2025-2026 Tigers Off Season Thread

[4hzglory]

Also surprised Bieber picked up his option as he essentially did it for $12 mil (difference between the $16 mil for 2026 and the$4 mil he would have received if he declined). He’s someone I could have seen Harris go after.

With the Cubs declining on Imanaga’s relatively reasonable option also, maybe teams are telling Agents they aren’t going to spend much heading into a potential lockout after next year?  

[4hzglory]

20 hours ago, CMRivdogs said:

Athletic writer Tim Britton projecting  Flaherty receiving a 4 year $78 million dollar package. Putting him between Edwardo Rodriguez and John Gray's pay....

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6774254/2025/11/04/mlb-free-agent-contract-projections/

It just seems a bit steep for me...

 

I guess he was wrong on this one.  And on Bieber also.

[chasfh]

4 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

well one possibility is that there is something that would show up a a trade physical that both he and team, but no-one else, knows about right now.

This is actually a blind spot in my knowledge of the business of baseball: are long term contracts contingent on medicals? Obviously trades are, but I can’t recall a time a player was signed to a long term deal that was voided because the medicals revealed something. There’s probably an obvious one I could merely duckduckgo …

[papalawrence]

1 hour ago, 4hzglory said:

Also surprised Bieber picked up his option as he essentially did it for $12 mil (difference between the $16 mil for 2026 and the$4 mil he would have received if he declined). He’s someone I could have seen Harris go after.

With the Cubs declining on Imanaga’s relatively reasonable option also, maybe teams are telling Agents they aren’t going to spend much heading into a potential lockout after next year?  

I was hoping Harris would kick the tires on Bieber, oh well.

And I do believe the CBA is going to impact free agency. I expect a work stoppage in 2027

[Sports_Freak]

Unpopular opinion time...if Harris offers Bregman a contract, put a time limit on it. Don't give Boras the ability to shop Bregman around using the Tiger offer until spring training. Offer and give them a couple of weeks. And then move on to find a better 3rd base option than what we have. Suarez? He may have "only" hit 16 home runs after being traded but he still hit 49 home runs.

[Shelton]

38 minutes ago, chasfh said:

This is actually a blind spot in my knowledge of the business of baseball: are long term contracts contingent on medicals? Obviously trades are, but I can’t recall a time a player was signed to a long term deal that was voided because the medicals revealed something. There’s probably an obvious one I could merely duckduckgo …

Correa a couple years ago with both the giants and the Mets. 

[RatkoVarda]

15 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

 And then move on to find a better 3rd base option than what we have. Suarez? He may have "only" hit 16 home runs after being traded but he still hit 49 home runs.

cannot preach control the zone to the organization while having your 3/4 hitters K 400 times

[CaliforniaDreaming]

I wonder if Jack Flaherty looked at possible options and just really liked Detroit. He has said that he likes the manager and coaches, enjoys playing with these teammates, and probably assumes there is a great chance at being in the playoffs. Add to that an offseason of personal and family stability and it might be worth not taking a chance on opting out.

[chasfh]

19 minutes ago, Shelton said:

Correa a couple years ago with both the giants and the Mets. 

See? Told ya it was a blind spot. 😃

[chasfh]

34 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

Unpopular opinion time...if Harris offers Bregman a contract, put a time limit on it. Don't give Boras the ability to shop Bregman around using the Tiger offer until spring training. Offer and give them a couple of weeks. And then move on to find a better 3rd base option than what we have. Suarez? He may have "only" hit 16 home runs after being traded but he still hit 49 home runs.

Given the year Bregman had in Boston after turning down our best-in-baseball contract offer last year, petulantly putting some arbitrary deadline on his signing a deal with the Tigers this winter would essentially guarantee his rejection, and probably a public airing of the tactic for all to see afterwards. The only win with that approach would be some self-indulgent moral victory. Better to not even make an offer under those conditions because, after all, Harris has to work in this game.

[chasfh]

17 minutes ago, CaliforniaDreaming said:

I wonder if Jack Flaherty looked at possible options and just really liked Detroit. He has said that he likes the manager and coaches, enjoys playing with these teammates, and probably assumes there is a great chance at being in the playoffs. Add to that an offseason of personal and family stability and it might be worth not taking a chance on opting out.

I wonder whether this might be an early indication that the market for long-term deals is DOA as long as an apparently inevitable work stoppage looms.

[Sports_Freak]

37 minutes ago, chasfh said:

Given the year Bregman had in Boston after turning down our best-in-baseball contract offer last year, petulantly putting some arbitrary deadline on his signing a deal with the Tigers this winter would essentially guarantee his rejection, and probably a public airing of the tactic for all to see afterwards. The only win with that approach would be some self-indulgent moral victory. Better to not even make an offer under those conditions because, after all, Harris has to work in this game.

Yeah, I say don't even offer him unless it's a deal that can be quickly done. The Tigers need to find a player for 3rd base, either through free agency or trade. Waiting on his decision for 3 months again shouldn't be an option. Go ahead and offer him a competitive contract but keep looking at all the possible options. I'm really not sure about using Keith, Ibanez, McKinstry and Vierling at 3rd is an option. 

