This is a big offseason for the Tigers to see if they were just buying time for miggy contract to expire to take it seriously or if we are just going to end up like a slightly bigger budget pirates.
Looking at the list if FA I’m not sure I want them spending a ton of money. I will be disappointed if we don’t add some pieces but there isn’t any one player worth spending on that isn’t a pipe dream. Chapman would make some sense but then that seems to block Keith or Jung. And I don’t get the sense Chapman is so good that we should take that risk right now. Hopefully we are creative with trades.
Matt Chapman wRC+ by month this season... 216 63 75 154 49 75 Hard pass on him for anything more than 1 year, and I'm assuming he'll get more than 1 year.
I agree, this team isn't good enough to build a 2024 World Series threat through spending on a bad FA class. This team does have a chance to rundown the Twins next year with some strategic, moderate spending on the biggest roster black holes. A goal of beating the Twins and making the playoffs while not adding a bunch of terrible contracts would be ideal to me. Baltimore and Arizona are getting there without dumb FA signings, and this team is likely not a possible playoff threat until 2026, or maybe 2025 if they get really, really lucky.
You've seen WS in '35, '45, '68 and '84, along with getting attacked by Ty Cobb in the stands. Don't be greedy.
I would focus on pitching in free agency. Would love to dump Baez if possible.and please let Rodriguez walk.
Only splash signing I'd attempt to make considering Ohtani has zero shot, is Yamamoto. Sure we wouldn't go after him, but I'd take that risk. But we need a couple guys that aren't out of the bargain bin
anyone know what the going rate for a PBP guy with Bally Sports is? Trying to think of guys we can steal from other networks or teams.
If Dombrowski was like 10% more capable of elevating the bottom of the roster with his stars and scrubs mentality, we win at least 1 WS. The bottom 8-10 guys on all those rosters were awful and cost us damn near every season in the playoffs.
Law on Jobe The Tigers took right-hander Jackson Jobewith the third overall pick in the 2021 draft, passing up several players who’ve already reached the majors (Jordan Lawlar, Matt McLain, Sal Frelick) or are now among the best prospects in the game (Marcelo Mayer, who went one pick later to Boston). Jobe missed the first half of 2023 with a back injury but came back throwing extremely well according to multiple scouts/execs, so he was my first target when I arrived in the Valley. On Monday night, Jobe threw four innings for Salt River and was 94-98 mph with a plus changeup (or split-change) at 84-86 that had heavy tumble and two breaking balls, one a 55 at 83-84 and the other maybe a 45 at 89-92. Statcast calls the slower one a sweeper, but it looks like a curveball, while the harder one looks like a slider but Statcast calls it a cutter. I think the latter pitch is new to him, at least since last year. Either way, he’s got at least one breaking ball that works for him, and he can definitely spin the ball — his fastball spin rate was around 2600 RPMs and the sweeper/curve was over 2900. That latter pitch has huge vertical break, which is why I don’t like the sweeper tag — if it looks like a curveball and quacks like a curveball, I don’t care if the velocity is up in the 80s. It’s more descriptive to call it a curveball. And in Jobe’s case, I think it’s going to end up plus, especially if he sticks with that as his primary breaker, although on Monday all nine of his swings and misses came on fastballs (six) or changeups (three) The one downside here is that there’s more effort to his delivery than I expected, with some real head-whack at release, and while the delivery is compact he’s so quick through it that I’m not sure if he’s getting all of the power he should be from his legs. The quality of his fastball and changeup is so good that he probably doesn’t need to be throwing 100% all the time, and I hope there’s a way the Tigers can settle him down enough to keep him healthy for the long term. It’s a special arm, and while I always advise against taking high school pitchers in the first round — especially in the top half — based on the high failure rate for that class as a whole, I can also see why any team would have considered Jobe with its first pick.
Brief Jobe interview from the AFL. I want to believe, but pitching prospects, man... https://www.mlb.com/video/jobe-on-the-arizona-fall-league
Him refusing to waive his no trade and then opting out a couple of months later is such a dick move lol.
Heyman had us listed as a contender for Yamamoto the other day, which shocked me because Yamamoto is going to probably end up with $30M per and $200M+ total. I'd be all in on that if it happened, though. Guessing instead we overpay for Jordan Montgomery or maybe an Aaron Nola on the high end instead.
That McCoskey tweet makes the Morosi report from last week about the two sides negotiating look funny, though. I guess Rodriguez asking for more money and the Tigers just staring back at him counts as negotiating by some definition.