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Detroit Tigers Team Notes Over 3 Million Views!!! Thankyou!

January 18 in Tigers and mlb history:

1896: Long before Marvin Miller and Curt Flood attacked the reserve clause, John Montgomery Ward, who has not played or managed for the last two seasons, objects to being reserved by the New York Giants. At the National League meeting in February, his appeal is upheld, and Ward becomes a free agent.

1934: Future Hall of Fame member Dizzy Dean predicts that he and his brother Paul will lead the St. Louis Cardinals to the National League pennant. Dean will prove to be a man of his word, as the starting pitcher brothers will combine for 49 victories in helping the Cardinals reach - and win - the 1934 World Series.

1938: Pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander is elected to the Hall of Fame, as the only player to get the required 75 percent of the Baseball Writers Association of America votes. In a 20-season major league career, Alexander posted a 373-208 record with 2198 strikeouts and a 2.56 ERA, including 30 or more wins in three seasons.

1947: The Detroit Tigers sell All-Star first baseman Hank Greenberg to the Pittsburgh Pirates for $75,000.
Walter Briggs makes the move after the publication of an old photo of Greenberg wearing a New York Yankees jersey for a wartime charity game.
In 1946, Greenberg led the American League with 44 home runs and 127 RBI, but will slump to 25 home runs and 74 RBI with the Pirates and will retire after the season.

1950: Ace pitcher Bob Feller tells the Cleveland Indians that he should receive a cut in pay after a subpar 15-14 season in 1949. The Indians agree to the suggestion, cutting the future Hall of Famer's pay by $20,000. Feller will receive a salary of $45,000 this year.

1969: The last-place Washington Senators name former Boston Red Sox star Ted Williams as their new manager. Williams signs a five-year contract worth a reported salary of $75,000 per season. Under his leadership, the Senators will finish with a record of 86-76, the best mark in the franchise's history in Washington.

1973: The Boston Red Sox sign veteran slugger Orlando Cepeda to be their first designated hitter. The Red Sox become the first team to sign a player specifically for the role of DH, a new rule that will go into effect this season.

1994: Major league owners approve a new revenue-sharing plan keyed to a salary cap, which requires the players' approval. They will reject it, causing a strike.

2001: US President George W. Bush, in an interview with the Associated Press, says he is worried about baseball's labor contract, which expires on October 31st. Bush, once managing partner of the Texas Rangers, left the job to run for governor of Texas in 1994. He suggests, "Get rid of arbitration if possible and have, maybe, free agency occur at an earlier time, and if there's three shortstops and two bidders the price goes down, and vice versa, it goes up".

2001: The Detroit Tigers signed Heath Murray as a free agent.

2010: The Detroit Tigers signed Ruddy Lugo as a free agent.

2011: The Detroit Tigers signed William Bergolla as a free agent.
2011: The Detroit Tigers signed Brad Penny as a free agent.

2015: Reports circulate that the prime free agent of this off-season, P Max Scherzer, has agreed on a seven-year deal with the Washington Nationals. Terms of the deal released the next day indicate it is worth $210 million.

2016: The Tigers sign one of the last remaining marquee free agents on the market, inking OF Justin Upton to a six-year deal worth $132.75 million.

2017: The Baseball Writers Association of America elects three players to the Hall of Fame: former Houston Astros 1B Jeff Bagwell receives 86.2% of the vote to make it on his seventh try, while lead-off man Tim Raines is just behind him with 86% in his 10th and final year of eligibility. C Ivan Rodriguez also makes it, on his first attempt, clearing the 75% threshold by four votes.

2017: The Tampa Bay Rays traded Mikie Mahtook to the Detroit Tigers for a player to be named later. The Detroit Tigers sent Drew Smith (minors) (April 28, 2017) to the Tampa Bay Rays to complete the trade.

