We’re in the final days of the offseason, and Detroit Tigers’ baseball will finally return to our lives on Thursday night in LA.
A long offseason is finally coming to its end, and by Thursday night the 2025 Detroit Tigers will take the stage against the Los Angeles Dodgers to begin a new season. If you’ve been checked out during the long winter months, we’re here to get you up to speed on the Tigers offseason moves, their Opening Day roster, the farm system, and how to watch this season as Bally Sports has now become the FanDuel Sports Network.
The Tigers thrilling run to October last summer left fans hungry for more, and while president of baseball operations, Scott Harris, wasn’t able to land a major position player in free agency, the club did add plenty of short-term reinforcements. They also have one of the top ranked farm systems in baseball, and while most of the big prospects aren’t likely to arrive this season, they will have some help percolating up from the system along the way. They also have more than enough prospect depth to contemplate deadline trades for talent in July if things are going well.
We’ll start with housekeeping on the park and the broadcasts, and then fill you in on the Tigers offseason moves, farm system, and projected starting roster. The AL Central is going to be a four-team race this year with the Chicago White Sox watching from the sidelines, and the Tigers will be in thick of the fight along with the defending champion Cleveland Guardians, Minnesota Twins, and Kansas City Royals, non of whom made any big moves this offseason.
Comerica Park
You’ll notice some differences at the old ballpark, okay it’s not that old, this season. The Tigers sign above the main scoreboard has been replaced with a Comerica sign, which we hate but okay. They already massively upgraded the scoreboard and the sound system in the stadium last year, so we’ll give them that one.
The Tigers have also installed a new premium seating area behind home plate. Those seats lead directly to the newly created Home Plate Club underneath the stands. The Club will feature higher end food and beverage options, but isn’t set to open until later in the season. The Tigers also added some semi-private box seating up in the lower bowl.
Nice if you can afford them. We’ll just hope they haven’t priced out seats behind home plate for the regular fan who is already dropping a small fortune to take their family to a game.
Sunday’s will again be Kids Days at Comerica Park, with autograph sessions, free rides on the carousel, and kids allowed to run the bases after the game.
Broadcast teams
Jason Benetti and Dan Dickerson will be back calling play-by-play again this season. Kirk Gibson has been removed from the regular color commentator group as he focuses on his charitable efforts and his own fight against Parkinson’s disease, so it will be Andy Dirks and Dan Petry handling the bulk of the television responsibilities alongside Benetti, with Todd Jones and Carlos Pena guest starring occasionally.
Dickerson will use some of the same color guys on the radio broadcast, though Bobby Scales figures to be his main partner again. The voice of the Erie SeaWolves, Greg Gania, will fill in for Dickerson as required, with Dickerson handling Benetti’s role when the much in demand broadcaster is handling other national sports responsibilities. Perhaps we’ll get a little Austin Jackson and Alex Avila again too.
FanDuel Sports Network Detroit
Many will probably be surprised to find that Bally Sports Network no longer exists. Instead, the FanDuel Sports Network bought their rights to televise games and will be the Tigers home for the televised broadcasts this spring. It’s essentially the same regional sports network, just under new branding.
FanDuel Sports Network is currently running a sponsored promotion to sign up to stream the Tigers all season long with no blackouts. As always, MLB.tv is also an option, but still will black you out if you’re in the regional broadcast zone.
Tigers Radio will still be broadcast on 97.1 the Ticket in the Detroit area, with other stations also unchanged for the 2025 season.
If you’re looking to follow the stockpile of high end prospect talent the Tigers have built up, the best option is MiLB.tv. A $149.99 yearly subscription comes with Minor League TV as well, and while the Detroit Tigers are blacked out in the regional viewing area, their minor league affiliate games are not.
Most games from the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens, Double-A Erie SeaWolves, High-A West Michigan Whitecaps, and Low-A Lakeland Flying Tigers are broadcast throughout the season. Statcast is typically only available at the Triple-A level and most but not all Low-A level matchups.
Introducing your 2025 Detroit Tigers
Offseason Moves
The biggest name the Tigers landed in free agency is long-time Yankees’ infielder Gleyber Torres. After Torres didn’t receive the multi-year offers he was hoping for, Harris swooped in with a one-year pillow contract worth $15 million and got the deal done. Torres will play second base, moving Colt Keith over to first base most days. Torres also adds a much needed right-handed power presence to the Tigers lineup and should give them above average production overall, though his defense at second is a little suspect.
