The Tigers announced Tuesday that they’ve hired Rays senior director of amateur scouting Rob Metzler as a vice president and assistant general manager. His hiring comes just one day after longtime assistant GM David Chadd and the organization parted ways. Detroit also dismissed former amateur scouting director Scott Pleis earlier this month.
“I hope all Tigers fans will join me in welcoming Rob and his family to our organization,” president of baseball operations Scott Harris said in a statement announcing the move. “I am thrilled to add an executive of Rob’s caliber to lead our Amateur and International Scouting departments. Rob’s track record of success with the Rays speaks for itself, and his innovative approach to talent acquisition will help us achieve one of our main goals: to acquire, develop and retain young talent in Detroit.”
Metzler, who’s spent the past 15 years in the Rays organization, previously oversaw Tampa Bay’s scouting activities in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico in advance of the amateur draft for the past seven of those campaigns. Prior to joining the Rays organization, Metzler was an intern with the Red Sox, with the Cape Cod League’s Brewster White Caps, and with Baseball Info Solutions. He earned a physics degree from Bowdoin College while playing baseball there and a master’s degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
“We’re going to hit the ground running to ensure our processes of amateur scouting at both the domestic and international levels are the best they can possibly be, and search for the most comprehensive information possible to help inform our decision making,” Metzler said in a statement of his own. “I’d also like to thank the Tampa Bay Rays organization for an incredible 15 seasons, and I couldn’t be prouder of what we accomplished. The reason I’m here in Detroit is to bring that same energy, passion and innovative spirit, culminating with winning baseball on the field at Comerica Park for years to come.”
Good news for Tiger fans!
Next, a General Manager.
That’s Scott Harris. You don’t name an assistant GM VP, unless you plan on taking GM.
“Rob’s track record of success with the Rays speaks for itself.” – it does, indeed. If I ran the Tigers, I would try to poach guys from Tampa Bay as well. Please sprinkle in someone from the Astros and Cardinals now…
Gruß,
BSHH
Really? While TB has a great record for finding talent in other organizations, their record for developing their own draft picks is not much different from Detroits. As to retaining players, who other than Wander have they developed and maintained?
The Rays put together platoon pieces and arms to create matchups in their favor with a low payroll. They trade pieces establishing themselves for more pieces. They win games but they are not the Astros or Cardinals, and while they have prospects they never seem to have the treasure of prospects teams like the Padres always seem to have. Has getting a Tampa guy helped the Red Sox?
Yeah he did he got them to the ALCS when nobody gave them a shot 2 years ago. just not this year. rays front office staff is all over the league including the gm of thr world series favorite Astros.
andrew friedman, dodgers… the OG
their record for developing their own draft picks is not much different from Detroits.
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Good point. I didn’t expect that to be the case, so I checked. Since the 2011 draft, they have only (US) drafted 3 players with > 4.0 bWAR, and one of those is Cronenworth, and I don’t know that they get any credit for him. McClanahan will blow by that, but their US draft hasn’t produced much.
I would take my chances on the TB front office over the previous DET any day. Throw in the mid-market team factor, and it’s really not the complicated
Thanks for putting some facts behind the conjecture. I don’t know the specifics of the Rays’ draft results, but the Tigers sure have some headscratchers in their history. Jobe over Marcelo Mayer in 2021 is certainly one of them, but they’ve had a lot of oddies over the years.
Juries still out on both Jobe and Mayer, but as they were planning on getting a SS in FA, I can see going a different direction in the draft. I wouldn’t have spent on Baez, but they were trying to get Correa.
I agree that the jury is still out on both. That said, if they choose Jobe over Mayer strictly because they planned on signing a shortstop in free agency, then that’s pretty dumb.
I don’t remember a single analyst have Jobe going before Mayer or Lawlar.
Good point. Even though the Rays build from their farm, I never noticed how few players the Rays actually drafted that developed into MLB players.
The Rays drafted and signed amateur pitchers Shane McClanihan, Blake Snell, Josh Fleming, Ryne Stanek, Diego Garcia and Jose Alvarado as well as position players Kevin Kiermaier, Brandon Lowe, Nathaniel Lowe, Jake Cronenworth and Wander Franco but Tampa’s teams are composed mostly of players acquired from other teams’ farms.
I think they trade a lot of players so I am curious how many turn into MLB players after being traded.
Looks like a strong front office being built. Too bad for Tiger fans these guys can’t play though lol gonna need some patience here
Helluva move from Mr. Harris. Next comes a GM and then an interesting off season for a change. Anytime you can poach anyone from the Rays….Astros…Cardinals or Dodgers it’s a win.
Surprising Harris isn’t letting his GM select his own assistant GM. Is this the cart before the horse?
He did. Scott Harris will be named GM. Why would he name an assistant GM VP, if he doesn’t plan on taking on GM duties?
