2026 DETROIT TIGERS REGULAR SEASON THREAD

[lordstanley]

 

 

[Edman85]

1 hour ago, Tenacious D said:

I think Vierling and Carpenter will push Outman and Malgeri out.

Maybe Wenceel when rosters expand or another injury requires it.

I am not in a hurry for any of those three guys given their production to date.

[monkeytargets39]

4 minutes ago, Edman85 said:

I am not in a hurry for any of those three guys given their production to date.

I would only care to see Carpenter because at least opposing managers view him as threatening and it can alter their pitching strategy if he’s on the bench.  Otherwise we should stick with what we’ve got.   Outman is useful as a defensive sub until/if Meadows returns.

Edited August 10 by monkeytargets39

[Tigermojo]

Malgeri has good stats sss.

[SeattleMike]

1 minute ago, monkeytargets39 said:

I would only care to see Carpenter because at least opposing managers view him as threatening and it can alter their pitching strategy if he’s on the bench.  Otherwise we should stick with what we’ve got.   Outman is useful as a defensive sub until/if Meadows returns.

I agree. Maybe he's cooked. He did look like his old self in June, but July was ugly. But I wouldn't mind giving him a bit more run to recover his old stroke. 

[monkeytargets39]

21 minutes ago, SeattleMike said:

I agree. Maybe he's cooked. He did look like his old self in June, but July was ugly. But I wouldn't mind giving him a bit more run to recover his old stroke. 

I have nothing to base this off of besides a hunch, but I feel like him being used strictly as a hard platoon bat makes him really push hard to produce with power when he does get ABs.  So rather than going up there and trying to just put together a good situational at bat, he is just swinging for the fences every time because that’s what everyone expects him to do.  His K and Pop Up numbers are elevated because that’s all he’s trying to do most of the time.

Not that he should be getting a bunch of ABs vs Lefties, but now that the offense is a bit more well rounded and we have some other guys producing good OPS numbers, maybe the pressure to be the primary power source in an otherwise lackluster offense will go away and he can get back to hitting as a craft.  The first year and a half or so he was up, he was better with contact and working pitch counts than he has been this last year or so.

 

Him actually being legitimately fully healthy probably is a big part of it too.

Edited August 10 by monkeytargets39

[chasfh]

8 hours ago, CaliforniaDreaming said:

I really dislike off days since I'm greedy for Tigers baseball. But it seems like this off day is great timing: the team can prepare for a couple of big home series with a positive attitude and all kinds of confidence...the bullpen can get rested up so there will not be a need to stick with a struggling starter if a change needs to be made...Job & Melton can get an extra day's rest to keep them healing/fresh OR someone could be skipped/swapped to get to Melton sooner. A lot of good options possible because of this off day.

We're probably going to see DeJesus and Waguespack on Tuesday, and who knows, hopefully Yilber gets some garbage time with us way up.

[oblong]

I don't consider Carpenter as a future piece of this team.  

[NorthWoods]

14 minutes ago, oblong said:

I don't consider Carpenter as a future piece of this team.  

As it is written, thus it shall be.

[Edman85]

Also, Vierling is "completing rehab daily" as of Friday, so I doubt he is imminent. Perez can't be activated until Friday, but given he is on rehab, that would make sense. They could just option him if they wanted to once his 60 days are up. Carpenter hasn't started his rehab yet.

[Shades of Deivi Cruz]

3 hours ago, Tenacious D said:

I think Vierling and Carpenter will push Outman and Malgeri out.

Maybe Wenceel when rosters expand or another injury requires it.

The biggest problem with this as I see it is that Vierling/Carpenter pushing out Outman/Malgeri will lead Hinch to using them more than Outman/Malgeri currently are, which they don't deserve. Same goes for Perez. None of those three deserve the leash they have gotten this season. If anyone does, it's Carpenter for the reasons monkeytargets stated (but none of them do).

[casimir]

6 hours ago, Tigermojo said:

Malgeri has good stats sss.

Is it better for him to be on the bench in Detroit or playing everyday in Toledo?

[casimir]

5 hours ago, oblong said:

I don't consider Carpenter as a future piece of this team.  

Same.  Hopefully he catches fire to end the season and gets some trade discussion going.

[gehringer_2]

4 minutes ago, casimir said:

Is it better for him to be on the bench in Detroit or playing everyday in Toledo?

