2022-23 Detroit Tigers Offseason Thread

[Tiger337]

I just looked up Encarnacion and Kapler.  Interestingly, they had almost identical stat lines in back to back years in AA:

1997 Encarnacion .323/.394/.560

1998 Kapler .322/.393/.583

They also ended up having pretty similar careers:

Encarnacion 97 OPS+ 8.6 WAR

Kapler 92 OPS+ 8.7 WAR

[oblong]

Encarnacion had a good look for a baseball player.  Especially at that time. That’s before players began working out to the degree they do today. Slim. Muscular. Looked like an athlete. 

[Tiger337]

One year 6.5 million for Chafin...with Arizona.

Apparently, he likes money better than living near his farm.  Pretty good deal for the Diamondbacks given the cost of pitching this winter.  

[gehringer_2]

16 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

One year 6.5 million for Chafin...with Arizona.

Apparently, he likes money better than living near his farm.  Pretty good deal for the Diamondbacks given the cost of pitching this winter.  

you can buy a lot of plane tickets for a couple extra million.

[mtutiger]

44 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

One year 6.5 million for Chafin...with Arizona.

Apparently, he likes money better than living near his farm.  Pretty good deal for the Diamondbacks given the cost of pitching this winter.  

Same amount (6.5 mil) as if he would have exercised his option this off-season, albeit with incentives.

I'm a little surprised by that... The market for his services seems like it should have been hotter

Edited February 11, 2023 by mtutiger

[Jim Cowan]

1 hour ago, oblong said:

Encarnacion had a good look for a baseball player.  Especially at that time. That’s before players began working out to the degree they do today. Slim. Muscular. Looked like an athlete. 

He looked like a decathlon competitor, and probably had the talent too.

[Tenacious D]

Chafin didn’t want to come back here.  Can you blame the guy?

[casimir]

I hated when they had Encarnacion in CF and Roger Cedeno in RF due to Cedeno's defensive incompetence.  Gosh, those were some unliklable teams.

Edited February 12, 2023 by casimir

[chasfh]

21 hours ago, mtutiger said:

The thing about Harris and what he did this offseason is that it wasn't, at least in my view, incredibly surprising. Not just because of where the Tigers are at organizationally, but also because of his pedigree, particularly during his time under Farhan in SF. They have tended to rely on trades and short term deals, often with distressed or underappreciated assets in the past. And while 2022 wasn't great for the Giants, that strategy, through some level of luck and performance, was enough to win 107 games in 2021.

Another thing about Harris and what he did this offseason is that he his talent acquisition options were severely limited by the mess he inherited. Any free agent who had options was never going to choose to come here this winter, and Harris had very little in terms of talent to deal from on the trade front. So really, his main two acquisition options at this moment are waiver churn and minor league free agent deals, and given that it’s hard to put together a shiny offseason that you can show off. But we’re in the baby steps stage, so patience.

Edited February 12, 2023 by chasfh

[mtutiger]

19 minutes ago, chasfh said:

Another thing about Harris and what he did this offseason is that he his talent acquisition options were severely limited by the mess he inherited. Any free agent who had options was never going to choose to come here this winter, and Harris had very little in terms of talent to deal from on the trade front. So really, his main two acquisition options at this moment are waiver churn and minor league free agent deals, and given that it’s hard to put together a shiny offseason that you can show off. But we’re in the baby steps stage, so patience.

Understood, as I suggested, where the team is organizationally plays a role as well.

I just think people haven't done much to try to understand how his former tended to operate in terms of talent acquisition. A lot of one year deals, waiver wire churn, and bringing in distressed or underappreciated assets. 

I'd like to see more aggressiveness as they do become a better destination spot, but for where they are at now, the strategy is fine. If nothing else, it is helping them establish some organizational depth, which they have lacked for years.

Edited February 12, 2023 by mtutiger

[Jim Cowan]

1 hour ago, casimir said:

I hated when they had Encarnacion in CF and Roger Cedeno in RF due to Cedeno's defensive incompetence.  Gosh, those were some unliklable teams.

