MLB Expert Shares Perfect Free Agent Target for Detroit Tigers This Offseason

The Detroit Tigers are a team that many people are going to be keeping a close eye on during the upcoming offseason.

Given how strongly they finished the 2024 campaign, they should be looking to upgrade specific aspects of their roster. While their finish to the season was impressive, there are a few clear-cut needs.

Many people will look to the pitching staff as needing reinforcements. For the last few weeks, the only starting pitcher who consistently took the ball as more than an opener was likely Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal.

Injuries depleted the rotation after Jack Flaherty was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers ahead of the deadline. Better health would certainly help, but some reinforcements will be needed.

Alas, there are at least pieces the team can rely on and plug into the pitching staff. In the opinion of Bradford Doolittle of ESPN, the biggest need for the Tigers is adding a home run hitter to their lineup.

“A thumper. When you look at the Tigers’ positional array as it stood at the end of the season, it’s talented but especially really young at every spot. It’s an athletic group that can be augmented with midtier veterans to fill roster gaps and can grow together. Their top position prospect, outfielder Max Clark, has yet to hit the upper levels of the minors, so there’s more talent coming. Because Detroit has all of those young athletes to blanket the field, and young players tend to need less rest in the form of DH days, the Tigers could accommodate a pure, mashing DH more than most contending teams,” the MLB expert wrote.

The Detroit lineup provided a lot of positives down the stretch. When it was needed, the team came through with timely hitting.

But, the postseason showed just how badly this team needs a home run hitter. In seven playoff games, they scored only 21 runs.

Had it not been for some elite pitching, which showed cracks down the stretch against the Cleveland Guardians, they likely wouldn’t have made it as far as they did.

Who could the Tigers target to address that need? Doolittle offered a solution; Pete Alonso of the New York Mets.

“The Tigers also have a lot of cash to spend if they so choose, given their lack of committed money, and in theory a player like Pete Alonso embodies the kind of hitter we’re talking about. If that doesn’t work, it’s still a skill set the Tigers should pursue after finishing next-to-last in OBP and 22nd in slugging,” he wrote.

The slugging first baseman would be a huge addition to the Detroit lineup. While his numbers dropped off slightly in 2024 from previous seasons, he has still hit at least 34 home runs in every season of his career and is a four-time All-Star.