The Detroit Tigers “have a lot of work to do” and will be “patient” in the market

Not once, not twice, but three times.

Detroit Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris received the same three questions about payroll for the 2025 season during his hour-long session with reporters Tuesday at the general managers meetings in San Antonio, where he discussed a variety of topics.

“Ah yes, the payroll issue,” Harris said.

Harris repeatedly told everyone what to expect this offseason: The Tigers won’t commit to a specific salary threshold, but the team will improve with upgrades from the free agent and trade markets.

“We’re just going to try to get better,” said Harris, whose current payroll of $80 million is one of the lowest in the MLB. “We don’t go into the offseason with a fixed floor or ceiling that we have to reach no matter what. I don’t really know where the payroll will end up, but we have a lot of support (from owner Christopher). Ilitch) to make the team better. We just have to find ways to do it.

Heading into the 2024-25 offseason, the Tigers are prioritizing a right-handed hitter and starting pitcher as their biggest needs, fresh off the franchise’s first postseason appearance in a decade. At the GM meetings, a proud Harris met with executives and agents to lay the groundwork for offseason transactions. The Tigers are believed to be looking for short-term contracts in free agency, particularly a starting pitcher on a one-year deal, as they have done each of the last two seasons under Harris.

So far, the Tigers have not prioritized third baseman Alex Bregman.

“I don’t think they’re a year ahead,” said one AL executive. “I think they’ll probably be pretty patient and keep working at it over the next few years and trying to build a monster and when they’re ready to push, they’ll really push.”

The Tigers – hot sellers at the trade deadline – were on track to win just 75 games in 2024 before posting an improbable 31-13 record in their final 44 games, giving them an 86-76 record, third place in the American League Central and the final earned an AL wild-card berth. The almost equally improbable collapse of the Minnesota Twins opened the door for the red-hot Tigers to advance to the postseason, ending a nine-year drought.

Nobody expected this, not even the Tigers.

“We’re just in a much healthier state as an organization,” Harris said, noting that 11 Tigers made their MLB debut in 2024. “We have a lot of options in front of us, as opposed to big, glaring holes that we need.” Address. … This youth movement was really fun this year. We believe we have a lot of good young players.

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The Tigers like to brag about the future value of Class A position players Josue Briceño (first base), Max Clark (center field), Kevin McGonigle (shortstop/second base) and Thayron Liranzo (catcher).

These players are coming soon, but not in 2025.

“The hardest thing for them is that the Skubal clock is ticking,” said an AL manager. “If you want to push, it’s for this reason.”

Left-hander Tarik Skubal, arguably the best pitcher in baseball and the soon-to-be AL Cy Young winner, will be under the team’s control for two more seasons before becoming a free agent. The 27-year-old is expected to hit the open market after the 2026 season.

The Tigers have already attempted to extend Skubal’s contract.

It wasn’t a competitive offer.

A short-term, cheap offer will not result in an extension, even if Skubal wants to stay in Detroit. He expects to earn $35 million to $40 million per year on the open market over 8 to 10 years as long as he remains healthy and successful.

If the Tigers can’t re-sign Skubal and don’t want to trade him, shouldn’t they do everything they can to win the World Series within the next two seasons before he hits free agency?

The Skubal clock is one way to gauge the Tigers’ win window. However, it’s unclear whether the Harris-led Tigers will ever commit to a free-agent contract longer than four or five seasons, making Bregman an unlikely signing unless his market collapses.

Bregman, a two-time All-Star third baseman who has a good relationship with Tigers manager AJ Hinch, expects to be paid at least $160 million over six seasons as a free agent. The 30-year-old has appeared in 99 postseason games during his nine-year MLB career, winning two World Series.

The Houston Astros are motivated to keep Bregman.

He is her biggest priority.

The Tigers watch from the sidelines.

“We would love for him to stay here,” Astros general manager Dana Brown said Tuesday during an MLB Network interview. “We feel like there’s a good chance we’ll get something done. … We are optimistic.”

If not Bregman, the Tigers could use the trade market to fill their need for a right-handed hitter. An AL manager mentioned Miami Marlins slugger Jake Burger, who plays third and first base, as a potential candidate for the Tigers.

The 28-year-old Burger is under the team’s control until the 2028 season.

Here’s what Harris said about the plan for third base: “We could keep (Matt) Vierling in the infield and he could play with Jace (Jung) there. We could add there, and then Vierling goes back to the outfield. We can do that.’ We’re going to try to find a way to get better without blocking the young players that got us to the postseason.

Here’s what Harris said about the plan for first base: “I think we need to improve the performance at the position. I’m not saying the staff. I say the performance. (Spencer) Torkelson is a really talented player. We’ve just got to find a way to get a little bit more out of him on both sides of the ball.

Trading for Burger throws three strikes with one pitch considering he is a right-handed hitter who plays third base and first base. His versatility on defense would add another piece to Hinch’s cupboard while keeping the door open for Jung and Torkelson to remain on the MLB roster and continue to develop.

More importantly, Burger hit .250 with 63 home runs and a .793 OPS in 278 games during the 2023-24 seasons. His home run total ranks 17th and his OPS ranks 37th among 118 qualified hitters over the last two seasons.

“You could be a better team,” said one AL executive, “and it won’t cost you much.”

When it comes to starters, the Tigers have prioritized one-year, high-cost prospects like right-handers Walker Buehler and Frankie Montas in free agency. (Ex-Tiger Spencer Turnbull, a right-wing extremist, fits into the same category, but the Tigers burned that bridge in 2023.)

The Tigers had success with one-year deals for Michael Lorenzen in 2023 (trading him for Hao-Yu Lee) and Jack Flaherty in 2024 (trading him for Liranzo and Trey Sweeney). The three-step process: Sign, Fix, Act.

They try again in 2025.

“I think those opportunities exist,” Harris said. “I don’t know if we can find it every year. We’ll see. We’ll try it. … In a world where there is no free agent market for young players, we must continue to look for new opportunities to both strengthen our major league team and acquire young players.”

Looking ahead, the Tigers should have plenty of players to play: Jake Rogers at catcher, Colt Keith at second base, Riley Greene in left field, Parker Meadows in center field, Kerry Carpenter in right field and Matt Vierling in a utility role as well Skubal, Reese Olson and Jackson Jobe in the starting rotation.

However, it’s not guaranteed that the Tigers will win the AL Central in 2025 – or even return to the postseason.

This team needs to improve.

“We need to add something externally, but we also need to recognize the fact that the external gains are not comparable to the magnitude of the internal gains,” Harris said. “We have the youngest team in baseball that just made the playoffs and just won a playoff series. If each of these guys gets a little better, we’ll be fine in the future.”

“We have to do both, and we are actively doing both. This is not a moment where we just focus on external additions and forget about development. “We’re just as focused on development in the offseason as we try to do it from the outside.” That means we have a lot on our plate, but that’s what it should be.

Contact or follow Evan Petzold at [email protected] @EvanPetzold.

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