Detroit Tigers: Best January Moves Since 2000

A look at the Detroit Tigers’ most impactful January roster moves.

Traditionally speaking, the Detroit Tigers aren’t a very active team in January. Since 2000 the club has made an average of five moves each January, and the vast majority of them were temporary signings of fringe big leaguers with spring training invites attached.

This isn’t necessarily unusual across baseball. Many teams get aggressive with trades or signings in November and December, while the top free agents often let the process play out until February or even March. Perhaps we’ll see a flurry of activity over the next two weeks, given more than 80% of free agents remain unsigned, but we’re not holding our breath.

It’s hard to provide baseball content when nothing is happening, but it does give us a chance to reflect on the past, as Sebastian has done in his great Al Kaline retrospectives, or Rogelio did with his look back at Brian Moehler’s infamous sandpaper incident.

Who knows, maybe in 20 years fans will look back at the signing of Robbie Grossman, or the upcoming additions of international prospects as hugely impactful moments for the franchise. But for now, let’s take a look back at the most impactful and newsworthy January moves by the Detroit Tigers over the last 20 years.