Tigers could pursue budget-friendly starter option making a comeback from KBO

The 2025 free agent class of starting pitchers is relatively weak, in a year when almost everyone wants a starting pitcher. The Tigers don't strictly need one after Jack Flaherty exercised his player option to stay with the club in 2026, but Flaherty isn't the ideal No. 2 behind Tarik Skubal. Reese Olson, Casey Mize, and Troy Melton don't fill out that profile very well either.

Dylan Cease, Framber Valdez, and Michael King lead the starting pitching market, but the Tigers could have a cheaper option in former Pirates reliever Cody Ponce.

Ponce flamed out in two major league seasons in Pittsburgh from 2020-2021, posting a 5.86 ERA in 55 1/3 innings, and he was released at the end of 2021. He's spent the last four years in Japan and Korea with the NPB and KBO, and is drawing interest from MLB teams after pitching 180 2/3 innings for a 1.89 ERA with the KBO's Hanwa Eagles. He won the Triple Crown and was unanimously awarded the Choi Dong-won Award this year, the KBO's version of the Cy Young.

Eno Sarris of The Athletic named Ponce as one of "four potential bargains" on the free agent market and pointed to fellow KBO-returner Erick Fedde's two-year, $15 million contract with the White Sox in 2023 as a jumping off point.

Former Pirates reliever Cody Ponce is making a return to MLB, and the Tigers could get him cheaply

Ponce might not be a perfect No. 2, but he'll certainly go for less than Cease, Valdez, or King, even if Sarris predicts that he'll get a more lucrative deal than Fedde's in 2023. Fedde and another MLB castoff from the KBO, Kyle Hart, preceded Ponce as the last two Choi Dong-won Award winners.

Sarris notes that Ponce both added a pitch to his arsenal and upped his velocity while overseas. His fastball sat around 95 MPH in Korea (versus 93 with the Pirates) with a max at 98 MH, and he added a splitter as his most-used secondary pitch. He had a 12.9 K/9 rate this season and his 1.89 ERA led the KBO.

Francys Romero reported that "multiple teams" have shown interest in Ponce, and it makes sense that competition would be fierce if he can be signed to a significantly smaller deal than any of the top starters. He probably wouldn't solve all of the Tigers problems, but he certainly looks like a strong and, most importantly, affordable option.