The Tigers made some aggressive moves last offseason, hoping that 2022 could be the year their rebuild would end. Unfortunately, that plan failed in spectacular fashion, leading to a late-season shakeup. General manager Al Avila was fired in August and replaced by Giants general manager Scott Harris, who was given the title of president of baseball operations in Detroit. The franchise will be shifting course under new leadership, though it remains to be seen exactly how that will play out.
Guaranteed Contracts
- Miguel Cabrera, DH: $40MM through 2023 (including $8MM buyout on 2024 option)
- Javier Báez, SS: $120MM through 2027 (Báez can opt out after 2023)
- Eduardo Rodríguez, LHP: $63MM through 2026
- Spencer Turnbull, RHP: $2.125MM through 2023 (arbitration-eligible an additional season)
Option Decisions
- Jonathan Schoop, 2B: $7.5MM player option
- Andrew Chafin, LHP: $6.5MM player option
2023 commitments: $84.65MM
Total future commitments: $239.625MM
Arbitration-Eligible Players (service time in parentheses; salary projections via Matt Swartz)
- Joe Jiménez (5.061): $2.6MM
- Jeimer Candelario (5.038): $7MM
- José Cisnero (5.020): $2.2MM
- Victor Reyes (4.075): $2.2MM
- Austin Meadows (4.074): $4MM
- Harold Castro (3.141): $2.6MM
- Gregory Soto (3.102): $3.1MM
- Tyler Alexander (3.058): $1.6MM
- Willi Castro (3.017): $1.7MM
- Rony Garcia (2.138): $1MM
- Kyle Funkhouser (2.133): $800K
- Non-tender candidates: Candelario, Reyes, H. Castro, Alexander, W. Castro, Garcia
Free Agents
- Tucker Barnhart, Dustin Garneau (retired), Drew Hutchison
The Tigers have been in rebuild mode for many years, with their last winning season coming in 2016 and their most recent postseason appearance in 2014. After an encouraging finish in 2021, it was decided that it was time to strike. The club gave out big free agent deals to Javy Báez and Eduardo Rodríguez, smaller deals to Chafin and Michael Pineda, in addition to trading for Barnhart and Meadows. It was hoped that those acquisitions could combine with a core of young players to propel Detroit into competing amidst a weak AL Central.
Unfortunately, the club was bound by Murphy’s law in 2022, with the majority of the lineup underperforming and just about every pitcher getting hurt, significantly in many cases. That led to dismal results and a front office shakeup, with Avila packing his things and Harris moving in. Harris has been on the job less than a month, making it tough to predict exactly what he has planned. But there’s no doubt that the agenda is change, in order to steer the club in a better direction. The first domino has already fallen, with Detroit’s amateur scouting director getting dismissed last week. The Tigers eventually finished 66-96, 11 games behind their record last year.
Barnhart has never been a huge threat at the plate but has always earned strong marks for his defense and framing. With the Tigers planning on running out a fairly young pitching staff, there was sense in installing a glove-first option behind the plate. However, Barnhart took a step back at the plate, even relative to his own standards. After hitting .247/.317/.368 last year in Cincinnati, production that was 20% below league average by measure of wRC+, he dropped to .221/.287/.267 this year for a wRC+ of 63.
With Barnhart’s impending free agency, the Tigers will have the option of pivoting behind the plate. Eric Haase was one of the few Tigers to have a nice season in 2022. He hit 14 home runs and slashed .254/.305/.443 for a wRC+ of 112. He crouched behind the plate in 84 games while also playing some left field and got a cameo at first base. He doesn’t get high grades for his catching work though, as Defensive Runs Saved gave him a -9 this year while FanGraphs’ framing metric gave him a -6.6. Detroit could look to the open market for a defensive-minded backstop to pair with Haase, though it’s possible they already have one in Jake Rogers. Scouts have long praised Rogers’ work while donning the tools of ignorance, though he missed all of this season due to undergoing Tommy John surgery in September of 2021. If the club does decide to seek outside help, it will likely be of the short-term variety since it is hoped that their “catcher of the future” is already present in Dillon Dingler, who spent all of this year at Double-A. His defense is considered stronger than his offense, but he hit .238/.333/.419 for a wRC+ of 107 this year, though with a concerning 31.9% strikeout rate. There’s some potential here, but the Tigers could probably fit a veteran like Roberto Pérez or Austin Hedges into the picture.
