2025-2026 Tigers Off Season Thread

[papalawrence]

7 hours ago, Edman85 said:

Malloy's DFA limbo is super long, since the DFA window doesn't count the days between Christmas and New Year's.

I bet he is traded for a low level lottery ticket...

Good point

[CMRivdogs]

4 hours ago, Motor City Sonics said:

I don't want him throwing anything but baseballs for the Tigers.       Can you imagine he blows out an elbow throwing a t-shirt.    Didn't Matt Anderson blow out his arm throwing an octopus?  

That was the rumor. I was there he was tossing underhand. Probably from about 15-20 feet if I remember correctly. If he blew it doing that, his arm was toast anyway. (He also wasn't expected to be there, he was hanging with Jeff Weaver when he tried the toss

[Stormin]

4 hours ago, Sports_Freak said:

The problem is, they made the playoffs with a pretty small payroll, which maximized their profits. Baseball is a business and payroll is pure overhead. Keeping payroll low increases the bottom line. And the goal of every business is to make as much money as possible. So if young kids can play a position for $600 grand or so, why spend $20 to $30 million for the same position?

As for pitching? Last off-season, I wanted them to sign Matthew Boyd. He ended up with the Cubs at $30 million for 2 years, $15 million per season. And he was an All Star, helping lead the Cubbies into the playoffs. We gave Cobb $15 million for one year to vacation in Toledo.

Numbers from Forbes Business of Baseball Article (The Business Of Baseball - Full List)

Current Franchise Value is 22 of 30 Teams ($1.55 Billion)

2025 Revenue 25 out of 30 Teams ($320 Million)

2025 Operating Income + $30 Million

Total Operating Income from 2016 to 2025 - $11 Million 

Payroll Ranking from Cot's  Cot's Baseball Contracts   Detroit Tigers | Cot's Baseball Contracts

2026 40 man Roster Payroll Projection 15 out of 30 Teams: $161.3 Million (~ $94 million in free agent contracts)

Chris Ilitch is not perfect, but there are much worse owners in MLB.  Mike Ilitch was a fan's dream owner and I don't know if Detroit will ever have another owner like him. 

[Sports_Freak]

10 minutes ago, Stormin said:

Numbers from Forbes Business of Baseball Article (The Business Of Baseball - Full List)

Current Franchise Value is 22 of 30 Teams ($1.55 Billion)

2025 Revenue 25 out of 30 Teams ($320 Million)

2025 Operating Income + $30 Million

Total Operating Income from 2016 to 2025 - $11 Million 

Payroll Ranking from Cot's  Cot's Baseball Contracts   Detroit Tigers | Cot's Baseball Contracts

2026 40 man Roster Payroll Projection 15 out of 30 Teams: $161.3 Million (~ $94 million in free agent contracts)

Chris Ilitch is not perfect, but there are much worse owners in MLB.  Mike Ilitch was a fan's dream owner and I don't know if Detroit will ever have another owner like him. 

But I wonder how much the team value would increase with a championship caliber team? It seems like really good teams would (should) be worth more?

[Sports_Freak]

[buddha]

murakawi signs with the white sox.  seems like the japanese rob deer.  was there any interest for him from detroit?

[Tenacious D]

10 minutes ago, buddha said:

murakawi signs with the white sox.  seems like the japanese rob deer.  was there any interest for him from detroit?

Hope not.  Already have too many high K guys in the lineup.

[Tiger337]

28 minutes ago, buddha said:

murakawi signs with the white sox.  seems like the japanese rob deer.  was there any interest for him from detroit?

Dean Palmer

[1984Echoes]

45 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

Dean Palmer

As Dean Palmer I would have wanted him.

Especially for only two years.

Heck, even as Rob Deer.

He's very selective at the plate so it's not as if he would be hit or empty at the plate.

And...

If Tork falters again, Murakami has actually played a lot of 1B...

I'm just sayin'...

[Tiger337]

4 minutes ago, 1984Echoes said:

As Dean Palmer I would have wanted him.

Especially for only two years.

Heck, even as Rob Deer.

 

Deer was better.  They both spent their age 30-32 seasons with the Tigers.  Deer accumulated 6.1 WAR during that time.  Palmer accumulated 3.6.  I was always amused at how fans praised Palmer and ridiculed Deer when they were basically the same player offensively.  Deer was a little better defensively.  

[1984Echoes]

I think everyone got stuck on his .220-ish BA and K's.

But I agree... I would take the fielding, I would take the WAR, and I would take the heavy amount of walks that goes along with the HR's and walks and... yes... the .220-ish BA (his OBP was .325-ish...?).

Three true outcomes.

