2025-2026 Tigers Off Season Thread

[gehringer_2]

1 minute ago, Edman85 said:

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

Is there any evidence about smaller pitchers being more fragile? In the past regime the Tigers almost had a fixation about not bringing in anything but big pitchers - 6'3" and up and I've wondered if that was their reasoning, but that didn't help Faedo, Skubal, or Fulmer - all on the bigger side and TJ victims anyway.

[TcFlint]

Without adding to the offense and addressing the strikeouts, this is still a fringe wildcard team.  We will again be shutdown by quality pitching opponents.  I can appreciate the Mets, Dodgers, and Red Sox trying to improve their rosters.

Edited yesterday at 06:13 PM by TcFlint

[Tiger337]

8 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

Is there any evidence about smaller pitchers being more fragile? In the past regime the Tigers almost had a fixation about not bringing in anything but big pitchers - 6'3" and up and I've wondered if that was their reasoning, but that didn't help Faedo, Skubal, or Fulmer - all on the bigger side and TJ victims anyway.

I have asked that question many times about both pitchers and hitters.  Big people tend to be stronger, but I feel as if they are just as likely or even more likely to get injured.  They have to carry around more weight than a smaller person which I think would create more force in every movement and puts greater stress on their bones and joints.  

[Tiger337]

6 minutes ago, TcFlint said:

Without adding to the offense and addressing the strikeouts, this is still a fringe wildcard team.  We will again be shutdown by quality pitching opponents.  I can appreciate the Mets, Dodgers, and Red Sox trying to improve their rosters.

I would definitely like to see them add a quality bat, but they have already said they are going to focus on pitching and I don't see them spending big money in both areas.  

[gehringer_2]

3 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

I have asked that question many times about both pitchers and hitters.  Big people tend to be stronger, but I feel as if they are just as likely or even more likely to get injured.  They have to carry around more weight than a smaller person which I think would create more force in every movement and puts greater stress on their bones and joints.  

I think you can make a case that a taller person (not necessarily a heavy one though) simply has longer levers - both in his stride and his arm length, to achieve velocity at lower stress. But as you note, those longer levers probably also stress connective tissue proportionally more, so maybe in the end it's a wash. Experience seems to argue the big guys aren't holding up any better.  But probably they are just more likely to be *able* to throw hard so we continue to see a lot of them.

[RatkoVarda]

1 hour ago, Tenacious D said:

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?

a $20M gamble; i would not give up all 3 players, but if he could play 120 games, this would work out well

[Edman85]

If anything I would say bigger pitchers are more susceptible, just given longer moment arms and the biomechanics of it all. All of that is likely in the weeds, though. Diet, exercise, and genetics are tough to control for in a study and likely are your main drivers.

[gehringer_2]

33 minutes ago, Edman85 said:

If anything I would say bigger pitchers are more susceptible, just given longer moment arms and the biomechanics of it all. All of that is likely in the weeds, though. Diet, exercise, and genetics are tough to control for in a study and likely are your main drivers.

I've also wondered on more than one occasion if the drive toward minimalist mechanics is hurting guys. How much did those big windups maybe help collect, store, and transfer energy for the pitch?

[Edman85]

24 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

I've also wondered on more than one occasion if the drive toward minimalist mechanics is hurting guys. How much did those big windups maybe help collect, store, and transfer energy for the pitch?

When I looked at it using academic research in college in the mid 2000's, so much was tied to synchronization where an inefficient motion could increase the momentary spike.

[1984Echoes]

4 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

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.

Between Meadows, Sweeney, and Wenceel... who still has minor league options?

[1984Echoes]

PS: Do we have any shot at the Japanese players posting?

No draft pick.

And they have two 3B'men (although one I think is mostly a 1B'man) and Tatsuya Imai... who looks like he'd be a great #2/3 starter...

[Cruzer1]

3 minutes ago, 1984Echoes said:

Between Meadows, Sweeney, and Wenceel... who still has minor league options?

All you have to do is go to fangraphs, go to the players page to check. 

