Happy Friday, everyone! We’ve made it through the week, thank goodness, and our reward is the official return of baseball games! Sure, you can say Spring Training doesn’t matter, but tell that to a fan who has been starved for live games since October. The Tigers won’t have their first game until tomorrow, but hey, something to look forward to! In the meantime, the Tigers have unveiled their new home and road alternate jerseys and they’re pretty darned slick!

The other biggest news of the week is that MLBPA executive director Tony Clark, who has led the Players’ union since 2013, stepped down amid a sea of scandal (personal, not baseball-related) and his interim replacement Bruce Meyer has been announced. This is a terrible time for the players to be shifting leadership as debate over salary caps and the CBA is running rampant. We’ll have a bit more on that below.

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So let’s get into the news bites for the day and prepare ourselves for baseball tomorrow!

Detroit Tigers News

Last season, McGonigle, 21, dominated the Arizona Fall League, slashing .362/.500/.710 with six homers and 19 RBIs, winning the league’s MVP award. That performance came after he hit .305/.408/.583 with 19 homers and 80 RBIs in 88 games split between Low A, High A and Double A during the regular season. He projects as a future batting title winner with 20-25 home run power. He’s selectively aggressive at the plate, is very quick on inside pitches and goes the other way extremely well on tough pitches down and away. He’s also solid defensively and is a good base-runner. If the Tigers give him a legitimate shot to make the roster this spring, he should, given his polish and talent.

Of Max Clark, he said:

Clark, 21, leads all potential rookies in swag and speed. He profiles as an elite leadoff hitter who will reach base consistently and steal bases at will. He has solid bat speed and above-average plate discipline and he makes good swing decisions. Clark is a tremendous defensive center fielder with solid first-step quickness and well above-average range in all directions. He also has the arm to stop base-runners from taking the next base. He’ll be a fan favorite quickly in the Motor City and, along with McGonigle, should give the Tigers an extremely fun and bright future. He’d be higher on my list but he’s likely to start the season in the minor leagues as he has just 43 games of Double-A experience.

In case you missed our story on the new jerseys, here’s a look at the new duds. Which do you prefer?

Get yourself ready for the first games of the season.

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