Detroit Tigers Offseason Officially Begins

Detroit Tigers Offseason Officially Begins

The MLB off season is officially underway. We’ll talk about that and what the Tigers winter could look like 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, November 3rd, 2025. Thank you so much for making Lockdown 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 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. Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend. Unfortunate Lions loss on Sunday. Um, I’m recording this before the Wings play, the Sharks. Hopefully, they don’t completely fall apart like they did against the Ducks. Just not a Michigan State got crushed. Michigan looked terrible. ju just not a a great sports weekend for the city. Um, shout out the Detroit Pistons, man. Shout out the Stones. In baseball world, Pistons in Mexico, by the way, get a big win. Very cool. Um, in baseball, the World Series concluded this weekend as the Los Angeles Dodgers are World Series champs for the second year in a row, the first time since the Yankees repeated back at the end of the 90s that we have had a back-to-back World Series champion. That means obviously that the MLB off season has officially kicked off. Another season in the books. Today we’re going to discuss the Tigers I I guess we’ll call it off seasonason calendar a little bit, but we’ll like dissect all of the important uh deadlines and dates and things to know throughout the off season and what each of those could look like for your Detroit Tigers. So, we’re going to start off by talking about the well first thing on the docket chronologically, which is that expiring contracts and and players that are set to be free agents are now free agents. They are off the roster. They are not a part of the Tigers organization effective immediately following the World Series. So, Alex Cobb, Glabber Torres, Tommy Canley, Kyle Finnegan, Chris Paddock, and Raphael Monto are all free agents and not on the Tigers 40man roster any longer. Now, 5 days after the conclusion of the World Series, which is going to be November 6th, uh I think that’s what, Thursday. My calendar’s not in here anymore. It I moved it to the other room in my move. Look at that. I’m pretty sure it’s Thursday, though. Um, that will be when other teams are now allowed to start signing and offering contracts and negotiating with free agents. So, you have a few days, five days following the World Series where the Tigers are the only team that can discuss uh ressigning any of these guys and uh even though they’re not on the roster. um of that group who could be back. Cobb I I I really think is retiring and even if he isn’t, he’s certainly not going to be back in the Tigers organization. Tommy Canley, I can’t imagine the Tigers are going to resign. Chris Paddock, I I I don’t think there’s any way the Tigers are ressigning. So that leaves Kyle Finnegan, Glabber Monto, Glabber Torres, and Raphael Montero. I have Finnegan, Glabber Montero written on my show sheet, so I just made Glabber Montero his name, apparently. Um, Raphael Montero is interesting. I I could see them just throwing him like a one-year deal or if his market isn’t very good, maybe even giving him like a minor league deal. Um, just depend like for depth purposes. I I mean, he was like serviceable for the Tigers. He gets swings and misses to an extent. I I think odds are are greater that he’s out of the organization and that he finds a job somewhere else, but it wouldn’t totally shock me if the Tigers just threw him a very expendable one-year deal that doesn’t lock them up or like he has to be in the majors all of next season, but like is under contract to an extent. Glaver we’ve talked about a lot. We don’t have to go too much more in depth on that. I don’t think he’s back. Um but uh I don’t think he’s back. Certainly, I don’t think he’s back before Thursday. I guess that’s like my biggest point on today’s show is that even if you think he might come back, he’s not going to resign before testing the open market. He’s not going to resign with the Tigers hours before he becomes a free agent and other teams can bid on him and he can get a gauge for his market, etc. So, he will be a free agent. I can almost promise you he will be a free agent when uh when it opens up on Thursday. Um but yeah, for whatever that doesn’t necessarily mean he won’t be back. It just means he’s definitely going to test the market at a minimum. I don’t think he’s coming back no matter what. Kyle Finnegan I I also think is is maybe not as much of a shoe in, but I I really think that Finnegan is going to test the free agent market as well. Um, I would have zero issue, I mean, fairly obviously zero issue with him coming back to the Tigers in 2026 if they work something out. Um, I I just he’s another one I feel like is going to want to test his market value in the open market and and at least not resign before Thursday. So, we’ll have to see. The the downside, in air quotes, I say of trading for a player at the deadline that is a rental and then does really well is that everybody in the organization and in the fan base has interest in bringing him back because he did really well. But then, you know, you’re not only competing with you and and the player and and you know, working out a contract and whatnot and determining value, you are also 29 other teams also have the stats and the numbers and watched him produce