2025-2026 Tigers Off Season Thread

[chasfh]

Just now, casimir said:

Aight, here we go, bases juiced after a walk.

This field is all turf, but the batters instinctively dig into the box anyway.  It’s kind of funny,

Oh no, loud single to the left field wall ends it.  UMemphis 5, UToledo 4.

What do you mean I have to do a ****ing game recap.  Do we really need to do a ****ing game recap?  Uh oh, is this on?  Are we live?  Oh no, sorry folks.

Not that anybody cares about Michigan State baseball, but they are bringing the hammer down on #8-ranked Louisville 12-4 after seven innings, and having squeaked out a 4-3 win yesterday. Spartans may not be anything this yea—or any year for that matter—but thank god baseball is back!

[IdahoBert]

Nick has signed a one year deal with the Padres for the $780,000 minimum 

[chasfh]

1 hour ago, IdahoBert said:

Nick has signed a one year deal with the Padres for the $780,000 minimum 

Why not? The amount is a rounding-error risk for the 1 in, like, 100 chance that he will be a productive, respected member of a team.

[IdahoBert]

2 hours ago, chasfh said:

Why not? The amount is a rounding-error risk for the 1 in, like, 100 chance that he will be a productive, respected member of a team.

I am glad for him, and I hope he does decently. 

[IdahoBert]

I guess Petco‘s considered friendly to right handed home run hitters, so Nick might not stink up the place. Otherwise it’s generally considered pitching friendly, I think. 

[lordstanley]

6 hours ago, chasfh said:

Not that anybody cares about Michigan State baseball, but they are bringing the hammer down on #8-ranked Louisville 12-4 after seven innings, and having squeaked out a 4-3 win yesterday. Spartans may not be anything this yea—or any year for that matter—but thank god baseball is back!

 

Speaking of college baseball.

[chasfh]

9 hours ago, lordstanley said:

 

Speaking of college baseball.

I actually watched that live! MSU game was over and that was the other B1G game on. Talk about horrific. Also horrific was that as the throw was being made my picture froze, then skipped ahead to the aftermath after maybe six or seven seconds of hearing the guy screaming his commentary over a still picture. Had to wait for the replay to see it unfold.

Edited Sunday at 01:01 PM by chasfh

[Tenacious D]

11 hours ago, lordstanley said:

 

Speaking of college baseball.

First baseman needs to stretch out for that.

[romad1]

1 minute ago, Tenacious D said:

First baseman needs to stretch out for that.

As a guy who makes the same physical error too often to comment...he might have been doing that on behalf of the gambling sickos. 

[romad1]

17 hours ago, IdahoBert said:

Nick has signed a one year deal with the Padres for the $780,000 minimum 

I really thought he'd be an anchor in a good way when he first came up.  I think if we were to have brought him in now he'd have been the other kind of anchor. 

Edited Sunday at 02:46 PM by romad1

[Sports_Freak]

2 hours ago, Tenacious D said:

First baseman needs to stretch out for that.

Are you joking? He could stretch 20 feet and still not catch that throw. 🤣🤣

[casimir]

3 hours ago, Tenacious D said:

First baseman needs to stretch out for that.

The 1Bdude lived through that play, probably has looked at the replay several times, and is probably still not expecting that kind of throw was physically possible from a D1 2B.

Or maybe the poor kid is related to Steve Sax or Chuck Knoblauch?

[Motor City Sonics]

21 hours ago, IdahoBert said:

I guess Petco‘s considered friendly to right handed home run hitters, so Nick might not stink up the place. Otherwise it’s generally considered pitching friendly, I think. 

As long as he's a full-time DH.  

 

[romad1]

2 hours ago, Motor City Sonics said:

As long as he's a full-time DH.  

 

I remember Delmon.  

[gehringer_2]

4 minutes ago, romad1 said:

I remember Delmon.  

And he was supposedly a great NCAA athlete. Hard to understand how fast he lost it all.

[romad1]

22 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

And he was supposedly a great NCAA athlete. Hard to understand how fast he lost it all.

He could hit, but that one "throw" from LF.  Oh man. 

[Sports_Freak]

Article in today's Free Press says Riley worked all winter on his swing. He says he want to be more of a situational hitter with men in scoring position. And shorten up his swing with 2 strikes. Sacrificing a bit of power to cut back on his 201 strikeouts last season? 

https://detroitsportsnation.com/riley-greene-strikeouts-new-approach-2026/ddrysdale/detroit-tigers/02/14/2026/483816/

Edited yesterday at 04:50 PM by Sports_Freak

[Biff Mayhem]

14 hours ago, romad1 said:

I remember Delmon.  

