The ill-fated Miguel Cabrera extension is off the books in Detroit, leading to the most payroll flexibility the team has had in quite some time. As it stands, the only three players on guaranteed contracts for the 2024 season are Javier Baez, Mark Canha and Carson Kelly. That trio combines for $40MM in guaranteed salary. Only Baez is signed beyond the 2024 season. Detroit also has a small arbitration class. Left-hander Tarik Skubal, righty Casey Mize, catcher Jake Rogers and outfielder Akil Baddoo project to earn a combined $7.5MM, per MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz.
Suffice it to say, there’s ample payroll space available in the Motor City. Detroit trotted out a payroll as high as $200MM back in 2017, albeit under the ownership of the late Mike Ilitch. Since his son, Chris, took over as the team’s control person, the Tigers haven’t fielded an Opening Day payroll north of $135MM. Then again, the Tigers have been rebuilding for much of Chris’ time in charge of the club, so aggressive spending hasn’t typically on the radar.
Many Tigers fans entered the current offseason expecting some degree of change in that regard, however. The AL Central is perhaps the sport’s weakest division, and the Tigers have some interesting young players emerging to form a core group. Spencer Torkelson and Riley Greene both took big steps forward in 2023. Skubal returned from flexor surgery and pitched like a genuine top-of-the-rotation arm. Reese Olson looks like a mid-rotation piece. Kerry Carpenter has swatted 26 homers and hit .277/.334/.473 in his first 149 big league games. Former No. 1 overall pick Casey Mize will come back from Tommy John surgery in 2024. Jason Foley, Will Vest, Tyler Holton and Alex Lange all had nice years in the bullpen (Lange’s command issues notwithstanding). It’s easy to see the reasons for optimism.
At the same time, that doesn’t necessarily portend a return to the Tigers’ former status as one of the league’s most aggressive offseason spenders. For one thing, the now-former front office regime helmed by Al Avila attempted to reestablish the Tigers as just that when signing Baez and Eduardo Rodriguez. The former hasn’t worked out at all and now stands as one of baseball’s most immovable/undesirable contracts. The latter performed well enough to opt out of the remaining three years and $49MM after an uneven tenure in Detroit.
New president of baseball operations Scott Harris will surely be wary of further saddling the team with unwanted contracts. His most recent organization — the Giants, where he was GM — has a recent track record of clearly preferring shorter-term, manageable commitments in free agency. They haven’t inked a free agent for more than three years under Farhan Zaidi’s watch as president of baseball operations. That doesn’t mean Harris will operate from the exact same playbook, but it’s notable context nonetheless.
To that end, the general expectation surrounding the Tigers this winter has been that the team will at least one, if not two arms in free agency. Adding a bat to the middle of the lineup also seems like a sensible enough fit. The question is: to what extent are the Tigers willing to spend?
Recent reports have indicated that the Tigers have interest in both Seth Lugo and Kenta Maeda, for instance, but Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press wrote this morning that the Tigers prefer Lugo on a one-year deal. He’s understandably seeking a three-year pact after a breakout 2023 campaign. Petzold also reports that rebound candidate Luis Severino is on the Tigers’ radar. He’s likely to sign a one-year deal this winter. Maeda is generally expected to sign for no more than two years. Between those three targets, a preference for shorter-term additions seems to be on the table for the Tigers.
Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic frames things similarly in his latest mailbag, writing that the Tigers seem likelier to dish out multiple short-term deals — similar to last year’s one-year pact with Michael Lorenzen — than they are to ink a notable arm on a heftier deal. The Tigers reportedly checked in on Lance Lynn before he signed a one-year, $11MM deal with the Cardinals. Stavenhagen suggests that contracts of that nature (and the Cardinals’ one-year, $12MM deal with Kyle Gibson) are roughly what one could expect the Tigers to offer in free agency. Similarly, he writes that Canha could be the team’s most significant position-player acquisition this winter.
