A detailed list of nope about the Detroit Tigers
Of all the things that went wrong for the 2025 Detroit Tigers from the All-Star break to the end of the regular season, the starting rotation felt like the biggest piece of the puzzle to many fans. Injuries to Jackson Jobe and then Reese Olson left that group vulnerable, and the front office failed utterly […]
about 2 months ago | 5 reads
Inspired by Mike Carlucci at Over the Monster (and, perhaps, an Instagram trend) I thought it would be a fun exercise to look back at Detroit Tigers teams from ten, twenty and thirty years ago and put myself in the shoes of the average fan in the winters just before those seasons. Some of you […]
about 2 months ago | 6 reads
Happy Monday, everyone! The past few days have stoked the flames on the offseason hot stove into a fever pitch (no pun intended, I promise). With the Mets losing out on signing Kyle Tucker, and the Dodgers once again proving they’ll spend whatever it takes to become the next MLB dynasty, we’re seeing a lot […]
about 2 months ago | 8 reads
When the Detroit Tigers traded left-handed reliever Andrew Chafin to the Texas Rangers at the trade deadline in 2024, it was never likely to be an impactful deal. The Tigers got sidearmer Chase Lee in the deal, but it was the second piece, right-handed starter Joseph Montalvo, who was expected to be the modest centerpiece. […]
about 2 months ago | 8 reads
One hallmark of the AJ Hinch-era Detroit Tigers, especially with Scott Harris in charge, has been flexibility. On a roster without many stars, Hinch’s job has been to maximize the value of each player. This takes different forms for each facet of the game. On the position player side, it usually means defensive versatility – […]
about 2 months ago | 4 reads
Some of the top names in the Detroit Tigers’ 2025 draft class may take a while to really get cooking. With the group headed by prep shortstop Jordan Yost and prep catcher Michael Oliveto, the Tigers are unlikely to see one of them rushing the upper levels anytime soon. In the meantime, eighth round pick […]
about 2 months ago | 6 reads
The Detroit Tigers offseason really holds only one major question left, and that question is what to do with Tarik Skubal. Whether the front office is waiting to see if a big spender who missed out in free agency coomes calling with a monstrous trade offer, or they’ve decided to run it back in 2026 […]
about 2 months ago | 6 reads
The Detroit Tigers draft strategy under Scott Harris has focused on prep talent and a few value plays for college players. That has left them looking for bargain development projects with their other picks in order to save the money to go overslot on their main targets. Right-hander Preston Howey fits that mold, receiving the […]
about 2 months ago | 8 reads
The Detroit Tigers selected UC Irvine shortstop Woody Hadeen in the sixth round of the 2024 amateur draft, paying him $300,000. The switch-hitter was known for his outlandish contact ability as well as his defensive versatility. He put all of those traits on display in his full season professional debut in 2025, but didn’t show […]
about 2 months ago | 10 reads
We’ve had a little bit of a soft spot for right-hander Carlos Marcano over the past few seasons. The 22-year-old has barely gotten a mention nationally, and that was pretty understandable until late in the 2025 season. His breaking stuff was pretty fringy, and he basically profiled as a 92-93 mph sinkerballer with advanced control […]
about 2 months ago | 3 reads
The July 2024 deadline feels like a very long time ago now with two postseason appearances separating the Tigers from their last sell cycle at a trade deadline. Other than Trey Sweeney, the young players the Tigers acquired haven’t reached the major leagues yet. One of the minor deals Scott Harris made at that point […]
about 2 months ago | 8 reads
Since news emerged last week that the Detroit Tigers and their ace left-hander, Tarik Skubal, were $13 million apart in arbitration numbers, the whole thing has quickly blown up into a proxy for everything distasteful about the business of sports, and every frustration surrounding the Tigers, specifically. The arbitration battle gets into every aspect of […]
about 2 months ago | 9 reads