the way he did down the stretch there. So, we’ll see what kind of market he has. I really think there’s a chance he gets a decent contract. Um, I I don’t think it’s the end of the world to me at least if they don’t bring him back. Like I I don’t think the team or the bullpen is completely screwed if he’s not a Tiger in 2026, but I I certainly would welcome a reunion in the same breath. November 6th is obviously, again, I think this today’s I’m recording this on the 2nd, so math would tell me that that’s the sixth, I believe. um that Thursday is a lot of deadlines on Thursday aside from just again the obvious you become or free agents are are allowed to then start negotiating with other teams. Uh the qualifying offer deadline is also on Thursday. So we will talk about the qualifying offer, who on the Tigers could get it, what it means for the rest of baseball as well right after this. First though, got to talk to you all about our friends over at FanDuel. The NBA is back and there’s no better place to bet on the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you missed 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 everything exciting, especially when your team is making that late push. Right now, FanDuel gives new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So, head to fanduel.com to sign up and play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. All right, everybody. Welcome back here. Segment two, locked down Tigers. Appreciate y’all for tuning in as always, making us a first listen every single day. Shout out to the everydayers that do tune in every day. We will of course be back tomorrow and we are still at 5 days a week despite the fact that no baseball is being played. We go to three days a week at some point in late December after winter meetings obviously around the holiday season and then we return to five days a week um when pitchers and catchers report in February. But we’re still even in the you know that January kind of dry spell. We’re still here 3 days a week as well. Today we discuss what the off season kind of roadmap, calendar, whatever word you want to use is fine by me. Uh Thursday is a big day with a lot of deadlines. Free agency opens and the qualifying offer deadline among other things even still we’ll talk about later. The qualifying offer is a it is the mean of the top 125 contracts in Major League Baseball every year. Um, I remember the days when the qualifying offer was first introduced, at least the current iteration of it, and you know, a QO was a nice 14 mil, uh, 16 mil. The qualifying offer is now a hair over, I believe this season, $22 million. Now, it’s only a one-year contract, always. Um, you can’t offer a qualifying offer to someone who has been offered one before. You also can’t offer one to a player that has played for multiple teams over the course of a season. So, we’ll talk about this a little bit more leading up to the actual day and and obviously, you know, if and when the Tigers do offer some QOS to some players in the organization, then we’ll address that later in the week. I think there’s I don’t know it’s kind of a weird situation. So, um Evan Pzled of the free first off just put out a great piece highlighting all the important dates of the off season and I used his and Evan Woodberries of M Live. Um who al always does an offseason calendar and does a really good job every year with it. Um I I used both of them because like I I don’t no one sends me the dates. I have to go know find them myself. So, um, but Evan Pzled put in his piece that, um, he was he put down the possibility of Glaver Torres andor Jack Flity getting a qualifying offer, well, offered to them from the Detroit Tigers. Um, Glaver kind of makes sense to me like he he made it pretty clear last off seasonason that he was going to take a one-year deal to bet on himself and then get a longer term contract this off season. If that is the case and you and him are confident that that’s going to happen, then offer him the qualifying offer. Uh, because if a player rejects a qualifying offer, then you get a draft pick in the following year’s MLB draft. you get in the compensation round, which is in the first, you know, usually between the first and second round depending on the uh, you know, competitive balance compensation, there’s a ton of extra rounds thrown in there in baseball. Um, so, and I’m pretty sure all time, like barely over 10, I don’t even think it’s 15, but it’s around that players have like ever accepted a qualifying offer in again its current form and iteration. So, I it’s something that teams usually do when they know it’s going to get declined and don’t usually offer it with the intention of the player actually taking it. Um, flity will obviously depend a little bit on if he accepts his option or not, as we’ll talk about that in a second here as well. If he accepts it, then he’s just on the roster immediately. His salary is $20 million because that’s what his option is. And if he declines, then he’s a free agent and the Tigers could offer him a qualifying offer. But there’s some interesting politics with that one. His option is 20 mil and the QO would be around 22. Like if he declines it, would the Tigers offer him a qualifying offer knowing that they would be giving him a raise that of what he just declined? like that optically just seems a little weird to me because if that is the case then he if they are