2024 - 2025 Detroit Tigers Offseason

[gehringer_2]

Just now, Shelton said:

It’s definitely possible that Scott Harris and AJ Hinch are idiots and didn’t think of any of this, and just made a huge mistake moving Colt Keith off of 2B. Yes, I’m appealing to authority. There is an information deficit that allows it. 

I'm sure they thought of it but Gleyber literarally won't play ball. ().

[Shelton]

2 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

Torres is the established hitter with a glove that really doesn't play at middle IF. If Keith's natural progression will be to 1st base 'eventually'  say in his middle or late 20's, than Gleyber's progression would be to be moving to 1b now.

Got it. You think Torres should play 1B and colt 2b. Well they will both be in the starting lineup every day so I guess we’ll see. Could always swap!

 

[Shelton]

Just now, gehringer_2 said:

I'm sure they thought of it but Gleyber literarally won't play ball. ().

If the cost of getting gleybor means that they have to move Colt off 2B a year earlier than planned, so be it. I don’t really hold it against him for advocating for himself. It’s up to the teams to call him on it. My guess is he can still play 2B just fine.

Honestly not sure why tigers fans dislike this guy so much, but will argue over Englert vs kreidler, or losing Faedo. . 

[Shelton]

Man, G2, I’m sorry. I thought when you said established hitter with a poor glove at 1B you were referring to Tork and that sent me spinning. I’m still not sure what’s real at the moment. I need a minute. 

[RandyMarsh]

35 minutes ago, Shelton said:

Man, G2, I’m sorry. I thought when you said established hitter with a poor glove at 1B you were referring to Tork and that sent me spinning. I’m still not sure what’s real at the moment. I need a minute. 

Forgiven, you're a bit rusty on here, it's like a great hitter coming off the DL after a long absence. Takes a bit to get back into things.

[SoCalTiger]

“We want players who want to be here,” Harris said.  

The above was Scottie talking about the Flattery (nod to 337 😉) signing. Perhaps he had certain their baseman in mind.

[Motor City Sonics]

Motown Forum members reacting to the Tigers signing of Alex Bregman

 

[Tenacious D]

At this point, Bregman will become one of the biggest pariahs in Detroit sports history if he signs elsewhere.  This has become very emotional and personal for Tigers Twitter.

[casimir]

Is it within the realm of possibility that Baez rebounds enough at the plate and hangs on defensively such that he is a viable everyday SS and Sweeney/Vierling make a good 3B platoon this season?  I’m not convinced that can happen, but I’m also not convinced that Jung is a 3B.

I think this IF defense could be crummy, especially on the right side of the diamond. 

[oblong]

The only reaon you criticize Harris or whoever for Bergman not signing is if he’s not offering a fair contract. Which we have no way of knowing. You can’t force a player to sign a deal. You don’t just pick them off a shelf like groceries. 

[casimir]

3 hours ago, Edman85 said:

Some of that is just criminal.

[casimir]

10 hours ago, chasfh said:

I don't know why people think Torres is a poor hitter. He's a 112 OPS+ lifetime hitter and still only 28. He has slashed .283/.377/.623 with five bombs in 61 plate trips at Comerica. Why do people think he's weak?

His poor 2024 would be one of the better bats on the 2024 Tigers.  He’s had 4 seasons of 2.9 WAR or higher.  My concern with him is in the field, both himself directly and moving Keith to another position.  But the bat should be helpful and the contract isn’t onerous.

[Arlington]

Seems like they were sending out 1b gloves well before Torres was signed reflecting more the decision with respect to Tork than accommodating Gleyber.  I believe this gives our right side the potential to be productive next year.  Keith should provide average or better defense at first.  If Torres starts pushing his offensive numbers back to 2023 levels, something that is not far-fetched for a 28 year-old, we will have very good offense from the position and much offensive improvement at 1b.  Ideally, we can harvest another prospect from Gleyber and then in 2026 hand off 2b to McGonigle, unless McGonigle remains a shortstop, in which case Jung or Lee should be ready to take over the position, or maybe even, gulp, Max Anderson.  McGonigle and Keith could be the Tigers right side for half a dozen years or longer and I see Torres being a great intermediary step.

[alex]

10 hours ago, casimir said:

Some of that is just criminal.

Most all mid market+ teams have 'some' of this going on. It is the price of business unfortunately.

[chasfh]

14 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

Or established hitter with poor glove at 1st and decent 2B who improved over the course of the season at 2B at least until he proves he's 'outgrown it'. The fly in the ointment in the Torres deal from the beginning is Gleyber's unwillingness to at last try 1B. That is the most rational course of action for the Tiger team, and the fact that they signed a guy unwilling to do the best thing for the team is the thing that makes me regret the signing.

This is the first I’ve heard that the Tigers signed Torres to play first and he’s refused. That’s news to me.

[chasfh]

13 hours ago, Shelton said:

If the cost of getting gleybor means that they have to move Colt off 2B a year earlier than planned, so be it. I don’t really hold it against him for advocating for himself. It’s up to the teams to call him on it. My guess is he can still play 2B just fine.

Honestly not sure why tigers fans dislike this guy so much, but will argue over Englert vs kreidler, or losing Faedo. . 

