Detroit Tigers Winter Meetings checklist

The annual MLB Winter Meetings will take place next week in Nashville. It is sure to be an exciting four days across the league. Hopefully, it will be exciting for the Detroit Tigers as well.

Last season, the Tigers were not very active at the Winter Meetings. Pretty much all Scott Harris did was trade Joe Jimenez for Justyn-Henry Malloy. That needs to change this time around.

There's a lot of things Harris needs to get done at this year's Winter Meetings. The Tigers' roster is still full of holes. If they plan on competing in 2024, there is still a lot of work to be done.

In an effort to help Harris out a bit, we've put together a checklist of things to do at the Winter Meetings. This won't necessarily be a list of players to acquire, rather a list of needs to fill — and there's plenty of them.

This won't necessarily be a ranking either — just a list of things to accomplish at the Winter Meetings. So with all that out of the way, let's get started.

1. An impact bat

This is probably the No. 1 thing left to do this offseason. Scott Harris needs to acquire a power bat for this lineup, preferably a third baseman.

It's probably not going to happen in free agency. Your best options there are either a Jeimer Candelario reunion or 39-year-old Justin Turner. So Harris is likely going to have to swing a trade here.

I've personally been a big Ha-Seong Kim fan. While he's more of a glove-first guy, he's still coming off a 4 and a half WAR season for the Padres. With that team looking to shed some payroll, he could be someone worth going after.

That's just one name though. There are also rumors that the Astros might trade Alex Bregman. That doesn't seem like a likely target for the Tigers, especially given he's only got one year left before free agency, but we've seen crazier things happen.

This is where we need to see some creativity and risk-taking out of Scott Harris. The time to play things safe has come to an end. It's time to make things happen.

3. A leverage reliever

One of the things that made the Tigers bullpen so effective in 2022 was that they had multiple guys that could throw in high-leverage situations. Michael Fulmer, Joe Jimenez, Andrew Chafin, Jason Foley, and Alex Lange to a lesser extent all had success pitching in stressful spots.

In 2023, it was just Foley and Tyler Holton. That was about it. Lange had command issues from June onward, and nobody else could get the job done when it mattered most.

A.J. Hinch's biggest strength as a manager is how he manages his bullpen. He loves the cat-and-mouse game. More often than not, he pushes the right buttons. Harris needs to recognize that and get him another leverage reliever, maybe even two.

Sadly, two of my personal favorites are already off the market. The Braves snatched both Joe Jimenez and Reynaldo Lopez earlier this month. Lopez was given about $10 million a year to pitch for Braves. That sounds like a lot for a reliever, but that's what they go for nowadays.

Flamethrower Jordan Hicks is probably the best option still available. He doesn't exactly fit the "dominate the strike zone" mantra, as he's struggled with command his entire career, but he'll get plenty of whiffs on that 100 mph heater.

An Andrew Chafin reunion wouldn't be the worst idea either. The Tigers need another lefty to pair with Holton, and while Chafin struggled with command at times last season, he could be had for cheap, and Fetter knows how to get the best out of him.

Adding one or two relievers to the mix would be very wise of Harris. It would give A.J. Hinch more options to work with, and simply make the Tigers a deeper team.