2025 Detroit Tigers: AKA Welcome Back Kotter!

[CONN CHRIS]

Yes! It was Ralph Kiner. Memory isn't what it used to be.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

Statue of Our Beloved Ralph's hands, outside PNG Park in Pittsburgh:



It's modeled after the famous statue of Joe Louis's fists in Detroit, but in his later visits to the Mets' booth, Ralph admitted that he didn't prefer the "just-the-fists" treatment . . .

I don't blame the man. Disembodied hands look weird.

So does Joe Louis's fist (singular) but man, it does make a powerful statement.

[dsvitak]

Originally Posted by Hrycaj

I understand how it works. This wasn’t a regular start in July. This was the season being on the line. He did fan 13 of the 18 outs. I don’t think he automatically becomes a bp pitcher if he pitches the 7th. You could have also went at bat to at bat with him. Even if he does give up the run I would rather it be from my best guy than with any other reliever on the team. Ultimately, it’s not what lost the game. Having your 2-5 hitters go o-fer for the game was the bigger issue. Still, back to the original point I think Skubal gives you the best chance to hold the lead in the 7th.

My post was more about the general misconception that pitchers are weaker and less capable of pitching deeper into games, and not specifically how Skubal could have gone out and thrown the seventh inning.

They PURPOSEFULLY throw as hard as they can, for as long as they can. They don't save anything for the ninth inning, as they know that they will be long gone by then.

If Skubal would have taken more off his pitches, and pitched to contact low in the zone, instead of throwing almost five pitchers per batter faced, he could have lasted longer. But....that is simply not how MLB is played in 2025.

[Déjà Bru]

I thought this was rather noteworthy:

Marathon Tigers-Mariners Game 5 nears nine million mark

Friday’s Tigers-Mariners American League Division Series Game 5 averaged a Nielsen-estimated audience of 8.59 million viewers on FOX (8.73M across all Fox platforms, per Nielsen and Adobe Analytics), marking the largest audience for any Division Series game since Tigers-Yankees Game 5 on TBS in 2011.

Not only was it the most-watched game of the playoffs thus far, it comfortably outpaced the previous high of 7.4 million for Red Sox-Yankees Game 3 on ESPN in the Wild Card round (albeit on cable and opposite “Thursday Night Football”).

[David Watts]

This lowly Tiger fan all of a sudden wants the Jays to win their series in 6

[CONN CHRIS]

Originally Posted by david watts

this lowly tiger fan all of a sudden wants the jays to win their series in 6

:d

[CONN CHRIS]

I had hoped for a Brewers - Mariners series, but now that I have anecdotal evidence that their fans aren't all that great, I guess this will do. Go Jays!

[Déjà Bru]

I place this here, since this is "The Skubal Trade Watch Thread". From The Athletic:

Tarik Skubal heads the top 10 MLB stars most likely to be traded this offseason

By Jim Bowden



There is plenty of anticipation surrounding this year’s MLB free agent class, which will be led by the power bats of Kyle Schwarber and Pete Alonso, the well-rounded position players such as Kyle Tucker, Bo Bichette and Alex Bregman, and several standout starting pitchers such as left-handers Framber Valdez and Ranger Suárez and right-handers Dylan Cease, Zac Gallen and Michael King and dominant closers, including Edwin Díaz and Robert Suarez.

However, those aren’t the only stars who might change uniforms this offseason. There are several big names who could be traded. For teams targeting frontline pitching, in particular, the market could be especially fruitful, as three potential No. 1 starters may be available.

Let’s take a look at the top-10 biggest names most front office executives believe could or will be dealt this winter:

1. Tarik Skubal, LHP, Detroit Tigers

The Tigers commenced negotiations on an extension with Skubal — who is entering his walk season — but were somewhat surprised to find they were about a quarter of a billion dollars off with their latest offer. Skubal and Paul Skenes of the Pittsburgh Pirates are considered the two best pitchers in the sport. To sign either one of them to a long-term deal, their current teams must expect to commit dollars far beyond the Gerritt Cole contract of nine years and $324 million and Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s 11-year, $324 million pact.

