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You can only be a surprise winner one year in a row. This year, the Tigers are just living up to expectations.
Plus: The end of a short and bizarre era in Houston, Ken on the Orioles and Corbin Burnes, and we say goodbye to Octavio Dotel after a tragedy in the Dominican Republic. I’m Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal. Welcome to The Windup!
Now Everybody From the 313: Check the standings, that’s the Tigers on a winning spree
From 2017-2023, the Detroit Tigers didn’t have a single winning season. Their playoff drought was even longer, stretching back two additional years. If not for the Royals (who went 56-106 in 2023), the Tigers (86-76, advanced to ALDS) would have been the Cinderella story of the 2024 season.
But along the way, Tarik Skubal won the Cy Young award last year. Riley Greene hit 24 home runs and made the All-Star game. Tyler Holton got an MVP vote. (No, really). So they’re not surprising anyone this year.
Not with the addition of Jackson Jobe and resurrections of Casey Mize and Spencer Torkelson (plus the return of Jack Flaherty). Kerry Carpenter — aka “Kerry Bonds” — hit his fourth home run yesterday.
After a slow start, it’s coming together; they’re on a five-game win streak.
And yes. The first three were against the White Sox, so let’s levitate our foot over that brake pedal just in case. But the last two (including yesterday’s 5-0 shutout) came against the mighty torpedo-swingin’ Yankees.
The Tigers are now 7-4. So, are they really this good? Actually … there’s a chance they’re even better.
See, the rain cloud somewhere amid all this silver lining is that injuries are starting to pile up a bit — Manuel Margot and Jake Rogers both hit the IL this week. But they’ve already been doing all of this without injured players like Alex Cobb, Parker Meadows, José Urquidy and Matt Vierling. Reinforcements are on the way.
Ken’s Notebook: What to make of O’s offer to Burnes
From my latest column:
PHOENIX — The Baltimore Orioles’ offer to right-hander Corbin Burnes in free agency was not at all embarrassing. But general manager Mike Elias had to know it was never going to win the day. He also had to know the void created by Burnes’ departure would warrant an urgent response.
None was forthcoming, raising questions that will persist until at least the trade deadline and possibly beyond. Elias maneuvered deftly in February 2024 to acquire Burnes from the Milwaukee Brewers. He has failed to adequately address his rotation since.
The offer to Burnes — first reported by Orioles beat writers yesterday and confirmed by two sources in Burnes’ camp — was four years, $180 million. The $45 million average annual value would have set a record for a pitcher not named Shohei Ohtani. But Burnes, 30, last went on the injured list for arm trouble in July 2019. He was the healthiest domestic ace to hit the market since Gerrit Cole. It was not unreasonable for him to want more than four years.
The six-year, $210 million deal Burnes signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks included deferrals and an opt out after two years. It is not known whether the Orioles’ proposal also included deferrals, but in total value the guarantee was $30 million lower, even with an AAV $10 million higher. The state income tax rate is lower in Arizona than it is in Maryland, giving the Diamondbacks another edge. And the Diamondbacks offered something the Orioles and every other team could not — the chance for Burnes, a resident of Scottsdale, Ariz., to enjoy spring training and play regular-season games at home.
To get Burnes, the Orioles would have needed to go above and beyond the Diamondbacks, something they clearly, and rationally, were unwilling to do. The Boston Red Sox, according to a source briefed on their interest, also tried to woo Burnes with a short-term, high-dollar offer, to no avail.
The difference was, the Red Sox traded for an ace, left-hander Garrett Crochet, and signed a former ace, Walker Buehler. The Orioles added to their collection of mid- to back-of-the-rotation starters by signing right-handers Charlie Morton, 41, and Tomoyuki Sugano, 35. And after a 4-3 loss to the Diamondbacks last night, manager Brandon Hyde announced the latest blow to his starting staff, saying Zach Eflin would be shut down a week with a low-grade lat strain. Read more.
