2024 - 2025 Detroit Tigers Offseason

[CMRivdogs]

1 hour ago, Tenacious D said:

Sucks.  I was making $3.35/hr when I was 16.

Back in the Dark Ages it was about $1.35 an hour at the greenhouse across the street from our house.  My first radio job was $75 a week in 1970. It was about 25 hours a week. 

Edited January 15 by CMRivdogs

[RedRamage]

1 hour ago, Tenacious D said:

Sucks.  I was making $3.35/hr when I was 16.

3.35 > 3.2... So I think you're ahead of the game, right?

[Tenacious D]

22 minutes ago, RedRamage said:

3.35 > 3.2... So I think you're ahead of the game, right?

Yes, but I had elite stock boy skills.  On an 80 grading scale, I was a solid 65.  And my ceiling was at least 70. College ended up getting in the way of reaching my full potential.

I wasn’t some pampered Venezuelan high school kid who went to an “academy.”

[RandyMarsh]

I worked at my Step Dad's auto shop when I was like 12-15 but my first "real" job was as a cashier at Kmart when I was 16 back in 1998. I remember they hired a few of us at the same time, all 3 of us were 1st time employees in the real world but since I wrote the experience I had at my Step Dad's shop the HR dude that hired us said he'd give me 6 bucks an hour unlike the 5.50 they were giving other new employees. THe only time in my life an employer offered me more money than I was expecting to receive. lol

[Edman85]

Also, Rodriguez will make a whopping $700 a week in Dominican complex league this year.

[Tenacious D]

2 minutes ago, Edman85 said:

Also, Rodriguez will make a whopping $700 a week in Dominican complex league this year.

That’s more like it.  That’ll pay for his prom tuxedo, limo and, if lucky, a corsage for his date.

[Shinzaki]

My first w2 gig paid 2.65 an hour to wash dishes in the JL Hudson store restaurant called the Pewter Pub. The plates were pewter.  Them metal dishes sure came out of the washer HOT.

My first  job was commission based...sold newspapers room to room at a hospital. 

[Tenacious D]

On the subject of Alex Bregman, I suspect Tigers Twitter and many casual fans will implode if he signs elsewhere.  Just too much hype and speculation (thanks Ben Verlander and your daily tweets!).

I will continue to go on record and say anything more than 4 years is probably a mistake. He picked the wrong season to decline, so it’s difficult to tell if he’s truly slowing down or it was just an anomaly.

If he signs for 4 years or less with another team, then I’ll believe he really didn’t want to play in Detroit anyways. And if he’s trying to reestablish himself, Comerica probably isn’t the best environment for him.

If we don’t get him, we can look to either get a RH 3B or RF via trade.  Vierling will fill in at either spot, depending how they address.

Edited January 15 by Tenacious D

[papalawrence]

1 hour ago, RandyMarsh said:

I worked at my Step Dad's auto shop when I was like 12-15 but my first "real" job was as a cashier at Kmart when I was 16 back in 1998. I remember they hired a few of us at the same time, all 3 of us were 1st time employees in the real world but since I wrote the experience I had at my Step Dad's shop the HR dude that hired us said he'd give me 6 bucks an hour unlike the 5.50 they were giving other new employees. THe only time in my life an employer offered me more money than I was expecting to receive. lol

Did Kmart still have blue light specials in '98?

[papalawrence]

Had a paper route starting at age 8, 1974. Made $4.00 every 2 weeks. That was 40 packs of cards back then. My dad drove to find me on my route one day, brought me a pack of cards the day they first showed up at Prose 5 and dime. Opened the pack and Greg Landry was on top. Very good day

[Tenacious D]

7 minutes ago, papalawrence said:

Had a paper route starting at age 8, 1974. Made $4.00 every 2 weeks. That was 40 packs of cards back then. My dad drove to find me on my route one day, brought me a pack of cards the day they first showed up at Prose 5 and dime. Opened the pack and Greg Landry was on top. Very good day

I had a Detroit News paper route in 1978.  My route was along Ryan Rd, from 11 to 12 Mile roads.  I’d collect from a handful of houses each day and take my earnings and buy baseball cards.

[RandyMarsh]

2 hours ago, papalawrence said:

Did Kmart still have blue light specials in '98?

Nope, well we had bins that were marked "blue light special" but didn't have the old school light pole with siren that would randomly go off. 