People like getting high off their own supply.

[chasfh]

10 hours ago, casimir said:

His poor 2024 would be one of the better bats on the 2024 Tigers.  He’s had 4 seasons of 2.9 WAR or higher.  My concern with him is in the field, both himself directly and moving Keith to another position.  But the bat should be helpful and the contract isn’t onerous.

I’d be more concerned with him in the field if we committed more than a year to him. As a stopgap while we wait for McGonigle, I think he’s at least adequate.

[gehringer_2]

36 minutes ago, chasfh said:

This is the first I’ve heard that the Tigers signed Torres to play first and he’s refused. That’s news to me.

they wanted a 1b could only sign a 2b. That's the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. 

Edited 8 hours ago by gehringer_2

[chasfh]

Just now, gehringer_2 said:

they wanted a 1b and signed a 2b. Go figure.

That’s news to me, too. The way I remember it, they wanted to sign a second baseman once they decided they needed to move Colt Keith to first to cover for Tork who is playing himself out of a career.

[Shelton]

It’s funny. It wasn’t really that long ago. The way I remember going into the offseason was that guys like Tork and Baez were members of the team but in name only.

They wanted to add a right handed bat and some pitching. They had holes basically at first and third, but also guys with positional flexibility so it wasn’t that rigid.

We heard news that Keith, Malloy, and Vierling maybe were going to work on 1B over the winter and in the spring but “just for flexibility” as if this didn’t signal very clearly that Tork is dead to them. 
 

I don’t know if they were specifically looking for a 2B, but because they do have flexibility with their athletes it opened them up to considering those guys, in particular guys that are specifically looking for 2B opportunities for their own career. Torres at 1/15 is an incredibly good deal, especially for a team that wanted a right handed bat and had a potential opening at 2B. You cannot pass that up at that stage of the offseason. 

Edited 7 hours ago by Shelton

[chasfh]

But he won’t play first base! Or so I hear! Fail!

[chasfh]

12 minutes ago, Shelton said:

We heard news that Keith, Malloy, and Vierling maybe were going to work on 1B over the winter and in the spring but “just for flexibility” as if this didn’t signal very clearly that Tork is dead to them. 

I do believe, based on nothing more than what’s in my head after all I’ve read, that Harris et al went into the offseason giving Tork one last honest chance to prove he’s on board with whatever program they developed for him, probably with a healthy dose of skepticism and expecting not much. They gave Tork the chance to dig himself out of the hole and saw very quickly it wasn’t going to happen, and so, here we are. As evidenced by the fact that a week out from pitchers and catchers, no news is coming out about him and his role in the organization.

I’m not sure even sending Tork to Toledo would be a good move at this point, because do we want him down there vibing bad around the rest of the talent we have there? So I think we have to move Tork before Opening Day, and I am starting to think we might have to take what we can get for him. A former 1/1 should typically return some substantial above-the-fold talent, but given how public as our moving on from him has been, we might optimistically have to trust Harris to end up with a Flaherty Dodger deal return featuring below-the-radar players that everyone will pan at first, but will come around on halfway into the season.

[4hzglory]

1 hour ago, Shelton said:

It’s funny. It wasn’t really that long ago. The way I remember going into the offseason was that guys like Tork and Baez were members of the team but in name only.

They wanted to add a right handed bat and some pitching. They had holes basically at first and third, but also guys with positional flexibility so it wasn’t that rigid.

We heard news that Keith, Malloy, and Vierling maybe were going to work on 1B over the winter and in the spring but “just for flexibility” as if this didn’t signal very clearly that Tork is dead to them. 
 

I don’t know if they were specifically looking for a 2B, but because they do have flexibility with their athletes it opened them up to considering those guys, in particular guys that are specifically looking for 2B opportunities for their own career. Torres at 1/15 is an incredibly good deal, especially for a team that wanted a right handed bat and had a potential opening at 2B. You cannot pass that up at that stage of the offseason. 

Yeah I never once heard any suggestion of Torres to first.  The Tigers already had plans in place for 1st anyway with Keith and Malloy getting reps as well as Tork.   Now it has been said he refused to play 3rd last year, which I wish he’d be open to if they don’t sign Bregman, but they were ok with giving him 2nd either way.

[Arlington]

Hope he doesn't infuse the team with his Yankees attitude. 

[Tiger337]

1 hour ago, Shelton said:

It’s funny. It wasn’t really that long ago. The way I remember going into the offseason was that guys like Tork and Baez were members of the team but in name only.

They wanted to add a right handed bat and some pitching. They had holes basically at first and third, but also guys with positional flexibility so it wasn’t that rigid.

We heard news that Keith, Malloy, and Vierling maybe were going to work on 1B over the winter and in the spring but “just for flexibility” as if this didn’t signal very clearly that Tork is dead to them. 
 

I don’t know if they were specifically looking for a 2B, but because they do have flexibility with their athletes it opened them up to considering those guys, in particular guys that are specifically looking for 2B opportunities for their own career. Torres at 1/15 is an incredibly good deal, especially for a team that wanted a right handed bat and had a potential opening at 2B. You cannot pass that up at that stage of the offseason. 

yeah, He was a steal which may be the most important reason they signed him.