Detroit Tigers preview: The Winter Meetings start in earnest on Monday

The whole league is waiting for Juan Soto to sign, while the Tigers have a lot of work to do to get back to the postseason.

While the baseball world waits for Juan Soto to hear from his most persistent suitors one more time, with no Odysseus and Telemachus to help him, the pace of free agent signings is starting to pick up as the Winter Meetings begin. There is also some buzz on Sunday evening that the Soto camp is close to a decision. An announcement of a Soto deal may well open the floodgates and be followed by a number of signings and trades from teams that missed out, and as just about all the biggest market teams appear to be involved in courting him, that’s a lot of weight to be thrown around by the Soto sweepstakes losers.

The Winter Meetings are getting underway Sunday night in Dallas, but there are few indications of the Tigers closing in on any signings or trades. That will presumably change shortly, but it’s still not at all clear how aggressive they might be. Recent rumors have linked them to infielder Ha-Seong Kim and a possible reunion with starter Jack Flaherty, but nothing seems particularly serious just yet.

There’s no guarantee that the Tigers will get busy in the coming days, but there will certainly be interviews with Scott Harris and other Tigers’ decision makers. There should be plenty of news on tap either way. NPB star pitcher Roki Sasaki is expected to be officially posted during the Meetings, beginning the process of finding a match as he moves to the major leagues. The draft lottery will take place along the way, while the Meetings will conclude with a Rule 5 draft that the Tigers are unlikely to be involved in this year.

Willy Adames deal with the San Francisco Giants made him the biggest domino to fall in the past week. Matt Boyd signed on with the Cubs for two years, $29 million. Luis Severino risked it all, signing with the homeless A’s for three years, $67 million. Outfielder Tyler O’Neill, thought a possible fit for the Tigers’ need for a right-handed bat, signed on with the Orioles for three years, $49 million. And on Sunday night, it was reported that outfielder Michael Conforto has signed a one-year deal with the Dodgers worth $17 million, because the Dodgers need help. They are presumably losing Teoscar Hernandez now, and of course, have inserted themselves into the Juan Soto negotiations. Just great.

Finally on the pitching side, Yankees ’ relief ace Clay Holmes inked a deal across town with the Mets for three years, $38 million, and reports indicate he’ll convert back to a starting role. Meanwhile, a rapidly thinning market for catchers has former Tiger Carson Kelly, in pretty good position to cash in with a new team.

The Tigers needs

Despite their absolutely thrilling run in 2024, the Detroit Tigers ’ offense still profiles as near the bottom of the league next year as currently constructed. They have giant question marks at shortstop, third base, and first base. On the other hand, a healthy year for Kerry Carpenter and growth from Colt Keith give them opportunities to improve internally. To really be a convincing offense headed into 2025, the Tigers clearly need to add a right-handed bat. It just remains a tricky fit as they continue to appear unwilling to move on from Javier Báez or Spencer Torkelson. That really limits the field of potential upgrades.

The obvious plug and play solution here remains Alex Bregman, and after receiving a reported $156 million offer to stay in Houston, the market price for the veteran third base appears to be settling closer to $180 million, but we’ll have to see how far teams are willing to go. The money should be very doable for the Tigers, but they’re also really wary of making a mistake, and they remain loath to give up a second round pick to sign a free agent with a qualifying offer. That last part also impacts their other major need for a good starting pitcher. Left-hander Sean Manaea or right-hander Nick Pivetta seem unlikely choices for the Tigers, as they too have the qualifying offer attached.

Ultimately this reticence may really cost them in their ability to improve the team. With plenty of payroll available, one solution lies in simply going really hard after players expecting just short-term deals, even if they have to compete with the big spenders around the league.

Starting pitcher Walker Buehler remains a key target for that reason, with lefty Andrew Heaney another possible option according to Evan Petzold of the Free Press. In terms of position players, former Padres infielder Ha-Seong Kim continues to be linked to the Tigers in reports, while Petzold reports that the Tigers have at least inquired about first baseman Christian Walker, whose offensive consistency and outstanding defense at first base is a pretty intriguing fit for the Tigers. There’s still the matter of Mr. Torkelson in the way there, however.

Ha-Seong Kim was one of our first targets this offseason and you can get our full report on him here . Kim isn’t likely to return to action until May or even June as he rehabs a labrum to his shoulder. That might give the Tigers time to evaluate Jace Jung and see how Javier Báez responds to his own labrum repair in his hip. The veteran Korean infielder can handle shortstop, third base, and anything else you want to throw at him, and while his bat isn’t terribly impressive, he’s a solid disciplined hitter who does some damage against left-handers and could at least marginally improve the Tigers’ offense in 2025. The Tigers might have to heavily overpay on a one-year deal to land either of them, but that’s one way to throw some payroll weight around without locking into any long-term commitments.

