Tigers Rumors: Insider turns up the heat on Detroit's interest in former Cubs starter

Mere hours before signing Emilio Pagán to a one-year, $11.5 million deal at GM Meetings, Scott Harris made the Tigers' priority for the offseason clear: pitching.

Tigers fans could've told you that, but the question is how far the front office is willing to go to fulfill sort of nebulous requirements. We know that the bullpen needs help, hence the Pagán signing, but what about the rotation? Detroit has something of a surplus of starting options, assuming Framber Valdez, Troy Melton, Jackson Jobe, River Ryan, Keider Montero, Reese Olson, and Drew Anderson are healthy by Opening Day.

But Montero and Anderson could both be used in swingman roles, and Harris hammered home his regret over not building more depth into the team after the season ended.

Evan Petzold reported last week that the Tigers had expressed interest in free agent Shota Imanaga when he was coming over from NPB in the 2023-24 offseason. According to Jon Morosi, that interest has since been renewed now that Imanaga is back on the market after a three-season stint with the Cubs.

While he's never returned to the same heights he did in his rookie season, he's been a steady 3.70-ish ERA pitcher in the two years since. And his biggest issue — home runs — might not be such a concern with Fifth Third Field's vast center field.

Tigers reportedly interested in Shota Imanaga, other starters to fill out rotation

Imanaga had a rather ghastly 1.9 homers per nine last year, and he only brought it down a smidge to 1.8 this season, but his 1.096 WHIP and solid 9.0 K/9 were huge positives. He's very much a fly ball pitcher, but Detroit doesn't have Chicago's wind, and Fifth Third gives outfielders 20 extra feet of space in straightaway center field, where batters sent 33.6% of all fly balls off of Imanaga this year.

42.8% were pulled fly balls, which could still be a problem when Fifth Third's left and right fields are comparable, if not mostly shorter, than Wrigley's. Limiting hard contact would be the key for Imanaga, and the Tigers are no doubt enamored by his split finger pitch, which still did incredible damage to hitters — .195 batting average against and a .335 slugging percentage — even if his fastball was getting hammered.

Imanaga's four-year, $53 million contract could be reinterpreted somewhere in the world of a two-year, $36 million deal in Detroit, in the vein of the one Jack Flaherty signed ahead of the 2025 season. That's a sandbox the Tigers are very comfortable playing in: short-term, but with a respectable AAV.

If this interest is actually real, we say bring it on.

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