Detroit Tigers Early Off-Season Rumors: Bregman, Bellinger, Duran, Skubal, & More!
The World Series is not even over yet, and the Tigers rumor mill is already swirling. We’re going to talk about those rumors, address them, and discuss how legitimate some of them may or may not be. All today on Locked on Tigers. You are Locked On Tigers, your daily Detroit Tigers podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. What is up everybody? Welcome back to another edition of Locked On Tigers. I’m of course your host, Scott Bentley. Today is Monday, October 27th, 2025. Thank you so much for making Locked On Tigers your first listen every single day. We are free and available wherever you get your podcasts. including YouTube, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every single day. Today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code lockdown MLB for $20 off of your first purchase. Welcome in. Welcome all. Happy Monday, everybody. Hope you all had a fantastic weekend. The Detroit Tigers obviously did not play this weekend. The World Series underway. We have a uh at the time of this recording a one World Series. Hopefully it stays close and uh yeah, should be a good one. It’s been very entertaining so far. You had an uh you know, incredible pitching performance in game two. You had kind of the the Blue Jays offensive explosion in game one. So, a lot of good storylines so far. Speaking of storylines, we are going to talk about the biggest storylines surrounding your Detroit Tigers already. I it’s it’s like I said, October 27th and there is already a a plethora, if you will, of rumors surrounding the Tigers organization and the World Series isn’t even over yet. So, we are going to just address the biggest rumors up to this point. Now, there’s a little bit of an asterisk in there. Um, Trick Scooble is you. We could have like a fiveh hour episode just on every single mock trade and rumor in regards to Scooble. So that like we’re not we’re not going to I’m not doing every single mock trade I’ve seen on Ter Scubble. We’d be here for the entire week and it would have to be like this, you know, 300 straight hour episode. So we won’t go fully in depth on that. But there is a lot of other stuff. there’s a lot of, you know, reported interest the Tigers have in certain players that are free agents that are maybe on the trade market. Um, and I I think that it’s important with, again, I know it’s late October, but the off season is right around the corner, kind of like what we talked about on Friday, and we’ll have a ton of shows like this throughout the off season as well, especially during GM and winter meetings. Um, like this is not the only time we will just talk, you know, hey, like what are we hearing? What are the rumors? We’ll do honestly like we could probably have a weekly show dedicated to that. Um but we will certainly do it ahead of you know GM and winter meetings and those busy weeks as well. So this is not just like a oneanddone type of conversation. Um but yeah, we have a lot of deadlines and and stuff to talk about when the season does end. So I think it’s again similar to Friday important to get out in front of some of these conversations. Um, in regards to Scooble, just so we could put a bow on it and move on and go on to, you know, I I was going to say bigger and better things, but neither of those are true. Um, I I’ll say this, okay, this will be the one thing I I I I say on the matter in this episode at least. You know, we’ll talk about it a billion other times, I’m sure. You are going to have to give up something significant. Okay, th this I’m so tired of reading these mock trades and looking at these rumors of organizations out there that that literally just do not have the assets to make a scoo trade happen. Like your bottom of the lineup bat that you don’t want anyways and your fan base is trying to actively trade is like not going to be the centerpiece for a Trick Scooble trade, dude. Like, I’m sorry. And I I think the biggest component of that is Scott Harris has stood pat multiple times just in, you know, the three, four years he’s been here on players that probably should have been traded. But if the value isn’t there, the value isn’t there. And he’s not going to force something just to do it. especially when not trading Scooble just gets you arguably the best pitcher on the planet for 2026. So that’s all I want to say on that is like I’m I’m very tired of the, you know, Miguel Andrew Hart and Clint Frasier mock like style mock trades where it’s like here’s, you know, a bunch of guys that we don’t really want anyway. Surely that’ll land us TK. Like no man, that’s it’s going to take a lot a lot a lot. Um, okay. Let’s start with Well, we started with Ter, but let’s move on to Jiren Durant. Uh, Jim Bowen of the Athletic. we’ve referenced him already a few times in this uh postseason and Tigers off season says that Jiren Durant is a potential fit for the Detroit Tigers and the Tigers would I think the quote was would love to add him or like have interest in him at a minimum. Uh this would be another left-handed hitting outfielder. He has some really good defensive seasons. He also has some like not great defensive seasons to be honest with you, but like he he has proven I I think with the speed and you know history that he can play a plus defensive outfield. He also can play center field and and he’s been mostly playing corner outfield for Boston, but I I think lately