2025-2026 Tigers Off Season Thread

[chasfh]

2 hours ago, IdahoBert said:

 

It feels good to be so well understood. I’d walk a mile for everybody on this site. Well most everybody.

Me, too. Although I wouldn’t walk across the street for a Lucky Strike.

[Edman85]

49 minutes ago, papalawrence said:

A little surprised that Foley dfa'd. Someone will pick him up for their 40

Nope, I bet he is non-tendered and has to settle for an NRI.

[gehringer_2]

1 hour ago, papalawrence said:

A little surprised that Foley dfa'd. Someone will pick him up for their 40

sounds like another one the where the injury deficit is looking permanent. Or at least the Tigers feel the news has been bad enough no-one will pick him up.

[RatkoVarda]

Trei Cruz is going to be 28 in July; a VERY late bloomer if he contributes

[papalawrence]

1 hour ago, Edman85 said:

Nope, I bet he is non-tendered and has to settle for an NRI.

According to mlb trade rumors he was dfa'd, but they could be wrong 

Tigers Designate Six Relievers For Assignment - MLB Trade Rumors https://share.google/FhZb1nApk4FMvzqWQ

[Tenacious D]

5 hours ago, lordstanley said:

I had a hernia repair surgery that laid me up the summer I turned 9 but I came back and tore up Little League as a 10 year old with a bunch of singles and safe on an error at bats. Hoping Torres will bounce back as well.

Yeah, but was your WAR?

[casimir]

9 hours ago, RatkoVarda said:

Trei Cruz is going to be 28 in July; a VERY late bloomer if he contributes

A bench of McKinstry, Baez, Cruz, and a C.  Hinch is like a kid on Christmas Eve right now.

[ToledoBrian]

So where do the Tigers stand on November 19th, Gleyber Torres accepts QO, I am neither upset or overjoyed, can someone confirm he gets basic 10/5 rights to veto any trade....  So priority is pitching, Devin WIlliams, Kyle Finnegan and maybe a Scott Barlow type. I still say extend Skubal, 8 years 335+ million, probably getting a Cease or King is out, probably back to the 1 year Scherzer / Verlander / add name here as 5th starter, with Troy Melton as swing man until the 1st inevitable injury.  Then pivot to see what trade capital you part with for a RHH, preferably in the OF.  Dingler(C), Tork(1B) unless in trade package, Torres(2B), McGonigle(SS) Harris wants the chance for that extra draft pick, Keith(3B) unless moved to 1st with Tork trade, Greene(LF), Meadows(CF) for now??, Perez(RF?), Carpenter(DH). Cruz, Baez, Rogers, etc on the bench. Skubal, Flaherty, Mize, Olsen, 5th starter. Melton, Finnegan, WIlliams, Barlow, Madden(?), Vest, etc...

[papalawrence]

12 minutes ago, ToledoBrian said:

So where do the Tigers stand on November 19th, Gleyber Torres accepts QO, I am neither upset or overjoyed, can someone confirm he gets basic 10/5 rights to veto any trade....  So priority is pitching, Devin WIlliams, Kyle Finnegan and maybe a Scott Barlow type. I still say extend Skubal, 8 years 335+ million, probably getting a Cease or King is out, probably back to the 1 year Scherzer / Verlander / add name here as 5th starter, with Troy Melton as swing man until the 1st inevitable injury.  Then pivot to see what trade capital you part with for a RHH, preferably in the OF.  Dingler(C), Tork(1B) unless in trade package, Torres(2B), McGonigle(SS) Harris wants the chance for that extra draft pick, Keith(3B) unless moved to 1st with Tork trade, Greene(LF), Meadows(CF) for now??, Perez(RF?), Carpenter(DH). Cruz, Baez, Rogers, etc on the bench. Skubal, Flaherty, Mize, Olsen, 5th starter. Melton, Finnegan, WIlliams, Barlow, Madden(?), Vest, etc...

