05/21/2026 1:10p EDT Cleveland Guardians at Detroit Tigers

[Tigermojo]

Hobbes is going to get fat if he doesn't dance soon.

[lordstanley]

The Tigers have gone 2-14 in their past 16. If and when they turn it around, they could record a tailored version of Another One Bites The Dust.

[SoCalTiger]

Our worst fear has come true. Cleveland sweeps four. 

[RatkoVarda]

 

[Tiger337]

55 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

the Tiger debate is becoming like the Candelario debate. Are they a bad team that had a good stretch, or a good team that's having a bad stretch? 

Despite the pitching injuries they've had, the staff is managing to throw winnable games. I just don't have much confidence that adding one solid but not spectacular bat in Torres and one mediocre at best bat in Baez is any kind of slam dunk remedy for this offense.

McGonigle, Keith and Torkelson have all had bad months.  They could come back too.  They were scoring enough in April to win games and they could get back to that.  Odds are against the team right now, but I am not ready to give up in May.  

[Tigeraholic1]

Woof

 

 

[UCFKNIGHT]

I wish we could hear what Andy and Jason talk about during commercial breaks. I would really like to know how they really feel about this Tigers team and season.

Edited Thursday at 08:39 PM by UCFKNIGHT

[chasfh]

7 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

That is depressing to think about.  I am looking for the Tigers to get healthy and get hot.  It seems like teams usually don't get great prospects for rentals at the deadline.  Teams like the Dodgers just give up their flawed prospects.  Looking forward to another Thayron Liranzo and Trey Sweeney haul.  

And all they got was two months of Jack Flaherty so I think we got the better end of that little deal.

[chasfh]

6 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

the Tiger debate is becoming like the Candelario debate. Are they a bad team that had a good stretch, or a good team that's having a bad stretch? 

They’re an organization that built a division favorite but that still has to field a team when a lot of their good guys get injured.

[chasfh]

A third of the way into the season and the Tigers are now a sub-.400 team. I don’t think even tiger2022 saw that one coming. 😉 

Edited yesterday at 02:00 AM by chasfh

[papalawrence]

Det is 30-53 in their last 83 reg season games. Kind of a bipolar team. And I believe they have a strong stretch on the horizon, given several key players are about to return

[Sports_Freak]

7 hours ago, Motor City Sonics said:

Franklin Perez is coming any day now................

Thats who I was thinking. Too lazy to look it up, or just didn't care.

[Tiger337]

1 hour ago, chasfh said:

And all they got was two months of Jack Flaherty so I think we got the better end of that little deal.

I wish the Tigers only got two months of Sweeney!  

It terms of WAR, the Tigers have lost that deal so far.  However, that is not the point.  The point is fans always think their team can get great prospects at the deadline and they usually just get players the other team doesn't want to keep that badly.  

[Tenacious D]

For what it’s worth, Sweeney did help us get to the playoffs during pitching chaos ‘24.

I don’t understand how you can be one of the best teams for over a half season and turn into one of the worst over the same time period with largely the same roster.

Edited yesterday at 03:36 AM by Tenacious D

[Tiger337]

That's one of great things about Harris never making big transactions.  You can do a longitudinal analysis!

Tigers record from 7/1/24 - 6/30/25: 101-62

Tigers record from 7/1/25 - 5/21/26: 54-73

Mostly the same roster for both periods.You could argue that their roster has been somewhat "better" in the latter period.  

Edited yesterday at 03:59 AM by Tiger337

[Motor City Sonics]

9 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

That's one of great things about Harris never making big transactions.  You can do a longitudinal analysis!

Tigers record from 7/1/24 - 6/30/25: 101-62

Tigers record from 7/1/25 - 5/21/26: 54-73

Mostly the same roster for both periods.You could argue that their roster has been somewhat "better" in the latter period.  

Even before the injuries they weren't exactly setting the world on fire this season, they were .500.    I think we had a lucky stretch where McKinstry, Baez and a couple other players played way above their average and now they are literally crashing before our eyes.        

When Baez, Carpenter and Meadows come back - and they are still welll below .500 (which is what I think is going to happen),  do they even consider changing managers? 

I just don't know why Hinch seems so untouchable.   August 2024 - June 2025 looks more lucky than good now, doesn't it?  

[Tiger337]

8 minutes ago, Motor City Sonics said:

I just don't know why Hinch seems so untouchable.   August 2024 - June 2025 looks more lucky than good now, doesn't it?  

I still don't know.  Recency bias says yeah, but the same group played at 100-game pace for a full season.  The truth is probably between the two extremes.  The problem is playing .500 ball or little better after getting healthy again won't get them to post-season this year.  

[Sports_Freak]

10 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

I wish the Tigers only got two months of Sweeney!  

It terms of WAR, the Tigers have lost that deal so far.  However, that is not the point.  The point is fans always think their team can get great prospects at the deadline and they usually just get players the other team doesn't want to keep that badly.  