It's good enough.

Especially with today's pitching.

[casimir]

7 hours ago, Motor City Sonics said:

So the Tigers are not going after Bregman (and I don't want him at this point.  He's good, but he's not THAT good). 

Bo Bichette doesn't seem realistic now. 

Right now we have a ton of questions for 3b / 2b.     Torres is a lock at 2b for probably 75% of the games.    

But, for those two positions they have McKinstry, Lee, Jung, Max Anderson, Keith, and Trei Cruz  with McGonigle lurking

Do one of those guys step up?   Does Jung finally put it all together at the MLB level?   Does Keith starting hitting before mid-May?   Was Max Anderson a one year MiLB wonder like Ryan Kreidler a few years ago?     I guess this is why they won't spend on a 3b - because they want to look at all of the possibilities, but they are painfully close to getting to a World Series.  If they had had just one more competent bat in the Seattle series they get to the ALCS.   I mean, Bichette is a career ..357 OBP and career .806 OPS who has thrived in the postseason.   Exactly what they need.   So sign him and then you can trade Colt Keith and Jace Jung and get a serviceable starting pitcher, since they don't have enough of those right now.    

Is Harris going to sign Cobb again?    I wanted them to sign Jose Quintana last year - then he signs a very affordable deal with the Brewers and has a really good season.   We picked Cobb.   It was a very Randy Smithish signing (Hey, I knew this guy with my old team).  

Who's left starting-pitcher wise?   Tatsuya Imai,   Zac Gallen, Ranger Suarez, Luca Giolito, Chris Bassitt, and the Verlander/Scherzer long goodbye tour?          Right now it's Skubal/Flaherty/Olson/Mize/Melton/Montero.    Isn't Gipson-Long transitioning to the bullpen?    They need more.   You know they are going to really limit Melton and probably 3 of those guys in the rotation are going ton the injured list at some point.  They just need more.   Sorry if Drew Anderson doesn't impress me.   Plus - when is Melton getting his TJ surgery.  Feels like it's only a matter of time for all those young pitchers. 

I'm just annoyed by this offseason.   They can spend without being stupid about it.  They are close to WS contention right now.  They can make this better without sacrificing the future.    Plus there's a chance that Skubal, Mize and Flaherty will all be gone after this season. 2027 (if it happens) and 2028 might be total resets.    Come on, man.   This offseason has been weak, very weak.   They are just a couple players away.   

I know, I know..........just be good enough to sell tickets and fill those lucrative parking lots, right? 

Colt Keith put up a 107 OPS+ last season at age 23.  Maybe it’s time to see what he can do at 3B?  Give him one position to focus on this offseason.  See what happens.

Gleyber Torres might be at 2B for 75% of the games this season, but he’s been in over 90% of games played and averaging well over 600 PA the last 4 seasons.  So, are you saying he’s not durable or worthy of playing time?  I’d like to see your math behind that.

There are still SP on the market.  You named a few of them. Off-season ain’t over.

Merry Christmas, morans.

[1984Echoes]

7 minutes ago, casimir said:

... There are still SP on the market.  You named a few of them. Off-season ain’t over.

Merry... 

I would like a SP and one more batter for Christmas Santa.

 

7 minutes ago, casimir said:

... Christmas, morans.

 

Merry Christmas MORANS!

Or alternatively (for all us Jews and Muslims and atheists and Buddhists and Hindu and pagans and ...)

Happy Holidays!!!

 

 

 

Edited 38 minutes ago by 1984Echoes

[casimir]

15 minutes ago, 1984Echoes said:

 

 

 

Merry Christmas MORANS!

Or alternatively (for all us Jews and Muslims and atheists and Buddhists and Hindu and pagans and ...)

Happy Holidays!!!

 

 

 

Good point.  As well, if you celebrate nothing, have a nice day.

[casimir]

On 12/20/2025 at 4:51 PM, Tenacious D said:

Cody is too negative for my liking.  Agree on Chris Brown—much better away from Rogelio, though Evan is a bit of a stats-wielding tool.  I’d pair Brown up with either Chris Castellani or Tony Paul and that would be my go-to Tigers podcast.

Is Stavenhagen negative or just honest?

I don’t know what pods Castellani or Paul do.

[casimir]

23 hours ago, papalawrence said:

 

James Hetfield before Metallica?

[Tenacious D]

2 minutes ago, casimir said:

Is Stavenhagen negative or just honest?

I don’t know what pods Castellani or Paul do.

Maybe whiny.

Paul has one, but does it inconsistently.  Castellani used to do LockedOn Tigers, prior to Scott Bentley.  Quit when he got a job at Barstool, then got fired.