your time frame he’s got two years of control and then you got to give him a 1002 200 three $400 million how much money you got to give him so you probably got to deal and I’m okay with that but you can’t get it wrong like Al got wrong over and over and over when he was able to trade really good good players to other teams which he got nothing in return for tough comment it is what I found out is you’re nowhere close you got to have more patience it’s already been a decade and yeah again I think you got to trade scoble so feel free comment section let me know what you think of that comment all right comment number two from Scott Harris Brian Kenny asked them about the prospects Spencer Tolson Carrie Carpenter kry bonds Riley G green col Keith how are these guys doing take a listen we operate in a world right now against a backdrop of a league that uh is thrown a lot at Young hitters there are a lot of young hitters around the league that are really struggling right now because there’s no substitute for the caliber of pitching that they face in the big leagues you can’t you know take young hitters and just give them a little bit more time in the minor leagues and all of a sudden um you know prepare them to face Jones and skem who were coming up against against the uh the Pirates um and and certainly some of the you know veteran starters who um are are pitching with a ton of stuff in command at this level that that our young hitters just don’t see in the minor leagues he says there’s no substitute for the caliber of pitching that you face in the big leagues you can’t take young hitters and just give them a little more time in the minors and all of a sudden prepare them for major league pitching last year Scott Harris said the complete opposite I got the quote you don’t believe me remember we were all bitching and whining and moaning why can’t you bring up Colt Keith bring up some of these kids right Harris a year ago quote it’s really hard to make up for reps they can get against different pitchers in Triple A I have an obligation to make sure they’ve prepared to hit this pitching so last year it was let’s keep these kids in the minors because triaa pitching is so important this year it’s you can’t possibly no you can’t possibly become a good Major League hitter without facing major league pitching like which one is it and by the way if this is a rebuild which I think we’re led to believe this is a rebuild which we already just discussed after the first cut why not bring up all the kids last year he wants to keep all the kids down you need that triaa pitching this year oh no we need these kids to get these Major League app BS okay interesting so why not bring everybody up bring up young bring up Jackson job when he’s healthy bring up Justin Henry Malloy bring them all up bring all the kids up get rid of Marana get rid of Gio orella I mean why not bring everybody up if Major League at bats are that important bring everybody up because this year doesn’t matter so bring up the kids get them experience maybe that what cuts the rebuild down a year I don’t know ah this is so frustrating why the different Theory why last year you got to keep them down but this year oh yeah we got to keep them up but there’s more I found this interesting and I fully admit maybe I’m looking into this too deep but Brian Kenny brought up the prospects it was Colt Keith krie Carpenter Riley green and Spencer Tolson take a listen to this cut by Scott Harris when he was asked how are these kids doing just listen to the cut what do you notice we’ll talk afterwards I think we’ve seen flashes with with all three of those guys certainly karp and and Riley are a little bit ahead in terms of their performance I think with Colt his aggregate performance belies a really strong May uh he’s starting to come out of the adjustment period I don’t think we’re out of the woods yet with Colt but we’ve seen a lot of positive signs in the last few weeks I know you’re waiting with baited breath he said I think we see flashes with all three of those guys he mentioned Cole Keith Riley green kri Carpenter he didn’t mention Spencer Tolson by Design is he not in the core is he on his way out is Scott Harris upset by Spence I mean that’s something I would pick up I feel I would ask him about if he ever talks to the local media you can ask him about it I’m gonna ask him about it but that’s kind of interesting unless I’m looking way too deep into it that’s interesting he left them out completely those three guys when Brian Kenny MLB Network asked about four guys no mention of Spencer Tolson and it just so happens that tlon continues to struggle with the exception of the last game where he hit a home run and he hit a double interesting all right I got one more comment for you and then we’ll get to some comments up our own what about Javier bias as you know everybody has jav opinions everybody wants him off the team everybody wants him to be DFA he’s a terrible baseball player so what has got Harris thing take a listen bayas has an Ops Plus in the 40s his Ops plus 72 over the last 3 years I know he has three years left on his deal use before your time you came in and got him uh or you came in he was already there but at what point when you have a player even making that type of money does the organization have to make a decision yeah that that’s not a question for for the here now right now we are focused on uh trying to get the most out of him he’s really an asset for us defensively um we have a lot of pitchers that that put the ball on the ground uh especially in our Bullpen uh and we really rely on him to make the plays behind them he he made some really nice plays over the last week or so that helped us um and then on the offensive side of the ball he’s going through some adjustments right now you know he he he’s on the other side of 30 right now but it doesn’t make him old he’s still um you know has that fast twitch he still has that athleticism we just got to find a way to help him make some adjustments to uh get back to barreling balls and punishing m St Stakes like he did in a Cubs uniform um you know back a few years ago so we’re focused on on just trying to help him make adjustments right now um and and try to you know put him in a position to help us win games all right so that answer was a bunch of hoy it’s ridiculous I mean first of all he talked about the player that Javi was when he was a cub that was like five years ago six years ago Javi ain’t that dude anymore here’s the other thing he talks about how good defensively jav is jav is 32 in baseball in defensive run saved are there even 32 Short Stops let me give you a break Javi can’t hit jav for the most part can’t field I know people want to bring up but hey second on the team in RBI he’s in a whole hey with guys in scoring position he hits over 400 very limited sample size I think what that comment is is simple Chris hich will not allow me to buy him out Scott Harris I got to believe is a smart dude went to good schools been in baseball his whole life is the president the ball operations for a major league baseball team he knows jav’s no good so don’t try to sell us like he’s any good defensively working on stuff offensively jav has no motivation I actually agree with Harris about one part yes he’s on the other side of 30 and yes he still has that quick twitch but you know what I just don’t think he’s motivated I think Javi doesn’t care and if you get angry with me for saying such a thing how dare you question an athlete’s character factor I mean am I wrong so I think that comment right there was pretty much easy to decipher Scott Harris knows that he’s unable to make Javi go anywhere I mean how AJ hinch benches Javi like once a week if not twice a week they don’t want him on this team but I gotta believe Chris illich is not ready to say goodbye because he owes him 100 million bucks which is kind of funny listen I’m not one to spend somebody else’s money however Chris is a billionaire yo jav less than a hundred million get rid of them it’s for the good of your baseball team but there you go four comments from Scott Harris finally speaking not to the local media but to the National media let me know what you think what Pops in your mind after hearing Scott Harris for me it’s a a lot of hopelessness I mean this rebuild whatever you want to call it this developing a core this timeline for spending it all sucks all I want to do is win all I want to do is getting back to playing meaningful games in September and we’re bitching and moaning and have to decipher what Scott’s talking about with well you know there’s core and we got to develop a core and I know Chris will spend it’s it’s ridiculous how long are we supposed to wait anyway comments and then go enjoy your day here we go yesterday’s podcast was about the iconic Old English D logo being a nogo because the tigers actually have won three in a row and they decided to wear the city connects are you good with that benching an unreal Legendary logo simply because you’re in a three- game winning streak and you’re wearing those ugly City connects here’s what people say at Mark Pau 9691 I hate the new uniform once a month on a Friday night is fine this is a fourth place ball Club that’s what sickens me at Mr cruel saay fix I like the new uniform so that’s some of the comments from that podcast anyway that’s going to do it for the daily ticket we’ll catch you tomorrow on a Thursday comment section what you think of the Scott Harris comments I give you my thoughts what about your thoughts all right I gotta go get my voice back drinking some water trying to stay hydrated we’ll catch you tomorrow have a great day everybody see you