Detroit Tigers Hope To Salvage Some Production From Awful Signing
The Detroit Tigers have kicked off spring training and will be trying to replicate their success of 2024 this coming year.
After a slow start to the offseason, the Tigers have headed into spring training with a couple of notable moves to improve.
On the pitching staff, the additions of Jack Flaherty in the starting rotation and Tommy Kahnle in the bullpen have solidified both units for Detroit. The reunion with Flaherty gives the Tigers a clear-cut answer behind Tarik Skubal in the rotation.
With the pitching staff looking strong heading into 2025, the lineup does still have some concerns. The Tigers are still in the mix for Alex Bregman at third base, which would solve a lot of problems.
However, they still might be a little hesitant to hand out such a large contract considering their last one didn’t work out so well.
Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic recently wrote about the biggest question for the Tigers heading into spring training, being the situation surrounding Javier Baez.
“While it’s highly unlikely the Javy of old will make a return, the Tigers likely want to salvage something from this albatross contract," he wrote.
Since signing a long-term contract with Detroit, the results from Baez have been poor. In three seasons, he has slashed 221/.262 /.347 with just 32 home runs in 360 games.
Injuries have certainly played a huge role in the struggles, especially in 2024. The hope is that after having his hip worked on, he will have some power to return to his bat.
Before signing with the Tigers, Baez was coming off a 31-home run season and was considered to be one of the best power-hitting middle infielders in baseball.
Even though he is under contract for the next three years and is still owed $73 million. It’s unlikely that the 32-year-old will ever live up to his contract with Detroit, but salvaging something would be nice.
By no means is he over the hill in terms of age, but a hip procedure is always a concerning thing for an athlete to try and bounce back from.
Fortunately, the Tigers aren’t going into 2025 relying on him to be in the starting lineup. This is a wise decision based on his health and also his production in recent years.
The former All-Star will be given a chance to prove what he can do when he is fully healthy, but that timeline still appears to be a bit uncertain.
As one of the worst contracts currently in baseball, Detroit is unfortunately stuck with taking the wait-and-see approach with Baez.
