papalawrence

Take a gander at NBA salaries. QB salaries. Yep, it's crazy

Jobe will be up at some point, if not from the start. Hamm likely starts at AA and he looks more and more like the real deal. Jobe and Hamm could both be in the mix by 2026. I think Harris is still thinking stop-gaps and I don't expect any long-term deals. Flaherty is going to get a 4/80-100 deal somewhere. From what I see Harris is thinking longer-term more than going all in now. I'm not opposed to that, although I would like to see them pony up for Skubal. He is just cut from a different mold. He has some Bob Gibson in him

Given Skubal has Boras, perhaps Harris will consider trade offers this week. Would be a PR nightmare, but he'll probably never have higher value

True, after he signed several other big contracts and offered Max a reasonable deal at the time, iirc 6/144. Mike spent.

You just know Sasaki is going to end up with the Dodgers

Random item - I recently picked up a 1935 goudey 4-in-1 with Gehringer, Cochrane, Rogell and Bridges, psa 3. I'm getting old but still enjoy collecting vintage Tigers

Skubal/Boras are up first. Even at 30, barring catastrophic injury, he'll likely get 350. With Mike Illitch they'd keep him. With Chris?

The cost burden will get passed to the consumer

Imho Allen = hall of fame Parker = hall of very good

Being that Boras also represents Skubal, I don't see him staying in Detroit. He is likely to get historic offers from one of the monster teams.

With winter meetings starting I'm eager to see some signings start rolling in

That kinda looks like Chris Illitch on the left

Medwick beat the Tigers in '34. He sucks

Astros broke the ice with Bregman with an opening offer of 6/156. I have a hunch that's about what Harris would offer, if the Tigers planned to try to land him. I think he'll get 6 or 7 @ 180-200

Wow the A's signed Severino to a 3/67 deal with 10 up front as signing bonus. Didn't see that coming https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/12/athletics-to-sign-luis-severino.html

The Guillen throw was the first to come to my mind. So many of them - they come up in my youtube feed often. First one that came to my mind for the Tigers was a Jacoby Jones catch - I believe it was off Joe Mauer. Too bad Jones couldn't hit. Edit - this is the catch I recalled. Great leap, and he never broke stride

I know that business is business, but Chris Illitch is Mike Illitch's son, and I'm sure he was well aware of Mike's desire to win a WS. Again, it's a business, but I'm guessing part of Chris wants to fulfill his father's wish. I am naive and have been hit in the head with a shovel a few times, but still understand the father son thing. I think we'll find out with Skubal, if they pony up 3-400 mil to keep him. I think they'll still be willing to sign a top shelf FA at some point. Maybe not this year.

And a marathon bar lasts a good long time

Admiring Musial's 1948 season. Lead the league in most everything, except came up 1 home run short of Mize and Kiner. Hits, runs, rbi, avg, obp, ops, ops+, 2b, 3b, tb, slg. He just hit. I have his 1953 Bowman color card and it's one of my favorites. I am a stat nerd. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/musiast01.shtml

Good for him. Wish him all the best

Liranzo hit go ahead bomb in the 9th in the AFL all-star game to nab the MVP https://www.freep.com/story/sports/mlb/tigers/2024/11/10/detroit-tigers-prospect-thayron-liranzo-blasts-epic-hr-in-afl-game/76171038007/

A wrinkle on Soto - how certain is it that he is 25? Recently a minor league player from Dominican Republic made agreement at 14. Turns out he was 19. https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/dominican-baseball-player-with-verbal-agreement-with-padres-was-19-not-14-per-report/ Soto is a great player. But maybe he didn't start at 19? Signing him to a 15 yr deal carries so much risk. I'll bet Boras is starting at 15/700

Now that's funny

Got really shelled twice in the playoffs. Plus the back issues. Pitched well in LA, but sorry of came back to earth a bit. What do you think he gets? I'm going to guess 3/60

Read an article on the notion of taking away the "opener" starting pitcher, and I found this interesting. Rather than forcing a starter to stay in the game, the manager forfeits the DH when the starter comes out. Incentivises keeping the starter in longer. I could see this happening. https://www.thebiglead.com/john-smoltz-guarantees-mlb-will-change-one-rule