MLB.com's free agency prediction for Tigers is ignoring what front office just said

The Tigers' offseason has been, in a word, underwhelming. The only big move they've made is signing Alex Cobb to a one-year deal that promised him way too much money, and then the front office seemingly patted themselves on the backs and called it quits on the rotation.

Their reasoning for this was easy enough to understand, but it's still hard to accept. With Cobb, the Tigers have three guaranteed starters in him, Tarik Skubal, and Reese Olson, and then they have at least four more options — Jackson Jobe, Kenta Maeda, Keider Montero, and Casey Mize — to potentially add after they see what they can do in spring training.

One would think that the Tigers' success in 2024 would make them more aggressive and less willing to just wait around and see if they can get full-time production from a rookie who only pitched four innings in the regular season, a demoted starter, a decent but not ideal rookie, and a pitcher the Tigers seem to be engaged in a long divorce with. But apparently that's too much to ask for.

MLB.com rubbed salt into Tigers' fans wounds with a new list, "The top fits for 10 teams that need rotation help," that slotted Detroit in at No. 3 and named Jack Flaherty as a good fit, even though the front office has made it very clear that they're done with the rotation.

MLB.com connecting Tigers with Jack Flaherty makes it clear they're not paying attention

Yeah, we know the Tigers need rotation help.

Sure, having Flaherty back would be nice. It'd be a lot better than Cobb, who only pitched 16 1/3 innings after recovering from hip surgery (and then dealing with two more separate injuries). Flaherty clearly enjoyed his time in Detroit and was following his old club's run through the last few months of the season and playoffs, if his tweets were anything to go off of.

There's always a possibility that the front office could take fans by surprise, but given their track record, we're going to take them at their (disappointing) word for now and keep our fingers crossed for Roki Sasaki, who will probably sign in mid-January after the international free agency period begins again, and Alex Bregman.

Bregman probably represents the last real glimmer of hope for the team's offseason. There's interest on both sides, but the Tigers just need to buck up and pay the man if they're serious about trying to win in 2025. Still, they've said they're done with starting pitching and, unfortunately, haven't given us any indication that they might rethink that strategy.