DECISION TIME: Detroit Tigers Set to SHAKE UP Roster—Who Will SURVIVE MLB Non Tender Deadline?
Today is the non-tender deadline in Major League Baseball and the Detroit Tigers have some big decisions to make. 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 Friday, November 21st, 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 everyone. Happy Friday. Hopefully, we send you off into your weekend with a nice show here. Today, we are going to discuss all things nontender deadline. We started this conversation yesterday and highlighted on all of the salary arbitration eligible players who may or may not be non-endered. Today we talk about really everybody. I mean we’ll bring up the players that are kind of in consideration for being non-endered that are arbitration eligible still. But today we kind of zoom out a little bit more and talk about all of the pre-arbitration eligible players as well where there might be a conversation surrounding them. Uh at the end of the show we’ll discuss uh well predictions for the non-tender deadline. We’ll also talk about the Tigers potential interest in Devin Williams as well as some comments that TK Scubble made on Thursday on his birthday, no less, about his current off season and all the rumors swirling. But let’s get into this non-tender deadline talk on Friday afternoon. All teams in Major League Baseball have to make decisions based on their players with fewer than six years of Major League service and whether they will bring them back for the 2026 season or not. The exception to that is if they are already under contract for the 2026 season. Allah Colt Keith for your Detroit Tigers not a part of this despite being technically he would be pre-arbitration at his point in his career. But, uh, the Tigers and Colt Keith, I guess, took a little bit of a gamble. Colt Keith took a gamble on not being able to make more than that at some point in years three through six and beyond. Uh, the Tigers take a gamble, you know, locking somebody up for five or six years before playing a Major League Baseball game. So, he is omitted from all of these conversations. Everyone else, though, in the thick of it. Now, I say in the thick of it because it sounded good. Uh, but not all of these guys are sweating this deadline. Okay, we talked yesterday like TK Scooble is going into his last year of arbitration obviously because he’s a free agent next season. Is TKO sweating making it through the non-tender deadline? Absolutely not. Okay. Obviously. So, we talked about those guys yesterday. Today, the pre-arbitration guys are anybody between either rookies this year, guys who have played one day of Major League Baseball and are on the 40man roster through ye well through year two, I guess, up until the guys that have played three years. Again, I don’t think the Tigers have any Super Two players on their roster this season. So, there’s a laundry list. That’s like most of the roster is pre-arbitration, guys. as is uh custom throughout most rosters. Maybe not the Dodgers, I guess, just because like of how many people they’ve paid and brought in, but like mostly everybody else. That that’s going to be a large portion, especially if you’re not a big market team of your roster. I’m not just going to list every single person, uh at least at once right now. We will talk about every single person, though. Uh the way I want to attack this is to break it up into groups. So, we’re going to have the locks that have absolutely nothing to like think about or or I guess worry about is the word for this deadline on Friday. Then we’ll gradually get into more and more likely. Okay, that that they get non-endered. That is the locks group is admittedly the biggest one as well. Uh these are the guys that will absolutely be brought back without any hesitation in any way, shape or form. Reese Olsen, Dylan Dingler, Brent Herder, Wincil Perez, Parker Meadows, Brennan Hannify, Jackson Job, Troy Melton, Kater Montero. Now all of those guys are different levels of uh like player and levels of production, right? Jackson Job is is probably not going to pitch at all in 2026, but obviously you’re not gonna like kick him out of the organization for that. Guys like Kater Montero, it’s a really good depth pitching option, but like there’s a real chance that he’s in Triple A. He still has options left that he’s in AAA on opening day, right? where as opposed to Ree Olsen might be your second best pitcher in 2026 for all we know and that’s obviously you know assuming health and all that. Dylan Dingler is a gold glove winner that is like a potentially all-star caliber catcher going forward. So, like that’s not to say that all these guys are the same talent level, but the thing that is important to remember is, and this even more so than the the guys we talked about yesterday, for the pre-ARB players, almost all of these guys, if they assuming they are tendered and brought back, are going to be making the major league minimum or even if they’re brought back like, you know, uh uh well, yeah, like they are almost certainly going to be making the major league