2025-2026 Tigers Off Season Thread

[4hzglory]

49 minutes ago, Motor City Sonics said:

Isn't Bo Bichette the right guy for the Tigers?      Except for one bad year (injuries?) he's a lifetime .300 hitter.  Contact hitter.    Not the greatest SS, but the perfect bat for them.   

I don't even care about McGonigle right now.  We're probably not going to see him for a couple of years.  We'll deal with that when it happens.    

Bichette is terrible at SS.  If we are talking at 2nd or 3rd, maybe, but he is not a good SS.  He also has really slow batspeed which historically has led to people falling off rapidly shortly after age 30.  I don't see him as a super fit long term, nor do I think he would come here if Toronto makes him a competitive offer.

[Sports_Freak]

42 minutes ago, chasfh said:

I will bet that’s will Harris will do, and I will double bet that you will whine about how Harris cheaped out on free agents yet again. 😉

Lmao...if he (and Chris) bring in several cheap, injured or prove-it type free agents, you're right. If he brings in some quality players, maybe not. But come on man....Charlie Morton? Chris Paddack? That is scrapping the bottom of the barrel. I didn't complain about Finnegan. Or...maybe just a little...lol

I really think the Tigers will sign Suarez. Whether any of us like it or not.

[Tiger337]

13 minutes ago, Shelton said:

It’s also why I don’t think things like “Torres back” and “McGonigle close” and “7 years of Bregman made sense last year with Trey Sweeney penciled into SS but a year later with McGonigle penciled in there it no longer makes sense” carries a lot of weight. 
 

I think Bregman makes as much sense now as he did a year ago, which is quite a bit of sense. If there was any year to be happy with a bit of depth and stuffing the roster, at the cost of mere dollars, it’s this one. It’s not like we have a great answer in RF either if Kerry is your DH. Spending a year having colt split time between 2B, 1B, and DH is just fine. 
 

If you insist on defining a healthy game 7 lineup against a RHP in a world where Tork is good, Colt/Torres at DH/2B and Kerry in RF works for me. 

I think it still makes sense, but is less likely to happen.  Last year, there was an obvious opening, but not so much this year.  The Tigers appear very committed to building around prospects and I think the fact that the best one is very close changes things a bit.  I agree that it shouldn't be hard to make everything fit if they decide to take the risk though.  

[Shelton]

6 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

I think it still makes sense, but is less likely to happen.  Last year, there was an obvious opening, but not so much this year.  The Tigers appear very committed to building around prospects and I think the fact that the best one is very close changes things a bit.  I agree that it shouldn't be hard to make everything fit if they decide to take the risk though.  

If you view McGonigle as incapable of handling SS even for a year, such that his only reasonable path to playing time is 3B, then I agree with your conclusion (from your perspective). 

I disagree on that fundamental issue, so to me mcgonigle and Bregman have nothing to do with each other. 

Last spring we went in wondering if Tork would even make the team, and Keith had been moved to 1B (without a solution at 3B yet), so I don’t think signing Torres is a huge factor either. 

[Edman85]

To me, McGonigle shouldn't keep you from Bregman. He's at the tier where you make it work.

Polanco, Suarez, Bichette, etc would qualify as blocking McGonigle though, and you at least have to factor in that opportunity cost.

[Tiger337]

OK, I am sold again.  Go get Bregman!

[Nate7474]

I would be surprised if we are aggressive in FA at all in the position player market. They are going to have some tough decisions to make already and adding a high priced player here makes that even more glaring. I could see us waiting and potentially taking on a 1 year prove it contract for someone who isn’t getting the deal they want but that’s about it. Pitching is where I see any spent money going this offseason again atleast early on. 
 

Where I see some tweaking being done is thru trades. Players of ours that that are getting into the arb years and blocking prospects or prospects that have fallen off being flipped for system depth and lottery ticket type players that have 1-2 really good tools but need development. I see a potential issue is pitching depth in our system right now so that’s where I’d be looking to add. 

[chasfh]

58 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

Lmao...if he (and Chris) bring in several cheap, injured or prove-it type free agents, you're right. If he brings in some quality players, maybe not. But come on man....Charlie Morton? Chris Paddack? That is scrapping the bottom of the barrel. I didn't complain about Finnegan. Or...maybe just a little...lol

I really think the Tigers will sign Suarez. Whether any of us like it or not.