First base was supposed to a settled matter by now, as Spencer Torkelson cracked the club’s Opening Day roster. He was considered one of the top prospects in the game at the time and seemed to have a chance at cementing himself there for the long haul. His first taste of the majors didn’t go according to plan, however, as he hit .197/.282/.295 through the middle of July and got optioned back to the minors. A September call-up was a bit more promising and led to a .219/.292/.385 line over the final few weeks of the season. That’s still below average by a bit, amounting to a wRC+ of 95, but an improvement, at least.
At second base, the club got a real mixed bag of a season out of Jonathan Schoop. He had a strong season with the glove, as all defensive metrics liked his work, especially Outs Above Average. Schoop’s 27 OAA this year was the highest of any fielder in the league, well beyond the next-best mark of 20 OAA for Dansby Swanson. However, his offensive production mysteriously cratered. After hitting .270/.315/.454 from 2019 to 2021 for a wRC+ of 106, Schoop produced a dismal batting line of .202/.239/.322 this year for a wRC+ of just 57. He’s under contract for one more season and will surely forego an opt-out possibility.
Next to Schoop on the diamond, Javy Báez was supposed to be the club’s stalwart at shortstop after signing a six-year, $140MM contract this past winter. He had a poor showing in the shortened 2020 campaign but had been great in the previous three full seasons, producing above-average work on both sides of the ball. But in his first year as a Tiger, he hit just .238/.278/.393 for a wRC+ of 90. Advanced defensive metrics were also split on his work, with Báez considered to be below-average by DRS and Ultimate Zone Rating, though he did register 2 OAA. He can opt out of his deal after 2023 but would need to have a huge turnaround in order to even consider exercising it. For the Tigers, they will have to hope for better results than they saw this year.
Continuing the pattern around the diamond, third base was another area of disappointment. Over 2020 and 2021, Jeimer Candelario hit 23 home runs, walked in 10.2% of his plate appearances and hit .278/.356/.458 for a wRC+ of 125. But in 2022, his walk rate dropped all the way down to 6% and he slashed .217/.272/.361, wRC+ of 80. He made $5.8MM this year and has one more pass through arbitration remaining. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects Candelario to get a bump to the $7MM range for next year, which would be a hefty commitment for Detroit unless they feel 2022 was an aberration and that Candelario will turn things around next year. This year’s crop of free agent third basemen isn’t great, with Nolan Arenado not a consideration for the Tigers even if he does opt out. Brandon Drury will likely get a multi-year deal somewhere that isn’t Detroit. That leaves veteran utility players like Aledmys Díaz, Jace Peterson and Donovan Solano as potential replacements if the club moves on from Candelario.
Moving to the outfield, we find a similar pile of frustrating results. Alongside Torkelson, the club’s other much-hyped prospect coming into the season was Riley Greene. He seemed like he had the chance to crack the Opening Day roster just like Torkelson, but he fractured his foot during Spring Training and didn’t make his debut until June. He ended up posting a line of .253/.321/.362 in 93 games for a wRC+ of 98. Greene just turned 22 and still has plenty of time to take another step forward, but looking strictly at 2022, he was just a hair below league average.
Austin Meadows was supposed to have one of the corners spoken for, after coming over from the Rays in a trade for Isaac Paredes and a draft pick. Unfortunately, he ended up missing significant time due to vertigo-like symptoms, COVID-19, Achilles strains and mental health concerns. In the end, he only got into 36 games and hit around a league average level, which is below what he accomplished in Tampa. Robbie Grossman was set to take another slot in the second season of his two-year deal with Detroit. He hit 23 home runs in 2021 and produced a line of .239/.357/.415 for a wRC+ of 116 but then took a big step backward this year. In 83 games with the Tigers, he hit just a pair of long balls and slashed .205/.313/.282 for a wRC+ of 78 before getting flipped to Atlanta at the deadline.
Akil Baddoo was looking to build off a strong debut in 2021 where he hit .259/.330/.436 for a 110 wRC+, but he also swooned this year, hitting .204/.289/.269, wRC+ of 65. Greene, Meadows and Baddoo are all set to be back next year, as will rookie corner outfielder/DH Kerry Carpenter. Carpenter had a breakout season in the minors and hit six homers in his first 31 MLB games late in the year. Still, the Tigers could grab a veteran to bolster the group, given the lack of certainty with anyone in the current mix. Players like Ben Gamel, Corey Dickerson or Tyler Naquin would be logical fits to take some playing time and hopefully turn themselves into deadline trade candidates.