confident that the Tigers are going to give him a QO he should just decline the option no matter what because okay I’ll just take the qualifying offer that’s a one-year deal which is also what the option is for just $2 million more dollars but then if the Tigers know that right then you start getting into like well if if they know that they know that he knows that they know, right? Like if the Tigers know his intentions there and kind of can see the writing on the wall with that, then maybe they don’t offer him a QO because it’s like, okay, well, you just declined that. We’re not going to give you a raise to decline your option. Again, it’s it’s really weird. They they I like maybe the organization tells him like you accept this or we can renegotiate for fewer than 22 mil but more than 20. Like that seems like a really niche weird thing that wouldn’t happen either. I don’t know. I’m just kind of thinking out loud. But like this I I’m an overthinker. It could just be that. But ultimately I think Flity wants a multi-year deal and it could just be that simple. Everything that I just said could be completely just ridiculous overthinking and and being stupid. And it could just be he wants a multi-year deal. He’s going to decline the option. The Tigers are going to give him a qualifying offer. And then someone else is going to give him a three to fouryear deal and he’s going to accept that because he wants the longer term security for even if it is for a round similar or even less slightly AAV. Um, November 6th is also the deadline for player options, which takes us into, you know, good transition there. Jack Flity, 20 million player option, so completely his call. Paul Seawald has a $10 million mutual option. Randy Donik has a $6 million club option. Jose Ariti a $4 million club option. Um, Clarity, like I said, his choice. Paul Sew mutual option. And I’d imagine he will opt in. I can’t imagine the Tigers also opt into that. Um he he barely pitched. He didn’t look very good when he did. He’s pushing 40 and you traded him for scraps. I I don’t think the Tigers want to be on the hook for $10 million with Paul Seawald. Randy Dominic, similar conversation. Great story. Cool that he was a part of the organization, right? played for the Udica Unicorns all those years ago. Like really cool story. I I can’t imagine like he didn’t even come close to pitching in the major leagues this year. He he was a AAA like depth pitching option for them. I don’t think they’re going to sign him to a $6 million deal next year to do that same thing. Um the interesting one is aside from Flity is Jose or Kiti. That’s somewhat of a decision because 4 mil it like that that’s pretty cheap all things considered and he has experience with some play people on the coaching staff obviously AJ Hinch being the biggest one. Um I don’t know. I could really go either way with that one. If they want to do it just because it’s cheap and like ultimately if he’s not good in spring training that’s like an expendable thing you can buy out then okay. Um, but like I don’t need them to accept that either, obviously. So, we’ll keep tabs on that. Um, Thursday is also when the injured list goes away. So, all the players that are on the 60-day injured list because if you’re on the 60-day, you’re not on the 40man roster. If you’re on the 15-day, then you are still on the 40man roster. So, the injured list goes away starting Thursday and doesn’t come back until spring training. So, you have to add back the six major league players that are on at least the MLB 60-day injured list. That’s Reese Olsson, Jackson Joe, Bo Brisky, Jason Foley, Shawn Gunther, and Tai Madden. Technically, Alex Cobb is on there, too, but we already talked about him also as his contract ending. So, we won’t talk about him here. Now, that le that’s six players that I just listed. Um, and they can cut anyone they want, but they also have exactly six players that are entering free agency that we talked about earlier, right? So, that are on expiring contracts. So, technically, they can do absolutely nothing and still just be at 40, which works out really conveniently and well. So, tip of the cap to I don’t know uh fate the for having uh the injured list be the same as the I don’t know where I was going with that, but it it is convenient. Uh easier that than the alternative. Um but obviously again, if they do want to cut people, they can do that whenever they want. Um it wouldn’t surprise me if there was still some people on the hook come Thursday. November 10th is when the GM meetings. Oh, and then as far as the injured players go, I expect all of those guys to be reinstated to the 40 and not get cut. Reese Olsson, Jackson, Joe Blocks, Jason Foley, a lock. I think Bo Brisky is is back. Tai Madden, maybe some nuance there, but I I would be shocked if on the first deadline, the first day of the off season essentially that they kick him to the curb. I I would find that hard to believe. Even then Sean Gunther um I I guess maybe is the guy that is the biggest question mark, but even then there there’s so many other guys in this bullpen that I would prefer them to get rid of than Gunther. So we’ll keep an eye on that. Um and they’ll have to get rid of people on the 40man when they sign players or if they make a trade or you know what I mean? Like that there’s just because they make it to Thursday doesn’t mean they’re here for the rest of the winter. There