WTSBASEBALL 2025 Preview

Do you smell it? That smell. That smelly kind of smell. The smelly kind of smell that smells…smelly. 

That’s right WE’RE BACK. SPRING TRAINING IS IN THE AIR! Whether you like it or not! 

WTSBaseball is back for another exciting (please lord) year of Tigers baseball. Full-squad workouts start this week and games start on Friday. I am so ready for baseball to be back in my life. I promise to be more consistent this year. I will be more content heavy during spring training and then probably more of a bi-weekly to monthly recap of how the boys are doing. Or maybe I’ll add something more here or there, or maybe I won’t. You’re not the boss of me. But for now, my prerequisite overview of our Astros-beating, AL-Wild-Card-Series-winning, motherfucking Detroit Tigers.

THE 2025 DETROIT TIGERS 

What an absolutely incredible year the 2024 season was. I know in my last post that I mentioned that the 2024 season was right there with the 2006 season. Both years had different outcomes, but the most important part of both of those seasons accomplished one thing: They put the Tigers back on the map. The 2024 Gritty Tigs™️ forced everyone to finally acknowledge that we are a good team now. They did so in incredible fashion. If you haven’t watched the mini documentary the Tigers made about the 0.2% story yet, you should. It’s good. You can relieve the magic right here

Anyways, let's get to it.

The New Guys (Well, the ones I think are important)

1. Tommy Kanhle - 1yr, $7.75 million. Kanhle is a 10 year vet, and has had a very solid career. He was a back-end reliever for the World Series losing New York Yankees in 2024. Pitched 50 games and 42.2 innings last year. He posted a 2.11 era with 25.7 K% and a 10.6 BB%. Should be a very useful addition to our already stellar bullpen 

2. Jack Flaherty - 2yr, $35 million. Welcome back, Jack. Skubs is happy to see you and so are we. 

3. Gleyber Torres - 1yr, $15 million. I REALLY liked this signing. Gleyber is entering his 7th season and is only 28 years old. This is his “bet on himself” year. He jumped onto the scene in 2018 and was an all star his rookie and sophomore seasons with the Yankees, but injuries the next three years kinda derailed things. He picked back up in ‘22 & ‘23. He is a good power right handed back, which the Tigers needed (fuck you, Bregman). He is a 20+ homer guy and hits about .275. He's an average to slightly below average defender at 2B but he will be our everyday guy there with Keith moving to 1B. Look for a big year from The Say Gley Kid.

4. Alex Cobb - 1yr, $15 million. This one was a little surprising to me. Cobb only started 3 games last year and he was ok. He has had a decent MLB career, but he is old. The Tigers beat him in Game 3 of the ALDS last year. He has a career 3.84 era and did fine for the Guardians last year. He has SF ties with Scott Harris and I think the Tigers Front office believe they can turn him around. Chris Fetter can do anything at this point so why not? If you are wondering about the salary, this is Cobb’s vet minimum. When healthy, he will be on the starting rotation. 

Overall, I believe that the Tigers will sustain their success from last year. We need to be better on offense if we want to play deeper into October, but we have added pieces where we needed them. We have proven that our young talent, for the most part, can play. Scott Harris has turned a #26 farm system to the #2 system in 3 years, I think we have a bright future. There will still be some bumpy roads ahead but I am looking forward to the promise of competitive baseball.

PREDICTIONS FOR 2025

Opening Day Lineup: 

1. Parker Meadows (CF)

2. Matt Veirling (RF)

3. Riley Greene (LF)

4. Kerry Carpenter (DH)

5. Gleyber Torres (2B)

6. Colt Keith (1B)

7. Trey Sweeney/Javy Baez (SS) *Javy may not be ready for opening day

8. Jace Jung (3B)

9. Jake Rogers (C) 

Bench:

1. Zach Mckinstry

2. Andy Ibanez

3. Wencel Perez

4. Dillion Dingler 

Starting Rotation: 

1. Tarik Skubal

2. Jack Flaherty

3. Reese Olson

4. Alex Cobb *Alex is also out for month with a Hip injury, probably not ready for opening day

5. Jackson Jobe 

Bullpen:

1. Jason Foley

2. Tyler Holton

3. Tommy Kanhle

4. Beau Brieske

5. Kenta Maeda (ugh)

6. Will Vest

7. Brant Hurter

8. Sean Guenther

Overall Record:

90-72

Players to watch:

1. Parker Meadows-If this guy is healthy and can build off of last year. Look out. He might just become one of the best CF in the game. 

2. Jace Jung- Our rookie 3B for now. The Tigers are really holding firm to the young talent approach and it worked out last year. Jace had a bad wrist the last 10 weeks of the season. He had surgery after the playoffs and is already on the record saying that he feels like his old self. Dude can flat out hit and he can MASH (26 HRs at Erie last year). However, he plays 3B like he’s wearing steel toed boots. Keep an eye out for him this year. I am really rooting for Jace. 

3. Spencer Torkelson-This is Tork’s last chance. Literally. Will he use it well? TBD. 

Bold Predictions:

1. Tarik Skubal wins the AL ERA title again

2. Riley hits 30+ bombs

3. Parker Meadows 20-20-20 season (20 homers, 20 steals, 20 triples)

4. Jackson Jobe is a finalist for ROY

EAT ‘EM UP