especially that’s more just because they have Raphaela who’s one of the best defensive center fielders literally in the entire sport. Um, so there’s no need for Duran to play center field there, at least in the current iteration of the Boston Red Sox. He’s got a really good arm. He’s really fast, like I said. Uh, steals a lot of bases. Uh, hits, you know, a lot of triples, right? Like has all the stuff that indicates a lot of speed. Top nine or 10% in baseball just in, you know, sprint speed measured. Um, so I I mean in terms of the Tigers reported interest, like I guess I I guess if you want to acquire him and put him in center field or have a a Durant in and green like corner outfield, I guess, and and Meadows or, you know, Clark, whatever ends up happening in center field happens. And then Carpenter and Wio Perez are like the the the DH’s, I guess. I don’t know, man. I I it would make the team slightly better. I just I think the fit here is really weird and I I have a really hard time believing that this is like serious interest because of that. Um he he’s another lefty outfielder which you already have six billion of. He also has whiffed at a pretty high rate throughout his career and and was in the bottom fifth in baseball in whiff rate in and when I say bottom I I mean highest like bottom in terms of like not a good number. Um, so was in the top 20% in the league in highest whiff rate in 2025 and was well below league average in K rate. And again, my wording, below league average. I should probably say well above league average. Well below in terms of percentile, well above in terms of just the number that is strikeout rate. Um, so I like if if I I’ll just bear with me here. If you can get him for relatively cheap, fine. But I think in general, it’s a weird fit, and I’m not sure how much I believe it. Um, if he was a right-handed hitter, I think it would be a lot different. Uh, but he’s a lefty. A and he’s not a lefty that like, oh, it, you know, isn’t a platoon guy, but he’s a lefty. No, he’s a lefty that had like a 600 OPS against left-handed pitching this year. Like, he he doesn’t hit lefties. And even last year in 2024 when he had his fantastic amazing burst onto the scene like all-star caliber season um he didn’t hit lefty had like a 650 or 640 ops against lefties. Like he still didn’t hit them very well even at his best. So um and I the reason I said I’d come back to this I I said if you can get him for relatively cheap fine, you won’t. Uh the Red Sox want a lot because he’s put up uh back-toback pretty solid seasons and nothing is going to come close to his 2024, which was just outstanding. But took a step back this year, had a sub 800 OPS, and the Red Sox are going to want a lot because he’s under team control for the next like three years still at 29 years old. Um, like you’re essentially just getting him for his prime years for very little cost. So, um, like I I just I don’t think there’s a fit here. The Red Sox want a lot. The Tigers aren’t going to make him the centerpiece of a Terk Scooble trade. Like the the the Tigers aren’t trading Terrick Scooble for Jiren Durant. Like that that’s not going to be the biggest asset they get in return. That that’s that’s like preposterous. So I I I just I don’t see it. I I I really don’t see the this lining up. Um, yeah. I mean, unless the Tigers are willing to to dip into the farm system to bring in a guy that really just plays a similar style to all the outfielders they already have, I I I don’t know. He would improve on the base paths. He would improve the speed, the stolen bases that I told you about. Um, he would make the team better. I’m not trying to say like this dude sucks. He He’s He’s a very good baseball player that just put up like a a four win season this year. like had a very solid season, was incredible in 2024. He would make the Tigers better. And if they did acquire him, I would not be upset. Um I I just I don’t think there’s a that this lines up in terms of value between the two organizations. That’s all. Okay, let’s talk about a lot of other rumors that we have. We’ll do that right after this. First though, got to talk to you about our friends over at FanDuel. The NBA is so unbelievably back and there’s no better way to get in on the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you miss the start of a game or want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot of a bigger payout. It keeps every game exciting, especially when your team is making the late push. Right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So, head to fanduel.com to sign up today and play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. All right, everybody. Welcome back here segment two of Locked On Tigers. Appreciate you all for tuning in as always, making us your first listen every single day. Shout out to the everydayers that do tune in every day and we of course will be back tomorrow as we continue our offseason conversations. Today we talk about the biggest rumors that we have already seen before the end of the World Series even. We’ve talked about Terk Scubble a little bit. We’ve talked about Jiren Duran. Let’s talk about Freddy Peralta. Jim Bowen of the Athletic yet again put out a piece of the 10 most likely stars to be traded and Duran was in there mentioned the Tigers. Freddy Peralta was also in there and the Tigers were mentioned in his write up as well. This one is also weird to me. I’m not going to lie to you. Uh, we’re