There’s no firm indication that the Tigers won’t be a bit more aggressive in free agency and pursue some notable names on multi-year deals. Unexpected market circumstances can always emerge, perhaps leading a team to land a major free agent they never expected early in the winter. The Twins surely didn’t enter the 2021-22 offseason expecting to sign Carlos Correa, for instance, and the Tigers’ ample flexibility leaves them open for opportunistic adds of that nature, should they arise.
The trade market also can’t be discounted as a means of adding some notable talent. Harris and his staff proved over the past year that they’re plenty willing to make deals with other clubs. Since the beginning of last offseason, Detroit has traded Joe Jimenez to Atlanta and Gregory Soto and Michael Lorenzen to Philadelphia (in separate swaps). The Tigers picked up Zach McKinstry in a spring trade with the Cubs earlier this year and added Canha in a deal with Milwaukee just a few weeks ago. It’s perfectly reasonable to think they might be more active in trades than in free agency; some combination of both avenues is likely at the end of the day.
However, those hoping for a bigger splash may want to look back to Harris’ comments earlier this month when asked about having sufficient resources to sign a premier free agent (link via Chris McCosky of the Detroit News): “If we feel like we are close enough to where a big free agent pushes us over the edge, sure, we have an ownership thatās going to support us to be able to do that. But, as this game has taught us time and time again, sometimes, teams over-estimate their proximity to being a team thatās right on the verge of the playoffs, and they spend a lot of money and it doesnāt push them forward. It pushes them back. We have to be really careful.”
theyāll be more aggressive than the Pirates, even though their GM said they would be
Signing a minor league outfielder has been his only acquisition
They had better get another bat at 3B and a good starting pitcher and also maybe a tweener like Lugo or Lorenzen who could pitch out of the pen if needed. Can’t have too much pitching. They need to do something to move the needle this offseason beyond Canha and minor league promotions which will both gelpbthe offense. They are not that far behind the Twins.
I think Keith will be the Tiger’s third baseman in 2024. I do think they’ll get a decent starting pitcher on a one or two year deal. And maybe a second baseman/utility infielder. I’d like to see them replace McKinstry with someone better… Maybe they’ll just call call up Wenceel Perez and give him a chance.
They say Keith’s arm hasn’t come back and that’s why he was moved to 2B and they experimented with Jung at 3B. I’d be good if they moved Baez to the bench if he keeps playing like he has and found a young shortstop (i.e. Peraza with NYM) or test drove Leonard. I’d like to see Perez up too. Lots of young 2B, 3B types who they might be able to grab in the right deal…Mayo or Norby in Balt, one of Cincys 8 million IFers, Vargas or Busch with LAD, Black in Mil and so on and so on.
I like the idea of Fetter getting a shot at fixing Flaherty.
Jung actually won a minor league gold glove at 3B which is something. He also played 3B in the AFL so it appears they’re pretty set on him being our future 3B whether he’s our opening day starter in 2024 or 2025.
Jung got the gold glove at 2B I thought but looked sharp at 3B too in AFL?
Yep, you’re right… just looked it up. I guess the point of him playing 3B at AFL was so they could try to work out the possibility of Keith and Jung both being in the lineup in 2024. They’re essentially trading positions.
Too bad Keith got hurt, he had a cannon for an arm. I’m excited to see them both. That will be progress.
Jung canāt throw. Looked terrible at 3B in afl. Tigers have huge problem with all their prospects coming up being positionless. All sort of like Kerry Carpenter mold. Iāve had two different prospect scouts tell me jung looks bad def at 3B and will be below avg def at 2nd too. Not atrhletc and slow. Keith is going to be great player. Thereās some video of Jung throwing in AFL at 3B. Seriously looks like it hurts himā¦not good. His older brother is way more athletic and their is large amount of mlb execs that think even he looks terrible at 3B. Itās looks bad but he is effective. But the older brother is a different type of player than the younger tiger prospect. Heās way more athletic.. I have no idea what tigers execs are going to do. Look for some trades to happen.
This also seems like it would be in Harrisās method. A pitcher with high upside. I can see this happening.
I like the Urshela fit also.
3B market is pretty thin this year. I’m hoping the go for Urshela.
