Tigers' Scott Harris should be commended for one important move he didn't make

Through most of the Tigers' offseason, a Spencer Torkelson trade seemed inevitable. Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press reported soon after the team's exit from the postseason that the front office finally seemed willing to move on from their former first overall pick, and he was frequently linked to the Pirates, though it's unclear if discussions with Pittsburgh actually took place.

But the Tigers held onto him, to the chagrin of a lot of fans who had already lost their patience, and they assigned him to bench duties, with Colt Keith taking over at first base.

Now, over 50 games into the season, Torkelson leads the Tigers in home runs with 13, and he's currently on pace for a 40-homer, 125+ RBI season. He's becoming feared enough in Detroit's lineup that the Giants treated him to an intentional walk to load the bases on Monday.

We'll never know if the front office actually had some lingering faith in Torkelson or just couldn't find the right trade partner, but not letting him go was the best non-move the front office made this year.

Not trading Spencer Torkelson might've been one of the best decisions the Tigers front office made in the offseason

He's already accumulated 1.5 bWAR and 1.6 fWAR; both are already higher than the numbers he put up in his 159-game rookie season back in 2023. Torkelson, a righty, has only been benched twice this season, both when the Tigers were facing righty starters (and his numbers against them still leave something to be desired). He leads Tigers hitters in homers, RBI, walks, doubles, slugging, and OPS, and has 12 fewer strikeouts than Riley Greene.

Torkelson, Greene, and Kerry Carpenter, all of whom came up in 2022, were supposed to be the new Tigers' vanguard, but something has always gotten in the way. For Greene and Carpenter, it was almost always injury; for Torkelson, it was performance. All three of them being healthy and firing on all cylinders (they represent the Tigers' top three home run hitters) has been one of the keys to the Tigers' early success.

There's still some doubt about whether or not what the Tigers are doing is real or if it'll fade with the AL Central still looking pretty open, but if Torkelson can continue to lead the offense then his resurgence will become an even bigger story as the season continues.