Kyle Finnegan is forcing Tigers’ hand as he approaches Kenta Maeda levels of terrible

Several Tigers are going to want to forget that the 2026 season ever happened and one of the most disappointing players has been none other than Kyle Finnegan.

The 35-year-old reliever was traded to Detroit in 2025 for a couple of prospects as the Tigers looked to bolster their bullpen with a guy who had been hovering around the 3.50 ERA range throughout his career. He got off to a sluggish start to the 2025 season with the Nationals and the Tigers felt like they could get him for a bargain. They did.

Finnegan went on to post a 1.50 ERA, a 0.72 WHIP, and he saved four games in 16 appearances to end the 2025 season with the Tigers. That gave AJ Hinch hope that he could be that shutdown bullpen guy to begin the 2026 season, and he was. His ERA was a sparkling 2.06 at the end of June, but his FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) was telling a different story.

It should have been a sign, because the reliever who signed a two-year, $19 million deal with the Tigers is struggling so much that he’s officially reached Kenta Maeda levels of awful.

Don’t believe that? Just look at the comparison of some key numbers:

The numbers don’t look good, and it’s also alarming that Maeda had a higher whiff percentage as well as a higher strikeout rate. That was a strength of Finnegan's a season ago, when he averaged 11.5 strikeouts per nine innings in 16 games with the Tigers. He’s sitting at a paltry seven strikeouts per nine innings this season, which is a lower number than Maeda put up in Detroit.

The Tigers gambled on a reliever after just 16 games of sample size in 2025, and unfortunately lost. This is not one of Scott Harris’ brightest moments, but his hand is being forced and he may just have to cut the dead weight and eat the contract.

Just a couple of weeks remain in the regular season and Finnegan still has some opportunities to prove himself, but taking a chance on him again next year and risking a potential Maeda 2.0 situation isn’t worth saving a buck. It’s time to cut him loose sooner rather than later.

The Tigers need a bullpen overhaul in 2027

It’s difficult to talk about the bullpen without getting worked up just because it’s been that bad in Detroit for years. It’s been a recurring problem for the better part of a decade now, and every offseason signing has seemingly fallen flat.

Maeda turned out to be a disaster in 2024 and 2025, Finnegan is proving to be a nightmare in 2026, and Kenley Jansen has been far from what the front office expected for $11 million this season.

It’s safe to say that Harris needs to burn it down and start over from scratch.

There have been some bright spots like Tyler Holton (2.69 ERA), Jacob Waguespack (2.66 ERA), Brant Hurter (2.70 ERA), and Drew Sommers (3.60 ERA), but for the most part, it’s been a competition to see who could blow more leads in the seventh inning or later. If Detroit had won half of the 20 games it lost after leading in the seventh inning or later, it would be 82-69 and in sole possession of first place in the AL Central.

That’s how bad the bullpen has been this year. Winning 50 percent of those games would have ensured the Tigers were a playoff lock.

It’s time to burn the bullpen down and start over. This roster is too talented to be sitting at home in October.

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