2026 DETROIT TIGERS REGULAR SEASON THREAD

[Sports_Freak]

12 hours ago, tiger2022 said:

The fact that a 21 year old player, who probably wasn't even going to make the roster except for an amazing spring training, is by far the team's best offensive player and single handedly is responsible for winning multiple games (and the team is still 12 games under .500), shows how awful a job Harris has done constructing this roster.

He is super lucky he inherited the talent he did because other than Torres and McGonigle, he has done nothing to improve the roster.  Valdez certainly hasn't pitched like a $38 million pitcher.

 

JV, Cobb and Flaherty. About 50 million dollars wasted. Inept.

[chasfh]

35 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

The Tigers made the playoffs in '24 and '25 without much help from any Harris acquisitions. He didn't draft any of the key players from those teams. His biggest contribution was McKinstry and Vierling, hardly household names. More like journeymen. The key players on those teams were drafted by Al Avila. Whether you like it or not, it's a fact. As for this season, yes, Kevin has helped us win a few games. But we're more than 10 games under .500. And there's another issue many people are ignoring. Meadows was injured. And then Javy went down. At that point, we had no centerfielder. Harris should have contacted every team to get a player that could play center. Its his JOB. And his responsibility. Major fail, his inability to do a very basic GM job cost out team a dozen games, or more. Our May nosedive is 100% on Harris.

I see … so, based on your post …

 Am I close? 😉 

[NorthWoods]

45 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

Our May nosedive is 100% on Harris.

Nonsense.

[Tenacious D]

6 minutes ago, NorthWoods said:

Nonsense.

It might be an easy, oversimplification, but he did construct the bullpen—both Jansen and Finnegan came with some red flags. Holton was erratic last season (compared to the previous two seasons). This is correctable if we can move Montero and Melton there, but the pen is a house of cards.

[Sports_Freak]

20 minutes ago, chasfh said:

I see … so, based on your post …

 Am I close? 😉 

Real cute. Pretty meme but a good distraction from actual facts. The Tigers made the playoffs without much help from Harris and this year is totally on him. Hes maxxed out the payroll and built a bottom feeder team. Fact.

[Sports_Freak]

15 minutes ago, NorthWoods said:

Nonsense.

Who constructed the roster? Why not bring in a player with CF experience when we lost both of ours? No money? Inability to ever swing any trades? Look at how much money he's totally wasted on old and broken down pitchers the last few years. Does anyone really think wasting $50 million dollars is considered a "Good job?"

[Tiger337]

18 minutes ago, Tenacious D said:

It might be an easy, oversimplification, but he did construct the bullpen—both Jansen and Finnegan came with some red flags. Holton was erratic last season (compared to the previous two seasons). This is correctable if we can move Montero and Melton there, but the pen is a house of cards.

I hope they don't move Melton there.  He may be their best pitcher at the moment.  Skubal, Valdez, Mize, Melton.   I think Montero might be really good in the bullpen.  Flaherty or Verlander can start.  The other can go to the pen.   Yeah, I know Verlander have status/contracts, but I hope the Tigers do what's best for winning games.  

Edited yesterday at 02:57 AM by Tiger337

[gehringer_2]

15 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

I hope they don't move Melton there.  He may be their best pitcher at the moment.  Skubal, Valdez, Mize, Melton.   I think Montero might be really good in the bullpen.  Flaherty or Verlander can start.  The other can go to the pen.   

Flaherty is coming around a little bit - there may be some hope. He started May with a 6.14 FIP, it's now down to 4.13.

Montero doesn't get a lot of K's but he doesn't walk guys either - maybe more of an enter the game at the beginning of an inning and work 2 or 3 kind of guy than a 'fireman' type?

[Tiger337]

9 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

Flaherty is coming around a little bit - there may be some hope. He started May with a 6.14 FIP, it's now down to 4.13.

Montero doesn't get a lot of K's but he doesn't walk guys either - maybe more of an enter the game at the beginning of an inning and work 2 or 3 kind of guy than a 'fireman' type?

Yes, that's what I am thinking for Montero.  Unfortunately, they don't really have a true fireman.  Do they?  

[gehringer_2]

9 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

Unfortunately, they don't really have a true fireman.  Do they?  

only in the Fahrenheit 451 sense...

[romad1]

6 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

only in the Fahrenheit 451 sense...

I vuld vatch the grass grow

[chasfh]

10 hours ago, Sports_Freak said:

Real cute. Pretty meme but a good distraction from actual facts. The Tigers made the playoffs without much help from Harris and this year is totally on him. Hes maxxed out the payroll and built a bottom feeder team. Fact.

Says here the graphic is an exact summary of your point of view.

[chasfh]

10 hours ago, Sports_Freak said:

Who constructed the roster?

Apparently, it depends on whether the team is winning or losing.

[chasfh]

10 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

Flaherty is coming around a little bit - there may be some hope. He started May with a 6.14 FIP, it's now down to 4.13.

Montero doesn't get a lot of K's but he doesn't walk guys either - maybe more of an enter the game at the beginning of an inning and work 2 or 3 kind of guy than a 'fireman' type?

If Montero is going to make it onto the perennial contenders, assuming he doesn’t have some sort of epiphany, I would think it would be as a swing man. Start when a lot of guys are hurt; front of the bullpen and doubleheader starter when we are largely healthy.

[monkeytargets39]

12 hours ago, Sports_Freak said:

JV, Cobb and Flaherty. About 50 million dollars wasted. Inept.

