Detroit Tigers Considered Landing Spot for Veteran Left Handed Pitcher
The Detroit Tigers are going to be contenders for free agents this winter after making a cinderella run to the playoffs in 2024. The most glaring deficiency on the team is the pitching staff outside of Cy Young front runner, Tarik Skubal. They traded Jack Flaherty and Jackson Jobe may not be ready to step into the number two spot, so they will look to free agency to fill that hole. MLB Trade Rumors recently predicted that the Tigers would land veteran Sean Manaea on the open market.
Manaea has bounced around for a couple of years, hitting free agency for the third time since 2022 after declining his player option with the New York Mets.
The left-hander had a career year in 2024, starting 32 games with a 3.47 ERA and 9.1 K/9 in 181.2 innings. He boosted his velocity in 2023, but only started 10 games for the San Francisco Giants that season and wanted to prove he can be a starter.
He did so in a big way and will now have the opportunity to cash in on his big season, though his fastball velocity took a dip.
The 32-year-old offers six pitches and mixes them well, with his sinker being used to most.
MLB Trade Rumors had one of four writers predict him to Detroit on a three year, $60 million deal. The perfect type of contract for a team looking to rebuild quickly.
The Tigers are in desperate need of pitching. Even though Reese Olson showed some promise last season, the loss of Jack Flaherty and Kenta Maeda taking a step back makes is a huge blow.
Aside from Skubal, the rest of the rotation are back of the rotation pitchers in the long run. It was clearly their fatal flaw in the playoffs in 2024.
Although it did work for a time, they cannot survive on bullpen games unless Skubal is pitching. It wears out the bullpen and frankly isn't the best course of action for an entire series.
Detroit will look to pitching prospect Jackson Jobe as someone who can take a big leap next season, but it may not happen right away and he could be on an innings limit as a full time starter. It would not be wise to put all their eggs in that basket.
Hence, the reason to look at a veteran like Manaea to bolster the rotation on a shorter term contract. A young team at every level, upgrades still need to be made.
