Stormin

Not baseball, but I still think Chuck Long is the best QB name of all time.

Media sources seem to be constantly mentioning Javy having a bad second half. What seldom seems to be mentioned is how well Javy played in the playoffs. Played all 8 games at SS. led everyday Tigers in hits and average, second in OPS, only 3 strikeouts across 8 games.

Dreaming and realistic expectations don't have to be mutually exclusive. You can be excited that JV is a Tiger again and hope JV performs well. At the same time you can understand that the Tigers were probably a better team with Reese Olson in the rotation.

Greenberg said short people are not angry. He also said Tiger337 is a #$@&%*!

Home opener should be close to a sell out regardless of pitcher. If JV pitches game 2 of the series, the Tigers could start the season with 2 sold out games.

The more I listen to Avila, the more I like him as a person, and the more I doubt him as a GM. Avila brought good prospects into the organization, but as a GM sometimes what you don't do is more important than what you do. JV had to be moved for financial reasons but the Tigers sent $16M to Houston in the deal? Still calling the prospect return for JV a good return? The bad return for JD was because there was no market market for an over 1.000 OPS hitter who signed a big money contract a few months later? Make Zimmerman the first MLB signing of the off-season, over paying in years and dollars, because you thought everyone wanted him? After determining you can't afford Correa, you bid against yourself and sign a batter who struggles to stay in the zone to a long term deal. Correa ends up signing 3 year deal with the Twins which he opted out of. Harris has avoided long term free agent signing and that approach yielded better results than Avila's free agent efforts. Harris has not executed a really good trade, but at least Harris is not trading away All Star talent for nothing.

In his Foul Territory interview, when discussing the shape of players coming into spring trading, AJ said "I have video of Tarik throwing 98 mph, Finnegan throwing 99 mph, and Troy Melton ...." AJ bit his tongue before announcing a number for Melton

2026: 85 Wins, 66.2% Playoff Framber Valdez Signing Establishes the Tigers as AL Central Favorites | FanGraphs Baseball

Jo Adell trade rumors still being floated. Power right handed bat, 37 HRs last year, .931 OPS against LHP, not bad in RF - bad in CF.

Winning is one step. The World Series is a much bigger step. If I didn't consider the Tigers a World Series contender with Skubal, I might align with your view. But I like to dream. Removing Skubal from the Tigers roster and adding Skubal to the Yankees, Red Sox, Mariners, Dodgers, Phillies ... makes the postseason path much more difficult. Skubal has pitched at least 6 innings in each of his 6 post season games over the past 2 years and has a 2.04 ERA and 1.91 FIP in the post season. Skubal has pitched 28% of the Tigers postseason innings over the past 2 seasons. No other pitcher on the Tigers staff comes close to those numbers.

Everyone is entitled to their own viewpoint, but for me, as a long time Tiger fan, there are two "things" that would make it difficult to trade Skubal under almost any circumstance. The Tigers are at least in the conversion as a World Series contender. Without Skubal, I think the Tigers are out of the conversation. How many seasons have I endured knowing the Tigers had no chance of making it to the World Series before game 1. I have been spoiled as a fan the last 20 years with JV, Miggy, Scherzer, and now Skubal. Before that, there was a 40 year gap between prime Kaline and JV. It may be another 40 years before the next first ballot HOF caliber talent wears a Tiger uniform. I can't imagine the pain of watching Skubal win his third straight Cy Young in front of Yankee fans and helping the Yankees to the World Series.

Lucas Elissalt https://blogs.fangraphs.com/lucas-elissalt-is-a-crafty-curveballer-who-is-opening-eyes-in-the-tigers-system/ https://www.milb.com/video/lucas-elissalt-strikes-out-eight-over-five-scoreless?t=playerid-827640

A good percentage of the media "experts" saying the Tigers should trade Skubal view Detroit as losers. If Skubal were on the Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox, ... would these experts be pushing for a Skubal trade?

The Miggy contract was painful because of his decline and the negative impact on the team. Skubal is in his prime. There is not a Skubal trade that will make the Tigers better in 2026. The Tigers are in a position to win now. The Angels with Ohtani were in the midst of a long string of losing seasons. Huge return for one year of Skubal is a theory not based on precedent.

I am curious how many fans who followed the Tigers from 2017 to 2023, and watched Miggy become a below average player on an unmovable contract, would actually want the Tigers to sign Skubal to a 10 year deal. A lot of media folks are still tossing around the 10 year $400M number. I would think a 10 year contract for a 30 year old pitcher would be a stretch for almost any team and a definite no for the Tigers.

Some random thoughts: There are currently 5 MLB teams operating in a space significantly above the luxury tax thresholds. 4 of those teams(LAD,NYY,NYM,PHI) are the only teams paying a player more than a luxury tax AAV $40M. Toronto is the 5th team. Most of the league is moving away from long term contracts. Teams have seen the results of these type of contracts. People don't seem to want to say this out load, but Miggy's second contract made the Tigers a non competitive team from 2017 to 2023. Only one team, Toronto, has signed a player for more than 5 years this off season. If contracts longer than 5 years are going away, short term high AAV contracts will be the route for star players. I could see Skubal getting $60M AAV for 4 or 5 years, but there may be only 4 teams who can pay that amount. In theory, if a harder cap was implemented, and the league continued to pay the same % of revenue to player salaries, the wealth would be spread among a larger group of players. There may not be any players making more than $40M, but there would probably be more players making $10M, $20M, $30M, and $40M.

Tigers Luxury Tax Payroll estimates spotrac: $229,259,852 https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/detroit-tigers/tax fangraphs: $244,086,251 https://www.fangraphs.com/roster-resource/payroll/tigers COTS: $233,614,050 https://legacy.baseballprospectus.com/compensation/cots/american-league/detroit-tigers/

The counter argument is win now with Skubal, Valdez, Mize, and Flaherty in the rotation. Worry about 2027 next off-season.

The Tigers front office have been saying throughout the off-season they want to win in 2026. The trade packages the Tigers have been asking for Skubal in 2026 have been absurd is because the Tigers want to win in 2026. The last line in Ken Rosenthal's column today regarding potential Skubal trades - "It was never part of the plan." The Valdez signing is a short term, high AAV, win now acquisition.

Fangraphs updated Starting Rotation projections for 2026 Red Sox 18.0 WAR Tigers 17.8 WAR Dodgers 16.4 WAR Phillies 15.9 WAR

There are a couple new podcasts I enjoyed this week. Al Avila is interviewed on "Days of Roar". I have been critical of Petzold at times, maybe too much so, but I think Evan does a really good job on this podcast. AJ Hinch is on "Tiger Territory".

I am correcting an error in my previous post. Apparently, as of the 2022 CBA, minor league players are part of the MLBPA. Starting in 2023 minor league players started to receive retirements for the first time. I would applaud any efforts in the 2027 CBA to further spread the wealth across all professional baseball players.

According to Forbes, the A's combined operating income from 2016 to 2025 is $63M. The maximum annual income during that time period was $33M. The A's have lost money 4 out of the last 5 seasons. The last time the A's were above AL league average in attendance was 2003. After deciding to move to Las Vegas, the team value increased from $1.2B to $1.8B.