2025-2026 Tigers Off Season Thread

[Sports_Freak]

6 hours ago, Motor City Sonics said:

  He probably had Connor Stallions tape the movie while a neighbor was watching it. 

 

That was actually LOL funny...

[Motor City Sonics]

5 hours ago, papalawrence said:

You all passing over grown up Pebbles?

that's creepy man, just creepy

 

♫ So Let the sun shine in, face it with a grin  ♫

 

Great, now that's stuck in my head

[Tenacious D]

I put together this positional depth chart, which the order can be debated, intended to demonstrate the volume of options, current and upcoming:

C : Dingler, Rogers, Valencia, Nido, Liranzo, Briceno

1B: Torkelson, Keith, Valencia, Briceno

2B: Torres, Keith, Baez, McKinstry, McGonigle, Anderson, Lee, Jung, Cruz

SS: Baez, McKinstry, McGonigle, Sweeney, Rainer, Cruz

3B: Keith, McKinstry, Vierling, Baez, McGonigle, Anderson, Jung, Lee, Cruz

LF: Greene, Vierling, Jones, Cruz

CF: Meadows, Vierling, Perez, Clark

RF: Carpenter, Perez, Vierling, Jones, Clark

If we acquire a Bregman or Bichette, for example, these are the players who become displaced for at least 2026: Keith (primarily becomes the DH), Anderson, Lee, Jung, and maybe McGonigle.  

I think this depth, particularly in the infield, is a main reason that Harris is reluctant to commit a 5-6 year contract to Bregman or Bo.  The opportunity to upgrade our lineup is in the outfield.
 

[Motor City Sonics]

1 hour ago, Tenacious D said:

I put together this positional depth chart, which the order can be debated, intended to demonstrate the volume of options, current and upcoming:

C : Dingler, Rogers, Valencia, Nido, Liranzo, Briceno

1B: Torkelson, Keith, Valencia, Briceno

2B: Torres, Keith, Baez, McKinstry, McGonigle, Anderson, Lee, Jung, Cruz

SS: Baez, McKinstry, McGonigle, Sweeney, Rainer, Cruz

3B: Keith, McKinstry, Vierling, Baez, McGonigle, Anderson, Jung, Lee, Cruz

LF: Greene, Vierling, Jones, Cruz

CF: Meadows, Vierling, Perez, Clark

RF: Carpenter, Perez, Vierling, Jones, Clark

If we acquire a Bregman or Bichette, for example, these are the players who become displaced for at least 2026: Keith (primarily becomes the DH), Anderson, Lee, Jung, and maybe McGonigle.  

I think this depth, particularly in the infield, is a main reason that Harris is reluctant to commit a 5-6 year contract to Bregman or Bo.  The opportunity to upgrade our lineup is in the outfield.
 

If they were to land Bichette or Bregman, then there's a pretty decent chance that some of those guys you mentioned get traded to get another SP.  Some sort of package deal.  

They don't think they are WS contenders.  They think they are AL Central contenders.    So they aren't going for it all.  Now, should they look really, really good during the season, maybe they take a wild swing before Skubal goes away, but they had that season in 2025 and they didn't.  

They'd better get a King's ransom for Skubal.     

 

[buddha]

1 hour ago, Tenacious D said:

I put together this positional depth chart, which the order can be debated, intended to demonstrate the volume of options, current and upcoming:

C : Dingler, Rogers, Valencia, Nido, Liranzo, Briceno

1B: Torkelson, Keith, Valencia, Briceno

2B: Torres, Keith, Baez, McKinstry, McGonigle, Anderson, Lee, Jung, Cruz

SS: Baez, McKinstry, McGonigle, Sweeney, Rainer, Cruz

3B: Keith, McKinstry, Vierling, Baez, McGonigle, Anderson, Jung, Lee, Cruz

LF: Greene, Vierling, Jones, Cruz

CF: Meadows, Vierling, Perez, Clark

RF: Carpenter, Perez, Vierling, Jones, Clark

If we acquire a Bregman or Bichette, for example, these are the players who become displaced for at least 2026: Keith (primarily becomes the DH), Anderson, Lee, Jung, and maybe McGonigle.  

I think this depth, particularly in the infield, is a main reason that Harris is reluctant to commit a 5-6 year contract to Bregman or Bo.  The opportunity to upgrade our lineup is in the outfield.
 

other than the hope of mcgonigle, most of that depth looks like a bunch of average to below average players.  would bichette be an upgrade on baez at short?  is mcgonigle an upgrade on keith at third?

then do what you can.  the only prospect they have who is almost untouchable should be mcgonigle and maybe clark.

[Edman85]

Wasn't sure where to put this

https://x.com/i/status/2008184655355547849

[oblong]

Jesus... Pat's been around forever.  Seems like when I was a kid he was on the roundtable on Channel 4 when they had the games... wishing him a lot of comfort.  

Sometime in the mid 90's after the Pistons missed the playoffs 2 years in a row he said they are renaming the road at the Palace to "2 lottery drive". That stuck with me as being pretty funny.

 

[Sports_Freak]

Tigers sign reliever Scott Effross. He had a good 2022 until he had TJ surgery. He has sucked since then. Still...just a minor league contract, for less that 1 million bucks. He has one option left.

[Edman85]

Effross is top of mind to me when people talk about "years of control" for relievers. He was traded with a year of service time and the control was cited. He proceeded to battle injuries and flame out.

