2025 Detroit Tigers General Discussion Thread

[lordstanley]

Cobb looks very uncomfortable. 

 

[chasfh]

3 hours ago, Sports_Freak said:

There are more players in the league now compared to the '60's? I really doubt that's the reason but it's probably true.

Implying that MLB teams have to go deeper into the population pool to find players for their teams so they have to play relatively worse players now than they did back then?

[Sports_Freak]

19 minutes ago, chasfh said:

Implying that MLB teams have to go deeper into the population pool to find players for their teams so they have to play relatively worse players now than they did back then?

Yeah, it doesn't account for injuries but it does account for less talented players making the majors. About the same in most sports. I say today's better players are better than older generation players because of better physical knowledge and better nutrition. And it seems like players are getting bigger and better from one generation to the next.

[gehringer_2]

32 minutes ago, chasfh said:

Implying that MLB teams have to go deeper into the population pool to find players for their teams so they have to play relatively worse players now than they did back then?

I wonder what direction the true ratio between the size of the population that is the effective pool for players vs the number of players in the majors is going.  The league has gone from 14 to 30, the population of the US has grown, and the access to Latin American players has gone up, but the % of US boys playing baseball of any kind is probably way down.

Edited June 7 by gehringer_2

[chasfh]

17 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

Yeah, it doesn't account for injuries but it does account for less talented players making the majors. About the same in most sports. I say today's better players are better than older generation players because of better physical knowledge and better nutrition. And it seems like players are getting bigger and better from one generation to the next.

We have 30 teams now versus 20 in the mid-60s, but the US population is double what it was then, there's a more active pipeline from Latin America than there was, and the best players from Japan are coming over to play here. So I would say the opportunities for a larger pool of potential players are fewer than they were, which should accrue to better depth, which I believe we do see.

As for the idea that the pool of potential players is way down from what it was in the 60s because kids aren't playing as much baseball, that's an open question, but any paucity might effectively be back-filled by Latin America, where soccer-style academies are training kids to be much more technically skilled ballplayers to a degree not only not available to Latin American kids 60 years ago, but also to American kids even today.

So, I am dubious about the idea that players are on balance worse today than 60 years ago due to dilution through more opportunities to play big league ball. I'd bet an team of the very best bench and back of the rotation/bullpen players from 2025 could be very competitive over 1,000 games versus actual All-Star teams from 1965. No way to know that for sure, of course.

[Sports_Freak]

24 minutes ago, chasfh said:

We have 30 teams now versus 20 in the mid-60s, but the US population is double what it was then, there's a more active pipeline from Latin America than there was, and the best players from Japan are coming over to play here. So I would say the opportunities for a larger pool of potential players are fewer than they were, which should accrue to better depth, which I believe we do see.

As for the idea that the pool of potential players is way down from what it was in the 60s because kids aren't playing as much baseball, that's an open question, but any paucity might effectively be back-filled by Latin America, where soccer-style academies are training kids to be much more technically skilled ballplayers to a degree not only not available to Latin American kids 60 years ago, but also to American kids even today.

So, I am dubious about the idea that players are on balance worse today than 60 years ago due to dilution through more opportunities to play big league ball. I'd bet an team of the very best bench and back of the rotation/bullpen players from 2025 could be very competitive over 1,000 games versus actual All-Star teams from 1965. No way to know that for sure, of course.

Good points. And players today are bigger and stronger than former generations. Spending all off-season working out instead of having to get jobs makes them better too. This really is the case for all sports, not just baseball. Look at football offensive lineman or the 7 footers in basketball. 

