Javier Baez Contract Has Become Nightmare for Detroit Tigers
It was a magical season for the Detroit Tigers in 2024, as they went much further than anyone could have expected.
The Tigers made it all the way to Game 5 of the American League Division Series against the Cleveland Guardians, and with their ace Tarik Skubal on the mound, they had a very real chance of reaching the American League Championship Series.
Considering the Tigers were sellers at the MLB Trade Deadline, it wasn’t expected that they would have taken the leap that they did in really just a couple of months. Now, expectations for 2025 will be vastly different, as people will not be overlooking Detroit.
This offseason, the Tigers are fortunate that they have a very young core that will be intact, but they would likely want to add some power to their lineup, which could cost them some money.
Recently, Detroit made a big financial commitment to shortstop Javier Baez. It wasn’t too long ago that Baez was considered a star in the league, but that star had quickly started to fade.
Recently, Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report spoke about the former All-Star’s contract becoming a nightmare for the Tigers.
“Even setting aside whether the timing was right to take such a risk, whether Báez was the right guy for it was always a fair question. He was a couple of seasons removed from a brief run as a superstar, and neither his long swing nor his wild approach figured to age well. Still, perhaps nobody saw those things aging this poorly this quickly. We now know for a fact that Báez's swing is the longest in baseball, and it's become incapable of catching up to fastballs. Between that and his still-abysmal zone discipline, it makes sense that he's hit only .221/.263/.347 in three years as a Tiger.”
This offseason, Detroit would likely have been a lot more inclined to spend it if they didn’t have the bad contract for Baez looming over their heads. After acquiring Trey Sweeney in the Jack Flaherty deal, Baez might not even be the starting shortstop in 2025.
With three straight poor seasons considering how much he is being paid and a terrible 2024, it’s hard to imagine that Baez becomes a useful player for the Tigers in the next few years. Unfortunately, Detroit is going to be paying over $20 million a season through 2027 for a player who might not even be a starter at this rate.