[chasfh]

There's something to be said for the volume strategy. Theoretically speaking, it feels as though if you spend $10MM on ten guys, you have better odds of getting something good out of one or a few of them than if you take a chance on one single reliever for the same $10MM. Devil's always in the details, of course, but if you have a good development system, the volume strategy could be an effective arrow in the quiver over time.

[gehringer_2]

4 minutes ago, chasfh said:

There's something to be said for the volume strategy. Theoretically speaking, it feels as though if you spend $10MM on ten guys, you have better odds of getting something good out of one or a few of them than if you take a chance on one single reliever for the same $10MM. Devil's always in the details, of course, but if you have a good development system, the volume strategy could be an effective arrow in the quiver over time.

Don't disagree when it comes to pitching, just because so many get hurt, please just don't give me a front office that takes the same approach with hitters - you can collect all the MiLB hitters you want and they are just as likely to all fail - quality only with hitters please!

[chasfh]

8 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

Don't disagree when it comes to pitching, just because so many get hurt, please just don't give me a front office that takes the same approach with hitters - you can collect all the MiLB hitters you want and they are just as likely to all fail - quality only with hitters please!

We shall see whether we have enough quality in-house, coupled with developmental acuity, to keep us in the top half of offenses in the league.

By way of reminder, here's how our hitters did last season:

Name	PA	wRC+
Riley Greene	655	121
Spencer Torkelson	649	118
Gleyber Torres	628	113
Zach McKinstry	511	114
Dillon Dingler	469	109
Colt Keith	468	109
Kerry Carpenter	464	115
Javier Báez	437	86
Wenceel Pérez	383	103
Trey Sweeney	326	53
Parker Meadows	213	75
Andy Ibáñez	193	84
Jahmai Jones	150	159
Jake Rogers	142	70
Justyn-Henry Malloy	127	92
Matt Vierling	100	76
Jace Jung	55	9
Ryan Kreidler	44	-12
Tomás Nido	37	101
Manuel Margot	20	67
Akil Baddoo	18	-8
Brewer Hicklen	4	307
TEAM TOTALS	6093	103

Edited Tuesday at 02:36 PM by chasfh

[gehringer_2]

36 minutes ago, chasfh said:

We shall see whether we have enough quality in-house, coupled with developmental acuity, to keep us in the top half of offenses in the league.

By way of reminder, here's how our hitters did last season:

Name	PA	wRC+
Riley Greene	655	121
Spencer Torkelson	649	118
Gleyber Torres	628	113
Zach McKinstry	511	114
Dillon Dingler	469	109
Colt Keith	468	109
Kerry Carpenter	464	115
Javier Báez	437	86
Wenceel Pérez	383	103
Trey Sweeney	326	53
Parker Meadows	213	75
Andy Ibáñez	193	84
Jahmai Jones	150	159
Jake Rogers	142	70
Justyn-Henry Malloy	127	92
Matt Vierling	100	76
Jace Jung	55	9
Ryan Kreidler	44	-12
Tomás Nido	37	101
Manuel Margot	20	67
Akil Baddoo	18	-8
Brewer Hicklen	4	307
TEAM TOTALS	6093	103

Clearly, we need more Brewer Hicklen

[Tenacious D]

2 hours ago, Sports_Freak said:

Tigers sign reliever Scott Effross. He had a good 2022 until he had TJ surgery. He has sucked since then. Still...just a minor league contract, for less that 1 million bucks. He has one option left.

Lottery ticket.  I’ll allow it.

[theroundsquare]

Justyn-Henry Malloy to Tampa for cold, hard cash considerations

[gehringer_2]

1 minute ago, theroundsquare said:

Justyn-Henry Malloy to Tampa for cold, hard cash considerations

JHM could have had a good career as an umpire. He can see pitches, he just can't hit them.

Jahmai Jones's spot got a little safer.

[SoCalTiger]

So JHM to the Rays for $$$. Why do I feel uncomfortable ?

 

But I do wish him the best. seems like a real solid person. 

Edited Tuesday at 04:14 PM by SoCalTiger

[Tiger337]

19 minutes ago, theroundsquare said:

Justyn-Henry Malloy to Tampa for cold, hard cash considerations

Tampa 😟

[papalawrence]

He had some big hits for the Tigers. His playing time was I inconsistent with the big club. I think he has potential to be a .270/.370/.470 dh, which is decent but replaceable most free agency years. I wish him well. He's going to a good org. 

[Edman85]

I am surprised JHM only netted cash, but I bet it was the maximum ($100,000) amount allowed. He would have gotten them $50,000 if claimed.

[gehringer_2]

hard to see how they keep him and Jones, and Jones had hit better, can play the field, and runs better. You keep JHM on the hope he hasn't hit his ceiling but the Tigers no longer have the luxury to do that to the degree Tamps does.

Edited Tuesday at 04:49 PM by gehringer_2

[Tenacious D]

1 hour ago, Edman85 said:

I am surprised JHM only netted cash, but I bet it was the maximum ($100,000) amount allowed. He would have gotten them $50,000 if claimed.

That’ll buy a lot of soda

[Tiger337]

I think that was a good cheap move by Tampa.  They can see if they are able to pull more out of his one strong tool.  I doubt they can, but it's worth a shot. 

[Tiger337]

2 hours ago, papalawrence said:

He had some big hits for the Tigers. His playing time was I inconsistent with the big club. I think he has potential to be a .270/.370/.470 dh, which is decent but replaceable most free agency years. I wish him well. He's going to a good org. 

That would be quite valuable if he could do it.  So far, he has not been close.  

[Tenacious D]

The knock against JHM was that he could only hit in the postseason.