2024 - 2025 Detroit Tigers Offseason

[Motor City Sonics]

6 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

the problem with that approach is that a team that might make an offer you would take may not even bother calling.

I have a feeling he's not going to be on anyone's roster on Opening Day if these numbers are real.   Takes a lot of nerve to ask that the year after your OBP falls off a cliff.    Tigers do need a bat, but I think they'd be better off with the rotating 3b situation.  AJ likes making so many in-game moves anyway.     If they can do for Jace Jung what they did for Parker Meadows and Colt Keith, we might be way better off than sinking 27-30 mil a year into one declining player. 

[Tenacious D]

Again, there is no evidence that Ilitch doesn’t want to spend. This could be Harris’ call, and outside of Soto and Burnes, this is a largely flawed free agent class that would give you pause to both overpay in terms of dollars and years.

I’m good with mostly letting the youngsters get the AB’s and make decisions next offseason.

And Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah, you filthy animals!

[1776]

11 hours ago, Tenacious D said:

And Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah, you filthy animals!

Indeed, Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to one and all!

[chasfh]

21 hours ago, SoCalTiger said:

I am thinking Breman ends up in Toronto a franchise as desperate to sign somebody as Bregman is to get a big contract. I think that his only shot for 200,000,000+ is Toronto.

I’m with you on this. The Jays made at least semi-serious bids for Ohtani and Soto. I think they might be looking for a win for their fans.

[chasfh]

18 hours ago, 1776 said:

I am suspecting Harris is quietly looking for a trade he likes. That’s about the only avenue left at this point for this team’s budget. 
That and a good bit of fortune from the minors. 

I really don’t believe Harris is being constrained by a budget imperative, as though Soto or Snell wanted to come to Detroit but Harris had to tell them we can’t afford them because Baby Doc.

I believe Harris’s guiding principle is the stage of development we are currently in. Are we one big free agent away from being a favorite to play deep into November? Even if we had done everything we have done so far and are going to do anyway, meaning the signing of Cobb and various MiLB FAs, plus the one and only additional move of signing Soto—does that alone move your assessment from “my expectations won’t be very high” to “we are definitely one of the favorites in the American League now”? Remember that signing Soto would also necessitate the removal of Kerry Carpenter. 

[alex]

11 minutes ago, chasfh said:

I’m with you on this. The Jays made at least semi-serious bids for Ohtani and Soto. I think they might be looking for a win for their fans.

A 'win' with Toronto fans, IMHO, is to sign Vlad Jr to an extension.

Bregman will get paid by someone, not sure he is on board with going there and already the 'census' is NO Bichette extension (just because of one off year - yet he is still young) and no extension (as of yet) with Vlad Jr. who is only going to get more expensive. I do not think at this point in his career Bregman is a guy to 'build' around.

I do think Bregman wants to win while getting paid. Toronto, even with those two were not in a strong/favored position to do so moving forward- in that division.

For the Tigers to be the destiny of a rare young star (say 26-28 yr old) FA may not be realistic. That and those types of salaries also may be unrealistic either.

Detroit may have only made the playoffs 1 time in the last ten years as you mentioned - but it is the most important year of the last 10 because it was the most recent - hence the indication of where at. That and a 'known' developing farm system is a good thing.

IMHO, the Tigers will have to roll the dice now and then on 30+ year old FAs at various times. The question is whom of these type of players are worth taking a chance on for a longer commitment? Bregman may not be worth 6 years. Few FAs are. Yet, he does check many needed boxes: RH bat, middle of lineup if need be for awhile, 3B/decent glove, many intangibles ex played for Hinch, winning history, clubhouse presence, potential organization guy, etc.

No question the team is/has weighed all of this. IMHO, they may have an offer out there. Someone like Toronto 'could' offer 200+.

The two big questions are: 1) Where does Bregman want to play (Houston appears out and he would not have left that if he did not feel 'another' team he may be comfortable with has interest)? 2) How much does Detroit value him?

Another note, sooo much of sports success is health and luck. Yes, you can help put yourself into a more favorable position with both (ex depth and preparation) - but those two things will always have a strong say regarding the end results.

Now off to the day and festivities 😊 Best to all and Go Tigs!

[Tigermojo]

Extend Rogers. Give Skubal something to think about.

[Tiger337]

I am ready to see Harris take a chance on a top free agent.  I suspect he is risk averse, but he is smart and I trust him to sign the right guy if he does take the plunge.  I don't think he would have signed Baez, for example.  

[Tenacious D]

1 minute ago, Tiger337 said:

I am ready to see Harris take a chance on a top free agent.  I suspect he is risk averse, but he is smart and I trust him to sign the right guy if he does take the plunge.  I don't think he would have signed Baez, for example.  