Torres does not have 10/5 rights

[ToledoBrian]

23 minutes ago, papalawrence said:

Torres does not have 10/5 rights

Thank you for the clarification, I thought I had read that accepting a QO gave the player the ability to veto trades.

[Tigermojo]

17 minutes ago, ToledoBrian said:

Thank you for the clarification, I thought I had read that accepting a QO gave the player the ability to veto trades.

No. 10/5 is ten years in the league and five years with the same team. 

I'm sure they plan to compete with Torres at second base though. If they are looking to trade him, something went terribly wrong.

For the rest of the roster, I'd like to see some talented additions. I think they are good in the depth department. They have guys they can shuffle between Toledo and Detroit if necessary.

 

Edited 14 hours ago by Tigermojo

[Shelton]

1 hour ago, ToledoBrian said:

Thank you for the clarification, I thought I had read that accepting a QO gave the player the ability to veto trades.

The team cannot trade him until June 15 without his consent, which is the standard for all free agents.

The QO is not like an extension, which wouldn’t necessarily include that protection. 

[chasfh]

11 hours ago, RatkoVarda said:

Trei Cruz is going to be 28 in July; a VERY late bloomer if he contributes

Another legacy pick by Avila—Trei is basically Jose Cruz III.

He was #19 in the system in 2021 and hasn't cracked the top 30 since. Apparently he's had enough to keep around and he took a sudden leap up to become a .400+ on base guy last year. He's definitely a Mr. Right Now type—I could see him on the I-75 shuttle for the next year or two.

[Edman85]

11 hours ago, papalawrence said:

According to mlb trade rumors he was dfa'd, but they could be wrong 

Tigers Designate Six Relievers For Assignment - MLB Trade Rumors https://share.google/FhZb1nApk4FMvzqWQ

So the DFA window is 7 days, and the non-tender day is Friday. DFA doesn't mean a player has been placed on waivers.

In Foley's case, he is also injured and literally per the rules cannot be outrighted (there is a small window where he can that ended yesterday), so he will not be going through waivers. He is a certain non-tender. Ditto Guenther. Rainey as well because you can't outright a player added after Aug 15.

Edited 12 hours ago by Edman85

[Sports_Freak]

16 hours ago, lordstanley said:

I had a hernia repair surgery that laid me up the summer I turned 9 but I came back and tore up Little League as a 10 year old with a bunch of singles and safe on an error at bats. Hoping Torres will bounce back as well.

I had/have a slight tear in my rotator cuff. It's very minor. And the pain is horrible as well as absolutely no strength in it. I can't even imagine a complete tear. Anyway, it's been 3 months and it's finally getting better. Of course, I'm not a young stud athlete....just an old grumpy sports fan. 🤣🤣

[Toddwert]

So is Torres coming back a bye bye to Bergman?

[4hzglory]

14 minutes ago, Toddwert said:

So is Torres coming back a bye bye to Bergman?

I think it's much less likely if they want to give Keith and McGonigle consistent time, let alone Anderson.  

[Tiger337]

38 minutes ago, Toddwert said:

So is Torres coming back a bye bye to Bergman?

I am not expecting them to sign any significant offensive help.  I expect them to sign a couple of legitimate relievers.  I am hopeful they will also add a good starter, but not confident about that.

[Tenacious D]

The more obvious opportunity to improve our offense is in the outfield, either CF or RF. I’d still pursue Luis Robert in the hopes that he can get back to his previous self.  Meadows, Lee and Miller?

[RatkoVarda]

11 spots sorta decided: Dingler, Rogers, Tork, Torres, Baez, Keith, McKinstry, Greene, Meadows, Vierling, Carp.

I don't see it, but they seem to like Wenceel, so maybe 12? 

Rogers is looking at his last year (would have been interesting to have had Hicks pushing him in 2026) before Liranzo/Valencia and then Briceno arrive.

