2025-2026 Tigers Off Season Thread

[gehringer_2]

51 minutes ago, chasfh said:

One of the key takeaways from my post was intended to be that firing the hitting coaches is probably not an action item this winter, nor should it be.

One of Hinch's eccentricities as a manager is the degree to which he keeps his assistants buried. I don't believe we have ever had a manager who keeps his coaches away from the public to the degree Hinch does. For good or ill that means that as fans we see/hear virtually nothing about anything they do or what they think or their approaches as individuals. I find it a little odd but I guess as long as guys aren't quitting because of it...

[theroundsquare]

41 minutes ago, Tenacious D said:

Would that have been Cashmsn?  He would have been thrown out of NYC if that had been consummated 

I thought it was Cashman's predecessor.  And I thought Higginson was the piece heading back to NY, because Steinbrenner was like obsessed with him or something

[Sports_Freak]

1 hour ago, chasfh said:

I agree it's true that Tork and Riley and Dingler and Javy, all Avila acquisitions, were instrumental in getting us to the playoffs. It is also true that they are all flawed when it comes to walk rates and/or strikeout rates, and I believe they brought those flaws with them into the system—rather than being coached into those flaws—and that's what everyone seems to be complaining about, especially the strikeout rates.

There might be room for one or more of these guys on the peak Harris Tigers. Or maybe not. It's not as though any of them have shown that they are slam-dunk perennial All-Stars, even Riley, who's probably the closest of them. It's possible none of them are on the team any longer by 2029. This remains to be seen.

One of the key takeaways from my post was intended to be that firing the hitting coaches is probably not an action item this winter, nor should it be.

I don't know. Like I said, it may be the hitting coaches are telling these guys what changes they need to make and the players arent listening? Or are these hitting coaches just going over a gameplan on how to attack opposing pitchers? When it comes to Riley, I remember hearing something about him working with a hitting coach last off-season? He definitely needs to change his swing, the power is really nice but sacrificing some power for more contact is absolutely necessary. Maybe that's not something that could be worked on during the season? I just don't know, it just seems like that uppercut swing produces more swing and misses. Of course, he finally played a full season without being injured, maybe the SO % was always that bad. Either way, he's still pretty young and the Tigers have a couple of years to see if he improves. If not? It's "see ya later." 🤣🤣

[Sports_Freak]

1 hour ago, chasfh said:

That's one way of looking at it. Another way is that the best of Harris's acquisitions have yet to make the team, while the best of Avila's acquisitions are already here and close to their prime. Once the best of Harris's guys are here and close to their primes, let's revisit.

So our lineups are gonna need little politician letter next to their names;

Riley Greene (aa)

Max Clark (sh)

😅😅😅

 

[chasfh]

46 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

One of Hinch's eccentricities as a manager is the degree to which he keeps his assistants buried. I don't believe we have ever had a manager who keeps his coaches away from the public to the degree Hinch does. For good or ill that means that as fans we see/hear virtually nothing about anything they do or what they think or their approaches as individuals. I find it a little odd but I guess as long as guys aren't quitting because of it...

Hinch is an evil man, isn't he? 😁

[casimir]

On 10/18/2025 at 2:34 PM, Tiger337 said:

How about Williams for Mike Drumright and Roberto Duran.  Or are we giving up too much?

Wait.  Was it Drumright and Duran rather than Higginson?  I always thought it was the latter, but maybe I’ve been wrong all this time.

[casimir]

1 hour ago, theroundsquare said:

I thought it was Cashman's predecessor.  And I thought Higginson was the piece heading back to NY, because Steinbrenner was like obsessed with him or something

Maybe we’ve both been wrong?  But then two wrongs make a right, so there we go.

 

[casimir]

On 10/19/2025 at 9:45 AM, Tiger337 said:

If they pass the Golden At Bat rule, I will most likely stop watching games.  I'll just follow the stats and play fantasy baseball.

That golden at bat theory is just asinine.

[papalawrence]

1 hour ago, casimir said:

That golden at bat theory is just asinine.

Another way to favor NY and LA today. Probably means more dough for MLB

[gehringer_2]

Speaking of the coaching staff, Petzold reporting Iopoce is gone.

https://www.freep.com/story/sports/mlb/tigers/2025/10/20/detroit-tigers-anthony-iapoce-first-base-coach-coaching-staff/86726134007/

[chasfh]

14 hours ago, casimir said:

That golden at bat theory is just asinine.