For the second straight year, the Detroit Tigers have struck out on one of their biggest free agent targets, third baseman Alex Bregman. Last year, the Tigers, Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs were the three finalists for the former Houston Astros’ services, with the BoSox prevailing with a three-year, $120 million contract with opt-outs […]
about 2 months ago | 10 reads
Happy Wednesday, everyone. Hope you’re all having a good week, and if you like to count down to things, well, we’re only about a month away from pitchers and catchers reporting, so we should soon be seeing some ugly Spring Training caps to make fun of! An annual rite of passage. Some trade and free […]
about 2 months ago | 8 reads
One of the side notes to the Detroit Tigers prep heavy draft strategy under Scott Harris has been saving money elsewhere in the draft in order to go over slot to various prep pitchers they like each year. They’ve accomplished this by taking less heralded college players that they can get for minimum or close […]
about 2 months ago | 5 reads
Infielder Cristian Santana has so far proved another cautionary tale about early breakouts for teemaged players, and the difficulty of sustaining that progress. Al Avila’s front office shelled out $2.95 million for the then 17-year-old back in the 2021 signing class. That was the largest bonus ever paid by the Detroit Tigers to an international […]
about 2 months ago | 7 reads
The Detroit Tigers started establishing a new draft strategy in the 2023 amateur draft, the first with Scott Harris running baseball operations. Among a host of high school pitchers they selected, was right-hander Jatnk Diaz. Easily the most raw of the group, Diaz was always going to be a long term project, and yet he’s […]
about 2 months ago | 4 reads
While the drama of the last few days continues to make waves in national media, the Tigers vs. Tarik Skubal in arbitration isn’t the only point of interest for the club. Ken Rosenthal reports that the front office is still considering adding more starting pitching. Right-handers Chris Bassitt and Lucas Giolito are two targets the […]
2 months ago | 7 reads
Happy Friday, everyone. We’ve had a lot of big news in the last twenty-four hours, with the Tigers ending their broadcasting contract with FanDuel, and of course, the biggest bit of news being that the team failed to settle on arbitration terms with Tarik Skubal. This should come as no surprise to anyone who has […]
2 months ago | 6 reads
Thursday’s 8 p.m. ET deadline to reach contracts with arbitration eligible players for the 2026 passed with the Detroit Tigers in agreement with everyone but ace Tarik Skubal. The two paries can continue to negotiate prior to an arbitration hearing, but for now they seem set to let an arbitrator decide the ace lefty’s salary […]
2 months ago | 7 reads
On Thursday afternoon, nine major league teams, including the Detroit Tigers, terminated their contracts with FanDuel Sports, per Evan Drellich of The Athletic. We’ve seen this show before, of course. FanDuel’s parent group, Main Street Sports, was formerly the Diamond Sports Group. As Diamond went through bankruptcy from 2023-2025, teams terminated their deals with the […]
2 months ago | 5 reads
Welcome to the Bless You Boys preseason top prospect list for the 2026 Detroit Tigers. This year’s edition finds the Detroit Tigers’ farm system still strong at the top, but with some cracks emerging beyond their clutch of blue chip prospects heading the yearly rankings. The Tigers have only picked in the top ten once […]
2 months ago | 4 reads
We all know that the Detroit Tigers are the greatest Major League Baseball franchise of all time: the tradition, the perfect uniforms and the Olde English D are all among the greatest in sports. After all, this is the Bless You Boys sports blog. However, a large portion of baseball fans also have a secondary […]
2 months ago | 6 reads
The status of former Detroit Tigers’ prospect Justyn-Henry Malloy has been a bit of a mystery over the last few days. Malloy was designated for assignment over two weeks ago back on December 21. The fact that he had yet to be claimed off of waivers made it pretty clear something was going on, though […]
2 months ago | 4 reads
The 2026 international free agent signing period begins on January 15th, and so far the Detroit Tigers appear to set to sign a pretty good crop of players. Baseball America released their top 50 list of IFA prospects to be signed on Monday, and the Tigers place three players in those rankings. Now, before we […]
2 months ago | 8 reads