we’re we’re we’re we’re two rumors in and I I’ve done nothing but just say how weird I I think the fit is. Freddy Peralta had an incredible season and legitimately to me he’s one of my favorite pitchers to watch in all of baseball. I absolutely adore Freddy Peralta. One of my favorite non-tigers out there. Um, and he has some of the best stuff in all of the major leagues. Legitimately, it’s disgusting. fastball Freddy yet has an absolutely diabolical curveball. Really good off speed. He’s incredible. Okay. Had like a 275 274 erra in 2025. Um and the Brewers have a history of just trading away their aces with a year left of control. And for Peralta, who I mean, three years ago was like the number three or four in that rotation, now is just the bonafide ace that everyone has kind of known he had the potential of being since he was a rookie and has really taken that leap. So, u the reason why this one’s weird to me is certainly not because of the player. He’s fantastic and if he was ever a Detroit Tiger, I would cry of happiness. It it it just the the optics of this are weird. So, you’re telling me that that the Tigers are going to trade their homegrown superstar, best pitcher in baseball, starting pitcher, and and and you’re going to going to trade him away, and then you’re going to give up assets in your system for a less productive starting pitcher. And what? Extend him. That feels really weird optically to be like, “Yeah, we we uh we know Freddy Peralta like has never been as good as TK Scubble and will never be.” I mean, I probably shouldn’t say that. Likely will never put up a season similar to what Scooble did. I guess it’s possible. Again, he’s he’s fantastic and has incredible stuff, but he has never come close to putting up a caliber of season that Scooble did. We’re going to not only give up minor league players to bring him in. That would have to be really good because Freddy Peralta is really good. We’re also then going to spend the money we didn’t spend on Scooville and extend Freddy Peralta. That just feels really like that doesn’t line up to me in my head. um or or you’re going to trade for another starting pitcher, extend him while Scooble is still on the roster and then let Scooble walk for nothing, but you’re going to extend Fred Ro. So, so basically the sentiment you’d be setting out in that case is sorry TK, you’re actually too good for us to extend. We want someone who’s been a little bit less productive than you because that is more in our price range. That feels ridiculous to me that that is just so absurd and not going to happen. So I I again I cannot stress enough I would welcome Freddy Peralta with tears in my eyes. Okay, he’s legitimately in I mean as far as I’m concerned one of the best starting pitchers that this sport has to offer. Legitimately I he’s 29 years old. I think he has uh a lot of really solid years left ahead ahead of him. A and he improves this team and rotation instantly. But the only way I see this making even a lick of sense is if you were to trade Scoo, get a crazy return, then trade for Peralta, you’d still walk out of that like situation in the green presumably in terms of like assets received. And then you extend Freddy for less than you would have had to pay Scooble and you still have an ace and you still I mean hopefully again made out in the green in terms of like assets received a and that’s that that’s a that’s like a pipe dream scenario like that that there’s so many ifs involved with that. I just I I really don’t see this happening, but I’ve been wrong so many times in my life, and I will be wrong so many more times in my life, and that’s the beautiful fun thing about the game of baseball. So, we’ll see what happens there. Uh Bregman, I don’t even want to spend too much time on this. Uh Mark Feinand of MLB.com put out an article of the 30 biggest offseason uh like free agent targets and teams that he’s hearing or thinks could be a potential fit. Obviously the Tigers are going to be in every Bregman rumor from now until he signs with any team. Um this is another one again that’s just going to be constant all year. Um so we don’t have to go super in-depth on it. Third base, a position of need for Detroit. He’s a good defender, something that the Tigers front office likes. He doesn’t strike out, something that this team wants to get better at. He doesn’t swing and miss, something that this team wants to get better at. He does walk, something that this team wants everybody in their lineup to emulate. And they literally had interest in him last year, and this year he might be cheaper. They’re going to have interest. I know some people, again, like I, as I always say, I read my own comments. I I’m I I’d like to think I’m I’m relatively in tune with what the fan base is feeling just like with the people I follow on social media and stuff. There are some people that are like, I don’t even want to go through the Bregman thing again. I get that. Okay. I I really do. And if they’re offering him the same contract they offered him last year, I’d probably be a little offput by that. But again, I if if you think there’s a chance that he could be of cheaper value than he was a year ago, then you would be foolish not to. again, at least kick the tires. I’m not saying you got to go all out and guarantee him on the team and, you know, in in 2026, you’re going to suck unless Bregman’s at third. I I think that’s a little extreme on the flip side. Um, but but they’re