Tenacious D

Nice scoop

I enjoy the Hot Stove. But liked it much better when the majority of moves were completed by Christmas. Now things drag a long too far into February.

I respectfully disagree. The team that is competitive and has the best offer gets him. We benefit from being a playoff team, but he will chase the best deal. Being a union leader and with the Boras Corp basically ensures that.

I don’t see many, if at all, national endorsement deals for baseball players, beyond Ohtani. I never see Judge, Trout, etc.. in any commercials or sponsorships. Skubal is the best pitcher on the planet, and he’s schlepping local Cure Insurance. I don’t think endorsements will factor in much for a guy like Bregman, who at best, will get a local car dealership, regardless of the market he selects.

? The team has been on the cusp of the ALCS the last two seasons with largely a young, inexperienced team. And three recent players, who played significant time for the Tigers, will likely be first ballot HOF’ers. Detroit has amazing suburbs, payroll flexibility, a respected manager and coaching staff, young players who should only get better and an excellent chance at sustainable winning with one of the best minor league systems. The only negative is the weather in April. I suspect most players can look past that.

Detroit is an attractive option—young team that is already playoff tested with a lot of payroll flexibility. Remember that the only reason the Bregman deal with Detroit fell apart was their insistence that he receive an opt out after the first year, which the Tigers did want to give. If he gets the deal he’s looking for, I can see him coming here.

This is unexpected. Congrats, Riley! Hopefully we get a hat trick with Cy Skubal.

I want them ALL back!

Anderson has hit a wall in AZ—batting average down to .465

I think everyone here recognizes that podcasts and Twitter are only amateurs speculating without any true access or intel.

‘Cause Kieran is so influential? 🤣

This thread is triggering for me. Can an admin please remove it?

A blogger at Lawn & Landscape thinks we’ll be in the mix for Kyle Schwarber. They also added that they think Heather Nabozny is smokin’ hot.

Bichette is interesting—wouldn’t block anyone for another 2-3 years until Rainer is ready at SS. At that point you could probably move Bichette to either 2B or 3B, depending on where McGonigle lands. Or maybe Rainer goes to 3B. Agree that neither Anderson or Lee should factor into committing to an external upgrade. Not sure Colt Keith, should either.

Agree that the QO diminishes his free agency. He’ll take the raise for a year.

Don’t worry, once we slap the QO on Skubal, no team will touch him in free agency, surrendering a 2nd round pick.

If we’re opening it up to other Detroit teams, the Josh Reynolds drop in the NFC Championship is up there.

Hard to imagine what Jays fans are going through. They almost won that game a handful of times—they will likely play back the plays that got away for a long time. At least when we lost in ‘06 and ‘12, we played pretty bad throughout. The closest game I can think of as a Tigers fan was Game 163.

I still contend that Mize will be traded. The relationship and confidence seems to have eroded and I doubt they would let him walk without getting anything in return. Once the dust settle and all of the free agent starters are off the market, he should have some trade value. He’d likely be an inexpensive, solid #4 starter on a good team.

Jack and his agent must have PTSD from their non-existent market last offseason. He clearly didn’t want to gamble that the Tigers would give him a QO or how good his prospects would be on the open market. Welcome back—one less spot to sweat. He’s at least a 4th starter and capable of better.

If we’re being honest, our rotation is very uncertain for next year, which may require us to keep Skubal regardless. Flaherty could opt out (we’ll know soon), Olson’s health and dependability are questionable, Mize is a likely trade candidate (they don’t trust him and probably aren’t re-signing him). That leaves Skubal and Melton. I suspect they will sign at least one SP, maybe two, but their track record has been shopping in the reduced aisle.

If he gets the QO, he’s taking it. The draft pick comp hanging over him will kill his market. A $22M one-year deal is not a bad outcome. If he can have a better season in ‘26, he’ll likely end up with a better contract anyway.

See Avila, Alex (or Nokes, Matt)

Please sign one of these assholes

For your shopping convenience. They’re having a BOGO sale on Suarez’ if anyone is interested…