[papalawrence]

So SP 2026 is looking like Skubal, Flaherty, Mize, Olsen, Melton and likely a couple FA.

[4hzglory]

3 hours ago, chasfh said:

This is actually a blind spot in my knowledge of the business of baseball: are long term contracts contingent on medicals? Obviously trades are, but I can’t recall a time a player was signed to a long term deal that was voided because the medicals revealed something. There’s probably an obvious one I could merely duckduckgo …

edit.  Should have read down as obviously Shelton beat me to it.

Edited Wednesday at 05:02 PM by 4hzglory

[gehringer_2]

2 hours ago, chasfh said:

I wonder whether this might be an early indication that the market for long-term deals is DOA as long as an apparently inevitable work stoppage looms.

One would think that just the decade+ terms on the Yamamoto, Ohtani and Soto deals have to have the majority of the owners ready to dig in and force a major change in things - particularly some hard limit on lengths.

So does that mean if you are Skubal you should take what you can get today from the Tigers with a 2 or 3 yr opt out to give you safe haven to the other side of the chaos? I guess it depends on which side you thinks ultimately 'wins' the stoppage.

Edited Wednesday at 05:07 PM by gehringer_2

[SoCalTiger]

1 hour ago, gehringer_2 said:

One would think that just the decade+ terms on the Yamamoto, Ohtani and Soto deals have to have the majority of the owners ready to dig in and force a major change in things - particularly some hard limit on lengths.

So does that mean if you are Skubal you should take what you can get today from the Tigers with a 2 or 3 yr opt out to give you safe haven to the other side of the chaos? I guess it depends on which side you thinks ultimately 'wins' the stoppage.

Perhaps limit all deal to one year and let everyone be free agent after four. Flood the market yearly with options. 

[SeattleMike]

17 minutes ago, SoCalTiger said:

Perhaps limit all deal to one year and let everyone be free agent after four. Flood the market yearly with options. 

As I recall Marvin Miller feared such a scenario. 

[Tenacious D]

3 hours ago, papalawrence said:

So SP 2026 is looking like Skubal, Flaherty, Mize, Olsen, Melton and likely a couple FA.

I still contend that Mize will be traded. The relationship and confidence seems to have eroded and I doubt they would let him walk without getting anything in return.  Once the dust settle and all of the free agent starters are off the market, he should have some trade value.  He’d likely be an inexpensive, solid #4 starter on a good team.  

[4hzglory]

25 minutes ago, Tenacious D said:

I still contend that Mize will be traded. The relationship and confidence seems to have eroded and I doubt they would let him walk without getting anything in return.  Once the dust settle and all of the free agent starters are off the market, he should have some trade value.  He’d likely be an inexpensive, solid #4 starter on a good team.  

I actually think there is a reasonable chance they try and extend him at least a year or 2 - so they have him locked up after Skubal and Flaherty are FA's.  With the looming lockout, the cost might not be prohibitive for a player like him.

[KL2]

33 minutes ago, 4hzglory said:

I actually think there is a reasonable chance they try and extend him at least a year or 2 

not after they yanked him in the third inning of a playoff game

[chasfh]

5 hours ago, Sports_Freak said:

Yeah, I say don't even offer him unless it's a deal that can be quickly done. The Tigers need to find a player for 3rd base, either through free agency or trade. Waiting on his decision for 3 months again shouldn't be an option. Go ahead and offer him a competitive contract but keep looking at all the possible options. I'm really not sure about using Keith, Ibanez, McKinstry and Vierling at 3rd is an option. 

Wanting to get a deal done is one thing, but offering it to him and setting an artificial deadline to accept it is a bad look, particularly when Tarik Skubal's agent is involved.

[chasfh]

3 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

One would think that just the decade+ terms on the Yamamoto, Ohtani and Soto deals have to have the majority of the owners ready to dig in and force a major change in things - particularly some hard limit on lengths.

So does that mean if you are Skubal you should take what you can get today from the Tigers with a 2 or 3 yr opt out to give you safe haven to the other side of the chaos? I guess it depends on which side you thinks ultimately 'wins' the stoppage.

I would think setting a hard limit on contract lengths would be struck down in court as restraint of trade.

[chasfh]

2 hours ago, SoCalTiger said:

Perhaps limit all deal to one year and let everyone be free agent after four. Flood the market yearly with options. 

I believe that's exactly what the owners, or at least some owners, proposed during the birth of free agency back in the 1970s, and Marvin Miller negotiated away from that, because he knew a flooded market would keep salaries down.

[chasfh]

1 hour ago, Tenacious D said:

I still contend that Mize will be traded. The relationship and confidence seems to have eroded and I doubt they would let him walk without getting anything in return.  Once the dust settle and all of the free agent starters are off the market, he should have some trade value.  He’d likely be an inexpensive, solid #4 starter on a good team.  

I don't see us trading Mize unless we have options as good as he to cover him.

[Sports_Freak]

5 minutes ago, chasfh said:

Wanting to get a deal done is one thing, but offering it to him and setting an artificial deadline to accept it is a bad look, particularly when Tarik Skubal's agent is involved.

Good point. To be honest, I would pass on him and put all of the work into making a deal for another 3rd baseman.