Outside The Confines: A familiar face heads to Tigertown

After the recent exit of longtime Tigers’ GM Al Avila, the question on everyone’s mind was: who would the team hire to attempt to right the Tigers' sinking rebuild? After this week, we have what seems to be the answer, though there’s been a bit of a title change.

San Fransisco Giants GM Scott Harris has been announced as the new president of baseball operations for the Detroit Tigers. While Harris has not been officially called the GM, and often the GM role reports to the president of baseball operations, it’s also possible that Harris could be doing both jobs. So the Tigers might not be done announcing leadership changes, but Harris does appear to be the new man in the big chair.

It doesn’t hurt that the Tigers are undefeated since his arrival.

Harris is a name and face that will be familiar to Cubs fans as Harris was a part of the front office during the Theo Epstein World Series era, initially as director of baseball operations and then as assistant general manager. He was with the Cubs from 2012-19, before he left to take the job of GM in San Francisco.

More on the Harris signing:

• Brandon Day at our sister site Bless You Boys looks at the initial reactions to the hire.
• Tony Paul at the Detroit News brings some responses from the first press conference to introduce Harris. ($)
• Evan Petzold tries to parse what we learned from the initial presser.
• Cody Stavenhagen introduces Harris to the Detroit crowd and offers what they might expect from the new arrival. (The Athletic subscription required.)

And now onto the rest of today’s links!

• I somehow didn’t know that the Twins didn’t own the Twins URL.

• The West Coast League and MLB have formed a new partnership.
• Jay Jaffe assesses how Spencer Strider is maintaining his, uh, stride.
• Aaron Judge hits home run number 60. Story by Bryan Hoch.
• And speaking of milestone countdowns, Albert Pujols insists he’s not “chasing anything” as he nears 700 and his retirement, shares John Denton.
• Jim Bowden has ruffled a few feathers with his recent story on how MLB teams might opt to make unpopular trades. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Tom Verducci thinks the Yankees are built for the long haul in the playoffs.
• Kurt Suzuki has announced he will retire at the end of this season. (ESPN)
• RIP to a Dodgers great.

• Nick Selbe has more on Wills’ career and life.
• Matt Monagan introduces us to our new dream place to play baseball: Bavaria.
• Ben Clemens looks at the second wind of Elvis Andrus’s career.
• MLB brings us the hottest hitters on each team.
• Katie woo looks at how the Cardinals broadcasters are preparing themselves for his big milestone moments. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Madison Williams reports on how Javier Baez is helping Puerto Ricans impacted by Hurricane Fiona.
• In a move that could have an impact on the postseason, Canada appears poised to lift its vaccine requirements for those entering the country. (ESPN)
• Bravo, DBacks.

And tomorrow will be a better day, Buster. Make it so.