Detroit Tigers Links is already at peak offseason

And so it begins

The time for playing baseball is over. Instead, prepare yourselves for a whole lot of this:

Uh, just throw that in the closet

Chris McCosky floats the idea of permanently moving both Anibal Sanchez and Mike Pelfrey to the bullpen. I’m all for it since neither showed that they could be average starters, but this is really just moving the problem somewhere else. Pitching those two at any point has been toxic for the Tigers.

Time to find out how much everyone really loves Big Papi

David Ortiz is officially retiring after being very good at baseball for a long time and becoming the heart and soul of Boston. Everyone loves him. But there is That Thing from 2009.

When Ortiz is up for the Hall of Fame vote in 5 years, we are going to find out how much the writers really love Big Papi. Steroid users have been almost universally black balled from entering. Ortiz might become an exception that opens the door for others.

Home Run Back

Being a small market team seems like a bad time

Andrew McCutchen is the face of the Pittsburgh Pirates franchise, a former MVP, a transcendent talent, and an all-around good guy. He also has two years left on his contract making only $13 million per year. For the Pirates, that means it is time to trade him.

Such is the sad reality for small market teams. Unable to afford handing out a long-term contract to an aging star, or an up-and-coming one (hey, Tampa), the rebuild never ends.

Presented without comment

The Yankees are a year away

After selling effectively last year and still almost making the playoffs, you might expect the New York Yankees to reload and make a run at 2017. However, that seems very unlikely.

The days of wild spending and winning at all costs are gone from the Bronx. Unfortunately, this will probably yield an even better team. Waiting out a relatively shallow 2017 free agent class and targeting franchise-changing players in 2018 to add to their young, cheap core is going to set up the Yankees for another decade.

This week in new, ridiculous minor league team names

Props for picking a truly terrifying mascot. I still have PTSD from these things swarming out from under the dock at my grandma’s.

For you free time

Johan Santana is attempting another comeback. Rich Hill is the best free agent pitcher available. Seriously. Albert Pujols doing nice things. What should teams do with a theoretical 26th roster spot.

Baseball is awesome