2024 - 2025 Detroit Tigers Offseason

[1776]

If this team started the season with the personnel they currently have, they’d  be hard pressed to match their 2024 record. A lot of things lined up for the Tigers the last six weeks that aren’t likely to repeat themselves this year. 

[gehringer_2]

4 minutes ago, 1776 said:

If this team started the season with the personnel they currently have, they’d  be hard pressed to match their 2024 record. A lot of things lined up for the Tigers the last six weeks that aren’t likely to repeat themselves this year. 

It is a hard group to predict. On the positional side, they've shown they can do some things, but not that they can do them consistently over 162.  A couple of guys swinging better or worse will create a big swing. On the pitching side, Cobb is not an exciting pickup, Skubal is the one guy on the team that can't be any better than he was last season, and the rest of the arms are either untested and/or promising but recovering from injury. Which is why I'm anxious to see another front of the rotation guy signed.

[IdahoBert]

As a person who’s never lived in Detroit, but who is a lifelong monogamous monotheist worshiper at the altar of the Detroit Tigers — for which I have an affinity that no other team or past time can ever equal or exceed —  I’m sorry that the Lions lost such an important game and that this amazing transcendent season ended on such a sour note.

The Tigers literally dazzled me and changed my life as a child for the better and that can only happen once. So I’m just a bandwagoner to every other sport and every other team in existence — even Boise State. Still, following the Lions this year gave me great joy and it was nice to feel included in the broader spectrum of your various loyalties if only for a while. 

[Tenacious D]

3 minutes ago, IdahoBert said:

As a person who’s never lived in Detroit, but who is a lifelong monogamous monotheist worshiper at the altar of the Detroit Tigers — for which I have an affinity that no other team or past time can ever equal or exceed —  I’m sorry that the Lions lost such an important game and that this amazing transcendent season ended on such a sour note.

The Tigers literally dazzled me and changed my life as a child for the better and that can only happen once. So I’m just a bandwagoner to every other sport and every other team in existence — even Boise State. Still, following the Lions this year gave me great joy and it was nice to feel included in the broader spectrum of your various loyalties if only for a while. 

Nice sentiment, Bert.  I’m a fan of all Detroit teams, so this one was tough.  A couple of the Tigers Twitter dweebs seemed to relish in the loss, especially with Goff playing poorly. 

[IdahoBert]

6 minutes ago, Tenacious D said:

Nice sentiment, Bert.  I’m a fan of all Detroit teams, so this one was tough.  A couple of the Tigers Twitter dweebs seemed to relish in the loss, especially with Goff playing poorly. 

It pisses me off to hear that. I have several sets of friends who lived in Idaho and then moved back to Detroit and while they were in Boise, we had a lot of things in common and we stay in touch and some of them are pretty gutted out by this loss of the Lions. So although I can’t go all Bill Clinton and tell people that “I feel your pain“ I sort of do. This matters to people I know and care about so it matters to me, even though it isn’t happening to me with the same gravity. 

[chasfh]

I don't know, I'm just not sold on years and years of Jack Flaherty. If you take a look at his record, it reads: cup of coffee; good year; great year; crap year, injured year; crap injured year; meh year; good year. So if we were to give him, I don't know, 5/110 just to agree to long-term it in Detroit, we can be certain he'll have some injured years and meh years and long stretches of crap, and probably also a good year, or maybe even two. But I just don't see him reeling off anything like five straight years of 30+ starts with well-above average ERA+.

If we were to sign him, I would root hard for him, but we also wouldn't be able to say he himself didn't warn us.

[papalawrence]

Been a Lions fan since 1971. Very solemn night. I live in Minneapolis and my friends here are rubbing it in

[papalawrence]

Maybe the Tigers have a feel good story here

 

 

[Sports_Freak]

OK, Scott Harris...the Detroit sports world now is watching and waiting on you to be the light at the end of a dark tunnel. About now would be a very good time to...actually do something. Sign a quality free agent? Make a blockbuster trade? Anything but the continuation of crickets...