I’m more interested in seeing him package some prospects for a proven player who is a fit (and not a rental).

[Tiger337]

6 minutes ago, Tenacious D said:

I’m more interested in seeing him package some prospects for a proven player who is a fit (and not a rental).

I'll take that too!  I think the Tigers are ready to win now in a winnable division and I don't think they need to wait two years for the next wave of prospects to be ready (which is no guarantee).

Edited December 25, 2024 by Tiger337

[1984Echoes]

On 12/19/2024 at 4:04 PM, gehringer_2 said:

Sweeney was a pleasant surprise. He's not good enough....yet, but he was better than I thought he'd be. It's one of those trap situations though - you don't want to invest a lot in a fall back if he's going to turn into a solid contributor, but you don't yet know if he will.

 

On 12/19/2024 at 4:08 PM, RatkoVarda said:

easy to say, but just go get a young RH SS who can complement Sweeney to some large or small degree

 

It's Javier Baez until the Org decides to pull that plug...

It makes sense to hold onto him in 2025 until Sweeney proves himself over a season and they can figure out what to do with Baez later on...

They don't need to, and they won't make that decision, until mid-season at the earliest...

IMO.

[Sports_Freak]

4 hours ago, Tigermojo said:

Extend Rogers. Give Skubal something to think about.

According to this article, the Tigers already tried to extend him. And it speculated that there's no way Boras would allow him to sign an extension. He may be looking at a $400 million contract.

https://www.freep.com/story/sports/mlb/tigers/2024/12/25/tarik-skubal-contract-detroit-tigers-400-million-scott-boras/77061451007/

[Tenacious D]

 

[Tenacious D]

Not sure how credible this is, but

 

[holygoat]

4 hours ago, Sports_Freak said:

According to this article, the Tigers already tried to extend him. And it speculated that there's no way Boras would allow him to sign an extension. He may be looking at a $400 million contract.

https://www.freep.com/story/sports/mlb/tigers/2024/12/25/tarik-skubal-contract-detroit-tigers-400-million-scott-boras/77061451007/

TBF, $400 million is a lot for Rogers. 

[Tigermojo]

7 minutes ago, holygoat said:

TBF, $400 million is a lot for Rogers. 

 

[papalawrence]

If a market like Houston is trading off pending FA like Tucker and letting Bregman walk, not sure what chances Det will have for keeping players like Skubal and Greene. MLB is becoming a ~5 team contender and 27 teams emulating the Rays of the past decade.

[Tiger337]

1 hour ago, Tenacious D said:

Not sure how credible this is, but

 

I don't think it's very credible.  I don't doubt they are interested in all three, but I don't know how anyone would know the details about how many teams are in on these guys.  Bregman trends 24/7 on Twitter and there are all kinds of rumors about the Red Sox, Yankees, Mets and Tigers still being interested.  Harris plays very close to the vest, so he's not going to let things leak.  Pretty much every move he has made as Tigers GM has comeout of nowhere.  

[gehringer_2]

24 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

Harris plays very close to the vest, so he's not going to let things leak. 

and the corollary to that is likely that if you are talking to Harris and you leak from your end, you are probably done talking to Harris.

[1984Echoes]

Reliever who K's guys (instead of what we've got):

Jace Jung and Max Anderson (and maybe another lower prospect) for:

Mariners - Andres Munoz

OR

A's - Mason Miller

 

Is there a "yes" in there somewhere...?

[chasfh]

12 hours ago, Tenacious D said:

Not sure how credible this is, but

 

What’s not credible about a guy whose given handle is jFudgy_? 😉😆

I had mentioned a month or so ago that I believed the Tigers have a puncher’s chance of signing Sasaki, so even if he were to sign somewhere else today, I’ll still take it as a win.

And I love Kirby Yates in the olde English D.

[chasfh]

Tell you what—if we got all three of those guys, then I would admit I was wrong about where Harris believes we stand in the development curve, and that he showed me a thing or two.

If we were to end up with only Bregman, though … mehhhhh …

[Tigermojo]

Wouldn't Bregman at Comerica be a disaster? Yet another case of trying to change a guys approach and messing up his timing.

[RatkoVarda]

48 minutes ago, Tigermojo said:

Wouldn't Bregman at Comerica be a disaster? Yet another case of trying to change a guys approach and messing up his timing.

maybe. HRs will certainly go down. But would he hit 50 doubles? would his OBP rebound to .360? batting him 2nd between Meadows and Greene might work out very well.

[Tiger337]

I don't think Bregman would be a disaster in Comerica.  He'll lose a few homers, but might get more hits.  As long as he gets his walk rate back up, he'll be fine.  I would count on Harris and his team to have a good theory as to why he was swinging more last year and use that in deciding whether ot not to pursue him.