The story behind Rajai Davis’ oven mitt

By Jason Beck

If you watched the Tigers on television today, or if you’ve been to a Tigers game this spring, and you haven’t seen much of Rajai Davis the last couple years, you might be wondering why he has an oven mitt on his left…

Who could succeed Ausmus in Detroit?

The last time the Tigers let go of a manager, they hired his successor the next day. That was after the 2005 season, when then-president/general manager Dave Dombrowski announced Alan Trammell’s departure and introduced Jim Leyland in the same room, 24 hours apart.

On Anibal Sanchez and butterfly changeups

The 0–2 pitch from Anibal Sanchez to Yan Gomes seemed to float towards home plate before finally giving in to gravity and diving towards the dirt, low and outside, shy of the plate. It registered as a 64.1 mph curveball on Gameday. As research on Statcast…

Tigers stock up 40-man roster

The Tigers spent much of the offseason so far clearing out space on their 40-man roster. Monday was the day for them to stock it up again, adding prospects to protect against the Rule 5 Draft ahead of an 8 p.m. ET deadline.

Al Avila talks trades and the rebuild ahead

Iglesias thanks Tigers fans, bids farewell

Tigers general manager Al Avila hasn’t completely closed the door on eventually re-signing free agent Jose Iglesias, but all signs point towards the Tigers finding another shortstop and Iglesias finding another team. With that in mind, Iglesias took to…

On Josh Wilson, Miguel Cabrera and his Duquesne t-shirts

By Jason Beck

I’ve written a few times over the years about the long-running ties between Miguel Cabrera and his Duquesne baseball t-shirts. He explained back in 2009 that he wore them on his way up, having…

Explaining my AL MVP ballot

I waited 15 years for a chance to vote for a major award as a BBWAA ballot. As soon as I found out I had one of the MVP votes from the Detroit chapter, I thought: Why on earth did I want this?

Verlander admits trade talk on his mind

Justin Verlander admits the trade speculation is on his mind.

He can focus on the task at hand when he’s on the mound, and he has done an impressive job of keeping focused through a trade saga now going well past a month. But…

Avila not looking to trade Boyd, but will listen

SAN DIEGO — Matthew Boyd threw fastballs or sliders on 86 percent of his pitches this past season. His offseason has the potential for a lot of curveballs and changeups.