If the Tigers opt out of the top shelf closers, there might be more value in adding a few relievers like this
Yesterday, the Detroit Tigers moved to add Chris Paddack to their rotation, hopefully patching the hole left by Reese Olson’s season-ending shoulder injury. That still leaves a lot of room for improvement in the bullpen. Right now, there’s a couple arms worth trusting, a few more we’ll have to trust but never feel good about, and some converted starters who could pop in shorter, targeted bursts. No matter how you feel about Brant Hurter or Tommy Kahnle, it’s not an intimidating, championship-caliber group right now.
Fortunately, there are several options slated for the trade market that would be meaningful upgrades here. Yesterday, we covered five of the biggest names who could be available. Today’s article will highlight four setup types with an interesting trait or two to serve as cheaper additions to deepen the middle of Detroit’s bullpen.
Phil Maton, Saint Louis
The older brother of former Tiger Nick, Phil Maton is a talented reliever nobody seems to care about, and has been for a long time. Since his breakout with Houston in 2022, Maton has posted a 3.31 ERA and a 26% strikeout rate, and outside of a short stint with Tampa Bay, has largely trended upwards. This year, the junk-balling righty is down to a 2.35 ERA and 30.4% strikeout rate serving as Ryan Helsley’s main setup man.
Maton survives with one of the slowest fastballs in the game by never throwing it. His two primary pitches are a curveball and cutter that get approximately 35% usage each, and then a sweeper and a sinker which split the rest. With four different benders coming in, hitters cannot sit on any one pitch or location. Despite nothing coming in straight, Maton has pretty good command and has only allowed one home run this year. It’s not the most dominant profile, but the results speak for themselves. Maton is owed the rest of his one year, $10M contract, and should come for a haul typical of a good setup man rental. This would avoid having to give up any top 100 or close to it, prospects.
Seth Halvorsen, Colorado
Seth Halvorsen is a bit of a mystery. On paper, this is one of the most dominant stuff profiles in baseball. His fastball averages a crisp 100.1 mph, fastest in baseball, and with an elite 7” of extension and 99% active spin, it should be one of the whiffiest fastballs ever. Instead, it generates sink instead of rise, has a mediocre whiff rate, and contributes to Halvorsen’s above-average ground ball rate. Weird. His splitter is more of the same; good location, high velocity, mediocre results.
On the whole, this has led to a 4.99 ERA, a 20.9% strikeout rate, and an 11.6% walk rate. None of those are good. The main issue is seemingly an insanely high 82.5% zone contact rate, suggesting hitters are not afraid of his 100+ heat. Any team interested here would be betting they can turn 100 into strikeouts once Halvorsen is freed of Coors Field, which seems like a safe bet. Any team brave enough to take the risk could be reaping the rewards for quite a while, as Halvorsen is under arbitration control through 2030. He easily has the stuff to make the leap to elite closer, an enticing upside other players on the market do not offer.
The Tigers are quite good at tuning up fastballs that are playing worse than they should and would be a good bet to improve Halvorsen significantly. Is it worth meeting Colorado’s likely high asking price for the chance? Maybe, but a contending Tiger squad might need something more sure right now.
Pierce Johnson, Atlanta
Pierce Johnson looks like your typical righty set-up man. He has above average velocity, averaging about 95-96 mph, strong whiff, strikeout and walk rates, and a flyball-oriented game plan. That’s all true, but a couple things stand out.
First, this is the worst strikeout rate of Johnson’s career since he came back from Japan in 2020, and also his best walk rate. His velocity hasn’t changed, so it’s not about dialing things back to throw more strikes, he’s just throwing the highest first-pitch strike rate of his career, by far. Living in the zone more has hitters on the back foot, and considering his chase and whiff rates are all about the same, suggest the strikeouts could be coming back.
The other is he throws a curveball 72% of the time. He has a great rising fastball he consistently locates at the top of the zone, and he only throws it 22% of the time! Throwing a curveball in the zone so frequently is a dangerous game. Johnson’s style of pitching is a little confusing, but very effective, and certainly fits the modern philosophy of “throw your best pitch more often”. If the Tigers are interested, he has a cheap, $7M club option for 2026 that would likely be picked up.
Brock Stewart, Minnesota
Another dominant Twins reliever the Tigers could be interested in, Brock Stewart is just barely a tick below Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax. His 29.5% strikeout rate, 7.9% walk rate, 2.38 ERA and 3.06 FIP would all be top-3 in Detroit’s bullpen, making him a true upgrade. That strikeout rate would actually be best among the relievers, adding a much-needed power arm.
Stewart throws a hard, 97 mph fourseamer a little over half the time, then evenly works in a sweeper, changeup, cutter and sinker as the situation calls for. The fastball does most of the heavy lifting and he pummels the zone with it before chasing whiffs with his other options. He has a deeper arsenal than your typical setup man, which should theoretically help him stave off the platoon disadvantage, but lefties have actually pummeled him this year. Against righties, Stewart is utterly dominant, though.
Like his teammates, Stewart has several years of control; he will hit free agency after the 2027 season. This combination of club control and proven success drives his trade value higher than anyone else on this list, and particularly for an in-division trade with the Tigers, would be a costly addition in prospect return.