Tigers can't afford lateral move with bizarre Ryan Helsley free agent report

The Tigers are one of many teams that have been connected to reliever Ryan Helsley, who split 2025 between the Cardinals and Mets (and fell off a steep cliff upon his arrival in New York). He posted a solid 3.00 ERA as St. Louis' closer and racked up 21 saves before the trade deadline, but with Edwin Díaz firmly in the Mets' closer role, he became a setup man and put up a 7.20 ERA in that capacity.

He was always going to be cheaper than Díaz, Robert Suarez, and even Devin Williams, but his second-half struggles only made him more affordable.

The Tigers' bullpen needs a lot of help. They tried and failed to add some swing-and-miss at the trade deadline, so Helsley's 10.1 K/9 (and it only got marginally worse after he was traded) would be attractive to them to complement Will Vest in late innings. Detroit's fondness for breaking and off-speed pitches also tracks with Helsley's heavy reliance on his slider.

However, they might not be interested in him as a late-inning option at all. Per Ken Rosenthal, Cody Stavenhagen, and Katie Woo of The Athletic, the Tigers are among teams interested in converting Helsley, who has never started a major league game, into a starter.

Tigers interested in former Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley — but as a starter

Seth Lugo, Clay Holmes, and Michael King have all moved from relief to starting roles to some success. Lugo placed second in AL Cy Young voting behind Tarik Skubal in 2024, his second year as a full-time starter, but he came back down to earth in 2025. Holmes put up a decent 3.53 ERA this season. King is one of the top free agent starters on the market this offseason after his second year as a starter.

Another starter would be nice, and they might be able to get Helsley at a bargain, but it would take a lot of development — as Rosenthal, Stavenhagen, and Woo note, he'll need to add more pitches to his arsenal — that they could avoid by simply paying a bonafide starter.

Detroit not strictly requiring another starter does give them some wiggle room; if Helsley doesn't work out, they can always move him back to the bullpen. But at that point, it'd hard to discern what exactly the point would be, other than a very risky way to save a few bucks this offseason.