Tigers thrilled with magical run, but don't expect them to be content

DETROIT -- Comerica Park’s auxiliary clubhouse hadn’t been used for media purposes for years, since the Tigers’ last run of playoff appearances. When the Tigers rode their late-season run into the postseason, it held press conferences once again, accommodating a larger audience than their regular-season interview room.

On Monday morning, less than 48 hours after Detroit’s magical run ended with a 7-3 defeat to the Guardians in Game 5 of the American League Division Series, it was where president of baseball operations Scott Harris and manager A.J. Hinch looked back on what happened and, more importantly, surveyed the road ahead.

“I’m still struggling to reconcile the gut punch that we felt on Saturday [in Game 5] with what was a wildly successful season for this whole organization,” Harris said. “There were moments in Games 4 and 5 of the ALDS where breaks could’ve gone our way, and they didn’t. If those breaks had gone our way, we’re probably sitting in New York right now preparing for the ALCS. …

“Getting your heart ripped out on one of the biggest stages in our game is both a blessing and a curse. It’s a curse for all the obvious reasons, but it’s a blessing because it means you’re playing for something. It means the last game of the season really matters. It means this is a winning group that had a credible chance to be the last team standing at the end of the year. That’s a change for this organization.”

Now comes the quest to take the next step. And as Harris and Hinch both emphasized, it’s not automatic.

“We want this to be the floor,” Hinch said. “We want this feeling to resonate throughout the offseason so that we can come back more determined than ever.”

Here are three key takeaways from Monday’s session:

Young core is here, but the needs are clear

The Tigers entered the season with veteran additions bolstering a young core, but their late-season tear came after trading many of those veterans, calling up prospects and getting even younger. It’s a tribute to player development and a sign that the core is in place, but it’s also a potential trap for complacency.

“Regardless of what we do this winter, the majority of our growth has to come from within,” Harris said. “There are too many young players on this roster that can and must improve this offseason. The gains that they access this offseason with the help of the coaching staff, when we add all those up when we get to Lakeland in February [for Spring Training], they have to outweigh anything via an external addition, because there’s just too much opportunity on our roster.”

About that coaching staff, Hinch said he expects to keep it intact for next season.

“We do have a good thing going,” Hinch said.

That said, Harris emphasized, they will bring in players to supplement the core.

“I think positionally, we got a little left-handed towards the end of the year. I think we could use a right-handed bat to balance us out,” said Harris, noting that positional versatility expands their options.

“And then pitching. We’re always going to be trying to add pitching. I really like the depth that we have right now, both in the 'pen and the rotation, but we’ve got to add more pitching this offseason.”

Harris noted the success of Jack Flaherty and Michael Lorenzen the last couple years gives them a track record of improving hurlers that they can pitch to free agents, along with a chance to win.

Getting aggressive

While Harris didn’t get into specifics on payroll, he suggested they could be aggressive in addressing those needs in free agency and trades.

“We don’t chase payroll thresholds; we chase talent,” Harris said. “If there’s a talented player we have conviction on that fits how we play and fits our clubhouse and he costs money, we’re going to pursue him aggressively. If we find a talent we have conviction on that fits how we play and fits our clubhouse that costs prospects, we’ve done a lot of work to restock our farm system and should have the prospects to be able to make a trade like that.”

They have a lot more to offer players now than they did before.

“One of the reasons why we played so well down the stretch is we were really young, we’re really athletic, we could really pitch and we’re really tough to face as an opposing manager and team,” Harris continued. “We had some matchup issues up and down our roster that proved really difficult for other teams. We got a lot of feedback from different players around the organization about the brand of baseball we were playing, how aggressive we were, how fun we were to watch, how we run the bases, how hard we play in the outfield.

“I have found in my career that when you see those teams out there, you want to join them as a player. We had that in Chicago [with the Cubs]. We had that in San Francisco as well. [Harris previously worked in both front offices.] So I think it’s going to change the conversation. I hope we are an attractive destination, both because we demonstrated we can help players get better, but also we demonstrated what it feels like to be on a winning Tigers team here for the first time in a decade.”

Culture matters

At the same time, Harris said, they’ll be judging additions on how they fit into the culture as much as on the field, supplementing a group of players that largely came up through the farm system together.

“What we have going on in the clubhouse is a strength of ours,” Harris said. “These guys genuinely like each other. They genuinely pull for each other. They genuinely help get the most out of each other. That’s a very fragile balance. You can run that back and still not have that next year, and you can change it and suddenly improve it. So I need to be really focused on what we have. I need to be hyper-connected to A.J., the coaches and the players so that I understand the dynamics down there.

“If we can both improve the talent level and improve the clubhouse culture that we have, we’re going to be really good for a long time.”