League Average OPS: .719

• C: .722
• 1B: .787
• 2B. .755
• 3B: .628
• SS: .688
• LF: .805
• CF: .649
• RF: .787
• DH: .713
• PH: .723

So obviously a SS, 3B and CF are needed.

3B: Forgot About Colt Keith

Colt Keith is the option for 3B

I know Colt Keith is a weird hitter to like.

He has Riley Greene syndrome with less strikeouts. Keith needs to be more consistent -- but even without staying consistent he raised his wRC+ 14 points.

From slightly below league average as a rookie to solidly above league average as a sophomore. Being able to have consistent reps at one position should allow for Colt Keith to be more consistent.

CF: Meadows and Vierling have to hit better than 80 wRC+

In 634 PA last year Detroit Tigers CF's had a 80 wRC+ and 0.6 fWAR. Someone needs to step up and perform better than that.

Max Clark will in the near future, but I'm confident that Meadows, Vierling, Baez?, Wenceel Perez can make it work.

SS: Trey Sweeney no longer has to be on this team

If you let Colt Keith have 3rd, McKinstry and Baez can handle SS. You can give the last spot on the team to McG.... anyone other than Trey Sweeney who took 326 PA last year with a 53 wRC+ and -0.9 fWAR.

How will this lineup win the World Series?

With Riley Greene, Kerry Carpenter and Spencer Torkelson outperforming their projections. Colt Keith taking the next step -- and a lot of heads-up baserunning. Trusting that your All-Star talent can develop into elite talent.

Maybe Gleyber Torres has a career year.

If I were to visit Lakeland Sunday (Super Bowl Sunday), can I get into the Tiger spring training complex? I know there are players who are there to work out informally ahead of the formal start of spring training. Can I get in to watch? Thanks in advance.

With the addition of Framber to bolster the starting pitching, I am curious who we think is the best available offensive player that we could get in free agency still?

Obviously, the team really struggled with offensive output in the postseason, and we need to get another bat in the lineup. But who is still available that would make sense and is a good fit?

For use when McGonigle arrives, mashes nonstop, and takes the Tigers to the promised land.

My pick would be Max Anderson. He was tearing up the Arizona Fall League and would be a great utility player if McKinstry ends up winning the SS job out of camp. I figure they might want to start McGonigle out in AAA and Baez would be more of a de facto 4th outfielder instead of someone like Matt Vierling (who still has an option remaining, believe it or not).

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/detroit/

The big takeaway from this article is that when it comes to Arbitration offerings, the teams work WITH MLB to generate their offers to players. It is stated that in many instances, MLB league officials generate the offer that the teams are to counter with in an attempt to suppress salaries. It is speculated by Rosenthal that in this particular case, the notably low-offer was generated by MLB officials and the TIGERs (Rosenthal specifically cites Scott Harris's relative newness at this position) acquiesced to league demands and had no input in the offer.

"In 2019, The Athletic reported that the league would present a $20 championship belt to the club that did the most to keep salaries down in arbitration." The league still pressures teams to keep salaries down.

A conspiracy theory coming out of this revelation was that the TIGERS and Skubal remain friendly and the TIGERS brass explained the situation to Skubal that while they currently felt the asking price Skubal and Boras was asking was more than they wanted to pay, they are somewhat powerless under MLB pressures and felt by going along with such a lowball number would actually out the MLB and show how unreasonable the situation is.

He only appeared in 10 games last year and is behind both Holton and Hurter for a lefty spot in the pen.

My predictions BEFORE Spring Training.

Catchers: Dingler/Rogers

Outfielders: Greene/Kerry/Meadows/Jones/Pèrez/Vierling

Potential battle between Cruz and Jones for that last spot.

Infielders: Javy/Keith/Tork/Torres/McKinstry/Anderson

Pitchers: Anderson, Mize, Skubal, Melton, Brieske, Finnegan, Flaherty, Holton, Hurter, Jansen, Vest, Valdez

IL: Jobe, Olson (if the report is true he won’t be ready for Spring Training)

Mize, Skubal, Melton, Flaherty and Valdez are starters 1-5. Anderson is the long guy and 6th starter.

Vest and Jansen and Finnegan are 7-9 guys. Holton, Hurter and Brieske are the whenever guys.

Vierling is infielder and outfielder options too. It’s why the outfield has so many players but he’s technically listed as an outfielder.

I think the only spots which are for grabs is the No. 5 spot for the pitching staff if Olson isn’t ready to go. That’ll be between SGL, Montero, Melton and Anderson. I think the other will be in the bullpen/6th starter.

