Colt Keith's murky role for 2026 exposes Tigers' poor planning around marquee players

The six-year, $28.64 million contract the Tigers gave Colt Keith ahead of the 2024 season is still the longest-term deal Scott Harris has given out since he took over from Al Avila as Detroit's president of baseball operations in September 2022.

The inherent risk of giving out a significant deal like that, especially for a player who wasn't MLB-tested and wasn't even the Tigers' No. 1 prospect, was a more than welcome change of pace from a front office that dialed back its spending as soon as Avila was out the door.

It inevitably set Keith up as the future face of the franchise, the guy the Tigers wanted to build around. Suffice it to say, that hasn't exactly worked out.

Not only have Tarik Skubal and Riley Greene become more decorated players and more beloved by fans, Keith hasn't shown up in the way everyone hoped. Progress isn't linear and he's ebbed and flowed accordingly, but fans are certainly concerned that the .256 average and .746 OPS he posted in 2025 represents his ceiling. That would be fine if he was still years away from arbitration eligibility, as he would be right now without the extension, but it's less than ideal when he's making far more than league minimum, even if the deal is still very team-friendly.

And since the extension, the Tigers haven't built their team like they want to give Keith breathing room to get better. He was tossed all around the infield in 2025, and it looks like the Tigers are going to run that back in 2026.

Tigers turning Colt Keith into a utility infielder reflects poor long-term planning

The trouble started when the Tigers signed second baseman Gleyber Torres to a one-year deal for 2025, bumping Keith out of his usual starting role. He took reps at third base during spring training, but that experiment didn't last long when Spencer Torkelson reasserted himself in a hurry in 2025. Keith ended up making most of his appearances last season as Detroit's DH (51), followed by 37 appearances at third base, a position he just learned to play last year.

But Detroit doesn't have their heart set on finding or even developing an everyday third baseman, and their solution for a player with a small but still respectable (and unique, in terms of the Tigers' landscape) long-term deal is basically turn him into a depth option. Sure, the Tigers like their guys to be versatile, but that usually only extends to players like Matt Vierling or Zach McKinstry, who aren't expected to be everyday players. They don't have the same financial commitments attached to them as Keith does.

Torres was a good signing and his return is a positive thing for the Tigers, but Keith has slowly faded into the background as his team has built over him instead of around him. He's been slow to develop, but if the Tigers were serious about their investment in him, wouldn't they give him one position to focus on, grow, and potentially live up to expectations at?

Even if we'll have to reserve a final judgment until we see how this experiment plays out, this smacks of poor planning on the front office's part.