Detroit Tigers links: Tigers continue revamping the organizational staff

Well, if we thought Mike Ilitch hiring Al Avila as vice president and general manager meant the Detroit Tigers were going to continue in "business as usual" mode, there certainly are a lot of changes taking place. Chris McCosky of the Detroit News details the new personnel Avila is adding to scouting, player development and analytics.

What we don't know, yet, is what kind of impact these changes will have on the Tigers as an organization. One of the key takeaways from the recent book, Big Data Baseball, by Travis Sawchik, details how the use of advanced analytics impacts a baseball team from top to bottom. The challenges aren't just in developing an edge on the field, identifying players to target, etc. The most difficult task is often turning the numbers into the kind of data that your average baseball player can understand and apply effectively.

The challenge for this new regime will be to find a balance between metrics, scouting and forge an approach that uses all these things without drowning in them. Plenty of teams have adopted a very strong analytics department in recent years, and still have nothing to show for it. Figuring out how to use all these voices in concert is a task of its own. Obviously, it remains to be seen if the Tigers can take all this new information and make real hay out of it.

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