minimum because they have no leverage in that conversation, right? They’re under team control and aren’t arbitration eligible. So yeah, you’re going to get whatever it is now in the most recent CBA 7 $800,000. So even if you are you you shouldn’t be comparing you know Dingler all the people on this list but like people are frustrated with Parker Meadows and are like oh like can he be the center fielder going forward? Should he be there? Like that that’s fine and there are serious questions. We’ve already talked about them on this show and we will talk about them going forward. But like for potentially less than a million dollars like yeah dude like they’re obviously going to take they’re obviously going to tender him and bring him back. It’s just then a question of do you trade him? Do you you know like make a decision with him later in the offseason. This is not guaranteeing that any of these guys are going to be prominent parts or even major leaguers on opening day but they will be brought back on the 40man roster and not just completely cut. So that is the first wave. Let’s get into the players that have a little bit more of a conversation attached to their names. We will do that right after this. First though, got to talk to you all about our friends over at game time. The NFL season is back and honestly, there’s nothing better than being in a stadium surrounded by fans cheering on your team. But let’s be honest, getting tickets can be a hassle. Between cues, login screens, and prices jumping at checkout, it’s frustrating. That’s why I use Game Time, the app that gives the advantage back to the fans. Game time is the fast, easy way, and it’s backed by the Game Time guarantee where you will always get 100% authentic authentic tickets delivered on time and at the best price. Plus, all fees are included. So, the price you see is actually the price you pay. I pulled up Game Time and in just a couple of taps, I saw amazing deals. I’m talking about your favorite NFL games, Lions games for as low as $100. The app is super simple. I could even see exactly my view from my seed before buying. So download the Game Time App Crate today. Create an account and use code lockdown MLB for $20 off of your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, that’s promo code Loc for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go. download game time today. All right, everybody. Welcome back here. Segment two, 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 will of course be back on Monday. We’ll be recapping the non-tender decisions on Friday afternoon and then obviously talking about any other news and notes that happen in baseball and in the Detroit Tigers organization from this upcoming weekend. So, we talked about the guys that there’s really not much of a conversation on. We spent a couple of minutes just reading off all the names, but all of these guys are going to be back and in some capacity, right? They’re not going to pass up these guys for major league minimums. The next person who’s kind of in a category all by himself. Okay, just com whatever this is category like if if the top guys are the S tier, this is like the A tier. It’s like okay, he he’s probably coming back. He’s almost assuredly coming back. But there is a little bit of nuance just because he’s the only person actually on this entire list that doesn’t have a minor league option going into 2026. And that is Jamai Jones. Now again, he did so well this past season and it’s going to be a a a major league minimum. I can’t fathom that they wouldn’t bring him back. The only reason he’s not in the absolute locks is again because he doesn’t have a minor league option next year. So, there is some sort of hailmary chance that the Tigers front office looks around and goes, you know what, he was great this year and maybe we can try and bring him back on like a minor league deal, which probably wouldn’t happen based on his level of production this year, but thinking out loud. But we know that he’s not going to make the major league team out of camp next year. Let’s not delay the inevitable a and see if we can just bring him back the rest of the off seasonason. Now, again, don’t think that’s gonna happen. I think he hit far too well and was far too productive this season to argue that, but that is something to keep in the back of your mind. Like, the Tigers won’t be able to keep him in spring training and then just send him down without clearing waiverss. Maybe they just do that on right before opening day and he clears and who cares. But again, just thinking out loud, I think he comes back. The next category is I was trying to think of a name for it. It’s like young players who obviously will be tendered but have struggled lately. And that is kind of a unique category where I have Trey Sweeney, Sawyer Gibson Long, and Justin Henry Malloy. Now again, don’t compare all those players to each other. Like certain players have struggled far more than others on that list. That’s not to say they’re all in the same level of production. That’s just to say that they are all guys that are