they’re they’re going to call and and they’re going to see what the price tag inevitably is going to end up being. Bob Bashett, this one is really fascinating to me. Mark Feinand uh again MLB.com in his article said the Tigers could be a potential fit in his eyes for Bo Bashette. We started this conversation a little bit last week. We kind of threw Bashett’s name out there and and it wouldn’t shock me if this continued a little bit throughout the off season. It it it’s this one’s a weird one because it might not be the biggest like positional need on the team. However, it’s certainly not a strength either, right? like they haven’t had a a good offensive season from a shortstop since like I don’t even know when. Jose Glaciius maybe. And even that like he had no power when he was here. That was you know 280 of of singles and no walks hitting nine. So I I mean Bob Bashette is something that also in terms of what the lineup needs and what you want to to bring in certainly fits some of those bills as well. He he doesn’t walk a whole lot, which I I guess maybe in a perfect world you’d like him to walk a little bit more, but actually had decent walk numbers this year when he was healthy. Um, but this guy puts the bat on the ball, you know, is a is a guy that’s going to be, you know, over the course of a season. He’s going to be relatively high up there in batting average in the American League. I I mean, honestly, is going to have with his approach probably one of the highest batting averages in the American League, assuming his health any given year. um and doesn’t swing and miss a whole lot. The reason why I think the Tigers might be hesitant to pursue him is he is a horrible defender. Like I I I would love to add this to my lineup, but but I mean honestly I I I have serious doubts and concerns about putting Bette at shortstop, especially if they were to get him in free agency. That would be a long-term deal, dude. like I he’s been a a pretty brutal defender like for almost all of his Major League Baseball career. There’s only like a a couple of months here and there where he’s graded out as anything but a a massive negative defensively. So, I I think the only way the Tigers really go after him is if they’re confident he can play second or third base long term. Um, I I I don’t see them ponying up the money necessary to outbid other teams and bring him in to keep him at shortstop. And other teams probably, well, I shouldn’t even say probably might. There might be teams out there that are more comfortable with him sticking at short, but he he’s only what 27 28 and he’s already like literally graded out as one of the worst defenders in baseball this year at arguably one of the most important positions on the entire diamond. So, I mean, you would think that as he gets older that that’s only going to, you know, he’s only going to uh decline in that area. I don’t know. I but again maybe the Tigers have interest and they have interest of getting him longterm and not putting him at the shortstop position. Um but then we’re just back to the start of the conversation which is what role is he filling? Um I if he’s at second then Colt Keith is going to probably get moved over to third. If he’s at third then Colt Keith plays second. But does he have is he good enough defender to that you’re comfortable with him putting playing third? Again, I I think the fit might be weird, but as I’ve said with all these, he he would make the team better pretty much instantly a and the lineup certainly would would get better right away. So, I wouldn’t be mad at it. Let’s talk Cody Bellinger and a few more rumors. We’ll do that right after this. First though, got to talk to you about our friends over at game time. NFL is also back uh with the NBA. And honestly, there’s nothing better than being in the stadium surrounded by fans cheering on your team. 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Third and final segment of Lockdown Tigers. Appreciate you all for tuning in as always. Uh let’s talk Cody Bellinger, Mark Feinand yet again in his uh because we’re mostly referencing that one because it was 30 players uh the article. So go be sure to check that out. You can read that, you know, talks Schwarber, talks all the biggest names in the off season. Um Bellinger also ties into what we talked about Friday really well. Um because it it basically just begs the question, how much of a priority is center field for the Detroit Tigers this winter? Would you rather pony up the money, the big price tag that Bellinger is going to cost, and have him be your center fielder, another lefty, but like it’s Cody Bellinger, he’s good. Or would you rather just use Parker Meadows for the first six to eight weeks, see if he can hit? If he does, then you just keep him the rest of the year. And if he doesn’t, then you give Max Clark an opportunity to take the reigns in center field, you know, a third or halfway through the season. Bellinger certainly makes this team better. Yet again, copy and paste. I just think Detroit might have higher priorities than center field, especially when it comes to forking over the big price tag that will be attached to Cody Bellinger’s name. Um, one that I I really like and found interesting was Devin Williams, the reliever this past year for the New York Yankees. Mark Feinand yet again. I I like this one a lot, man. I He has some of the best stuff in baseball. His strikeout rate and whiff rate is elite. Like genuinely