2025 Detroit Tigers General Discussion Thread

[romad1]

18 hours ago, papalawrence said:

Turnbull released. I know there was bad blood with his departure. Maybe Harris will let Fetter take a shot 

 

Blue Jays Release Spencer Turnbull - MLB Trade Rumors https://share.google/BoDRssfSqoQdexY9z

would this be like a "Day of the Jackel" scenario?  

[gehringer_2]

22 hours ago, papalawrence said:

Ah....I'm usually a year-plus behind the times. I'm showing improvement!

I was more wondering why the story had new legs again, I guess the media picked it back up because Gio was in town.

[gehringer_2]

20 hours ago, papalawrence said:

Turnbull released. I know there was bad blood with his departure. Maybe Harris will let Fetter take a shot 

 

Blue Jays Release Spencer Turnbull - MLB Trade Rumors https://share.google/BoDRssfSqoQdexY9z

32 is not that old for a pitcher, but Spencer has had a lot of wear and tear issues already.

Edited Saturday at 10:28 PM by gehringer_2

[IdahoBert]

We’re halfway through the season, but this team still amazes me. Everyone, top to bottom, contributes. There may be rough spots where the club underperforms, but it’s not annihilating or of bewildering duration. It’s not a team that’s top heavy and completely nonfunctional if some of the main pistons misfire.

I love how it’s an actual team and not just a collection of big egos and mercenaries. Sulking stars do not fit in. 

When you see how a guy like Torres, who came from the biggest show in the show fits seamlessly into the club’s élan it gives me hope that this is something sustainable and not just an aberrant one off thing.

Maybe because I’m so invested in it, what the Tigers are doing seems remarkable and unique to me when it isn’t. Maybe every winning team is like this when it’s winning

But I just get the feeling that something different is transpiring in Detroit. I’m not sure our previous teams that did well were like this. This same élan seems to prevail throughout the organization in the farm clubs too.

[1984Echoes]

I think the 80's Tigers had this élan because they pretty much all came up together.

And whatever personality differences they had Sparky smoothed them over...

IIRC.

This team still seems more cohesive however... so you may be 100% correct.

[Tiger337]

5 hours ago, 1984Echoes said:

I think the 80's Tigers had this élan because they pretty much all came up together.

And whatever personality differences they had Sparky smoothed them over...

IIRC.

This team still seems more cohesive however... so you may be 100% correct.

 The 80s core stayed together for a long time.  The problem was they didn't add to the core with complementary pieces after 1984. Their development just kind of stopped and Anderson was not a great manager for developing young players.  He was good at managing egos but didn't have a lot of patience with young players.   

[romad1]

1 hour ago, Tiger337 said:

 The 80s core stayed together for a long time.  The problem was they didn't add to the core with complementary pieces after 1984. Their development just kind of stopped and Anderson was not a great manager for developing young players.  He was good at managing egos but didn't have a lot of patience with young players.   

That core might have been in the playoffs a couple more times if they didn't lose Parish for one, Gibson for two and then Morris.  I don't know that the 1989 Tigers were fixable because they just had it all go wrong.  Sparky having to leave the team for a while was all about the sudden demise of his machine.  Gibson in 1988 was a majestic beast.  Imagine still having him then.  

[gehringer_2]

2 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

 The 80s core stayed together for a long time.  The problem was they didn't add to the core with complementary pieces after 1984. Their development just kind of stopped and Anderson was not a great manager for developing young players.  He was good at managing egos but didn't have a lot of patience with young players.   

and after 87 it was a long time before the pitching was playoff caliber again.

[romad1]

9 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

and after 87 it was a long time before the pitching was playoff caliber again.

Stupid management got what it deserved.  And we all suffered.   Imagine that team adding some FA pitching.  Looking at BR I see the following: 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/majors/1988-free-agents.shtml

I don't see some of those as likely to come to Detroit but... not having a reputation for miserly behavior would help.  

