Tigers made a killing in free agency by taking advantage of Yankees' apathy

Some Tigers fans might've disagreed with the team's approach in free agency before the 2025 campaign started. Yes, they were "involved" with some big names, but they didn't land any, instead opting for a bunch of one-year contracts.

Former Yankees Tommy Kahnle and Gleyber Torres were the headliners, while Alex Cobb was a head-scratcher. But all it took was a hot start to the Tigers' season for any dissenting Tigers fans to shift their opinion.

Though Cobb remains injured, his presence simply doesn't matter. The Tigers' starting rotation is beastly and has proven to be one of the best in MLB. At this point, he'll be a $15 million additive depth piece to protect against future injuries or to help eat innings to save the bullpen. Not an ideal way to spend that money, but certainly not the end of the world.

The production from Kahnle and Torres? It's the stuff of All-Stars, and it's perhaps flying a bit under the radar in the more general baseball discussions.

Let's start with Kahnle, who the Yankees cheaped out on. In fact, Kahnle said New York never re-engaged with him once he hit free agency despite a glaring need to fix their bullpen!

Tigers pilfering Yankees free agents in offseason is saving 2025 campaign

The Tigers had one of the best bullpens in the league last year, and though they didn't lose anybody to free agency, they saw the opportunity to upgrade with Kahnle. The one-year, $7.75 million contract is turning out to be one of the best in baseball among high-leverage relievers.

Kahnle was an objective mistake on the Yankees' end. Torres, not so much. That relationship had deteriorated between the two parties over the last five years, and quite frankly should've ended in 2022. But the Yankees let it die on the vine and then Torres hit free agency, signing a one-year, $15 million contract with Detroit.

So far? He's close to the 2018-2019 Gleyber Torres — the version of himself Yankees fans were dying to see as his play declined on both sides of the ball from 2020-2024.

Torres is hitting .284 with an .804 OPS and 131 OPS+ through Friday's games. He's struck out only nine times (7.8%) and already has the same amount of stolen bases (4) as he did in 154 games with the Yankees last year. Again, the Yankees had no interest in re-engaging with Torres and didn't really show much of an effort to help him as his play suffered. Though New York fans would argue Torres didn't help his case whatsoever, he's now thriving in a new environment, so perhaps there's something to be said about both parties being at fault.

Whatever the case, the Yankees traded for Devin Williams and Fernando Cruz to upgrade/address the losses of Kahnle and Clay Holmes. It hasn't exactly worked so far, but New York is atop of the AL East. Last year, they acquired Jazz Chisholm as the eventual successor to Torres at second base, and while he's injured at the moment, he was providing better defense and more power. Still, it goes to show the Yankees could have easily brought Kahnle back to maintain a superior bullpen. The Yankees-Torres relationship might've not worked out like everybody had hoped, but something inexplicable went wrong there as evidenced by his revival with the Tigers.

One team's oversight is another team's gain, and that's exactly what happened when the Tigers made minor moves to bring in a couple of former Yankees in the offseason.