The point id make right now is that between Flaherty, Verlander, Jansen, Finnegan and then Gleybers salary—we have more than enough free capital to extend Skubal and replace all of those guys with in-house options.  I’d much rather do that and run it back with Skubal/Framber/Melton/Jobe/Montero/Olson and then have a bullpen of Vest/Hurter/Holton/Hanifee/Anderson and find a couple other decent but inexpensive arms like a Danny Coloumbe.  Even if we brought back Mize and put Montero and Olson in the pen that would be an upgrade also.

 

The only big decision financially on the offensive side is Riley Greene and he’s under control for two more years.

Edited yesterday at 02:15 PM by monkeytargets39

[SoCalTiger]

So when a GM drafts a player and said player does not have success at the major League level until a new GM arrives with new coaching etc then which GM gets credit for the players success ? Is it the GM who drafted the player or the GM that  leading to the development  of the player in reaching the big leagues ? Maybe both ?

[gehringer_2]

1 hour ago, monkeytargets39 said:

The point id make right now is that between Flaherty, Verlander, Jansen, Finnegan and then Gleybers salary—we have more than enough free capital to extend Skubal and replace all of those guys with in-house options. 

 

Manfred claims - and note that word - that the owners are unified on TV revenue sharing and a hard cap. *IF* that is what is coming, then I can understand a team being worried about committing too large a % of a hard cap to a single player when the actual cap number can only be guessed at. OTOH - given where current team payrolls are - with the Dodgers and Mets over $300M and 4 other teams over $250M, it seems unlikely the initial cap is going to be less than $250M, in which case $40M AAV is ~16% of the cap and so probably doable.

Edited yesterday at 03:47 PM by gehringer_2

[Sports_Freak]

2 hours ago, chasfh said:

Says here the graphic is an exact summary of your point of view.

I formed my opinion of Harris last trading deadline. A meme from 2 years ago won't change my opinion of a guy who has taken our payroll to the brink of losing draft picks and is still very short on depth. 

[Sports_Freak]

28 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

Manfred claims - and note that word - that the owners are unified on TV revenue sharing and a hard cap. *IF* that is what is coming, then I can understand a team being worried about committing too large a % of a hard cap to a single player when the actual cap number can only be guessed at. OTOH - given where current team payrolls are - with the Dodgers and Mets over $300M and 4 other teams over $250M, it seems unlikely the initial cap is going to be less than $250M, in which case $40M AAV is ~16% of the cap and so probably doable.

How did other leagues install salary caps? Were teams forced to let expensive talent go? Or were they grandfathered in, somehow?

[monkeytargets39]

1 hour ago, SoCalTiger said:

So when a GM drafts a player and said player does not have success at the major League level until a new GM arrives with new coaching etc then which GM gets credit for the players success ? Is it the GM who drafted the player or the GM that  leading to the development  of the player in reaching the big leagues ? Maybe both ?

I wouldn’t give Harris any credit or discredit for players like Greene, Torkelson, Skubal.

 

I will, however, give him discredit for how Colt Keith has been handled.

[Sports_Freak]

1 hour ago, SoCalTiger said:

So when a GM drafts a player and said player does not have success at the major League level until a new GM arrives with new coaching etc then which GM gets credit for the players success ? Is it the GM who drafted the player or the GM that  leading to the development  of the player in reaching the big leagues ? Maybe both ?

Who hired Hinch? Avila or Harris? And...there's your answer.

Look. Al Avila sucked, big time. It took us years of losing to just get a few decent players. He was forced to shed payroll and got very little in return for established players. And his farm system and scouting sucked eggs. Harris is much better at those aspects. But just because Avila stunk doesnt give Harris a pass in his shortcomings. Are the Tigers better off? In my opinion, yes. But there are serious parts of running a team that Harris doesnt seem to be able to handle. Making trades and finding good, affordable pitching are 2 of his biggest issues. The Tigers team of 2025 had a chance for glory with just a bit of help last trade deadline. Did the available players perform good enough to make a difference? Probably not but He Could Have Tried. 

[Sports_Freak]

2 hours ago, monkeytargets39 said:

The point id make right now is that between Flaherty, Verlander, Jansen, Finnegan and then Gleybers salary—we have more than enough free capital to extend Skubal and replace all of those guys with in-house options.  I’d much rather do that and run it back with Skubal/Framber/Melton/Jobe/Montero/Olson and then have a bullpen of Vest/Hurter/Holton/Hanifee/Anderson and find a couple other decent but inexpensive arms like a Danny Coloumbe.  Even if we brought back Mize and put Montero and Olson in the pen that would be an upgrade also.

 

The only big decision financially on the offensive side is Riley Greene and he’s under control for two more years.

I think someone pointed out how close the Tigers are to some sort of salary tax and possible loss of draft picks. IDK the exact details but a $40 million a year salary to Skubal would probably take us over. I think Edman knows the details....

[NorthWoods]

 

[monkeytargets39]

1 hour ago, Sports_Freak said:

I think someone pointed out how close the Tigers are to some sort of salary tax and possible loss of draft picks. IDK the exact details but a $40 million a year salary to Skubal would probably take us over. I think Edman knows the details....

That’s this year though—we probably won’t add anyone expensive at the deadline for that reason unless we are shipping expensive players out also.   If we did extend him it would start on next years payroll.  Plus we don’t know how the CBA will affect anything like that.

[gehringer_2]

2 hours ago, Sports_Freak said:

How did other leagues install salary caps? Were teams forced to let expensive talent go? Or were they grandfathered in, somehow?

good question. But one way to look at it is that it is not credible that you could have gotten the Dodgers (it will cost them about $2B), Mets and Yankees etc on board for full TV revenue sharing if there was any indication there was an intention to penalize  them for their current payrolls - so I think we can rest assured things will grandfathered somehow or another.

Edited 23 hours ago by gehringer_2