Tigers Face Three Spring Position Battles
ALSO: VALENTINE'S DAY IS MORE THAN JUST A HALLMARK HOLIDAY
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SABR Analytics Research Awards voting is open through today, February 14! Pick your favorite analytical baseball research and commentary from 2024. Everyone is welcome to vote. Vote each day at ibwaa.com/sabr-voting.
Pregame Pepper
Did you know…
Shota Imanaga, runner-up to Paul Skenes for top NL rookie last year, will start one of the two Cubs games in Japan when they get a jump on the season next month . . .
He could be pitching against fellow Japanese native Yoshinobu Yamamoto, also a 2024 rookie, for the Dodgers . . .
Speaking of pitchers, two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom, twice sidelined by Tommy John surgery, has thrown only 41 innings in nine starts with Texas over two years but hopes to revive his career at age 37 . . .
The Mets, Yankees, and Dodgers spent a combined $1.633 billion on free agents this winter as opposed to the $1.439 billion for the other 27 clubs combined . . .
Projected Atlanta starters Ian Anderson and Grant Holmes are both out of options . . .
Spencer Horwitz, just acquired by Pittsburgh from Toronto, is already out indefinitely after wrist surgery . . .
The Royals have hired former manager Ned Yost, who took the team to consecutive pennants in 2014-15, as senior advisor to their general manager . . .
If Kaycee shortstop Bobby Witt, Jr. has his third straight 30/30 season, he’ll join Barry Bonds as the only players to do that. Only seven other players even managed back-to-back 30/30 years, with Alfonso Soriano doing it twice. Witt, Jr. is the only shortstop with multiple 30/30 campaigns.
Leading Off
Detroit Tigers: Spring Training Position Battles
By Joe Underhill
Pitchers and catchers have reported to Lakeland, Florida and soon the rest of the Detroit Tigers’ roster will join them for the beginning of spring training.
With the news that Alex Bregman is signing with the Boston Red Sox, the Tigers know where the major position battles will be heading into camp. While the Tigers return many of the players who helped them to a surprise playoff appearance, there are new faces and increased competition to make the team. Here are three battles to watch as spring training unfolds.
Rotation:
The Tigers have added two free-agent starters who should see significant time in the rotation: Alex Cobb and old friend Jack Flaherty.
The Tigers expect Flaherty to team with reigning Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal in leading the rotation, while Cobb and Reese Olson figure to help eat quality innings in the middle.
Cobb, however, will most likely start the year on the IL after reporting an issue with his hip. This opens a second spot in the rotation to start the season and there are no fewer than seven pitchers who will be competing for those spots: Casey Mize, Jackson Jobe, Matt Manning, Kenta Maeda, Keider Montero, Ty Madden, and Brant Hurter.
The injury to Cobb further opens the door and the likelihood that highly-regarded prospect Jobe makes the Opening Day roster.
Montero pitched well in 2024, posting an ERA of 4.76 in 98 innings of work at the major-league level, but had issues with walks and home runs, giving up 19, so there’s still a fair amount of refinement to go.
Manning made five spot starts after losing the camp battle last year, then went on the IL and missed the rest of the year.
If he doesn’t win a rotation spot, Manning is a strong candidate to transition to the bullpen whereh is stuff could play up in shorter outings.
Madden and Hurter both contributed to the Tigers’ “pitching chaos” last season with Hurter playing a prominent role in long relief. Both are long shots to open in the rotation and will likely be stretch out in AAA.
Finally, there is the former No. 1 overall pick, Casey Mize, who returned last season after missing almost two full years to injury.
Mize seemed to struggle to command his pitches after the long layoff, but hopefully a healthy off-season will allow him to regain his command.
The guess here is Jobe and Mize will be the fourth and fifth starters to open the season.
Third Base:
With Bregman signing with Boston, the Tigers will look to Matt Vierling and Jace Jung to man the hot corner. However, it also opens the possibility Zach McKinstry and Andy Ibanez will see innings there too.
Another possibility is Javier Baez seeing some reps at third base, especially if the Tigers decide Trey Sweeney is the everyday shortstop.
In 2024, Detroit struggled to get good offensive production out of third base, so the team will be banking on internal improvements.
Jung didn’t get a ton of at-bats and seemed to be dealing with a wrist injury that required off-season surgery. The bet here is the Tigers will platoon Vierling and Jung.
Bench:
The Tigers have done a lot of mix-and-matching with position players, with AJ Hinch being one of the best at leveraging match-ups to favor his hitters.
With Vierling going to see a lot of innings at third, Wenceel Perez will likely play a fair amount in right field.
Right now, the bench will likely be Andy Ibanez, Zach McKinstry, Jace Jung, Javier Baez, and Dillon Dingler.
That leaves Justyn-Henry Malloy and Spencer Torkelson on the outside looking in.
Torkelson struggled in 2024 but team president Scott Harris has said there is a place on this team for Torkelson if he can earn it. The Tigers will want to give him every opportunity to do that, which may result in Torkelson bumping Jung off the initial roster while McKinstry splits time with Vierling.
