2025-2026 Tigers Off Season Thread

[IdahoBert]

13 hours ago, Stormin said:

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.

When MLB expands to Salt Lake City, some of them will have groups of sister wives. 

[1984Echoes]

16 hours ago, Motor City Sonics said:

Outstanding!!!

[Motor City Sonics]

An alternate to our alternate

 

[chasfh]

On 2/2/2026 at 11:43 AM, 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.    

I consider myself a decently-educated baseball person, and I don't really understand how this works. If anyone can explain, I'd appreciate it.

[Motor City Sonics]

[Tiger337]

6 minutes ago, chasfh said:

I consider myself a decently-educated baseball person, and I don't really understand how this works. If anyone can explain, I'd appreciate it.

I am not well versed in the CBA, but if there were not a draft, I assume there would be be bidding wars over the top players in the country.  As it stands now, a player can only sign with the team who drafts him and a team is limited in how much money they can offer.  

[chasfh]

3 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

I am not well versed in the CBA, but if there were not a draft, I assume there would be be bidding wars over the top players in the country.  As it stands now, a player can only sign with the team who drafts him and a team is limited in how much money they can offer.  

That might be true at the tippy top of the class, but the right now the 90th overall pick gets a million dollars right off the bat, and I'm not sure that would be the case if it were an wide-open free agent situation. As it is, the top guy got $9 million, so I don't know that a bidding war—if one were to develop in the first place—would have pushed that much higher.

[1984Echoes]

25 minutes ago, chasfh said:

That might be true at the tippy top of the class, but the right now the 90th overall pick gets a million dollars right off the bat, and I'm not sure that would be the case if it were an wide-open free agent situation. As it is, the top guy got $9 million, so I don't know that a bidding war—if one were to develop in the first place—would have pushed that much higher.

This is just my opinion...

But potential draftees in an open-bidding war, and no draft...

Means the Yankees, Mets, Cubs, Dodgers, and a few other teams... 

Will bid the top 20-ish prospects up to $20 mill, $30 mill, etc... All the best guys, for huge signing bonuses, to only a few teams.

Leaving all the other teams in the league...

Scraps

Maybe it balances out in the end... but I don't think so. I think it overall increases new prospects' signings to greater dollars.

I think this is what Lee and other mean...

[Stormin]

15 hours ago, Stormin said:

The players union refuses to include minor league players in the union and the union

I am correcting an error in my previous post.  Apparently, as of the 2022 CBA,  minor league players are part of the MLBPA.  Starting in 2023 minor league players started to receive retirements for the first time.  I would applaud any efforts in the 2027 CBA to further spread the wealth across all professional baseball players.

[CMRivdogs]

1 hour ago, Tiger337 said:

I am not well versed in the CBA, but if there were not a draft, I assume there would be be bidding wars over the top players in the country.  As it stands now, a player can only sign with the team who drafts him and a team is limited in how much money they can offer.  

Pretty much. That's what it was before the draft. Grama Google says the draft started in 1965. Rick Monday was taken by the Kansas City A's

[casimir]

18 hours ago, Motor City Sonics said:

One of them have to be ready to toss to the baseball to the other at who is waiting at 2B.  Or just replicate their hat tip at 2nd before their final game at Tiger Stadium.

[Tiger337]

1 hour ago, chasfh said:

That might be true at the tippy top of the class, but the right now the 90th overall pick gets a million dollars right off the bat, and I'm not sure that would be the case if it were an wide-open free agent situation. As it is, the top guy got $9 million, so I don't know that a bidding war—if one were to develop in the first place—would have pushed that much higher.

I think teams would offer substantially more than the current limits if there was a free market.  The top players would make a lot more and I think the 90th guy could still get a million. A million isn't that much now.    

[Tiger337]

1 hour ago, 1984Echoes said:

This is just my opinion...

But potential draftees in an open-bidding war, and no draft...

Means the Yankees, Mets, Cubs, Dodgers, and a few other teams... 

Will bid the top 20-ish prospects up to $20 mill, $30 mill, etc... All the best guys, for huge signing bonuses, to only a few teams.

Leaving all the other teams in the league...

Scraps

Maybe it balances out in the end... but I don't think so. I think it overall increases new prospects' signings to greater dollars.

I think this is what Lee and other mean...

Yes, I am not sure what the third rounders would get, but I believe the total sum would be substantially more with a free market and believe the draft was designed with that in mind.  It's why they also want an international draft.      

[romad1]

My read on the mood of the fan-base: Angry.  

I also suspect they could make a leap this season.  The talent they have been developing on the field among position players should/could all gel at once.  

Sign Skubal and stow all this negativity. 

[CMRivdogs]

42 minutes ago, CMRivdogs said:

Pretty much. That's what it was before the draft. Grama Google says the draft started in 1965. Rick Monday was taken by the Kansas City A's

Taking it a step further, teams that paid "big money" for high school, college, players (around $7500-$10,000 in the late 50s and pre draft were required to keep the player on the big league roster.

Teams also claimed territorial rights to players leading up to the draft. Basically it was the Wild West

[Motor City Sonics]

51 minutes ago, casimir said:

One of them have to be ready to toss to the baseball to the other at who is waiting at 2B.  Or just replicate their hat tip at 2nd before their final game at Tiger Stadium.

This was the best the AI machine could come up with.  It's pretty good.   I did ask it to have Lou tossing the ball to Alan but then Alan's glove would disappear.    Anyway, they need to have a statue together.        Lou's never getting in the Hall and that's ****ing criminal, so just make the statue already.       Andruw Jones gets in, but not Lou?    Come on, man. 

  I figure Chris will start balking about a new stadium in around 2028,  so have it ready for Opening Day in the new stadium  right on the Riverfront in 2032 !

 

Heck, if it was the Texas Rangers, they'll have another new stadium by then and maybe that one won't look like a giant gas grill. 

[Tigger]

[Tigger]

[Tigger]

[Tigger]

I like the second one best, partly because the third one has the ugly away uniforms. 

[gehringer_2]

1 hour ago, Tigger said:

can't easily sculpt a ball in mid air though. Maybe if you put it all in a big magnetic field.....

[Stormin]

There are a couple new podcasts I enjoyed this week.

Al Avila is interviewed on "Days of Roar".  I have been critical of Petzold at times, maybe too much so, but I think Evan does a really good job on this podcast.

AJ Hinch is on "Tiger Territory".

 

 

Edited 15 hours ago by Stormin

[Edman85]

I have some thoughts on that Avila interview. If anything it only reinforced some views I had of him, both good and bad. If I have time later, will go deeper.

[romad1]

43 minutes ago, Edman85 said:

I have some thoughts on that Avila interview. If anything it only reinforced some views I had of him, both good and bad. If I have time later, will go deeper.

Please do.  Thanks in advance!

[gehringer_2]

52 minutes ago, Edman85 said:

I have some thoughts on that Avila interview. If anything it only reinforced some views I had of him, both good and bad. If I have time later, will go deeper.

A couple of things I noted. I thought it reinforced that the org was moving too slow because they wanted to give people a chance to get with the new program instead of just cleaning house. The other thing fans should hear was the bit about how teams have to certify to the commissioners office that they have the revenue, not just the assets, to cover the expenses they've taken on. And maybe thirdly that under the ilitches, they don't budget for what they decide to sign, they sign up to what they've already budgeted.

Edited 4 hours ago by gehringer_2