2025-2026 Tigers Off Season Thread

[casimir]

3 hours ago, chasfh said:

For as much as fans wanted Harris’s priority to be supercharging the offense by acquiring proven major leaguers, it’s worth remembering that last season, with essentially this same team, the Tigers’ offense finished 12th in wOBA, above the midpoint, but also, 7th in wOBAcon, 9th in xwOBA, and 5th in xwOBAcon. Not for nothing, they also finished 11th in runs, and were 8th before they slid. And they did this with one of the youngest offenses in baseball. This means they are doing the right things to score, and there’s still room for growth.

Harris will get raked if the offense goes splat this year, and he’ll have earned that as the guy responsible for it. But the way things looked after their performance last year, standing pat on the core position players, if that’s what we end up doing, will have been a reasonable decision to make.

Of course, there’s a lot of time between now and March 26—one month from tomorrow!—to make a move and finalize the roster. But I won’t be disappointed on that day if we don’t.

Hold on, they created stats with BAcon?  That's tasty.

[1984Echoes]

3 hours ago, chasfh said:

For as much as fans wanted Harris’s priority to be supercharging the offense by acquiring proven major leaguers, it’s worth remembering that last season, with essentially this same team, the Tigers’ offense finished 12th in wOBA, above the midpoint, but also, 7th in wOBAcon, 9th in xwOBA, and 5th in xwOBAcon. Not for nothing, they also finished 11th in runs, and were 8th before they slid. And they did this with one of the youngest offenses in baseball. This means they are doing the right things to score, and there’s still room for growth.

Harris will get raked if the offense goes splat this year, and he’ll have earned that as the guy responsible for it. But the way things looked after their performance last year, standing pat on the core position players, if that’s what we end up doing, will have been a reasonable decision to make.

Of course, there’s a lot of time between now and March 26—one month from tomorrow!—to make a move and finalize the roster. But I won’t be disappointed on that day if we don’t.

Also...

Kevin McGonigle now, or very very soon...

Max Clark later in the season (IMO. Around September-ish is my guess)...

Plus, in a minor way... I think Hao Yu Lee will be in Detroit this year and be a positive for the team...

[Tiger337]

3 hours ago, chasfh said:

For as much as fans wanted Harris’s priority to be supercharging the offense by acquiring proven major leaguers, it’s worth remembering that last season, with essentially this same team, the Tigers’ offense finished 12th in wOBA, above the midpoint, but also, 7th in wOBAcon, 9th in xwOBA, and 5th in xwOBAcon. Not for nothing, they also finished 11th in runs, and were 8th before they slid. And they did this with one of the youngest offenses in baseball. This means they are doing the right things to score, and there’s still room for growth.

Harris will get raked if the offense goes splat this year, and he’ll have earned that as the guy responsible for it. But the way things looked after their performance last year, standing pat on the core position players, if that’s what we end up doing, will have been a reasonable decision to make.

Of course, there’s a lot of time between now and March 26—one month from tomorrow!—to make a move and finalize the roster. But I won’t be disappointed on that day if we don’t.

FanGraphs projects them to finish 16th in the league in runs scored.  There were more gains to made on the pitching side and I am not upset that they didn't acquire a hitter, but I am not going to pretend that they don't have potential weaknesses in their line-up.  On the positive side, FanGraphs projects them to finish second in run prevention.  Great pitching and average offense is typically a successful mix.  

[Motor City Sonics]

4 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

FanGraphs projects them to finish 16th in the league in runs scored.  There were more gains to made on the pitching side and I am not upset that they didn't acquire a hitter, but I am not going to pretend that they don't have potential weaknesses in their line-up.  On the positive side, FanGraphs projects them to finish second in run prevention.  Great pitching and average offense is typically a successful mix.  

I'm not feeling very positive about Riley Greene this season.     His 2nd Half was brutal.    .694 OPS is garbage.   And he was no-show in the Seattle series.    That uppercut swing gave him more HRs, but he needs to put the ball in play a lot more.  

[gehringer_2]

16 minutes ago, Motor City Sonics said:

I'm not feeling very positive about Riley Greene this season.     His 2nd Half was brutal.    .694 OPS is garbage.   And he was no-show in the Seattle series.    That uppercut swing gave him more HRs, but he needs to put the ball in play a lot more.  

The thing with Riley is that it's not asking him to do something he hadn't already done before. He was at a 26.7% K rate/11% BB a year earlier. He basically just has to undo the move to the extreme loft swing he had only added last year, and his natural strength increase will probably give more HR than in 24 with the same approach.

The problem is no-one ever accused baseball players of being the most self-aware observers of their own game.

Edited 50 minutes ago by gehringer_2

[tiger2022]

I think the Tigers infield defense leaves a lot to be desired.  

The one thing they have on defense is some of the better catchers in the game.  Dingler won the GG and rightfully so and Rogers is way above average behind the plate.  Outside of Skubal, Dingler was the team MVP last season.  I'm not sure people realize how much Dingler contributed to the success last year.

Strong up the middle.  Baez needs to play SS and Meadows needs to stay healthy and hit just a bit.  Torres has limited range but at least makes all the routine plays.

Edited 42 minutes ago by tiger2022