The Tigers finalized their two-year contract with Kenta Maeda this afternoon. The right-hander adds a veteran presence to the middle of the staff behind Tarik Skubal. He joins younger hurlers Reese Olson, Casey Mize, Sawyer Gipson-Long and Matt Manning in the season-opening mix.
That’s a talented group, but Detroit doesn’t seem prepared to sit on its laurels. President of baseball operations Scott Harris told the beat this afternoon that the front office will continue searching for pitching (relayed by Evan Woodbery of MLive).
Harris acknowledged the general truism that teams could always stand to stockpile pitching depth. Beyond that, there’s good reason for the front office to look for at least one more rotation option. Each of Detroit’s top six has some workload questions. Skubal missed nearly a calendar year between 2022 and ’23 due to a flexor issue that required forearm surgery. Mize didn’t pitch at all this year as he worked back from June ’22 Tommy John surgery. Maeda had undergone a UCL repair late in ’21 and missed the entire 2022 campaign. He pitched 104 1/3 innings this past season, losing a couple months to a triceps strain.
Manning fractured both feet on separate comebackers this year, keeping him to 15 starts. While those are fluky in nature, he’d battled shoulder issues and was limited to 12 appearances in 2022. Olson and Gipson-Long, meanwhile, made their MLB debuts in the middle of this past season. The former pitched 103 2/3 innings over 23 appearances; the latter made four starts in the final month.
Adding another rotation option could allow the front office to keep one of their younger arms at Triple-A Toledo in preparation for injuries that’ll inevitably arise throughout the year. It’d also afford some flexibility for manager A.J. Hinch to potentially deploy someone from the group out of the bullpen.
Detroit could also add to the relief corps directly. Harris didn’t differentiate between the rotation and bullpen when discussing the search for pitching. It’d be a surprise if the Tigers made a significant splash in the bullpen, which was a league average unit. Jason Foley, Alex Lange, Will Vest and Tyler Holton are a strong top four, but Detroit could bring in a veteran for the middle innings.
The Tigers haven’t been publicly tied to any specific relievers this offseason. Reports from before the Maeda deal linked them to Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Seth Lugo and Luis Severino on the rotation front. A strike at Yamamoto or even Lugo seem like long shots given the general belief that Detroit will pursue shorter-term deals. Lugo seems likely to land a three-year pact, while the Tigers reportedly preferred to keep the commitment to one season. A one-year rebound contract seems likely for Severino. Wade Miley, Frankie Montas and James Paxton are among the other one-year possibilities in free agency.
Ok
Profound
Bring back Rodriguez
Says no one
Tigers – Ohtani 15 Years 600 Mil ?
Lol so…yer offering 40 mil aav when everyone else is offering 50?
Wonder if Rangers would part with Jon Gray? Seems like he is a #6 starter there.
Which team is offering $50MM?
Ohtani would jump at $600,000,000 without hesitation.
So would I.
In your dreams. Detroit= Auto Industry vs Asian Auto Industry. Ohtani will cross that line.
Hideo Nomo already crossed that line years ago
Nobody cares anymore. Many Japanese auto suppliers have their HQ in Michigan.
Good luck with that. Ohtani’s market is basically LA, Boston, or New York.
And Chicago
I don’t think so. No way Chicago competes with LA. Maybe SF though
Steven Matz for Carson Kelly
But they hope to IMPROVE the rotation.
Why would the Cardinals want a catcher back that they’ve already dumped off once before?
Big move like Yamamoto? Mid tier like Flaherty? Interesting Rule V arm?
Marcus Stroman is still out there. Not saying Detroit doesn’t have a shot at Yamamoto, but Stroman wouldn’t be a bad plan B.
I still don’t understand why the Tigers non tendered Tyler Alexander.
Because he’s mid. Young Mike Pelfrey.
He stinks
Skubal looks like an ace in the making. And adding Maeda should help with depth. I think they have a good rotation, on paper. But we all know that injury and/or underperformance tend to screw with what looks good on paper. I can see them adding another veteran or two to eat innings but I’d be surprised if they make a run at a Yamamoto. Seems more like Montgomery territory
Funny how people don’t use paper much anymore but still talk about how things look “on paper.”
It should be brought into the 21st century with something like “it looks good on the screen.”
Montgomery would be awesome. I’d even be happy with Flaherty and seeing what Chris Fetter could do with him.The last two years they have gone through the equivalent of two starting staffs a year.