I’m not advocating for Golden At Bat—I’m just speculating on ways they might choose to refocus fan attention on players instead of teams, which they see the NFL and especially NBA wildly succeeding at, and MLB covets that.

[Tiger337]

1 minute ago, chasfh said:

I’m not advocating for Golden At Bat—I’m just speculating on ways they might choose to refocus fan attention on players instead of teams, which they see the NFL and especially NBA wildly succeeding at, and MLB covets that.

I don't think there is anything MLB can do which will make indivual players as exciting to casual fans as they are in the NBA and NFL without substantially altering the sport.  It's just not the nature of baseball and I hope they don't try too hard.  

[AlaskanTigersFan]

How would you guys feel about the home team catching foul balls for outs (not in playoffs)? I love that for the Savannah Bananas.  

[4hzglory]

18 minutes ago, AlaskanTigersFan said:

How would you guys feel about the home team catching foul balls for outs (not in playoffs)? I love that for the Savannah Bananas.  

That would be an awful rule for the mlb IMO.  I can see why an exhibition team does it, but it would completely distort the game.  It's already hard enough for hitters, let alone, if they foul one off they have to worry about a fan getting them out?

[Tiger337]

46 minutes ago, AlaskanTigersFan said:

How would you guys feel about the home team catching foul balls for outs (not in playoffs)? I love that for the Savannah Bananas.  

I like that idea.  They should also randomly pick a fan each game to pitch one inning.  

[CMRivdogs]

Or go back the the Bill Veeck one time promotion when he owned the St Louis Browns (pre Baltimore Orioles),  have a group of fans make the manager's calls during a game

https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/august-24-1951-st-louis-browns-fans-manage-to-get-it-right-in-veeck-promotion/#:~:text=Ah%2C but then the realities,the way for the win.

[chasfh]

3 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

I don't think there is anything MLB can do which will make indivual players as exciting to casual fans as they are in the NBA and NFL without substantially altering the sport.  It's just not the nature of baseball and I hope they don't try too hard.  

I would bet you'd agree that Manfred is not above substantially altering the sport in the pursuit of maximizing revenue.

[chasfh]

2 hours ago, AlaskanTigersFan said:

How would you guys feel about the home team catching foul balls for outs (not in playoffs)? I love that for the Savannah Bananas.  

I choose to not take suggestion this seriously. 😉

[Edman85]

On 10/18/2025 at 4:12 PM, Tiger337 said:

yes, it's Bernie.  Randy Smith insisted that he had agreed to a deal with the Yankees for Bernie Williams on expansion draft day only to have the Yankees pull out at the last minute.  Nobody believed him.  

I found a NYT article from the time. Basically, the Fryman trade was to move money around. Williams only had one year before free agency. Gonzalez was signed three weeks later.

[Tiger337]

2 hours ago, chasfh said:

I would bet you'd agree that Manfred is not above substantially altering the sport in the pursuit of maximizing revenue.

Yes, I would agree with that.  I don't think he likes baseball very much.  Previous commisioners were also mostly concerned with generating revenue, but they also seemed to have a certain amount of respect for the history, culture and traditions of the game.  I don't see that with Manfred at all.  

[monkeytargets39]

Baseball not having stupid gimmicks is the main thing I like about it.  Let the ADHD crowd go follow something else.

[chasfh]

18 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

Yes, I would agree with that.  I don't think he likes baseball very much.  Previous commisioners were also mostly concerned with generating revenue, but they also seemed to have a certain amount of respect for the history, culture and traditions of the game.  I don't see that with Manfred at all.  

Sane here. He talks about the game precisely as a lawyer would.

[AlaskanTigersFan]

2 hours ago, chasfh said:

I choose to not take suggestion this seriously. 😉

Good, it wasn't meant to be lol. 

[casimir]

10 hours ago, chasfh said:

I’m not advocating for Golden At Bat—I’m just speculating on ways they might choose to refocus fan attention on players instead of teams, which they see the NFL and especially NBA wildly succeeding at, and MLB covets that.

Oh, I'm not accusing anyone with an appreciation for the game is advocating for Golden At Bat.

[oblong]

5 hours ago, Edman85 said:

I found a NYT article from the time. Basically, the Fryman trade was to move money around. Williams only had one year before free agency. Gonzalez was signed three weeks later.

When it was all said and done the Tigers ended up trading Travis Fryman and Cecil Fielder for Matt Drews.