Miguel Cabrera, in his age-39 season, didn’t take the field at all this year, limited to designated hitter duty only. He and Tiger fans got to enjoy him cracking the 3,000 hit club in April, but it was largely uninspiring apart from that. He hit .254/.305/.317 for a wRC+ of just 79, 13 points below his previous career low. He’s still under contract for one more season.
While the lineup was characterized by underperformance across the board, the story of the pitching staff was an unfathomable litany of injuries. Spencer Turnbull required Tommy John surgery late in 2021 and was already expected to miss all of this year. But the Tigers spent big to bring in Eduardo Rodríguez to be a veteran anchor next to exciting youngsters like Casey Mize, Matt Manning, Tarik Skubal and others. However, the Tigers didn’t get a full healthy season from anyone and ended up leaning on veteran journeymen and depth options. 31-year-old Drew Hutchison and his career ERA of 4.89 ended up second on the team in starts with 18, with only Skubal able to edge past that mark at 21.
Rodriguez missed time due to a ribcage sprain and then a personal issue, making only 17 starts on the year. Mize was only able to take the ball twice before hitting the IL and eventually requiring Tommy John. Skubal made 21 starts before requiring flexor tendon surgery. Manning missed significant time with shoulder issues, eventually returning but then was scratched from his final start due to a forearm strain. He finished the year making just 12 starts and he and Skubal are both question marks for the start of next season. Given all those issues, veteran starting pitching would be a sensible target this winter for Detroit. They surely won’t break the bank for Jacob deGrom or Justin Verlander, but someone like Dylan Bundy, Zach Davies or Johnny Cueto could eat some innings while the younger guys get healthy.
If there’s one area where 2022 wasn’t a total disaster, it was the bullpen. 10 different relievers pitched 21 innings or more for the Tigers and each one registered an ERA under 4.00. Almost that entire group could be back next year, as most are controllable via arbitration or have yet to even reach their arb years. The only exceptions are Chafin, who has one year left on his contract but has an opt-out clause, and Michael Fulmer, who was traded to the Twins at the deadline and is an impending free agent.
Fulmer was the only member of the bullpen dealt away at the deadline, but the Tigers could field trade offers on that group again this winter. Joe Jiménez and José Cisnero stand out as particularly logical candidates to be moved with only one season of arbitration-eligibility remaining. Hard-throwing southpaw Gregory Soto and right-hander Alex Lange each have three-plus seasons of remaining control and will be harder to pry away, but they’re the highest value trade candidates in the Detroit bullpen.
Payroll wise, the Tigers aren’t in terrible shape, despite their aggressive offseason one year ago. They ran out an Opening Day figure of $135MM this year, according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts. That was a big jump from recent seasons but still well shy of their last competitive window, with the club spending around $200MM in 2016 and 2017. There’s only about $85MM committed to next year, in the estimation of Jason Martinez of Roster Resource. That number doesn’t include salaries for arbitration-eligible players, but a handful of that group are non-tender candidates after such a poor campaign. There’s certainly room for more aggressive moves if the club sees an opportunity to make them.
However, a compelling argument could be made that the wisest path forward for Harris is to slowplay things for a year. He can take some time to get to know the organization, figure out what he considers to be its strengths and weaknesses. He can get more clarity on the health situations of their many injured pitchers. They can see if Greene and Torkelson can find another gear now that they’ve gotten their feet wet at the big league level. And they will also have a big chunk of payroll space opening up when Cabrera’s mammoth deal is finally out of the way, leaving Báez and Rodríguez as the only contracts on the books for 2024, assuming Báez doesn’t opt out. We can’t know for sure how Harris will operate since he’s only just gotten the job, but with so much uncertainty all over the roster, it would be surprising if he tried to fix absolutely everything in one offseason. Tiger fans that are still around have already been very patient with this rebuild, but it’s likely they will continue to be tested for another season at least.
Great overview. Catcher is the last position of need. Rogers is best defensive catcher MLB had seen in yrs and had ops over .800 last yr. Likely future all star. Eric Gaase is a 20 home run guy and can really swing it.
Tigers are no where close on MIF. Zero power output from corners 3rd , 1st and D h. Zero power from OFers. Nothing from 2nd base.
Look for them to fill 3rd, OFer with Power and potentially a Ss while moving Javier To 2nd.
Need 1 starting pitcher. These positions is where they start.
The Avila profile players of no power and no walks are gone.
Come on dude, Jake Rogers is not a future all-star. He was pretty awful at the plate when he was healthy and terrible defensive catcher. Remember all those passed balls he gave up. Erik Haase is the other catcher.