I would love to see them go for a higher upside guy like Montas.
Seth Lugo seems like a great fit.
If the Tigers are concerned about having pitchers who may be taxed by the full season of innings, why did they sign a pitcher coming off TJ and an arm strain?!! Lugo has the same problem. He’s been pitching out of the bullpen and just pitched his most innings in years as a starter. They need someone that can throw 180 innings, over 6 innings per start.
Lugo would be fine on a one year contract. Otherwise, forget it.
The Tigers need another legit MLB starter.
I disagree with the article stating that Reese Olson and Gibson-Long are so promising. They are nothing more than Joey Wentz types. Fill in type of guys. You can’t settle for the used car lot. Set your heights higher. Sticker price baby. Make a bold move to get a guy who can legit win you 14.
They have Skubal and Maeda that’s its. Mize is a huge question mark. Even before his injury he wasn’t the lights out top of the rotation guy they thought he would. All we heard about was his “wipe out” split finger I never saw it. He throws from a 3/4 arm slot. . So his slider is a cement roller and his “wipeout” split finger has no 12 to 6 tilt.
And Matt Manning will be hurt by May 1st for sure.
At some point as an organization, you can’t always try to get reclamation projects, guys off the scrap heap, journeyman, guys coming off injuries and hope they all of a sudden have All-Star seasons to make you look like a genius as a GM.
Make a bold trade. They have no 3B. Baez sucks. No 2B. I mean c’mon.
Agreevthey need anotherbarm and Skubal rocks. Reese Olson is a keeper. Look at his stats. Comparing him to Joey Wentz tells me you didn’t watch the Tigers much last year. Gipson Long is unproven for sure, Mize is an unknown and Manning is fragile. As for 2B it is Colt Keith’s to lose this year and he has been mentioned as a potential ROY. Add him to Tork, Greene, Rogers, Canha with P. Meadows and Malloy on board too and they have better hitters than last year. As much as I’d love to see them get a veteran 3B like Bregman, it’s more likely they fill the hole internally with Ibanez and Vierling until Jung comes up next year. They should bench Baez if he keeps playing like crap and either get a young SS in trade or give Eddys Leonard a test drive. They are a team on the way up and could easily win the Central this year.
I’d bat baez 9th and consider any production he provides a bonus in addition to his good defense. it’s Iglesias all over again.
Jace Jung is not a 3B. His arm is just not ever going to be strong enough. Colt Keith is probably too big to be a middle IF and he injured his throwing shoulder diving into a base.
Jung played third base in AFL, they are grooming him for that position. Let Vierling start the season there and bring Jung up in July.
Better than trying Malloy there! Too bad about Keith’s shoulder. He had a gun for an arm.
From MLB: A below-average runner, Jung can provide value on the basepaths with his aggressiveness on balls in play, but he won’t be much of a stolen-base threat. His lack of range and arm keep him limited to second base after dalliances at third and short in college, and while his hands work for the position, he’s still going to need to hit for both average and power to bring impact as an everyday player.
That was written a long while ago and MLB Pipeline is poor at prospect evaluation compared to the rest of the sites. I would take anything they write about prospects with a huge grain of salt. Not saying Jung can handle 3B but the Tigers coaches are going to give him a shot.
And then he went and won a MiLB Gold Glove in 23. Looks like that eval is both old and wrong
Injuries heal. Then move Keith back to 3B.
You can’t seriously be comparing Olson to Wentz?
Yamamoto would make this a great offseason.
Sleeper under the radar move for the Tigers.
Go get Ezequiel Durán from the Rangers.
He’s been blocked in the infield with the Rangers and has the potential to break out given a full time role. His K’s were high, but they could come down once he gets a full time role.
Get bold. Make a move. Don’t be afraid to trade a guy like Parker Meadows with others.
Duran is blocked in Texas. He’d be an interesting pickup. Parker and Manning shipped out together? Lots of teams need CF and everyone needs pitching. Cincinnati has lots of bats who’d look nice in Detroit. One of Marte, Arroyo or Collier and Sal Stewart. Add moving parts to either side to even it out.
Lots of teams need a CF including Detroit. Parker Meadows can’t be traded for Ezequiel Duran
I was suggesting a trade with Cincy or elsewhere not for Duran, bit I agree that Duran would be an interesting add.
Still, I wouldn’t trade away Parker Meadows. He’s a good CF. I’m all for trading away Matt Manning as long as it’s not another Hao-Yu Lee for Michael Lorenzen joke of a trade. I have no faith in Tiger scouts.
