Detroit Tigers News: Chris Ilitch is pleased with the Tigers’ rebuild so far

Good Monday morning, Tigers fans. If you’re like me, you stayed up way too late watching an awards show where famous people stood on a stage holding a tiny golden statue and thanked a bunch of people you’ve never heard before. It was worth it to see Fartrell Cluggins take one home.

Despite the Hollywood goings-on, there is still baseball happening. Here is what is relevant to our Detroit Tigers.

Something about best laid plans

Tigers owner Chris Ilitch has been in Tigertown this past week. In taking an opportunity to speak with the press on Saturday morning he uttered statement that will make many members of this fan base indiscriminately damage household furniture beyond repair. Ilitch expressed how pleased he is with the work general manager Al Avila is doing throughout the rebuild. As for the rest of the article, there’s a fair amount of the normal B.S. you hear from an owner trying to sell a fanbase on a product that he knows is going to be lackluster at best. But, if Ilitch is to be believed, there’s more of a focus on analytics and player development than ever before. That’s good to hear.

Bosiooooooooooooooooooo

It would seem the presence of first year pitching coach Chris Bosio is being felt in spring training. Shane Greene is among the many pitchers singing Bosio’s praises, as Greene is throwing his slider quite well at this stage of spring. Bosio is also getting positive reviews for the work he’s doing with Matt Boyd. If Bosio can help get Boyd dialed in, that will be nice to see.

The first cut is the deepest

The Tigers made their first cuts on Saturday morning, sending pitchers Alex Faedo, Victor Alcantara, and Paul Voelker to minor league camp. Faedo, who hasn’t thrown a pitch as a professional baseball player, seems pretty anxious to get started.

In the same article about player reassignments, we got some news about Michael Fulmer’s elbow. It seems he underwent an MRI as a precaution, but there isn’t anything the organization seems to be worried about. The plan, as of now, is to delay his next appearance a few days. No big deal. If you want a bit more detail we have you covered.

Old friend alert

The reinvention of Anthony Gose continues in Houston, and it’s as Anthony Gose-y as you would expect. Not exactly known as the picture of humility, Gose doesn’t do much to change that narrative in this article. Confidence is important, but when you’re saying the only person you idolize is yourself, it’s understandable that people might think you’re a bit grandiose. When it comes to his pitches, Gose is very confident. Touting his ability to throw a fastball in triple digits and “a curveball from Hell” there appears to be no shortage of hubris. Overall the article is an in depth look at a very interesting individual.

[Ed.: Gose walked three batters and did not record an out in his last appearance.]

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Friend of the site and our former fearless leader, Kurt Mensching, released his first piece for The Athletic on Sunday. It’s about how we can use spring training stats to predict regular season performance, but you were going to click that link anyway.

Around the horn

Phil Coke is throwing the knuckleball (SUBSCRIPTION). How big of a payday is Brian Dozier in for next year? Field of Dreams is a bad movie. Even the Rays can get a billion dollar TV deal.

Baseball is awesome

You can’t spell Victor Robles without “rob.”