The other big name who returns to Detroit’s starting rotation is right-hander Jack Flaherty. The veteran came to the Tigers last offseason and with the help of Chris Fetter and the Tigers’ pitching coaches and analysts, reshaped his game en route to his best season in years. For most of the first half, Flaherty graded out as one of the top five starting pitchers in baseball, and only Tarik Skubal’s ascendance to top pitching in the game status kept Flaherty from being the Tigers ace.
The Tigers sent Flaherty to the Los Angeles Dodgers in July and did very well in the deal. They landed a top catching prospect who switch hits and has huge power potential in Thayron Liranzo, who will tackle the Double-A level this spring. They also landed shortstop Trey Sweeney, who was a lifesaver in the face of Javier Báez’s struggles and season-ending hip surgery.
Now, they have Flaherty back on extremely reasonable terms after he too didn’t the kind of long-term deal he was hoping for. The Tigers will pay Flaherty $25 million in 2025, and the right-hander has a player option for 2026 that will pay him $10 million as a base salary, or $20 million should he make 15 starts for the Tigers this season. Very reasonable for a starter who was near the top of the league in most categories until struggling down the stretch with the Dodgers somewhat. The Tigers offense may not be significantly improved, but they should be among the league leaders in pitching once again.
Scott Harris also went hard into the free agent reliever pool. He signed right-handers Tommy Kahnle and John Brebbia to add more strikeout capacity to an already good bullpen, and then circled back late and brought back lefty Andrew Chafin on a minor league deal. We should know if Chafin has earned the final spot in the bullpen shortly. If not, he could opt-out or choose to spend a few weeks in Triple-A to sharpen his game for a potential call-up.
One sneaky move that Scott Harris pulled off was in signing veteran right-handed starter Jose Urquidy to a one-year deal with a team option for 2026. The long-time Astros’ rotation stalwart is recovering from UCL reconstruction and won’t be back in action until late this season at the earliest. However, the club option for 2026 is on $4 million plus performance bonuses for 2026, so assuming the final phase of his rehabilitation from Tommy John surgery goes well, the Tigers will be ahead of the curve in building rotation depth for the 2026 season. It’s also possible that he’s in a position to help them this year down the stretch and potentially in the postseason. Smart move.
Finally, on Sunday the Tigers signed veteran outfielder Manuel Margot to a one-year deal as well. Margot only hits left-handed pitching, but he is capable of playing a fairly solid center field. The need for a Margot-type arose when center fielder Parker Meadows suffered a nerve injury in his right arm at the beginning of spring camp. That injury continues to linger, and the prognosis for Meadows now is that he’ll be out until at least mid-May, and probably longer.
Starting roster
The main story heading into Opening Day is that two key injuries this spring to Parker Meadows and Matt Vierling, which is a blessedly small amount compared to a lot of teams in March, have forced some adjustments to the roster. Here is the latest update on Meadows’ peculiar injury.
The Tigers signed veteran outfielder Manuel Margot on Sunday, hoping that he can hit left-handed pitching and play center field in support of Wenceel Pérez, who hits right-handers better and will get the majority of the reps in center field to start the season.
The starting rotation consists of Tarik Skubal, Jack Flaherty, Reese Olson, Casey Mize, and top pitching prospect Jackson Jobe. We did a rough projection of the rotation recently, which you can read here, which includes mention of the plentiful starting depth the Tigers will also have at their disposal. You can also read this article on how Jobe won the final spot in the rotation over RHP Keider Montero.
The bullpen is LHP Tyler Holton, RHP Will Vest, RHP Kenta Maeda, RHP Jason Foley, RHP Tommy Kahnle, and RHP John Brebbia. You can read about Maeda’s move to the bullpen right here. The final spot is probably down to a second lefty, either Andrew Chafin or prospect Brant Hurter, who was very effective down the stretch last season but is also generally a starting pitcher who may be better stashed as rotation depth in the early going. RHP Beau Brieske, RHP Brenan Hanifee, RHP Tyler Owens, who is still a prospect, and LHP Sean Guenther, are the first line of defense should the bullpen suffer any early injuries. RHP Alex Lange and RHP Tyler Mattison are on the way back from major injuries, but should be available by mid-season if not sooner.
Our own Cannon at the Corner has a bullpen primer for you that breaks down the likely starting bullpen. It came out in late February, so the addition of Chafin as a potential relief option isn’t mentioned, but otherwise it will get you up to speed on the bullpen. Beau Brieske also had a shaky spring, and will probably start the year in Toledo until he gets his command locked back in. He was a big part of the stretch drive, so hopefully that won’t take him too long.
