Dan Dickerson recaps 2025 Detroit Tigers, disagrees with Scott Harris
Dan Dickerson, radio voice of the Tigers, joined “Days of Roar” podcast Oct. 28, 2025, to recap season, spotlighting the offense’s big step forward.
The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday, Nov. 1, in Game 7 of the 2025 World Series at Rogers Centre in Toronto.
Just like that, the 2025-26 MLB offseason – headlined by free agency and trades – is underway.
The Detroit Tigers went 87-75 in the regular season, including a 3-13 finish for second place in the American League Central. After stumbling into the postseason, the Tigers fell short once again in Game 5 of the ALDS, losing to the Seattle Mariners.
President of baseball operations Scott Harris enters his fourth offseason with the Tigers. In his tenure, he has signed only one free agent to a multi-year contract without an opt-out clause, and he has yet to trade for a cornerstone player.
Here is a look at the key offseason dates for the Tigers in 2025-26.
And check out our podcast with Dan Dickerson, radio voice of the Tigers, looking at what happened in 2025 and debating the big decisions this winter.
[ Make “Days of Roar” your go-to Tigers podcast, available anywhere you listen to podcasts (Apple, Spotify). ]
Free agency, trades: Nov. 2
Players are free agents, and the trade market is open.
Six players from the Tigers become unrestricted free agents: Gleyber Torres, Alex Cobb, Rafael Montero, Tommy Kahnle, Kyle Finnegan and Chris Paddack.
Free agents can’t sign with a new team until five days after the conclusion of the World Series, but those players can re-sign with their former team in the five-day window. The Tigers could try to re-sign Finnegan while holding exclusive negotiating rights with all of their free agents.
Contract option decisions, qualifying offer deadline: Nov. 6
This is one of the busiest days on the offseason calendar.
Free agents can negotiate and sign with any team. Player options, club options and mutual options must be accepted or declined. Teams can extend the one-year, $22.025 million qualifying offer to eligible free agents. Players on the 60-day injured list need to be reinstated to the 40-man roster.
The Tigers have four contract options for the 2026 season: Jack Flaherty ($20 million player option), Paul Sewald ($10 million mutual option), Randy Dobnak ($6 million club option) and José Urquidy ($4 million club option). The Sewald mutual option and the Dobnak club option each include a $1 million buyout, so if the Tigers decline both, they’ll owe $2 million.
The Tigers have two potential candidates for the qualifying offer: Flaherty and Gleyber Torres, with Flaherty in the mix only if he declines his $20 million player option. The one-year qualifying offer, valued at just over $22 million, allows teams to receive draft-pick compensation when a departing free agent signs elsewhere. It can be extended only to players who haven’t received it before, and who spent the entire season with the same team.
The Tigers’ 40-man roster drops to 34 players after the departures of the six unrestricted free agents, but six players need to be reinstated from the 60-day injured list: Reese Olson (right shoulder strain), Ty Madden (right rotator cuff strain), Beau Brieske (right forearm strain), Sean Guenther (left hip surgery), Jason Foley (right shoulder surgery), Jackson Jobe (right elbow surgery). After that, the 40-man roster will be at 40 players.
GM Meetings: Nov. 10-13
The meetings for president of baseball operations and general managers is the first event of the offseason – taking place in Las Vegas.
There won’t be a lot of transactions, but this event is all about setting the groundwork for future acquisitions on the trade market and free-agent market.
For example, the Tigers could speak with agent Scott Boras about signing Alex Bregman (and perhaps revisit an extension offer for Tarik Skubal) while also approaching Boston Red Sox president of baseball operations Craig Breslow about a potential trade for Jarren Duran.
Scott Harris is scheduled to speak Nov. 12 with reporters.
BBWAA awards: Nov. 10-13
The four major awards for the American League and National League from the Baseball Writers Association of America: Rookie of the Year (Nov. 10), Manager of the Year (Nov. 11), Cy Young (Nov. 12) and MVP (Nov. 13).
The Tigers have candidates for the AL Manager of the Year Award with A.J. Hinch and AL Cy Young Award with Tarik Skubal.
Both Hinch and Skubal are expected to be among the three finalists for those awards, with Skubal as the clear favorite to win the Cy Young for the second year in a row.
In 2025, Skubal posted a 2.21 ERA with 33 walks (4.4% walk rate) and 241 strikeouts (32.2% strikeout rate) across 195â…“ innings in 31 starts. An AL pitcher hasn’t won the Cy Young in back-to-back seasons since Pedro MartÃnez in 1999-2000.
