2025 Detroit Tigers General Discussion Thread

[lordstanley]

My dream for tonight is that the Tigers pound the Jays and as dejected Jays fans leave the stadium they rub shoulders in Maple Leaf Square with wailing Leafs  fans distraught that the Leafs are being knocked out of the playoffs in Florida. 

Edited May 16 by lordstanley

[Edman85]

8 minutes ago, RatkoVarda said:

how does Hicklen (a few days) out earn Kreidler (a few weeks)?

is Nido's salary that high because he is a 5 year vet, or did he get some ML roster bonus?

Hicklen:  Major League Split (3 days, $761,000). Minor League Split (183 Days, $123,900)... But he's not really earning this, but it counts toward the CBT, he was acquired on a cash deal that I assume is the maximum ($100,000).

Kreidler: Major League Split (25 days, $764,900). Minor League Split (168 Days, $150,518).

 

Nido has a $1,500,000 major league split and a $225,000 minor league split. Just the contract he agreed to as a free agent, but time in the minors prior to being selected doesn't count toward CBT. If he gets outrighted, it will.

Edited May 16 by Edman85

[papalawrence]

2 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

It's all about the Pirates.  The Tigers can lose every series for the rest of the long.  As long as they beat Pittsburgh, that's all that matters.  We are going to kick some Pirate ass next month.  I hate those bastards.  Never forget 1909!

I just can't bring myself to think badly about Honus.

[monkeytargets39]

5 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

It's all about the Pirates.  The Tigers can lose every series for the rest of the long.  As long as they beat Pittsburgh, that's all that matters.  We are going to kick some Pirate ass next month.  I hate those bastards.  Never forget 1909!

The only problem is that They Can’t Stop Don Kelly ™️

[gehringer_2]

5 hours ago, Shelton said:

That said, anecdotally speaking, weekend games against the Jays seem to have a lot of folks in blue hats walking around the stadium. So it seems appropriate to me. 

 

I agree in the past that's been true, and under normal conditions a lot of Canadians would come to Det to see the Jays. But cross border travel is way down, and I wouldn't expect baseball travel to be immune.

Edited May 16 by gehringer_2

[RandyMarsh]

Kinda on topic but I wonder how many Windsor area fans are Tigers fans vs. Blue Jays fans? I know the Lions are well represented there but that's different since Canada doesn't have an NFL team. 

[oblong]

I have 3 that sit next to me and have for over 10 years now.  There's a lot of them. Even beyond WIndsor.

 

[Klondike]

Tork having a tough May after a wonderful April. I'll still be happy with 25-30 homers and well over 100 rbi's.

Still think he'll hit 40+ one year.

 

[Toddwert]

20 hours ago, monkeytargets39 said:

The only problem is that They Can’t Stop Don Kelly ™️

never got the Don Kelley thing must be because im not a millennial

[chasfh]

21 hours ago, oblong said:

I have 3 that sit next to me and have for over 10 years now.  There's a lot of them. Even beyond WIndsor.

 

I remember when I was a little kid, just after the 1969 expansion. I was knocked out by the idea of a team in Montreal, a French-speaking city. That was, in fact, the one thing that got me interested in learning French. One day my family went over to Windsor for a picnic or something. I met a local kid who confirmed he was. I asked him if he was an Expos fan, because, you know, Canada. He looked at me like I was an alien (which, in today’s terms, I guess I was). I’m a Tigers fan, he replied in a what-the-hells-wrong-with-you tone. I replay that scene in my head occasionally.

[chasfh]

I always liked Austin Jackson as a player, and I’m sure that he’s a swell human being as well. Kind to his wife, good to his kids, loves kittens and puppies, all that.

But as far as that podcast, Tigers Territory, is concerned, the value he adds as a third wheel is exactly zero. He provides no insights at all from a player’s perspective. Everything he says on that pod is the same overview from 40,000 feet that you can hear from a guy in a bar. Arguably worse, he never mentions any specifics about players or games or performances. It’s like he doesn’t do any homework at all, maybe not even watching the games themselves. Every time he speaks, it’s four solid minutes of clichés and generalizations. I feel less knowledgeable about the Tigers when he’s through talking. I acknowledge that as an ex-Tiger he will always be lionized on his pedestal by Kieran and Cody on the pod, but man, is it ever a slog to have to listen to him talk. 

[lordstanley]

22 hours ago, RandyMarsh said:

Kinda on topic but I wonder how many Windsor area fans are Tigers fans vs. Blue Jays fans? I know the Lions are well represented there but that's different since Canada doesn't have an NFL team. 

