Detroit Tigers Could Be Ideal Trade Destination for New York Yankees Starter
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It has been a fairly underwhelming offseason so far for the Detroit Tigers after an excellent campaign in 2024.
The Tigers entered the winter with some high expectations after snapping a lengthy playoff drought. Thanks to a strong second half of the year in 2024, Detroit was able to go on one of the best runs in the history of the franchise to make the postseason.
In October, the Tigers kept up their strong play by defeating the Houston Astros in the American League Wild Card round which changed the outlook for the franchise.
With a star ace in Tarik Skubal, who still hasn’t received his massive deal, Detroit should be thinking about winning now.
However, with that in mind, it has been a somewhat disappointing offseason in terms of improvement. The two major moves for the team were to sign Alex Cobb and Gleyber Torres to one-year contracts.
Neither of these will change much for the Tigers in 2025 other than providing some depth. Even though they added Cobb to the starting rotation, the unit still could use another arm.
Eric Treuden of JustBaseball recently spoke about some potential landing spots for New York Yankees starter Marcus Stroman and he highlighted the Tigers as one.
“For a Tigers team that’s in their latest contention window, they need all the help they can get. Stroman’s ace days are in the rearview mirror, but he’s just the type of lottery-ticket move the Tigers should be making in an otherwise underwhelming offseason.”
The 33-year-old right-hander has bounced around a bit in recent years, but he is a solid pitcher.
For the Yankees last year, he totaled a 10-9 record and a 4.31 ERA, however, with them adding Max Fried in free agency, it seems like they are willing to move on from the veteran right-hander.
Stroman was an All-Star as recently as in 2023 with the Chicago Cubs and has a lifetime ERA of 3.72.
While he’s not known as an innings eater by any means, he could provide some more depth to a rotation that could use it.
So far, the Tigers haven’t added a front-line starter to pair with Skubal. Unless they end up signing Jack Flaherty in free agency, options to achieve that are very limited.
It seems the hope is one of the young pitchers like Reese Olson, Casey Mize, or Jackson Jobe take a significant step forward.
Adding Stroman could provide them with some insurance if that doesn’t occur, and he could potentially start a hypothetical playoff game if need be.
Since New York is seemingly looking to move him before Opening Day, the former All-Star could be a low-risk, high-reward addition for Detroit.
Nick Ziegler is an alumnus of the Connecticut School of Broadcasting. He has been working in sports media covering the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL for nearly a decade with various publications online. With his free time, Nick enjoys being at the Jersey Shore with his wife, daughter, and their golden retriever. You can follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @NickZiegler20.