The Tigers are still thought to be heavily involved in talks on the long-time Astros star.
The Detroit Tigers made a nice small scale move on Friday, inking Gleyber Torres to a one-year, $15 million contract for the 2025 season. While Torres is set to play second base on a full-time basis, the move appears more motivated by the situation at first base. Spencer Torkelson is on the outs unless something major changes, Colt Keith now moves over to first base, upgrades the offense and probably the defense at that position, while Torres balances out the Tigers’ lineup as a quality right-handed bat with a history of beating up on southpaws.
The impact here isn’t necessarily that large in scale, but it’s fair to think that this improves the Tigers’ offense somewhat. The defense shouldn’t take much of a hit assuming Keith’s move to first base goes reasonably well. Even better, president of baseball operations Scott Harris sounds like he’s still on the hunt for more.
At this point it’s clear the Tigers are still pursuing Alex Bregman aggressively. The Boston Red Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays are still rumored to be involved as well, but it’s fairly telling that the Tigers aren’t out of it at this point.
The Houston Astros moved on after the third baseman and agent Scott Boras rejected a reported six-year, $156 million deal earlier in December. The Yankees were reported to have checked in on Bregman, but just as quickly they appear to be out of the mix. And yet we’re now nearly beyond the holidays and weeks have passed since those two teams were ruled out, and Bregman hasn’t signed. If there was some feeling initially that Bregman was a pretty unlikely signing in Detroit, the Tigers now look like as likely as anyone to land him.
The Tigers interest has been ongoing and reportedly serious, so they should go ahead and do what it takes to land him. Not only is the timing perfect for the organization, but they aren’t necessarily going to have that many opportunities to land a really good player in free agency in the years ahead. Guys like Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto are not in the cards. Good players like Bregman who have a particular comfort with the idea of joining the Tigers are the most you can hope for, and those aren’t going to come along all that often. It’s just a very obvious fit.
The Tigers clearly agree. They want Bregman, and they want him badly enough to still be involved here. Still it remains to be seen if they’re willing to get creative with a contract and insist on getting their man. This is presumably a rare occasion where they have the inside track on a player as long as they’re willing to pay the market rate, so one would hope they’ll make it happen.
Even after signing Alex Cobb and then adding Torres, the Tigers’ long-term commitments are minimal. They could offer Bregman $30 million a year and their payroll going into the 2025-2026 offseason would still be roughly $100 million, though the younger players will start getting more expensive soon as they reach arbitration. Cobb, Torres, and Kenta Maeda will make $40 million from the Tigers in 2025 and then come off the books. The Tigers have a really strong farm system and don’t seem keen to trade their top prospects, but most are still a year or two away. The team reached the postseason for the first time in a decade, but needs another boost in the lineup until that next wave of prospects arrives. If not Bregman, who and when?
Colt Keith and Spencer Torkelson
The two players most affected by the Torres signing were Colt Keith, who will move to first base for at least the 2025 season, and Spencer Torkelson, who no longer has a starting role on the major league roster.
Attention has largely focused on Torkelson. To a degree this does feel like the end of the Tigers’ patience with him. More practically they just couldn’t go into 2025 depending on him anymore. However, while a change of scenery trade could be in order, the wisest course may simply be to keep working with as he does have an option remaining. Giving him away for little return doesn’t make much sense, so unless a team really makes a push to trade for him perhaps the Tigers will just give it another year in Toledo and see if he can finally break through.
As for Keith, Harris reported him as enthusiastic about the move to first base. Because he’s already set with a long-term contract, the 23-year-old doesn’t have to worry about his future WAR values affecting his future earnings. After a solid rookie year, it would be no surprise to me if Keith hit 25-30 home runs in 2025 as he settles in. He has that kind of power potential, but he doesn’t have to live up to a specific home run hitting standard in 2025 just because he’s moving over to first base for a year. He just needs to moderate his slumps better and improve his production somewhat. That’s to be expected in year two.
