Tigers sign veteran RHP Alex Cobb to one-year deal, per report

Scott Harris previously signed Cobb in San Francisco as well.

Well, stick with what you know, is sometimes good advice. Detroit Tigers ’ President of Baseball Ops, Scott Harris, working under Farhan Zaidi, inked right-hander Alex Cobb to a multi-year deal back in 2022 when he was GM of the San Francisco Giants . Now they’ll reunite on a one-year pact in Detroit.

It wasn’t too long ago that the 37-year-old veteran was enjoying a bit of a resurgence in his mid-30’s. After three pretty rough years in Baltimore from 2019-2021, Cobb bounced back in 2021, and then had a pair of quality seasons in San Francisco, with his 2022 campaign being arguably the best of his career. The Giants exercised their one-year option for 2024, but Cobb had ended the 2023 season with left hip surgery. During his rehab to get ready for 2024, he dealt with shoulder inflammation and missed most of the season.

Cobb was eventually flipped to the Guardians on July 30. He made just three appearances for Cleveland down the stretch, though his final start of the year was a six inning shutout performance over the Pirates. He then tossed 5 ²⁄₃ innings in the postseason, facing the Tigers in Game 3 of the ALDS and giving up a pair of runs over three innings of work.

As has been true most of the last decade, if Cobb is healthy, he’s generally an average or somewhat better starting pitcher. As has also been true, he’s rarely healthy for all that long, although he combined to top 300 innings between 2022 and 2023 in San Francisco. If he’s really healthy now, he may have another good season in the tank.

The only downside, ironically, is the lack of upside. At this point in his career I’m doubtful that Chris Fetter are going to be able to offer much of a tune-up. Cobb’s approach has been the same for a long time and he doesn’t profile like a guy who is going to develop a new pitch at age 37. Few do. That’s okay, because when Cobb is healthy, his stuff and command are plenty good enough to put up a lot of good 5-6 inning outings. It’s just unlikely that there’s some kind of Flaherty-like breakout in store for the Tigers.

In contrast to the early part of his career, Cobb is throwing sinkers instead of fourseamers these days, and is even more of a ground ball machine than he used to be. He’ll mix in some knuckle curves, but it’s mostly a 94 mph sinker, an 89 mph splitter, and a good slider that was rather absent in his brief 2024 season. The split has long been his calling card and equalizer, and while he’s never been much of big time strikeout artist, he will get his share of whiffs when he’s going good, and collects plenty of weak contact on the ground.

Home runs have usually been the culprit in his worst seasons, but Cobb helps himself there by limiting the free passes, at least. He has posted better than 4.00 ERA’s every season since 2020 so there’s a track record of good run prevention.

We don’t have terms of the deal, announced first by Ken Rosenthal, just yet. And Cobb will have to pass a physical before they finalize a deal. My guess would be something like $8-10 million for the season. Perhaps a little less.

The Tigers really need a good starting pitcher to back up Tarik Skubal, and it’s unlikely Cobb fits the bill. If the Tigers get 20 starts with average or better performance, they’d take that. It isn’t a bad fit for the Tigers as a depth starter, but it doesn’t really move the needle at all in terms of finding someone to replace Jack Flaherty as a number two to Skubal. As we’ve seen, that may not be necessary, but this is a decided step down from say Walker Buehler.

Cobb is cheap and there’s no commitment, so at least they can cut him if he’s just out of gas at this point in his career. With the starting pitching market starting to thin rapidly, they probably felt they needed to at least get their hands on a depth piece as a starting point. When he’s injured, as he usually is at some point along the way? It’s fine as it just gives the Tigers a chance to use their younger arms in a starting role. It’s just pretty difficult to expect much more than Kenta Maeda gave them last year. Cobb should be somewhat useful. You just can’t expect him to hold down a regular rotation spot all year.

In his postseason press conference, Scott Harris said he thought the Tigers needed at least one starting pitcher, and maybe more. We’re hoping this is the extra one. If this is the best they’re going to do that’s not a positive sign for this offseason. Still, there’s no real risk of the deal going badly. We can hope at least, that the Tigers coaching staff can get the best out of Alex Cobb in 2025. If the injuries are behind him, he’ll have a good time pitching in Comerica with the Tigers’ outfield defense behind him.