Conclusion:
The storylines from spring training are just beginning, baseball is a marathon sport and those who do not make the initial 26-man roster to start the season will still be vital to the team’s success. Let the competition begin!
Joe Underhill is a high school administrator and diehard baseball fan and fan of the city of Detroit. Joe currently writes for the HTP Newsletter. You can follow Joe on Twitter@TransplantedDet and @transplanteddet.bsky.social
Cleaning Up
Happy Valentine’s Day in More Ways Than One
By Dan Schlossberg
This date, February 14, had special meaning for Jack Benny, Ellis Valentine, and obviously St. Valentine.
Benjamin Kubelsky, who later took the stage name Jack Benny, was born on this date in Waukegan, IL in 1894. He lived 80 years, crafting a career as an comedian, musician, and best friend to George Burns.
Mel Brooks loved him too; there’s even a Kubelsky Street, named in honor of his friend, in the film version of To Be or Not To Be.
Ellis Valentine hit .278 with 123 home runs during a 10-year tenure as an outfielder, mostly with the late, great Montreal Expos. And no, he was not born on the day that was named for him.
According to Wikimedia, Saint Valentine was a 3rd-century Roman saint, commemorated in Western Christianity on Feb. 14 and in Eastern Orthodoxy on July 6. From the High Middle Ages, his feast day has been associated with a tradition of courtly love. He was also a patron saint of Terni, epilepsy (!) and beekeepers — certainly making him one of the most versatile celebrities of his epoch.
As a Hallmark holiday, Valentine’s Day is unmatched with its sending of greeting cards (and maybe even baseball cards), not to mention chocolates of all sizes, shapes, and tastes, and even gift-giving, such as the Houston Astros’ peddling of closer Ryan Pressly to the Chicago Cubs for a left-handed tunafish sandwich and a pickle to be named later.
These days, Feb. 14 is also known to many of the 30 clubs as the date pitchers and catchers report. That makes it The First Day of Spring, in the minds of this baseball purist and many who share that sentiment.
That includes Punxatawney Phil, whose forecast of six more weeks of winter was quickly contradicted by his cousin, Staten Island Chuck.
Well, one of the groundhogs has to be right!
It’s never easy to bridge the enormous chasm between the last pitch of the World Series and first pitch of the following spring. Men like Scott Boras, who spends his winters squeezing every last nickel from unsuspecting teams, just make it worse.
For the dozens of free agents who remain unsigned — and therefore jobless — the arrival of this date means they have overplayed their hand and overestimated their worth. More than a handful will quickly realize their careers are over.
Maybe their asking prices wouldn’t have reached that stage had they not known what everybody else was getting. But Rich Hill hardly compares to Corbin Burnes — whether on cardboard or on the pitching mound.
At least the baseball fans of the world can be grateful that pitchers and catchers are reporting, exhibition play is about to start, and the 2025 season should be played without interference from Covid, the World Baseball Classic, or work stoppages.
All it takes are two little words:
PLAY BALL !!!
HTP weekend editor Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ covers the game for forbes.com, Memories & Dreams, USA TODAY Sports Weekly, Sports Collectors Digest, and many other outlets. He’s also promoting two new books. Dan’s email is ballauthor@gmail.com.
Extra Innings: Rendon Comes Up Lame Again
There are more examples of ill-advised free agent signings than good ones.
Now comes word that Anthony Rendon is making a strong case to be included in the list of Ten Worst. Entering the sixth season of a seven-year, $245MM contract that has proven awful for the Angels, the one-time National League RBI champ played 205 of a possible 648 games (31.6%) and posted a horrendous .231/.329/.336 batting line. His upcoming hip surgery will place him on the IL for the 13th time since 2021 . . .
After leading the Washington Nationals to a surprise world championship in 2019, Rendon and teammate Steven Strasburg became free agents. The Nats decided they could only afford one and settled for the pitcher, signing him for exactly the same deal the Angels gave Rendon . . .
Strasburg has been a washout too, adding his name to the long and growing list of bad signings . . .
In alphabetical order, some of the worst have been Bobby Bonilla, Kevin Brown, Kris Bryant, Madison Bumgarner, Vince Coleman, Chris Davis, Jacob deGrom, Jacoby Ellsbury, Nick Esasky, Wayne Garland, Eric Hosmer, Al Hrabosky, Dave McNally, Andy Messersmith, Rendon, Pablo Sandoval, Strasburg, Steve Trout, Mo Vaughn, and Ed Whitson.
Know Your Editors
HERE’S THE PITCH is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [gopherben@gmail.com] handles the Monday issue with Dan Freedman [dfreedman@lionsgate.com] editing Tuesday and Jeff Kallman [easyace1955@outlook.com] at the helm Wednesday and Thursday. Original editor Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com], does the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Former editor Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] is now co-director [with Benjamin Chase and Jonathan Becker] of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America, which publishes this newsletter and the annual ACTA book of the same name. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HtP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.
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