Tigers News: Minor league signing, Blue Jays eyeing former pitcher, Anthony Santander

When minor league deals are announced or quietly posted in a team's transactions log, it's hard to pay them too much mind. Sometimes they're former major league stars still hoping to revamp their careers. Sometimes they're former top prospects who have never figured out how to make it work in the majors. Sometimes they're just traveling farmhands. In any case, it's hard to put too much stock into them.

However, the Tigers did give out a particularly intriguing minor league deal to pitcher Kenny Serwa, who recently went viral for a bullpen session at Tread Athletics, when he was throwing up to 88.5 MPH knuckleballs that the catcher could barely see.

Both MLB and Pitching Ninja picked up the story and reposted the sessions on Twitter, and on Jan. 17, Tread Athletics congratulated Serwa on a minor league deal with the Tigers.

Evan Petzold confirmed the signing the next day. Serwa, 27, pitched for the Chicago Dogs of the independent American Association in 2024 for a 4.22 ERA over 119 1/3 innings, and he pitched for four different college teams over six seasons.

Serwa's deal doesn't include an invitation to spring training, but he could be an interesting name to watch in 2025.

Tigers News: Blue Jays-Max Scherzer rumors, Anthony Santander contract details

In more league-wide news, the Blue Jays finally got their first win of the offseason over the weekend, when they signed Anthony Santander to a five-year, $92.5 million deal with a club option for a sixth. Santander had been named a potential target for the Tigers, but he never made complete sense for Detroit, who are likely to employ Riley Greene in left and a combination of Kerry Carpenter, Matt Vierling, and Justyn-Henry Malloy in the opposite corner.

However, the Blue Jays are still trying to recover some of their pride after losing out on all of the year's top free agents and are setting their sights on former Tiger Max Scherzer, according to Sportsnet's Ben Nicholson-Smith.

Although a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame, Scherzer would be far from a great consolation for Toronto fans who are still disappointed about Roki Sasaki spurning them for the Dodgers. However, Scherzer was able to put together a decent season with the Rangers last year between stints on the IL, and there may still be a little bit of that old magic in him.