The other possible is to pursue trades instead. We outlined why St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Nolan Arenado is a risky deal to consider and potentially not much of an upgrade for the likely cost recently. They could also pursue Marlins third baseman Jake Burger, who would certainly add some right-handed slugging power, even if he’s better suited for first base or the DH role most of the time. Another name in the ring is Cubs right-fielder Seiya Suzuki. The Cubs have mentioned him as a possible trade candidate as they look to shift payroll away from what has become a somewhat crowded outfield. That won’t be cheap, but two years of Suzuki would certainly be a significant boost to the Tigers’ offense. Of course, it’s harder to know who can be acquired in trade and who teams aren’t willing to deal, so we can at least hope they’ve got another option or two in mind.

All in all, the energy of the Tigers run to the postseason for the first time since 2014 feels like a distant memory. Fans are already fully prepped to be disappointed and we’ll just have to hope Scott Harris has other ideas.

Classic Era Committee adds two to Cooperstown

The Meetings actually kicked off on Sunday evening as the Classic Era Committee put two overlooked players in the Hall of Fame. Dick Allen and Dave Parker were both selected by the committee to be inducted into Cooperstown next summer.

Allen, a seven time All-Star and MVP and Rookie of the Year winner, played most of his career in Philadelphia, where he debuted in 1963, with stops with the Dodgers and White Sox in the 70’s, among others. He played third base and then more first base as his career progressed, hitting 351 home runs and posted a career wRC+ of 155, accumulating 58.7 rWAR over his 15 year career. He was the 1972 AL MVP and the 1964 NL Rookie of the Year.

While Allen provided little defensive value and didn’t have the career that say, LOU WHITAKER did, he’s a worthy inductee, and it’s too bad he’s no longer around to enjoy the honors due to him. He was, by all reports, one heck of a hitter.

Wildly, former Pirates and Reds outfielder Dave Parker got one more vote on the committee than Allen did. Parker hit 339 home runs over his 19-year career, playing from 1973 until 1991. He amassed 40.1 rWAR in that span. That’s a fine career, although Parker really has no case to be a Hall of Famer in my opinion. He wasn’t a particularly good outfielder despite a strong arm, three Gold Gloves, and several well known great plays, and only had a couple outstanding years at the plate. You know who deserves to be in the Hall about twice as much? Yeah alright I’ll leave it be and let Mr. Parker and family enjoy their day.

The Classic Era Committee considers players whose “primary contribution to the game came prior to 1980,” so Whitaker wasn’t eligible here. The Contemporary Baseball Era Committee will meet again next year, and it is time for an all out campaign to get Mr. Whitaker his proper due while he’s still young enough to enjoy it.

Monday

The first full day of the Winter Meetings is Monday, December 9th, and there are no notable events scheduled for the day. Instead, it’s a day marked by meetings between teams, and networking around the industry. Front office leadership and player agents will be in talks all day long.

Tuesday

The MLB draft lottery will be announced on Tuesday. The Tigers will pick 24th no matter what happens. They also currently hold the second pick in the Competitive Balance Round A, which is 32nd overall. That latter pick will be bumped down as teams earn picks from their qualifying offered players signing elsewhere.

Currently, the Rockies and Marlins hold the best odds of getting the first overall pick, at 22.45 percent. The Angels, Nationals, and Blue Jays are next in the odds.

Wednesday

The final day of the Winter Meetings features the Rule 5 draft beginning a 2 p.m. ET. Prospects who signed at age 19 or older, who have played pro ball for four years, or at age 18, with five years of pro ball, are eligible if not protected on their team’s 40-man roster. Teams that use their pick pay $50,000 to the team they select the player from. Selected players then must stay on the their new club’s active roster all season in order for the team to keep them. If a team picks a player and decides to release him, the player must be offered back to their original team for $25,000 before they can be waived.

The Tigers have the 18th overall pick, but seem highly unlikely to use it. They passed last year, and the 40-man roster is even tighter now. The one unprotected prospect most likely to be claimed from the Tigers is probably infielder Gage Workman. His speed, power, and defensive ability, including the ability to play a decent shortstop, may make him intriguing to teams after a 2024 season in which he finally ditched switch-hitting and broke out somewhat at the Double-A level.

Outlook for the Tigers

It’s been a dreadfully slow offseason so far, but there’s a long way to go. Probably, the Tigers aren’t going to be that active during the Winter Meetings either, but perhaps they’ll surprise us. Bargain hunters tend to either strike early or wait to see which players are left and who might be getting anxious to make a deal. Since the Tigers didn’t do anything in November, odds are they’ll probably wait for the market to clear and some of the remaining top players to sign before anything happens, but it’s anyone’s guess.

Without a lottery pick in the draft, and without any Rule 5 action expected, it’s best to expect the bare minimum of news coming from the Tigers’ camp over the next three days.