2025 Detroit Tigers General Discussion Thread

[bobrob2004]

I asked AI to compare my preseason predictions to what the actual player stats are, and this is what it said.  I still plan to do a recap post, butt this is probably better than I could ever come up with. 

 

Got it — let’s turn those preseason expectations into a Projection Accuracy Scorecard so you can see, at a glance, which calls were spot‑on and which ones missed the mark.
Here’s how I’ll score it:
•     5 = Nailed it (projection and reality match almost exactly)
•     4 = Close (small variance, same general outcome)
•     3 = Mixed (some elements right, some wrong)
•     2 = Off (projection missed key outcomes)
•     1 = Way Off (projection and reality were very different)

🎯 2025 Tigers Projection Accuracy

Player	Projection Accuracy Score	Notes
Tarik Skubal	5	Projected as Cy Young‑level ace — delivered elite ERA, WHIP, K’s exactly as forecast.
Jack Flaherty	2	Expected solid rebound; instead had high ERA and HR issues.
Reese Olson	4	ERA and style matched projection, but injuries cut innings.
Casey Mize	4	Slightly higher ERA than projected, but healthy and productive.
Alex Cobb	1	Projection assumed innings; injury erased season.
Jackson Jobe	3	Projection nailed flashes of talent and control issues, but ERA/WHIP slightly better than feared.
Riley Greene	5	Power breakout exactly as predicted, even slightly better.
Kerry Carpenter	5	Platoon usage and power output matched projection perfectly.
Colt Keith	3	Rookie streakiness as forecast, but power/contact slightly below hopes.
Gleyber Torres	4	OBP boost and moderate power as projected; slight HR dip.
Parker Meadows	1	Projection assumed healthy, productive season; injuries and low AVG derailed it.
Matt Vierling	1	Expected modest power uptick; instead had major drop‑off.
Javier Báez	3	Projection was very bearish; he was better than feared but still below prime.
Jake Rogers	4	Defense‑first, low AVG, occasional pop — exactly as expected.
Trey Sweeney	2	Projection hoped for adjustment period with flashes; instead struggled heavily.

📌 Summary Stats
•     Average Score: 3.2 / 5 → Overall, the projections were moderately accurate.
•     Most Accurate Calls: Skubal, Greene, Carpenter.
•     Biggest Misses: Cobb (injury), Meadows, Vierling.
•     Projection Bias: Slight optimism on health and rookie adjustments; otherwise, the tone matched reality for established stars.

[IdahoBert]

I’m going to be mostly MIA for this upcoming series in New York with the evil empire. I’m going up to the mountains in central Idaho for three or four days for my only time this year. So there will be no celebrations on my part about six runs, but I hope they happen anyway. 

Will be doing a lot of hiking, hot springs etc. with one of my oldest best friends. Last year there were terrible fires with ash falling out of the sky and an air quality rating of 500+. Looks like this year‘s fires have subsided and there’s even a little rain on the horizon, which hopefully won’t come with lightning.

Hope the Tigers somehow pull a rabbit out of the hat in the Bronx. Take care all!

 

[1776]

Enjoy your trip, Sir Bert, and be safe! 
Recalibrate for the stretch drive. 

[papalawrence]

3 hours ago, IdahoBert said:

I’m going to be mostly MIA for this upcoming series in New York with the evil empire. I’m going up to the mountains in central Idaho for three or four days for my only time this year. So there will be no celebrations on my part about six runs, but I hope they happen anyway. 

Will be doing a lot of hiking, hot springs etc. with one of my oldest best friends. Last year there were terrible fires with ash falling out of the sky and an air quality rating of 500+. Looks like this year‘s fires have subsided and there’s even a little rain on the horizon, which hopefully won’t come with lightning.

Hope the Tigers somehow pull a rabbit out of the hat in the Bronx. Take care all!

 

Sounds wonderful, enjoy! Stay on the road, keep clear of the moors!

[IdahoBert]

1 hour ago, papalawrence said:

Sounds wonderful, enjoy! Stay on the road, keep clear of the moors!

That’s why I brought Sancho Panza with me. 

[Tigeraholic1]

11 hours ago, IdahoBert said:

That’s why I brought Sancho Panza with me. 

Wow, is that heaven Ray?

[gehringer_2]

12 hours ago, IdahoBert said:

That’s why I brought Sancho Panza with me. 

