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It’s here: our first full week without baseball. It’s not like baseball has gone away entirely. It’s still here, but it lies dormant, waiting for yet another spring awakening. We will pass the time with hot stoves and tales of free agent acquisitions that could be. Considering that, lately, the Detroit Tigers have shed players from the 40-man roster like my dog sheds hair, the free agent acquisition talk could be pretty relevant.
Minor moves
Speaking of 40-man roster cuts, Chris McCosky of the Detroit News talks a bit about the recent cuts and focuses on one of the names on the list, Alex Presley. Presley doesn’t seem all that optimistic about his chances to re-sign with the Tigers. He only got 245 at-bats last year, but he used his opportunities to post a .770 OPS. He understandably thinks this could put him in a position to find an everyday role somewhere.
The minor league market is going to be a hot one for Detroit this winter. Evan Woodbury of MLive breaks down the Tigers’ minor league free agents and what we might see happening on that front this offseason. Steven Moya and Tyler Collins are two very familiar names that we may see looking at a fresh start with another organization next year.
The hit Paredes
FanGraphs has a nice rundown of one of the Tigers’ newest acquisitions in Isaac Paredes. West Michigan Whitecaps hitting coach Mike Hessman, the minor league home run king, has a lot of good things to say about the young infielder.
The return of Ramon
Jason Beck of MLB.com takes a look at Detroit’s newest first base and infield coach, Ramon Santiago. If you’re a long-time Tigers fan, you know Ramon. Some of my earliest memories of BYB revolve around discussions of whether Santiago had the talent to be an everyday player. He seems excited to be back in Detroit, and I’m happy to see him land on the coaching staff. Let’s see how he can help some of these young infielders coming up through the system.
Speculations
MLB Daily Dish takes a crack at what the offseason could look like for this Tigers team, and it’s not something that you are going to be pumped about. Terms like “bargain bin” get used. There’s discussion of the need to move Ian Kinsler and Jose Iglesias while they have value. The gist of the article: the team needs to maximize value for older talent in order to swap it out for younger players to help the future. This team is already looking a lot different. Look for that trend to continue.
Around the horn
Which time zone is the best for baseball? Roger Bernadina and Wilin Rosario are looking to come back to the majors, a la Eric Thames. How the Houston Astros finally hit on a formula that worked. A history of absurd baseball conspiracy theories.