The Tigers will have Riley Greene in left field and Kerry Carpenter in right field to start the season. The two biggest bats in the lineup form the foundation for a really good outfield when Meadows is in center field, but their contributions on both sides of the ball will be even more crucial with Wenceel Pérez and Manuel Margot handling center field until Matt Vierling and eventually Meadows return. Riley Greene should have won a Gold Glove award last year, while Carpenter’s defense has been overly maligned. He put in a lot of work over the past two seasons, and is now roughly an average right fielder who should play the field rather than DH-ing a lot more this season.
In the infield, Keith is coming off a good rookie season and is just 23 years old. He has plenty of potential for growth in the power department, but he’ll be tested by learning a new position at first base. There may be some growing pains, but he’s a good enough second baseman to think he’ll do just fine.
Torres will handle second base, with Trey Sweeney and Javier Báez splitting time at shortstop. Báez is moving a lot better now that he finally had the hip repaired, but he’s basically in second fiddle mode at this point, and has seen time at third base and even some center field this spring. The Tigers failed to sign Alex Bregman after holding out for him all offseason, and their backup plan was left-handed hitting prospect Jace Jung most days. Jung struggled again at the plate in camp and has been optioned to Triple-A for the time being. Right now it looks like Zach McKinstry and Andy Ibáñez will form a platoon at third base, with perhaps some Báez sprinkled in. That group is better than Jung defensively, but projects for below average production at the plate.
Overall the left side of the infield is the biggest long-term problem facing the Tigers and they did nothing to improve things despite making the postseason last year.
Behind the plate, the Tigers are in good shape with an elite defensive catcher in Jake Rogers, and an above average defensive catcher in Dillon Dingler, who also provides a little more offensive potential than Rogers, though he’s got to prove he can carry that into the major leagues.
The final spot on the roster appears to be filled by Spencer Torkelson. The wayward slugger and former 1-1 overall pick had another rough year in 2024, but has made some adjustments to his setup and worked to become more athletic in the batter’s box this offseason. So far, the results are promising and Torkelson seems likely to get a fair amount of reps in the designated hitter spot, with a little first base and perhaps some corner outfield work occasionally mixed in.
His chief competition is Justyn-Henry Malloy, who has also had a good camp at the plate and showed some pretty good work in his first looks at first base. Malloy is ostensibly a corner outfielder, but he’s still really raw out there so it’s hard to say if he’ll be serviceable or not.
When Vierling and then Meadows return, the roster will have to be restructured, and the Tigers need them both as quickly as possible. Vierling at least, should be back in April. For now, the Tigers will have to get by with stopgap measures, and hopefully lean into the offense a little more with either Torkelson or Malloy getting a shot to contribute on that front.
Our own Patrick O’ Kennedy has the full breakdown of the Tigers 2025 payroll, options, and service time all in one place for you right here.
Farm system and minor league depth
The Tigers’ farm system is currently ranked the best in baseball by MLB Pipeline, and both Baseball America and FanGraphs have them in the top three.
You can read our full report on the system, with links to full-length scouting reports on all 41 prospects in the Tigers’ system right here. You can find just about anything you want to know right there.
However, as good as the system is, most of the top prospects are still a year or two away. Top prospect Jackson Jobe, widely considered the top pitching prospect in baseball behind Japanese star Roki Sasaki, has already earned a spot in the Opening Day rotation.
Our seventh ranked Tigers’ prospect, infielder Jace Jung, didn’t have a good spring despite a wide open opportunity to seize the majority of reps at third base this spring. He’ll return to Toledo for round two and try to get his bat going.
Eighth ranked prospect Hao-Yu Lee is still only 22 years old, but tore the Eastern League apart last year as a very advanced 21-year-old. Lee can play a solid second base and a least a competent third base, but he’s young and needs more seasoning at both positions. He can hit though, and he’ll be starting his first tour of the Triple-A level this spring. There’s a decent chance he can help the Tigers out this summer.
Our ninth ranked prospect is Dillon Dingler, who has already earned the job as Jake Rogers backup. Dingler is a good defensive catcher well lauded for his leadershup ability. He also has really good power, though his bat needs to prove out at the major league level after a rough introduction late last season. If he hits, his power and quality defense will start to chip into Rogers playing time over the course of the season.
Finally, while our 12th ranked prospect, Trey Sweeney, has some real holes in his left-handed swing and can’t do much with southpaw pitchers, his defense at the shortstop position was very solid in 2024. He has solid plate discipline and power if he’s able to improve his pitch selection and get to more of it in his age 25 season this year.