I like the fit of Urshela also
Ibanez played better than Urshela last year. Keith will play 2B and Ibanez and Vierling will cover most of the 3B duties unless they make a signing. Urshela doesn’t m9ve the needle there.
And only four more years until the ill-fated Javier Baez contract is off the books!
And only three years until Skubal, Mize and Rogers are FAs. Two years before they are traded because they won’t sign extensions.
Yes already some of the trade pieces are drafties are going by the wayside
Cubs give you Morel and a low level shortstop for Baez and you eat 75 percent of his salary
Pretty sure they would jump at that deal.
We signed Mark effing Canha. Mark, effing, Canha. We’re being about as aggressive as a toddler taking a nap.
The clickbait on this headline is immeasurable, dozens & dozens of people will be unable to resist. Keep up the good work boys. Ahahaha!
A, he was traded for, not signed. So that has ZERO to do with free agency aggressiveness. B, Mark effing Canha is a solid player that most teams would love to have. Plays multiple positions well, career OPS+ of 115, and gets on base at a .350 clip. Very good player. C, fans like you will never be pleased anyway. You know it, I know it.
Exercised his option, yep – signed. Are you ok? You seem upset. So, since that has “ZERO to do with free agency aggressiveness,” whom have we signed so far? I’ll wait for you to assemble a list, and you can report back.
B. Mark EFFING Canha has NO defensive position, he’ll be a defensive liability in the OF in Comerica, or will be a NO power, NO speed slapdick of an old man at DH for us.
Go off on all those “career stats,” while ignoring his plummeting power, again NO speed whatsoever, and will be a roadblock in the way of getting young talent up to the MLB roster to develop further.
C. Fans like me EXPECT more from my franchise and don’t ACCEPT mediocrity in the way fans like you do.
You know it, I know it.
Htrab, do yourself a favor and knock it off. You’re embarrassing yourself.
Your team made a good move. Wasnāt a major move, but a good move for the 2024 season. Smart baseball fans recognize it was a good move. You donāt.
Here’s some big boy reading for you, will give you an excuse to escape from the family today. It’s a tale about a player “most teams would love to have.”
Has a tragic ending though, so be warned.
baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/mark-canha-59…
āMr. Jarvis is one of the most aggressive babies I have ever metā
Boooooooo!!!!
Youāre out!! Goddamnit! Somebody get him him outta here??
Canha was a good move like Roy said. He can get on base, which is something they were lacking. Plus he’s only there for a year and not blocking any young players coming up from the minors.
Also not a baseclogger by any means. He takes extra bases and can sprint to third on an errant throw.
I think Canha was a good target, getting him has already made the Tigers better.
We traded next to nothing an exercised an option on Canha, we did not sign him.
Nice, won’t don’t you tell us how you REALLY feel? š
They’ll get a big name pitcher and quality position player. They got the pieces now is their time to supplement them.
> Theyāll get a big name pitcher
Noah Syndergaard!
> and quality position player
Whit Merrifield!
Was the Miguel Cabrera extension really Iāll-fated? Or is that just what it took to ink a first ballot HOFāer in his prime, long term?
How many years of his contract would Tigers fans have considered it to be an albatross? And they never did win the Series with Miggy so you can’t make the “Flags Fly Forever” argument.
Though damn they SHOULD have won one with the talent they had for a few years there.
HOF Hats are forever, too.
It would have been worth it if they could have won just 1 title. That team was absolutely loaded !
Jim Leyland could never manage a pen very well. Even worse, he was a poor manager at the point the Tigers were a super team.
I agree. Well it certainly didnāt end well, teams know what they are getting into when they sign guys to 10+ year deals, especially generational talents that are headed to Cooperstown. Had they let him walk, people would have complained about that. Gotta take the good with the bad for some of these guys. Cabrera will be a Tigers legend forever. HOF with their cap. They did just fine.
How many āgenerationalā talents is each generation permitted to have?
Several.
Depends what theyre generational at.
What does being generational at something mean?