Bert you have me one-upped. I'll up on the west shore the Keewenah this weekend. I'll get the trees and sky, but no mountains . Lake Superior is cool (literally - it's already snowed up there once), but hard to say anything new in a water under sky picture (at least at my level of graphics skill!)

Edited September 9 by gehringer_2

[oblong]

not a good look for the Ilitch company.  Disappointed in Maybin.

[1776]

That Chris Illitch doesn’t provide paid maternity leave for his employees is all you need to know about the guy.

[Edman85]

Had a feeling Menzin was the tip of the iceberg...

[tiger2022]

1 hour ago, 1776 said:

That Chris Illitch doesn’t provide paid maternity leave for his employees is all you need to know about the guy.

Multi billionaires are always cheap.

[Edman85]

A national news organization did the digging here. Where is the local media on this? Just toothless these days and the team uses access to keep them from digging around.

 

This take somewhat inspired by doing some Epstein digging here and remembering it was a local reporter who blew the lid off and brought the story back to life.

Edited September 10 by Edman85

[romad1]

Story comes out just before a series with the Tigers in NY.   

[Edman85]

What was Fenech digging into when he was forced out by the Freep under pressure by the Tigers?

[IdahoBert]

The oligarchy can do anything to anyone it wants. 

[Edman85]

Might be a good idea to monitor the front office directory on the Tigers website for stealth changes...

[Shinzaki]

1 hour ago, Edman85 said:

What was Fenech digging into when he was forced out by the Freep under pressure by the Tigers?

His boss?

[Edman85]

Quick social check from beat reporters:

Woodberry did not tweet the Athletic article but did tweet the Tigers response.

Nothing on Twitter from either Petzold or McCosky. Paul and Henning aren't beat reporters but have tweeted the story.

Stavenhagen retweeted his colleague's story.

[Edman85]

Duplicate

Edited September 10 by Edman85
Dupes

[chasfh]

22 hours ago, Edman85 said:

A national news organization did the digging here. Where is the local media on this? Just toothless these days and the team uses access to keep them from digging around.

Not to get all political here or anything, but considering the decimation of local news operations in general, coupled with the evolution of teams lording access over beat writers in exchange for ignoring embarrassing episodes, stories like this are practically guaranteed never to come out through the efforts of local media.

[Edman85]

6 minutes ago, chasfh said:

Not to get all political here or anything, but considering the decimation of local news operations in general, coupled with the evolution of teams lording access over beat writers in exchange for ignoring embarrassing episodes, stories like this are practically guaranteed never to come out through the efforts of local media.

Kinda what I was driving at. I noticed in The Athletic's follow up story, the team tried to ice them out of the media availability in the afternoon.

Sports entities took the wrong lesson from Penn State/Baylor...

[chasfh]

1 hour ago, Edman85 said:

Kinda what I was driving at. I noticed in The Athletic's follow up story, the team tried to ice them out of the media availability in the afternoon.

Sports entities took the wrong lesson from Penn State/Baylor...

I can kind of see one valid reason for doing so, in that relatively unsophisticated young men would be peppered with questions about it by reporters skilled in this kind of line of inquiry to elicit sensational commentary, and a player might end up saying something ill-phrased that would blow up in the team's face. The down side, of course, is that blocking access still looks punitive to the media. Kind of a no-win in this particular case.

[KL2]

22 hours ago, Edman85 said:

Quick social check from beat reporters:

Woodberry did not tweet the Athletic article but did tweet the Tigers response.

Nothing on Twitter from either Petzold or McCosky. Paul and Henning aren't beat reporters but have tweeted the story.

Stavenhagen retweeted his colleague's story.

tbf its not a story they should be retweeting

[chasfh]

20 hours ago, KL2 said:

tbf its not a story they should be retweeting

How come?

[oblong]

I think the article's point to link this to the Tigers is a bit of a stretch.  This is a corporate culture issue within the Ilitch Organization.  These are people who could be doing jobs anywhere.  It's not about the baseball team, even if their current role relates to that job at the time.  It's not the late 90's Tigers on the team plane harassing flight attendants.  Even the Maybin and Monroe things are throw ins.  Maybin didn't do what he did because of what happens in offices across the street.  The Monroe situation appears to have gone nowhere and the team took that as a chance to cut bait with a story they didn't want to be a part of.  Again, that's not because Bob in Accounting made a comment about Jan's butt.

I think any investigation into a large conglomerate in this country would show this taking place.  It's not condoning it obviously but when shown a group of 1,000 men there's still pigs around and that's the case with Ilitch Holdings.