Richest contracts ever handed out by the Detroit Tigers

Earlier this month, the Athletics signed former Mets' starter Luis Severino to a three-year, $67 million contract. The deal made Severino the highest-paid player in the history of that franchise. While it's sad to think of the A's as moribund, the deal sparked conversation about the biggest contracts other MLB teams have handed out.

From the mid-2000's up to his death in 2017, Mike Ilitch ran the Detroit Tigers with a bit of reckless abandon, albeit in a good way. He wasn't afraid to spend extra to acquire guys he liked, and was willing to give his front office the resources necessary to try and win championships.

Between 2007-2017, the Tigers finished with a top-five payroll eight times, and just once did they finish the year outside the top 10. Since Chris Ilitch took over, things have been drastically different. The Tigers have yet to finish inside the top-20 in league payroll under Chris' purview, and things aren't looking better for 2025.

The optimistic view is that the Tigers are coming off a scorching finish to the 2024 season, and thanks to their performance on the field they're in a better position to commit financial resources to player payroll to help the team win moving forward. Will we see the Tigers sign another $100 million contract this winter? There are a few players who would be great fits in Detroit, so let's hope so.

Here are the biggest contracts ever handed out by the Detroit Tigers

Back in late 2015, Al Avila and the Tigers identified former Nationals' starter Jordan Zimmermann as one of the top starting pitchers in the free agent market. The Tigers went after Zimmermann hard and wound up coming to terms on a five-year, $110 million deal to pry him away from Washington. Unfortunately for Detroit, the deal imploded in brutal fashion as Zimmermann struggled through injuries and poor performance en route to a 5.63 ERA as a Tiger.

Six weeks after they signed Zimmermann, the Tigers went back to the top of the free agent pool and locked up outfielder Justin Upton on a six-year, $132 million deal. The contract included an opt-out after the second year, and when the Tigers started collapsing in 2017 many expected that Upton would choose to leave Detroit in the offseason.

As such, the Tigers traded him just 18 months after his signing, sending him to the Angels for pitching prospect Grayson Long, and later Elvin Rodriguez who was included as a player to be named later. Statistically speaking, Upton's time in Detroit wasn't bad. He hit .260/.333/.500 with 59 homers in a year and a half's worth of work. Despite that, it wasn't a successful deal and the trade didn't bring back anything useful.

In what's becoming a theme here, Al Avila once again opened up the checkbook and signed infielder Javier Baez to a six-year, $140 million deal in the winter of 2022. Baez's time in Detroit has been tough to watch. He used to be a hard-nosed infielder, a guy you could count on to give you everything he had on the field.

Unfortunately, he's about to enter his age-32 season and he looks about ready for retirement. He's gotten progressively worse over the past three years and his slash line in Detroit is a putrid .221/.262/.347, good for a 70 wRC+. Baez has three years and $73 million left on what's essentially an untradeable contract that can't come to a close soon enough.

On the contract extension side, the Tigers locked up ace Justin Verlander to a seven-year, $180 million deal back in 2013. Technically the Tigers extended him for five years but they included 2013-2014 in the deal at the previous price of $20 million per year, making it seven years total. Verlander is one of the best pitchers in Tigers' history and was very good up until he was traded to Houston. When he goes into the Hall of Fame in a few years, he ought to be wearing a Tigers hat.

The biggest free agent deal Detroit has ever given out was to Prince Fielder, back in 2014. Fielder was signed to a nine-year, $214 million contract that absolutely did not work out. He played just two seasons in Detroit before being traded to Texas for Ian Kinsler. The big man's career was unfortunately cut short by injury and he retired after the 2016 season, which was an unceremonious end for a once-great hitter.

Then we have the big kahuna. Dave Dombrowski gave an eight-year, $248 million extension to Miguel Cabrera back in 2014. It was a bit of a gift at the time, after Cabrera went wild and won back-to-back MVP awards in 2012-2013. Cabrera's deal dragged out towards the end, but like Verlander, when Cabrera goes into the Hall of Fame in a few years, he'll do so in a Tigers hat. That's not a bad deal.