Cardinals let Pujols walk…
IMO, Steve Adams should have used better words or left that out completely. You do not throw shade at a first ballot Hall of Fame player who played several of those āIll-fatedā years hurt because he felt he owed it to the fans.
Miggy deserves respect, not some cheap shot from a blogger whoās best known for ābees? Beadsā
I worship and adore Miggy, but I thought it was pretty obvious the contract was ill-fated from the beginning. There was no way he was going to keep hitting 340 with 44 bombs every year until he was 40, but they were going to pay him like he was. They had 2 years left on his deal and clearly jumped the gun…
The contract was not ill fated. What most people often ignore with these massive contracts is that they re not purely about production. These players such as Miggy become the face of a billion $ brand, someone fans can recognize.
It’s still preferable to get players who actually play well for the duration of their contracts.
Miggy was one of the last long term contracts signed as the steroid issue became public. Many players had extended their production into their late 30’s at that time. Lots of 20/20 hindsight happening. Bonds, Big Papi, Clemens were all producing late in their careers. Pujols and Miggy both benefited.
Right, why be honest when you can fluff up a player who was incredibly overpaid for the last few years based off of performance.
As bad as Cabrera was… he was still better than many Tigers.
They saved a bunch of money by letting Cabrera go and messing up on ERod… well, they just spent $11 mil on a 35 year old LFer who will probably make Baez look good. Who will be the next $10 mil pitcher that spends most of the season on the IR?
Wyatt Langford would have been a nice addition for LF in 2024, but Scottie Harris decided to spend money on a 35 year old and drafted a high schooler instead. Oh well…. not like we really expect him to do anything.
Miggy was hurt most of 2018 even though he had some decent totals that year… .299/.395/.448 in 38 games… the next 5 years he had .262/ .324/ .34 splits for a 92 ops+. Which, on these Tiger teams, is probably better than most. Players on the Tigers who did better in those 5 years… Reyes, Grossman, Candelaria, Schoop, Rogers, Jacoby Jones… were all released by the Tigers. So, the idea that he was blocking someone is just foolish. There was no one in the system that could have taken his spot.
Melchez…Canha is a good player who gets on base. I have no idea where you get the comparison to Baez. You run in circles with your arguments like a dog chasing his tail. When Langford turns into Rob Deer and Clark is doing his best impression of Kirk Gibson, I’ll be there to say I told you so;)
I liked Canha 3 years ago… he’s 35 now. You have no idea what you will get. Why invest in a 35 year old?
Langford will be Jim Rice and Clark will be doing his Derek Hill imitation.
If the Tigers are looking at building the system up first, then go ahead and deal Manning and Jake Rogers to the Reds and get Carlos Jorge and Sal Stewart for 2B and 3B.
I would hate for that to happen… but Scottie is running the show now. This could get ugly.
Ooooh. I like Sal Stewart. 100% agree he’d be a good pickup. Hopefully we haven’t cursed Langford and Clark with or Rob Deer and Derek Hill comparisons! Cheers dude.
@Melchez
Did you just defend the Cabrera deal within three posts of knocking the idea of paying a (very good) 35 year old $11m for a year?
Just making sure I got that right.
Canha is no Miguel Cabrera.
Will Canha be better than Cabrera was his last 5 years?
Is this a serious question?
Thereās a very, very good chance that in 2024 Canha surpasses MCās average hitting performance of about 89 ops+ over the last 5 years.
Thatās disregarding the fact that MC has been unplayable in the field, while Canha plays at least three positions quite capably.
Langford is doing incredibly well.
Last 5 years Miggy was a 92+ OPS. Canha is a terrible LFer and will get worse at 35.
Tigers are tanking again. Getting older players to flip at the deadline. 2024 will be a “fill in the holes” year. It’s a shame they aren’t even trying. They are wasting these years of Greene, Tork and Skubal.
How pathetic… Tiger fans are excited about a 35 year old DH that has no power or speed. I guess when you get excited about Andy Ibanez and McKinstry, a guy like Canha is exciting.
Wake me up when the Tiger admins start caring.