Malgeri is 27, a bench gig is likely his best future at this point anyway.

[casimir]

1 minute ago, gehringer_2 said:

Malgeri is 27, a bench gig is likely his best future at this point anyway.

Probably true.  Honestly I was thinking about this season and the possibility of him being on the roster in September and even in the playoffs.

I don’t remember how the Tigers stocked the playoff rosters.  It seems to me teams, could go 14 position players and 12 pitchers given how the schedules work out.  Obviously it also depends on the strategy with strengths and weaknesses as well.

[Tigermojo]

11 minutes ago, casimir said:

Is it better for him to be on the bench in Detroit or playing everyday in Toledo?

Over 1000 PA at AA and almost 300 at AAA. I think they need him on the bench because they have so many lefty hitters. He might be what we hoped JHM would be but he can actually play defense. 

[Edman85]

50 minutes ago, casimir said:

Probably true.  Honestly I was thinking about this season and the possibility of him being on the roster in September and even in the playoffs.

I don’t remember how the Tigers stocked the playoff rosters.  It seems to me teams, could go 14 position players and 12 pitchers given how the schedules work out.  Obviously it also depends on the strategy with strengths and weaknesses as well.

14 and 12, but some may go 15/11 or even 16/10 in the Wild Card Round.

[Tenacious D]

55 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

Malgeri is 27, a bench gig is likely his best future at this point anyway.

Just biding his time until Detroit cuts him and the Twins sign him, allowing him to flourish.

[Shelton]

On 8/9/2026 at 8:55 PM, Edman85 said:

I am not a fan of the bref odds, which don't take roster strength into account.

I still have a BP sub (cancelled after their TERRIBLE write-up of the Skubal trade where the author included a ton of unnecessary reverse racism and the assertion that the Tigers should have just signed Skubal as if that is a one way street... but it runs until February), so look at their odds using PECOTA too.

Yeah, with different versions it’s a preference for which system you think is the most accurate. I don’t believe that the player projection versions like FG or BP are necessarily better, but I do understand why they do it the way they do. I just have a hard time looking at the Cleveland and Detroit ROS% (for example) and the teams side by side and believing that to be accurate. There are still subjective judgments being made as to playing time apportionment, and pecota/FG/zips since their limitations. I guess like anything else it’s best to look at everything and synthesize it however you see fit. 
 

I don’t see whatever writeup you are talking about. Send it to me on bluesky. 

[NorthWoods]

 

[NorthWoods]

It must be the manager.

[chasfh]

58 minutes ago, NorthWoods said:

It must be the manager.

Fire AJ. Fire Harris. Trade everybody. Move the team to Charlotte.

[Hongbit]

57 minutes ago, NorthWoods said:

It must be the manager.

It’s the 18 or 19 blown leads in the 7th or later.   Thats the difference between a 7 or 8 game division lead and where they are now. 

[chasfh]

8 minutes ago, Hongbit said:

It’s the 18 or 19 blown leads in the 7th or later.   Thats the difference between a 7 or 8 game division lead and where they are now. 

Tigers are 48-16 games while leading after the sixth inning. That's a lot. MLB average would have us at 55-9 instead, so that's a seven-game deficit.

Tigers are also 8-38 while trailing after six innings. MLB average would have us at 6-40 So that's two games we gain versus league average.

Add those up—minus-7 and plus-2—and that nets out the Tigers as being minus-5 games from where they "should be", had they retained 7th-inning leads and not overcome 7th-inning deficits at league average.

That would put us up at least 1-1/2 games on the White Sox, maybe more had we not blown the May 29 and May 31 leads against them, maybe less had we not come back and won the June 21 game from them.

 

[4hzglory]

7 minutes ago, chasfh said:

Tigers are 48-16 games while leading after the sixth inning. That's a lot. MLB average would have us at 55-9 instead, so that's a seven-game deficit.

Tigers are also 8-38 while trailing after six innings. MLB average would have us at 6-40 So that's two games we gain versus league average.

Add those up—minus-7 and plus-2—and that nets out the Tigers as being minus-5 games from where they "should be", had they retained 7th-inning leads and not overcome 7th-inning deficits at league average.

That would put us up at least 1-1/2 games on the White Sox, maybe more had we not blown the May 29 and May 31 leads against them, maybe less had we not come back and won the June 21 game from them.

 

Tigers are 14 games over .500 outside of May.