With just over two weeks left until Opening Day, there are a surprising number of question marks about the 2021 Detroit Tigers roster. Surprising mainly because the Tigers actually have several difficult decisions facing them. For three seasons now, the players who mattered were obvious, while many of the final spots simply went to whoever
LAKELAND, Fla. — Derek Holland warmed up on the mound with the bases loaded and no outs in the third inning Tuesday against the New York Yankees. He prepared to face Mike Tauchman, Tyler Wade and Rob Brantly — three left-handed hitters. Detroit Tigers manager AJ Hinch needed a combination of strikes and weak contact. The
LAKELAND, Fla. — Four years ago, Detroit Tigers right-hander Michael Fulmer didn’t need to prove anything in spring training. He just won the 2016 American League Rookie of the Year, shortly after the Tigers acquired him in July 2015 from the New York Mets in exchange for Yoenis Cespedes. It seemed Fulmer was on the
One year ago, the sports world stopped. We thought it’d be a minute. It would seem like forever. Only now are things, sort of, getting back to normal. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s latest state order allows up to 750 fans at Detroit Pistons and Detroit Red Wings home games, and up to 1,000 once the Detroit Tigers start
Award winners can come from anywhere — the contenders, the pretenders and even the basement-dwellers. Some teams have an abundance of award candidates, others make us squint a bit. But all of them have at least one guy who could conceivably win a Most Valuable Player, Cy Young or Rookie of the Year honor in
Lakeland, Fla. — The admission came toward the end of his post-game Zoom interview. Michael Fulmer went immediately into the weight room after his somewhat erratic, somewhat encouraging start in the Tigers 7-4 spring loss to the Yankees at Joker Marchant Stadium on Tuesday. He first needed to blow off some steam. “Let’s be honest,” he
Lakeland, Fla. — The odds against Christin Stewart starting the season with the Tigers were long the day outfielder Robbie Grossman was signed to a two-year, $10 million deal. They grew longer when the club subsequently signed outfielder Nomar Mazara. Finally, all bets were off after Stewart struck out 10 times in 17 plate appearances this
Lakeland, Fla. — Derek Holland had been forewarned. Pitching coach Chris Fetter had told him and the other relievers that manager AJ Hinch was looking to throw them into the fire. He was looking to challenge them by sending them into pressure situations. “He said we were going to start treating these like real games,” Holland
The Detroit Tigers trimmed the spring training roster today with a series of moves that have the roster down to 41 players. The players that were optioned to Toledo: Mini-camp: INF Kody Clemens Stewart struggled in camp, going 2-for-17 in spring training. While I had Lange hanging around towards the end of spring training fighting…
Michael Fulmer left a bases-loaded jam on the mound as he exited with nobody out in the third inning of the Tigers’ 7-4 Grapefruit League loss to the Yankees on Tuesday. He then walked back to the clubhouse and left his frustrations in the weight room. “I was frustrated as all get out,” Fulmer said.
Curtis Granderson enjoyed a remarkable career playing for 7 different teams. He appeared in 2 World Series’ and lead the league in home runs in RBI and runs in 2011. Check out some of his best moments in the bigs! Don’t forget to subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/MLBClassics Follow us elsewhere too: Twitter: https://twitter.com/MLB Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mlb/ & https://www.instagram.com/mlbvault/
LAKELAND, Fla. — The Detroit Tigers lost to the New York Yankees, 7-4, on Monday at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium. The Tigers dropped to 7-8 in Grapefruit League play. What happened Battling to secure a rotation spot, right-hander Michael Fulmer pitched into the third inning but struggled through his 63 pitches (32 strikes). He gave
He will forever be remembered around here as one-sixth of the package of prospects that made Miguel Cabrera a Detroit Tiger. Matt Walbeck will remember Eulogio “Frankie” De La Cruz for so much more than that. “He was one of those guys that could really light up a clubhouse,” said Matt Walbeck, De La Cruz’s manager
Lakeland, Fla. — For sheer weirdness, nothing during decades of covering Tigers spring camps beat 1995. It was the year when players were on strike. It was the spring when guys wanted so badly to be “big-leaguers” they didn’t mind taking the lockers of established stars who were in the process of guaranteeing the Major League Players
The Detroit Tigers are deep into their rebuild now, and after a pretty ugly start, it looks as though they are finally starting to win their trades. The phrase “win a trade” is a bit misleading, because it implies the other team (or teams) lost the deal. Sometimes trades work out well for both sides,…
College bats with power and strong baseball bloodlines are attractive assets to teams in the MLB Draft. In Kody Clemens, the Detroit Tigers got both. Clemens came into the Tigers system as a second base only prospect out of the University of Texas. With solid power potential and a hard nosed style of play, he
Emoni Bates, the top-ranked basketball recruit of the 2022 class who’s committed to Michigan State, works on his jump shot Jan. 8, 2021 before Ypsilanti Prep’s game at the Battle Basketball Showcase in Fort Worth, Texas. READ MORE: https://www.freep.com/story/sports/college/michigan-state/spartans/2021/01/09/emoni-bates-michigan-state-basketball-ypsi-prep-air-nado/6607080002/ For more Detroit and Michigan news, sports and entertainment, follow the Detroit Free Press on: Facebook
Lakeland, Fla. — As manager AJ Hinch said Tuesday morning, a player being willing to do something isn’t the same as him liking it. Niko Goodrum, who got the start in center field here in the spring game against the Yankees, is more than willing to do anything he’s asked. But that doesn’t mean he likes
The next Tigers starter of the future became a Toledo Mud Hen for the present on Tuesday. But Matt Manning, the No. 25 prospect on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 prospects list, could bypass the Glass City altogether. Baseball’s decision to delay the Triple-A season by a month and revive the alternate training site format for
There are few things on this earth I enjoy more than a good play on words. For me, the almighty pun reigns supreme in terms of the best type of wordplay, but high on the list is the anagram. For those unfamiliar (and you’ll figure it out pretty quickly down below), an anagram uses the