Detroit Tigers Predicted To Sign Veteran Starting Pitcher to $38 Million Deal
The Detroit Tigers are heading into free agency with the hope of improving a team that nearly made it to the American League Championship Series last year.
It was an amazing run for the Tigers in the second half of 2024. Despite pretty much giving up on the season at the trade deadline by trading their No.2 pitcher in Jack Flaherty, Detroit found a way to win a lot of games and sneak into the playoffs.
While it was an incredible run for the Tigers last year, they do have some work to do this offseason if they want to improve this team. The success of their last campaign also showed them what some of their weaknesses were.
With the offseason kicking off, two of the main areas that Detroit should be looking to improve are their starting rotation and adding some power to their lineup.
The Tigers leaned heavily on their ace Tarik Skubal and the bullpen in 2024, but to sustain success, they need some help in their rotation.
Recently, Tim Kelly of Bleacher Report predicted that Detroit would sign veteran pitcher Luis Severino to a two-year, $38 million deal.
“Luis Severino was healthy for the first time in half a decade this past season, and he reemerged as an excellent starter. He posted a 3.91 ERA across 182 innings for the Mets, making the one-year, $13 million deal that they signed him to last December look like a bargain. Still, it's difficult to evaluate Severino as a free agent. He's shown the ability to pitch at a high level in the biggest market in the sport, but prior to logging 182 innings this past season, he pitched just 209.1 total innings between 2019 and 2023.”
Severino is an interesting player this offseason, as he really turned things around with the New York Mets in 2024. The right-hander signed a one-year deal with the Mets last offseason to prove that he could be a starter in the league. He did just that in one of his best seasons in a long time.
For the Tigers, Severino would be a significant upgrade to their starting rotation if they got the 2024 version, but there were a lot of years of struggles prior to that. A two-year commitment wouldn’t be bad, but the draft compensation due to him receiving a qualifying offer that they would have to give up could be a sticking point.
