Insider offers laundry list of potential Tigers free agent targets, but are any realistic?

It's a sad but certain sign a team's season is over when national writers and insiders start asking what's next. Even if that team is technically still in the race — meaning their playoff odds are literally non-zero, even if they're lower than 1% — it's still universally understood that they won't make it.

Mark Feinsand of MLB.com all but called it a wrap on the Tigers' season this weekend by throwing out a slew of names Scott Harris and the front office could recruit out of free agency. Among them: Brandon Lowe, Jazz Chisholm Jr., and Luis Arraez for second base; Seiya Suzuki and Randy Arozarena for the outfield; Sonny Gray, Michael King, Nick Martinez, and Clay Holmes for the rotation; David Bednar and Pete Fairbanks for the bullpen.

So this tells us ... basically nothing. Feinsand isn't offering any insights into the front office's thinking right now, he's just stating the obvious: Detroit has needs, the free agent market has free agents.

But are any of them actually realistic based on the Tigers' spending habits and the roster's outlook next season?

Mark Feinsand names basically every free agent under the sun as potential Tigers targets

To be fair to Feinsand, the Tigers have a ton of money coming off the books and are currently projected to go into 2027 with only $85 million on the payroll.

The Tigers' bullpen is their greatest weakness this season, so we won't pick at Bednar and Fairbanks' inclusion too much. Other options include Raisel Iglesias and Adrian Morejon. If the Tigers are going to spend big money at all this offseason, it should be on the bullpen. Kenley Jansen is blessedly leaving in free agency, but the Tigers shouldn't stop with his exit. At least two relievers should be their baseline.

It's unclear if Harris will have any interest in adding to the rest of his roster at all. The rotation might be in pretty decent shape with Framber Valdez, Troy Melton, Jackson Jobe, Keider Montero, and Reese Olson, provided Olson is healthy at the beginning of 2027. If not, Drew Anderson has been making a case for himself as a major league starter.

But the offense is where things get really unrealistic. At this point, Tigers fans know better than to hope that the front office will spend big money on a bat. Although they're losing Gleyber Torres, there are more than enough infield options both already on the roster and waiting in the wings.

The outfield could probably use some help, and Suzuki and Arozarena are both attractive options, but we'd put money on Harris going for a more affordable fixer-upper.

All and all, we should probably expect more of the same this offseason while leaving open the possibility that the Tigers may take us by surprise. While Harris did admit to some mistakes after trading Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize at the deadline, we shouldn't expect him to upend his usual way of doing things overnight.

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