Detroit Tigers' Underwhelming Winter Brings Mediocre Offseason Grade
![2024 AL -- Tarik Skubal, Detroit Tigers 2024 AL -- Tarik Skubal, Detroit Tigers](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_5302,h_2982,x_0,y_83/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/tigers_baseball_report/01jjqsjn97rkdhn4zms9.jpg)
The Detroit Tigers are getting prepared to wrap up the offseason and get the 2025 season underway.
It was an incredible end to the 2024 campaign for the Tigers. Detroit was able to go on one of the best runs in the second half of the year of any team in baseball, and it resulted in them snapping a lengthy playoff drought.
However, the Tigers weren’t content with just making the postseason, the hungry young group was able to eliminate the Houston Astros in the American League Wild Card round.
It was one thing for Detroit to make the postseason as a wild card team, however, it was a much different story to be able to eliminate the Astros. This victory drastically changed the outlook and the expectations for the team moving forward and heading into the winter.
While the Tigers were a very good team in 2024, they did have some flaws heading into the offseason. So far, Detroit has made a couple of moves to bring in second baseman Gleyber Torres and pitcher Alex Cobb, but neither was likely what fans were hoping for.
Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report recently graded the offseason for the Tigers. He gave them a mediocre grade of a ‘C’, and highlighted that while they didn’t lose anyone notable, they only made two additions that weren’t extremely noteworthy.
“But is this it? No big-ticket signings? No extensions? It's not what Tigers fans had every right to expect after a long rebuild finally, mercifully ended with a playoff berth in 2024," he wrote.
So far, it has been a bit of a disappointing offseason for Detroit. While the grade of a ‘C’ can be defended since they didn’t lose anyone in free agency and added two veterans, it feels like the Tigers should have done much more.
Now, there are still some free agents available that could change this grade very quickly. Alex Bregman and Jack Flaherty have been two of the more talked about free agents with the Tigers, and either would instantly improve this grade.
So far, the signings of Torres and Cobb feel like stop-gap moves, which for a team that was one win away from the ALCS in 2024, is disappointing.
Also, after winning the AL Cy Young, more talk about a potential contract extension for Tarik Skubal would be ideal.
Detroit has been in a rebuild for a long time before making the postseason in 2024. However, while they have a young and talented bunch, getting some additional support would have made replicating that success much easier.
While there is still time to improve their grade for the offseason, a ‘C’ is a fair assessment so far.