6 Tigers players who won't be back for Detroit's bounce back bid in 2027

The Tigers' 2026 regular season is officially over, and this one was a doozy. A team that was expected to rule the AL Central and get back to the postseason for their third year in a row is finishing below .500. The season wasn't not without its highlights — basically all of June, Kevin McGonigle's debut, Max Clark's debut, Justin Verlander's last game — but on the whole, it was an undeniably demoralizing 162 games.

Detroit will go back to the drawing board in the offseason and hopefully come back with a revitalized bullpen and a core of young players who are ready to compete. But in the meantime, some goodbyes will also be in order.

The Tigers' franchise-high 2026 payroll is going to shrink right back down again as multiple big money free agent signings take their leave. There are probably some shouldn't-be-backs (Matt Vierling, Kyle Finnegan, most of the bullpen), but these six players definitely won't be back.

Gleyber Torres

Torres accepting the Tigers' qualifying offer last offseason was a welcome surprise for Detroit. Although it might've been a little bit of an overpay, they loved having his consistency in an All-Star 2025, even if he tailed off at the end of the year while playing through a sports hernia.

But he spent more time on the IL this season, and the tides are clearly shifting away from the Tigers' veteran position players. In the final weeks of 2026, he and Javy Báez spent a lot more time on the bench as younger infielders like Hao-Yu Lee and John Peck got more run. There may be another one of those to consider next year, with Max Anderson knocking on the door of the major leagues.

Torres will certainly find a taker in his free agency, and maybe even for a pretty decent amount of money, given how weak this year's free agent class is, but it won't be with the Tigers.

Justin Verlander

Verlander's last start at Comerica was a deeply emotional affair for everyone in attendance, Tigers fans watching at home, the players in the home dugout that day, and probably even for Don Kelly on the visitor's side. The weekend couldn't have been orchestrated better, with Verlander hinting that he'll go into the Hall of Fame as a Tiger in five years' time, and pitching like his old self again in a [xxx] inning effort.

Though fans would love keep him for just one more start ... and then another, and then another, he's earned his retirement — and that's an understatement. No doubt we'll see JV at future Tigers games, maybe even as a special advisor in the front office or guest analyst, but no one deserves to enjoy time off with his family more.

Kenley Jansen

Jansen technically has a $10 million club option for 2027 and is only two saves away from a career 500, but if the thought to exercise that option so he can cross that threshold before a looming retirement has crossed the front office's mind, they should dispel it immediately. Though it would certainly be a nice thing to do, that's a lot of money for what would amount to nothing more than a kind gesture.

Scott Harris needs to rethink his entire philosophy when it comes to free agent pitchers. Not one from the last few seasons can be called an unmitigated success, and Jansen (along with Finnegan) have been the two faces of that failure. While reliever volatility is real, there's just too much uncertainty given Jansen's age and his performance this season that the Tigers need to let him go.

Jack Flaherty

Another one of those aforementioned pitching failures, Flaherty made what should be his last appearance in a Tigers uniform this weekend after a long IL stint. Things have never gone his way since the half-season(ish) he spent with the team in 2024, which made him one of the most coveted pitchers at the trade deadline.

He racked up an AL-leading 15 losses in 2025 and exercised his $20 million player option, then pitched under 100 innings for a 4.50+ ERA in 2026. The Tigers' rotation will be more than set without him, with Troy Melton, Jackson Jobe, and River Ryan leading the youth movement on the pitching side of the roster.

Burch Smith

Smith was a minor league signing in the offseason, and he pitched a strong 10 innings in Triple-A before being called up in late April as Enmanuel De Jesus was optioned. Smith pitched pretty decently out of the Tigers' bullpen over the course of a month, but he went onto the IL with right shoulder inflammation. He attempted a rehab assignment but was pulled off of it in late July before undergoing an arthroscopy.

The Tigers desperately need a bullpen teardown, and a guy who pitched one decent inning of baseball shouldn't be re-signed, no matter how cheap he might be. A minor league contract isn't totally out of the question, but he's a fringe piece of the roster who shouldn't be under consideration for a real contract right now.

Tyler Kinley

Kinley was a last-ditch add for the Tigers in late August after the Braves DFA'ed and then released him. Detroit's season was basically over at that point, but fans weren't going to complain too much about getting a fresh arm in the bullpen, even if Kinley had a tough go of things in Atlanta. He had a good of things with the Tigers — a 1.84 ERA in 14 2/3 innings.

But if Finnegan has taught us anything, it's that the Tigers shouldn't fall for small sample sizes, especially when it comes to relievers. If Kinley is still hanging around on the market close to Opening Day and Detroit needs one last piece for some depth, he wouldn't be the worst option in the world, but they need to look elsewhere first.

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