Welcome, Rob Metzler.
…..and family.
Metzler? You bet-zler!
Classic film. Couldn’t help it.
Glad someone else caught that. Election is a masterpiece.
assistant GM or assistant to the gm…
Office refernce lol
Great hire! Tigers will be in the ALCS in 2-3 years. They have 90% of the pieces already, why do you think these guys are taking the job? Its right there….the Fans just can’t see it yet. People of this caliber thats being hired don’t take a dead ending/ career killing job.
A lot of their players they have are legit future all star talents. Need to get rid of a few guys that have hung around for 4-5 years on the roster which is an easy fix and will happen this weekend.
Guru,
You sound like you think a Super Bowl parade is coming down Woodward soon. Love your optimism.
the guru;
The Tigers are at where the Orioles were at 4 years ago.
They have to build an entirely new baseball infrastructure of both people and technology. The Orioles surprised even Baseball Ops head Mike Elias by jelling this year (he thought that would happen in 2023), and they didn’t make the playoffs.
The Tigers are in a division with the Guardians that went to the 2nd round of the AL playoffs this year. They’ve built a superior organization over the years. Have a great FO, the best manager in MLB, and young players at the major and minor league level that they control the rights to for 5-6 years.
The Tigers may well build a structure and a contending team. But right now that organization is backwards – and an organization that big doesn’t turn on a dime.
From the fans perspective yes you are correct. To be people inside the front offices in mlb…your are wrong. I stand by my statement. Tigers will be in alcs in 2-3 yrs. They have the 2nd richest owner, and the easiest division. They will leapfrog the indians relatively quickly. They are probably #1 or #2 in all of mlb right now in player development of pitching. Listen to Aj hinch and Scott Harris interviews, its all there.
Samuel seems to not be aware that the Tigers restructured the farm system within the last two years, and have built a strong analytics dept. The only reason for not making expectations in 2022 was bad coaching on the hitting side and a huge rash of injuries. Injuries were not such a problem in past years. I would have liked to have seen this past years roster healthy. Considering they had to pull 8 extra starting pitchers from their system and pitching was still their strong point, it sure seems a raw deal that the person who provided that minor league depth just got canned.
What matters is they hit the ball, not what Aj Hinch or Scott Harris say…… or even how much Mr. Illich has…..
It’s how they hit the ball…..
Pardon me, but I see no reason why this dude should get a pass for next year….. Why should he? Why should Chris?
Tiger fans have gone though enough. Full court press, 24/7, 8 days a week…..
Who loves you, baby?
Go Tigers!
Samuel, the Tigers are much closer to the O’s than four years. While analysts don’t think much of the Tiger farm system, how do you account for the fact that they pulled multiple competent starting pitchers from the farm early and that it was only poor hitting, not pitching, that did them in? It is well know that they have a gap in hitting prospects between Torkelson/Greene and the next group. Nothing at AAA this year. They can acquire more offense in exchange for their pitching surplus. 2023 will be a re-tooling year, but I’d say the Tigers are 1-2 years behind the Orioles.
Or snag a free agent or two or three….
The analysts are wrong about the farm. Yankees propsects are always way over rated. Tigers are underrated. The tigers arguably had the #1 AAA, the #1 AA, and the #1 A+ team by record this year in the minors. Has that ever happened before?
I think the early 80s Cardinals and early 70s Dodgers had the MiLB triple crown. Buts it’s from my faulty memory and unverified.
Just because you win in the minor does not mean you have a great farm system. Al was big on stocking up on talent, just not major league talent.
The reason the system is not highly ranked is they graduated about 1-2 dozen prospects in the last year.
Nowhere to go but up !!
I see no reason why Scott Harris cannot hit the ground running.. I see no reason why Chris Illich should not should not proceed with a full court press. I see no reason why the Detroit Tigers cannot put together a winning team and a championship team this year.
I would like to see Mr. Scott Harris do all the things that Mr. Avila did not do.
I would like to see the Tigers take on contracts for prospects. (NYY?)I would like to see the Tigers offer signing bonuses to create tradable contracts. I would like to see the Tigers trade all of their young International prospects due in 2025 for major league ready prospects. See Washington Nationals they would be perfect. I want to see team options not player opt outs. I want to see a Tiger management and ownership staff who has the attitude that they are giving these men the opportunity to showcase their talents on the MLB stage. We are doing Scott Boras a favor. Scott Boras is not doing us a favor. I want to see package deals where we get a higher return in top prospects. I want to see them hire the Superfife.
I want to see the Detroit Tigers win a World Series.
So, as you can see, Scott Harris has every opportunity in the world standing before him. Therefore, there is no reason why the Tigers can not be parading down Woodward Ave, this very same time, this very same bat channel, next year.