The long-term future of the second base position is also in question with the move of Keith to first base. Maybe he moves back to second in 2026, but the Tigers do have both Jace Jung and Hao-Yu Lee, each of whom profiles best defensively at second base. If Jung hits, he’ll play some third base again barring a Bregman signing, but he wasn’t very good there in his first look. His arm was always questionable there, but the range and hands looked overmatched as well. Still, if he taps into his power this season, the Tigers are going to want him in the lineup. Lee tore Double-A pitching to shreds as a 21-year-old until a few plunkings in the head and then a back issue short-circuited what was looking like a monster season. His transition to third base didn’t go all that well defensively, so we’ll see how the Tigers employ him at the Triple-A level for clues to his future.
Roki Sasaki’s decision should come soon
The next international signing period begins on January 15. The Tigers have one of the largest bonus pools to offer at $7,555,500, but are closely linked to outfielder Cris Rodriguez, who is expected to sign for $3-4 million. They’ll pass on that if Sasaki decides to come to Detroit.
The Tigers, like most other teams, made a presentation to Sasaki. Now the ball is in the 23-year-old right-hander’s court. He’s expected to meet with teams and make his decision in the week following the new signing period opening.
We haven’t talked about this much because it’s really Sasaki’s decision entirely. If he’s not thinking extension in a year or two, the Tigers should have as good a shot as anyone. But for a pitcher to ignore considering which team can offer him an enormous extension a year or two down the road wouldn’t be very wise. This isn’t Shohei Ohtani, who knew he’d reach free agency as a hitter even if there were injuries on the pitching side. Ohtani was also making nine digits per year in endorsement deals. Sasaki does not have that luxury.
Of course, extension talks can’t happen at this point. The league is going to be watching closely for signs of impropriety in the process. Still, Sasaki and his agent know full well who is willing to pay the big bucks and who isn’t. It’s probably naive to think that this won’t play a big part in his decision. The league would probably veto such an extension in his first year, but if Sasaki has a good season and his team decides to offer a big extension after the 2025 season, I’m doubtful the league is going to block it. That would be an interesting conversation between the league and the players’ union with the next CBA talks looming in two years.
It would be great to land Roki Sasaki, and he’d likely do great here under the tutelage of Chris Fetter and company. The Tigers make more sense than other mid-to-small market clubs, but we should still expect him to land with a big market team on the coasts. Beyond that decision, the Tigers will likely reconsider what they can do to improve the pitching staff, assuming Sasaki isn’t coming to Detroit. If he does come to Detroit we’re in outstanding shape in terms of the starting rotation.
Fine tuning the roster before Opening Day
Should the Tigers fail to sign Alex Bregman, we might still hope that there’s a trade possibility ahead to improve the offense. Signing Anthony Santander, the last big bat available in free agency just doesn’t seem in the cards. It’s also possible that former prospects who haven’t really popped, like Torkelson, Casey Mize, and others, could be moved this offseason. Harris was even willing to suggest early in the offseason that the Tigers farm system is built up so well that a bigger trade could be possible, but those prospects for major league talent deals are a lot more likely in July than in January or February.
The Tigers will probably add a reliever and several more minor league arms by the time camp starts. Each of the past two seasons, Harris has waited to see which relievers are left on the table in late February and March and continued to make some additions, so we can probably expect at least one major league free agent despite the bullpen’s strength down the stretch last year.
The club should also be on the lookout for minor league free agents or guys on the waiver wire. They could still use depth at shortstop, catcher, and center field at the Triple-A level. There isn’t likely that much help available on the positional side from the farm system until later in the season when Lee might be ready. In the meantime, Jung and Justyn-Henry Malloy will be looking to earn playing time as well.
Signing Gleyber Torres doesn’t really move the needle that much, but it was good to see the Tigers be proactive with the Torkelson situation. They’ve set themselves up for more dependable offensive production by adding him and moving Keith to first base. Now, we wait to see if they can add one more good player to really set themselves up as a likely favorite in the division.