Tigers cap off arbitration deadline day with one of MLB's best bullpen bargains

The Tigers did some of their arbitration deadline day homework ahead of time, having agreed to new salaries with utilitymen Zach McKinstry and Andy Ibáñez all the way back in November on non-tender deadline day. McKinstry got $1.65 million and Ibáñez got $1.4 million.

The work was far from over; the young Tigers had seven more players to dole out new contracts to, including reigning AL Cy Young and Triple Crown winner Tarik Skubal. Jason Foley, Matt Vierling, Casey Mize, Jake Rogers, Will Vest, and Beau Brieske rounded out the list.

Agreements for Mize and Rogers came first at $2.34 million and $2.64 million respectively. The Tigers declined Mize's club option worth $3.1 million at the beginning of the offseason, sending him back into arbitration eligibility, but they'll any avoid wrinkles this year.

2024 standouts Will Vest ($1.4 million), Jason Foley ($3.15 million), and Matt Vierling ($3.005 million) followed not long after, but the biggest fish, Skubal, got a monster $10.15 million, exceeding early expectations that landed around $2 million lower, and maybe providing a glimmer a hope for the Tigers' extension talks with him.

Beau Brieske rounded out the crop long after the "soft deadline" of 1 p.m. and agreed to a $1.025 million salary for 2025. Not to exaggerate, but that might be one of the best bargains in the league after what the right-hander was able to do for the Tigers down the stretch in 2024. He pitched in 46 total games, started 12 of them, and was an absolute force in the postseason, logging six total innings (allowing just one run on one hit and two walks).

Tigers avoid arbitration with all nine eligible players and give Tarik Skubal hefty raise

With these new figures and the seven players who will be making the league minimum of $760,000, the Tigers' projected payroll in 2025 is now around $111 million, which still puts them in the bottom third of the league in terms of spending.

Now that they've dealt with all of the players on their current roster, that should hopefully give them a clearer picture on what to do about others they're rumored to be interested in. Alex Bregman is the biggest name on the Tigers' radar, but they've also been connected to Anthony Santander and Jack Flaherty on the free agent market and Steven Matz, Erick Fedde, and even Nolan Arenado on the trade market.

They can also go back to the drawing board about a potential extension for Skubal. They've already had conversations with him, but their offers haven't impressed him nor agent Scott Boras, who will be incredibly hard to talk into accepting an extension.

But the Tigers can now say that they're settled with all of their current players, at least for 2025. No one wants to deal with the potential ugliness of arbitration, but the Tigers will be able to avoid it altogether this year.