The Tigers’ season ended in disappointment, but that shouldn’t overshadow a tremendous season in Detroit. This team had its share of memorable moments in 2012, even if the Giants captured the championship. Here are some Tigers-related links…
- Anibal Sanchez said he's open to signing anywhere as a free agent this coming offseason, Joe Rexrode of the Detroit Free Press reports. GM Dave Dombrowski has said re-signing the right-hander is a priority for the Tigers this winter.
- Jose Valverde said he's not yet sure where he'll be pitching next year, George Sipple of the Detroit Free Press reports. The free agent reliever said he'd like to re-sign in Detroit if possible. "I think everybody wants to play for the Tigers. Great teammates, great owner."
- There are indications that Tigers manager Jim Leyland will return for at least one more season, Chris Iott of MLive.com reports. "We're going to talk about some things in a day or so and I'm sure they'll have some type of an announcement," Leyland said, adding that the Tigers will be the final team he manages. Dombrowski has said Leyland would be welcome as the team's manager in 2013.
- However, Leyland spoke of his Tigers career as though it were already in the past, Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com writes.
I would be completely happy with none of those 3 returning.
Trading Turner for nothing would suck, but their top prioty should be to fix that pen.
It would suck, but yes we need to fix that pen.
I think there are only a few candidates whom the Tigers would have considered outside of Leyland. And one of them is gone in Tito Francona. He has the experience they’d be looking for plus he had a stint with the Tigers and Mr. I before. Had the Tigers job opened and the Indians job not, I assume Francona would have jumped at the chance.
People keep saying “fire leyland!!” but they don’t tell you who we should hire. There’s only a few qualified people out there, and to fire leyland (or not re-sign him) we should get an upgrade not a downgrade
Exactly!!
I can see why they would want Sanchez back. He was one of the best pitchers in September. I think without him they don’t get in the playoffs, let alone the World Series. As for Valverde, he impressed me in 2011, but this year he kind of came back to earth. I think we have better options in our system than Valverde (we have a kid in AA who throws 100+ and is closing games for Erie). I think Leyland deserves to stay, since he did get us to the world series. Whenever you get a chance to manage an All Star team, you’ve done something right. I think they need to trade away Porcello and let Smyly get a shot in the rotation all year next season. You could get some pretty good hitting for a young 23 year old with a lot of promise. We could get a pretty good corner outfielder for Rick.
Bruce Rondon!! pitching in Venezuela in the winter league. Hopefully Tigers’ closer in 2014, maybe even sooner
Valverde can go.
Leyland has earned another year in Detroit if he wants it. He’s had better success as the manager than anyone since the 80s if not earlier.
Hopefully Annibal can be had at a decent price. He’d look very nice mixed in with JV/Max/Fister/and either Porcello or Smyly.
Outside of that, the Tigers gotta get a backup catcher. I’m find with Laird as the back up generally doesn’t need to be an offensive powerhouse. Then some BP help. Coke, AlAl, and Benoit(sadly) are all probably locks. Villareal and Rondon should get looks in the spring. Would like to see a solid lefty and maybe a proven late innings guy added to the mix.
On that note, I wouldn’t mind seeing em kick the tires on someone like Cody Ross. Also, as far as closers go… I think Soria deserves a good look as well as maybe Broxton.
Also wouldn’t mind seeing them kick the tires on a corner outfielder. Dirks/Garcia/(maybe)Castellanos are all options…
I could see Rondon perhaps winning the closer role out of Spring Training. I like what I’ve seen from him and that could be a cheap internal option for that position.
Jim Leyland has more major league victories than any other active manager. He has gathered those victories for the most part with flawed teams like the current Tigers. Since I am a Tiger fan I would never say this during the season but this team has needs at SS, 2B, Catcher, and corner outfielders for position players plus better relief pitchers. The fact that the team got to the World Series was because of Leyland and not due to talent.
Not due to talent? Hold on here…Best 3b/1b in the AL, top 2 strikeout pitchers. Infante is average as is peralta, avila is still young so I would hardly consider replacing him as a need, our corner outfield of dirks/garcia and berry worked well, I fail to see the lack of talent on this team aside from bullpen depth. Hard to say a team with that is a flawed team when they arent below average at any position.
The tigers were picked to win the al central by a wide margin but faltered most of the season and were only in the playoffs since white sox was never more than 3 1/2 games up. good to get into the playoffs, not a tremendous season.