What else are you talking about? What level of 2 or 3 position players and a couple of very good arms for the bullpen do you think we could get for $40 million? You don't really think we could get four or five All Stars for that spend, do you? Talk about party like it's 1999 ... 😉

Also, I would be shocked if Harris signed Suarez whether any of us like it or not. This sounds like preemptive resignation on your part. 

[Shelton]

I also don’t believe in the concept of a hard yearly budget, such that money given to a particular player means less available for other players. To me, it’s far more relevant to simply look at available roster spots and the ability to be flexible. 
 

This relates the Bregman thing, because adding him would result in a bit less flexibility, but lineup spot is there. That said, the reduced flexibility it is really only there for a year while we take advantage of a tidy contract for Torres. 
 

But the dollars ebb and flow. If Skubal comes back in 2027, it’s a yearly raise of about 15-20 million from what he’s going to get in 2026. But we also say goodbye to financial commitments to Jack, Torres, and Mize, which will probably end up totaling over 50 million. Some of those roster spots will need to be replaced by spending, but not all of them. 
 

Just relative to last year, we have cut Cobb, Maeda, all the guys we added at the deadline whose money we took on. 
 

I don’t see the sense in worrying about a hard budget number for a given year. I think it’s rare that the dollars spent become a zero sum exercise. 

[chasfh]

50 minutes ago, Edman85 said:

To me, McGonigle shouldn't keep you from Bregman. He's at the tier where you make it work.

Polanco, Suarez, Bichette, etc would qualify as blocking McGonigle though, and you at least have to factor in that opportunity cost.

I get the depth argument, especially for this upcoming year, although I wouldn't characterize the strategy as being the same as that for the Rule 4 draft, where you simply get the best available player regardless of position or what you have in your system now, then deal with sorting them out another day.

I don't think we can pretend that if we were to sign Bregman and Bichette for multiple years—as some would like to—that there wouldn't be some sort of reckoning when it comes to McGonigle and Rainer. There have been plans in the works for these guys for a couple years now, and I don't think we can just disregard those plans in favor of whatever here and now pops up in front of us at any given moment. If we were to lock down those two guys, we would have to do something with the other two guys, which would probably mean selling off at least one of them for cheap because there's no room for them anymore, and any guy on the other side of a trade would know that.

My point being that, while people simply like to disparage College Boy Harris in general, they like to do so in particular for his apparent planning for top prospects to make their way up through our system and into our starting lineups, because after all, prospects fail all the time, or something. And sure, there's always a chance any prospect will flop. But you can't effectively plan for the future if you're always setting aside any and all prospects in favor of whatever major leaguer comes available. I know that's how Dombrowski did it, and we won some divisions with him and a ****ton of payroll, but that's not the only way to skin the cat, and Dombrowski is, as Ernie would intone were he still here, "looooong gone."

I might be on an island here, but I have not concluded that College Boy is a flop. I'm willing to give him the chance to make his plan work, and I'll jump onto the mainland with the rest of you if he ends up spinning his wheels instead of building winners.

[gehringer_2]

39 minutes ago, Shelton said:

I also don’t believe in the concept of a hard yearly budget,

There were years in the Avila regime where there apparently was a hard budget, and for instance we would hear Al would talk about having spent the last portion of that years allotment on player X so they were done for the off-season, etc. Harris is much less communicative on that stuff so we don't know if Chris is managing him in anything like the same way, or if  as the team gets better more decisions are made ad hoc given the increased opportunity to actually win something. 

With this regime there just isn't much public info to go on, so I take no opinion on what might or might not be true.

Edited yesterday at 04:24 PM by gehringer_2

[RatkoVarda]

Bregman and Bichette and Tucker have the skills they want in hitters. presumably those skills will age okay. it was a huge miss last winter to not sign Bregman. 

[gehringer_2]

Circling back on Bregman, I agree he's not an issue wrt McGonigle; it's Keith who gets squeezed. There are a couple ways I see that: On one hand Keith hasn't been that much of an impact player on O or D so if he gets squeezed out, though luck. On the other hand, if his bat were to improve from 25->26 as much as it did from 24->25, then he will become an impact player. 

So the attraction of Bregman becomes a matter of their projection of Keith's likely progress.

