Detroit News

Chris McCosky   | The Detroit News Detroit — David Littlefield, Tigers vice president of player development, was asked Tuesday if the potential delay in the start of minor-league camp would impact staffing at big-league camp. “Yes, yes, yes and yes,” he said. Although commissioner Rob Manfred has told teams to prepare to start major-league spring training on

Chris McCosky   | The Detroit News Detroit — The Tigers announced a flurry of on-field and player-development staff assignments Tuesday, including the hiring of San Diego Padres bullpen coach Doug Bochtler, who pitched for the Tigers in 1998, as their new pitching coach at Triple-A Toledo. The managers at the top four affiliates — Tom Prince

Tony Paul   | The Detroit News Former Tigers ace Justin Verlander is among several major-league pitchers who have been accused of using a grip concoction engineered and widely distributed by a fired Los Angeles Angels staffer. Several Tigers pitchers allegedly began inquiring about the so-called “sticky stuff” as far back as 2005, after being told

Howard Fendrich  |  Associated Press Washington — Slugging outfielder Kyle Schwarber has agreed in principle to a one-year, $10 million contract with the Washington Nationals, according to a person familiar with the deal. The person confirmed the agreement to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity on Saturday because a physical exam was still pending

Tony Paul   | The Detroit News Alex Avila doesn’t remember how he did that day, or even when exactly that day was, but it remains one of his favorite baseball memories. And he’s been to the World Series. It had to be late 1990s or early 2000s, and Avila, still years away from breaking into

Beth Harris  |  Associated Press Los Angeles — Tommy Lasorda, the fiery Hall of Fame manager who guided the Los Angeles Dodgers to two World Series titles and later became an ambassador for the sport he loved during his 71 years with the franchise, has died. He was 93. The Dodgers said Friday he had

Chris McCosky   | The Detroit News Detroit – Tigers general manager Al Avila christened a new season of the weekly Tiger Talk program on 97.1 FM on Thursday night with a couple of tasty bits of organizational insight. Interviewed by Dan Dickerson and Pat Caputo, Avila projected the starting spots for top prospects Spencer Torkelson

Chris McCosky   | The Detroit News Detroit — The Tigers are restocking their relatively short minor-league supply of left-handed relievers. They brought back Ian Krol on a minor-league deal with a camp invite last month and former 2014 draft pick Locke St. John last week. On Thursday, they signed lefty Miguel Del Pozo to a minor-league deal. St.

Chris McCosky   | The Detroit News Detroit — It’s very difficult sometimes to focus on a game, on a sports team, on an assignment, when all holy hell is breaking loose in your nation’s capital. Maybe someday, if ever normalcy returns to our world, we might share a chuckle over the absurdity of trying to

Chris McCosky   | The Detroit News Detroit — Here’s a simple truth: The media (present company included) and fanbase are way more worried about the Tigers’ catching situation than the Tigers are. That seems counterintuitive since the only two catchers presently on the 40-man roster are Grayson Greiner (who hasn’t caught more than 58 games

Chris McCosky   | The Detroit News Detroit — It may not be the name fans were hoping for, but with the signing of 31-year-old, switch-hitting outfielder Robbie Grossman, the Tigers got the kind of proficient bat they’ve lacked in recent years. The Tigers and the former Oakland Athletic Grossman reached an agreement Tuesday on a

Chris McCosky   | The Detroit News Detroit — The Tigers on Monday announced that outfielder Daz Cameron has cut his short his stint in the Puerto Rican Winter League because of soreness in his right arm. “Daz experienced arm discomfort while working out with his winter league team,” said a statement from head athletic trainer Doug

The Detroit News  |  The Detroit News The Tigers are bringing back a familiar face. Detroit on Monday signing five players to minor-league contracts, including side-arming left-hander Locke St. John, a former Tigers draft pick who has spent the last three seasons in the Texas Rangers’ system. St. John, 27, was a 32nd-round pick by the

Tony Paul   | The Detroit News Former Detroit Tiger Brandon Inge is about to make the jump into the college coaching ranks, and will join Michigan as a volunteer assistant. Inge and Steve Merriman, Michigan’s pitching coach twice previously who is taking the job again, will be officially introduced as staff members by the end

Lynn Henning   | The Detroit News What he saw were a lot of breaking balls and pitches often referred to in baseball parlance as “junk.” What he rolled up were glitzy hitting numbers: .379 batting average, .480 on-base percentage, and .579 slugging, for a heavy OPS of 1.060. But maybe what Isaac Paredes most got

By Jerry Green  |  Special to The Detroit News Detroit — Barry Bonds, rejected! Roger Clemens, shunned! Mark McGwire, denied! Bud Selig, elected! Inducted! Glorified! It is election time again in Major League Baseball. The qualified sports journalists of the Baseball Writers Association of America are voting this week for the worthy candidates for election to

Tony Paul   | The Detroit News Every July in a tiny village in upstate New York, the living history of baseball is on full display. It’s long been tradition for living members of the Baseball Hall of Fame to return to Cooperstown for the annual induction weekend, and, health permitting, almost all of them do.

Jay Cohen  |  Associated Press Chicago — San Diego Padres general manager A.J. Preller reunited with an old friend in another blockbuster move Tuesday night. The aggressive Padres got Yu Darvish in a trade with the Chicago Cubs, adding another ace to their rotation after announcing a deal for Blake Snell earlier in the day.

Chris McCosky   | The Detroit News Detroit — More than two years later, Jose Urena still insists the pitch just got away from him. If you knew anything at all about this lanky, Dominican-born right-hander before the Tigers signed him last week for one year at $3.25 million, it was probably that on Aug. 15, 2018,

Mike Fitzpatrick  |  Associated Press Two months ago, Blake Snell got yanked off the mound with a two-hit shutout going in the final game of the World Series. Now, the Tampa Bay Rays are ready to ship him out of town. The San Diego Padres are close to completing a blockbuster trade to acquire Snell