Specific type of pitching is priority for Detroit Tigers throughout remainder of offseason

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Detroit Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris entered the offseason with two primary needs.

He checked one of the two boxes — a position player to improve the offense and influence the young hitters — before the free-agent market opened by acquiring veteran outfielder Mark Canha in a trade with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Pitching is the second box he needs to check.

Tarik Skubal, Casey Mize, Matt Manning, Reese Olson, Sawyer Gipson-Long, Keider Montero, Ty Madden and Jackson Jobe could all factor into the starting rotation in the 2024 season, with Skubal, Mize, Manning, Olson and Gipson-Long currently projected as favorites to earn spots on the Opening Day roster.

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Skubal and Mize, both 26 years old, are the oldest pitchers in that group, but the former top prospects have missed significant time with arm injuries and lack veteran experience.

"We got a good thing going on the pitching development front, so that's helping us," Harris said Tuesday at the general manager meetings. "But I think some of those dynamics that we were talking about on the position player side exist on the pitching side. If we can add some veteran presences into our team that can help some of these young pitchers along, I think that's going to be an area we're going to look at."

The Tigers aren't expected to be in the mix for expensive starting pitchers like Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Aaron Nola, Jordan Montgomery and Eduardo Rodriguez.

Some, if not all, of those pitchers will command contracts worth more than $100 million in total value.

"I want to be in that situation where we are very aggressive in free agency and trade, but it just has to make sense in our situation," Harris said. "The goal is to be in that conversation every year, but at this point, we're just going to focus on the things that make sense for us and try to do those things, irrespective of price. That's our mentality going into the offseason."

To recap: The Tigers want veteran pitchers, probably on short-term contracts, to influence the development of the young pitchers in the organization.

Who fits that description?

Here are some names, all of which should be in line for short-term contracts, that immediately come to mind as potential targets: left-hander Alex Wood, left-hander Wade Miley, left-hander James Paxton, right-hander Kyle Gibson, right-hander Seth Lugo and right-hander Michael Lorenzen.

Keep in mind, Skubal is the only left-handed starting pitcher on the Tigers' roster after Rodriguez exercised the opt-out clause in his contract.

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The Tigers showed interest in Lugo, likely the most expensive option of the pitchers mentioned, at last year's winter meetings because Harris recognized his untapped potential as a starting pitcher despite the fact that he hadn't started since 2017.

Lugo, who turns 34 in mid-November, ended up signing with the San Diego Padres over the Los Angeles Dodgers. He received a one-year, $7.5 million contract from the Padres with a $7.5 million player option for the 2024 season.

The eight-year MLB veteran declined the player option, in favor of free agency for the second offseason in a row, after posting a 3.57 ERA with 36 walks and 140 strikeouts over 146⅓ innings in 26 starts. As a free agent, Lugo could seek a three-year fully guaranteed contract.

Lorenzen, while probably seeking at least a two-year contract, should be monitored. He signed a one-year, $7.5 million contract with the Tigers last offseason, improved as a starting pitcher and was dealt to the Philadelphia Phillies (for infield prospect Hao-Yu Lee) at the trade deadline.

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Olson, one of the Tigers' young pitchers, benefitted from Lorenzen's influence behind the scenes.

"I think we demonstrated a year ago that we could go into free agency and find a pitcher like Michael Lorenzen who was still trying to establish himself as a starter," Harris said. "Fast forward a year, he just had the best year of his career, he was an All-Star, and he took huge steps forward in Detroit.

"He really credited our pitching group and the environment we created as being one of the many reasons why he took that step forward. That's really important. We have to create that type of environment. We're not all the way there yet, but we took a huge step forward."

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Aside from Lugo and Lorenzen, the rest of the aforementioned starting pitchers — Wood, Miley, Paxton and Gibson — seem likely to receive one-year offers.

The three lefties — Wood, Miley and Paxton — have been praised for being good teammates.

Wood, who turns 33 in mid-January, stands out because of his relationship with Harris. The San Francisco Giants, back when Harris was the general manager under president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, signed Wood to a one-year, $3 million contract before the 2021 season.

Here's what Harris told the San Francisco Chronicle's John Shea about Wood in January 2021, after the Giants signed him: "Alex's deception and pitchability, especially down in the zone, add a new dimension to our rotation, complementing some of our right-handed starters who like to pitch up in the zone. We're also bullish on the quality of stuff he showed in last year's postseason and our medical staff's evaluation of his health."

In 2021, Wood posted a 3.38 ERA with 39 walks and 152 strikeouts over 138⅔ innings in 26 starts. The 11-year MLB veteran earned a two-year, $25 million contract extension from the Giants, only to deliver a 4.77 ERA over 228⅓ innings in 55 games (38 starts) during those two years.

Maybe Harris thinks he can help Wood recapture his 2021 performance.

Miley, who turns 37 in mid-November, turned in another age-defying performance with a 3.14 ERA, 38 walks and 79 strikeouts over 120⅔ innings in 23 starts for the Brewers. The 13-year MLB veteran has a 3.43 ERA, despite a below-average 17.6% strikeout rate, across 582⅔ innings in the past six seasons.

In the past, Miley has gifted his teammates Ace of Spades champagne to celebrate rookie debuts and career milestones. He would personalize every black box that contains the expensive bottle of champagne.

Paxton, 35, hasn't been heathy for a full season since 2019, but he returned from Tommy John surgery and started 19 games for the Boston Red Sox in 2023. The 10-year MLB veteran logged a 4.50 ERA with 33 walks and 101 strikeouts over 96 innings.

There are major health concerns, but when Paxton is healthy, he projects as a mid-rotation starter with ace-caliber upside. After all, he had a 3.34 ERA in the first 16 of his 19 starts with the Red Sox.

Gibson, a right-hander without obvious upside, registered a underwhelming 4.73 ERA and paced the American League with 198 hits allowed in 2023, but the 11-year MLB veteran took down 192 innings and tied for the AL lead with 33 starts for the Baltimore Orioles.

He has a long history of staying healthy and eating innings.

Harris, meanwhile, has a long history of finding undervalued starting pitchers on the free-agent market, courting them by explaining the optimal adjustments, signing them to short-term contracts and helping them make significant improvements.

Targeting those types of pitchers on the free-agent and trade markets, as well as acquiring one or two of them, appears to be the No. 1 priority for the remainder of the offseason, especially since the Tigers already traded for Canha, whom Harris described as an on-base machine, to improve the offense and set an example for the young hitters.

"As we started to survey free agency and trade," Harris said, "we looked at the bats that could fit three pieces of criteria: help us, like currently performing and projected to perform next year; help us in the clubhouse, like bring some real presence, grit and toughness; be available. That pool of players is very, very thin.

"We're very fortunate that we were able to get one of them and check that box heading into the offseason. That was a big need for us. We feel good about adding Mark. Now, we're pretty focused on pitching. I think every team in baseball could use some pitching additions. We're no different, so we're going to focus on that."

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers' new offseason goal: Add veteran to starting rotation