there’s plenty more stops and and whatnot along the way. GM meetings start November 10th. Um, this is not winter meetings. This is just where like Scott Harris and Jeff Greenberg will go and and there’s not usually like moves attached to this like winter meetings uh well at times does but Evan Pzel of the Freep noted that Scott Harris will speak to the media on November 12th during the week of GM meetings and already kind of alluded to Scott Harris did already alluded to some of the questions he knows that he’ll be asked and whatnot at the end of season media availability. Um, awards are also announced that week. Not expecting any aside from TK Scubble, I think, should be the back-to-back Sai Young winner. November 18th is the rule five protection deadline. This is the one of the most underrated and kind of overlooked important days of the entire off seasonason. Players not protected by November 18th are eligible to be drafted in the rule five draft that takes place during winter meetings in December. There is a laundry list of eligible players here a a ton. So, we’re not going to go through we will at some point, just not today. When that day gets closer, we’ll go through all the different possibilities. Um, but this is where a a a big influx of players are added to the 40man roster because you have to add them to the 40. And if they’re not, then they’re rule five eligible. So, the only player that I think is a complete lock, like no question about it, is How You Lee. Um, but again, there’s a lot. Uh, Jake Miller is a guy that has impressed some people over the last year and a half. Gage Workman again actually got taken in the rule five last year but then did like did did poor enough where the Cubs sent him back to the Tigers organization. Um obviously Thyron Loronzo is going to be a big talking point. I imagine that’s going to be a a more than likely keep as well. But um we will talk about that again. We’ll have a whole episode as we always do dedicated to the protection deadline and go over each player that is eligible and the pros and cons of you know protecting them and whatnot. Um qualifying offer decisions also players have to accept or reject qualifying offers by that November 18th date as well. The next big date is November 21st. That is the non-tender deadline. We’ll talk about that right after this. First though, going to talk to you about our friends over at game time. We love our friends over at game time. The NFL is back and honestly, there’s nothing better than being in the 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 very frustrating. And that’s why I use Game Time, the app that gives the advantage back to the fans. Game time is fast. It’s easy and it’s backed by the game time guarantee. So, you’ll always get 100% 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 tabs, I saw amazing deals. I’m talking about your favorite NFL games, your Lions games for as low as $100. This price you see is the price you pay. That’s easily my favorite feature on the app. So download the app today, create an account, and use code lockdown MLB for $20 off of your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, that’s promo code L O C K D O N MLB for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go. Download Game Time today. All right, everybody. Welcome back. Your third and final segment of Lockdown Tigers. Appreciate you all for tuning in. As always, the non-tender deadline is November 21st. This Tigers team is so young that almost everybody falls into this category. Um, the omissions from that are veterans that are under contract past this year, which are very I am not even going to try to think off the top of my head like that, but I don’t think there’s very many if any at all that fall under that category. Colt Keith, I guess, is like one like he’s under contract for multiple years, so he’s not a part of this. Um but uh almost everybody is either an expiring deal or is non-tender eligible and is not free agent eligible yet. So um they will have to make a decision about everybody and whether they bring them back on a one-year deal. Those who are not arbitration eligible just in their first few years of major league service just get non-tendered. Most of them get uh the league minimum. There’s a little bit of conversation in there, but we’ll talk about that as we get closer to that date. and then the rest are either tendered and are, you know, considering arbitration, uh, considering a one-year deal to avoid arbitration, etc. Winter meetings are on December 8th. Always super fun. One of my favorite weeks of the year. Been hit or miss the last few years. Uh, we’ve had a couple over the last, say, five years, I guess. Yeah, since COVID, that’s a good kind of benchmark because they didn’t have it that off seasonason. Obviously, it’s kind of been either really exciting or really dull and boring. So, we’ll have content every single day talking about all the rumors and news and notes from winter meetings as we always do during that week, like I said, of December 8th. Then there’s nothing for a little bit holiday season. January 8th is when arbitration uh numbers and offers are announced. So, um this is something that uh Pzled has brought up a lot. I know Cody Stenhagen has brought up a lot as well of the athletic is that the Tigers in the past have made it a point that they are not going to negotiate in between this date where numbers are