2025-2026 Tigers Off Season Thread

[4hzglory]

14 minutes ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

J Also, why did they chose to sign a starter in Valdez versus bringing in a bat/positional player like a Pete Bichette, Bregman, Suarez, etc.?

I don't think they think Pete or Suarez fits this team.  Pete because they don't need a 1b/DH and Suarez has an approach they are trying to get away from (High K, low OBP).  I also think they didn't want to commit too many years to Bichette or Bregman due to where their top prospects are at.  If one of them was a legit SS (Bichette is not) it may have been different.

 

Bottom line, I think they see the top end starter improving their chances of not only getting to, but advancing far in the playoffs than any of the bats available.

[Sports_Freak]

1 minute ago, chasfh said:

Never mind that, what about his OE%?

The Strategy Expert?? Didn't he say he had a secret formula that ranked players? And Dave Dombrowski was spying on him? Kinda scary...

[chasfh]

14 hours ago, casimir said:

One thing that elevates Tucker over Higginson is his year to year consistency.

Not to mention basically everything else.

 

[chasfh]

1 hour ago, romad1 said:

Did I already start a Carlos Monnarez appreciation thread?   Its sort of evergreen for all Detroit Sports.  

elements of a classic CM article. 

• take the most recent sporting event by a team,  extrapolate a ridiculous subsequent prediction
• show no appreciation for actual Detroit sports history because he grew up as a Dodger fan
• Shoot hot takes like the love child of Stephen A Smith and Tony Kornheiser

So, he's saying the Tigers have been humbled by the arb ruling in favor of Skubal.  Ok, well.  Sure. 

Monarrez is not the only one trying to stir up **** between Skubal, the Tigers, and the fans.

 

[chasfh]

39 minutes ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

So I am very pleased with the Framber Valdez signing. Bringing in another lefty like Valdez to be a solid, legit #2 behind Tarik Skubal, is a real anchor for this starting rotation. I now feel we have the potential to have one of the 3 or 4 best rotations in all of baseball and maybe the best or second best in the AL. This was the kind of big acquisition we were all collectively waiting for I think. I certainly know I felt major disappointment and completely underwhelmed with our offseason up to this point. So kudos to Scott Harris, Chris Ilitch, and anyone in the organization who helped get this move done.

Or maybe it wasn't Scott Harris. Maybe it was Al Avila coming out of retirement to get it done.

🦆🦆🦆

[chasfh]

14 minutes ago, 4hzglory said:

I don't think they think Pete or Suarez fits this team.  Pete because they don't need a 1b/DH and Suarez has an approach they are trying to get away from (High K, low OBP).  I also think they didn't want to commit too many years to Bichette or Bregman due to where their top prospects are at.  If one of them was a legit SS (Bichette is not) it may have been different.

Also, I don't think Bichette or Bregman wanted to come here. And none of us wanted Suarez to come here.

Although I do think if we had gotten Valdez sooner, then guys like Bichette and Bregman would have taken us more seriously as an option.

[chasfh]

14 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

The Strategy Expert?? Didn't he say he had a secret formula that ranked players? And Dave Dombrowski was spying on him? Kinda scary...

The very same!

[Tigermojo]

2026 Detroit Tigers American League Central Evil Empire 

[Motor City Sonics]

58 minutes ago, chasfh said:

Never mind that, what about his OE%?

We had Ryan Raburn to pick up the slack.   You know,  while the team still was in striking distance Ryan couldn't hit a beach ball, but once they were way out of the race - He's an All Star

I am worried about that a bit with Colt Keith.    Dude, you need to hit in April and May at some point if you want to be an every day player.   

[Tiger337]

1 hour ago, Sports_Freak said:

The Strategy Expert?? Didn't he say he had a secret formula that ranked players? And Dave Dombrowski was spying on him? Kinda scary...

Dombrowski was not spying on TSE.  He was spying on TripleSeven. 

TSE may have been stalking Dombrowski.  He said he sent many proposals to Dombrowski.   

Edited 1 hour ago by Tiger337

[Tigermojo]

I forgot about Raybourne.

[Tiger337]

10 minutes ago, Motor City Sonics said:

We had Ryan Raburn to pick up the slack.   You know,  while the team still was in striking distance Ryan couldn't hit a beach ball, but once they were way out of the race - He's an All Star

I am worried about that a bit with Colt Keith.    Dude, you need to hit in April and May at some point if you want to be an every day player.   

Rayburn

[Motor City Sonics]

How many rotations of the   Skubal-Flaherty-Valdez-Mize-Olson rotation will we get this year

 

What's the over/under that we get all five healthy for five consecutive games

 

I'll say   4.5    

[Tiger337]

1 hour ago, chasfh said:

Or maybe it wasn't Scott Harris. Maybe it was Al Avila coming out of retirement to get it done.

🦆🦆🦆

The Scott Harris era has now officially started at the MLB level!

[Sports_Freak]

33 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

Dombrowski was not spying on TSE.  He was spying on TripleSeven. 

TSE may have been stalking Dombrowski.  He said he sent many proposals to Dombrowski.   

Yeah, some good times on the old forums. It was the father of a player who was on here and said..."dont make me come to Royal Oak to kick your ass." It was a part time outfielder....hazy memory...

[tiger2022]

1 hour ago, chasfh said:

Not to mention basically everything else.

 

Higginson also played against much better offensive players, so some of his stats ranked against others will be lower 

Tucker seems like an above average player but not an elite talent than people claim he is.

[Sports_Freak]

46 minutes ago, Motor City Sonics said:

We had Ryan Raburn to pick up the slack.   You know,  while the team still was in striking distance Ryan couldn't hit a beach ball, but once they were way out of the race - He's an All Star

I am worried about that a bit with Colt Keith.    Dude, you need to hit in April and May at some point if you want to be an every day player.   

No more 2024 starts with the entire lineup in a 2 month slump. Making the playoffs was an amazing feat that season.

[theroundsquare]

3 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

Yeah, some good times on the old forums. It was the father of a player who was on here and said..."dont make me come to Royal Oak to kick your ass." It was a part time outfielder....hazy memory...

casper wells?

[1984Echoes]

8 minutes ago, theroundsquare said:

casper wells?

Yes.

It was Casper Wells dad.

IIRC.

[Sports_Freak]

4 minutes ago, theroundsquare said:

casper wells?

Oh yeah. 

And we also had Grapes who would post a long post with no punctuation and mis-spellings that caused his words to make no sense and I would spend 10 minutes trying to figure out what he was saying that usually made no sense anyway and was sometimes racist or sexist when he did get a thought across from his rambling brain to his keyboard while many people argued with him so I always wondered if he was for real or just a troll. Whew...that's exhausting. 😅😅

[Motor City Sonics]

20 minutes ago, tiger2022 said:

Higginson also played against much better offensive players, so some of his stats ranked against others will be lower 

Tucker seems like an above average player but not an elite talent than people claim he is.

You see?  That's what I am saying.  yes, Tucker is better, but not THAT much better.   Comparable BA/OBP.  When you start talking about SLG and OPS, you do have to factor in two VERY important things.   1 - Park Factor.   2- Lineup surrounding the player.   I'm not way off base here. 

 

Now the separation will start to widen because Higginson tailed off sharply and quickly and I would imagine that Tucker will last longer and players now take better care of themselves (I think Bobby may have been a bit of a partier, and I don't blame him, soak up all that youth while you can), but up til this point, they aren't that far apart.