Langford had 36 walks and 34 K’s in 2023. .360/ .480/ .677 splits.
Tiger fans like Max Clarks 21 walks and 25 K’s and split of .224/ .383/. 377. Cal him the walking man. Clark struggled in A ball in his first year while Langford destroyed all 4 levels.
Yep… Scottie Harris is still figuring out what he has.
MC?
They need to get aggressive, otherwise they’ll waste having Hinch as the manager. Surprised they hired him and haven’t put together a winning team.
Seems like Suarez would have been a good fit for the Tigers. They could use some pitching for sure.
Bring him back where he came from.
They want Seth Lugo, so my answer is ānot very.ā
The big question is do they want him as a SP, a reliever or to fill the Tyler Alexander role? The role of when a starter goes down you have a reliever capable of throwing 5-6 frames. Itās not like Lugo is a bad pitcher.
Well, Lugo wants to start. And has shown that he is a valuable starter. And that he is more valuable when used as a starter.
So I donāt think thereās a reasonable chance of him signing anywhere as a long reliever.
Only as a backup for failing to sign Lynn! That they even talked to Lynn’s agent before February, after having failed to sign a better pitcher, is very worrying.
I hope the Tigers weren’t in on a 37 year old Lance Lynn.
Hopefully they will bring in young talent at third and move their furthest away seats from the field closer in for fans.. They are trying to improve things and we fans appreciate their efforts
As aggressive as a tiger cub. Mildly aggressive to no avail.
These Tigers don’t roar, they go “meow”.
They need two starting pitchers and one to be high end. I would like to see a bull pen arm and a real Third Baseman someone who does not cost us multiple games with defense. He needs to have an above average bat too. Also been a middle of the order bat. Someone to move the needle of this horrible offense. We need runs.
We need two starting pitchers and one needs to be high end. I would like to see a bull pen arm also. We desperately need a real third baseman, someone who does not cost us games with his defense and needs to be an above average offensive player. And we need a big bat. This team needs runs. Now if they get this through free agency or a trade I do not know
Their starting pitching looks awfully thin right now. Two guys threw 100 innings last year that are still on the team: Reese Olson and Joey Wentz. Olson was a rookie and Wentz’s numbers were so bad that I recommend you not even go and look because they will make you flinch. I would love to trust Skubal bc he is a pure menace, but the rest I have serious questions about. They need to sign at least two SPs, maybe three, and have a handful of high upside minor league invitees. They are not signing Yamamoto.
It also seems they plan to supplement a lot of those innings with bullpen guys in the mold of Tyler Holton. Like it or not, I have to conclude their candidates for those roles will include mostly minor league signings.
I can’t see them signing any infielders in this free agent class (any of a 3B, SS, 2B would be fine, thank you). I could see them trading for one if the right deal came along, but I wouldn’t count on it. I expect them to role with a ton of super utility players and Javy Baez, which feels like a big mistake to me, but what do I know? It would not surprise me if they started Colt Keith in Toledo. They could use a guy like Isaac Parades right now, but I doubt the Rays will trade him.
I predict more low-risk, uninspiring moves.
I wonder what it would cost to get Miguel Vargas from the Dodgers to play 3B? He seems to have fallen out of favor a bit there. They need pitching so maybe Manning could be shipped out in a deal and sign a more durable FA to replace him.
Mr. Ilitch’s goal was to win a World Series. Chrissy’s goal is to watch the value of his franchise increase from $1.5 billion to $1.6 billion in 2024, which is best accomplished by not wasting money on talented players.
A lot of reasons for the Tigers not to spend. First, is the philosophy that Harris brought in regarding building a foundation of talent and a sound development system. He has done some good work there, but the job is far from done. So unless he wants to suddenly deviate from that, spending a lot in the FA market does not make sense. Would also take Chris Ilitch wanting him to do that, and he has not shown his fatherās willingness to spend. But dadās spending didnāt net a WS title, and the Tigers havenāt been very profitable the past decade per Forbes. So can certainly see Chris wanting to take some profit before spending. Add to that a weak free agent market. There just is not a lot of talent worth going all in on, especially on the positional side where the Tigers probably need the most help. Plenty of pitching though and suspect that is where the Tigers will spend. Not at the top of the market but plenty of good arms that could help the Tigers and not break the bank.