going to be brought back. They will not be non-tendered, but if they weren’t, you’d be like, okay, like that has to be productionbased, right? Trey Sweeney had a really, really rough year in 2025. Now, something that I always say is an organization will tell you how they feel about a player if you just listen. Um, Trey Sweeney, despite his struggles, kept getting playing time. To the the frustration of many and to the headscratching of many, it did not matter. Uh, his his poor level of production did not affect his played appearances. Now, part of that is just the Tigers aren’t very deep at shortstop unless they were going to call up McGonagal, you know, straight from like high single A or double A halfway through the season. So, keep that in mind obviously. But like I really think the Tigers still I don’t want to say like believe in Trey Sweeney to the extent of like oh like he’s going to be an all-star, but I I do think that the Tigers still believe in Trey Sweeney enough where they’re kind of in the back of their mind like okay like we still think he could be a solid, you know, like maybe bench bat or or platoon Major League Baseball player. Now again, that doesn’t really matter. I bring that up for the sake of conversation and trying to contextualize this. In a vacuum, he is a young player and for a league minimum, the Tigers would are going to bring him back and then even if they decide not to later, they will do that then. They will do that later. Sawyer Gibson Long struggled but first year back from injury. Can’t imagine they give up on him. Justin Henry Mallaloy not going anywhere. The least likely of of these three guys I think. But even that like we’re splitting hairs. None of these guys are going to get non-tendered and I would be shocked if Justin Malloy is is obviously going to come back. Next up we have guys that have also struggled or been hurt. Jace Young and Ty Adden. I don’t know like that. I’m I’m really this these categories made sense in my head, but I am like a weirdo. Like it I don’t take any like massive grain of salt with all of these categories. Jace Young is again going to be brought back. I would be shocked if it was anything other if it was otherwise. If it was anything different. Just combined two sayings there. um but has just hit so poorly in his major league career uh and is 25, you know, next year will be 26 years old. Still has an option left. Like again, not going anywhere, going to be tendered, going to be brought back if he wasn’t. Um I I you know, I I don’t think I’d like gasp with shock, I guess, is my point. similar with Tai Madden, maybe more to an extent with Ty Madden just because A he’s a pitcher, b he’s been hurt a lot. You could maybe non- tender him and bring him back on a minor league contract. But those two guys are still young enough and still have options on their contract where that’s kind of like the silver lining with all these conversations is if you have a minor league option, why would we non-ender you? like you you can just get DFAD later in the off seasonason when the Tigers do sign a free agent or make a trade or something and then like if need be and if not then you just get right like why force it. So, that’s kind of the why force it category, I guess. Wh why why push it uh for those two guys. And then the rest are guys that I think actually have somewhat of a chance of being non-endered. That could be 5%, that could be 50%. Bay Horn, Drew Summers, Chase Lee, and Dylan Smith. kind of all the same conversation over and over again now that I’m seeing all their names on uh you know my screen here next to each other like they’re just relievers that have either bounced around to different teams or are just like young right Dylan Smith came up through the system Dylan Smith has been hurt for the better part of his entire professional baseball career right like there’s a real chance that the Tigers just go you know what we’re going to non tend to you we’ll bring you back on a minor league deal but we’re not going to take up a ro a 40man roster spot for a I that has been hurt literally every year of his professional career since being drafted out of Alabama. Loved him at Alabama. Loved that the Tigers got him. Loved Dylan Smith. Hope that he can stay healthy, but we we can’t ignore it either. Chase Lee kind of burst onto the scene a little bit this year. Did well against righties. Still did not have great numbers. a guy that I think they could very easily convince themselves they could non- tender and bring back on a minor league deal. Drew Summers, same conversation. Bayy Horn, same conversation. Now, Bailey Horn, they I mean clearly wanted he was like picked up off waiverss and then was DFAD and then was claimed by another team and then was traded back and like all like just clearly they they prioritize Bailey Horn a little bit. So, um maybe he sticks around. He’s also a lefty that throws hard. So m maybe that’s not a guy that they’re going to risk losing. But uh all these other guys and like with anybody on this list, you can non-ender them and then just sign them back on a minor