After a miraculous second half push for their first postseason appearance in a decade, the Detroit Tigers have made underwhelming acquisitions in the offseason. They have a limited amount of money on the book for the future and a plethora of young talent who would benefit from proven veteran presence. Unfortunately, they weren’t very aggressive in pursuing additions to the roster, and it looks like they’re running it back with a very similar roster for 2025.
With that, let’s see the newcomers into the Motor City, and how they can contribute to hopefully another postseason run in. The list will consist of players who will or will most likely contribute on the big league roster in 2025.
The Newcomers
Alex Cobb – one-year, $15 million
Gleyber Torres – one-year, $15 million
Tommy Kahnle – one-year, $7.75 million
Jack Flaherty – two-years, $35 million
Jordan Balazovic – minor league contract
Alex Cobb
37 year old inked a one-year deal with the Tigers despite reports of him floating the idea of retirement. The veteran right-hander is coming off a season in Cleveland where he tossed just 16.1 innings due to spending the chunk of the season rehabbing from his hip surgery during October of 2023. He was scratched from the postseason roster due to blisters, which effectively ended his 2024 season.
In these 16.1 innings, Cobb was rather excellent, with a 2.76 ERA and a 3.29 FIP. Still, this is a tiny sample size to gage his 2025 performance, as his 2023 season is most likely what he’d produce again in 2025, with maybe a few steps back due to age and added injury.
In 2023, Cobb threw 151.1 innings to the tune of a 3.87 ERA and a 4.01 FIP. With him moving from Oracle Park to Comerica Park, his numbers shouldn’t be affected too much per ballpark factor, seeing as both stadiums are considered pitcher friendly.
Cobb has never been a big strike out guy, but he is going to limit his walks, as he’s never had a season where he’s walked above 10% of his batters faced. He is also going to generate ground balls at a high rate as he’s consistently around the mid 50s to low 60s in terms of ground ball percentage.
One of Detroit’s biggest flaws down the stretch was their lack of starting pitching. At one point, Skubal and Keider Montero were the only starting pitchers, with the other days being bullpen days with openers. While manager A.J Hinch managed this to perfection, it is an unsustainable strategy for a full season, which makes the acquisition of Cobb critical. Hopes are Cobb can avoid any major injuries and throw around 150 innings again in 2025.
Gleyber Torres
Torres went through an up and down six year stretch in the Big Apple. He started his career hot, looking like one of the most prominent offensive players in the league.
He debuted in 2018 and wasted no time, slashing .271/.340/.480 for an .820 OPS and 122 OPS+. He took another step forward in 2019 where he slugged 38 home runs with a 128 OPS+. Granted, this is widely considered the peak juice ball year, where home runs were happening seemingly every other at bat. He regressed in 2020 where he had a 103 OPS+ and slugged just .368. It was easy to look past this however, as it was the shortened COVID season and players were all out of wack with the short schedule and extra restrictions.
His 2021 was when he fell off completely, slashing .259/.331/.336 for a .697 OPS and 93 OPS+. This is by all means, not a disaster of an offensive season and a 93 OPS+ is just slightly below league average. It was his defense at short stop that year (a new position for him) that most likely got in the way of hit bat.
He bounced back beautifully in 2022 and 2023 with a .761 and .800 OPS respectively. He was okay in 2024 with a .709 OPS and 101 OPS+, but definitely a step below his 2022 and 2023 production. Part of that may be the constant trade rumors that hindered his performance and focus a bit.
Detroit is hoping for more of a 2022-2023 version of Torres, or at least a mixture of that and his 2024 version. His defense has always been a negative attribute of his, as in 2024, he was in the 15th percentile in both OAA and Fielding Run Value. This is the side of the ball that the Tigers will have to live with, as he has always been a poor defender.
Tommy Kahnle
The 35 year old reliever is headed to his 11th season in MLB. He is not your typical right hander out of the bullpen, as his lethal change up makes his a bit of a lefty specialist. He is coming off of a 4.01 ERA, 3.55 FIP season with the Yankees, and will be making his way to Detroit with his fellow Yankee teammate Gleyber Torres.
Kahnle had elite numbers in many categories, most impressively his 59.8 GB%, his low walk rate of 10.6 BB%, his above league average strike out rate of 25.7 K%, and him generating weak contact with an average exit velocity at just 86.2 MPH. While his 4.01 ERA isn’t the best, it also is still serviceable. However, that number isn’t truly indicative of his capabilities, as he had an xERA of just 3.34 and xBA of .203.
Detroit fans should expect Kahnle to be a solid middle relief option who can be thrown into high leverage innings as well. He is going to fit well with the plethora of elite bullpen arms.
Jack Flaherty
After being traded over to the Dodgers from Detroit during the trade deadline and winning a ring in LA, Flaherty has made his way back to Detroit to reunite with the organization that saw him have one of his best seasons in his career thus far.
As a whole, Flaherty had a 3.17 ERA in 162 innings pitched, where he struck out everyone in sight.
Whiff % – 91st percentile (32.1%)
K % – 90th percentile (29.9%)
Chase % – 72nd percentile (30.7%)
BB % – 83rd percentile (5.9%)
All in all, not much can be said about Flaherty, as his addition, or more accurately, his return, will pair him with Tarik Skubal as one of the better one-two punches in the AL, if not the entire league.
Is this enough?
The Detroit Tigers have added a (hopeful) 150 inning, high three ERA starter, a mid 700s OPS second baseman, a mid three ERA reliever, and an All-Star caliber starting pitcher to their 2025 roster. Only time will tell how well the team carries over their momentum from last season. Ideally, a little more offense would be appreciated, but the offseason is not over yet. With rumors linking Alex Bergman to Detroit, could he be the piece that puts them over the top?
Overall, the Tigers were’t as aggressive as fans and the media envisioned them to be, but it certainly wasn’t a slouch of an offseason either.
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