The most frustrating Tigers rumor is about to persist after latest free agency news

It's looking more and more like deja vu all over again for the Detroit Tigers' 2025 offseason. Last winter, all of Detroit was captivated by the Tigers' pursuit of star third baseman Alex Bregman, only for him to thumb his nose at their incredibly generous offer at the eleventh hour.

It hasn't been a well-kept secret that Bregman is likely to opt out of the contract he signed with the Boston Red Sox. For the Scott Boras client, that was always the goal after a lucrative long-term deal to his liking never materialized. Bregman is always going to chase the money.

MLB insider Jon Heyman reporting what everyone already knew isn't much of a surprise. However, when he provides further context, it seems as if the Tigers are about to get sucked in again, but this time the field will be even more crowded.

Alex Bregman rumors are about to heat up again, much to Tigers fans' chagrin

Bregman to Detroit rumors are going to start percolating again, and on the surface there's a very valid reason why. The Tigers got an absolutely atrocious performance out of the hot corner in 2025, with the committee of players they used at the position combining for a .221/.288/.340 line. That slash line generated a 76 wRC+, which ranked 26th in baseball.

Bregman, meanwhile, slashed .273/.360/.462, which was good for a 125 wRC+. The fit seems obvious, right? After all, strikeouts were a major problem for the Tigers' lineup, which finished with the fourth-highest K-rate at 23.9%. Those strikeout-prone tendencies reared their ugly head when it mattered most as the heart of the Tigers' order went 0-23 with 10 strikeouts in Game 5 of the ALDS.

So far, the case for ponying up for Bregman despite him jilting the Tigers a year ago seems strong, so why is this frustrating?

Well, for one thing, Bregman is clearly going to want more than the six years and $171.5 million that Detroit offered last year, especially if Heyman is right and there are even more suitors in the mix than a year ago. For a player who turns 32 in March, giving out big money over six-plus years seems like a pretty big risk.

Furthermore, Bregman didn't really address the concerns that plagued him last offseason. A right quad injury held him out of action for roughly six weeks, limiting him to just 114 games on the season.

In addition to that, his walk rate plummeted in 2024 to a career-low 6.9%. While he rebounded a bit and walked at a 10.3% clip in 2025, it was still far below his career average of 11.8%.

Lastly, the concerns that existed around the quality of his contact still remain. In 2025, he hovered around league average in hard hit rate (54th percentile), average exit velocity (53rd percentile), xBA (56th percentile), and xSLG (56th percentile). Meanwhile, his barrel rate of 6.6% came in in the 29th percentile, and his launch-angle sweet spot (the percentage of balls hit between the angles that do the most damage) ranked in the 28th percentile.

All in all, Bregman is an upgrade over what Detroit has, but the warning signs are still present that a long-term deal will end badly. The Tigers will probably sniff around, but ultimately, Scott Harris isn't going to pony up what would be required to bring Bregman to the Motor City, leaving fans once again frustrated by the much ado about nothing.