Detroit Tigers

[jaadam4]

I hadn’t heard that about DR. That’s a good move

[whatever_gong82]

I don't know if Harris is going to be version 3.0 of those goofs, but we've seen some encouraging signs in year one that he might not be. He was able to find cheap guys who were plus players in Ibanez, Holton, Vierling and McKinstry. Avila hung his hat on finding JD Martinez and seemingly never found another player.

The farm system is also starting to show signs of life. One of the frustrating things about the Tigers is they would always talk big about transforming the development system, but it was all talk and the stuff they talked about never showed on the field. They are supposedly building a development center in the Dominican Republic, I guess that is better late than never.

I've always said spend, spend, spend because organizationally they have been failures in development and finding talent. One of the big disappointments with Dombrowski was he was known as a farm builder when he was hired. That never came to fruition as his farm development was solely spending over slot on 1st rounds picks that hit big time.

We will see how Harris does in his second off-season but I was impressed with what I saw during the season. I think this free agent class is poor for the big ticket items, but maybe he finds some guys.

Yeah, they've changed the MLB drafting rules so that we probably couldn't get a Justin Verlander like we did last time.

However, didn't San Diego have the #1 overall draft pick in '04? I just looked it up, and they did, drafting Matt Bush over Justin Verlander.

That San Diego did a Randy Smith or Avila type of dumb move is amazing.

[jaadam4]

Shit we almost lost Verlander ourselves. He almost didn’t sign.

[froot loops]

I hadn’t heard that about DR. That’s a good move

They just announced plans for it, let's hope they are not done by the same people planning District Detroit

[Whitley]

The couple FAs I like are Merrifield and Jorge Polanco (if the Twins don't pick up his option). That allows the Tigers to hedge bets on JHM and Keith.

[Whitley]

Keith Law does write ups on the AFL prospects he sees in person. Here is his about RHP Jackson Jobe


The Tigers took right-hander Jackson Jobe with 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.GettyImages-1720152068-1024x652.jpg

[ghandi]

Erod opts out and becomes a free agent and Tigers trade a minor league pitcher for Mark Canha.....That botched trade deadline deal was bad...I hope Harris doesnt ever let that happen again.

[froot loops]

Canha is an upgrade if he has an average season for him. The Tigers didn't have many mid .700 OPS players. If he can take away some of Maton and Badoo's ABs, that's good

[ghandi]

The paper mentioned the team might not tender Badoo and that was before this trade

[whatever_gong82]

[-Deborah-]

He's terrific, can't wait to hear him call a Tigers game!!

[ghandi]

Well if the Diamondbacks and Rangers can make it to the World Series why not the Tigers?

One year ago (both teams final records in 2022)

Diamondbacks 74-88
Rangers 68-94

[whatever_gong82]

Tigers great Guillermo “Willie” Hernandez passes away at age 69 (msn.com)

[whatever_gong82]

[GALion68]

Sad news, gone too soon at age 69.

He was a reliever you want on your team, he was money in the bank whenever he was needed to close a game.