Tigers let impact signing get away that could've set them up for epic trade deadline

Of all the MLB free agents who received qualifying offers in November, just two remained on the market on Wednesday night: third baseman Alex Bregman and right-handed starting pitcher Nick Pivetta. And both signed within an hour of one another. Pivetta went to the Padres and Bregman went to the Red Sox.

The Detroit Tigers managed to remain in the mix for Bregman, to varying degrees, throughout offseason, but it turns out he didn't want to play for them after the contract details were revealed. But what if they went a different route and made a play for Pivetta instead after we saw what he made?

Yes, the Tigers' need for pitching help is less dire now that they've signed Jack Flaherty to a two-year deal, but Pivetta could've still provide a boost to Detroit's starting rotation. He's extremely durable and strikes out a lot of batters, and he's coming off a 2024 season with the Boston Red Sox in which he started 26 games and logged a 4.14 ERA and 103 ERA+ in 145 2/3 innings.

While Pivetta has never had a sub-4.00 ERA in his eight MLB seasons and is known to surrender home runs at an above-average rate, he is a solid innings eater and could've been a back-of-the-rotation option or an insurance policy for the Tigers in case of an injury to one of their starters (or in case top prospect Jackson Jobe doesn't pitch his way into the rotation this spring).

Tigers missed golden opportunity to sign Nick Pivetta

Pivetta, was the top unsigned starting pitcher on the market and was once projected to garner interest on a deal in the $80 million range. However, his market clearly didn't materialize to the extent he thought it would when he declined the Red Sox's qualifying offer back in November. The fact he landed on a $1 million salary for 2025 shows the Tigers really missed an opportunity here.

Detroit gambled on Flaherty, another veteran pitcher looking to improve his market value, in 2024, and it paid off handsomely. Amid Flaherty's resurgent season, the Tigers were able to flip him to the pitching-hungry Los Angeles Dodgers at the trade deadline and net their eventual starting shortstop and top catching prospect in return. Plus, they got Flaherty back on a two-year deal for 2025-26; it really couldn't have worked out any better in the long run.

It wouldn't have been the worst idea for the Tigers to follow the Flaherty model and sign Pivetta. Yes, they would've had to relinquish a compensatory draft pick to the Red Sox since Pivetta declined their qualifying offer, but, like Flaherty, he could've turned into a valuable trade chip at the deadline, allowing the Tigers to recoup their losses in the form of prospects or roster players. Either that, or he could've been a cost-effective option to help lengthen a rotation that is already without Alex Cobb for the first month of the season. That would've allowed them to trade from their prospect surplus to upgrade the offense, too.

After the Tigers knew Bregman wasn't going to sign with them, they should have jumped on Pivetta for 1/3 of the price, assuming it was a possibility at the time.

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