[Edman85]

So if Gibson and Parrish leaving started the downfall, can we thank collusion for the run lasting as long as it did?

[romad1]

1 hour ago, Edman85 said:

So if Gibson and Parrish leaving started the downfall, can we thank collusion for the run lasting as long as it did?

If they were never going to spend to pay their players they were going to dilute their product eventually.  

[CMU97]

2 hours ago, Edman85 said:

So if Gibson and Parrish leaving started the downfall, can we thank collusion for the run lasting as long as it did?

In part,  yes. But I remember Campbell being one of the Major GMs behind collusion. He was incredibly cheap and set in his ways.  If I remember correctly, it was Campbell who didn't want to spend the money, not Monaghan. And when Campbell finally left in '90, he was replaced by Bo, who was not a baseball man at all.  

[lordstanley]

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/45590255/2025-mlb-detroit-tigers-best-team-roundtable-al-pennant-world-series

“If you picked the mighty Los Angeles Dodgers to be the first team to win 50 games this MLB season, you weren't alone.

You were also wrong.

If you picked the Detroit Tigers, congratulations! We're not sure we believe you, but we'll give you the benefit of the doubt.

The Tigers won their 50th game on Tuesday, a full day before the Dodgers, and they got there thanks to big contributions all season from ace Tarik Skubal, the red-hot Riley Greene and the resurgent Javier Baez, among many others.

But are they really as good as they've played so far? Are they even the American League's best team? Could they defeat the Dodgers (or whichever team comes out of a stacked National League) in the World Series?

We asked MLB experts Bradford Doolittle, Tim Keown, Jeff Passan and David Schoenfield to tackle all things Tigers before they play host to the Minnesota Twins on "Sunday Night Baseball" (7 p.m. ET, ESPN and ESPN2).

 

 

[casimir]

13 minutes ago, lordstanley said:

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/45590255/2025-mlb-detroit-tigers-best-team-roundtable-al-pennant-world-series

 

“If you picked the mighty Los Angeles Dodgers to be the first team to win 50 games this MLB season, you weren't alone.

You were also wrong.

 

If you picked the Detroit Tigers, congratulations! We're not sure we believe you, but we'll give you the benefit of the doubt.

The Tigers won their 50th game on Tuesday, a full day before the Dodgers, and they got there thanks to big contributions all season from ace Tarik Skubal, the red-hot Riley Greene and the resurgent Javier Baez, among many others.

But are they really as good as they've played so far? Are they even the American League's best team? Could they defeat the Dodgers (or whichever team comes out of a stacked National League) in the World Series?

We asked MLB experts Bradford Doolittle, Tim Keown, Jeff Passan and David Schoenfield to tackle all things Tigers before they play host to the Minnesota Twins on "Sunday Night Baseball" (7 p.m. ET, ESPN and ESPN2).

 

 

I’ll be honest.  I’m still not sure I consider them to be the best team in the American League, let alone baseball.  Not from a roster standpoint, anyway.  I’m waiting to see an eventual regression to the norm.  But maybe they are this good.  They have the record.  They’re well coached.  The whole of the team can be greater than the sum of its parts.  I don’t know.  I guess we just enjoy the ride while we have it.

[lordstanley]

24 minutes ago, casimir said:

I’ll be honest.  I’m still not sure I consider them to be the best team in the American League, let alone baseball.  Not from a roster standpoint, anyway.  I’m waiting to see an eventual regression to the norm.  But maybe they are this good.  They have the record.  They’re well coached.  The whole of the team can be greater than the sum of its parts.  I don’t know.  I guess we just enjoy the ride while we have it.

I think any of Detroit, NY Yankees, Tampa or Houston could win the pennant. I think there's a big gap between them and the other 11 teams.

