3 more Detroit Tigers who won't be back after ALDS heartbreaker

Somehow, the Detroit Tigers, despite selling at the trade deadline and sitting at eight games under .500 in August, found a way to play like the best team in baseball for a month and a half and punch their ticket to the postseason. They didn't only get in, but they made a run.

They swept the Houston Astros in the Wild Card Series, and were just one win away from knocking off the Cleveland Guardians in the ALDS. They fell short in heartbreaking fashion, but the fact that they even got as far as they did was pretty incredible.

While this season was a step in the right direction for Detroit, moves will have to be made this offseason to get the Tigers to where they want to be. Adding players means others will have to depart. FanSided's Zach Pressnell listed three Tigers players who shouldn't be back in 2025, and that's just the start. These three additional players should also be gone.

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3 more Detroit Tigers who won't be back after postseason elimination

3) The Tigers have no reason to hold onto Akil Baddoo

There was a time when Akil Baddoo looked like a piece of the future for the Tigers. He hit 13 home runs and stole 18 bases in an impressive rookie season in 2021. Unfortunately, he has combined to hit 15 home runs and steal 24 bases in the three seasons since. His 2024 performance was the worst of all.

Baddoo appeared in just 31 MLB games all season and slashed .127/.220/.301 with two home runs and five RBI in 82 plate appearances. As you can deduce from his numbers, Baddoo spent most of his season in Triple-A.

The 26-year-old is set to enter arbitration this offseason, so he'd make more than the minimum in 2025 if the Tigers did not non-tender him. With that in mind, and the fact that Baddoo has done next to nothing at the MLB level since his rookie year, it's really hard to justify keeping him around. Baddoo being a left-handed hitting outfielder when the Tigers are littered with them hurts his case even more.

2) The Tigers can do better than Zach McKinstry

The Tigers finding a way to make the postseason while Zach McKinstry saw a substantial amount of playing time throughout the season at several different positions is pretty amazing. Yes, McKinstry does have value as a utility player who saw time at five different positions, plus DH and pitcher, but his bat leaves a whole lot to be desired.

In 118 games played this season, McKinstry slashed .215/.277/.337 with four home runs and 23 RBI. He did steal 16 bases, but his bat was nothing more than a black hole in their lineup. McKinstry ranked 263rd out of 286 hitters with at least 300 plate appearances this season with a 75 WRC+. That's not going to cut it.

Again, he has some value with his speed and defensive versatility, but can the Tigers not find a similar player who can provide more thump offensively? McKinstry has a career 77 OPS+, proving to be well below league average as a hitter. If the Tigers want to make another jump next season, they can't afford to give players like McKinstry many at-bats.

1) Kenta Maeda's contract can't be why he's kept on the Tigers roster

The Tigers signed several players to one-year deals like Jack Flaherty, Shelby Miller, and Andrew Chafin but only one player was inked on a two-year deal. That player was Kenta Maeda.

Maeda had been far from durable over the course of his MLB career, but had consistently been a solid mid-rotation arm or better, no matter what team he pitched for. That changed in the first year of his two-year commitment with Detroit.

The right-hander posted a 6.09 ERA in 29 appearances (17 starts) and 112.1 innings of work. He pitched mostly well coming out of the bullpen, but had a 7.42 ERA when he took the mound as a starter. The Tigers went 5-12 in those games.

The Tigers could keep Maeda around as a long reliever, but chances are, Maeda is not one of the best eight options that they have in their organization right now, and that's not even including potential offseason additions. At 36 years old, chances are, he won't magically turn things around. It stinks to cut bait with a player set to make $10 million in the 2025 campaign, but the Tigers will owe him that money no matter what. They're better off letting him go than having him struggle as mightily as he did virtually the entire season. The Tigers can't let Maeda's contract get in the way of an obvious decision (like they plan on doing with Javier Baez.)