Motor City Bengals

Lloyd McClendon. The good soldier. The reliable presence.  The man with experience running a clubhouse. If Detroit Tigers GM Al Avila ultimately decides not to be too adventurous in the search for a new skipper to replace Ron Gardenhire in 2021 or if he’s generally pleased with the coaching staff on hand and the direction

Here we look at another candidate for the Detroit Tigers’ manager vacancy. Will Venable is a young, up-and-coming coaching talent. There are going to be a lot of names that come up as candidates for the Detroit Tigers‘ managerial vacancy, as Ron Gardenhire has announced his retirement. The speculation has already begun, with Jon Morosi

The Detroit Tigers will be addressing their manager position this offseason. AJ Hinch has been one of the names connected to the opening An abrupt announcement was made Saturday that Detroit Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire would be retiring; citing health concerns and the desire to spend more time with his family. The timing to the

In honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month, we look back at the Latin players that joined the Detroit Tigers and left an everlasting impact. Today, we start with Aurelio Lopez As far as Aurelio Lopez is concerned among Detroit Tigers fans, he is known as “Señor Smoke”.  One of the biggest reasons why the Detroit Tigers

On Saturday, we got the news that former Tiger and current Houston Astros pitcher Justin Verlander will undergo the ‘Tommy John’ Surgery that many reported he needed at the beginning of this abbreviated 2020 season. It makes sense that Justin Verlander wanted to make every effort to avoid surgery given his age, competitive nature, and

With Ron Gardenhire retiring yesterday, the Detroit Tigers are looking for a new manager in 2021. This decision is the one they have to get right. The last sentence above about the Detroit Tigers having to get this manager’s decision right, it was no exaggeration. Whether you like Tigers fan-favorite Don Kelly or the newest

Ron Gardenhire is done as Detroit Tigers manager. Bring on Don Kelly.   Ron Gardenhire retired on Saturday, and while it was sudden and unexpected, it wasn’t terribly surprising. Gardenhire is a month shy of his 63rd birthday, he’s had previous health concerns, and his contract was set to expire at the end of this

Detroit Tigers fans are growing impatient with top prospect Casey Mize as he continues to struggle in his first taste of big-league action. The reality is that this is common with pitching prospects, and aces can take some time to develop. It’s no secret that Casey Mize has struggled through his first six starts. He’s

A combination of injuries and trades have changed the complexion of the Detroit Tigers lineup in 2020 We expected 2020 to supply challenges; canceled games and COVID-19 concerns had teams building 60-man player pools for reinforcements to potential outbreaks. For the Detroit Tigers, positive tests have seemed to subside (knock on wood), but the team

Before the hiring of Randy Smith in 1996, the Detroit Tigers experienced a transition of ownership that resulted in three different general managers to start the 1990’s. Part two focuses on Jerry Walker and his brief helm of running the team. As the Detroit Tigers are going through a rebuild under Al Avila, I wanted

Isaac Paredes had a terrific first week. Then reality struck.   Isaac Paredes is one of the Detroit Tigers’ top prospects, and the young third baseman seemed to make good on those lofty rankings in his first week of MLB action, going 7-for-22 with a double, four walks, and memorable home run: Unfortunately, things went

Before the hiring of Randy Smith in 1996, the Detroit Tigers experienced a transition of ownership that resulted in three different general managers to start the 1990’s. Part one focuses on Joe McDonald and his approach to building the team. Ah, the ’90s were such an interesting time in not only pop culture but for

Detroit Tigers Rule 5 selection Rony Garcia has been one of the worst pitchers in baseball this year When the Detroit Tigers selected Rony Garcia first overall in the annual Rule 5 Draft in December 2019, GM Al Avila was clear they wanted to select a player they felt could help the big league club

As Grayson Greiner’s struggles became too prominent to warrant a roster spot, Detroit Tigers fans expected the team to turn to top catching prospect Jake Rogers. Instead, the team opted to recall former local star Eric Haase. Eric Haase is a 27-year-old catcher who played small parts of the last two seasons with the Cleveland

A deeper look at Matthew Boyd’s Janus-faced disaster. Just a few weeks ago we wrote about Matthew Boyd using his changeup more to save his season. Then he got destroyed again. We aren’t quite ready to abandon our previous theory — Boyd was uncharacteristically wild in his rough outing against the Brewers — but for

The easy thing to say here is just resign Jonathan Schoop to a multiyear deal and problem solved for the Detroit Tigers. That is the obvious choice but so far during the Chris Ilitch era, there have been no guarantees. For the Detroit Tigers, there has been just one second baseman in the last 20

The lure of even an 8th place wildcard fantasy is something baseball fans of bad teams want to desperately embrace. Many Detroit Tigers fans, no matter how jaded by the losing of the last few years, we’re willing to entertain the idea the Tigers really could contend for a wildcard spot in the enlarged American

The Detroit Tigers continue a bad stretch of baseball.  But it goes further than just this bad week. A minor rant and three things the Tigers must address immediately when the season is over. In my last piece, I tried to be optimistic when it comes to the Detroit Tigers playing the White Sox. But,

Casey Mize was due for a good start. He delivered against one of the best offenses in the American League. A quick overview of his start last night. Detroit Tigers fans were waiting for a start like this from Casey Mize since the day he was drafted. Now, that perhaps sounds unfair, but there are

After a rough start to the season in July, Detroit Tigers infielder Jeimer Candelario has been destroying baseballs, performing as a top ten hitter in all of Major League Baseball since. The key has been his ability to crush fastballs consistently, a skill he has not shown in his career until now. It’s unclear if