league deal as long as they’re not signed back to the 40man roster. And that might happen with anybody on this list. My final prediction is very antilimactic. It’s just going to be Andy and Drew Summers. Now Drew Summers is kind of like pick a name out of a hat. I think it’s Andy Abanz and one of those four names I said at the end. Maybe even get Bayiley Horn out of here and it’s just like one of Summer’s leader Smith. Maybe it’s Dylan Smith just because of the injury history. Um, but the important thing to remember and we’ll finally stop talking about this after I bring this up, okay? I promise. The important thing to remember is that their 40man roster is at 40. So for all of these guys we talked about today that are on league minimum contracts if they are tendered or brought back you can just bring them back and then if you like I said earlier if you do bring in somebody you sign a free agent you you make a trade where you get more people on the 40man than you’re giving up then you just DFA them or put them on waiverss when that happens they don’t have to do anything but they will especially for the arbitration guys because they are making more than league minimum of money if they are tendered and brought back which is why I think ultimately Andy Aubanz gets non-endered and we end the Andy Ianz experience with the Detroit Tigers. Bo Briski is certainly a big candidate as we talked about yesterday as well just because of the injury history. Lynn Henning said, “Matt Beerling, I would be stunned.” But he again has has been covering this game longer than I’ve been alive. And uh again then with the relievers at the bottom, I think maybe there’s just an argument that you can free up a 40man spot and still bring him back. So why wouldn’t you do it? Also on Thursday, Trick Scooel, his birthday went on Fowl Territory. Great show. Also Tigers Territory. same like umbrella all under that with Cody Stavenhagen and Kieran and and they just do a fantastic job over there. So, always want to make sure to plug our great beat writers and great other Tigers media personnel uh over there. They run a great program. Um but uh Teruba on Fowl Territory, the national show. A lot of former MLB players on there. Another great show. Go check it out if you never have. and uh it just was like kind of shooting the stuff a little bit about his status. I guess we’ll say um my favorite quote is TK school said that when he was um when he opens social media and sees like hypothetical trades and stuff that his quote was, “It’s not like I want to be traded, so why am I a part of these conversations?” Um yeah, kind of fair. Also, trades, as he mentioned as well, are out of the players control, right? Like that’s kind of completely up to the front office unless you have a no trade clause. So, um, we’ll see what happens. I mean, as I always say, like I don’t think he’s going to get traded. I think it’s actually speaking of that, another thing I have written down here, uh, John Haymon says that he thinks it’s doubtful the Tigers trade TKO. Yeah, I I I agree. Um, I I think it’s ultimately still unlikely that the Tigers would move him. I also think it’s unlikely the Tigers extend him. I I think the very clear clubhouse leader in terms of odds and all the different paths that there are is, as I’ve been saying for, you know, four months now, is that they’re just going to hold on to him, play out the last year, and then he’s going to walk next year. Couple more things I want to point out involving TK Scubble. Then we’ll move on to some Tigers rumors and news and notes. We’ll do that right after this. First though, going to talk to you all about our friends over at FanDuel. The NBA is back and there’s no better place 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 at a bigger payout. It keeps every game exciting, especially when your team is making the late push. So, right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So head to fanuel.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. Third and final segment of Locked on Tigers. Appreciate you all for tuning in as always. Um, only other thing I want to bring up with Terk Scubble, aside from just, you know, happy belated here, is Jeff Passen said in an article earlier this week that he doesn’t believe based on his sources, which are obviously everybody’s sources are different, that the gap is as big as those reports earlier in the offseason about like a $250 million gap or whatever. um kind of alluded to that when the reports came out. Um, not that I have any sources or that anybody tells me anything, but I I think that those numbers, especially the one that John Haymon used, were based on the Tigers offer from the 2024 off season. Not like the Tigers, you know, last week offered him 80 mil. Obviously, that would be preposterous. Heymon looked at the offer the Tigers had in the 2024 calendar year and then looked at, oh, well, he’s asking for 400 mil or 350 mil or whatever the other report is, and went, wow, the difference between those two numbers is over $200 million. It’s not necessarily how that works. Um and and