[papalawrence]

Torres seems very relaxed here. His D has been fine. And his patient at-bats are important. If he stays on this course another 60 games, do you start to open extension discussions? I know Detroit has a glut of middle IFs coming up. But with Gleyber you know what he brings, and iirc he is still only 27. Would you go 2/40? 3/54? He might even get 4 yr offers, which I don't see Harris doing. I like him on this team 

[chasfh]

1 hour ago, papalawrence said:

Torres seems very relaxed here. His D has been fine. And his patient at-bats are important. If he stays on this course another 60 games, do you start to open extension discussions? I know Detroit has a glut of middle IFs coming up. But with Gleyber you know what he brings, and iirc he is still only 27. Would you go 2/40? 3/54? He might even get 4 yr offers, which I don't see Harris doing. I like him on this team 

I think Gleyber may have been exactly the right kind of veteran to add to a team like ours. He’s a very good hitter, a professional hitter, someone the other guys would look up to as a guy with experience, but he is also young and still hungry and only a little ahead of our guys. I think that last part especially might make him a better fit than Bregman or Alonso or, for Pete’s sakes, Soto, or, yikes, Santander—all of whom were regarded as being so far ahead of everyone else in both proficiency and salary that any one of them might have been on his own island here. Maybe Torres sets a better example, because where he’s at now is more attainable as the next level for our guys.

This is simply a hypothesis, so I have no facts or quotes or links to back it up.

[papalawrence]

22 minutes ago, chasfh said:

I think Gleyber may have been exactly the right kind of veteran to add to a team like ours. He’s a very good hitter, a professional hitter, someone the other guys would look up to as a guy with experience, but he is also young and still hungry and only a little ahead of our guys. I think that last part especially might make him a better fit than Bregman or Alonso or, for Pete’s sakes, Soto, or, yikes, Santander—all of whom were regarded as being so far ahead of everyone else in both proficiency and salary that any one of them might have been on his own island here. Maybe Torres sets a better example, because where he’s at now is more attainable as the next level for our guys.

This is simply a hypothesis, so I have no facts or quotes or links to back it up.

That's exactly what I'm thinking - you gave a better analysis. I'm beginning to hope he gets extended

[Sports_Freak]

6 hours ago, papalawrence said:

Torres seems very relaxed here. His D has been fine. And his patient at-bats are important. If he stays on this course another 60 games, do you start to open extension discussions? I know Detroit has a glut of middle IFs coming up. But with Gleyber you know what he brings, and iirc he is still only 27. Would you go 2/40? 3/54? He might even get 4 yr offers, which I don't see Harris doing. I like him on this team 

If he keeps up this production, I think talking would start at least 4 years. And I agree, I don't see the Tigers doing it.

[mtutiger]

5 hours ago, chasfh said:

I think Gleyber may have been exactly the right kind of veteran to add to a team like ours. He’s a very good hitter, a professional hitter, someone the other guys would look up to as a guy with experience, but he is also young and still hungry and only a little ahead of our guys. I think that last part especially might make him a better fit than Bregman or Alonso or, for Pete’s sakes, Soto, or, yikes, Santander—all of whom were regarded as being so far ahead of everyone else in both proficiency and salary that any one of them might have been on his own island here. Maybe Torres sets a better example, because where he’s at now is more attainable as the next level for our guys.

This is simply a hypothesis, so I have no facts or quotes or links to back it up.

Gleyber also doesn't seem to be an emotional rollercoaster type of guy.... he knows what to do, he understands that this game has it's peaks and valleys and, when he finds himself in a valley, doesn't let it get to him. 

As long as he's physically got the tools to hit, he's a guy you want on your team.

Edited June 9 by mtutiger

[IdahoBert]

I’m just glad I got to see Gleyber 11 years ago when he was 17 playing for the Boise Hawks when they were a Cubs short season team in the Northwest League. He looked as good as a major leaguer in the infield. He was promoted to Boise for the last week of the season. 
 

[Tenacious D]

I don’t see the Tigers blocking a path for all of the middle infielders coming.  And they are going to start having to do what the Lions have—pay their own players. Skubal being the obvious, but at some point you’ll want to lock up Greene, Carp, maybe, Tork.  Our payroll could soon climb.

[papalawrence]

Had a thought today- the current CBA ends after the 2026 season. Perhaps Skubal will instruct Boras to try and work out a deal with Detroit before FA, for fear of a work stoppage in 2027. That's a bad time to enter FA

[IdahoBert]

I get it, hardcopy newspapers are going away and they have to be able to pay the bills somehow, but I can’t justify subscribing to even one let alone two Detroit area newspapers online when all I want to do is read an occasional story about the Detroit Tigers. I miss just being able to click on a link.