When Juan Soto got his $765 million and Shohei Ohtani got his $700 million, they reset the market for top free agents, and the expectation now is that Skubal will reset the market for pitchers and become the highest-paid starting pitcher in history, with a realistic starting price north of $400 million. It’s unlikely the Tigers go there, and if that’s the case, they certainly can’t make the mistake of waiting until the trade deadline to deal him or letting him walk with minimal draft compensation next offseason.

Therefore, even though the Tigers are in position to compete for the postseason next year, it’s likely they shop Skubal at the Winter Meetings and try to make the best trade they can with so many big market teams with deep farm systems obviously wanting him, such as the Mets, Dodgers, Red Sox, Yankees and Giants.

The others are:

2. Freddy Peralta, RHP, Milwaukee Brewers
3. Hunter Greene, RHP, Cincinnati Reds
4. Jarren Duran, LF, Boston Red Sox
5. MacKenzie Gore, LHP, Washington Nationals
6. Sandy Alcantara, RHP, Miami Marlins
7. Sonny Gray, RHP, St. Louis Cardinals
8. Brandon Lowe, 2B, Tampa Bay Rays
9. Alec Bohm, 3B, Philadelphia Phillies
10. Jo Adell, OF, Los Angeles Angels

There are blurbs for all of these players but I omit them here. Follow the link or, if you cannot access the article, leave a request here and I will post what you want to see.

[Hrycaj]

I would love for the Tigers to go after Bo Bichettte. Then pivot and sign all,of these big relievers on the market. We have obviously all seen the decline in the value of the starting pitcher (although watching Skubal you could make an argument) so load up the pen. Invest resources there.

[DamPenguin]

What do you guys really think should be done with Skubal?? ...
I would love to keep him but the game has changed so much, having a great Starting Pitcher just isn't what it used to be...
Will any team really push all in and pay him what he's worth after giving up so much?
It almost feels like a "no-win" situation... get the most out of him now and gamble on the future? Or push your chips in and see if magic can happen while we still got him?

[CONN CHRIS]

Suprisingly, I am done with Skubal. He will not be here after 2026, he is worth the most now - trade for a big package (and lots of relievers).

If I hadn't seen him tap out after 6 innings in what was the biggest game in Detroit in a decade only to watch Mad Max refuse to be taken out and Yoshinobi's heroics when it counted most, I might have been down with paying 400m/10yrs. Nope, he aint that kind of star.

[Hrycaj]

Originally Posted by DamPenguin

What do you guys really think should be done with Skubal?? ...
I would love to keep him but the game has changed so much, having a great Starting Pitcher just isn't what it used to be...
Will any team really push all in and pay him what he's worth after giving up so much?
It almost feels like a "no-win" situation... get the most out of him now and gamble on the future? Or push your chips in and see if magic can happen while we still got him?

This organization needs to stop being cheap. If they feel it is reckless to pay the Skubal freight I really wouldn’t fault them for that. He is a top tier arm right now. He also has had 2 major arm surgeries. These huge long term deals do not end well with pitchers. With that said, go get some dudes to play around him. Go all Texas Rangers and sign both Bregman and Bichette. There are a number of quality relievers out there. Go sign a few if you only get 5 from your starter in today’s game. Skubal carried this team on his back to get them to back to back playoff appearances which says something because he only accounted for about 13% of all innings pitched. Yet, the team record in all his starts was really good. Is that worth 50 million a year over 5 years? Sure, I would roll the dice on that, but he wants one of those Ohtani deals and he isn’t that guy. So build around him and ride him out. I don’t see a viable trade deal. The whole league knows the situation here. Harris doesn’t have as much leverage as he would like and that would play into the return. Is there a team like the Mets who are uber desperate? Sure, but do they have the pieces that would work? At the end of the day prospects are lottery tickets and Skubal is a known commodity. Whoever gets him in a deal is the winner in the short term and possibly a winner overall if all the prospects you trade for peak at being the 27th man (aka AAAA player) on your 40 man.