Terrick Scuba even said as much on foul territory. He said, “I’m not even sure where these numbers come from sometimes.” So take all of that with a massive grain of salt as we always say on this show. Okay, I think that’s it. The only other thing I want to bring up with school before we move on here is uh there’s been a few reports that the Tigers may piggybacking off the conversation we just have or just had, uh they may make one more really big offer before the start of the season. Um, I I think you know it’s it’s not as fluid as like MLB the show where you’re just like, “Oh, I’m just going to spam a bunch of different offers until like the interest bar is at its highest.” Like, you know what I mean? Like, you can’t do that. You gota, you know, you you officially submit an offer, it is taken into consideration, you reject it or counter, whatever. Um, so I I’m sure that they’ve been talking numbers all off season, but um, we’ve yet to hear of an official offer from the Tigers since last off season. So presumably we are in for another one of those before opening day, which makes sense. Obviously the the Tigers, that would be in their best interest to do so. Other rumors surrounding the Tigers, the only one I want to bring up today is that MLB Trade Rumors uh put a piece out there stating that the Detroit Tigers had interest in Devin Williams. Listed three teams and the Tigers were one of them. Um we talked about that earlier in the offseason on here as well. I love it. I absolutely love it. But 29 other teams, 28, the Yankees probably aren’t really chomping at the bid to bring him back. 28 other teams are probably saying the same thing. Everybody that’s not the Yankees is looking at his profile and looking at the swing and miss that he very much still has in an uber elite clip and going, “You know what? If we can get him out of Yankee Stadium or just limit the home runs, we can get him back to like the 18 erra he was rocking before his Yankees tenure. Now, because of that, I I I don’t really think that his poor year this year is going to push away teams from making a big offer. I I really don’t. Um, I think that he’s probably still going to get a a pretty hefty deal, multi-year if he wants it, and can be one of the highest paid relievers in baseball, even despite a 47 RA this past season. Like, that’s how good his profile still is. That’s how good he and and consistent his swing and miss still is. um and and that’s what all of his advanced like numbers and and kind of metrics allude to. So will be something to keep an eye on. I don’t think the Tigers are a team that’s are going to like drop a bag on a reliever. Um they just don’t strike me as that type of front office. But I’ve been wrong before and I’ll be wrong again. Maybe this is the exception to that rule just given the profile that is on the market. Um, you don’t see too many super high leverage, again outside of one season, really good pitchers that are available like that. And he’s still at a at a pretty relatively young age as well, around 30 years old. So, um, we’ll keep tabs on it. I love it. I’d be all for it. I think the pretty penny that it would cost you is still worth the upside and worth the risk, but um, we’ll see. Thanks, Megan Lockdown. Tigers, your first listen every single day. Shout out to the everydayers that do tune in every day. And we will, of course, be back on Monday. We’ll recap the non-tender decisions that we uh talked about at Nauseium over the last two episodes. So, if you’re tired of that, we’ll obviously uh uh move on from the non-tender conversations, too. Uh we’ll talk about the decisions made. We’ll talk then about any other news and notes that come out of the weekend, as well. Peace and love. Going to therapy is dope. I’ll catch you on Monday, baby. Go Tigers.
Detroit Tigers face pivotal decisions at MLB’s non-tender deadline—could Andy Ibáñez and key relievers be on the chopping block? Will Tarek Skubal stay in the Motor City, or is a blockbuster trade or massive extension looming?
Scott Bentley reviews the Tigers’ arbitration-eligible and pre-arb roster, spotlighting Reese Olson, Parker Meadows, and Jamai Jones while debating which young players may struggle to retain their spots. Insights include analysis of injury-prone pitchers Bo Brieske and Dylan Smith, prospect performance, and the potential for tender/trade strategies. Plus, hear the latest on Detroit’s rumored interest in reliever Devin Williams and how Skubal’s candid remarks shed light on contract negotiations and swirling rumors.
Are the Tigers prepping for a new era or risking roster stagnation? Don’t miss this comprehensive breakdown of Detroit’s offseason moves and upcoming challenges.
00:00 MLB Teams Face 2026 Decisions
03:55 “Breaking Down Roster Non-Tenders”
06:44 Player Decisions: Roster and Trade
09:55 “Jamai Jones’ Uncertain Return”
15:02 “Player Decisions and Tender Options”
18:18 Tigers’ Roster Decisions Explained
22:44 “Tigers, Skubal, NBA Bet Update”
25:50 Tigers Rumored Interest in Williams
28:08 “Locked On Tigers Recap”
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