Detroit Tigers Sign Veteran Free Agent Starter to Deal, Bolster Rotation
The Detroit Tigers have made an addition to their starting rotation in the free agent market.
Detroit has agreed to a deal with free agent Cleveland Guardians right-handed starting pitcher Alex Cobb on a one-year term pending a physical as first reported by Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.
Cobb, who turned 37 years old in October, missed most of the 2024 season with a hip issue as well as a right shoulder injury. In the games he did pitch however he was as good as he's been in his entire 13-year MLB career. It was a very small sample size however as Cobb didn't pitch until August after being traded from the Giants to the Guardians in July but wound up on the injured list with a broken fingernail after two starts. Making just one additional start in September, Cobb had a perfect game until the seventh inning before being pulled with a blister on his right finger.
In those three regular season starts, Cobb posted a 2.76 ERA overall in 16.1 total innings. In the postseason for Cleveland, he made two starts but was pulled from the second before he made it through three innings with a separate back issue. When combining his postseason work with his regular season work in 2024, Cobb had an ERA just above 4.0.
The two seasons he spent with San Francisco from 2022-23 were probably the most productive of his career and even saw the first All-Star appearance of his career in 2023. Overall in the last two years before missing so much action in 2024, Cobb posted a 3.80 ERA over 56 starts and 301 innings. Those numbers were consistent with what Cobb has been throughout his career with a 3.84 career ERA mark in 13 seasons.
Struggling through injuries for a huge portion of his career, there is certainly a fair amount of risk that comes along with Cobb. But Scott Harris was always going to want a high upside cheap type veteran for the rotation, and this likely will not be the only move the Tigers make in the arm department.