This is incredibly dumb. Youre blaming him on a debut where he had to catch terrible tigers pitchers who were notoriously wild? The dude put up over 2 war in 3 months last year. Keep in mind the entire Tigers team only had 13 combined war all year in 2022. Ill gladly take him if the tigers dont want!
Man the bar is set so low for players nowadays salary’s go up yet numbers go down
The Tigers will keep him. But besides projections, what has he ever done to be considered a full time competent ML’er? He’s played in like 70 something professional games, he’s 27 and constantly hurt. What minor league stat is mind blowing?
They would be foolish to rely on him and not to sign/acquire someone else.
He’s probably not an All Star but I am curious how strong he got during his time off. I think he can still be a productive player.
What a depressing description of a season.
Worse yet, it’s rather accurate.
The Detroit Tigers 2003 outlook?
B L E A K
There. Saved some time for you.
By way of division rival comparisons, the White Sox had a bad 2022, and you wouldn’t favor one position-player Tiger over any on Chicago. Not a one.
Any Tigers taken over their Cleveland roster peer? Hello? Anyone there? Crickets?
Tiger fans will invariably pee and moan over this, just like the Detroit Lions fans worship at the altar of the NFL Draft and buy up every season ticket in sight.
Reality never hits Detroiters until it’s a delayed smack right between the eyes. This only happens every single year. Watch. It will happen again now that Scott Harris is running the Tigers. Won’t matter but don’t expect the Motown faithful, which they are, to buy that.
Uh, er, 2023.
But heck, this could have been written nearly word-for word in advance of 2003.
Same as it ever was.
What message boards and articles have you been reading, sergefunction? I think Tigers fans have been pretty realistic in their expectations. Sure, there was hope this year, but your premise that Tigers fans are going to “piss and moan” with this analysis is off base. We know the Tigers are horrible and called for Avila’s head all season, as a result. Lions fans are delusional, but Tigers fans are not one in the same.
Message boards are not my sources for this.
Talk to people who follow the team. Listen to sports-talk callers. With Avila finally gone, the sky is suddenly the limit. You know, just like Lions fans every summer.
Maybe it will be. Eventually. Not anytime soon.
You must have very selective hearing. The vast majority of Tigers fans although pleased Avila is gone are anything but optimistic about current state of the franchise.
I disagree with your accessment. Baez will continue at SS. Due to lack of options in FA, Schoop may be tradeable. Otherwise, he will be the 2B. If he and Javy return to norms, that should be 20 and 30 HRs, which is more than they could acquire. Again, with no options in FA, I see Candelario coming back for another season at 3B. Kreidler and Harold will back up all 3 Spots. Meadows will likely spell Cabrera at DH and play OF, which could add 25 more HRs. A RH bat who can play 1B or OF preferably with power is their need. On that I agree with you.
I think that Detroit should trade for a shortstop and move Javy to 2B. You might as well keep Candy for this year for there are no good options in the FA market ; maybe the new hitting coach can straighten him out.
Sounds about right Jack
I think a lh dh/1st base option to platoon with Cabrera and Torkelson would help both of them and the lineup.
“I think heaven has sent you here, Dillon Dingler.”
Chafin should opt out. If he wants to stay in Detroit and they want him he can re-sign, but there are so few quality LH RPs he can greatly improve upon his 6.5M deal for next year.
The most pressing reason he signed with the Tigers was because of the teams proximity to his Ohio home and his family, which apparently he doesn’t like to move during the season. So that kind of limits his options if that is still his priority. The Tigers, Reds, Guardians, Pirates and Nationals are the closest to his home base.
The Tigers have zero chance of Schoop opting out, so with him and Baez the middle Infield is set.
Torkelson will get another chance at 1B though a veteran (Frank Schwindel?) Should be brought in to at least add some competition.
It may be time to let Candelario go but as was mentioned 3B is pretty bad in free agency (Maikel Franco MLB tour next stop: Motown?), may Kreidler gets a shot?.
If the season started today the OF would probably be Meadows/Greene/Carpenter with Badoo as the 4th Outfielder
Rogers and Haase are probably the Catchers unless another is brought in (Tigers have had terrible production from Catchers acquired from outside the organization for the past several years)
The Rotation will likely get one new addition on a guaranteed contract and maybe a minir league invite or two.
The bullpen has some decent arms and may be the least concerning part of the Tigers roster
Signing Mitch Haniger to maybe a two year deal which would beef up production in the outfield. That being said,
I am not completely sold on the young guys we have there now, you need a solid veteran presence there. Besides, Haniger hits righthanded which is needed in the Tigers current all lefthanded hitting outfield scheme.
