Another year, another heartbreaking finish for the Detroit Tigers in Game 5 of the ALDS. Last year it was Tarik Skubal giving up a back-breaking grand slam to the Cleveland Guardians. This time around, Skubal was sensational, striking out a whopping 13 batters while allowing just one run over six innings of work. He left the game with a 2-1 lead ... and then everything went horribly wrong.
The Tigers bullpen immediately coughed up that lead, and from there, the offense simply could not hold up its end of the bargain. Detroit's bullpen held the Seattle Mariners off the board until the bottom of the 15th, but despite numerous golden opportunities, the Tigers came up empty — and now they'll be going home.
The grace period for Scott Harris has officially expired, if it hadn't already. It's time to get serious about investing in this roster and building a real contender around Skubal as he enters his final year of team control in 2026. That starts with getting rid of some dead weight: Several of Harris' bargain-bin signings didn't pan out as hoped this season, and with any luck, none of them will be back next year. And they're not alone.
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4. RHP Chris Paddack
The Tigers were looking to bolster the back of their starting rotation at this summer's trade deadline. But rather than go big for someone like Sandy Alcantara (or heck, even Merrill Kelly), they opted for Charlie Morton and Paddack. The former flamed out so hard he didn't even make it to the end of the regular season before being waived. The latter struggled so much he got booted from the rotation entirely and didn't make either of Detroit's postseason rosters.
Paddack posted an ugly 6.32 ERA across 12 appearances (seven starts) for the Tigers, giving up nearly three homers per nine innings. He's always pounded the strike zone, but at this point he simply doesn't have good enough stuff to live in the zone as much as he does, and it cost him mightily this season. Maybe he can latch on somewhere else, or maybe his repertoire will play up in a short-relief role. But it's hard to see a reunion here after how bad of a first impression he made.
3. RHP Paul Sewald
Another one of Harris' attempts to Moneyball the trade deadline, Sewald was acquired by Detroit despite being on the IL with a shoulder injury. He didn't return until mid-September, and when he finally did take the mound for his new team, he ... well, he looked pretty much exactly like the guy who'd struggled mightily over the past couple of years.
When Sewald was at his best with the Mariners and D-backs, he utilized a wickedly deceptive fastball-sweeper combo to miss bats and baffle hitters. But as injuries took their toll and his velocity declined, that high four-seamer was a bit easier to catch up to, and the homer problem he'd always had became a four-alarm fire. He allowed two runs on four hits and two walks across his four appearances with the Tigers, and as he enters his age-36 season, it's open question whether he can be an effective big-league reliever again. Detroit probably can't afford to find out.
2. RHP Rafael Montero
Montero was so bad for the Braves in the first half that an Atlanta team facing a full-on bullpen crisis had to pretty much bar him from high-leverage situations. And yet, despite all of that, and despite the fact that he hadn't been an effective Major League reliever since 2022, Detroit thought he should be part of their trade deadline plans.
And for a little while, it seemed like it might actually work out. Montero posted a 2.86 ERA across 20 appearances down the stretch for the Tigers, nosing his way into AJ Hinch's circle of trust. Under the surface, however, warning signs were everywhere: Montero posted a 19:14 BB:K ratio across those 22 innings, and his 4.50 FIP suggested that serious regression was around the corner.
That regression arrived at the worst possible time. Called upon to try and protect a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning of Game 1 of the ALDS, Montero gave up a walk and two base hits without recording a single out in a game that Detroit would go on to lose in extras. He didn't pitch again in the series, which feels like a sure sign that Hinch and the Tigers are ready to let him be someone else's reclamation project.
1. RHP Jack Flaherty
This is one of the thorniest questions of Detroit's offseason. Flaherty holds a $20 million player option on his contract, and it feels like a coin flip as to whether or not he'll exercise it. On the one hand, $20 million is a healthy chunk of change, and almost certainly more than he'd get per year on the open market after posting a 4.64 ERA across 31 starts this season. But on the other, pitching is always at a premium in free agency, and Flaherty might want to try for a multi-year deal that would sacrifice a bit of AAV for some longer-term security.
The Tigers are probably hoping to themselves that Flaherty chooses Option B. He still has the ability to miss bats when his two breaking balls are on, and he'll have moments where he reminds you of the pitcher he used to be. But there's just not nearly enough consistency here to trust over the course of a full season; Flaherty's command and velocity can come and go at a moment's notice, and when they do, the floor is somewhere near the core of the Earth.
Detroit needs to find more rotation depth behind Skubal, Reese Olson, Casey Mize and guys like Keider Montero and Sawyer-Gipson Long. It's hard to see Flaherty as the solution there, though, given how up and down he was this season and the expectations for his next contract.