3 former Detroit Tigers we'd love to see return in free agency

The playoffs are underway, and we're about a month away from the start of free agency. The Detroit Tigers aren't likely to be big spenders, especially in what is considered to be a weak free agent class.

Still, there will be some good players on the free agent market this offseason. The Tigers can still acquire quality talent in free agency without breaking the bank.

Even better, several former Tigers will be hitting the open market. Some of these players are guys we'd love to see come back to Detroit.

These are players that played for the Tigers either recently or a while ago, and for the most part, were very good during their time here. We'd love to see them return, if they're up for it.

So without further ado, here's three former Tigers we'd love to see return to Detroit.

J.D. Martinez

Okay, so this one is probably a pipe dream. J.D. raked when he was with Detroit, and has kept on raking no matter where he's been.

He can't play in the field anymore, and he strikes out quite a bit, but when you barrel the ball up as consistently as he does, you can live with those things. Just when you thought he was finally starting to lose a step his last year in Boston, he goes out and hits 33 homers with a 135 wRC+ with the Dodgers in his age-36 season in 2023. And that was in just 113 games. The man is truly an ageless wonder.

There are several reasons why J.D. probably isn't coming back to Detroit. For one, the Tigers are trying to get younger, and he's going to be 37 next season. That seems counterintuitive.

Next, he probably wants to go somewhere he thinks he can win. The Tigers *should* be able to compete for the AL Central next season, but that's far from a sure thing.

Lastly, he would be the Tigers' DH. The problem there is the Tigers have several other players who could DH as well — Kerry Carpenter, Justyn-Henry Malloy, maybe even Colt Keith, among others.

So yeah, this probably isn't happening. However, we sure wouldn't mind if it did.

Joe Jimenez

Joe Jimenez finally figured it out for the Detroit Tigers in 2022, having a career season. He was traded to the Braves the following offseason for Malloy and LHP Jake Higgenbotham, and picked up right where he left off.

He was one of the more reliable arms for Atlanta in 2023, posting a 3.04 ERA and 11.66 K/9 while keeping the walks down for the second straight year. He had struggled with the long ball at times, which was a problem in Detroit as well, but he was still very good for a team that needed a good arm out of the bullpen.

He was very good in high-leverage situations as well, as opposing hitters had just a .553 OPS against him in those situations this season. That's an area the Tigers need help in. He was a great safety valve in those situations in 2022, and we'd love to seem in those situations again for the Tigers in 2024.

Unlike J.D. Martinez, we could easily see this happening. The Tigers need a reliever that pitch effectively in leverage, and Joe Jimenez can do that. He's also familiar with Chris Fetter and the rest of the pitching staff. He'd be a great fit.