2026 DETROIT TIGERS REGULAR SEASON THREAD

[chasfh]

I can't see anybody taking Tork, especially a contender. If FanGraphs is to be believed, having Tork there makes us the 23rd-ranked team in first base WAR. The only out-of-division possible contender who's worse is Seattle, and they're not so much worse that Tork will make any difference.

Funnily enough, the 28th-, 29th-, and 30th-ranked teams in WAR at first base are the Guardians, Royals, and Twins.

Tork is probably ours until through least 2028, unless we release him in the interim.

[monkeytargets39]

9 minutes ago, chasfh said:

I can't see anybody taking Tork, especially a contender. If FanGraphs is to be believed, having Tork there makes us the 23rd-ranked team in first base WAR. The only out-of-division possible contender who's worse is Seattle, and they're not so much worse that Tork will make any difference.

Funnily enough, the 28th-, 29th-, and 30th-ranked teams in WAR at first base are the Guardians, Royals, and Twins.

Tork is probably ours until through least 2028, unless we release him in the interim.

If he doesn’t produce between now and September, I think you have to just demote him to Toledo or DFA him and release.  Can’t have a 1B with below average defense who can’t hit a middle-middle fastball.  The ability to move on from guys who don’t produce or who don’t fit the team philosophy is why the Guardians and Rays keep finding success while we sit back and give 1000 ABs to Jacoby Jones and Victor Reyes.

Edited 1 hour ago by monkeytargets39

[4hzglory]

6 minutes ago, monkeytargets39 said:

If he doesn’t produce between now and September, I think you have to just demote him to Toledo or DFA him and release.  Can’t have a 1B with below average defense who can’t hit a middle-middle fastball.  The ability to move on from guys who don’t produce or who don’t fit the team philosophy is why the Guardians and Rays keep finding success while we sit back and give 1000 ABs to Jacoby Jones and Victor Reyes.

One thing Tork can do is hit high velocity fastballs.  His slug against 95+ mph is in the upper part of the league.

[chasfh]

5 minutes ago, monkeytargets39 said:

If he doesn’t produce between now and September, I think you have to just demote him to Toledo or DFA him and release.  Can’t have a 1B with below average defense who can’t hit a middle-middle fastball.  The ability to move on from guys who don’t produce or who don’t fit the team philosophy is why the Guardians and Rays keep finding success while we sit back and give 1000 ABs to Jacoby Jones and Victor Reyes.

I don't disagree with the gist of this, but it's not as though Tork is blocking someone better. It's entire possible we'd end up with something worse at first.

[gehringer_2]

38 minutes ago, chasfh said:

I can't see anybody taking Tork, especially a contender. If FanGraphs is to be believed, having Tork there makes us the 23rd-ranked team in first base WAR. The only out-of-division possible contender who's worse is Seattle, and they're not so much worse that Tork will make any difference.

Funnily enough, the 28th-, 29th-, and 30th-ranked teams in WAR at first base are the Guardians, Royals, and Twins.

Tork is probably ours until through least 2028, unless we release him in the interim.

It would be nice if he'd stay on track for a while - 920 OPS in his last dozen games.

[chasfh]

There are 255 teams in major league history through 2025 that have started the season 22-38 or worse, sixty-four of them starting exactly 22-38. Not only did none of them make the postseason, but also, not a single one of them even finished as high as .500.

The highest such a team finished was .493, by the 1899 Louisville Colonels, who'd started out 20-40 and finished 75-77. The highest a team finished after starting out exactly 22-38 was the 1927 Cincinnati Reds, which finished 75-78 for a .490 winning percentage.

The average final winning percentage achieved by a team starting out exactly 22-38 is .399, which is roughly the equivalent of 65-97. Even the 1914 Miracle Braves, considered the gold standard anecdote of a team starting out terrible and still winning the pennant, started out 25-35, albeit in last place.

Bottom line: according to history, the Tigers' season is done right now. Selling our greatest assets that seem destined to walk during the offseason anyway is a defensible, even preferable option at this point. This is where we see whether Scott Harris has the big boy pants to pull off such a trade and get a favorable return. It can be fairly said that the fate of his entire tenure is riding on how he handles this.

[gehringer_2]

15 minutes ago, chasfh said:

Bottom line: according to history, the Tigers' season is done right now. Selling our greatest assets that seem destined to walk during the offseason anyway is a defensible, even preferable option at this point. This is where we see whether Scott Harris has the big boy pants to pull off such a trade and get a favorable return. It can be fairly said that the fate of his entire tenure is riding on how he handles this.

Reality bites, but it always gets the last word. 

[gehringer_2]

And it only adds insult to injury that given Mize's inability to stay on the field no-one is going to want to give up a bag of balls for him.  

[Tiger337]

1 hour ago, chasfh said:

I don't disagree with the gist of this, but it's not as though Tork is blocking someone better. It's entire possible we'd end up with something worse at first.

Given the recent callups, I wouldn't want to test it out.