[Tiger337]

8 hours ago, romad1 said:

That core might have been in the playoffs a couple more times if they didn't lose Parish for one, Gibson for two and then Morris.  I don't know that the 1989 Tigers were fixable because they just had it all go wrong.  Sparky having to leave the team for a while was all about the sudden demise of his machine.  Gibson in 1988 was a majestic beast.  Imagine still having him then.  

In retrospect, Parrish dropped off quite a bit after he left the Tigers and Nokes had a great year in '87.  Gibson sure would have helped in 88, probably would have gotten them to post-season.  Morris was old and fading when they let him go, so I don't blame them for that.  His revival in Torontro was unexpected.  I was more disappointed in 85 and 86.  That was a great team and still fairly young.  They should have added more players through free agency and trade. Also should have kept Howard Johnson.   

Edited Sunday at 11:26 PM by Tiger337

[papalawrence]

1 hour ago, Tiger337 said:

 I was more disappointed in 85 and 86.  That was a great team and still fairly young.  They should have added more players through free agency and trade. Also should have kept Howard Johnson.   

I was quite confident the 84 team would win another WS or 2

[Edman85]

Anybody else's phone blowing up with texts from people who hadn't heard of Tarik Skubal two hours ago?

[papalawrence]

Skubal's whip is down to 0.83, era 2.15, fip even lower

[IdahoBert]

3 hours ago, Edman85 said:

Anybody else's phone blowing up with texts from people who hadn't heard of Tarik Skubal two hours ago?

Not mine, although everybody that knows me well already knows I’m a Tigers fan, but not many of them are people who watch ESPN. Most people I know when I talk about the Tigers glaze over.

[Arlington]

15 hours ago, casimir said:

I’ll be honest.  I’m still not sure I consider them to be the best team in the American League, let alone baseball.  Not from a roster standpoint, anyway.  I’m waiting to see an eventual regression to the norm.  But maybe they are this good.  They have the record.  They’re well coached.  The whole of the team can be greater than the sum of its parts.  I don’t know.  I guess we just enjoy the ride while we have it.

Players have regressed.  The depth of the team is what is surprising and like in all good teams different players step up on different days.

[gehringer_2]

15 hours ago, casimir said:

I’ll be honest.  I’m still not sure I consider them to be the best team in the American League, let alone baseball.  Not from a roster standpoint, anyway.  I’m waiting to see an eventual regression to the norm.  But maybe they are this good.  They have the record.  They’re well coached.  The whole of the team can be greater than the sum of its parts.  I don’t know.  I guess we just enjoy the ride while we have it.

What strikes me when I watch them on the field and on the bases is the fearlessness. Like Tork's DP. After the ball hit the ground most guys are just taking it to 1st, but he still choose the tougher play with zero hesitation - and it was only the zero hesitation the allowed the execution to be successful. You have a bunch of guys `that play that way - Tork, McKinstry, Greene, Baez, Meadows, and it's infected any that maybe on a different team, wouldn't. And Hinch apparently has them drilled to where it works because they mostly DO execute. And of course Harris - and to his credit Avila, both upped the stress on putting guys on the field who could play the game outside the batter's box over previous FOs.

[Sports_Freak]

So Skubal put on quite a show for the ESPN Sunday Night telecast, 13 strikeouts. And his next start is Saturday, July 5th in Cleveland. It's the Fox game of the week. Another chance for the Tigers to show off just how good this team is. 😁😁

[Tiger337]

16 hours ago, Edman85 said:

Anybody else's phone blowing up with texts from people who hadn't heard of Tarik Skubal two hours ago?

Delete them.  They can't be trusted.  

Edited 12 hours ago by Tiger337

[tiger2022]

The playoffs will all come down to staying healthy and if the Tigers can find a #2 & 3 option along with some bullpen arms.  

I wouldn't mind the team ligthening Skubal's load a bit after the AS break.  

Can Mize be relied on?  I have never been a fan of his stuff...even when drafted I didn't think he would be anything better than a #3 guy.  But he has been effective so far.  Jury is still out.

What after those two?  Yikes.