[Edman85]

3 hours ago, Tenacious D said:

On the subject of Alex Bregman, I suspect Tigers Twitter and many casual fans will implode if he signs elsewhere.  Just too much hype and speculation (thanks Ben Verlander and your daily tweets!).

They implode when they sign a minor league free agent. Those implosions remind me of this Gene Wilder line in Blazing Saddles.

https://youtu.be/KHJbSvidohg?feature=shared

[Motor City Sonics]

All the kids want something to do 

I just wanna sniff some glue. 

[casimir]

I never had a paper route.

Thats all I got.

[Edman85]

I had a paper route. Good exercise, in hindsight.

[Tiger337]

I was a substitute paper boy a couple times.  I didn't like it.  People used to let their dogs run wild in those days.  

[CMRivdogs]

Spent most of my 14-16 year old Summers working for my dad cutting other folks lawns. Since OSHA laws frowned on folks my age using power tools most of the job consisted of pulling weeds and raking lawns.  This is before the profession became a decent money maker, it also fueled my feelings that kids should not work for their parents.

 

[Tenacious D]

46 minutes ago, Motor City Sonics said:

All the kids want something to do 

I just wanna sniff some glue. 

Gabba, Gabba, Hey!

[papalawrence]

33 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

I was a substitute paper boy a couple times.  I didn't like it.  People used to let their dogs run wild in those days.  

When I was about 10 I was jumped and bit by a large dog on my paper route. Quit that day

[Edman85]

1 hour ago, Tiger337 said:

I was a substitute paper boy a couple times.  I didn't like it.  People used to let their dogs run wild in those days.  

I had one person accuse me of abusing their dog on the route, which is the last thing I would ever do.

Edited Thursday at 02:24 AM by Edman85

[Jim Cowan]

6 hours ago, Edman85 said:

Also, Rodriguez will make a whopping $700 a week in Dominican complex league this year.

He'll be beating the chicka away with a stick.

[monkeytargets39]

1 hour ago, Edman85 said:

I had one person accuse me of abusing their dog on the route, which is the last thing I would ever do.

I thought the last thing you’d ever do is allow someone to miscalculate a players service time without correcting them.

[Tenacious D]

Not sure if we have any International budget left, but it sounds like Dodgers and Padres are trying to find more to sign Sasaki.  Maybe capitalize on their desperation?

[1776]

We’ll, there is some Tigers news 😁

 

 

Detroit Tigers failed to pay hourly workers enough overtime, lawsuit states

Dave Boucher, Detroit Free Press

Thu, January 16, 2025 at 6:10 AM EST

2 min read

A former Detroit Tigers employee sued the baseball franchise in federal court, arguing the team short-changed him and many others who regularly worked overtime in recent years.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the Eastern District of Michigan by Derron Jones, alleges widespread miscalculation of overtime rates for Jones and other hourly workers for the franchise.

Jones did not include a specific amount of money he believes he is owed. But the lawsuit seeks more than just back pay, interest and damages for Jones − his lawyers argue all hourly employees for the Tigers in the last three years is also owed some money. 
Jones worked in shipping and receiving from March 2017 through Aug. 6, 2024, the lawsuit states. The lawsuit does not say why he left his job. He earned a shade under $16 an hour, but routinely worked overtime.

While the lawsuit says he did receive some compensation for the extra work, it failed to meet federal labor law standards.

"At all relevant times, (the Tigers) had a policy and practice of willfully refusing to pay (Jones) and all putative collective members the legally required amount of overtime compensation for all hours worked in excess of 40 hours per workweek, in violation of the (Fair Labor Standards Act)," the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit argues the Tigers failed to take into account all pay the workers received when calculating overtime rates. Jones' lawyers argue the franchise did not include extra money a worker may receive for a "shift premium," a perk for someone working an irregular shift, and other bonuses. They say all of this compensation must be used to calculate a person's base pay before determining overtime; typically, 1.5 times a person's base pay.

The lawyers are asking the judge to give them class action status and require the Tigers to provide them details about other hourly workers.

Tigers spokesman Ben Fidelman said the team hat yet to receive the complaint so declined additional comment. Lawyers representing Jones − Jonathan Melmed and Laura Supanich of Los Angeles and Kevin J. Stoops of Southfield − also did not return messages seeking comment.

Reach Dave Boucher at dboucher@freepress.com and on X @Dave_Boucher1.