The market for FA 2B is crazy thin. Schoop might opt as there are quite a few teams who would take a chance on him just out of lack of other options.
I think Tiger fans would respect him more if he did some heavy lifting immediately. Tiny Tim, although a great musician, never GM’d a team.
At least, more impressed.
Miguel Cabrera is playing another season??
Why wouldn’t he with 40 million on the table?
Are you saying bye bye to 40 million dollars? Of course he’s playing next season.
If you call that playing. But notwithstainding, he will pick up 40 more.
He has repeatedly said he considered retiring early.
That Baez contract looks worse every time I see it.
A grim but fairly accurate rehash of the season. Tigers did play better in September against some decent teams to avoid 100 losses, which looked like a sure thing after August. My suspicion is that you are right in the idea Harris will slow play 2023. Really no way to build this team into a contender for 2023. It would require players who regressed to not only improve but exceed what was expected of them going into 2022. It would require some pretty aggressive trades which would sell the future for the present. And it would take massive spending on some of the few foundational free agents that are in an otherwise weak 2023 FA class. But what I do expect is that Harris is going to work on remaking the roster even if some of the moves look lateral. The Tigers recent pick up of Jermaine Palacios and DFA’ing Drew Hutchinson hints at that. But overall the goal has to be to improve. Avila might not have been the GM to build the team into a true contender, but the cupboard is far from bare.
Free agency list leaves little to excite, probably stuck with this below average lineup another year and hope Tork, Greene, Báez have better seasons. Cabrera needs to go, overweight .200 singles hitter at this point.
Darragh, do you know anything about the Tigers? There is no way “Hittin’ Harold” Castro is going to be non-tendered. His meager WAR is only because he played every position except catcher and is a defensive “Jack of all trades, master of none.” But he is a pretty reliable hitter even if they’re mostly singles. He has decent value as a Swiss Army Knife player and is certainly worth $2.6 mill.
I’ll bet you a case of beer if you want to make it interesting!
Hittin’ Harold will probably end up on the 2023 roster.
But the Tigers need alot of offense improvement to keep a singles hitter like Harold occupying the cleanup spot in the lineup; which is completely and utterly ridiculous. They should find a hitting guru like the Tigers did with their awesome pitching coach. Then,you will see results.
Agreed….but easier said than done.
This is a tough job for the new PBO.. the fans have endured a deep rebuild. Just as it looked like they were emerging back to respectability.. now it appears 2023 needs to be another rebuild year.
I disagree. If the Tigers get really serious about finding a quality hitting coach along with establishing a much needed hitting department, they can turn this around rather quickly.
It will be more effective and cheaper to use this strategy other than spending on overpriced veterans on the free agent market.
No way the tigers give up on candelario for 7million dude carry the team 2 years straight by himself it’s no 3B better then him
On the market anyways !!! I stick with candy in 2023 season the whole team wasn’t doing good better numbers on schoop and candy will make the tigers fight for a playoff spot next year trust the process just a bad year for those 2 Guys
No way the tigers give up on candelario for 7million dude carry the team 2 years straight by himself it’s no 3B better then him
On the market anyways !!! I stick with candy in 2023 season the whole team wasn’t doing good better numbers on schoop and candy will make the tigers fight for a playoff spot next year
Candelario’s defense fell off terribly by all metrics in the past 2 years’ I think the Tigers just need a 3B for a year before Colt Keith is ready.
Just saw Keith is hitting .350 in the Arizona Fall League. Up next September, full time in 2024 if all goes well
Darragh McDonald did a nice job writing this article.
I think the Tigers are more of the same for 2023. It’s the last year of Miguel Cabrera. Jeimer Candelario should not be offered arbitration or if he is, he should be traded, especially this year. Ryan Kreidler is a better 3B.
Jake Rogers is not the answer behind the plate but the organization has very few options. Rogers may get high scouting points for defense but not when I saw him play between frequent IL trips. Im sorry to say that Dillon Dingler is not a great catcher and makes Joey Gallo look like a contact hitter.
OF defense is a mess. Austin Meadows may be a worse fielder than Nick Castellanos. He’s not going to play anyway. Mental Health, vertigo, two bad Achilles heals. Akil Badoo makes a web gems out of routine plays. Willi Castro….!!!!???
