2025 Detroit Tigers General Discussion Thread

[RedRamage]

How close is your finger to the panic button?

I gotta saw I'm starting to move a bit. Look, I get that we're only a half game out of the top of the AL. I also get that we're 8 games over the Guardians. So I'm not even close to pushing the button yet. But, I've at least looked at it and judged what direction I need to move my hand if I'm going to push it.

If we go back to July 1 to avoid looking at too much recency bias we're 7 and 11, and our run differential has dropped like a rock:

 

 

What's troubling to me is that we already saw a huge decline in June and now we're seeing even a steeper decline in July.

Again, I'm NOT pushing the panic button yet... but I'm starting to twitch a bit.

[romad1]

11 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

Home run hitters drive Cadillacs.  

Smart ones do

[chasfh]

1 hour ago, casimir said:

In my completely amateurish and wholly unqualified opinion, the swing path worries me because of how extreme it is.  When its in, its on, and its glorious.  But does that severe uppercut lend itself to being off easier than a more level swing?  I would think so.  And I'm just talking about the bat swing.  I think that affects the SOs and contact quality.  I don't think it affects his ability to draw BBs, at least not directly.  I guess one could say the more swing and miss pitches earlier in the count could lead to more BBs rather than early pitch contact outs, but I don't know.

I guess furthermore considering other parts of his game, is he going to be a burn bright early and burn out quicker?  We've also discussed his running gate and he's had some injuries in his past.  We can talk about Skubal's contract situation and "hope" for an extension.  I'm not sure how I would feel about a Greene extension.  Obviously its all about the details.

Not wrong. I’ve been wondering whether something medical about Riley comes out after the season.

[roarintiger1]

13 hours ago, Arlington said:

What was the phrase, Singles hitters drive Chevy's while Home Run hitters drive Cadillacs.

A Corvette is a Chevy..................Just sayin'

[chasfh]

48 minutes ago, roarintiger1 said:

A Corvette is a Chevy..................Just sayin'

I don't think many singles-hitting major leaguers are over 60! 😉

Edited July 24 by chasfh

[casimir]

Has the ESPN power rankings bumped the Tigers into the Others Receiving Votes category yet?

[papalawrence]

Looking at Parker's stats. He had an excellent 2nd half last year, otherwise he has been sub par. He is only 25. Still time. His career ops is .685. 

Jacoby Jones' career ops was .646. 

Meadows is an upgrade, but I won't be surprised if he falls into a 4th OF role, platoon only. Still time to get hot. But I'm beginning to be skeptical.

[gehringer_2]

2 hours ago, papalawrence said:

Looking at Parker's stats. He had an excellent 2nd half last year, otherwise he has been sub par. He is only 25. Still time. His career ops is .685. 

Jacoby Jones' career ops was .646. 

Meadows is an upgrade, but I won't be surprised if he falls into a 4th OF role, platoon only. Still time to get hot. But I'm beginning to be skeptical.

Parker has been an easy out at the bottom of the K zone. Maybe going to take an off-season stance chance to fix.   

[tiger2022]

Meadows is a guy who will hover around a .210 average, play great defense, hit 10 hrs, visit the IL for 2 months a year, and be out of the league at 30.

[casimir]

As bad as things have been the last couple of weeks, the Tigers have not lost much ground for the playoffs.  They have lost ground for the top seed of the league, but they're still amongst those teams.

[tiger2022]

I have this feeling they are going to squander the last 2 years of Tarik Skubal being a Tiger because of "we'll get 'em next year or the year after that when all those guys in the minors come up and all play like MVP candidates."

They aren't going to try to trade for help.  

Edited July 25 by tiger2022

[Tiger337]

9 minutes ago, tiger2022 said:

I have this feeling they are going to squander the last 2 years of Tarik Skubal being a Tiger because of "we'll get 'em next year or the year after that when all those guys in the minors come up and all play like MVP candidates."

They aren't going to try to trade for help.  

