2025 trade package #17: Night Owl

Somehow the Tigers are still playing this late in October despite their epic second half collapse and some dire playoff game performances, and while I sound pretty crabby about that I'm very grateful because it's fun to have a Detroit team back in the playoffs again.

So let's celebrate the occasion with my final trade package from July, an envelope from Greg, a.k.a. Night Owl, who by the way recently celebrated his legendary blog's 17th anniversary! Greg's consistency and quality remain top-notch and that's really impressive in a hobby that sees people come and go all the time. (By the way, I hit 15 years of Too Many Grandersons/Verlanders a few weeks ago but suck at remembering to note the milestone yearly. Thanks to all of you who still read my sporadic, very occasional posts!)

This was a good package to lead into tonight's game because it's chock full of Tigers, and lots more great stuff:

A good chunk of this envelope was much of the Tigers team set from this year's Topps Heritage, which calls back to Topps' 1976 flagship design. Greg sent me 11 cards representing 10 different players, starting off with key bats like Carpenter (26 HR) and Dingler (3.1 bWAR to lead the offense, and as a catcher no less). Ibanez is a bench bat that I hope gets upgraded for a better chance at a deep run next year.

Jobe's TJ surgery means we may not see him again until the 2027 season. Keith followed up an All-Star Rookie season with fairly similar numbers while moving around the infield (and DH spot) to accommodate Gleyber Torres and a decently improved Javy Baez. RHP Madden, selected after Jobe, remains a good prospect for future rotations but lost the '25 season to a rotator cuff injury during spring training.

Malloy is another OF I hoped would improve the offense but he no longer fields like a playoff caliber player to me so hopefully he gets replaced in the offseason. Rogers was the nominal starter behind the plate but gave way to excellent play by Dingler, and while his bat cratered this year he's at least still valuable for his catching and mentoring skills. And Skubal continues to be Skubal, even if all of his numbers aren't as eye-popping as those from last year. The Tigers are fortunate to have the reigning AL Cy Young winner starting against a tough Seattle lineup tonight.

Skubal was indeed tops in AL strikeouts last year since that's one of the three stats that make up the triple crown he claimed, but what's even more impressive is that he topped that number with 241 in '25 over the same number of games while also improving his ERA and bWAR (wins were a bit harder to come by as he dipped from 18 to 13 thanks to that second half swoon). And the final Heritage card is of new '25 Tiger Gleyber Torres, who proved to be a pretty good FA signing with a 2.9 bWAR season at second in a year that saw regression at SS from the likes of Trey Sweeney and Jace Jung. He allowed the Tigers to slot guys like Baez and Zach McKinstry at SS and get better production there.

A Topps Spring Training parallel of PC guy Jake Cronenworth leads off the non-Heritage stuff and I'm mighty thankful to have a Michigan alum be a big enough name that folks remember I collect him. Team HR leader Riley Greene headlines a group of 2025 Bowman cards that include his base and a Purple parallel numbered /250. Double "J"s Jackson Jobe and Jace Jung follow with base cards of their own plus a couple Chrome inserts of the injured hurler: Rockstar Rookies and Rookie of the Year Favorites. The latter is die-cut to play off the flag motif at the top of the card, so that's fun. While that award is off the table for him, I'm rooting for Jobe to return to health and a second shot at success on the mound.

The final page starts with a couple more '25 Bowman-related items. 2023 first-rounder Kevin McGonigle shot up prospect rankings this year and the middle infielder looks like a potential star in the making for a team that could use more offense. '24's top pick Rainer, a SS, joins him on a Chrome card, and he's got a top-100 prospect pedigree as well.

Top PC guy Cal Ripken joins the previously seen Skubal from 2025 Topps' throwback to the 1990 set, which isn't my favorite design but is still a sight for sore eyes after they beat the dead horse of 1989 last year.

Second place finisher in team HRs Tork brings back '25 Heritage for a curtain call with Chrome Refractor and Silver Sparkle Refractor parallels. His rather successful season was almost as big of a relief to fans as I'm sure it was to him given his struggles last year, and I hope we get to see his powerful bat in the lineup for years.

We'll close out the baseball portion with a fun anomaly in this package: a card that's not from the last couple years. Greg included an '83 OPC of 1984 World Series MVP Alan Trammell, which I'm considering a good omen for tonight even though he sent it months ago.

And our final card tonight is a lone football item: a '23 Score base of Titans WR Nico Collins. Michigan's run-focused offenses have tended to downplay the WRs over the years even with the presence of talented receivers, but once in a while one is able to pop in the league, and that's been Collins, who's gone for 8 and 7 TDs over the past two seasons, plus over 1000 yards in both, and is hopefully on his way to career highs this year.

Greg, thanks again for this outstanding baseball-heavy envelope that you sent back in July which I'm only showing off now. I appreciate the Heritage Tigers and all the other very useful stuff for my PC. I hope my Tigers continue to advance but also that they don't have to face your Dodgers, though if it comes to that I'll happily wish your team well while rooting against them!

I'll be back soon with non-trade stuff from July, and in the meantime, EAT 'EM UP, TIGERS!