I’d say Windsor has more Tigers fans than Jays fans and Sarnia has a roughly equal split of Jays fans and Tigers fans. I’d say Windsor has a roughly equal split of Wings fans and Leafs fans and Sarnia has considerably more Leafs fans than Wings fans. Games being shifted from Channel 4/20/50/PASS (available in Canada) to Fox Sports Detroit and the like (not available in Canada) was a blow. The Lions are huge in Windsor and Sarnia, the most popular NFL team, but even still I’d say in Sarnia half cheer for a team other than the Lions, a wide assortment. 

Edited May 17 by lordstanley

[Tenacious D]

30 minutes ago, chasfh said:

I always liked Austin Jackson as a player, and I’m sure that he’s a swell human being as well. Kind to his wife, good to his kids, loves kittens and puppies, all that.

But as far as that podcast, Tigers Territory, is concerned, the value he adds as a third wheel is exactly zero. He provides no insights at all from a player’s perspective. Everything he says on that pod is the same overview from 40,000 feet that you can hear from a guy in a bar. Arguably worse, he never mentions any specifics about players or games or performances. It’s like he doesn’t do any homework at all, maybe not even watching the games themselves. Every time he speaks, it’s four solid minutes of clichés and generalizations. I feel less knowledgeable about the Tigers when he’s through talking. I acknowledge that as an ex-Tiger he will always be lionized on his pedestal by Kieran and Cody on the pod, but man, is it ever a slog to have to listen to him talk. 

Agree.  His inclusion actually makes Kieran palatable.

It’s got to the point that the only listenable Tigers pod is the one with Tony Paul.   My assessment:

Scott Bentley—hard to listen to.  Was much better when it was Chris Castellani.

Evan Petzold and Mark G:  have the best guests, but Mark is completely unlikable and Evan sounds like a 10-year old lapdog.  All he does is recite stats.  It’s actually comical how often he rattles off numbers, no matter what he’s referencing.  

Rogellio and Chris:  Chris seems knowledgeable, but his delivery comes across a bit douchy.  Rogellio reminds me of the Chris Farley talk show bit from SNL.  He mispronounces every name and is constantly fumbling.  Probably should be a producer or work behind the scenes.

Pat Caputo —not a dedicated Tigers podcast, but he covers them.  He has really slipped into old guy caricature—a shame because I liked him previously on the radio.

Dickerson and Benetti—both are good, but not a fan of the pod structure.  Too much human interest, very little actual Tigers analysis. 

Any others that you’re listening to? I desperately would like to find a good one.
 

Edited May 17 by Tenacious D

[Shinzaki]

On 5/15/2025 at 4:59 PM, 1776 said:

I have truly tried. It’s a heavy lift.

If you preference is for a quieter..less chatty..approach to a baseball broadcast, I can see where Binetti isn't your cup o' tea

[chasfh]

2 hours ago, Tenacious D said:

Agree.  His inclusion actually makes Kieran palatable.

…

Any others that you’re listening to? I desperately would like to find a good one.
 

I don’t listen to many baseball pods at all. I like Foul Territory, although it’s the little girl with the little curl: when it’s good, it’s great, and when it’s bad, it’s horrid. Their best talents are Scott Braun, who was a revelation to me after he left MLB Network, and A.J. Pierzynski, whose superpower is that he doesn’t give a s***. Plus it’s daily and two hours and they cover multiple topics, so if they do something you don’t care about, like, a backslapping interview with a current player, you can easily skip it and get to something more interesting in short order.

Fair Territory, its offshoot, is generally good because of Ken Rosenthal, and it’s at its best when he’s alone on the pod. Alanna Rizzo totally grates on me because she is so obviously a Dodgers slappy on a national pod apparently (or, perhaps more exactly, allegedly) targeting fans of every team, and she doesn’t try particularly hard to mask that. I am in and out of so many other podcasts, like Rates and Barrels, MLBTR Podcast, and the Windup. I go back to them, listen to an episode or two, then tire of them. Baseballs pods that dovetail into my particular areas of sabermetric interest that don’t devolve into gambling or fantasy tips are really hard to find.

In terms of Tiger pods, Tigers Territory is the only one I listen to with any regularity and even that’s not religious. Tigers Today is not really on my radar because it’s only once every two weeks. The most recent one is May 6—a lot’s happened since then, so why listen to the latest episode? I also listen to North Side Territory for the Cubs, which is two beat writers, and it’s a little more chuckleheaded than I’d like, but it’s at least as good as Kieran and Cody’s.

That’s petty much it. Wish I could be more help.

[chasfh]

1 hour ago, Shinzaki said:

If you preference is for a quieter..less chatty..approach to a baseball broadcast, I can see where Binetti isn't your cup o' tea

The same thing could be said about Dan, who also does not let the broadcast breathe like some old timey guys were known for, but his style is information- and analysis-dense, which for me is like eating chocolate bonbons.