[1984Echoes]

9 minutes ago, Cruzer1 said:

All you have to do is go to fangraphs, go to the players page to check. 

Got it, thanks!

Meadows: 1 MILB option year remaining

Perez: 2 MILB option years remaining

Sweeney: 3 MILB option years remaining

[1984Echoes]

Hinch/Harris won't be afraid to use those if necessary...

[Edman85]

1 hour ago, 1984Echoes said:

Between Meadows, Sweeney, and Wenceel... who still has minor league options?

[chasfh]

8 hours ago, Edman85 said:

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.

I remember back on October 2, just before Game 3 of the ALWC, MLB radio talked to Jason Foley about the Tigers, the state of the team, how everyone was feeling, etc., and two things came to mind: (1) Odd choice—he didn't even pitch for us all year, so how would he know?; (2) He sounded like a dead man walking on the broadcast. No energy at all.

[chasfh]

8 hours ago, Sports_Freak said:

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. 🤣🤣

I had a SLAP tear that I had surgery to repair in 2008, which isn't quite a rotator cuff tear, but it hurt plenty.

I might have reinjured it a couple months ago—walking down carpeted stairs in my house while wearing socks, I slipped backwards and landed on the steps smack on the elbows, which jammed my arms upward against my shoulders. The right shoulder feels fine, but the left shoulder feels kind of how it did before my surgery back when.

[chasfh]

6 hours ago, Tenacious D said:

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?

Luis Robert is hurt all the time, so, pass.

[chasfh]

6 hours 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 think there's a chance McGonigle spends most of the season in AAA, since he has never played at that level before. Then we bring him up in September for a pot of coffee, he maintains rookie eligibility into 2027 (or whenever the next season after this one is going to be), then we run him out there for a good shot at RoY and an extra first round pick in 2028 (or, you know, whenever ...).

[chasfh]

6 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

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.

Sweeney's got three options left, and I'm betting we use one of them quite liberally this upcoming season.

[chasfh]

5 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

I would definitely like to see them add a quality bat, but they have already said they are going to focus on pitching and I don't see them spending big money in both areas.  

They may end up doing so, but they may also be saying this in part to prime the market for an unexpected move on a bat. It's Negotiating 201 to make it look as though you're committed to zigging, so you can spring a zag on people if the price is right.

[IdahoBert]

Sort of baseball related, but not really, yet right now on FS1 Jason Benetti is the announcer for the #4 Arizona Wildcats vs. #3 UConn in NCAA men’s basketball. I’ve never really heard him announce a non-baseball related game.

[Tiger337]

31 minutes ago, chasfh said:

They may end up doing so, but they may also be saying this in part to prime the market for an unexpected move on a bat. It's Negotiating 201 to make it look as though you're committed to zigging, so you can spring a zag on people if the price is right.

This is not Dave Dombrowski!  I was surprised that Harris said that because he usually doesn't say anything, but management speak which is fine.  Regardless, after signing Torres, I am not expecting a big offensive acquisition.    

[Sports_Freak]

1 hour ago, chasfh said:

I had a SLAP tear that I had surgery to repair in 2008, which isn't quite a rotator cuff tear, but it hurt plenty.

I might have reinjured it a couple months ago—walking down carpeted stairs in my house while wearing socks, I slipped backwards and landed on the steps smack on the elbows, which jammed my arms upward against my shoulders. The right shoulder feels fine, but the left shoulder feels kind of how it did before my surgery back when.

When my doc told me rotator cuff tear, I asked him if I needed surgery. He looked at me like I was crazy and said rotator cuff surgery was very rare. Yeah, rare for a 65 year old. Not for a 21 year old pitcher...lol

[Cruzer1]

By the way, I had an mri that showed a slap tear. I took the mri to former Lions surgeon Dr Anderson,  and he recommended shoulder replacement surgery, since I had arthritis in the shoulder.  It turned out I had arthritis in both shoulders, and I had both replaced this year. My right side is tingling, and I'm getting that checked soon.  I took off work from January, and I started a new job recently.  I'm glad I got both shoulders done.