The Detroit Tigers already handled the biggest looming free-agent decisions before the winter even arrived, and that shaped the rest of their offseason picture.
With the club sitting 6.5 games back in the AL Central by the end of July, Detroit moved ace Tarik Skubal and front-line starter Casey Mize rather than gamble on losing either arm for nothing. The deal sent both pitchers to playoff teams in the National League - Skubal to the Los Angeles Dodgers and Mize to the San Diego Padres - and took the Tigers’ two biggest unrestricted free agents off the board.
That still leaves work to do.
Detroit has six players set to hit unrestricted free agency, including two pitchers tied to club options, and the list gives the front office plenty to sort through as it tries to rebuild for 2027.
Gleyber Torres stands out as the most notable name among the position players. He has been Detroit’s starting second baseman for the last two seasons and made the All-Star team in 2025, but his 2026 season was slowed by a pair of left oblique strains and other injuries that held him to 96 games.
Even so, his path back to the Tigers is unclear. Detroit’s infield now includes AL Rookie of the Year favorite Kevin McGonigle, along with Javier Báez and Hao-Yu Lee, which could leave Torres as the odd man out.
The pitching side brings even more uncertainty. Jack Flaherty and Drew Anderson are both out of contract as starters, but their situations look very different.
Flaherty has a World Series ring and 200 career starts behind him. Anderson, by contrast, only got back to the majors as a reliever after four seasons in Asia before making a late-season move into the rotation.
Still, Anderson may be the better bet to stay. He posted a 2.61 ERA in 11 starts, and Detroit has a $10 million team option on him that looks likely to be picked up.
Kenley Jansen presents another major call. The closer has a $12 million club option, or a $2 million buyout, and the Tigers have to decide whether to keep paying for a veteran who is still producing at a high level.
Jansen, who is pushing 39, finished with 22 saves and a 3.20 ERA in 50 games. He believes he still has more in the tank and is aiming for 500 career saves, but Detroit has to weigh that against the cost of the option.
Two other relievers, Tyler Kinley and Burch Smith, appear far less likely to be part of the 2027 picture. Kinley signed with Detroit in late August and was effective over 15 appearances, finishing with a 1.84 ERA. Smith, meanwhile, battled right shoulder problems that led to arthroscopic surgery and limited him to just 13 games in what may end up being his only season with the Tigers.
Both pitchers are already well into their thirties, so Detroit could simply turn those bullpen spots over to younger arms.
For now, Anderson and Jansen look like the clearest candidates to return among the Tigers with team options. But that’s only the first layer of a winter that will be spent trying to get the organization back into playoff contention.
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Gleyber Torres, Justin Verlander, Kenley Jansen and Jack Flaherty are all part of that departing group, leaving the Tigers with a veteran core that could look very different by spring. The offseason now figures to center on remaking the bullpen and creating more room for younger players, a reset that may be necessary but still carries the sting of how far this season fell short of the standard set in March. [Read more 🡒]
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Yates long path through the majors gave the moment extra weight, especially after his breakout 2019 season helped establish him as one of the sports most reliable late-inning arms. His recent work had kept him in the conversation long enough for one more turn on a big league stage, and Comerica Park treated him like someone who had earned it, even as the larger question of what comes next for him remained in the background. [Read more 🡒]