Lorenzen pitched 1 good game, had an era of 5.51 after the trade. Lee has a career.282 average with an exceptional .376 obp. I have more faith in Tiger scouts than your take
Sign the Korean guy. Trade Meadows.
Lee has no power. Think Chris Getz type 2B.
He has average power potential.
In fact, Lee has 16 home runs and 90 RBI in 163 minor league games. And MLB Pipeline gives him a 50 on the 20-80 scale for power.
My bad, I thought you meant Hao-yu Lee.
I didn’t see an issue with the Lorenzen trade. Lee is still too far away to assess whether it was good or bad, but I liked what I saw. Parker is a good CF but I don’t know if he’ll just end up as a taller Myles Straw with 4th OF stats. I question his hit tool, but if he ends up as a Kevin Kiermaier clone that would be a success. Cincy has good young bats that fit the Tigers timeline for contention. Time will tell.
Florida has a guy at 2b named Luis Arraez who has little power. I’d take him! No power doesn’t mean he won’t be a good player.
Miley or Paxson gives me Kenny Roger’s 2006 vibes. get one of these vetern leftys with a little more to give in the tank.
Why add more pitchers coming off injuries? They need reliable innings.
Pretty sure that Manning broke the same foot twice.
Jack Flaherty seems like a total Detroit signing.
Sad.
I should be running this damn team, not letting Christopher bum everyone out….again…..
Wade Miley and Andrew Chaffin would add a nice veteran lefty to the number 3 spot and a lefty reliever for late in the game.
Have Wenceel Perez start out at 2B. Switch hitter with great OBP. Ibanez can back him up. Keith or Jung get promoted later in the year. 3B is Vierling and McKinstry platoon.
Parker in CF, Carpenter in RF, Canha in left. Greene DH until he heals. Tork at 1B Baez at SS Rogers behind the plate. I would try and sign Caratini as backup catcher.
I think that would make for a solid offense and defense and you still have Malloy, Keith, Jung and Eddys Leonard waiting to get called up.
They already wasted 3.5MM on Kelly to be the backup C.
Stick Baez on the bench, let Perez play SS and let Keith playb 2B. He could be ROY and has nothing left to prove in the minors. Otherwise the lineup is likely pretty close to what it will be (minus me dreaming about Baez being benched).
Yamamoto. seems like he’d be a great long term bet and they have enough free cash available to make a deal with him and still have plenty left to make a deal with Juan Soto next offseason and they’d immediately open their legit competitive window for years to come. With Maeda in the fold, a very encouraging future for the team on the horizon and a boatload of cash to pay him, there is a very real possibility of being an attractive landing spot for Yamamoto.
Tigers will continue to go on the Cheap for now..could see a guy like Clevinger or Miley added…And wait for Jung and Colt Keith to come up…I would go after Duran for sure…I do think Vierling has upside at 3b…add a couple bullpen arms on the cheap and see if Tigers can get to 88-90 wins…that probably wins this garbage Division and lets Chris keep putting money in his pocket
Pitching wasn’t their biggest problem last season but they were near the bottom in almost every offensive category. Why not focus on some bats?
Bats need to be acquired at the positions of need, and the FA market just doesn’t have them. That means trade. So far, that hasn’t been a HARRIS strength.
“Meanwhile” can’t come in the middle of the sentence; it has to come at the start. How do multiple writers here not know this?
I blame the school system.
If we signed Maeda partly to become more serious players in the Japanese market, then it makes the most sense to sign a Japanese pitcher during Maeda’s tenure in Detroit – this year or next. Imanaga would be a good fit as he won’t break the bank like Yamamoto and he walks virtually no one.
Regarding Ohtani…..could he be so good that he demands so much money that it would actually be stupid for a team to sign him at his max asking price/value if they want to contend?
Still waiting for little Chris Illitch to make good on his promise to SPEND $$ once the team is ready to contend….That time is NOW!!! WHAT IS HE WAITING FOR?? I read somewhere that he is the third or fourth richest owner in all of baseball?? You bring in star players or even a superstar (Ohtani?)…. Comerica will see 3,000,000 fans ANNUALLY!! It’s been proven in the not too distant past that a winning product brings fans into the stands… I live in Tennessee, born and raised in Flint, Michigan… I’ve always said if they were to get someone like Ohtani…. I’m getting season tickets and flying home for every series…… Goooooo TIGERS…