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.

2. Another starting pitcher

The Tigers got one starting pitcher in Kenta Maeda earlier this week, but they could still use another one. Maeda doesn't have a history of being an innings-eater, so they would be wise to add another starter.

Fortunately, there's still plenty of options on the free agent market. At the top of virtually everyone's list are the Japanese imports, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shota Imanaga. Yamamoto would obviously be amazing, but it just doesn't seem like this front office or ownership is going to shell out the cash for someone like him.

However, Imanaga is far more attainable. While he doesn't have the ace ceiling that Yamamoto has, he would still be a very solid No. 3 in the Tigers rotation. He would essentially be their Eduardo Rodriguez replacement.

Imanaga is a 30-year-old lefty. He doesn't throw very hard, but like most Japanese pitchers, he has a nasty splitter. His strikeouts to walks ratio the last couple of years has just been absurd. It was over 6 in 2022, and was approaching 8 (!!!) this past season in the NPB. The guy is a strike-throwing machine. He perfectly fits what the Tigers want in a pitcher.

If they are unable to get either of the Japanese pitchers, there are still plenty of options domestically. ESPN's Jeff Passan reported the Tigers "had been all over" the mid-tier starting pitching market when the Tigers inked Maeda, so there's a good chance they've done their due diligence on many of these guys.

One guy in particular that I just can't quit, despite the fact that he looked cooked this past year, is Lucas Giolito. He's a guy with swing-and-miss stuff, and has pitched at least 160 innings in every full season since 2018.

However, he gave up a ton of home runs, and hard contact in general last season. Still, he seems like a great project for Chris Fetter. Giolitio has a changeup that he throws everywhere, not just down in the zone. That sounds like something Fetter could optimize.

Then, of course, there's always the trade market. By any means, the Tigers need to get another arm for their rotation.