2025-2026 Tigers Off Season Thread

[Tenacious D]

6 hours ago, Stormin said:

FANGRAPHS ZiPS Projections for Tigers

• 2026: 83 Wins, 49.3% Playoff
• 2025 81 Wins, 30.7% Playoff (Actual, 87 Wins, Playoffs)
• 2024: 78 Wins, 24.8% Playoff (Actual 86 Wins, Playoffs)
• 2023: 70 Wins, 6.0% Playoff (Actual 78 Wins)
• 2022: 73 Wins, 3.5% Playoffs (Actual 66 Wins)

FanGraphs is basically the Keith Law of projections

[chasfh]

16 hours ago, Stormin said:

FANGRAPHS ZiPS Projections for Tigers

• 2026: 83 Wins, 49.3% Playoff
• 2025 81 Wins, 30.7% Playoff (Actual, 87 Wins, Playoffs)
• 2024: 78 Wins, 24.8% Playoff (Actual 86 Wins, Playoffs)
• 2023: 70 Wins, 6.0% Playoff (Actual 78 Wins)
• 2022: 73 Wins, 3.5% Playoffs (Actual 66 Wins)

Ummmmm … progress?

[casimir]

14 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

As a team that won 86-87 games the last two years, I feel as if they are at a point where even 2-3 wins of improvement can substantially increase their probability of success.  Thus it seems like a good time to be adding a good established player or two.  I'm not really expecting that to happen anymore though.   

I still think a guy like P Chris Bassitt would help the pitching depth.  I don’t think there’s much more that will be done with the hitting for now, and I think I’m fine with that.  But I think the pitching could use a bit more depth.

[Tenacious D]

22 hours ago, casimir said:

I still think a guy like P Chris Bassitt would help the pitching depth.  I don’t think there’s much more that will be done with the hitting for now, and I think I’m fine with that.  But I think the pitching could use a bit more depth.

Someone is coming. Probably waiting to see how much Skubal will get in arbitration. Might also wait until they can put Jobe or someone else on the 60-day DL to open a 40-man spot without sacrificing anyone.

[Tiger337]

The only remaining pitcher I am really interested in is Bassitt.  Other teams will be interested too.  He may be waiting it out to see how many years he can get.

[tiger2022]

If there isn't a salary floor, then I'm all for eliminating the draft.  I understand it is to help bottom feeders, but those teams typically do nothing to improve their roster. Why should someone like Skenes be exiled to a team with an owner that doesn't even try to put a competitive team on the field?

I know, I know, the Yankees and Dodgers, but people act like the people who own other teams don't have billions of dollars laying around.  They just don't want to spend any of it.

[Tiger337]

26 minutes ago, tiger2022 said:

If there isn't a salary floor, then I'm all for eliminating the draft.  I understand it is to help bottom feeders, but those teams typically do nothing to improve their roster. Why should someone like Skenes be exiled to a team with an owner that doesn't even try to put a competitive team on the field?

I know, I know, the Yankees and Dodgers, but people act like the people who own other teams don't have billions of dollars laying around.  They just don't want to spend any of it.

I have always believed that the purpose of the draft was to keep salaries of young players down more than to help bad teams.    

[KL2]

12 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

I have always believed that the purpose of the draft was to keep salaries of young players down more than to help bad teams.    

A bit of both. It doesn't behoove a sport to have unbalance where like Detroit and Pittsburgh sturggle for decades

[gehringer_2]

1 hour ago, tiger2022 said:

They just don't want to spend any of it.

It's more than that though. There is internal pressure from other owners. Owners don't want any of their brethren to operate at a loss even if they could afford to because it undermines franchise values across the board, and the loss of a franchise to financial failure is at this point is considered too traumatic to allow. The ownership club would much rather have franchises like the Athletics just limp along as 2nd class citizens than let them get over-extended and have to shut them down or worse, take on their liabilities.

