Motor City Bengals

It’s understandable if Detroit Tigers fans are a bit envious of San Diego Padres fans. After all, the Padres just had one hell of a day, trading for both Blake Snell and Yu Darvish, and then signing Ha-seong Kim, the best international free agent on the market.

On December 13 of 2019, I took the position of co-expert for Motor City Bengals. One of my responsibilities of course is to write about the Detroit Tigers on a semi-daily basis. In total, I have written over 200 articles, done about 61 podcasts in a year in which we saw only 60 games. Along…

The 2020 season was not all doom-and-gloom despite the rancid record and the accompanying antagonizing fanbase. Although it was another year in which the Detroit Tigers finished in the bottom five of the league, there were encouraging performances from some unlikely sources that could make 2021 and beyond a bit more interesting.

CLEVELAND, OHIO – JULY 28: Starting pitcher Carlos Rodon #55 of the Chicago White Sox pitches during the first inning of game 2 of a double header against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field on July 28, 2020 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)

As reported yesterday by ESPN’s Buster Olney, ($) right-hander Corey Kluber is set to throw in front of scouts on either January 12 or 13th. The Detroit Tigers haven’t confirmed whether their scouts will attend, but let’s take a look at if adding Corey Kluber is a good idea or a bad idea.

Like Mike Tyson in his prime, I have pulled no punches when it comes to bringing some honest opinions and analysis when looking at the current direction of the Detroit Tigers. What may get lost in the shuffle amongst the necessary negative tone recently is that I have been a huge supporter of Chris Ilitch and the…

On Tuesday Britt Ghiroli of the Athletic reported the Washington Nationals were open to trading their highly touted young infielder Carter Kieboom. Hearing the Nationals are definitely open to trading Carter Kieboom. As previously reported, young pitchers Cade Cavalli & Jackson Rutledge (their last two top draft picks) are not.

The process of rebuilding a baseball club has its tough times and bouts of ugliness. This is something we expect. The Detroit Tigers truly launched their current “process” when it became patently clear the halcyon days of contention for the club built around Justin Verlander and Miguel Cabrera had run its natural course. Maybe we…

News broke early Wednesday evening that José Ureña was signing a deal to pitch for the Detroit Tigers in 2021. Sources: Jose Urena agrees to Tigers deal — Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 23, 2020

The Texas Rangers have had a busy off-season so far with being one of the few teams who have been making trades. One that perked up the interest of Detroit Tigers fans (well, maybe a few) was the trade for first baseman Nate Lowe. This was a player I hope the Tigers would perhaps even…

So far it has been extremely quiet for the Detroit Tigers in free agency and unfortunately, this is something Tigers’ fans have grown far too accustomed to under the ownership of Chris Ilitch. Since February 2017, when Chris took over for his father Mike Ilitch, the Tigers’ payroll has plummeted from $200 million in 2017…

Whether filling the position is a current priority for Detroit Tigers GM Al Avila or not, we do know the Tigers are kinda/sorta required to have a catcher behind the plate next year whether the season is 162 games, 142, or 100. With no great options at hand, could the aging Yadier Molina need a…

When the 2019 West Michigan Whitecaps season ended, fans got to enjoy the final month of the season watching Detroit Tigers’ top prospect Riley Greene patrol the spacious outfield of Fifth Third Ballpark. While the 19-year-old impressed defensively, the prevailing thought was that his bat needed a little more experience against Class-A pitching, and a…

Christmas is once again upon us and last year on this date,  December 21, Detroit Tigers fans were “gifted” to Jonathan Schoop and CJ Cron signing on the same day.  After the year that most people have had, I think Detroit Tigers fans would love the sight of an impact bat or a starting pitcher…

Earlier this week FanGraphs released their ZiPS projections for the 2021 Detroit Tigers, and as you may surmise, the team looks like it’s going to be quite bad. If you’re unfamiliar with ZiPS, it’s a computer projection system created by Dan Szymborski that went live in 2004, and each year it offers estimates of MLB…

The Detroit Tigers suffered a huge blow in 2021 as Alex Faedo will have Tommy John surgery this month and will be out for the 2021 season. The team made the announcement this morning. Fadeo missed summer camp due to COVID-19 then forearm tightness sidelined him for the year back in August.

Ed Farmer debuted with the Indians in 1971. His first big league start was against Detroit in the second game of a doubleheader in Cleveland on June 20. In the top of first, Gates Brown doubled with one out. During Al Kaline’s at-bat, one of Farmer’s pitches got away from catcher Chuck Hinton. Brown moved…

Detroit’s 2020 Ebenezer Scrooge, aka Chris Ilitch, has had his trusty minions, Al Avila, and the mainstream local media, dutifully pushing the narrative that patience is required. If teams were ranked on the performance of their PR department, the Detroit Tigers would be World Series contenders.

Earlier this week the good folks at MLB.com published a piece about the most spectacular Statcast plays for each team in 2020. We thought we’d piggyback on that idea and give Detroit Tigers fans a deeper look at performances by their team.

The Detroit Tigers are in dire need of a catcher this offseason. Starting backstop Austin Romine is a free agent and neither of Eric Haase or Grayson Greiner appeared to have cemented even a back-up status from what we saw in 2020. Then there is Jake Rogers–who has the tools defensively to be a plus…