I loved his comment about overestimating a teamās proximity to the playoffs. If youāre not ready, big money free agents are a waste of resources. Youāre better off continuing to tank and getting another high draft pick than spending $15-$25 million on a free agent, winning 10 more games and dropping 10 spots in the draft. Itās a shame that Avila screwed this rebuild up. By now, we should have that core, but we donāt. The bad news about that is the window of contention is open right now and we donāt have the players to compete. If we donāt get it together soon, weāre gonna start losing players to free agency.
I bet the Tigers are wishing they had taken Wyatt Langford over Max Clark in the draft already. Clark could still turn out to be a great player someday, but Langford is looking like a potential stud as early as next season.
HARRIS and probably CI don’t really want to win with the foundation Avila built, now that he was canned. Langford would have helped the current iteration of the team. Clark will be Greene’s replacement.
Stymedone…That makes no sense when the core of the team right now are almost all players Avila signed. You are reading a lot into Langford’s 100 minor league at bats. Harris didn’t have the money that Texas did to blow on free agents and you can’t just dump a bunch of money in one year and expect to build a team that will win consistently.
Illich’s have 9 billion… they can afford to pay players. When the Tigers are good, you see 3 million hitting the gate. When they tank, that is cut by more than half. Put a decent team on the field.
Which free agents speculation do you propose they sign this offseason?? It’s easy to just call for spending, but why don’t you indicate on who. Even if you name them, that’s assuming they even want to sign with Tigers or feel it is a good fit for their career and life.
@ Bum – Sure you can. $ Makes the world go around. Makes Christopher’s head spin like Linda Blair or Regan McNeil, depending on which reality you live in…….
Yes. You can. But we’ll never know……
They might have 9 billion but the Tigers do not.
Personal wealth has nothing to do with the team’s income/expense ratio. I am amazed the fans that don’t get it is a business they invested in.
Just because they are wealthy, personally, they aren’t going to lose money. That’s how they got 9 billion to begin with.
9 Billion is top 10 in majors for an owner. It’s more than the Stienbrenner family. They definitely can afford an slightly more than average payroll. They don’t need to be in the bottom quarter.
This Langford shoulda been drafted over Clark thing is going to keep popping up until Clark shows up.
My prediction: Langford will be in the Rangers lineup and will be fine, but not ROY material. Langford would not make that big of a difference in Detroit in ’24 anyway.
Clark will likely be in Detroit by the end of 2025. 1 year behind, but I also think he’s the next Bryce Harper. I can wait for that.
ā¦ā¦.and does it really matter?
The Tigers have built a minor league pipeline that will start to harvest more players
in ’24 an ’25. & ’26.
Both Avila and Harris have contributed to it.
It would be foolish to sign a bunch of recycled free agent guys that would block their minor league talent that is very close to the majors and needs time to acclimate to the major league pitching by starting and playing a lot of game.
Infielders Colt Keith (3B/2B) and Jace Jung 2B are ready to start auditioning on the big league club ’24 and will joint Greene and Torkelson and building blocks of the next Tigers
contender,.
Justyn Henry Malloy (3B/OF) and Dillion Dingler C/CF are also showing some promise.
RHSP TY Madden needs to get experience in the Tigers rotation.
Signing a bunch of old veterans would block/delay this process and be Al Avila 2.0.
Scott Harris must do a better job of Drafting and Trading.
I am of the opinion (and have been even when Avila was here)
that the Tigers will need to be very bold to jumpstart this rebuild.
They may have to trade a player of players in very high demand
to get this rebuild “jumpstarted”.
Scott Harris seems like the very conservative type, so I doubt he will do that.
But, if Tarik Skubal shows the domination he did before his surgery
in the 1st half of ’24, he could be the Tigers “goldmine” in a Trade to
a contender.
