Former Tigers Pitcher Signs Free Agent Deal With National League Central Powerhouse
The Detroit Tigers are off to an exceptional start to the 2025 season, and with a 29-15 record, they currently sit atop the American League Central by three and a half games. This has been an extension of their 2024 season in which they shocked the world and put together a strong run leading to October, and put up a fight there as well. This has largely been behind the successful pitching of Tarik Skubal, but also an offense that has found its identity and grown as a whole.
Unfortunately along the way some of the players who were brought in to help this success end up not being able to make a substantial impact. One of the more notable examples of this for the Tigers was pitcher Kenta Maeda, who in his two seasons with the team, ultimately did not live up to expectations and rather ended up not performing to the capacity he had in previous years.
This string of poor performances led to him being released recently, giving him the opportunity to go look for a new team and try to settle down his command in a new system. This opportunity would arise quickly for Maeda, as he has found his new team for the time being.
Who Signed the Former Detroit Tigers Veteran Pitcher?
Kenta Maeda has found a new home with another competitive team, that being the Chicago Cubs, signing a minor league deal with the National League powerhouse. This news was reported by Yuki Yamada, the head of Japanese content production for MLB.com. This comes less than 10 days after he was designated for assignment and then released by Detroit following seven relief outings in which he could not find his footing.
After starting 17 of 29 appearances in 2024 and posting a 6.09 ERA, the Tigers decided to move Maeda to the bullpen to start the 2025 season in an attempt to help corral his pitches a bit and give him time to work out the imperfections. Unfortunately this was not the right fix, he would go on to pitch eight innings, with a 7.88 ERA, 1.875 WHIP, one home run allowed and eight strikeouts to six walks.
After some really successful years in the early 2020s, things began to fall apart a bit for him, despite 2023 being a somewhat respectable year for the veteran. Now at 37 years old, he will look to turn around his fortune with another high-level squad, starting off in the minor leagues and working his way up.
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Jeremy Trottier started his writing journey with WBLZ Media, and has worked through multiple publications with 247Sports, USA Today, Fansided, SBNation and others. He is an avid fan of motorsports and most sports in general, and has completed a degree in sports management to further understand the sports industry. During his time with sports media, he has been credentialed for coverage of Boston College sports, and can often be found attending their football and basketball games as well as expected coverage of their men’s soccer team in the near future. Sports are a large part of his life and career, as he looks to pursue a full time role within the industry someday.