Tigers insider's update has fans hoping team avoids another Alex Cobb mistake

Give the Detroit Tigers credit for recognizing that they could use another starting pitcher. It might be hard to see on the surface, given the perceived depth in the rotation, but adding another arm might not be a luxury, but rather a necessity.

Detroit has Tarik Skubal (for now), plus Jack Flaherty, Casey Mize, Reese Olson, and Drew Anderson as its starting five. The club also boasts Troy Melton, Keider Montero, Sawyer Gipson-Long, and Ty Madden for depth. Jackson Jobe is tentatively expected to return after Tommy John in the late summer. That should be enough, right?

Not really. While the top four look solid, Flaherty has battled inconsistency, Mize only has one truly solid year under his belt, and Olson has struggled to stay healthy. Throw in the fact that Anderson is a true wild card, and things could get dicey fast, and that's without a rash of injuries truly decimating things.

That's why veterans like Chris Bassitt and Lucas Giolito have popped up on Scott Harris's radar, but the ever-so-patient executive doesn't seem to be in much of a hurry to act, bringing up painful memories from last year.

The Tigers seem to want to wait until the last minute to add a veteran starter, which is starting to feel like Alex Cobb Deja vu

The topic was discussed on Tiger Territory, where we learned that the club is "casting a wide net for pitching," but the pursuit was described more like a reconnaissance mission than a specific and targeted attack.

It looks like the Tigers will wait and see which veteran options are left without a chair right as spring training rolls around, and then bring in that name as a chance to add depth and veteran experience, rather than finding their guy and aggressively pursuing him.

At that point, what will be left are options with serious warts, which is why this feels like the Alex Cobb sequel. While Cobb signed with Detroit in December 2024, he was on the verge of retirement thanks to age and injuries. As we all know, that move ultimately was a $15 million waste, as Cobb never threw a pitch in Detroit.

What the Tigers should be doing instead is targeting a high-end option that can serve as the unquestioned No. 2 behind Skubal and provide stability beyond 2026. Skubal, Mize, and Flaherty will all hit the market at season's end, so preparing for the future is the smart way to go. Besides, a big splash in the rotation would signal to Skubal that Detroit is serious about competing, for whatever that is worth.

The options that fit that bill are starting to thin out, but you still have Framber Valdez sitting out in free agency, plus trade options like Freddy Peralta (though he doesn't provide any future certainty with his free agency coming up after the 2026 season), MacKenzie Gore, Sandy Alcantara, and others.

Instead of moving aggressively on any of those pitchers, Harris seems content to react to the market rather than dictate it, even though that strategy has blown up in his face before.

Don't expect the Tigers to come away with a true impact starter, and instead just be grateful if whoever they sign makes any sort of positive contributions at all in 2026. As long as they get that, they'll have cleared the bar they set by signing Cobb.