Tigers insider all but confirms Detroit is in for a long and uneventful offseason

Going from Mike Ilitch to Chris Ilitch has been a massive hit to the system that is the Tigers organization. Detroit went from an owner who was willing to spend anything to win to one who will do just about anything to save a buck.

Unfortunately, it sounds like that trend will continue in 2027.

With just the 16th-highest payroll in baseball, it’s time for the Tigers to start spending if they want to contend for a World Series. It’s cool to contend for the division title essentially every year but the organization feels like it’s a long way from really being at the World Series contention level. They have the pieces, but great teams have good farm systems and spend big money in the offseason.

Tigers insider Cody Stavenhagen from The Athletic all but confirmed that, much to the chagrin of the fans, Detroit probably isn’t going to be spending a ton of money this offseason — even though it needs to.

”It’s starting to look like the same team again.”

Cover your ears, Tigers fans, this is probably the worst news you could have hoped for this offseason. Sure, anything could happen from now until spring training and if the right price for the right player is there, Scott Harris should jump on it, but it wouldn’t be all that shocking if Ilitch made this call to not spend.

Detroit has needed a couple of pieces over the past few years and it might have won more division titles and it definitely would have gone further than the ALDS, but it sounds like another stingy offseason ahead.

The Tigers did spend some money last offseason on Framber Valdez, Justin Verlander, and Kenley Jansen, but two of those guys are nearing the end of their careers and the other was a rare overpay. They spent some money, but it wasn’t on any game-changers.

Like Stavenhagen said, the Tigers are banking on being healthy and bringing back essentially the same team that had division title expectations before injuries hit.

That’s not what winning organizations do.

Scott Harris, Tigers are taking a huge risk

Harris and the Tigers would be taking an absolutely massive risk by not pursuing one or two big names in free agency but the president of baseball operations hinted that he liked the team he had but injuries really took over in May.

That probably should have been a dead giveaway that he wasn’t planning on making any serious moves in the offseason but rather is going to trust that health won’t be an issue again. That’s a huge risk.

Stavenhagen was right, however. The free agency market isn’t going to be great, so spending big on the guys available may not be the move, but adding some bullpen and some top of the rotation pitching help has to be the priority along with another bat or two. And no, Detroit likely is not going to pursue Tarik Skubal despite the ex-Tiger blowing smoke about wanting to negotiate with the organization again when he hits free agency.

Detroit does have a good core of young players like Kevin McGonigle, Riley Greene, Max Clark, Jackson Jobe, Troy Melton, Dillon Dingler, Spencer Torkelson (yes, he’s still a good player, folks), some pleasant surprises like Eduardo Valencia and Hao-Yu Lee, and some budding stars in the farm system like Cameron Flukey, Zyhir Hope, Bryce Rainer, and Max Anderson.

The potential is there, but again, a piece or two is needed.

Sigh. Let’s run it back.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow