2025-2026 Tigers Off Season Thread

[casimir]

Travis Fryman was my wife's favorite ballplayer.  Unfortunately, that was when he played for Cleveland.

[monkeytargets39]

2 hours ago, casimir said:

Travis Fryman was my wife's favorite ballplayer.  Unfortunately, that was when he played for Cleveland.

I think he was the only Cleveland player I ever rooted for.

[papalawrence]

33 minutes ago, monkeytargets39 said:

I think he was the only Cleveland player I ever rooted for.

I was a fan of Lofton and Thome, when they weren't playing Detroit

[chasfh]

14 hours ago, oblong said:

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

It could also be said that we ended up trading Travis Fryman for the dead-end career of Willie Blair.

Fryman could also be considered one of the lowest-profile, least-remembered 30+-win guys who played their entire careers between 1985 and 2005. Here’s a list of the guys around him in WAR.

Edited October 22 by chasfh

[Shades of Deivi Cruz]

If we are listing trades where it seems like the Tigers got the raw end of the deal, there better be a server expansion in the works.

[Shades of Deivi Cruz]

13 hours ago, casimir said:

Travis Fryman was my wife's favorite ballplayer.  

We both know this isn't true. That's Cory Snyder.

[oblong]

what made me mad about the Fryman situation was they moved him because they didn't have money, supposedly.  Then a year later they get Dean Palmer for more money.

[Edman85]

27 minutes ago, oblong said:

what made me mad about the Fryman situation was they moved him because they didn't have money, supposedly.  Then a year later they get Dean Palmer for more money.

The article I found yesterday implied he was moved to clear money for Bernie Williams, which then fell through.

[monkeytargets39]

13 minutes ago, Edman85 said:

The article I found yesterday implied he was moved to clear money for Bernie Williams, which then fell through.

I’d rather have had Fryman than Bernie in the first place…..

[Mr.TaterSalad]

Speaking of bad Tigers trades, was Randy Smith also the one who traded David Wells to the Reds for CJ Nitkowski and reliever Mark Lewis? I friggan hated that trade when I was a kid as Wells was one of our only good starters at the time.

Edited October 22 by Mr.TaterSalad

[Edman85]

10 minutes ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

Speaking of bad Tigers trades, was Randy Smith also the one who traded David Wells to the Reds for CJ Nitkowski and reliever Mark Lewis? I friggan hated that trade when I was a kid as Wells was one of our only good starters at the time.

It was not. And Wells was a pending free agent.

 

Edit: Wells may not have been a free agent.

Edited October 22 by Edman85

[oblong]

1 minute ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

Speaking of bad Tigers trades, was Randy Smith also the one who traded David Wells for CJ Nitkowski and reliever Mark Lewis? I friggan hated that trade when I was a kid as Wells was one of our only good starters at the time.

No, that was Joe Klein.  For 32 years we had Jim, Bill, Joe, Jerry, Joe.

I was listening to Gibson on the radio, he was being interviewed on WDFN, when the trade was announced.  He hung up when they told him and retired a week later.  He was pissed. 

[Mr.TaterSalad]

I remember being pissed when I heard about it as well. I listened to WDFN as a kid and likely either heard about it there or watching SportsCenter. Don't remember which one. I remember Felipe Lira being our next best starter after David Wells. Didn't Mike Moore go something like 5-20 with like an 7.00+ ERA and an almost 2+ WHIP?

Edited October 22 by Mr.TaterSalad

[theroundsquare]

yes, mike moore was *awful* on that team.  that was (one of) the team(s) that had "Lima Time," too

[gehringer_2]

27 minutes ago, Edman85 said:

It was not. And Wells was a pending free agent.

 

Edit: Wells may not have been a free agent.

It's funny how memory gets skewed. I have this firm recollection about being unhappy that Wells picked Detroit to have the worst year of his career. Of course he didn't. I guess I must have just tuned in mostly to his losses to get that impression - but it remains.

[Tiger337]

2 hours ago, Edman85 said:

The article I found yesterday implied he was moved to clear money for Bernie Williams, which then fell through.

I disliked the Fryman trade, but hearing that they traded him to clear money unecessarily makes it worse.  I didn't know that at the time.  Did Randy Smith make any good moves? Those 7-player trades with the Padres and Astros were fun but it was mostly just moving players around with no real impact.  

[Tiger337]

2 hours ago, monkeytargets39 said:

I’d rather have had Fryman than Bernie in the first place…..

Why not both?  

[Tiger337]

1 hour ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

Speaking of bad Tigers trades, was Randy Smith also the one who traded David Wells to the Reds for CJ Nitkowski and reliever Mark Lewis? I friggan hated that trade when I was a kid as Wells was one of our only good starters at the time.

Mark Lewis looked like a steal for the first month and a half.  Then he came back to earth.

[Tiger337]

4 hours ago, chasfh said:

It could also be said that we ended up trading Travis Fryman for the dead-end career of Willie Blair.

Fryman could also be considered one of the lowest-profile, least-remembered 30+-win guys who played their entire careers between 1985 and 2005. Here’s a list of the guys around him in WAR.

He also had the highest WAR of any third baseman in Tigers history.  That is definitely their weakest position, but he was the best of the lot.  

[Mr.TaterSalad]

7 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

Mark Lewis looked like a steal for the first month and a half.  Then he came back to earth.

Juan Gonzalez was a great player too . . . Until he came to a place he had less than zero interest in being. Then he was always hurt and missing games all of a sudden.

[oblong]

23 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

I disliked the Fryman trade, but hearing that they traded him to clear money unecessarily makes it worse.  I didn't know that at the time.  Did Randy Smith make any good moves? Those 7-player trades with the Padres and Astros were fun but it was mostly just moving players around with no real impact.  

Damian Easley for Greg Gohr was a good move.

 

[Tiger337]

15 minutes ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

Juan Gonzalez was a great player too . . . Until he came to a place he had less than zero interest in being. Then he was always hurt and missing games all of a sudden.

One of my least favorite Tigers ever.  

[Arlington]

10 minutes ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

Juan Gonzalez was a great player too . . . Until he came to a place he had less than zero interest in being. Then he was always hurt and missing games all of a sudden.

Gonzalez went on strike when he went to Detroit.  The fence, it's too far!  Hardworking people hated him.

Looking over Higgenson and Fryman's stats they both dropped off the map in their early 30s.  Cleveland got two good years from him.  That's it.  But we were starved for talent those years.

Didn't we trade for Matt Drews twice?

When Higgy started going south, I was in an elevator with Reinsdorf once and suggested he should trade for trade.  He didn't engage and just said he doesn't get involved in player decisions.  

[oblong]

I should clarify, Easley was a good trade, but then I believe he got a big contract after which probably hurt the club somewhat.  He was a fine player but not deserving of the big deal.

 

[Edman85]

If I remember right, the Astros trade that netted Jones and Brocail was a win. I am trying to remember if that is the one that cost Lima, thought.