exchanged on January 8th and then when the actual arbitration hearings are which are almost always in February right before pitchers and catchers report. So we’ll talk about all the non-tender candidates. we will talk arbitration eligible players specifically. We always have a whole episode where we just go through the MLB trade rumors um you know arbitration projections and and you know who’s going to come back, who’s not, who might make it to arbitration, who won’t, etc. Um but it’s it’s it’s very interesting that they do that. The Tigers also have been pretty good about not going to arbitration with very many players and just offering a one-year deal and avoiding the process entirely. um which I I think everybody should prefer. Um that being said, like that they also, you know, got in a like fight. I I don’t think fight’s the right word, but a disagreement with Casem over like a few grand a couple years back. So, we’ll see what happens. We’ll see what happens in that regard. And that’s it. That’s your offseason calendar. Um the World Series ended this weekend, obviously. That’s why we’re having this conversation. I think that to put a bow on this off or this season rather and head into the off season, I think this was one of the best World Series of my lifetime. I think that’s a fair assessment. I was a child of the 90s. I uh the late 90s at that. Um so yeah, I I think I think it’s pretty safe. I’m not saying like it’s the I think people are very reactionary with like this is the greatest World Series of all time. I’ve heard that over like the last seven World Series that were played, okay? But I I do think that this one will stand the test of time just with the stories from both teams, the the big market players from both teams, the big market that both of these teams represent. And I think it’s impact. Um, you had two extra inning games, one of which was literally in game seven. Yamamoto was absolutely incredible the whole series, the whole postseason. Uh, you have the back-to-back champ for a first time in in 25 years. But I I I think the impact that this may have on the future is is something worth talking about as well. And we’ll have this conversation plenty not only this off season but throughout next year and heading into next off season uh because that is when it will rear its ugly head. that uh the CBA, the collective bargaining agreement between the players and the owners ends after the 2026 season. And there’s a bunch of talk of salary cap and whether it’s needed and whether it’s not and whether a salary floor is needed or not and all of this stuff and the Dodgers winning I think only fuels that fire now. Like ultimately they were a wildcard team that went seven games and was two outs away in the ninth inning or eighth whenever Miguel Rojos hit that home run from losing the World Series. So like I you know they they were they were down three to2 in the series with two games left. I I’m not sure if that helps or hurts. I’m not sure if uh you know I’ve already seen on the internet a lot of people just look at the final result and they’re like the you know the Dodgers won. They have the highest salary. we need some sort of limitation on that. But um I I you know I also think you look at the the athletics of the world and and the Rays and whatnot and and Cleveland even in our own division um that kind of have like a refusal to spend any money. And I it’ll be interesting. It’ll be interesting to see how the impact of this or if this World Series has an impact on that because the players this is like a kind of a sour note to end on, I’m realizing, but the I I truly think the players would rather lock out and not play in 2027 than agree to a salary cap. I really do. So, we’ll see. That’s we we got a year of baseball guaranteed still. Okay. We got a year of trick in, you know, guaranteed. Well, not guaranteed. I guess they could trade him if they want it. They have a year left of Trick Scooble left. Um, we’ll see. We’ll see. I mean, maybe that’s more of an incentive for the Tigers to be aggressive this off season. Hey, you’re going to lose Scubble and you might lose a year of baseball. Let’s maybe try in 2026 and be really aggressive about it. But I don’t know. At the same time, I I I think we we have to be proven otherwise that ownership and that the Illich the Illiches and obviously Chris Ilich at the center of that is is going to be willing to to spend decent money in free agency. So, or just the offseason in general, I should say. It’ll be a fun one. Thank you for tuning in for another full season as the offseason I mean we’ve been doing offseason stuff for the Tigers for a couple weeks now obviously but we’re officially here deadlines and the like. We’ll be back tomorrow and still at 5 days a week. I appreciate you all so much for continuing to tune in even after baseball is not being played. We will get through man daylight savings. We’ll get through the the the dark Midwest winters together by talking about some baseball until baseball’s played again. All right, thanks for making us your first listen every day. Shout out to the Everydayers. We’ll be back tomorrow. Peace and love. Going to the dope. I’ll catch you all then, baby. Go Tigers.

Today we discuss the Detroit Tigers offseason this winter. We talk important dates, players, and everything you need to know for the 2025 2026 MLB offseason.

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