The offseason is well underway, but the Tigers have yet to make any truly attention-grabbing moves. Instead, fans have had to scroll past awful trade proposals for Tarik Skubal and just wait for things to get going.
There’s no doubt that the Tigers will contend again in 2026 and build on what they’ve done over the last two seasons, but the roster is far from perfect. There is a sound, constantly improving core, but also a lot of fat that can be trimmed and potential additions that can be made to turn Detroit into a real threat next year, and to try to persuade their potentially once-in-a-generation starter to stay exactly where he is.
A logical blueprint for Tigers to clean house, revamp roster, and keep Tarik Skubal
Starting Rotation
- In: Tarik Skubal, Reese Olson, Troy Melton
- On thin ice: Jack Flaherty, Casey Mize
Right now, a Skubal-Olson-Flaherty-Mize-Melton rotation is what we should expect to see by Opening Day, even if they’re not in that exact order (Olson, Flaherty, and Mize could all be flipped any which way).
Flaherty’s opt-in both complicated payroll and filled the rotation in a way that fans were mixed on. He ended the season on a high note with two gutsy innings in ALDS Game 5, but he’s been too volatile to decisively call a No. 2 starter.
It was nice to see Mize get his moment in the sun as an All-Star this past season, but he also regressed quickly and still hasn’t lived up to the first overall pick hype. With only a year of team control left, the Tigers will probably stick it out with him, but he could potentially be shopped in a low-stakes trade.
- Potential free agent/trade targets: Michael King, Tatsuya Imai, Emmet Sheehan, Joe Ryan, Mitch Keller
The Tigers have opened the door to introducing a sixth starter or replacing one of the current members of the rotation, if their interest in converting Ryan Helsley into a starter (we’ll get to that in a second) is any indication.
But let’s dream a little bigger than that. King and Imai are two of the more coveted free agent starters on the market this offseason, but neither would be quite as cost prohibitive as the likes of Framber Valdez or Dylan Cease. Sheehan, Ryan, and Keller would take some heavy negotiations and a huge haul, if the Red Sox-Cardinals Sonny Gray trade is any indication, but Ryan and Keller specifically would be much more fitting for a 1-2 punch with Skubal.