But they'll have the best ranked farm system!

[chasfh]

52 minutes ago, tiger2022 said:

I have this feeling they are going to squander the last 2 years of Tarik Skubal being a Tiger because of "we'll get 'em next year or the year after that when all those guys in the minors come up and all play like MVP candidates."

They aren't going to try to trade for help.  

Itching for a move? Clark, Briceno, Hamm, and Sweeney in exchange for Suarez and maybe a low-A lottery ticket will probably get it done. Proven home run hitter and a warm body in exchange for four guys who ain't done **** in the majors. Who says no.

Edited Friday at 02:17 PM by chasfh

[tiger2022]

Their offense is going to run through Torkelson amd Greene.  None of the available 3B/OF are worth giving up the top prospects.  

I'd think getting some bullpen arms would help.  This would be my #1 priority.

I'm not sure if any of the starters available would be much of an improvement over #2-5 now.  

The playoffs rotation should be

Skubal

Bullpen day

Mize

Bullpen day

Flaherty, Montero and Olson can go out to the Bullpen and if the game is out of hand, they can stay out there to keep the rest of the bullpen fresh.   

 

[lordstanley]

2 hours ago, casimir said:

As bad as things have been the last couple of weeks, the Tigers have not lost much ground for the playoffs.  They have lost ground for the top seed of the league, but they're still amongst those teams.

Well, in the past 2 weeks their division lead has shrunk from 14.0 to 8.0 over Cleveland, from 13.5 to 9.5 over KC and from 12.5 to 10.0 over Minnesota.

An AL lead of 3.5 over Toronto and Houston 2 weeks ago has flipped to being 1.5 games behind Toronto and 0.5 games behind Houston.

That is quite a change in just 2 weeks. Sure, if they snap out of it this weekend  still will have a comfortable divisional lead to make the playoffs, but they’ve lost 1/3 of their lead and have lost (for now) the WC round bye  

 

Edited Friday at 02:41 PM by lordstanley

[casimir]

17 minutes ago, lordstanley said:

Well, in the past 2 weeks their division lead has shrunk from 14.0 to 8.0 over Cleveland, from 13.5 to 9.5 over KC and from 12.5 to 10.0 over Minnesota.

An AL lead of 3.5 over Toronto and Houston 2 weeks ago has flipped to being 1.5 games behind Toronto and 0.5 games behind Houston.

That is quite a change in just 2 weeks. Sure, if they snap out of it this weekend  still will have a comfortable divisional lead to make the playoffs, but they’ve lost 1/3 of their lead and have lost (for now) the WC round bye  

 

Those are notable, no question.  They had sizable leads because the division stinks and they have not had a bad stretch of baseball yet.  They're in it now.  They weren't going wire to wire without one.  Hardly any team does.

[chasfh]

3 hours ago, tiger2022 said:

Their offense is going to run through Torkelson amd Greene.  None of the available 3B/OF are worth giving up the top prospects.  

I'd think getting some bullpen arms would help.  This would be my #1 priority.

I'm not sure if any of the starters available would be much of an improvement over #2-5 now.  

The playoffs rotation should be

Skubal

Bullpen day

Mize

Bullpen day

Flaherty, Montero and Olson can go out to the Bullpen and if the game is out of hand, they can stay out there to keep the rest of the bullpen fresh.   

 

You've seemed open to liquidating prospects, which by definition are unproven, for established major leaguers, so I was throwing an admittedly ridiculous trade idea out there to take your temperature on the issue. You didn't bite, and I agree with your non-bite.

This year's is a weak deadline class, which means the price will probably be higher than normal due to buyer-seller imbalance, so something like Jace Jung + Jaden Hamm for Eugenio Suarez just ain't gonna get it done. It's gonna take at least one numbered Pipeline guy. That being the case, I think we will be out on Suarez.

I'm with you, we're getting a swing-and-miss bullpen guy at minimum, and probably a starter if we can swing that for a decent price. But I don't think it will be for high-profile guys with big baseball card numbers. I think it's gonna be more for under-the-radar guys.