[Tenacious D]

11 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

OK, Scott Harris...the Detroit sports world now is watching and waiting on you to be the light at the end of a dark tunnel. About now would be a very good time to...actually do something. Sign a quality free agent? Make a blockbuster trade? Anything but the continuation of crickets...

Honestly, I don’t know what would make me happy.  Bregman and Flaherty give me Baez and Zimmerman vibes—both seem like they would not fulfill a long term contract well.  I would like to see a trade of some sort that could move some depth from our minor leagues for an established hitter.  However, I’d prefer to see our young guys get more opportunities, too.  We really don’t know what we have in Jung or JHen, for example.

And, stubbornly, I’m not ready to give up on Torkelson, either.

[IdahoBert]

Last year’s historic uptick was amazing. A lot of things fell into place almost miraculously, and I doubt that it’s repeatable. Other teams last year didn’t see the Tigers coming and now they do. Granted, a lot of these young guys may blossom making this fear unnecessary  

A lot of heavy lifting occurred on the ground last year and yielded great results. It certainly wasn’t all due to taking flight on angel’s wings. That last part of the season surge happened due to grit and willpower and a lot of thoughtful intervention and coaching but I can’t help but feel that right now this is a 77–85 team without something dramatic occurring.

[Sports_Freak]

1 minute ago, Tenacious D said:

Honestly, I don’t know what would make me happy.  Bregman and Flaherty give me Baez and Zimmerman vibes—both seem like they would not fulfill a long term contract well.  I would like to see a trade of some sort that could move some depth from our minor leagues for an established hitter.  However, I’d prefer to see our young guys get more opportunities, too.  We really don’t know what we have in Jung or JHen, for example.

And, stubbornly, I’m not ready to give up on Torkelson, either.

Sign Bregman. Or just stash away the money. Fans shouldn't concern themselves with players contracts. If we spend money on this guy and he doesn't work out, we can't afford the next guy? But in reality, we're not signing the next guy anyway. Just money going to the Tigers as more profit. 

[Tenacious D]

Just now, Sports_Freak said:

Sign Bregman. Or just stash away the money. Fans shouldn't concern themselves with players contracts. If we spend money on this guy and he doesn't work out, we can't afford the next guy? But in reality, we're not signing the next guy anyway. Just money going to the Tigers as more profit. 

Look at how having Baez has handicapped the Tigers.  They’ve stuck with him way too long and the commitment to giving him AB’s at the expense of potentially others impacted on field performance.

I don’t think Bregman will be anywhere near that bad, but as the payroll grows and they need to extend Greene, Skubal, Carp, others, having payroll flexibility will be crucial.

Our payroll is incredibly low right now, and we could afford making a splash for a few seasons, but as our young core moves beyond their arb years, we won’t want to be saddled with bad contracts. Hell, we still have to pay Baez for 3 more.

[monkeytargets39]

8 hours ago, papalawrence said:

Been a Lions fan since 1971. Very solemn night. I live in Minneapolis and my friends here are rubbing it in

Minnesota fans don’t exactly have credibility to tease anyone else….in any sport

[Toddwert]

So Flaherty posted a Picture of Jake Rodgers on his X  account and a bunch of people are reading tea leaves that it means hes coming back

[Sports_Freak]

2 hours ago, Tenacious D said:

Look at how having Baez has handicapped the Tigers.  They’ve stuck with him way too long and the commitment to giving him AB’s at the expense of potentially others impacted on field performance.

I don’t think Bregman will be anywhere near that bad, but as the payroll grows and they need to extend Greene, Skubal, Carp, others, having payroll flexibility will be crucial.

Our payroll is incredibly low right now, and we could afford making a splash for a few seasons, but as our young core moves beyond their arb years, we won’t want to be saddled with bad contracts. Hell, we still have to pay Baez for 3 more.

Tiger fans need to understand that many of these players who will be earning huge contracts won't be getting them from Detroit. Skubal, Greene and even Carpenter. It's why drafting and developing their replacements is so important. As well as signing "prove it" players on one or two year contracts. I just don't see the Tigers as being a big spender anytime in the near future. And yes, the Javy contract is horrible but I also remember waiting for Miggy's contract to come off the books so we could sign better players. We're still waiting.