[gehringer_2]

1 hour ago, chasfh said:

I don’t listen to many baseball pods at all.

It's the least efficient form of information transfer of the internet age. The return on time spent is almost always negative. I'll listen to a podcast to hear an in depth interview a la Ezra Klein, but virtually never for sports.

[IdahoBert]

I have a short attention span and I’m just not willing to sit around and wait for podcasts to hit me like the bolt of lightning I’m seeking. So often podcasts feel like they’re just trying to fill up the allotted time. If I were more patient, I probably wouldn’t feel like this, but I’m impatient.

[oblong]

3 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

It's the least efficient form of information transfer of the internet age. The return on time spent is almost always negative. I'll listen to a podcast to hear an in depth interview a la Ezra Klein, but virtually never for sports.

Now that you say it the vast majority of the ones I listento are interview based. I am not in the car enough alone to listen that often and I tried while working and can’t really concentrate. I save them for long drives to TN or even Flint. 

[Tiger337]

18 minutes ago, IdahoBert said:

I have a short attention span and I’m just not willing to sit around and wait for podcasts to hit me like the bolt of lightning I’m seeking. So often podcasts feel like they’re just trying to fill up the allotted time. If I were more patient, I probably wouldn’t feel like this, but I’m impatient.

I don't like podcasts because the podcasters always start out by spendng at least five minutes talking about themselves and I really don't care about them at all.  I want them to ge right into the subject matter.  

[papalawrence]

I watch shorter youtube clips from podcasts. And punks doing pranks getting their pay back

[IdahoBert]

1 hour ago, Tiger337 said:

I don't like podcasts because the podcasters always start out by spendng at least five minutes talking about themselves and I really don't care about them at all.  I want them to ge right into the subject matter.  

I feel the same way about books I read meant for popular non-academic audiences on, however, serious academic subjects like history, philosophy, or science where the author thinks they have to spend the first 15 pages dawdling around assuring you that they’re just a regular bro like you because they're trying not to scare you off. Like you, I don’t care about them or their life history and I certainly don’t need it in a podcast either. 

[chasfh]

14 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

It's the least efficient form of information transfer of the internet age. The return on time spent is almost always negative. I'll listen to a podcast to hear an in depth interview a la Ezra Klein, but virtually never for sports.

I don’t listen for sports, because too much of it is guys trying to be too cute by half, but I do like news and issues oriented pods, such as On The Media, Pivot, Fresh Air, or Planet Money. I also listen to the occasional American History Hit or This American Life. I’m like Bert: I don’t have the attention span to just sit and listen to a podcast. Maybe I would have during the golden age of radio.

[chasfh]

11 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

I don't like podcasts because the podcasters always start out by spendng at least five minutes talking about themselves and I really don't care about them at all.  I want them to ge right into the subject matter.  

Thank you! I came across that when I went back to one of the Athletic podcasts just yesterday. Well, first it was 3-1/2 minutes of commercials. Then it was five minutes of talking about their own taste in music. Then at the 8:something mark they said, well, we should probably talk about baseball now. Eye roll.

[Toddwert]

18 hours ago, Tenacious D said:

Agree.  His inclusion actually makes Kieran palatable.

It’s got to the point that the only listenable Tigers pod is the one with Tony Paul.   My assessment:

Scott Bentley—hard to listen to.  Was much better when it was Chris Castellani.

Evan Petzold and Mark G:  have the best guests, but Mark is completely unlikable and Evan sounds like a 10-year old lapdog.  All he does is recite stats.  It’s actually comical how often he rattles off numbers, no matter what he’s referencing.  

Rogellio and Chris:  Chris seems knowledgeable, but his delivery comes across a bit douchy.  Rogellio reminds me of the Chris Farley talk show bit from SNL.  He mispronounces every name and is constantly fumbling.  Probably should be a producer or work behind the scenes.

Pat Caputo —not a dedicated Tigers podcast, but he covers them.  He has really slipped into old guy caricature—a shame because I liked him previously on the radio.

Dickerson and Benetti—both are good, but not a fan of the pod structure.  Too much human interest, very little actual Tigers analysis. 

Any others that you’re listening to? I desperately would like to find a good one.
 

I only watch Chris and Rog prefer their the youtube show seems more like talking baseball with fans dont like the others for reasons... Mark and Kiernan are  know it alls that only have creditable because of their co-hodcastosts..Scott is ok but it hard to keep a daily show interesting just a lot of same thing different day .... Does Jordan from the Podcastellanos still do a show with his friend ?