I’m surprised Andrew Chafin wasn’t traded by August with the dearth of L-RPs. Too late now. Neither he nor Schoop should be retained. These a short term options and no reason to build with them. Harold Castro is a good 2B.
Tigers Catchers are the least of their worries. The question is would candelario start at 3rd on any of these playoff teams? Would Schoop start at 2nd on these playoff teams? Would Miggy Start at 1st? Would Willi Castro Start? Would Harold Castro start? Would Victor Reyes? Would Akil Badoo? The answer is no, These are the positions that need overhaul and likely where theyll start. Candelario did put up 4 war last year though, so not sure if he changed his swing or not but he has it in the tank….will be interesting to see what they do there.
Rogers would start on every single team in the playoffs currently outside of the Phillies. A catcher with OPS over 800 and CSB% over 40-50% does not exist. Haase would as well with an OPS of .743.
This Tigers Job is a goldmine and Scott Harris knows it hence the reason he took the job. They have the easiest division to get to the playoffs, small market team with extra picks, Its not like the Rays who have to beat the Yankees or the Padres who have to beat the dodgers every year. Tigers also have an incredible fanbase like the cardinals, Long history and tradition.
They also have the richest owner in baseball, Richer than Steinbrenners. Well he was the richest until Steve Cohen bought the Mets. Either way i’m looking for the tigers to dominate this next decade with the easy division, wealthy owner, and extra picks..
Since when did the Tigers become a “small market team”? You need to brush up on your grography.
Geography
For catcher, the Tigers should go cheap and pair someone with Haase. Dingler might be ready soon, but I don’t think Rogers can hit enough to stay in the majors.
Just not much to work with in 2023. Like good butcher you need to trim the fat. 1) ask Cabrera to retire and join the front office. Get him off the team and still pay down his 40m 2) Rodriguez, Baez, Meadows all had “issues” when Avila brought them in. Find away to get rid of them. With Baez I would bat him 9th and put in a defensive replacement in the late innings. Hopefully that will piss him off enough to become a team player or opt out.
3) Power has to come from inf corners and outfield corners. Candy has to go and replaced with someone with power. Over pay for Haniger to add some power in RF
There’s really not going to be significant change until the Tigers improve their player development. It would be nice if Miggy goes out with a bang in his final season. Like a typical Miggy season of a .310-.320 batting season. Power unfortunately is gone.
Catcher is going to get better!
I want them to clean house. There are a few players I would gladly keep. But, the attitude and psyche of this team needs to do a complete 180. I love Miggy, but jeez, the guy hasn’t exhibited an ounce of competition and has been in retirement mode for years. Listening to DET-player & coaches interviews is painfully bleak.
Build a team around guys that want to be there, and want to win. Cleveland has found a way to do it, it starts from the top-down. Haase and Skubal have my vote for team captain (if that’s even a thing anymore). They seemed to be the few players who had the passion for the city and drive to win.
Scott Harris is pretty savvy about acquiring reclamation project players, fixing them and flipping some of them at the trade deadline for excellent returns.
In a rebuilding year for the Giants, they surprised the league by winning 107 games last year with a motley crew of reclamation projects, veterans near the end of their careers and young players trying to establish themselves at the MLB level.
Harris could try something like that in ’23 or ’24.
I agree that Harris needs to evaluate and rejuvenate their farm system
The Tigers do have some very good players in their system that were just too far away from the big leagues and others were injured that could not bail this years team out of their major regression from the prior year.
Move on from 3B Candelario (play your rookies); trade 2B Schoop if you can; try to fix SS Baez and maybe he opts out in ’24; Be patient with Torkelson and Green:(I remember the Padres giving up on Rizzo after he struggled to hit 150 as a rookie and then traded him to the Cubs where he became a star.
Jake Rogers should get at least 50% of the reps at catcher. Haas and maybe Dingler after the All Star break should be in the mix; The best of the two Castros should stay (Harold?!); SS Kreidler OFs Carpenter and Meadows should get a lot of MLB playing time to see if they are “keepers”.
The rotation was deep even with injuries and minor leaguers like Brieske, Joey Wentz and others were pleasant surprises.
The bullpen performed well and could be even better next year.
There could be a few bullpen pieces flipped for young impact position players for INF and OF.,
If, Scott Harris fixes the Tigers farm system with smarter drafting, better trading, better international signings, better, smarter free agent signings, vastly improved scouting and development, then it will be just what the Doctor ordered for the Tigers.
How u gonna move candelario to play kreidler when everyone knows the rookie can’t hit right pitchers I stick with candy Baez and schoop this year around the inf