one of the two or or one even highest percentage of relief pitchers in baseball. This year was a disaster for him. Okay, I’m not trying to tell you anything differently. There is no denying that. But even if or even in rather the off year that he had this year, he still racked up strikeouts, racked up swing and miss at an elite rate. Like legitimately one of the highest rates in all of baseball despite all the struggles he had. So my thought is maybe the value in him has dipped. Now maybe it hasn’t. Maybe everybody looks around and goes, “Okay, this guy still has a ton of strikeouts, short porch, you know, one season sample size. He he had a sub two erra like the three years leading up to that. He’s only 31 years old. Forget it. This guy’s still really good and his value doesn’t dip at all. Maybe that’s true. Um but there there’s a chance at least that after a 47 ERA season, the value maybe isn’t what it was a year ago. Um or or what we thought it was going to be a year ago. This is just a risk I am extremely willing to take. Um, now like that that doesn’t mean pay him $20 million a year, okay? Like that doesn’t mean making the highest paid reliever in baseball to bring him in, but he he’s 31 and has been one of the best relievers in baseball for most of his career. And relief pitching is just so volatile, man. It’s just it’s up and down, left and right. It’s just it is so hard to predict year to year. And uh I I’ll I’ll take one of the best swing and miss artists in baseball in this Tigers bullpen that desperately needs it even despite you know staring down the struggles he had last year uh right in the eye. I I I really wouldn’t budge on that. Okay, that that’s pretty much the biggest stuff. Again, there’s a billion TKO, you know, rumors and and news and notes and stuff. So, um, and as I also said at the beginning of the show, we will do, you know, rumors stuff. Anytime we have enough rumors and speculation out there and reports to fill 30 minutes with them, we will do that because that is what this off season is literally all about is just talking about things that could happen until they do. So, we will be on top of all that. This will certainly be far from the last time we have an episode that looks like this throughout the winter. Um, stuff. Just a couple of uh quick things to end the show on. Riley Green and Zack McKinstry both nominated for Silver Slugger Awards. Riley Green in the outfield. Zack McKinstry in utility. Um, I I Yeah, I mean it makes sense that both of them are on there. Riley Green over 110 RBI’s, 30 home runs despite all the strikeouts. He’s going to make that list. Zack McKinstry, all-star first half utility player, gonna make that list. Um we we’ll see if either of them or both of them uh come home with said awards. Um TK Scubble announced the Sporting News All-Star pitcher for the American League. Um Sporting News, they only choose one pitcher at each position. So the fact that TKO won I think is is an indication of the fact that he is in line to win his second consecutive Sai Young award. So congrats to Scubble. Hopefully we’ll be here for many more of those. But obviously as we all know that’s uh a big point of tension in the offseason. The last thing I want to bring up is another coaching change organizationally. Andrew Graham the DA manager for the Eerie Seaw Wolves will not return. This is a really surprising one to me. Um I I actually like polar opposite of what I thought was going to happen. I thought Graham had a chance to be the first base coach at the major league level with Ayapoce leaving. So um yeah, this one’s kind of a surprise to me. The Eerie Seawolves made the playoffs this year. Um he took over Graham. I mean, he’s been a part of the Tigers organization for a while and took over this past year after Erie had, you know, a fantastic, you know, championship caliber season in 2024. Um, so yeah, I mean, I I I I think it’s a little surprising to me. Lynn Henning of the Detroit News also reporting that a handful of other coaches will not be returning. Um, Ali Cadet, pitching coach of the Lakeland Flying Tigers, Jeff Branson, who is a minor league hitting instructor. Um, Tim Garland, who is a minor league outfield coach, and Angel Baroa, a Tigers infield coordinator in Latin America. All will also not be returning in 2025. Again, that’s the great Lynn Henning over at the Detroit News, who’s been doing this longer than I have been alive. So, we’re going to take his word on all of that. Also reported the Andrew Graham thing. At least that was the first thing I the first person I saw bring that up. So, we’ll see. There’s going to be some holes to fill. Um, outside of, you know, I oppose and Graham, there’s not a ton of of massive holes to fill, but uh we still have not even gotten official confirmation that everybody else will be back at that. So, we’ll keep an eye on all that here and we’ll be back tomorrow. Thanks for making Lockdown Tigers your first listen every single day. Shout out to the every day that do tune in every day. And we will of course be back on Tuesday. Peace and love. Going to therapy’s dope. And I’ll catch you all tomorrow, baby. Go Tigers.
Today we discuss the Detroit Tigers news and rumors early in the offseason. We talk Devin Williams, Tarik Skubal, Jarren Duran, Cody Bellinger, Alex Bregman, and more!
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2 comments
Did we trade Skubal yet?
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