[RatkoVarda]

6 hours ago, papalawrence said:

Had a thought today- the current CBA ends after the 2026 season. Perhaps Skubal will instruct Boras to try and work out a deal with Detroit before FA, for fear of a work stoppage in 2027. That's a bad time to enter FA

interesting. the new CBA could be less friendly to free agents. will it cap the years on FA contracts, like the NBA? is there going to be a salary cap? more dire luxury tax penalties?

the new new CBA could also be more friendly to free agents. maybe they get rid of draft picks penalties (not that it would effect Skubal's market)

if there is no CBA for part of the Winter, there would be a mad scramble to sign players in January (again, that might not effect Skubal's market)

[Sports_Freak]

1 hour ago, IdahoBert said:

I get it, hardcopy newspapers are going away and they have to be able to pay the bills somehow, but I can’t justify subscribing to even one let alone two Detroit area newspapers online when all I want to do is read an occasional story about the Detroit Tigers. I miss just being able to click on a link.

The Free Press e-edition is $5 a month. That's a very fair price that hasn't been raised in several years. I read it every morning. What I don't like about is if a Tiger game ends after 9 PM, they don't have coverage of it. So Tiger game results/stories are a day behind.

[CMRivdogs]

1 minute ago, Sports_Freak said:

The Free Press e-edition is $5 a month. That's a very fair price that hasn't been raised in several years. I read it every morning. What I don't like about is if a Tiger game ends after 9 PM, they don't have coverage of it. So Tiger game results/stories are a day behind.

That's ridiculously stupid. The whole attraction of an electronic edition should be able to report on breaking news. If you put your webpage to bed at 9PM why have a paper at all. But it's Gannett, they should have gone out of business long ago.

[Sports_Freak]

19 minutes ago, CMRivdogs said:

That's ridiculously stupid. The whole attraction of an electronic edition should be able to report on breaking news. If you put your webpage to bed at 9PM why have a paper at all. But it's Gannett, they should have gone out of business long ago.

I think it's just an e-edition of the printed paper. So that's probably why they have such an early print cutoff time. So, its not like its only a digital version. But yeah, it sucks.

[Sports_Freak]

So the Tigers can play under .500 and still finish with 90 wins. 95 games left and 47 wins away from 90.

[lordstanley]

At 43-24, the ‘25 Tigers are 6 games behind the ‘84 Tigers through 67 games but are even with both the ‘68 Tigers and ‘06 Tigers through 67 games. 

[oblong]

I think the digital versions of both papers is $10 a month. A bit too much for me. Sorry. I want to support local journalism. 

[Tiger337]

4 hours ago, IdahoBert said:

I get it, hardcopy newspapers are going away and they have to be able to pay the bills somehow, but I can’t justify subscribing to even one let alone two Detroit area newspapers online when all I want to do is read an occasional story about the Detroit Tigers. I miss just being able to click on a link.

I subscribe to nothing online unless I am going to use it frequently.  That means baseball-ref and fangraphs for me.  That's it.  Sometime I want to read a Story in The Free Press of News, but it's just not worth it for me.  The Tigers news will get to me eventually.  If I miss a story about about how Jackson Jobe's grandma taught him how to throw a curve, then so be it.      

[Sports_Freak]

17 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

I subscribe to nothing online unless I am going to use it frequently.  That means baseball-ref and fangraphs for me.  That's it.  Sometime I want to read a Story in The Free Press of News, but it's just not worth it for me.  The Tigers news will get to me eventually.  If I miss a story about about how Jackson Jobe's grandma taught him how to throw a curve, then so be it.      

I read the Free Page. Every page, not just sports. I could search multiple sites to read about transactions or injuries but that would be a waste of time. And baseball is only one sport. If I had to pay for multiple publications, it would be 10X the $5 per month.

[Sports_Freak]

1 hour ago, lordstanley said:

At 43-24, the ‘25 Tigers are 6 games behind the ‘84 Tigers through 67 games but are even with both the ‘68 Tigers and ‘06 Tigers through 67 games. 

Were at a .642 winning %. With 95 games remaining, that's a 61-34 finish winning %. That would mean a 104-58 record.