 

[tiger2022]

Jeffrey Springs could be realistic guy.  And they wouldn't have to trade a bunch to get him. Maybe a minor league pitcher?

The one starter that I heard was on the block is Mackenzie Gore of Washington.  I would call the Nats up and see about that one, but I am guessing that will be a steep price 

Luis Robert of the White Sox is interesting.  Lots of talent and looked like he was on his way to stardom in 2023 but Chicago has broken him.  Not sure what it would take to get him or if he would be worth the trouble.

[4hzglory]

8 minutes ago, tiger2022 said:

Jeffrey Springs could be realistic guy.  And they wouldn't have to trade a bunch to get him. Maybe a minor league pitcher?

The one starter that I heard was on the block is Mackenzie Gore of Washington.  I would call the Nats up and see about that one, but I am guessing that will be a steep price 

Luis Robert of the White Sox is interesting.  Lots of talent and looked like he was on his way to stardom in 2023 but Chicago has broken him.  Not sure what it would take to get him or if he would be worth the trouble.

We don’t need an OF to try and fix, especially with Carpenter coming back.

[AlaskanTigersFan]

On 7/24/2025 at 8:27 AM, RedRamage said:

How close is your finger to the panic button?

I gotta saw I'm starting to move a bit. Look, I get that we're only a half game out of the top of the AL. I also get that we're 8 games over the Guardians. So I'm not even close to pushing the button yet. But, I've at least looked at it and judged what direction I need to move my hand if I'm going to push it.

If we go back to July 1 to avoid looking at too much recency bias we're 7 and 11, and our run differential has dropped like a rock:

 

 

What's troubling to me is that we already saw a huge decline in June and now we're seeing even a steeper decline in July.

Again, I'm NOT pushing the panic button yet... but I'm starting to twitch a bit.

Where'd you get these stats from? That's really cool to look that up.

[Edman85]

Tyler Owens is on a rehab assignment in Lakeland. Prior to that, his injury list placement hadn't been reported. There's at least one more player in Toledo on the IL who hasn't been reported. The Mud Hens intern has been asleep at the wheel on transaction reporting this year.

If you were wondering why Hartlieb got the call yesterday...

[casimir]

5 hours ago, chasfh said:

Itching for a move? Clark, Briceno, Hamm, and Sweeney in exchange for Suarez and maybe a low-A lottery ticket will probably get it done. Proven home run hitter and a warm body in exchange for four guys who ain't done **** in the majors. Who says no.

I’ll say no.

[AlaskanTigersFan]

21 minutes ago, Edman85 said:

Tyler Owens is on a rehab assignment in Lakeland. Prior to that, his injury list placement hadn't been reported. There's at least one more player in Toledo on the IL who hasn't been reported. The Mud Hens intern has been asleep at the wheel on transaction reporting this year.

If you were wondering why Hartlieb got the call yesterday...

Keaton Winn went on the IL early in the year with an "undisclosed" injury too. No media reports what it was. He just came back..... I dunno if MLB teams are just not disclosing some injuries for some reason.......

[RedRamage]

1 hour ago, AlaskanTigersFan said:

Where'd you get these stats from? That's really cool to look that up.

Mostly from baseball-reference.com

[HugoD]

12 hours ago, papalawrence said:

Looking at Parker's stats. He had an excellent 2nd half last year, otherwise he has been sub par. He is only 25. Still time. His career ops is .685. 

Jacoby Jones' career ops was .646. 

Meadows is an upgrade, but I won't be surprised if he falls into a 4th OF role, platoon only. Still time to get hot. But I'm beginning to be skeptical.

I came around to this same thought the other day.   Good fielder, but offensively what's the "norm" for Parker - one half year or what he's demonstrated the rest of his career in professional ball?   I do sometimes also wonder if it's harder for taller guys to have a sustainable swing.