Detroit Tigers Offseason Free Agent Signing Due for Massive Comeback Season

The Detroit Tigers may have got a tremendous value in one of their free agent signings.

Detroit Tigers infielder Gleyber Torres works out during spring training at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland, Fla. on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Detroit Tigers are just weeks away from Opening Day of the 2025 season with hope beginning to build that the Motor City could be due for a special year of baseball.

After a quiet start to the offseason, the Tigers have made several huge moves including multiple massive bullpen upgrades. They also handed out a lucrative deal to bring back Jack Flaherty after securing a top-100 prospect by trading him away at the deadline.

Of all the moves Detroit made, however, it may be the offensive side of the ball which sees the biggest improvement.

Back in late-December, the Tigers pulled the trigger on a one-year deal worth $15 million for former New York Yankees star second baseman Gleyber Torres.

The arrival of Torres pushes Colt Keith over to first base and Spencer Torkelson out of the lineup, potentially balancing things out and making for a deeper and more dangerous group. While Torres was not horrible in 2024, it was a down year by his standards, and he enters Detroit with something to prove.

In a recent article naming players due for a bounce back season, Manny Randhawa of MLB.com highlighted the two-time All-Star.

He pointed out the fact that, while Torres struggled in numerous categories including expected batting average and slugging, he slashed .306/.375/.417 over the last two months to close out the regular season and is due to re-establish himself as a star.

"... there is nevertheless cause for some optimism as he nears his debut with Detroit," Randhawa wrote. "Torres' sweet-spot rate of 38.2% was his highest in five seasons, he squared up the ball at an above-average clip (26.8%) and his chase rate was excellent (21.4%, 92nd percentile). Torres will test the 'change of scenery' narrative, and the Tigers hope he'll prove the adage to be true."

Time will tell how much the "change of scenery" really works to the benefit of Torres, but at just 28 years old, there's no reason there shouldn't be plenty of good baseball left in the tank.

Just two seasons removed from a 4.0 WAR campaign and one year removed from a 25-home run and .800 OPS performance, Torres absolutely could be due for a major redemption season.

Not to mention the one-year deal he signed that makes him a free agent again next winter gives Torres all the motivation in the world to come out and have a great showing.

Having engaged in a back and forth war of words with the Yankees since arriving in Detroit, he is also ready to prove New York was wrong to let him go. In the process, he could help the Tigers potentially contend for their first American League pennant in a decade.

He does not need to be the All-Star-caliber player he was with the Yankees to start his career in 2018 and 2019 in order to make an impact, though there certainly seems to be plenty of reason to believe Torres is still capable of a monster season at this stage in his career.