Tigers DFA'ing 2024 pitching chaos cogs indicates they may be letting old ways die

The Detroit Tigers' bullpen was a mess for large swaths of 2025, so it's no surprise that changes are afoot. In addition to all of Scott Harris's controversial trade deadline additions on the verge of departing, many other cogs are on the chopping block.

And that change has already begun. A handful of relievers have already been given their walking papers, with notable names like Jason Foley and Sean Guenther getting the boot.

The primary motivation was to protect some top prospects like Hao-Yu Lee and Thayron Liranzo from the Rule 5 Draft, but there might be a secondary motivation for the change — one that would involve forming a higher-octane bullpen in 2026.

The Tigers cutting ties with relievers Jason Foley and Sean Guenther could signal a shift in bullpen philosophy

While Guenther had been used sparingly and still had options, the 29-year-old southpaw was occupying a valuable 40-man roster spot. The bigger loss is Foley, who has logged at least 60 innings with an ERA under from 2022-2024, including a 2.61 mark in 2023 and a 3.15 ERA in 2024.

Foley missed the entire 2025 season with a shoulder injury, but it's curious that Detroit would give up on a previously reliable arm when things were so unsettled in 2025. But his arbitration cost was rising and perhaps they didn't want to risk not getting their money's worth.

However, there's something that Foley and Guenther have in common that might give us a clue as to why these two were selected as part of the roster purge. Both relievers lean heavily on the sinker as their bread and butter, relying on the ground ball to get outs.

Foley's career strikeout rate of 18.1% is well below league average, despite his upper-90s velocity. Ditto for Guenther, whose career K% comes in at 16% and fits the bill of a soft-tossing lefty.

The lack of strikeouts from the 'pen was something that was called out in the lead-up to the trade deadline, yet it was never really addressed. Detroit finished the season with a 20.1% strikeout rate from its relievers, which ranked 29th in the league.

There's certainly a line that can be drawn between the heavy reliance on contact and the unit's inability to consistently get out of jams, as even poorly struck balls can sometimes put pressure on the defense.

Moving forward, it will be interesting to see if the club targets relievers with a penchant for the swing and miss over their ground ball-heavy, sinker-reliant philosophy of the past. If this move is a clue, it would seem that indeed the team's plan is changing from AJ Hinch's 2024 "chaos" approach.