How can the Detroit Tigers build the best rotation in baseball through free agency?

For much of the 2024 season, it looked like the Detroit Tigers had just one bright spot in top pitcher Tarik Skubal.

Detroit had missed the playoffs by 9.5 games in the last week of August, but thanks to a miraculous rush from Skubal – who they had planned to keep at the trade deadline a month earlier – the team finally qualified for the playoffs and even beat the Houston Astros in the Wild Card -Round. Skubal finished the season widely regarded as the best pitcher in the world and is now all but certain to win the American League Cy Young Award.

But as Detroit heads into the offseason, they do so knowing that they potentially could have made an even deeper playoff run had they had more reliable starting pitching behind Skubal. Ironically, they traded right-hander Jack Flaherty to a one-year deal at the deadline, but Flaherty could have been key as the team reached the postseason. The Tigers need to be as aggressive as a team just a few stones away from contention would be, because the final month of the season has shown that to be the case.

When it comes to outside additions, Detroit needs to be at the top of the list to land a starting player behind Skubal, and Flaherty returning to Detroit could prove to be an ideal scenario. While he’s currently a big contributor to a good Dodgers playoff run and could be more expensive than the Tigers would like, there’s a world where Detroit could have the best rotation in baseball if they show a little willingness to break the bank.

Skubal is obviously the ace, but Flaherty behind him combines to provide one of the best one-two punches in the entire league. The X-factor in this situation is top prospect Jackson Jobe. Even though Jobe was up and down during his September call-up to the team’s playoff roster, he has all the talent in the world and the makings of a future star. If Jobe can make the Opening Day roster and perform as he is advertised as, a possible Skubal-Flaherty-Jobe combination puts Detroit in a situation where they have an elite arm thrower almost every day.

The Tigers can’t afford to become complacent when it comes to adding talent, because they have an incredible opportunity before them to make the rotation the envy of every team in baseball.