This offseason is the perfect chance for A.J. Hinch to get even sweeter revenge on the Astros

A.J. Hinch was one of very few individuals to actually receive punishment for the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal. He was fired following the 2019 season, ending his very successful five-year run in Houston in the process. Suspended for a year, he'd spend the next two seasons away from the game before joining the Detroit Tigers as their manager in 2021.

Hinch's first three years in Detroit didn't go great, but the Tigers broke through in a big way this past season, squeaking into the postseason following an absurd stretch run. Hinch's brilliant management had a lot to do with their success. Not only did the Tigers get to October, but they even won their first postseason series in over a decade by defeating Hinch's Astros in the Wild Card Series.

It had to have felt good on a personal level to have his first postseason series win with the Tigers come at the expense of his former team. What makes this situation even sweeter is that there's more room for the Tigers to help Hinch get even more revenge on the Astros. Alex Bregman is a free agent and ESPN's Jeff Passan ($) pegs Detroit as an "excellent fit."

"If it's not the Astros, Bregman would be an excellent fit in Detroit -- where he could reunite with former manager A.J. Hinch -- as well as Toronto should it fall short on Soto."

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Tigers have golden opportunity to make A.J. Hinch's revenge on Astros even sweeter

The Astros will presumably have every opportunity to re-sign Bregman this offseason, but if their longtime third baseman were to depart, the Tigers make perfect sense as a potential landing spot. It sure would be nice for Hinch to reunite with a player he got to manage for four seasons.

Bregman might not be the MVP-caliber player he was toward the back-end of Hinch's Astros tenure, but he's still among the best third basemen in the game. He's coming off a down year but still slashed .260/.315/.453 with 26 home runs and 75 RBI in 145 games played.

Would Bregman hit 26 home runs if he switched his home ballpark from the hitter-friendly left field at Minute Maid Park to Comerica Park? Probably not, but Bregman still does too many things well for the Tigers to not show interest. His ability to put the ball in play and hardly ever strike out is underrated, he draws tons of walks (although his walk rate did dip substantially in 2024), and he just won his first Gold Glove at the hot corner after years of plus defense.

Most of the Tigers team struggled substantially offensively, but the hot corner was particularly lackluster. Detroit's third basemen combined to record an 81 WRC+, good for 21st in the Majors according to FanGraphs. Bregman, in a down year, had a 118 WRC+. Tigers third basemen ranked 22nd in the majors with 0.9 fWAR. Bregman alone had 4.1 fWAR. To say even the 2024 version of Bregman wouldn't be a major upgrade over the likes of Gio Urshela, Matt Vierling, Zach McKinstry and promising youngster Jace Jung would simply be untrue.

Bregman would not come cheap, and the fact that he's 30 years old and coming off a down year makes it far from a risk-free signing, but this Tigers team that somehow squeaked into the playoffs needs to build off of the momentum they gained this past season. Bringing in a two-time World Series champion who'd be a massive upgrade at a position of weakness would go a long way in ensuring that the Tigers find their way back to October in 2025 — and their manager might have a little extra motivation to make it happen.