Detroit Tigers Predicted to Reunite With Legendary Fan Favorite Ace in Free Agency
Despite the fact that the Detroit Tigers went on an epic run to end the 2024 season, making the playoffs and dispatching the Houston Astros in the Wild Card round after sitting 9.5 games out in late August, major improvements can still be made.
Detroit fell ultimately in five games to the Cleveland Guardians due in no small part to a lack of any reliable playoff starting pitching outside of course of superstar Cy Young ace Tarik Skubal, who down the stretch proved that he has a strong case to be the best pitcher on the planet. In the games Skubal wasn't on the mound, it was a lot of long bullpen action as manager A.J. Hinch tried to piece it all together.
Needing help in the rotation, it will be one of the top needs the Tigers try to address as the free agency period gets going. One potential fascinating option is a short-term deal with a franchise legend. One of the experts from MLB Trade Rumors predicted three-time Cy Young winner Max Scherzer to land a one-year, $16 million deal with Detroit coming off a season with the Texas Rangers in which he suffered through injury and made just nine starts.
"Despite all the health concerns, Scherzer was still good when on the mound," the site wrote. "He posted a 3.95 ERA, 22.6% strikeout rate and 5.6% walk rate. He won’t be able to get the massive $43.33MM average annual value he got on his last deal, but plenty of late-career veterans have secured solid one-year deals lately."
Scherzer is already 40 years old and will be 41 by the time the 2025 All-Star break comes along, but he has not suffered a supreme drop off in performance by any means. 2024 was really the first season that Scherzer has missed a lot of time having started a minimum of 23 games in every single full season of his career since his rookie year in 2008 with Arizona.
Making a short term commitment and bringing Scherzer back to the place where he won his first Cy Young award and was a major part of arguably the most sustained run of playoff success in franchise history when the team made four postseasons in a row including two ALCS appearances and a World Series appearance.
Even in a worst case scenario, the eight-time All-Star can provide a steady veteran presence in the rotation and offer some guidance to some of the younger arms in the organization. Keep an eye on the potential reunion between the Tigers and Scherzer as free agency starts to heat up.
