Yesterday, I blogged about how the Detroit Tigers keep making changes to their roster as they attempt to build a foundation and core group of players.
If we focus solely on the positional players, just how many positions will turn over by the start of the 2025 season?
For this poll, we are going to ignore the utility players. Potentially, for those under expiring contracts, it is possible that the Tigers may extend a contract or two, however, we’re going to ignore Mark Canha given the surplus of outfielders.
We are also not considering Akil Baddoo, Justyn-Henry Malloy and Ryan Kreidler given their short amount of time in Detroit so far.
As well, Matt Vierling is not part of the conversation given that he plays 4 different positions without having a singular “home.”
There are also several MLB-level players currently in Toledo. We will assume for this conversation that they will return to Detroit this year.
Here is how the roster currently appears:
CATCHER – Jake Rogers, Carson Kelly (exp. contract)
FIRST BASE – Spencer Torkelson
SECOND BASE – Colt Keith
THIRD BASE – Gio Urshela (exp. contract)
SHORTSTOP – Javier Baez
LEFT FIELD – Riley Greene
CENTER FIELD – Parker Meadows
RIGHT FIELD – Wenceel Perez, Kerry Carpenter
Out of these 8 positions, how many of them will turn over by Opening Day 2025?
Make sure to come back and check the final results!
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What is Spencer Torkelson’s biggest obstacle to succeeding at the MLB level?
- He’s immature and refuses to accept the reality of what needs to be done in order to succeed. 68%
- There’s too much for him to overcome offensively and defensively. 22%
- He’s still young and hasn’t yet fully tapped into his potential skill sets. 10%
THE BEST COMMENT FROM YESTERDAY’S BLOG:
from ToledoBandito: “If you think there’s a lot of churning with the Parent Company, you should try keeping track of the Mud Hens!”
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If Harris is telling the truth, it can’t be more than one or two because he isn’t ready to spend. Jace Jung has struggled at third with 11 errors in 42 starts there compared to one error on 16 starts at 2nd. As I wrote today, Jung can go to 2nd and Keith to 1st but only if you can trade Tork.
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I agree. I think he will try to flip Urshela at the deadline and bring in another couple of middling bats on one-year contracts again next off season. Otherwise he will continue to provide “runway” for our younger players to percolate up through he entire system. Target for contention appears to be when the Harris draft choices are ready.
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That was my contention months ago. Illitch tells Harris there is no rush to spend and Harris says I can do that since I want to win with my guys and approach. Hinch says extend me and I’m in so they do.
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Is Hinch the source of this “versatility” fetish? Let’s move Jung, a decent fielding 2B and make him a poor fielding 3B. Keith is out of place at 2B, he should be at 1B if he can hit.
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I had not realized this. I was hearing that Jung was doing well in his transition to 3B. Now I wonder if there has been some spin…
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Hi, Andy (and everyone else) – I think it’s more about fan expectations and the media push that someone learning a position should be playing it well right off the bat or becoming proficient in a short time.
Harris and Garko cautioned that it will take awhile for a player to learn a new position, esp. a difficult one. While Jung is committing errors, they mention that the peripherals are consistently showing improvement which is what they want. In the past, they’ve been very quick to pull the plug on others like Perez and Malloy and move them to other positions. If there’s been spin, it’s been coming from others outside the organization. – Holly
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I have no doubt that it takes time to learn a new position. My question is why do it in the first place? Jung was already a good second baseman.
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Here are Jung’s fielding stats:
2022 (2B) = .992
2023 (2B) = .993
2023 (3B – AZ Fall League) = .947
2024 (2B – 17 games) = .985
2024 (3B – 43 games) = .894
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From what I understand, he was a pretty good 2nd baseman (and I’ve see Keith make his share of errors at 2nd base), so it would seem to make sense to move Keith over to 1st (where it is an easier position, and let’s face it, Tork just isn’t cutting it at 1st) and put Jung at 2nd, where he’s more comfortable. Let’s stop experimenting at 3rd base and get someone (Urshella?) who knows how to play 3rd base.
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of these players am thinking only green is a real long term bet. So it can play anyway she goes for the rest of them.
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Has anyone noticed that the Jung/Keith position changes have not yet worked and may be retarding hitting development as doing so may have done with Tork? They are going to be part of the ’25 team but perhaps at different positions and Urshela/Tork will be out of the picture at 1B. Otherwise, the rest of the crew including Javi will be “developing.”
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Bill James wrote this about the Tigers and the two things they do wrong – They draft pitching and then try to backfill with hitters instead of drafting hitters and backfilling with pitching when ready to compete. He also said over the years we have screwed up more players by drafting them and then asking them to learn a new position instead of just letting them focus on hitting and developing as a hitter.
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I’d say 3 as Kelly will not be resigned (Dingler is ready), Torkelson will be traded (Keith will move to 1B), and Baez will be minimized to the point of disappearance. Urshela must be resigned, Meadows shows too much promise to give up on, and Perez will stick around for further evaluation.
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Kelly’s defensive stats, especially % of runners thrown out trying to steal, are very good. Rogers has been above average this year. Maybe Kelly gets traded.
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Eddys Leonard and Hao-Yu Lee are both Harris acquisitions, and Harris wants to imprint his mark on this team. Leonard is starting to find his groove in Toledo, while Lee is hitting .293 with a .519 SLG and .881 OPS in AA Erie. For the Opening Day roster for 2025, look for Keith at 1B, Lee/Ibanez sharing time at 2B, Kreidler/Leonard sharing time at SS, and Ibanez/Urshula sharing time at 3B.
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At the rate they’re going in terms of developing a “core” group, it’s going to take more than a couple of years. Their “development” team seems to be way behind other teams (see the Orioles). Maybe time to overall the development team
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