Detroit Tigers News: The Tigers continue to do mostly nothing

We are inching ever closer to the magical date of February 13, when pitchers and catchers report to spring training. Unfortunately, it would seem that the countdown to that day is just about all Detroit Tigers fans have to focus on for the moment. There isn’t much else to talk about regarding this team at the moment. Luckily, I do have a few things of interest to share from Detroit and around the league.

Mr. Rogers is top 5 programming

Jake Rogers, the organization’s top prospect behind the dish, is getting some recognition around the league as he slots in as the fifth-best catching prospect by MLB.com. His defense is what puts him there, as he is widely considered the best defensive catching prospect in baseball. His bat was a bit of a surprise in 2017, where he hit 18 home runs with an .817 OPS across two levels. If the bat keeps up, he is going to be pretty fun to watch in Detroit in a few years.

Hindsight is 20-12

In a Trade Retrospective piece, Luis Torres of Beyond the Box Score takes a look back at the deal that brought Anibal Sanchez and Omar Infante to Detroit. It’s a fun read, and a reminder that, despite Sanchez’s career completely derailing over the last couple years, Dave Dombrowski, as he often does, put together a good trade for his team at the time.

It’s Hall of Fame week and everyone has a hot take on it

On Wednesday, the Hall of Fame will be announcing this years inductees. We here at Bless You Boys put together our own ballots, if you’re interested to know how we feel about this year’s class. I think you would be hard pressed to find a Tigers fan who doesn’t believe the voting system for the Hall of Fame is flawed, considering the way Lou Whitaker has been treated by the system (and the Tigers themselves, honestly).

Change could be a good thing, and Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports has a few thoughts on what he would do differently. I agree with three of the four things he would change. Players shouldn’t get kicked for not receiving five percent of the vote, you should be able to vote for more than ten players, and all ballots should be revealed when voting is complete. I, however, don’t see campaigning for players to be elected to the hall as something that needs to be eliminated.

Heyman also makes sure to reiterate his opinion that PED users should not be afforded entry to the Hall, but for his lone exception in Barry Bonds. This makes me wonder how you can draw such a hard line against PED use, but then still be alright with voting for Barry Bonds.

Pour some sugar somewhere else

I can’t believe I’m typing this, but I received two pieces of Def Leppard news that I found relevant to me over the weekend. The first, which is good, is that they settled some sort of licensing dispute with streaming services and their full discography is now available to me on Spotify. My inner twelve year old enjoyed listening to the Hysteria album most of the day on Sunday.

The second, which is not so good, is that they will be playing a concert at Comerica Park with Journey on July 13. If you don’t know why this is not so good, allow me to point you to July of last year when Metallica played a show at Comerica and it destroyed the outfield. I love live music as much as the next guy, and I understand the desire to make a buck or two off a ballpark that is sitting empty at the All-Star Break, but last year seemed like it should have been an indicator that this type of thing might not be in the best interest of the facility that is hosting it.

Around the horn

Did Charlie Blackmon get a bad deal? The latest update in the Tim Tebow watch, Tim gets invited to spring training. Five ways the players union can fix baseball. This offseason might take Ichiro away from us, and that is the last straw.