[chasfh]

2 hours ago, Sports_Freak said:

OK, Scott Harris...the Detroit sports world now is watching and waiting on you to be the light at the end of a dark tunnel. About now would be a very good time to...actually do something. Sign a quality free agent? Make a blockbuster trade? Anything but the continuation of crickets...

The crowd demands entertainment!

[Tenacious D]

1 hour ago, Sports_Freak said:

Tiger fans need to understand that many of these players who will be earning huge contracts won't be getting them from Detroit. Skubal, Greene and even Carpenter. It's why drafting and developing their replacements is so important. As well as signing "prove it" players on one or two year contracts. I just don't see the Tigers as being a big spender anytime in the near future. And yes, the Javy contract is horrible but I also remember waiting for Miggy's contract to come off the books so we could sign better players. We're still waiting.

I don’t buy that the Tigers are cheap.  Free agents have been flawed the last few seasons and the few that aren’t (Soto, for example) weren’t coming here.  Ilitch has spent on long term deals in the past.  I think this is Harris’ call and his preference is to build from within and not block highly regarded prospects, until they prove otherwise.

[Sports_Freak]

12 minutes ago, Tenacious D said:

I don’t buy that the Tigers are cheap.  Free agents have been flawed the last few seasons and the few that aren’t (Soto, for example) weren’t coming here.  Ilitch has spent on long term deals in the past.  I think this is Harris’ call and his preference is to build from within and not block highly regarded prospects, until they prove otherwise.

I didn't mean to say they're cheap. What I meant is if Skubal keeps refusing to sign an extension, he'll be looking for a $400 million contract. No way will the Tigers sign him for that much. At least, IMO. But I could see him being dealt if he doesn't want an extension to stay here. And Greene? He is a fine player but he also gets injured every season. If he can stay healthy, he'll be in line for a long and huge contract. This is where our scouting and development comes into play. To bring his replacement north.

[gehringer_2]

14 minutes ago, Tenacious D said:

I don’t buy that the Tigers are cheap.  Free agents have been flawed the last few seasons and the few that aren’t (Soto, for example) weren’t coming here.  Ilitch has spent on long term deals in the past.  I think this is Harris’ call and his preference is to build from within and not block highly regarded prospects, until they prove otherwise.

It comes down where you put resources to get the best return. As long as there are owners out there willing to rack up deferred liability out to 2050, a team like Detroit will probably remain better able to use its resources more effectively on scouting and development and rehab recovery.  I don't see trying to 'outstupid' the orgs that have income to burn as a likely route to more winning.

No - I don't care about the money per se, but the team won't operate at a loss, so big non-productive  contracts do affect what else they can spend on, Ilitch's personal wealth not-withstanding.

[romad1]

2 hours ago, Toddwert said:

So Flaherty posted a Picture of Jake Rodgers on his X  account and a bunch of people are reading tea leaves that it means hes coming back

That would be cool.

[1984Echoes]

12 hours ago, chasfh said:

I don't know, I'm just not sold on years and years of Jack Flaherty. ...

I would be unwilling to go more than 2 years on Flaherty. And a team option (plus small buyout) on the 2nd year just in case...

So if it's actually 5/110 or nothing... I choose nothing and let the kids figure it out.

[1984Echoes]

17 hours ago, 1776 said:

If this team started the season with the personnel they currently have, they’d be hard pressed to match their 2024....

Start to the season. I think their strong finish last year offsets their atrocious start to last year.

I don't think there is any way they start this year the same as last year...

And it's all kids so I don't want to guarantee anything... because along with all that energy and growth potential comes a lot of roller coaster and learning curves and such...

But I think an extremely high amount of (the "young guns") energy fuels a great start to this season...

But that's just me...

[1984Echoes]

PS: I officially retired as of yesterday. So I joined a few of you guys...

[Tenacious D]

4 minutes ago, 1984Echoes said:

PS: I officially retired as of yesterday. So I joined a few of you guys...

Congrats!