Jamie Squire / Getty Images
RIP: Octavio Dotel dies in night club collapse
There are four words in Tyler Kepner’s tribute to Octavio Dotel that I think sum up the reliever’s career really well: “the pitcher everybody wanted.”
It’s a nod to the fact that Dotel pitched for 13 different big-league teams (a record later broken by Edwin Jackson, at 14). But it wasn’t because teams were eager to get rid of him. As former Mets GM Steve Phillips told Kepner: “He got traded a lot because everybody always vouched for him.”
Having endured the death of his father when Octavio was early in his baseball career, he became known as a bright spot in any clubhouse or bullpen in which he found himself — including those of the 2011 St. Louis Cardinals, with whom he won his lone World Series. He was a high-strikeout reliever before that became de rigueur.
Dotel was at a concert at the Jet Set Club in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, early yesterday morning when the roof collapsed. He was one of at least 79 who died as a result of the tragedy. He was 51.
At least 160 more were injured in the accident, and Dotel was not the only former big-leaguer who passed away. Tony Blanco, 43, played in 56 games for the Washington Nationals in 2005. MLB insider Hector Gómez reported that former MLB journeyman Esteban Germán told him that Blanco had saved his life by pushing him out of the way.
La Nación also reports (article in Spanish) that former big-leaguer Henry Blanco had also been at the concert, but was not injured. Nelsy Cruz — sister of former big-league slugger Nelson Cruz — also passed away.
Moves!: Astros trade Rafael Montero to Braves
There was a brief moment after the Astros won the World Series when GM James Click’s job was in limbo. And then it wasn’t — the Astros and Click parted ways. And that was when Astros owner Jim Crane embarked on an experiment best described as: “What if Jerry Jones, but baseball??”
He signed two players that winter:
José Abreu: Three years, $58 million. 176 games. .217 average, .625 OPS, 20 home runs. He was released last June and is being paid $19.5 million this year.
Rafael Montero: Three years, $34.5 million. 109 2/3 innings pitched, 107 strikeouts, 50 walks, 4.92 ERA and 1.477 WHIP. He was designated for assignment last August, but opted to accept a minor-league assignment rather than become a free agent.
Montero has now been traded to the Atlanta Braves for a player to be named later. The Astros will cover a chunk of Montero’s salary, but it will help them step back from the luxury-tax ledge and give them a little space to maneuver at the trade deadline, if they are contending.
For Atlanta, it’s a low-risk trade. Their bullpen entered play last night with a 4.71 ERA — 21st out of 30 teams — and they needed an affordable big-league reliever.
- More Braves: Atlanta beat Philadelphia 7-5 last night. They’re gonna be OK … right? We’ll see.
- More NL East bullpens: The best bullpen ERA going into Tuesday night’s games, at 1.15? The Mets! Tim Britton has more.
Handshakes and High Fives
Jackson Merrill has been placed on the IL with a strained right hamstring. It’s not expected to be a long stint, but Merrill has been central to the Padres’ early success.
Well … before last night, anyway. The Dodgers and Padres can’t stop losing these days! After a(nother) loss in Washington, D.C., (8-2 to the Nationals), the Dodgers are now 9-4. The Padres lost 10-4 to the A’s and are 9-3. While we’re at it, the Giants lost 1-0 to the Reds; they’re 8-3.
Speaking of the Giants, I am of the opinion that they are 0-for-2 in City Connect uniforms. Grant Brisbee does his best to remind us that it doesn’t really matter and anyway, at least they’re better than the last ones.
It was Jarren Duran’s own words in a Netflix documentary that started the conversation about the battle for his mental health. Yesterday, he spoke to the media.
Chipper Jones was on the Starkville podcast, talking Braves, Vlad Jr., and how Barry Bonds is the best player he’s ever seen (but Ohtani is close).
Whether you’ve seen the post about striking out Timotheé Chalamet or not, this video from Bailey at Foolish Baseball is both very dumb and also very clever and funny.
Most-clicked in our last newsletter: The Baseball Savant swing speed leaderboard.
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(Top photo: Junfu Han / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)