McGonigle will start at Toledo unless he hits .600 in ST. As soon as they hit the service time limit, he comes up, then Anderson, and then Clark later on. Lee, Liranzo, and Briceno might not by up until 2027.

Ibanez, Jung, Malloy, Sweeney and Cruz all seem to be not good enough right now, and will get passed quickly by better players.

So they can still add either 1 good player: Bregman, Seiya Suzuki?, or a guy who does one thing they really need, a RH OF with power, even a platoon guy. But generally, they don't need anymore platoon 1 WAR guys. They have a lot.

[gehringer_2]

2 minutes ago, RatkoVarda said:

11 spots sorta decided: Dingler, Rogers, Tork, Torres, Baez, Keith, McKinstry, Greene, Meadows, Vierling, Carp.

I don't see it, but they seem to like Wenceel, so maybe 12? 

Rogers is looking at his last year (would have been interesting to have had Hicks pushing him in 2026) before Liranzo/Valencia and then Briceno arrive.

McGonigle will start at Toledo unless he hits .600 in ST. As soon as they hit the service time limit, he comes up, then Anderson, and then Clark later on. Lee, Liranzo, and Briceno might not by up until 2027.

Ibanez, Jung, Malloy, Sweeney and Cruz all seem to be not good enough right now, and will get passed quickly by better players.

So they can still add either 1 good player: Bregman, Seiya Suzuki?, or a guy who does one thing they really need, a RH OF with power, even a platoon guy. But generally, they don't need anymore platoon 1 WAR guys. They have a lot.

there is one thing that could save Sweeney, which is if they think they need Baez in CF - IOW I'm not so sure Meadows is a lock. And even if Meadows doesn't make it, they also have Vierling, so still a long shot for Sweeney.

[Nate7474]

23 minutes ago, RatkoVarda said:

11 spots sorta decided: Dingler, Rogers, Tork, Torres, Baez, Keith, McKinstry, Greene, Meadows, Vierling, Carp.

I don't see it, but they seem to like Wenceel, so maybe 12? 

Rogers is looking at his last year (would have been interesting to have had Hicks pushing him in 2026) before Liranzo/Valencia and then Briceno arrive.

McGonigle will start at Toledo unless he hits .600 in ST. As soon as they hit the service time limit, he comes up, then Anderson, and then Clark later on. Lee, Liranzo, and Briceno might not by up until 2027.

Ibanez, Jung, Malloy, Sweeney and Cruz all seem to be not good enough right now, and will get passed quickly by better players.

So they can still add either 1 good player: Bregman, Seiya Suzuki?, or a guy who does one thing they really need, a RH OF with power, even a platoon guy. But generally, they don't need anymore platoon 1 WAR guys. They have a lot.

I agree with a lot of this at least how the roster stands right now. I will add that I still think we see a trade or two. I could see McKinstry/Sweeney/Vierling/Perez and even Keith or Carpenter potentially moved for some pitching along with some of our log jam of 2B prospects. I think they want McGonigle to earn a spot on the opening day roster. Sent him to the fall league for some 3rd base experience and he will play SS/3B/2B to get experience and find playing time near the amount of a full time starter. If they sign a Bichette or Bregman type I don’t think that plan would change other than a bigger need for a trade. 

[Toddwert]

55 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

I am not expecting them to sign any significant offensive help.  I expect them to sign a couple of legitimate relievers.  I am hopeful they will also add a good starter, but not confident about that.

agreed i dont see them doing much either on offense  

[Tigermojo]

Jones and Ibanez are still on the roster but neither has options left. Lee hit lefties well in the minors so maybe those two become expendable.

[Edman85]

1 hour ago, Tiger337 said:

I am not expecting them to sign any significant offensive help.  I expect them to sign a couple of legitimate relievers.  I am hopeful they will also add a good starter, but not confident about that.

On the starter front, I noticed in last week's injury update that Olson had a setback.