It was pointed out that Benetti signed on to be an employee of the Tigers, and not Bally Sports Detroit, as had been the traditional contracting of the team’s television broadcasters.
The reason: Bally Sports Detroit’s uncertain future — more specifically, that of BSD’s parent company, Diamond Sports Group, which said Wednesday that it doesn’t see a path forward to continuing broadcasting Major League Baseball, NBA and NHL games beyond the end of the 2024 MLB regular season.
Bloomberg reported the outlook for Diamond Sports Group, citing comments from the company’s lead attorney. Attorney Andrew Parlen, for Diamond, told Bloomberg that the company could liquidate in 2024 if it can’t find financial stability to keep broadcasting games of dozens of professional sports teams.
Diamond Sports Group’s portfolio includes Bally Sports Detroit, which broadcasts the lion’s share of regular-season games for the Tigers, Pistons and Red Wings.
Diamond Sports Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March 2023, amid dwindling revenues from cable companies, as more and more customers have decided to cut the cord on traditional TV-viewing options. In filing for bankruptcy, Diamond Sports Group was seeking to weed out its poor performers and keep the good ones, analysts previously told The Detroit News. One lawyer likened it to keeping the horses, and ditching the dogs. The group cut ties with the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres in 2023 and plans to cut ties with the Cleveland Guardians and Texas Rangers in 2024, according to recent reports.
Tigers 40 man roster is at 37 with these latest moves, Rule 5 Draft is Dec 6 iirc so wait and see if they add someone.
Austin Meadows and S Turnbull released.
Interesting article, did Avila get this right as well?
Within the Tigers system, from minor-league fields to Comerica Park’s third-floor executive offices, pretty much all the relevant minds are coming around to a simple, increasingly apparent thought:
Tigers scouts got it right two years ago when they opted for a prep pitcher, Jackson Jobe,
A manager who worked with Jobe this autumn agrees.
“For me, he was the best pitcher in the Arizona Fall League,” said Javier Colina, who oversaw Jobe and seven other Tigers prospects during the Oct. 2-Nov. 11 AFL schedule. “He’s going to be a No. 1 or No. 2 (starter) for the Tigers, any time.
“If you called him up right now (to the big leagues), he’s a No. 1 or No. 2 for me, and I don’t even have a clue who No. 1 is for the Tigers.
“There was nobody better than him,” said Colina, who watched Jobe, 21, throw 15.2 innings for the Salt River Rafters, striking out 19 and walking five. “His mechanics, his work ethic — he’s one of those special kids. He just painted it (home plate) here. Throws the change-up down. He executes easy. He was that good.
“His change-up is the best I’ve seen (in the minor leagues) since Zack Greinke.”
Colina, 44, is manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Double-A team
I’m so happy he left because I was scared he was going to get hurt,” Colina said. “He was 97, 98 or more with his fastball, sitting 96, 97.
“What I liked is how he took information and applied it and it worked for him. I managed Corbin Carroll (Diamondbacks unanimous 2023 Rookie of the Year winner) and every single time I told Corbin, ‘Do this adjustment,’ the next day he did it.
“Same with Jobe. It was just so easy because he’s so smart.
“He’s going to get called up (to Detroit in 2024). There’s nobody better than that kid. Nobody will be better, I’m telling you.”
Harris seems to be playing in the 4 ft section of the pitching pool. In the year the deep end is extra wide.
Sigh.
2025 is Bregman, Soto and a bunch of meh for hitters, Fried Burnes Buehler and then a hunch of 34 to 40 year old ace level guys (Max, Wheeler, Cole, Sale).
Trade and extend is the logical plan here, so dont get too attached to Bigbee, Clark, JHM, Madden, Flores etc.
Portion of Keith Law’s comments on the Maeda signing:
Outside of his outstanding campaign in 2020 when he finished second in the AL Cy Young Award voting, he hasn’t pitched at the level of his second half of 2023 performance since his rookie year in MLB in 2016, so I’m not arguing he’ll just double his 2023 second half and be among the AL’s best starters. I am arguing that I think he can make 20-25 starts and be an above-average, 2-3 WAR pitcher, which would be an enormous help to the Tigers, whose lineup is starting to look pretty good but whose rotation right now comprises Tarik Skubal and four pitchers generated by AI.
That’s a talented group, but Detroit doesn’t seem prepared to sit on its laurels. President of baseball operations Scott Harris told the beat this afternoon that the front office will continue searching for pitching (relayed by Evan Woodbery of MLive).
Harris acknowledged the general truism that teams could always stand to stockpile pitching depth. Beyond that, there’s good reason for the front office to look for at least one more rotation option. Each of Detroit’s top six has some workload questions. Skubal missed nearly a calendar year between 2022 and ’23 due to a flexor issue that required forearm surgery. Mize didn’t pitch at all this year as he worked back from June ’22 Tommy John surgery. Maeda had undergone a UCL repair late in ’21 and missed the entire 2022 campaign. He pitched 104 1/3 innings this past season, losing a couple months to a triceps strain.
Tigers sign Hinch to an extension, but don’t release details, seems strange but he is here beyond 2025 now.
It seems that one year together was enough for Harris and Hinch to build a solid working foundation. Harris told Stavenhagen today that he didn’t want Hinch to feel like an inherited manager and offered the extension the day after the season ended. It’s unclear how long the new deal runs but Harris said today that “We are pumped that A.J. is going to be the manager of the Tigers for a long time.”
