Tigers to pursue right-handed bat, additional pitching help in offseason

The clock struck midnight on the Tigers’ Cinderella run in Game 5 of the American League Division Series when Guardians outfielder Lane Thomas swatted a backbreaking grand slam off likely American League Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal, fueling what would eventually become a 7-3 Cleveland victory. Detroit’s blazing finish to the regular season and spirited postseason run that saw it sweep the Astros in the wild-card round of play raised expectations surrounding the club and left no doubt about its status as a hopeful contender heading into the offseason. President of baseball operations Scott Harris met with the Tigers’ beat Monday, discussing the team’s sensational second half and taking a look at the offseason to come (links via Chris McCosky of the Detroit News, Evan Woodbery of MLive.com and Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic).

Among the more prominent takeaways are that the Tigers will pursue a right-handed bat to augment a lineup that Harris believes became too left-handed, as well as additional support on the pitching side of things — both in the rotation and in the bullpen. Harris also downplayed the possibility of cutting ties with struggling veterans Javier Baez and Kenta Maeda. The third-year Detroit president suggested he expects Baez to be in spring training and added that he can see a role for him on the 2025 roster. He added that the Tigers “could have done a better job preparing” Maeda for the 2024 season and that there’s “absolutely” a place for him on the 2025 roster.

Tigers fans have already bristled at the idea of Baez and Maeda returning, although there’d be little point in Harris broadcasting that one or both will be cut loose at this time. Maeda, in particular, is only a year removed from a nice season. With just a year and $10M remaining on his deal, he could potentially be swapped for another onerous veteran contract if such an opportunity presents itself. The Tigers won’t find a taker for Baez after he’s floundered throughout the first three years of his six-year contract in Detroit, but releasing the remaining $73M left on that deal is likely more an ownership call anyhow.

Neither of the items atop Detroit’s offseason wishlist should come as a surprise. Detroit struggled against southpaws for much of the season, finishing in the bottom-third of the league in terms of overall production against left-handed opponents. As a collective unit, they slashed .229/.298/.362 versus lefties. The resulting 88 wRC+ indicates that Tigers hitters were 12% worse than league-average against southpaws.

Matt Vierling, Parker Meadows, Colt Keith, Spencer Torkelson, Andy Ibanez and Justyn-Henry Malloy were the only current Tigers with at least 50 plate appearances and better-than-average output against lefties. Each of Keith (27.3%), Meadows (32.3%) and Malloy (34.4%) found that success despite massive strikeout rates against lefties. Each posted a BABIP of .385 or better in those matchups. Some regression should be expected. Among Tigers expected regulars, all of Meadows, Keith, Riley Greene, Kerry Carpenter and Trey Sweeney swing from the left side of the plate. That’s also true of top prospect Jace Jung, who’ll be in the mix for third base reps next year, depending on how the offseason shakes out.

The good news for Harris and the Tigers is that the upcoming class of free agent bats is far superior to last year’s crop. Among the notable right-handed bats on the market are Alex Bregman, Pete Alonso, Willy Adames, Teoscar Hernandez, Christian Walker, Tyler O’Neill and switch-hitters Anthony Santander and Jurickson Profar.

Broadly, Harris voiced confidence that ownership would afford him resources to be active in the market, though he also cautioned that he’s less concerned  with pursuing payroll upgrades than he is talent upgrades; put another way, the trade market could well come into play as the club seeks upgrades in the lineup and on the pitching staff. Further, the Tigers’ baseball ops leader touted the flexibility that someone like Vierling gives him in looking to address the lineup. The versatile Vierling’s ability to handle both third base and any spot in the outfield means Harris can pursue upgrades at multiple positions. Hypothetically, Vierling could man the outfield in the event that the Tigers took a massive swing and signed Bregman to handle third base. Similarly, Vierling could take a significant portion of the workload at the hot corner if the Tigers instead wind up adding an outfielder like Hernandez, Santander or O’Neill.

On the pitching side of the coin, additions have seemed like a foregone conclusion. The Tigers utilized only one traditional starter during the playoffs — Skubal — and otherwise went with an all-hands-on-deck approach that manager A.J. Hinch termed “pitching chaos.” Bullpen games were the norm throughout September and into October, with relievers like Tyler Holton, Beau Brieske and Brenan Hanifee all getting into the act. While that made for an entertaining brand of baseball, it also puts a lot of strain on the staff as a whole and requires leaning heavily on a typically volatile group of pitchers (relievers) in terms of year-to-year performance.

Entering 2025, Skubal will be back to reprise his role atop the rotation. He’ll presumably be joined by Reese Olson and Casey Mize, with other rotation candidates including Maeda, Matt Manning, Keider Montero, Ty Madden, Brant Hurter and top prospect Jackson Jobe. Even though the club surely anticipates a huge role for Jobe in the very near future, there’s still room for upgrades while keeping those other arms involved. Hurter has shown plenty of aptitude for relief work during the “pitching chaos” experiment, and he has minor league options remaining — as do Hurter, Montero, Madden and Jobe. Manning will be out of options next season and will be in something of a make-or-break scenario next spring. Speculatively, he could also be someone who draws trade interest if/when Detroit adds to the rotation via free agency or trade.

As is the case with position players, the 2024-25 crop of free agents offers a relatively deep class of arms. Corbin Burnes, Blake Snell, Max Fried and old friend Jack Flaherty headline the pitching class, but there are other notable free agents including Sean Manaea, Luis Severino, Yusei Kikuchi and Nathan Eovaldi — to say nothing of older short-term vets who know a thing or two about pitching at Comerica Park (i.e. Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer).

From a pure payroll vantage point, there shouldn’t be much that’s off the table for Detroit. The Tigers have previously run player payroll up to the $200M mark — albeit under the late Mike Ilitch’s ownership; his son, Chris, is now the team’s control person — and currently have only $38.5M on the books in player salary next year. That comes in the form of a $25M salary for Baez under his ill-fated six-year deal, a $10M salary for Maeda and a $3.5M salary for Keith.

Detroit’s arbitration class features 11 players and is projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to cost $27.4M, though a couple non-tender candidates in the group could cut that by a few million. Add in a slate of league-minimum salaries (or close to it) to round out the roster, and the Tigers are looking at about $75M-78M in player salary as things currently stand. That’s not to say fans should expect an all-out blitz in free agency and earnest pursuits of Juan Soto, Burnes and Bregman in conjunction with one another. At the same time, the team’s wide-open payroll outlook would make a legitimate run at Bregman or any other free agent possible.

That applies too potential extension talks as well. Asked specifically about Skubal, Harris instead spoke in generalities about his desire to avoid publicly commenting on individual players’ contract statuses (X link via Woodbery). 

“You saw what we did with Colt Keith,” said Harris. “We started discussions privately, came to an agreement, and announced it. I don’t think it’s constructive to comment on individuals, and it’s not fair to the players given the sensitivity of those talks.”

Beyond Skubal, there are a handful of logical extension candidates on the Tigers. Brieske and Vierling are reaching arbitration for the first time this winter, and the Tigers could look into modest deals to secure cost certainty and perhaps buy out a free agent year or two. Players like Carpenter, Meadows, Greene, Olson or even Jobe could all be targets as the front office looks to establish a core of long-term contributors in the Motor City. More broadly, Harris emphasized the importance of some of those young players taking the very same type of step that Skubal did in 2024.

“There are too many young players on this roster that can and must improve this offseason,” said Harris. “The gains that they access this offseason with the help of this coaching staff; when we add all those things up when we get to Lakeland in February, they have to outweigh anything we do via external additions. Because there is just too much opportunity on our roster.”