2018: Ignoring resistance from the Players Association, Commissioner Rob Manfred unilaterally announces two measures to speed up the pace of play: the introduction of a 20-second pitch clock with no runners on base, and a change to the definition of mound visits to include those made by the catcher or by an infielder.
Previously, only visits by a manager or coach would count, with the second resulting in the automatic replacement of the pitcher by a reliever. The players' reluctance is seen as a reaction to the slow free agent market this off-season that has resulted in a number of top-notch players still being unsigned a month before the opening of spring training.
On February 19th, the Commissioner will come to an agreement with the MLBPA not to introduce the clock, but to go ahead with other measures to speed up the pace of play.

2023: Six major league teams are assessed luxury tax payments for overshooting payroll limits last season. The Dodgers lead the way, as they are assessed a tax of $32 million, getting an additional penalty as repeat offenders, ahead of the Mets, who actually had a higher payroll but land on the list for the first time in team history with a penalty of $30.8 million. Also penalized are the Yankees, Padres, Phillies and Red Sox, but in all four cases the penalty is below $10 million. The increased penalties come in a context in which total payroll increased by 12% in 2022, up to a record $4.56 billion.

Tigers players birthdays:

Danny Clark 1922.

Nolen Richardson 1929, 1931-1932.

Chuck Cottier 1961.

Marvin Lane 1971-1974, 1976.

Michael Pineda 2022.

Baseball Reference
 
SATURDAY SURVEY.
Totally Tigers

The Detroit Tigers just participated in the International Draft and selected 6 players. This is the first year that Detroit has seriously involved itself in signing international players after brooming and rebuilding the departments involved. The new program is overseen by Rob Metzler who came from the Tampa Bay Rays.
They signed Cris Rodriguez who is the #4 international prospect as well as another player hitting the top 100 prospect list.
Rodriguez will turn 17 in a couple weeks. It could be at least 4 years before he would make his debut in Detroit.
The Tigers have completely rebuilt their player development program and are turning out some impressive talent. Their farm system continues to maintain a top ranking from #1 to #3 depending upon the group doing the evaluation.
However, the international players signed are so very young and the wait for them to develop is longer than the regular MLB Draft. During their minor league time, so many things about them can change.

How do you feel about the new players coming into the Tigers’ system?
How do you feel about the Tigers' International Draft results?

1. Excited about the future w/Rodriguez and Jose Ramirez (#54 ranked).

2. Wake me when they hit AA.

3. Not thrilled with the International Draft.

VOTE
 
January 19 in Tigers and mlb history:

1934 - Baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis denies Shoeless Joe Jackson's appeal for reinstatement. Jackson was one of eight Chicago White Sox players banned for their part in throwing the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds.

1937 - In the second annual Hall of Fame election, the Baseball Writers Association of America elects second baseman Nap Lajoie, outfielder Tris Speaker and pitcher Cy Young to the Cooperstown shrine. The trio will be honored at the Hall's first induction ceremony in 1939.

1945: Media reports say that Stan Musial will enlist in the U.S. military for duty in World War II. Musial will miss the entire 1945 season before returning to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1946.

1959 - The Players Association orders their International League members not to sign a pact unless it includes their pension plan.

1961: The Cleveland Indians release former National League standout pitcher Don Newcombe, ending his major league career. A one-time hard thrower, Newcombe won the Rookie of the Year, Cy Young and Most Valuable Player awards while with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Newcombe finishes with 149 wins and only 90 losses.

1972: The Baseball Writers Association of America elects Sandy Koufax (344 votes), Yogi Berra (339), and Early Wynn (301) to the Hall of Fame. One year earlier, the writers had failed to elect anyone to the Hall. Koufax makes it in his first try and, at 36 years of age, is the youngest honoree in history.
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1977 - The BBWAA elects Ernie Banks to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. In a 19-season career, Banks hit 512 home runs, had 11 All-Star selections, and won back-to-back National League MVP Awards,

1978 - Eddie Mathews is elected to the Hall of Fame by the BBWAA. The former third baseman is named on 301 of 379 ballots.

1982: The Detroit Tigers released Stan Papi.