Pitching prospects LHP Brant Hurter (11th ranked), RHP Ty Madden (14th ranked), and RHP Troy Melton (13th ranked), will all provide depth to the starting rotation and bullpen this season. Hurter already had a successful debut in a hybrid role last summer, and may earn the final spot in the bullpen to start the season as their second lefty should the Tigers decide not to take Andrew Chafin north with them initially.
Madden is more of a reliever, and is currently out with a strained rotator cuff. Melton throws high-90’s with a good riding fastball, a solid slider, and a plus changeup, but is just debuting at the Triple-A level this spring. He still needs to improve his command to start at the major league level, but he’s young and just needs more time. His power fastball may serve the Tigers better out of the bullpen this summer should reinforcements be required.
The one top prospect who might surprise everyone and reach the major leagues this year is 20-year-old SS Kevin McGonigle. Our second ranked Tigers prospect is one of the most precocious hitters in the minor leagues, and has proven to have above average raw power, contrary to draft day reports. He’s ultimately better suited to second base long-term, but he’s a fairly solid shortstop and has the ability to handle third base as well.
McGonigle barely got to High-A as a 19-year-old before a hamate fracture ended his season early last summer. He had absolutely torched A-ball pitching already and can handle the leap to Double-A without any issue. The Tigers may keep him in High-A to get some traction going, but he just needs to see more lefties and some better changeups to gain experience. It won’t be a surprise if he hits his way to Detroit this summer. He’s probably already one of their 10 best hitters, at a minimum.
Max Clark, Thayron Liranzo, and Josue Briceño all have more of a 2026-2027 ETA. 2024 first rounder Bryce Rainer didn’t play last summer after being drafted out of high school, but he’s been extremely impressive this spring. The 19-year-old shortstop with the huge throwing arm is just making his pro debut this spring, so he’ll need a few years, but he’s another very exciting prospect with power, hit tool, and strong defensive abilities.
In terms of non-prospects, the Tigers have infielders Ryan Kreidler, Eddys Leonard, and Andrew Navigato at the Triple-A level. Only Kreidler has a 40-man roster spot right now, however. Akil Baddoo is out with a hook fracture of the hamate bone in his hand, but should be available as outfield depth at some point in the first half. Bligh Madris and Jake Holton are decent first baseman at that level. Tomas Nido, a defensive specialist, figures to be the Tigers primary backup at the catcher position.
We’ve already mentioned the prospect pitchers, but Matt Manning is still kicking around at the Triple-A level and could help the rotation or bullpen in a pinch, perhaps. Relievers Sean Guenther, Tyler Owens, Chase Lee, RJ Petit, and Tyler Mattison are decent bets for relief help along the way as the latter four get more upper level seasoning. The left-handed Guenther did pretty good work for the Tigers in September/October last summer, and is the most prepared to contribute, presumably.
Coaching staff
Fortunately, the Tigers coaching staff remains intact. A.J. Hinch will lead the way in his fifth season as Tigers’ manager, coming off one of the more masterful managerial seasons we’ve ever witnessed. He finally has a roster he can win with, although it isn’t quite the monster roster we were hoping for entering the offseason.
Bench coach George Lombard returns in that role despite ongoing interest in him as a manager in his own right. He’ll also continue to coach the outfielders and control the team’s defensive positioning.
Head pitching coach Chris Fetter will likewise enter his fifth season with the Tigers. Fetter and his assistants, Dr. Robin Lund and Juan Nieves, have earned a reputation as one of the top coaching groups in the game.
Hitting coaches Keith Beauregard and Michael Brdar will also be back for their third seasons with the club. Assistant Lance Zawadzki will round out the hitting group.
Joey Cora returns as the infield instructor and third base coach. Anthony Iapoce will be back coaching first base, and Gary Jones will continue instructor the outfielder. Ryan Sienko rounds out the group as the team’s catching coach.
Outlook
No one really projected the Tigers to make the postseason last year, and they remain a longshot according to most prognostication this spring. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to make major upgrades to to their offense and will largely depend on the same group of hitters. Gleyber Torres should help, and the Tigers can look for a strong second season from Colt Keith, but with Parker Meadows out after tearing up the park down the stretch drive last season, they don’t look too much better than last year on paper. The same holds true defensively without Meadows and Vierling. It would help if Riley Greene and Kerry Carpenter both stay healthy and put up strong seasons. When those two are going well, the offense has a chance to be above average overall.
What they do have is one of the best pitching staffs in baseball, and much more quality depth than most clubs. They also have an elite manager with a strong coaching staff. They won’t be favorites to run away with the American League or even the division this season, but there really isn’t a dominant team right now. If the Tigers do their thing, the key players stay healthy, they can make some upgrades, either internally or through trades, over the course of the season, they should have as good a shot as anyone.