Edited yesterday at 04:13 PM by gehringer_2

[Tiger337]

19 minutes ago, chasfh said:

 

I might be on an island here, but I have not concluded that College Boy is a flop. I'm willing to give him the chance to make his plan work, and I'll jump onto the mainland with the rest of you if he ends up spinning his wheels instead of building winners.

This is ridiculous.  The vast majority of posters here seem to be pretty happy with Harris overall.  Wanting Harris to be a little more aggressive is not a suggestion that he's a flop.  I personally love that he is a "college boy" and an analytic nerd, but that doesn't mean I am going like everything he does or doesn't do.  

[Sports_Freak]

59 minutes ago, chasfh said:

What else are you talking about? What level of 2 or 3 position players and a couple of very good arms for the bullpen do you think we could get for $40 million? You don't really think we could get four or five All Stars for that spend, do you? Talk about party like it's 1999 ... 😉

Also, I would be shocked if Harris signed Suarez whether any of us like it or not. This sounds like preemptive resignation on your part. 

The Tigers desperately need batters who can put the ball in play. Whether they're All Stars or not is meaningless, the All Star game is just a popularity contest. But we need guys who can knock in runners from 3rd base with less than 2 outs. Hopefully, Riley is busy this winter working on that swing that struck out over 200 times. I just want the Tigers to sign a starting pitcher, a couple of quality bullpen arms and a position player...maybe a 3rd baseman? Or a centerfielder? Even though I really like the defense from Meadows...but he HAS to hit.

[Nate7474]

1 minute ago, Sports_Freak said:

The Tigers desperately need batters who can put the ball in play. Whether they're All Stars or not is meaningless, the All Star game is just a popularity contest. But we need guys who can knock in runners from 3rd base with less than 2 outs. Hopefully, Riley is busy this winter working on that swing that struck out over 200 times. I just want the Tigers to sign a starting pitcher, a couple of quality bullpen arms and a position player...maybe a 3rd baseman? Or a centerfielder? Even though I really like the defense from Meadows...but he HAS to hit.

Meadows because of his elite defense is going to get all the chances he needs until Clark is ready. You can use Vierling, Perez, Baez and others there if need be but I’d be very surprised if that was a position they’d make a move at.
 

Position player wise you can make an argument for a 3rd baseman although with Torres returning room is tight so it has to be a high level player and then it comes down to will they pay for that. Maybe a right handed corner outfielder as I think that could be cheaper and help balance out the lineup. 

[RatkoVarda]

as alternative to Bregman or Bichette, I would see what Isaac Paredes would cost in a trade. if Alvarez needs to be fulltime DH, and Walker, Altuve, Pena, and Correa are the IF, no easy fit for him in Houston.

2 years of control; with flexibility AJ likes

[Tiger337]

38 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

The Tigers desperately need batters who can put the ball in play. Whether they're All Stars or not is meaningless, the All Star game is just a popularity contest. But we need guys who can knock in runners from 3rd base with less than 2 outs. Hopefully, Riley is busy this winter working on that swing that struck out over 200 times. I just want the Tigers to sign a starting pitcher, a couple of quality bullpen arms and a position player...maybe a 3rd baseman? Or a centerfielder? Even though I really like the defense from Meadows...but he HAS to hit.

They can carry Meadows for his glove if enough other players are hitting.  If McGonigle hits and Dingler keeps hitting that gives them two players a positions which are traditionally considered glove first positions.  

[Sports_Freak]

1 minute ago, Tiger337 said:

They can carry Meadows for his glove if enough other players are hitting.  If McGonigle hits and Dingler keeps hitting that gives them two players a positions which are traditionally considered glove first positions.  

Very true. I would have no problem with the Tigers concentrating their resources on pitching. No Morton or Cobb types, quality arms over quantity. Even though, IMO, the Tigers will go after Suarez. I'm not saying I want them to or they should, I just think they will. It would give me something to complain about next summer...🤣🤣🤣

[Sports_Freak]

50 minutes ago, RatkoVarda said:

as alternative to Bregman or Bichette, I would see what Isaac Paredes would cost in a trade. if Alvarez needs to be fulltime DH, and Walker, Altuve, Pena, and Correa are the IF, no easy fit for him in Houston.

2 years of control; with flexibility AJ likes

Good call. Its hard to believe he's only 26 years old. I would probably want him over Suarez or Bregman. Suarez too many swing and misses and Bregman too expensive for too long, probably. 