Skubal, when healthy is a solid #1 LHSP, cost controlled with multiple years of control
left.
The Tigers could get a huge return for Skubal including more young starting pitching,
more young major league or almost major league impact position players who can field and hit and more.
Add 3-4 top young players and and almost major league prospects in a Skubal deal
would set the Tigers up for opening their window of contention in ’25 and ’26.
Fans might hate such a move, but the alternative is the glacially slow drafting and minor league development process and bargain bin hunting that Harris is know for.
It would need to be a haul to get rid of Skubal. Heās had some arm issues but could easily be the top young pitcher in the AL. I donāt bet much but putting a few dollars down on him for Cy Young could be a winner.
You make some good points that I agree with. If he signed or traded for some young talent now it could set them up for later. Not all of their minor leaguers will make it big, so some competition might be good.
I would be fuming if they traded Skubal but IF they do they better get a Mayo, Norby, Basallo, plus package type return. And before you freak out Baltimore fans, most minor league players don’t end up being significant contributors so it’s likely one of those three ends up a solid player, one fails and one is a bench player or depth. Prospects are maybes. Skubal is not a maybe. I’d rather they keep him and add around him.
Taking a chance on signing a young pitching talent like Yamamoto, grabbing a short term innings eater like Flaherty or Maeda for Fetter to play with, scooping an interesting Rule 5 pitcher like Wilcox or Ginn, signing BP pieces like Robert Stephenson or Phil Maton and trading for some young infield bats from Baltimore, Cincy, LAD, St Louis or Texas to add to the core and newcomers Malloy and Keith would certainly get my interest.
With the right moves they can build a winner this year without significantly impacting the future. Harris needs to show the fans something this offseason.
I am a fan of your comment., I am a hopeful Tiger Fan and if Detroit takes this approach, I can certainly get with it.
If Tigers feel that Keith is ready, and Jung is close, they really donāt need to sign anybody to block them. Pitching has the wild cards. Can Skubal dominate the whole season? Can Manning not break a foot? What will Mize contribute? Best option might be to get a guy like Maeda and go hard for Yamomoto.
Over/under on feet broken for Manning: 1.5
Red Wings…100% agree.
Seth Lugo, Kenta Maeda and Luis Severinoā¦doesn’t seem like a list of names that inspires confidence if you’re a Tiger fan.
It is interesting they checked in on Lance Lynn, though, feel like someone like Carlos Carrasco could fill a similar role for them.
The Tigers can;t do anything crazy. 40 Million for 3 players is already pretty crazy. They were 9 games in back of the twins. Yes they played great in the second half, but had that 2-20 result of two streaks. To expect them to continue to play well, and also improve that 2-20 as well is a little much with the two missing pitchers.
Detroit’s young pitchers are major question marks as the 150 inning mark seems like pie in the sky. No sense in spending big money as the team as a whole is a work in progress. If the hitters and pitchers develop more. If they can get to 500 or near like this year while getting better with solid improvements. Then yes spend more in the future. They still have only a few full time players. Hope for a good lottery too..
Boo. Enough is enough. 10 years planning and scheming to “make this team better”.
Boo.
Now, is the winter of our discontent.
!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hear, hear, my friend.
Thumbs up just for quoting the Bard.
Twins and Guardians alternate between treading water and shedding payroll, the White Sox have really gone for it but the moves just haven’t been working, and the Royals just collect revenue sharing while hoping another 15-20 years of top draft picks will recapture those WS runs. Now is the time to go for it, weakest division in baseball.
I like a team that buys a world series and then fire sales the team. I miss the early years of the Marlins.
Tigers should do that.
Yamamoto, Snell, Chapman and Bellinger should do it. Throw in Hader. Maybe Rosario at SS and move Baez to 2B? Bat him 9th and see if he responds. If not, bench him and bring up some kids.
The Tigers have such a low payroll in a year with such bad free agents that the only prudent thing for them to do is to go hard after Ohtani and/or Yamamoto.
