Tigers president Scott Harris wraps up the 2025 season
Scott Harris: “We’ve got to get a whole lot better in a lot of different areas.”
During his season-ending debriefing with the media earlier this week, Scott Harris, the Tigers’ president of baseball operations, talked a lot about what the team did and did not do at the trade deadline.
He defended his decision to not pay the price he said it would take to acquire a bat. But he also acknowledged that in hindsight, given the team’s struggles down the stretch, maybe he should’ve been more aggressive.
What wasn’t discussed at Monday’s hour-long press conference was that the Tigers’ biggest mistake might’ve come not at the trade deadline, but actually before the season, when they failed to sign Alex Bregman.
Now, the Tigers could get a second chance at Bregman, should they choose to engage. Bregman, who played for the Boston Red Sox in 2025, is set to opt out of the last two years of his contact and become a free agent again, per a report from the New York Post’s Jon Heyman on Tuesday night.
The Tigers spent weeks engaging with Bregman and his agent, Scott Boras, last winter, as the obvious need for a young Tigers team coming off its first postseason appearance in a decade. They reportedly offered him a six-year contract worth more than $170 million. They didn’t budge beyond that.
And Bregman, in February just before spring training, signed with the Red Sox for three years and $120 million, opting for less money and an opt-out to give him another crack at free-agency.
Bregman, 31, had a nice season for the Red Sox, posting a 3.5 WAR, higher than any position player with the Tigers in 2025. He hit 18 homers and had 64 RBIs in a season that was limited to 114 games because of quad injury. He helped lead the Red Sox to a wild-card spot, and Boston lost to the New York Yankees in the three-game, wild-card series.
“It was an honor to put on this jersey,” Bregman said after the Red Sox lost Game 3 to the Yankees.
Notice, “was,” as in past tense, perhaps a signal to his free-agency plans.
The Tigers still aren’t totally set at third base. Zach McKinstry was an All-Star this season after a big first half, and he played a lot there, but his offense dipped considerably down the stretch and in the postseason. He might project as more of a platoon player than an every-day option for Tigers manager AJ Hinch.
Javy Báez played some at third, but finished the season at shortstop, where he’ll start in 2026. Colt Keith could be an option, if his defense holds up. Andy Ibáñez isn’t an everyday option, because of his severe splits against lefties and righties. Jace Jung’s stock has plummeted.
Kevin McGonigle, the Tigers’ top prospect and the No. 2 prospect in baseball, per MLB Pipeline, is going to be invited to big-league camp in Lakeland, Florida, but he just turned 21, and might not be ready on Opening Day. It’s also not clear at which position he will land, second base or third base.
If McGonigle is ready, Keither could theoretically take the position McGonigle doesn’t. Gleyber Torres, who started the All-Star Game at second base in his one season with the Tigers, isn’t likely to return as he seeks a long-term contract.
Bregman, of course, has a history with Hinch. They won a World Series, albeit a tainted one, together in Houston.
After signing with the Red Sox in February, he told reporters in Lakeland that he thought for much of the winter that he was going to be a Tiger.
The Tigers beat Bregman and the Astros, 2-0, in the 2024 wild-card series, and then they beat Bregman again, this time with the Red Sox, in a three-game sweep at Comerica Park in May when Bregman was booed by Tigers fans.
Bregman did have two home runs in the series.
“We’re good,” Hinch said after Bregman signed with the Red Sox.
We’re about to find out if the Tigers still feel that way, particularly with Bregman. The Tigers did again make it farther than Bregman’s team in 2025, falling to the Seattle Mariners in a five-game American League Division Series.
Major League Baseball free-agency starts five days after the conclusion of the World Series. Harris talked very little about plans for free-agency and trades at Monday’s presser, focusing mostly on getting better internally.
The Tigers had a $158-million payroll in 2025, according to Spotrac, ranking 16th of 30 teams in MLB.
They’re likely to part with free agents Torres and reliever Tommy Kahnle, and starter Jack Flaherty could opt out of a $20-million contract for 2026. They Tigers are probably interested in bringing back reliever Kyle Finnegan, who was acquired at the trade deadline and pitched very well for Detroit, particularly in August.
The Tigers focused on relief pitching at the trade deadline rather than a bat at third base. They had discussions about Eugenio Suárez, but he ended up with the Mariners, who are two wins away from their first World Series.
tpaul@detroitnews.com
@tonypaul1984