Elmon. The lack of “d” and emphasized “e” drives the point home. 

[1984Echoes]

2 hours ago, Sports_Freak said:

Article in today's Free Press says Riley worked all winter on his swing. He says he want to be more of a situational hitter with men in scoring position. And shorten up his swing with 2 strikes. Sacrificing a bit of power to cut back on his 201 strikeouts last season? 

https://detroitsportsnation.com/riley-greene-strikeouts-new-approach-2026/ddrysdale/detroit-tigers/02/14/2026/483816/

Works for me.

Hoping Riley hits on ALL cylinders this year...

[casimir]

6 hours ago, Biff Mayhem said:

Elmon. The lack of “d” and emphasized “e” drives the point home. 

Way to recover from the IE% debacle.

[gehringer_2]

9 hours ago, Sports_Freak said:

Article in today's Free Press says Riley worked all winter on his swing. He says he want to be more of a situational hitter with men in scoring position. And shorten up his swing with 2 strikes. Sacrificing a bit of power to cut back on his 201 strikeouts last season? 

https://detroitsportsnation.com/riley-greene-strikeouts-new-approach-2026/ddrysdale/detroit-tigers/02/14/2026/483816/

pretty shocking really that he was wasting his time in BP just swinging in his happy zone and not trying to increase his plate coverage. What is  'control the zone' about for a hitter other than being able judge and defend more strikes that would otherwise be called against him?

This is not the 1st time when I have sensed a disconnect between what Scott Harris says he is building a team to be (controlling the zone) and what Hinch and his coaches seem to be curating on the field (be selective and mash). The second strategy may get you the HRs, but it also gets you behind in the count and too often back to the bench with a K.

[Sports_Freak]

18 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

pretty shocking really that he was wasting his time in BP just swinging in his happy zone and not trying to increase his plate coverage. What is  'control the zone' about for a hitter other than being able judge and defend more strikes that would otherwise be called against him?

This is not the 1st time when I have sensed a disconnect between what Scott Harris says he is building a team to be (controlling the zone) and what Hinch and his coaches seem to be curating on the field (be selective and mash). The second strategy may get you the HRs, but it also gets you behind in the count and too often back to the bench with a K.

Last season, I guessed he would wait until the off-season to change his hitting approach. Making a big change isnt something that can be done quickly.

But, IDK, spring training articles are usually fluff, feel good stories. You can't really put much stock in them. I mean, we're still waiting for the Bonderman change-up. 😆

[oblong]

On 2/14/2026 at 2:26 PM, chasfh said:

I played in a softball league maybe 20 years ago that had a safety home plate, set off a couple feet from the plate itself. That's the plate you had to cross to score. Once you got halfway to home, you were committed to go all the way, and then it became a force play. If you accidentally went to actual home plate instead, you were declared out. I thought it was a great idea, and I'm surprised no softball league I've been in since has used it.

I was in a co ed league that had something similar. There was a point of no return line and like you said it was a force out situation. And there was one of those plastic home plates used for indoor practices we would place next to the real plate to widen it so there isn’t any tripping. 

[oblong]

On 2/14/2026 at 3:35 PM, casimir said:

I think I’ve heard of that concept before.

There’s a 48+ years old softball league around town here.  I’m thinking about joining.  There are some modified rules, like 11 gloves on the field, ground balls hit through the infielders are automatic base hits.

Leagues around here have put in one of those pitcher protector gates like you see in batting practice.  I wish they had tha when I played. I would hit like drives up the middle and was always afraid I would kill someone. I would warn the other pitcher. 

[chasfh]

11 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

This is not the 1st time when I have sensed a disconnect between what Scott Harris says he is building a team to be (controlling the zone) and what Hinch and his coaches seem to be curating on the field (be selective and mash). The second strategy may get you the HRs, but it also gets you behind in the count and too often back to the bench with a K.

“Controlling the zone” and “be selective and mash” are not mutually exclusive concepts. They actually sound pretty compatible to me. Not every player is capable or maybe even willing to work on these, sometimes not even talented hitters. And sometimes a hitter is so talented that that coaches don’t push as hard to get them get at either or both as they might someone else, because they’ll at least get some decent level of production out of them anyway the way they are.