If they have no desire to play in Detroit, fine, but they need to make it hurt for whoever they do sign with and take away one or two suitors for Soto next year. They could offer Ohtani $80 mil a year and still be close to $100 mil below their highest payrolls.
Not asking for the moon, just make us better than last year, and maybe play some meaningful games in Octoberā¦ā¦to start.
Tigers were in second place in the AL Central this year… it won’t take much to put them in meaningful games. But it will take more than a little dumpster diving.
Don’t laugh, but @ the Trade deadline last year,
I cooked up a Trade between the Tigers and Padres:
To the Tigers: SS Jackson Merrill
LHSP Robbie Snelling
C Luis Compusano
To the Padres: LHSP Tarik Skubal
C Jake Rogers
OF Akil Badoo
There was another backend reliever set up guy who could become a future closer going to the Padres
and another player going to the Tigers OF? (don’ t recall off top of my head).
That kind of a trade is a “pure baseball” trade
that helps both teams.
The Padres needed an immediate boost to make the playoffs
(missed it by a few games, but this proposed deal may have put the Padres “over the top”.
The Padres “window of contention” is right now: ’22 ’23 and moving forward
The Tigers window of contention does not open until , maybe the end of ’24or sometime in ’25 (possibly if they made the right moves).
The Players the Tigers would have received are young almost major league ready that would fit the Tigers window of contention Late ’24? or ’25?
The Tigers would have a group of core players in the same age range ready to compete as a group.
The Padres are in “go for it” mode right now so Skubal, Rogers, and Badoo could have sparked them enough to make up more than the 2-3 games to make the playoffs last year and in ’24.
“win/win” situation.
The Padres are loaded with shortstops and keep on drafting more. Merrill, Campusano and LHSP Robbie Snelling could be just what the doctor ordered for the young Tigers team.
google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=jack…
youtube.com/watch?v=0VZwDSnyR2A
youtube.com/watch?v=-lR-axk6K5Y
youtube.com/watch?v=PVz6ETX2Few
youtube.com/watch?v=pMwYbMvWuFs
“To that end, the general expectation surrounding the Tigers this winter has been that the team will at least one, if not two arms in free agency.” – I accidentally an arm in free agency, the whole arm, even two š
To entertain these fair well-spoken days,ā I am determined to prove a villain, And hate the idle pleasures of these days. Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous, By drunken prophecies, libels, and dreams,
How aggressive will the Tigers be this winter?
As passive as the fans will allow. $$$$$
They should be very aggressive. They have no pitching and the field is in complete disarray……
Unfortunately, Tiger fans believe the opposite…….
The Tigers got pretty lucky last year.
Look at the stats….
Look at reality.
The Tigers should be very aggressive.
It’s obvious.
The Tigers need to hire….
The Superfife!
Now is the winter of our discontent Made glorious summer by this sun of York…..
130s seems to be the max payroll for small market teams with the low end TV revenues. Especially now with the Bally’s bankruptcy.
Tigers should find a way to get Greg Jones from the Rays. He was a SS, but has been moved to 2B and CF because the Rays are deep at middle infield. He’s a switch hitter with 80 speed and some power. He is a free swinger, maybe the Tiger coaches can get him to focus on getting on base and utilize his speed? He could be the 2B for years and a top of the order type.
He’s old for a prospect as he’s 25.
I would much rather Harris take chances on guys like these instead of hoping a 35 year old has a little more gas in the tank. Younger guys may not work out as often, but when they do, it will have a huge impact on the roster.
Make a deal for Jones and lefty hitting catcher Logan Driscoll. Driscoll would be backup to Rogers, so he wouldn’t play much. But his lefty bat would be nice to see. He has some power and takes some walks. Reminds me of Alex Avila.
On trade simulator, a bullpen arm like Brieske could get Jones and Driscoll. Come on Scottie… make a deal.
Rule 5 2B Isaac Collins from the Brewers… more walks (75) than K’s (55) last year. Switch hitter with decent power (10 homer) and good speed (29 swipes). He’s 25, was at AAA last year hit .260 with an obp over .400. Take a chance Scottie.
I miss Mike Illitch.