[DamPenguin]

I was barely 10 years old when we last won the World Series... I think we missed out on a golden opportunity when we had Verlander, Scherzer, Miggy, Pudge, Maglio, etc... because basically our pitchers didn't know how to field bunts... Leyland is an all-time great manager, for the Marlins, maybe even the Pirates but not the Tigers (my opinion)... I like Hinch... I hate to lose Skubal but at this point and the way the game is played now I totally understand why we would let him go... now the thing that irritated me this past season was how we absolutely deteriorated with the approach the batters had... at the beginning of the season we were patient, getting walks and being aggressive with pitches in the strike zone... by the end of the season only Gleybor Torres could occasionally draw a walk... it was like Javier Baez became the hitting instructor for our team... I want to win, obviously... but it blows my mind that something that worked so good for the most part of the year gets basically shelved... we turned into a completely different team than what had us with the best record in baseball for the most of the year... I just don't get it, but that shouldn't come as a surprise after all these years.

[Hrycaj]

Originally Posted by DamPenguin

I was barely 10 years old when we last won the World Series... I think we missed out on a golden opportunity when we had Verlander, Scherzer, Miggy, Pudge, Maglio, etc... because basically our pitchers didn't know how to field bunts... Leyland is an all-time great manager, for the Marlins, maybe even the Pirates but not the Tigers (my opinion)... I like Hinch... I hate to lose Skubal but at this point and the way the game is played now I totally understand why we would let him go... now the thing that irritated me this past season was how we absolutely deteriorated with the approach the batters had... at the beginning of the season we were patient, getting walks and being aggressive with pitches in the strike zone... by the end of the season only Gleybor Torres could occasionally draw a walk... it was like Javier Baez became the hitting instructor for our team... I want to win, obviously... but it blows my mind that something that worked so good for the most part of the year gets basically shelved... we turned into a completely different team than what had us with the best record in baseball for the most of the year... I just don't get it, but that shouldn't come as a surprise after all these years.

David Price, Rick Porcello, Prince Fielder....team was stacked. I agree though, how did that team not win the a WS??? The bunting aside those teams didn't hit when it counted. As for Leyland I remember the press conference when he said "I don't know anything about Detroit....In fact I don't know anything about the American League" or something close to that. I thought at the time "what are we getting ourselves into? Who says that at a presser??" Well he certainly figured it out and I did think he was an excellent manager for the Tigers. He was exactly what that organization needed at the time. He held players accountable but still allowed them to be themselves. I don't get the same feeling for Hinch. What Hinch does well is take the bullets in the media for his players. He never throws anyone under the bus but the counter to that is you don't ever get a lot out of him. I question how he holds the locker room together. I'm not there so I have no proof whatsoever, but I don't feel guys really come together under his leadership like they did with Leyland if we are making comparisons. Maybe I'm way off becuase that magic run to the playoffs two years ago was special but even then I felt like Hinch was somehow detached from all of it as he makes another platoon switch. for the hitting this year i think you will notice that it went south a lot sooner than you think. It was great for April and the first part of May but when injuries started piling up and they put Meadows in CF the wheels started to come off. They had built such a giant lead it took a while to notice all of it. Anyway good stuff DamPenguin, you bring up fun stuff to talk about as it gets colder outside!!

[Hrycaj]

Instead of trying to convert relievers to starters why not just go get a starter? Oh yea, they don’t want to spend the money, that’s why.

[David Watts]

Kenley Jansen signs with Tigers for 1 year.

[CONN CHRIS]

Originally Posted by David Watts

Kenley Jansen signs with Tigers for 1 year.

If he turns in a year like he just had with the Angels, it will be fine. I do worry that he is at that age where a cliff can suddenly appear (ala Kenta)

[CONN CHRIS]

It's at least better than signing an old middle-inning guy who has never started an MLB game as ... a starter.

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by CONN CHRIS

It's at least better than signing an old middle-inning guy who has never started an MLB game as ... a starter.

This left me briefly confused as to whether this is the Kittens or Mittens thread...

[CONN CHRIS]

Originally Posted by Westheim

This left me briefly confused as to whether this is the Kittens or Mittens thread...

Behold. The new 'starting' pitcher signed.


https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...d=anders012and