[gehringer_2]

34 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

They can carry Meadows for his glove if enough other players are hitting.  If McGonigle hits and Dingler keeps hitting that gives them two players a positions which are traditionally considered glove first positions.  

Yeah - I don't where the lower limit is for what a team will carry. Seems that if you get much below maybe ~500 OPS it's not going to matter what you can catch - but for sure Meadows will get as much leeway as anyone would. At one point last season I scanned through a bunch of Meadow's hitting data and convinced myself he wasn't a hopeless case if they could just work on his stance so he could cover the low pitch better. Probably easier said than done for a guy that tall - but there have been a lot of good tall hitters (Judge!) so it's not impossible.

Edited yesterday at 05:51 PM by gehringer_2

[1984Echoes]

2 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

Circling back on Bregman, I agree he's not an issue wrt McGonigle; it's Keith who gets squeezed....

Fleshing this out further...

Call this the "Ideal World Version" of the Tigers...

In an ideal world, both McGonigle and Rainer make it to Detroit and become stars.

What happens if we sign Bregman? (I'm going to add in Tucker because I think he is in the "Ideal World"...);

But starting with Bregman... to your point... Rainer and McGonigle are in NO danger of being blocked. And Rainer may be at least a couple more years before he gets to Detroit (I have no idea of any kind of ETA for him at the moment...)

So...

In an ideal world, McGonigle can handle SS until Rainer makes it to Detroit and then slide over to 2B when that happens (because BOTH are going to be a STARS!!!) If Rainer ends up at 3B before he gets to Detroit, then we can cross that bridge when we get there. But I would also anticipate the need to "protect" Bregman a little from the rigors of 3B so he may be at 1B/DH/other by that time. I don't see any problems here... and if anything, the "squeezes" will roll down hill, with these 3 at the top of the hill.

Does Keith get squeezed? Torres is here for only 1 year. And if McGonigle can handle SS, Keith can handle 2B in 2027. Or maybe it's Bregman 2B, McGonigle SS, Keith 3B in 2027?

I'm not really worried about Keith, to be honest... I think they'll find a place for him. Even in 2026 if we sign Bregman. Bregman Tork and Torres are all RH'ers... which should give Keith a day or two per week at 2B, or 3B, or 1B, or DH. Hinch will fit him in... somewhere.

What about McKinstry, Hao Yu Lee, Max Anderson, Trei Cruz, Baez, etc...?

I think these are the guys that will get squeezed. They are all utility guys at this point... Anderson is not a fielder (maybe they'll give him a 1B glove?). So... Baez is gone soon, but here as long as his contract runs... and he can always play some D at SS and CF which I think is useful. McKinstry is 31. He'll be here until he gets pushed out the door... which I hope is soon. Both Cruz (switch-hitter) and Lee can play all over the IF so one of them needs to make a move... does the loser of those two get squeezed to Toledo? Or elsewhere? Anderson will play a lot of DH. But if his bat/ strike zone control play... they'll find a spot for him on the team.

I'm really not worried about anyone getting squeezed if we sign Bregman.

Why Tucker?

Because I REALLY WANT to be able to follow Hinch/Harris's philosophy of "Controlling the Zone"!!! And how can we do that with a team OBP of .316? (14th in MLB in 2025...)

I see Tucker (.377 OBP) and Bregman (.360) as EXACTLY the right kind of leadership to implement Harris's philosophy. And any fallout from that (Carpenter gets squeezed out with a trade, just as an example... with his .292 OBP...) as being INCONSEQUENTIAL to CHANGING how this team approaches hitting. 

And I'd like to start that right now.

With Tucker and Bregman.

Just my 2 cents...

[roarintiger1]

I say go after Bregman or Bichette.  If one of them signs with the Tigers, they should package Keith and Perez and trade for a  #2 starter.     I know..........easier said than done.  

[Motor City Sonics]

14 minutes ago, roarintiger1 said:

I say go after Bregman or Bichette.  If one of them signs with the Tigers, they should package Keith and Perez and trade for a  #2 starter.     I know..........easier said than done.  

They are not getting a #2 starter for Keith and Perez.   Maybe a 4th starter - at best.  

[Tenacious D]

Interestingly, BA had a podcast where they listed the top 40 “dynasty” second baseman, which blended MLB and minors.  Jazz Chisholm was #1.  However, McGonigle was #2, which they acknowledged was unusual for a minors guys to be that high, but they were very bullish on his bat and projection.