2025-2026 Tigers Off Season Thread

[Mr.TaterSalad]

1 minute ago, Tiger337 said:

I think he was content with what they were doing all along.  So, his level of excitement may not have changed as much as others.  

Maybe I generalized too much. But most of what I saw here, callers/texters on 97.1, posts on Reddit and social media, seemed to give a sense of fans being underwhelmed with the offseason moves up until the Valdez signing. In any case, no one should feel that way now. Harris and Ilitch have been aggressive over the last week and actively working to upgrade the talent on this roster.

[Sports_Freak]

$13 million, huh? Hopefully, it turns out to be a bargain. Comerica may be a madhouse during his starts, the fans will be going wild.

[IdahoBert]

OMG! I have unhooked from the wicked hive mind of this crumbling civilization all morning, and I discover that JV is coming home. Being superstitious I think perhaps I should withdraw from the hive mind more often…

[IdahoBert]

[chasfh]

1 hour ago, papalawrence said:

Johnny Grubb, the sweetest swing in baseball

I was at Tigers Fantasy Camp, either 2007 or 2008, and Johnny Grubb hit the highest pop-fly I ever tried to catch. I got under it okay, but somehow it glanced off the webbing of the glove and conked me right in the coconut. Hope I don't get ALS from it.

[chasfh]

6 hours ago, Shelton said:

I will never understand the idea that a ball in play is required to qualify as action. Who doesn’t love the art of pitching?

I like it as much as they next guy, but I would rather have the league averaging 5 K/9 rather than 8-1/2 K/9.

[IdahoBert]

I’m really verklempt about this. I’m such a sentimental fool. 

[CaliforniaDreaming]

I never realized that the Tigers didn't use uniform #35 since Verlander left in 2017.

[Motor City Sonics]

Scherzer too?    Are you kidding me?  

27 minutes ago, chasfh said:

I was at Tigers Fantasy Camp, either 2007 or 2008, and Johnny Grubb hit the highest pop-fly I ever tried to catch. I got under it okay, but somehow it glanced off the webbing of the glove and conked me right in the coconut. Hope I don't get ALS from it.

but it hit you in the nose and now you look like Frank Zappa

[romad1]

29 minutes ago, chasfh said:

I was at Tigers Fantasy Camp, either 2007 or 2008, and Johnny Grubb hit the highest pop-fly I ever tried to catch. I got under it okay, but somehow it glanced off the webbing of the glove and conked me right in the coconut. Hope I don't get ALS from it.

Not to seize the least important part of your post…but I love using a jugs machine for this because i lack the skill to hit consistent pop ups.  It’s a lot of fun to shag balls off it because it gives you a regulated aiming point to run to the ball.  

[Sports_Freak]

1 minute ago, romad1 said:

Not to seize the least important part of your post…but I love using a jugs machine for this because i lack the skill to hit consistent pop ups.  It’s a lot of fun to shag balls off it because it gives you a regulated aiming point to run to the ball.  

Run? No, running is a distant memory for me. The last time I tried to run was around 2016 when walking my Golden Retreiver and when I told her to "get that squirrel." I did a face plant. 😅

[lordstanley]

Has he been gone so long that the anchor on WDIV’s 5 o’clock news just pronounced it Ver-LAN-der not VER-lan-der?

[Edman85]

On the downside, Ben Verlander tweets now...

[buddha]

Does verlander start opening day?  😉

[Motor City Sonics]

Wait, they're signing Scherzer too?    WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? 

[lordstanley]

1 hour ago, IdahoBert said:

I’m really verklempt about this. I’m such a sentimental fool. 

Me too. This got me going. 

 

[NorthWoods]

There's the answer.

 

Quote

Tigers PR@DetroitTigersPR 3m

RHP Jackson Jobe has been placed on the 60-day injured list as he continues his recovery from Tommy John right elbow ligament replacement surgery. RHP Reese Olson has been placed on the 60-day injured list following a right shoulder labral repair. The surgery was performed on February 2 by Dr. Keith Meister. Olson will be out for the 2026 season.

 

 

Edited 7 hours ago by NorthWoods

[Hongbit]

Olson out for the year.  Explains the last two moves a bit more 

[NorthWoods]

The Valdez contract.   Means they got him and Verlander fo $18.5M paid this year.   The rest deferred.

 

 

Edited 7 hours ago by NorthWoods

[TJ Rollercoaster]

$11M of the $13M is apparently deferred and being paid out after 2030

 

[Tiger337]

1 hour ago, chasfh said:

I like it as much as they next guy, but I would rather have the league averaging 5 K/9 rather than 8-1/2 K/9.

I'd be happy with 7

[gehringer_2]

3 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

Right, the one on one batter/pitcher match-up is what makes baseball unique and that is where the tv cameras are usually focused. Pace of action had been a problem in baseball more than lack of action. I think the pitch clock (which is really just enforcing rules which were already in place) has made games significantly more enjoyable to watch.  I do would like to see more balls in play, but that doesn't mean pitchers pitching and batters batting is inaction.  

but that wasn't the actually the point I was trying to make, which was about the raw visual stimuli value of watching something. If you are a baseball aficionado like us, watching  a pitcher delivery a high leverage pitch has suspense and drama value and maybe we even appreciate the movement on the ball, but there still isn't much visual stimuli value there compared to a ball in play, where people are moving around on the field, possibly athletically, and compares still less to the kaleidoscope chaos of a snap in football with 22 guys in day-glow unis going every which way at high speed. All to say that to love baseball, you have to know baseball. The entertainment value is less in what you are seeing than in your understanding of what you are seeing means at higher levels of abstraction.

Edited 7 hours ago by gehringer_2

[Biff Mayhem]

1 hour ago, lordstanley said:

Has he been gone so long that the anchor on WDIV’s 5 o’clock news just pronounced it Ver-LAN-der not VER-lan-der?

Channeling Christopher Walken. 

[Tiger337]

15 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

but that wasn't the actually the point I was trying to make, which was about the raw visual stimuli value of watching something. If you are a baseball aficionado like us, watching  a pitcher delivery a high leverage pitch has suspense and drama value and maybe we even appreciate the movement on the ball, but there still isn't much visual stimuli value there compared to a ball in play, where people are moving around on the field, possibly athletically, and compares still less to the kaleidoscope chaos of a snap in football with 22 guys in day-glow unis going every which way at high speed. All to say that to love baseball, you have to know baseball. The entertainment value is less in what you are seeing than in your understanding of what you are seeing means at higher levels of abstraction.

Who doesn't like to watch the fist pump and strut off the mound after a strikeout.  😉

Seriously though, is watching a three-yard gain up the middle really very exciting?  

Edited 7 hours ago by Tiger337

[IdahoBert]

I’m just amazed that there will be no blackouts on mlb.tv anymore. Of course, the only time I suffered from a blackout was when the Tigers were playing the Mariners but still it’s going to be nice to be able to see all the games.