Detroit Tigers fans, if you ever need a reminder of how fast hope turns into hindsight, look no further than the KBO transaction wire.
This week delivered a double take for Tigers diehards: Matt Manning signed a one-year, $1 million deal with the Samsung Lions. Days after that, Wilkel Hernandez –– once billed as the centerpiece of the Tigers’ 2017 trade of Ian Kinsler –– signed with the Hanwha Eagles.
Two names, two very different paths, both headed to the KBO. And if that doesn’t sum up a strange, sobering chapter in recent Tigers history, nothing does.