2026 DETROIT TIGERS REGULAR SEASON THREAD

[gehringer_2]

8 minutes ago, NorthWoods said:

Agreed.   But the counterpoint would be that the Harris carping has been going on for long before the month of May.   Even as we were winning and making the post season in the last 2 years it was very nearly a constant.

these crazy slumps are a weird thing though - three times in three yrs? there has to be some aspect of something they are doing/not doing that's different from what other orgs do because when the Tigers drop into a funk, they stay there way too long.

[papalawrence]

I don't like the fact that multiple gm's have said that they dread dealing with Harris. Some charm and ability to schmooze is important in that role. Harris might be worse at it tan AA. Dombrowski was a master at it.

[Shelton]

5 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

CF was not the major source of their problem- if anything IF D was as bad or worse, it was poor run production and poor pitching = mostly relief. They gave up 19 more runs in may than april, but scored 37 less.(one game difference in total games I'm ignoring)  The increase in runs against is both pitching and defense - say you split xs runs allowed 50/50 between fielding and pitching then ~46 of the 56 run differential was still in hitting or pitching, mostly hitting.

The tigers have the second worst CF DRS in baseball at -8. Worst is pit at -9.

And I can’t say for sure but I suspect that playing corner OF in CF and IF/DH types in corner OF also doesn’t help. 

[Tenacious D]

3 minutes ago, papalawrence said:

I don't like the fact that multiple gm's have said that they dread dealing with Harris. Some charm and ability to schmooze is important in that role. Harris might be worse at it tan AA. Dombrowski was a master at it.

Hard for anyone to compete with this 

“Dombrowski on line one…”

 

[IdahoBert]

It’s weird, but the Tigers have two off days in the next five days. Then deep into June and in early July, they play 14 days in a row then have a road series in Texas with the Rangers with an off day stuck in the middle of that series. 

[Edman85]

I'd rather have a POBO that is tougher to deal with than one easy to deal with...

[chasfh]

17 minutes ago, Edman85 said:

I'd rather have a POBO that is tougher to deal with than one easy to deal with...

Others would rather have a PBO who can pull an All-Star out of their hat. 

[chasfh]

6 hours ago, chasfh said:

I think for a lot of the fans you describe, there's not just a little anti-intellecualism going on with that, and to your point, I also believe it's driven by his youth and intelligence, but also, his slight build and soft face that do not resemble those of most major league ballplayers. If he were an ex-ballplayer in the exact same position saying and doing the exact same things in the exact same way, he'd be getting a far wider berth from those fans you describe. 

@gehringer_2 what’s the part of this that’s confusing you?

[Tiger337]

7 minutes ago, Edman85 said:

I'd rather have a POBO that is tougher to deal with than one easy to deal with...

I'd rather have neither.  I want a GM that is reasonble to deal with but has boundaries.  If a GM makes unreasonable demands and has no flexibility then he will have limited opportunity to make deals because other teams don't want to work with him.  I don't know if that applies to Harris, but if multiple teams are complaining about him, I don't necessarily view it as a positive.  

[papalawrence]

3 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

I'd rather have neither.  I want a GM that is reasonble to deal with but has boundaries.  If a GM makes unreasonable demands and has no flexibility then he will have limited opportunity to make deals because other teams don't want to work with him.  I don't know if that applies to Harris, but if multiple teams are complaining about him, I don't necessarily view it as a positive.  

Yessir I concur 

[chasfh]

14 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

I'd rather have neither.  I want a GM that is reasonble to deal with but has boundaries.  If a GM makes unreasonable demands and has no flexibility then he will have limited opportunity to make deals because other teams don't want to work with him.  I don't know if that applies to Harris, but if multiple teams are complaining about him, I don't necessarily view it as a positive.  

It might also be a case of them complaining about it in public because they can’t roll him like they did Avila, maybe with a dash of them trying to publicly embarrass him hoping that will soften him up. 

[4hzglory]

1 minute ago, chasfh said:

It might also be a case of them complaining about it in public because they can’t roll him like they did Avila, maybe with a dash of them trying to publicly embarrass him hoping that will soften him up. 

Exactly.  Like If they were upset he wouldn’t include Melton or Rainer for example in a deadline deal last year.

[chasfh]

Hey, Dombrowski and the Phillies DFA’ed Nick. Anyone have any interest in him for righahahahaha …

(Sorry, couldn’t keep a straight face for that whole thought.)

[oblong]

What’s the source for saying Harris is “difficult” to deal with?

[Tiger337]

7 minutes ago, oblong said:

What’s the source for saying Harris is “difficult” to deal with?

That is a good question.   I don't know if they really said that.  I was speaking hypothetically.  If he is difficult to deal with, I would not necessarily view that as a positive.  

[Dan Gilmore]

11 minutes ago, oblong said:

What’s the source for saying Harris is “difficult” to deal with?

This. Not saying there might be some truth there, just not accepting it as fact.

[theroundsquare]

being difficult to deal with and a being a tough negotiator are not the same thing.  the latter is fine.  the former is exactly as TigerLee described 

[gehringer_2]

4 hours ago, Shelton said:

The tigers have the second worst CF DRS in baseball at -8. Worst is pit at -9.

And I can’t say for sure but I suspect that playing corner OF in CF and IF/DH types in corner OF also doesn’t help. 

they are not a good defensive team - but Parker only played a third of April (and they lost several of those games he played anyway), so they weren't good in CF for most of the month they managed to win some gamesl. I believe all the bouncing around of defenders that aren't all that good anyway certainly made it worse in May, and the numbers are there in terms of increased runs allowed, but all that said, the run production fall off in in May was just terrible.

Edited 5 hours ago by gehringer_2

[chasfh]

I have read chatter about it although I didn't really focus on it when I heard it, so not sure where. Whether it is or isn't, who give a **** what they say. This deadline will be a watershed moment for Harris, whatever he decides to do. His legacy here may well be defined by what he does.

[Edman85]

1 hour ago, chasfh said:

Hey, Dombrowski and the Phillies DFA’ed Nick. Anyone have any interest in him for righahahahaha …

(Sorry, couldn’t keep a straight face for that whole thought.)

Padres DFA'd him. Phillies did in March.

[chasfh]

I don't know that eeny-meeny-miney-moeing guys who we know are not part of the future anyway into playing the same position every day is necessarily a productive use of resources, especially if they end up sucking in the positions they're being wedged into, and then Harris and Hinch would get raked for guessing wrong on some of them, which would happen to anyone who tried it.

[chasfh]

2 minutes ago, Edman85 said:

Padres DFA'd him. Phillies did in March.

Yeah, I ****ed that part of it up. My bad. the rest of it stands.

Think he'll go to their minors to try to put the rotting corpse of his career on life support?

[oblong]

1 hour ago, Tiger337 said:

That is a good question.   I don't know if they really said that.  I was speaking hypothetically.  If he is difficult to deal with, I would not necessarily view that as a positive.  

I’ve seen others say it but I suspect it’s just some loud mouths who came up with the theory and it gets accepted. And like has been said here… “is that bad?”   Is it just the words of some disgruntled GM or former GM who didn’t get his way?

[Tigermojo]

1 hour ago, oblong said:

What’s the source for saying Harris is “difficult” to deal with?

https://motorcitybengals.com/tigers-insider-likens-scott-harris-approach-to-one-that-doomed-al-east-team

Cody Stavenhagen.

[oblong]

So he “heard”.  Sounds like “many people are saying”. 

Cody is mad they didn’t do what he thought they should so he has to make **** up. He’s a tough negotiator. That’s bad?