Qualifying offer decisions, Rule 5 draft protection: Nov. 18
This is another busy day on the offseason calendar.
By 4 p.m., free agents who received the one-year, $22.025 million qualifying offer – which could apply to Torres and Flaherty – must accept or decline it. If a player accepts, their former team retains them on a one-year contract. If a player declines, their former team receives draft-pick compensation surrendered by the new team that signs the player. Since 2012, only 14 of the 144 players have accepted the qualifying offer.
By 6 p.m., the Tigers will need to protect players eligible for the Rule 5 draft by adding them to the 40-man roster. Players signed at age 19 or older must be added within four years, while players signed at age 18 or younger must be added within five years.
Eligible players from the Tigers include Eliezer Alfonzo, Abel Bastidas, Justice Bigbie, Roberto Campos, Trei Cruz, Peyton Graham, Jake Holton, Tanner Kohlhepp, Hao-Yu Lee, Thayron Liranzo, Joseph Montalvo, Andrew Navigato, Jake Miller, Trevin Michael, Austin Murr, Izaac Pacheco, RJ Petit, Gabriel Reyes, Moises Rodriguez, Cristian Santana, Matt Seelinger, Eric Silva, Danny Serretti, Troy Watson, Eduardo Valencia, Gage Workman.
Two players – Lee and Liranzo – are locks to be added to the 40-man roster.
Non-tender deadline: Nov. 21
This is the first step in the salary arbitration process.
All players on the 40-man roster with fewer than six years of MLB service time must be tendered contracts. Every player with fewer than three years (aside from Colt Keith, who signed a six-year contract before his first MLB game) will receive the $780,000 minimum salary, but players between three and six years can negotiate their salaries as arbitration-eligible players.
The Tigers have 15 players eligible for arbitration, listed in order by MLB service time, with their projected salaries based on calculations from MLB Trade Rumors:
By 6 p.m., the Tigers must decide whether to tender or non-tender contracts to their 15 arbitration-eligible players. Retaining all of them would cost the Tigers an estimated $61.65 million, with nearly 30% of that total going to Skubal – and roughly 25% to Greene, Torkelson and Carpenter. If tendered, the player receives a to-be-negotiated contract for the 2026 season. If non-tendered, the player is removed from the 40-man roster and immediately enters free agency.
MLB Winter Meetings: Dec. 8-11
The winter meetings is the second and final event of the offseason – taking place in Orlando.
Teams will be building their rosters for the 2026 season through free agency and trades, so expect a flurry of transactions. To become World Series contenders, the Tigers would benefit from acquiring one frontline starting pitcher, a couple of high-leverage relievers and one middle-of-the-order right-handed hitter.
Two events – the MLB draft lottery and the Rule 5 draft – happen during the winter meetings. The draft lottery is Dec. 9; the Rule 5 draft is Dec. 10.
The Tigers are locked into the No. 23 overall pick in the 2026 MLB draft, with no chance of landing the No. 1 overall pick. Two AL Central teams lead the odds: The Chicago White Sox (27.73%) have the best shot at the No. 1 pick, followed by the Minnesota Twins (22.18%). Meanwhile, the Kansas City Royals sit at just 0.84%.
In the 2025 Rule 5 draft, the Tigers can select an eligible unprotected player from another team for $100,000. A player picked in the Rule 5 draft must be added to the 40-man roster and needs to stay on the 26-man roster (or injured list) for the entire 2026 season. If removed, the player will be placed on waivers and offered back to their original team for $50,000. The Tigers haven’t selected a player in the Rule 5 draft since December 2022.
Arbitration figures exchanged: Jan. 8
This is the second (and often final) step in the salary arbitration process, when the Tigers and their tendered arbitration-eligible players agree on salaries for the 2026 season.
If they don’t agree, both sides must exchange figures and an arbitration hearing will be scheduled for February. The Tigers typically won’t continue negotiating between the deadline and the hearing. At the hearing, a panel of arbitrators decides which side wins the case.
The Tigers haven’t had an arbitration hearing since Michael Fulmer in February 2019.
Tigers spring training: Feb. 11
The first workout date for pitchers and catchers in spring training happens the Wednesday after the Super Bowl. The first pitchers and catchers workout should be Feb. 11 – setting up the first full-squad workout for Feb. 16. The spring schedule hasn’t been announced yet, but the first game should be Feb. 21.
Opening Day is March 26 against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park in San Diego. The Tigers’ home opener is April 3 against the St. Louis Cardinals at Comerica Park in Detroit.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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