1994 - Major league owners amend the major league agreement, giving complete power to the Commissioner on labor negotiations. Bud Selig will continue to act as interim commissioner.

2005: The Detroit Tigers signed Nelson Cruz as a free agent.
2005: The Detroit Tigers signed Sandy Martinez as a free agent.

2006: Baseball officials are cautiously expecting good news soon from the George W. Bush administration that would clear the way for Cuba to participate in the first World Baseball Classic. Meanwhile, Fidel Castro suggests the United States doesn't want to play Cuba in the WBC. The U.S. Treasury Department last month denied MLB's application for Cuba to play its scheduled first-round games in Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory. Later rounds are to be played on the U.S. mainland. The license is required under 45-year-old American sanctions against Cuba. The International Baseball Federation has said it will not sanction the tournament if Cuba isn't allowed to play.

2007: The Detroit Tigers signed Kevin Beirne as a free agent.

2010: The Detroit Tigers signed Sam Narron as a free agent.
2010: The Detroit Tigers signed Jose Valverde as a free agent.

2013: Two all-time greats pass away today, as long-time Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver dies at 82 and St. Louis Cardinals slugger Stan Musial is a victim of Alzheimer's disease at 92 later in the day. Both were members of the Hall of Fame.

2016: In settling a class action lawsuit filed by fans, Major League Baseball announces changes to its policy regarding the streaming of live games over the internet on MLB.TV. Fans will now be able to buy a package that covers their favorite team and that allows them to circumvent local blackouts, while the cost of the league-wide full package will be reduced by 15%.
However, the settlement does not cover certain regional networks not owned by DirecTV, MLB's principal broadcasting partner. The suit was filed because, while MLB.TV promised subscribers that they could watch all MLB games lives, local blackouts meant that in reality, fans who bought the package were often unable to follow the games of their local teams, a frustrating situation in markets where the local cable sports network is either not made available by every provider or is part of an expensive premium package.

2017: Miguel Cabrera guest conducts the Detroit Symphony.

2018: The results from the autopsy of Roy Halladay, who died on November 7th in the crash of the single-passenger plane he was piloting, indicate that the former pitcher died from blunt force trauma, with drowning as a contributing factor, but also that his body contained traces of morphine and other drugs.

2021: Hall of Famer Don Sutton, a 300-game winner, passes away at age 75, as the wave of deaths among playing greats of the 1970s continues unabated: he is the 9th member of Cooperstown to pass away over a 12-month period.

2021: The Detroit Tigers signed Erasmo Ramirez as a free agent.

Tigers players and coaches birthdays:

Dan Boone 1921.

Rip Radcliff 1941-1943.

Mark Grater 1993.

Jon Matlack coach 1996.

Rick Adair coach 1995-1999.

Phil Nevin 1995-1997.

Tigers players who passed away:

Dutch Meyer 1940-1942.

Walt Streuli 1954-1956.

Milt Bolling 1958.

Manny Montejo 1961.

