Detroit Tigers Predicted to Reunite With Two Former Aces This Offseason
The Detroit Tigers are heading into the offseason looking to improve and solidify that 2024 was no fluke and that they can sustain it.
It was an incredible run to end the 2024 campaign, as the Tigers emerged as one of the best teams in baseball in the last couple of months of the season and made it all the way into the playoffs.
In the postseason, Detroit was able to keep up their strong play, as they defeated the Houston Astros in the Wild Card Round, and then took the Cleveland Guardians to five games, and had a chance to advance with their ace on the mound.
While nobody saw this coming from the Tigers, the team will now have some expectations heading into next year. While this is certainly an improved team, they do still have some areas to address this offseason if they want to sustain success and build upon it.
The pitching staff overall was really great down the stretch, but they relied heavily on Tarik Skubal when he started and their bullpen when he didn’t. With that being said, adding a veteran starting pitcher or two makes a lot of sense to help make their play in the regular season a bit less taxing on the bullpen.
Recently, Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report spoke about a potential massive reunion with Detroit and both Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer.
“A reunion on an up-and-coming Tigers team with a rotation full of question marks beyond 2024 AL Cy Young favorite Tarik Skubal could be an interesting approach for everyone involved. If both players are willing to accept something in the neighborhood of a one-year, $10 million deal to keep pitching, Tigers manager A.J. Hinch does a masterful job deploying his bullpen in a way that takes the pressure off his starting staff.”
Considering the Tigers are now all of a sudden a playoff contender, they should certainly be a desirable destination for the two veterans this offseason. While neither is, unfortunately, as good as they were with Detroit anymore, they could both help.
Manager A.J. Hinch is proving to be one of the best managers in the league when it comes to using his pitchers and putting them in the best position to win. Considering Verlander and Scherzer’s ages, they likely won’t be pitching seven innings anymore, but if they are both healthy, they can be contributors.
As Detroit hopes to be a World Series contender, it would certainly add a lot of nostalgia if they brought back two of the best pitchers in the history of the franchise.
