How Can Detroit Tigers Build Best Rotation in Baseball Through Free Agency?
For a large portion of the 2024 season, it looked like the Detroit Tigers would have just one lone bright spot in ace pitcher Tarik Skubal.
Detroit sat 9.5 games out of the playoffs entering the final week of August, but behind a miraculous charge led by Skubal - who they chose to keep at the trade deadline a month prior - the team wound up qualifying for the playoffs and even dispatching the Houston Astros in the Wild Card round. Skubal finished the season widely recognized as the best pitcher on the planet and is now all but guaranteed to win the American League Cy Young award.
But as Detroit heads into the offseason, they do so with the knowledge that if they had more reliable starting pitching behind Skubal, they could have potentially made an even deeper playoff run. Ironically, they traded away Jack Flaherty at the deadline with the right hander on an one-year deal, but Flaherty could have been key once the team made the postseason. The Tigers must be as aggressive as a team that is simply a few pieces away from contention would be, because the last month of the season showed that this is the case.
When it comes to outside additions, at the top of Detroit's list must be acquiring a starting pitcher behind Skubal, and Flaherty returning to Detroit could prove to be an ideal scenario. While he is currently contributing heavily to a Dodgers deep playoff run and could be more expensive than the Tigers would desire, there is a world where Detroit could have the best rotation in baseball if they show a little bit of willingness to break the bank.
Skubal of course is the ace, but Flaherty behind him combines for one of the best 1-2 punches in the entire league. The X-Factor in this situation is top prospect Jackson Jobe. While Jobe was up and down during his September call up to join the team's playoff roster, he has all the talent in the world and the makings of a future ace. If Jobe can make the Opening Day roster and perform like the type of prospect he is advertised as, a potential Skubal-Flaherty-Jobe combination puts Detroit in a spot where they have an elite arm throwing almost every day.
The Tigers cannot afford to get complacent when it comes to adding talent, because there is an incredible opportunity in front of them to make the rotation the envy of every team in baseball.