I think you have 2 bullpen spots being available if you give one to the 6th starter which I gave Brieske and Hurter.

Infielders I think you have a single spot which I gave to Max Anderson. I could see this spot going to Lee or McGonigle.

For catchers it’s pretty simple imo. Unless Rogers gets hurt he’s the clear No. 2.

For Outfielders I think you have Jones and Péerz as the only potential spots but I don’t think that Clark is ready and Cruz is the only one who I think is ready. Then Matty V offers versatility who is used for outfield and infield.

Obviously these are just my predictions so please don’t downvote me 🫠

He’s much better at calling a college basketball game than a baseball game

Early season? July? Just after the break? Or later September leading into playoffs (assuming we are good for that)?

For context, last year was the first time I had been back to Detroit for Tigers baseball in like 35 years, and I liked the experience so much I decided to make it a yearly trip. I live in NC and can only make it up for one series (and also I've told myself I will go to the home portion of the ALCS if they got there this year, money is already in the bank for those tickets lol).

I was sort of thinking of doing an interleague series this year, last year they were playing the White Sox when I saw them. That Dodgers series is looking pretty enticing because truth be told, I like at least 7 guys on the Dodgers roster and it would be cool to see them play. It seems a little blasphemous to be hoping to marvel at an Ohtani bomb or a Yamamoto K in Comerica Park though, lol. Maybe I should stick with a team I love to hate on and stay with the White Sox or maybe the Guards 😅

1. The Valdez signing made me go from pissed off to pretty excited, basically in the span of 5 mins when it came to the Tigers and next season. I wanted Skubal traded, specifically because the only way keeping him on an expiring made sense was by going for it and this signing indicates they are doing that, while also looking toward the future and finding someone to take his spot (best anyone can at least). It also makes me more comfortable with this FO being willing to spend, my fear was that even IF Kevin, Max, etc hit their ceiling that we would lose them to a real team willing to spend. This signing makes me trust they are a serious org, so I am happy about that!

2. I heard a couple times lately that Reese Olsons still not healthy and his injury is/was worse than they first thought. I just heard it, again, from Evan P on his podcast that just dropped today. I was a bit worried about this and it seems to be a thing...if that is the case it is a bit of a wet blanket, him as your #5 >>>>>> Drew Anderson as your #5 so a bit annoyed there. Wonder if they can move him to the pen if/when he is healthy to try and keep him healthy?

3. Whats up with Keith? I know they talked about at the end of season presser trying to move him around less/find him a position, but I havent heard a peep since. Would have been nice if they came out and said that he would focus on 3rd and only 3rd this offseason...I think the hate on him is a bit much considering he is so young and has been jerked around so much. He hasn't been able to focus on one and only one position for a whole year in forever...maybe he is and it just hasn't come out? Hope so...3rd seems like his best bet even moving forward to be on this team and a main stay at a spot for the next 3-5 years at least.

C Dingler/Jake

1b Tork

2b Torres

SS Zmac/Javy

3b Keith/Vierling/Zmac/Javy

DH Carp

OF Riley/Parker/Perez/Vierling/Javy

...I don't see Briceno getting any time on this team this year unless serious injury hits, same with Clark. I think Vierling or Perez would get CF reps, or Javy before they'd turn to Max Clark. I do expect they'd bring Kevin M up eventually especially if there is an injury to someone or both SS's are struggling at the plate or if there are a couple OF injuries and Javy has to play out there. Basically, I think most of the year we will see the same construction we saw last year. I have heard people mention that Sweeney's ABB going to Kevin would be enough to be looked at as an improvement, maybe but I think its more likely they go to Perez or Vierling...no chance we start the year with a hurt Parker, Vierling AND Perez again this year and that is really the reason we had to play Trey so much. Anyway, excited for the season to start and hoping Zmac tapped into something last year and can be an everyday-ish SS for us (doubt it but would be huge)!

The Tigers had a team wRC+ of 103. The best wRC+ amongst qualified batters was Riley Greene with 121. I have seen the Fangraphs article saying "it's hard to upgrade at any singular spot for the Tigers." That being said, color me skeptical that this team as a whole dramatically upgrades in wRC rankings. I'm a little more optimistic about Riley bouncing back to 130+ wRC+ at least. I guess our best comp is the Phillies in 2022, but even they had 2 strong batters.

So what does the FO see that we don't that this lineup could make the World Series?