[Tenacious D]

If anyone cares

 

[1984Echoes]

2 hours ago, Tenacious D said:

Someone is coming. Probably waiting to see how much Skubal will get in arbitration. Might also wait until they can put Jobe or someone else on the 60-day DL to open a 40-man spot without sacrificing anyone.

This.

[chasfh]

1 hour ago, Tiger337 said:

I have always believed that the purpose of the draft was to keep salaries of young players down more than to help bad teams.    

Explain?

[Motor City Sonics]

[Stormin]

11 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

It's more than that though. There is internal pressure from other owners. Owners don't want any of their brethren to operate at a loss even if they could afford to because it undermines franchise values across the board, and the loss of a franchise to financial failure is at this point is considered too traumatic to allow. The ownership club would much rather have franchises like the Athletics just limp along as 2nd class citizens than let them get over-extended and have to shut them down or worse, take on their liabilities.

I understand placing blame on owners when fans want the team to succeed, but some fan expectations seem unrealistic.  Baseball teams are businesses and their main purpose is to make money.  The A's were failing from a financial perspective which is why they are moving to Las Vegas.  In a few years the As may be bringing in more revenue than the Tigers.  The Ilitch family has a net worth of over $6B but that worth is not sitting in a bank account.   $2.5B is the Red Wings, $1.5B is the Tigers, then there is Little Ceasars, Olympia Group, Casinos, ...   To spend $1B on Tigers players, the Ilitch family would have to sell one of their businesses which I suppose could happen, but highly unlikely.

The players are also not innocent in the desire for more than a person needs.  The current CBA, the MLBPA agreed to, is set up so about 10 players on each team get about half the revenue generated by all MLB teams.  The players union refuses to include minor league players in the union and the union deserves part of the blame for relatively underpaid younger players and relatively overpaid older players.  If I hear one more free agent say he has to feed his family, I may gag.   I would think you can provide for 10 wives and 50 children with $20M a year.   On second thought, $20M may not be enough for 10 wives, but you could definitely feed 50 kids.

[Edman85]

Good article on how the Tigers use pitch movement to maximize balls hit to the stronger parts of the defense. Paywalled, but in case anybody else has a BP subscription:

https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article/104429/the-tiger-trap/

[Edman85]

17 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

I have always believed that the purpose of the draft was to keep salaries of young players down more than to help bad teams.    

Because this is true.

[Shelton]

2 hours ago, Edman85 said:

Good article on how the Tigers use pitch movement to maximize balls hit to the stronger parts of the defense. Paywalled, but in case anybody else has a BP subscription:

https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article/104429/the-tiger-trap/

If you have Apple News+, which often is included when you buy a new device or have a family bundle or the like with music/tv/etc, baseball prospectus is one of the publications included. It also has the freep and detnews. 
 

Only realized this recently. 

[oblong]

13 minutes ago, Shelton said:

If you have Apple News+, which often is included when you buy a new device or have a family bundle or the like with music/tv/etc, baseball prospectus is one of the publications included. It also has the freep and detnews. 
 

Only realized this recently. 

That's very good to know.   I have to cancel my Athletic as the latest promo expires.  I would use it more but it never remembers who I am and having to log in again is just enough to make me not care to read it.  

[RatkoVarda]

8 hours ago, Stormin said:

The A's were failing from a financial perspective which is why they are moving to Las Vegas. 

We do not know this to be true.

I have no problem believing the A's were not making as much money as they thought they could make if Oakland or another jurisdiction gave them a sweetheart stadium deal.

So if "failing" is not maximizing profits, then maybe this is true.

But in some recent years the A's made huge profits.

[tiger2022]

It is a business, but like any business, if you put out an awful product most people aren't going to give their money for it.

Hoodwinking people into spending a couple hundred bucks to go to a game and watch a bad baseball team is a tough sell.

Edited 12 minutes ago by tiger2022

[KL2]

21 hours ago, chasfh said:

Explain?

If you have a bryce harper level talent you can create a bidding war among teams for his services. If he makes 10 million out of the gate, when he gets to pay years that will be the base. Versus starting at 500K

Edited 10 minutes ago by KL2