With Grapefruit League action underway, and the long awaited return of Dan Dickerson’s dulcet tones to the airwaves—many of us are still waiting for MLB to actually permit us to watch our favorite teams—the spring ritual has arrived. In that spirit, we’re joined on this episode by David Laurila of FanGraphs.com. Laurila has written for Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus in the past, so his work at FanGraphs completes the baseball writer trifecta. He is a frequent contributor as a host for FanGraphs Audio, and his articles and interviews are a weekly staple for the site.
In this episode, we’ll consider the Tigers offseason, contrasting a more patient approach from Laurila to we Tigers fans here at Bless You Boys. We’ll consider the Tigers approach to free agency and some of the interesting young veterans they signed this offseason. The chat touches on A.J. Hinch and the Tigers new coaching staff, and the development of the club’s top prospects. Throughout, Laurila deploys an ample supply of interviews and anecdotes collected over the years with which to spice the conversation. We ultimately get to a key reason why they didn’t do much more as the conversation ends with us somewhat bleakly considering the breakdown in relations between the league and the players as a next CBA looms over all of MLB’s endeavors this year. But we hate that topic, so let’s just learn one of the key lessons of the past year and take it one game at a time for now.