Roger Cedeno, ugh.  A big guy who played like a little guy.

[Tenacious D]

2 minutes ago, Jim Cowan said:

Roger Cedeno, ugh.  A big guy who played like a little guy.

Think you just described Victor Reyes, too.

[casimir]

17 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

you can buy a lot of plane tickets for a couple extra million.

Or learn to farm cacti.

[Jim Cowan]

Spot the Hall of Famer

Ladies and gentlemen, your 1972 Covington Astros:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/team.cgi?id=b1983fb1

There is a Hall of Famer in the group.  Do you see him?

[Tiger337]

32 minutes ago, Jim Cowan said:

Spot the Hall of Famer

Ladies and gentlemen, your 1972 Covington Astros:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/team.cgi?id=b1983fb1

There is a Hall of Famer in the group.  Do you see him?

Clark Gillies.  Either him or Jim Crawford.  

[Jim Cowan]

Just now, Tiger337 said:

Clark Gillies.  Either him or Jim Crawford.  

Lol.  Yes, Clark Gillies.  I didn't know that he had played baseball.  The other first baseman on that team, Bob Bourne, also was an NHL player.

[Tiger337]

39 minutes ago, Jim Cowan said:

Lol.  Yes, Clark Gillies.  I didn't know that he had played baseball.  The other first baseman on that team, Bob Bourne, also was an NHL player.

I didn't know Gillies was a Hall of Famer.  I just remembered he was good for a while (don't follow hockey closely).  

[casimir]

1 hour ago, Jim Cowan said:

Spot the Hall of Famer

Ladies and gentlemen, your 1972 Covington Astros:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/team.cgi?id=b1983fb1

There is a Hall of Famer in the group.  Do you see him?

That’s good stuff.  I like multi sport athletes, seems odd that sports reference pages won’t link one sports career page to the other.

Scroll down on his baseball page and see that he pitched one game at age 16.  6 innings, a non start outing.  How did that happen?  It’s his only game pitched in his short pro career.  Did it go into extra innings or something?  It wasn’t a terrible outing by the results (3 H, 3 BB, 5 SO, 1 HBP, 2 ER).  There’s no box score linked.  I guess we’re left to make up our own story.

And playing pro ball at 16 years old?  Was this due to Vietnam and minor league teams were signing whomever they could find?  My understanding was that this was the case during WWI & WWII.  Maybe it was the same in 1970?  I don’t know.

[Jim Cowan]

Yes, he isn't much younger than I am, and I played all through my teens, all over Onrario, and never once saw a 16 year old who was good enough to play pro.  At 20 yes I knew a couple of guys who got signed, but never 16.  So that caught my eye.

[Jim Cowan]

Hockey and baseball was the most common combination of sports for a Canadian kid back then.  You might play football and basketball in high school but they didn't give you anywhere near the cred that hockey and baseball did.

[oblong]

1 hour ago, Jim Cowan said:

Hockey and baseball was the most common combination of sports for a Canadian kid back then.  You might play football and basketball in high school but they didn't give you anywhere near the cred that hockey and baseball did.

Wayne has said numerous times his dream was to play SS for the Detroit Tigers.  He wanted to be Alan Trammell. 

[Jim Cowan]

16 minutes ago, oblong said:

Wayne has said numerous times his dream was to play SS for the Detroit Tigers.  He wanted to be Alan Trammell. 

He was a good player, playing against guys who were much older when he was in his late teens.

[RandyMarsh]

Not sure if it's been mentioned or not but Manfred announced that the extra inning runner at 2nd rule that everybody loves so much has now been made official for every game going forward. 

[Tigermojo]

Just received my subscription update from MLB.tv and they say it will include minor league baseball games.

[casimir]

7 minutes ago, Tigermojo said:

Just received my subscription update from MLB.tv and they say it will include minor league baseball games.

So you'll get to watch the Tigers?