Baseball Reference
 
DEEPER DISCUSSIONS.
Totally Tigers

The Detroit Tigers have a starting pitcher dilemma to solve.
It is an almost certainty that they will lose Tarik Skubal after the 2026 season (2 years). They have tried to extend him but his agent, Scott Boras, said the team wasn’t even close in their offer. Boras takes almost 100% of his clients to free agency.
This means that the Tigers will most likely need to trade him next winter while there is still trade value. They remember when the 2014 Front Office kept Max Scherzer until he became a free agent and got Christin Stewart as their draft pick for losing him.
But the Tigers can’t take a step backward in their competitive level and certainly don’t want to risk not reaching the playoffs.
After the 2025 season, they lose both Kenta Maeda and Alex Cobb, leaving young inexperienced pitchers to fill the void. We can assume that Reese Olson will be a solid part of the rotation but who else?
Casey Mize? Keider Montero?
Jackson Jobe is expected to be a top SP but will he make this year’s roster out of spring training? If he does, that means the Tigers will potentially only have 2 sure bets on the mound when Skubal becomes a free agent in 2 years.
They do have quite a few resources in the minors who saw a brief glimpse of Detroit in 2024. But this team needs to put together a rotation with some solid experience in less than 2 years if they want to take that next step.
They have 2 options:
Spend the majority of this year (until early August at least) working with the expected rotation of Skubal, Cobb, Olson, Mize and presumably Montero. Potentially even Maeda depending how well he trains this winter.
Start bringing up the youth before the summer trade deadline so they can gain the necessary experience: Jobe, Brieske and Hanifee. (A. J. Hinch said there’s a chance Brieske gets moved back to SP.) Maybe others. Between ’25 and ’26, they could have a total of a full year of MLB experience by the time Skubal departs.
What would you do?
Today’s blog addresses this question and allows readers to share their thoughts in more detail. And hopefully, to actively engage with others by responding to their posts and creating back-and-forth discussion threads. The more the merrier!
For this one blog only, you’ve got 6 sentences max to share your thoughts. Of course, you can also respond to other readers.
TT will supply the ammunition. One thought-provoking question. Several options provided. One hard choice to be selected. One vote.
Ready?

What should the Tigers do about their starting rotation this seaon?

1. Keep the experienced pitchers together for most of the year.

2. Start replacing some experienced pitchers mid-summer with rookies so they may gain experience.

VOTE
 
January 20 in Tigers and mlb history:

1906: Henry Mathewson, Christy Mathewson's younger brother, signed with the Giants. In his only start he walks 14 batters to establish a National League record.

1912: Walter "Spike" Briggs Jr. born in Detroit. Inherited Tigers ownership from his father in 1952 before selling the team in 1956 to a syndicate led by John Fetzer and Fred Knorr.

1914: Ed Willett jumped from the Detroit Tigers to the St. Louis Terriers.

1930: Commissioner Landis bans boxing for all players following the brief boxing career of Chicago White Sox first baseman Art Shires. His challenge to slugger Hack Wilson purportedly prompts the ban. Shires fought several suspected bouts that resulted in his being suspended by the boxing commissions of 32 states but loses a desultory five-rounder to Chicago Bears center George (The Brute) Trafton. Shires did win a punch-out with Sox manager Lena Blackburne and two hotel detectives late last season.

1931: Joe Sewell, released by the Cleveland Indians after last season, signs with the New York Yankees. The future Hall of Fame shortstop will finish his 14-season career in 1933.

1940: The Detroit Tigers traded Beau Bell to the Cleveland Indians for Bruce Campbell.

1946: In a classic pitching matchup played in the newly-constituted Venezuelan League, Alex Carrasquel of Magallanes beats Roy Welmaker and the Equipo Vargas club, 3 - 2, in 17 innings. In the six-and-a-half-hour marathon, Carrasquel is good enough to silence the bats of Roy Campanella and Sam Jethroe. Both pitchers go the distance in one of the greatest winter league matchups ever.

1947: Former Negro Leagues legend Josh Gibson dies from a brain tumor at the age of 35. Considered by many to be the greatest home run hitter in the history of the Negro Leagues, Gibson will eventually gain election to the Hall of Fame in 1972, when he is selected by the Special Committee on the Negro Leagues.
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1949: The Detroit Tigers purchased Don Lund from the St. Louis Browns for $15,000.

1951: Seattle (PCL) traded Wayne McLeland to the Detroit Tigers for Marv Grissom and Sam Vico.

1961: Byron White, who played for the Lions at Briggs (Tiger) Stadium, begins serving as deputy U.S. attorney general. The following year he will be named to the Supreme Court by President Kennedy.

1965: The Cleveland Indians re-acquire popular slugger Rocky Colavito from the Chicago White Sox in an eight-player, three-way trade involving the Kansas City Athletics.
In the deal, the White Sox send a player to be named later (pitcher Fred Talbot) and outfielders Jim Landis and Mike Hershberger to Kansas City in exchange for Colavito.
Chicago also sends catcher Cam Carreon to the Indians and receives catcher Johnny Romano, outfielder Tommy Agee and pitcher Tommy John from Cleveland.
In 1960, the Indians had traded Colavito to Detroit for Harvey Kuenn, drawing the wrath of Cleveland fans.

