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 […]
26 days ago
| 1 read
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 […]
26 days ago
| 3 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 […]
27 days ago
| 5 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 […]
27 days ago
| 4 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 […]
27 days ago
| 4 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 […]
28 days ago
| 3 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 […]
29 days ago
| 6 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 […]
29 days ago
| 1 read
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 […]
29 days ago
| 5 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 […]
about 1 month ago
| 3 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 […]
about 1 month ago
| 2 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 […]
about 1 month ago
| 1 read
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 […]
about 1 month ago
| 0 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 […]
about 1 month ago
| 2 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 […]
about 1 month ago
| 1 read
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 […]
about 1 month ago
| 2 reads
With the news that the Toronto Blue Jays have signed third baseman Kazuma Okamoto out of the NPB, speculation quickly followed about the future of their long-time shortstop, Bo Bichette. The Blue Jays still have the money and the will to ink Bichette to a long-term contract if he fits into their long term plans, […]
about 1 month ago
| 5 reads
Well, friends, we did it! We survived the holiday season and we have entered a brand new year. We can cross our fingers that the Tigers have made a resolution to build a team that can get back to the postseason, but we shouldn’t hold our breath until we see some actual movement from the […]
about 1 month ago
| 2 reads
Until he finally retires, it’s hard to go through an offseason without considering long-time ace and future Hall of Famer, Justin Verlander in free agency. Based on the pitching additions by the Tigers already, it’s hard to envision a role for Verlander in 2026. Still, I can’t resist considering the idea anyway, if only as […]
about 1 month ago
| 3 reads
We’re deep in the heart of the off-season, the Hot Stove has grown cold, and some Detroit Tiger fans’ patience with the front office has worn paper-thin. But that doesn’t mean we can’t do some prognosticating, projecting, estimating and elucidating. I’m not a betting man – “Only ever bet the amount of money you’d be […]
about 1 month ago
| 0 reads
The calendar is about to flip from 2025 to 2026, which means it is time to make our New Year’s resolutions. The practice dates back to 2,000 B.C.E., when the Babylonians celebrated with a 12-day springtime festival called Akitu. However, it was the ancient Romans who first observed Jan. 1, celebrating by giving offerings to […]
about 1 month ago
| 4 reads
It’s officially the last day of 2025, and what a year it has been! The Tigers managed to exceed all expectations AND disappoint their fanbase with a late season slump. They made it to the postseason and advanced further than anyone thought they might given their September performance. There’s a lot to look forward to […]
about 1 month ago
| 4 reads
We still have almost two months until pitchers and catchers report in mid-February, and plenty more signings and trades are still coming around the league. On the other hand, just about every notable free agent reliever is now accounted for with Tuesday’s signing of RHP Pete Fairbanks by the Miami Marlins. There are still plenty […]
about 2 months ago
| 3 reads
We have reached a magical time during the holiday season, with Chanukah and the winter solstice now in the rearview mirror and Christmas just ahead. The spirit of the season has permeated throughout the population in the form of holiday cheer, festive decorations and, of course, music. That last item will be the focus of […]
about 2 months ago
| 2 reads
The bulk of the Detroit Tigers’ heavy lifting for the offseason has likely been accomplished already. They’ve brought back all of Gleyber Torres, Jack Flaherty, and Kyle Finnegan to keep the team together from the stretch run. Newcomers Kenley Jansen and Drew Anderson are tasked with securing the pitching staff better than Tommy Kahnle and […]
about 2 months ago
| 3 reads