Jeff Seidel

Detroit Free Press Columnist

LAKELAND, Fla. -- New Detroit Tigers owner Chris Ilitch walked onto Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium on Friday morning, wearing a "Mr. I" pin on the lapel of his steel-blue suit.

He stood behind the batting cage with general manager Al Avila, watching the Tigers take batting practice. Then he met with a small group of reporters, saying there is no mandate to cut team payroll and that he believes this team has the talent to win the World Series.

"I do it for my love of the game. And I love this franchise," said Ilitch, who spoke publicly for the first time as Tigers' owner on Friday. "... If our team comes together and everybody plays the way they can play, we have the personnel to have a very good season. I’m very excited about that.”

The Tigers held a pregame ceremony and wore “Mr. I” patches on their uniforms to honor of their late owner, Mike Ilitch, during their 2-0 loss to Baltimore in Friday's Grapefruit League opener. The ceremony is part of what brought Chris Ilitch to Lakeland. He took over ownership of the club following his dad's death on Feb. 10 and has attended recent MLB ownership meetings.

“It’s about four meetings a year, and I’ve been to all of those,” Ilitch said. “I’m involved with several committees now, owners committees and various parts of the sport. I’ve had a front-row seat for 25 years to watch how my father, who I would arguably say is one of the best owners in all of professional sports in my lifetime, to be able to see how he has operated, how he went about running a world-class organization. It’s been an incredible experience.”

Ilitch said he supports the approach Avila took this off-season, becoming an organization that's focused on developing young players.

“There is no mandate on payroll,” Ilitch said. “I know Al has addressed payroll with you guys. I support Al’s approach wholeheartedly. Al has a great plan. The first part of his plan is to beef up our personnel in sabermetrics and player development. His goal is to identify and draft the very best players in the world, and then we need to develop them. And he is beefing up our player-development area, as well as our scouting ranks. I support his approach wholeheartedly.

" ... That was a large part of our success in 2006 and 2012, and we have seen it with the Detroit Red Wings, as well. I’m very, very supportive of Al’s approach. I think he has a great approach and we are on the right track.”

When Mike Ilitch purchased Joe Louis Arena, he spent money to fix it up for the Red Wings. He viewed it as a vital part of the franchise's culture. Chris Ilitch said something similar on Friday, suggesting the $48-million renovation of Joker Marchant is important for the organization.

“We are excited,” Ilitch said.

“I actually had a chance to talk to the players this morning,” Ilitch said. “The kind remarks they had for my father, the condolences, it’s been remarkable. The outpouring from the fans and the general public, amazing. What is a very, very difficult period for me and for my brothers and sisters and, certainly, my mother – it’s heartwarming to see that type of support, the outpouring of love. To hear all of the amazing stories about my father, he certainly modeled the way for all of us. We are very, very fortunate to have a father like that. We are going to miss him dearly.”

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Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@seideljeff. To read his recent columns, go tofreep.com/sports/jeff-seidel.