Cleveland did pretty good on a few deals. I dont remember the details but I read an article a few months ago about some of their trades. But yeah, it's pretty rare to get talent back. Who would trade future All Star talent for a couple of months of an All Star pitcher?

[Motor City Sonics]

We could be like the Braves last year where injuries derailed the season (about the same timing too) but they recovered this year (2028 for us). 

 

Or we could be the Orioles - who looked like a young contending team two years ago - but the management didn't bolster it and those young players crashed down to earth and they look like they are ready to start rebuilding again after a two-year run.  

 

I feel like we are the Orioles here. 

[NorthWoods]

2 hours ago, Sports_Freak said:

Cleveland did pretty good on a few deals. I dont remember the details but I read an article a few months ago about some of their trades. But yeah, it's pretty rare to get talent back. Who would trade future All Star talent for a couple of months of an All Star pitcher?

The Tigers?

Adames.   Smoltz.  

And..............

Hanly Ramirez, Anibal Sanchez, Cliff Lee, Grady Sizemore, Carlos Baerga, Joe Carter, Adam Wainwright, Michael Brantley, Jay Buhner, Corey Kluber, Jeff Bagwell, Jason Varitek, derek Lowe, Curt Schilling, Moises Alou, David Ortiz

Were all traded mid season as prospects...and I know I'm missing many as well as lesser but yet successful players.    The Tigers dismal track record doesn't mean everyone fails.

[chasfh]

I just think that’s a lot less likely in this prospect-hugging era.

[Shelton]

I don’t think there are nearly enough comparable circumstances to be able to draw any conclusions about a potential Skubal deal could look like. 
 

It’s true that we have not seen many elite prospects traded at deadlines. But we have seen those types of guys traded in offseason moves. So from a general willingness standpoint, it’s there. 
 

Limiting it to deadline only moves really cuts your sample size down. But for that matter, we did see Leo De Vries moved for Miller last deadline. Of course Mason miller and Tarik Skubal are different assets. If you want to argue to prove a point t you will say that Miller last deadline is far more valuable than Skubal this deadline. Maybe. 
 

Anyway, trades are hard. So I’m not surprised at all that it is hard to point to the same type of deal being made recently. But I also think it’s rare for a “best pitcher in baseball” type to ever be available at deadlines, so that’s probably a big reason this would be uncharted waters. 
 

The nice thing, if it were to come to pass, is that I don’t think the list of potential trade partners would be short. There is no issue of replacing a current guy in a lineup. You are subbing a legit ace for your fifth best starter.

Thankfully this decision is still two months away.

[chasfh]

43 minutes ago, Shelton said:

I don’t think there are nearly enough comparable circumstances to be able to draw any conclusions about a potential Skubal deal could look like. 
 

It’s true that we have not seen many elite prospects traded at deadlines. But we have seen those types of guys traded in offseason moves. So from a general willingness standpoint, it’s there. 
 

Limiting it to deadline only moves really cuts your sample size down. But for that matter, we did see Leo De Vries moved for Miller last deadline. Of course Mason miller and Tarik Skubal are different assets. If you want to argue to prove a point t you will say that Miller last deadline is far more valuable than Skubal this deadline. Maybe. 
 

Anyway, trades are hard. So I’m not surprised at all that it is hard to point to the same type of deal being made recently. But I also think it’s rare for a “best pitcher in baseball” type to ever be available at deadlines, so that’s probably a big reason this would be uncharted waters. 
 

The nice thing, if it were to come to pass, is that I don’t think the list of potential trade partners would be short. There is no issue of replacing a current guy in a lineup. You are subbing a legit ace for your fifth best starter.

Thankfully this decision is still two months away.

The $64 question is how much any team will pay for two months of even the best guy in baseball. A lot of folks here think it would be a "haul", which I envision people here imagining to be something like an organization's best hitting prospect at the AAA or MLB level who can help us now and their best pitching prospect at the AA level or below who can help in two years and a serviceable pitcher at the AAA or MLB level who can pitch for us now plus a lottery ticket or two.

Or is there a haul less than this that people are imagining and would find quite acceptable?

[gehringer_2]

25 minutes ago, chasfh said:

The $64 question is how much any team will pay for two months of even the best guy in baseball

so given this and your post about the likely  future of any Tiger team that went 2-15 - is the inescapable conclusion that the only rational thing to do is offer him (and anyone else over 26 that will bring back value)  in trade while there are still 4 months left in the season?

If you're ever going to get to the top of the mountain you have be ruthless in your self-evaluation.

Edited 1 hour ago by gehringer_2

[Tiger337]

33 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

so given this and your post about the likely  future of any Tiger team that went 2-15 - is the inescapable conclusion that the only rational thing to do is offer him (and anyone else over 26 that will bring back value)  in trade while there are still 4 months left in the season?

If you're ever going to get to the top of the mountain you have be ruthless in your self-evaluation.

The problem is he has to show that he is healthy and able to pitch at his usual elite level in order to get any kind of worthwhile offer.  I think there is a good chance they won't get anyone better than the 31-35 pick they would get for losing him.  

Edited 1 hour ago by Tiger337