1966: The Baseball Writers Association of America elects former Boston Red Sox outfielder Ted Williams to the Hall of Fame. Williams, the last major league batter to hit .400, receives 282 of a possible 302 votes.
He won the Triple Crown twice, the American League MVP Award twice, and produced the highest career on-base percentage of all time (.483) leading the league 6 times in Bases on Balls, even though he lost five years to military service.
Ted won 6 Batting Titles, 9 Slugging Titles, 4 Homerun and 4 RBI Titles, as well as leading the league 6 times in Runs Scored, 6 times in Total Bases, 12 times in OBP, 10 times in OPS, and 9 times in OPS+.
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1970: Shortstop Lou Boudreau achieves election to the Hall of Fame, receiving 232 of a possible 300 votes from the BBWAA. Boudreau led the American League eight times in fielding percentage, won a batting title, and was named AL Most Valuable Player as player-manager of the 1948 World Champion Cleveland Indians.

1984: The Montreal Expos sign 42-year-old free agent Pete Rose. The veteran first baseman batted only .245 in 1983, the last of his five seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies. Rose will play only 95 games for the Expos before being traded to the Cincinnati Reds, where he will become player-manager.

1984: The Chicago White Sox claim 39-year-old pitcher Tom Seaver from the New York Mets as compensation for the loss of free agent pitcher Dennis Lamp to the Toronto Blue Jays. The Mets left Seaver off their protected list assuming (wrongly) that no team would want to select the aging star, who finished 1983 with a 9-14 record and a 3.55 ERA.
But Seaver will improve to 15-11 with the White Sox this season.

1997: The Detroit Tigers signed Mike Rivera as an amateur free agent.

1997: Former All-Star outfielder Curt Flood, who challenged baseball's reserve system all the way to the Supreme Court and made possible today's mega-salaries, dies at age 59.

2000: The 30 major league owners vote to give all their Internet rights to the Commissioner's office. This decision allows for the creation of mlb.com, which will become a model of success for other professional sports leagues. Bud Selig is expected to parcel out monies earned from the venture in equal amounts.

2003: The Detroit Tigers signed Bill Haselman as a free agent.

2004: The Detroit Tigers signed Esteban Yan as a free agent.

2006: Cuba will be allowed to play in the World Baseball Classic after all. President Bush's administration issued a license allowing the Cubans to participate in the 16-team tournament.

2009: The Detroit Tigers signed Juan Rincon as a free agent.

2010: The Detroit Tigers signed Mike Rabelo as a free agent.

2015: The Detroit Tigers signed Josh Prince as a free agent.

2016: The Detroit Tigers signed Argenis Diaz as a free agent.
2016: The Detroit Tigers signed Justin Upton as a free agent.

2017: Miguel Cabrera guest conducts the Detroit Symphony.

2023: The Detroit Tigers signed Chasen Shreve as a free agent.

Tigers players and executives birthdays:

Ernie Courtney 1903.

Walter "Spike" Briggs Jr. owner 1952-1956.

Bill James 1915-1919.

Jimmy Outlaw 1943-1949.

Dave Boswell 1971.

Bill Scherrer 1984-1986.

Julio Santana 2002.

Franklyn German 2002-2005.

Chris Mears 2003.

Tigers players who passed away:

Jimmy Wiggs 1905-1906.

Vern Ruhle 1974-1977.

Gus Zernial 1958-1959.

Baseball Reference
 
OPEN MIKE.
Totally Tigers

On this long holiday weekend, we welcome readers to share their thoughts about the Tigers or baseball in general. Your observations, comments and questions. Extra credit to those who create topics or questions that generate thoughtful dialog threads.
For this day only, a maximum of 6 sentences please.
 
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