2023-24 Detroit Tigers Offseason Thread

[Jim Cowan]

I'm happy about this.  I wanted him to get the job instead of Les Moss and Sparky Anderson, but things worked out in the end.

[chasfh]

12 hours ago, casimir said:

Leyland’s case is interesting.  He finished at 1769-1728, only a .504 winning percentage.  He won his only ring with the Marlins.  He had his longest stint with the Pirates.  His only tenure with a team that was a winning record was with the Tigers.

I think Leyland got a boost from the fame factor. Chewing out Barry Bonds was the highlight of his Oscar reel. And what other manager could look so cool smoking heaters in the dugout during games?

Edited December 4, 2023 by chasfh

[chasfh]

14 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

Manning is basically a 4 seam fastball pitcher. He doesn't have the velo a Verlander had but it's that kind of pitcher profile. So just for perspective I'd note that JV threw over 500 MLB innings before he reached a one K/IP K rate. Manning is at ~225. He has enough stuff if stays healthy and learns how to use it -  never any guarantees with pitchers but I would understand if the Tiger are willing to give him more time to develop before moving him.

I’d be surprised to see us moving Manning this offseason. He seems so tantalizing close to finally putting it all together. He’s only 26 coming into the season, and he has fewer than 300 innings on his arm during the past four seasons due to all his time on the shelf. Plus, the Tigers have committed a lot of resources to him over the years so I don’t think they’ll let him go for cheap. The one glaring hole in his game is the inability to miss bats. If he can plug that hole, he’ll be very good.

[RandyMarsh]

Manning's lack of swings and misses concerns me. Its just so hard to be a successful pitcher in this league nowadays with a bad K and whiff rate.

[Longgone]

2 hours ago, RandyMarsh said:

Manning's lack of swings and misses concerns me. Its just so hard to be a successful pitcher in this league nowadays with a bad K and whiff rate.

I think you've only seen the diminished version of himself, unfortunately. 

[KL2]

 

[Motown Bombers]

18 hours ago, casimir said:

Leyland’s case is interesting.  He finished at 1769-1728, only a .504 winning percentage.  He won his only ring with the Marlins.  He had his longest stint with the Pirates.  His only tenure with a team that was a winning record was with the Tigers.

Leyland also inherited some bad teams. The Pirates lost over 100 games the season before Leyland took over and got them to 3 straight NLCS before Bonds left. He had that 97 Marlins team that loaded up in the offseason and then managed the 98 team that was completely dismantled. There was Colorado but then he inherited a Tigers team that was 3 years removed from losing 119 games and 13 years since their last winning season and 19 years from their last playoff appearance and made them an immediate success. If you look past the W-L record, he did well reviving franchises. 

[oblong]

 

[MIguy]

 

[casimir]

53 minutes ago, oblong said:

 

I can see how this could be a tough call for Leyland.  Thinking back to Sparky Anderson, part of his rationale for going with the Reds cap is that they gave him his first opportunity to manage an MLB team.  I wouldn't find fault with Leyland if he decided to go with a Pirates cap for similar sentiments.

[casimir]

1 hour ago, Motown Bombers said:

Leyland also inherited some bad teams. The Pirates lost over 100 games the season before Leyland took over and got them to 3 straight NLCS before Bonds left. He had that 97 Marlins team that loaded up in the offseason and then managed the 98 team that was completely dismantled. There was Colorado but then he inherited a Tigers team that was 3 years removed from losing 119 games and 13 years since their last winning season and 19 years from their last playoff appearance and made them an immediate success. If you look past the W-L record, he did well reviving franchises. 

No question, and I would think that's part of the reason for his enshrinement.

[Tenacious D]

1 minute ago, casimir said:

I can see how this could be a tough call for Leyland.  Thinking back to Sparky Anderson, part of his rationale for going with the Reds cap is that they gave him his first opportunity to manage an MLB team.  I wouldn't find fault with Leyland if he decided to go with a Pirates cap for similar sentiments.

Sparky was also pissed at the Tigers near the end—I’ve read they treated him differently after he refused to manage scabs during the 1994 strike.  Apparently Mr. I was not happy with that decision.

[Sports_Freak]

1 minute ago, casimir said:

No question, and I would think that's part of the reason for his enshrinement.

I would have voted for him just for the way he chewed out Barry Bonds. He quickly established who was in charge! And I remember in 2006 when the Tigers played uninspired ball right before a road trip, he laid into them. The guy was one of the last old school managers. He deserves the HOF.

[Sports_Freak]

1 hour ago, Motown Bombers said:

Leyland also inherited some bad teams. The Pirates lost over 100 games the season before Leyland took over and got them to 3 straight NLCS before Bonds left. He had that 97 Marlins team that loaded up in the offseason and then managed the 98 team that was completely dismantled. There was Colorado but then he inherited a Tigers team that was 3 years removed from losing 119 games and 13 years since their last winning season and 19 years from their last playoff appearance and made them an immediate success. If you look past the W-L record, he did well reviving franchises. 

But after the 2006 season, he was quick to point out that Tram didn't have the players he did. JV and Zumaya. And he gave Tram credit for laying the foundation of a winning culture. He always tried to deflect credit for his success.

[chasfh]

1 hour ago, oblong said:

 

If that's really what Leyland said, then I gotta believe it'll be no logo.

[1776]

49 minutes ago, Tenacious D said:

Sparky was also pissed at the Tigers near the end—I’ve read they treated him differently after he refused to manage scabs during the 1994 strike.  Apparently Mr. I was not happy with that decision.

The fact that they didn’t retire his number until after he died was a cheap shot in my opinion. 

[oblong]

I can can also interpret it as a good cop/bad cop scenario.  He wants it to be the Tigers but doesn’t want to insult anyone else so they call back on “the HOF makes the decision”. He can save face.   No logo would not surprise me.  He could face sideways like some others so no logo is visible. 

[oblong]

Just now, 1776 said:

The fact that they didn’t retire his number until after he died was a cheap shot in my opinion. 

It was indeed.  Dombrowski in making the announcement at Tigerfest made it sound like an oversight and he claimed responsibility as the boss but no question it was intentional.  Not by him but Mike. 

[Tenacious D]

2 minutes ago, oblong said:

I can can also interpret it as a good cop/bad cop scenario.  He wants it to be the Tigers but doesn’t want to insult anyone else so they call back on “the HOF makes the decision”. He can save face.   No logo would not surprise me.  He could face sideways like some others so no logo is visible. 

This.  He wants the HOF to make the call for him.

[Edman85]

Go in as a Rockie, Jim.

[Tiger337]

How about an Evansville Tripletts cap?  

[Tigermojo]

Cigarette instead of a cap?

[gehringer_2]

12 minutes ago, Tigermojo said:

Cigarette instead of a cap?

LOL - that's what I was thinking. 

Man is actually damn lucky it hasn't killed him yet. You have to be born with a lucky gene package to be that resistant.

[Tigermojo]

7 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

LOL - that's what I was thinking. 

Man is actually damn lucky it hasn't killed him yet. You have to be born with a lucky gene package to be that resistant.

His cancer has cancer. Double negative.

[oblong]