President of Baseball Operations Scott Harris, and manager AJ Hinch lined up in front of the Detroit media on Monday morning. The Tigers are a few days removed from a nail-biting, 15-inning loss in a win-or-take-all game to the Seattle Mariners. The team improved upon their 86-76 record in 2024 with an 87-75 record in complete different fashions. Last year the team made a historic leap into October despite the odds being heavily against them. This year’s team had a division lead of 9.5 games up over Cleveland with 16 games left to play, ultimately coughing up the division.
Trade Deadline –
Scott Harris faced early questions regarding the team’s performance at the trade deadline. Before answering more specific questions regarding the deadline, Harris opened by saying, “Do I regret not adding more performance to this team at the deadline? I don’t think I’ve ever gone through a deadline completely satisfied with the results. However, do I regret not pulling the trigger on deals that we had access to at the deadline? I don’t.”
The team acquired seven pitchers at the trade deadline, however, only two of them were on the ALDS roster against Seattle. Kyle Finnegan pitched incredibly well for the club down the stretch and shared high leverage duties with Will Vest. Rafael Montero turned out to be a solid middle reliever during the regular season but only made one appearance in postseason play failing to record an out. Randy Dobnak was never promoted from Toledo but was a depth piece at most. Codi Heuer was released after a couple of relief appearances in September. Paul Sewald was on the roster for the wild card series against Cleveland but did not make an appearance.
Starting pitchers Chris Paddack and Charlie Morton combined for a 6.67 ERA in 86.1 innings pitched. Morton was released in the final two months and Paddack didn’t make any postseason roster. Later on in the press conference, Harris said, “When we acquired Paddack and Morton, the goal wasn’t for them to play big roles for us in the postseason.”
The Tigers had major issues scoring runs during the postseason but didn’t acquire any bats at the deadline. One notable player that the Tigers appeared in headlines with was Eugenio Suarez. It was reported that the Diamondbacks had a high asking price for the rental and the Tigers wouldn’t budge. Suarez ended up going to Seattle where he was a shell of his first half self. When asked about the conservative approach at the deadline Harris answered by saying, “In some cases, with those deals that were most closely connected to us, those players that were most closely connected to us, those players, some of them didn’t perform at all down the stretch, would have been a free agent in two months and would have cost a player on our postseason roster that actually performed better than the player we (may have) acquired, and was controllable in the future. In hindsight, it’s easy to say a hitter like Suarez wasn’t worth a high asking price that may have taken away from the postseason roster.
Tarik Skubal –
Skubal, who turns 29 in November, has been the core of talks regarding his future in Detroit for over a year. The left-hander is looking to become the first back-to-back Cy Young winner in the American League since Pedro Martinez did so in 1999 and 2000. He put together a 1.74 ERA in postseason play this year, punching out 36 batters in 20.2 innings pitched. Skubal who becomes a free agent after the 2026 season has stated that his only job is to “play”. When Scott Harris was asked regarding the future of their ace he ended all discussions by briefly stating, “I can’t comment on our players being traded. I can’t comment on free agents. I can’t comment on other team’s players. I’m going to respond by just not actually commenting on it.”
AJ Hinch Extension
The former World Series winning manager just finished his 5th year as the skipper of the Tigers. He first signed with the Tigers in October 2020 and was extended in December 2023. Harris approached Hinch during the season regarding a possible extension, and terms were quickly agreed upon. The length of the new contract was not disclosed due to organizational policy.
Coaching Staff –
The Tigers brought over their entire 2024 coaching staff into 2025. A.J. Hinch opened by giving praise to the coaching staff but regarding the future of everybody he said, “I expected this coaching staff to be in Toronto, and so in order to have a clear mind and a clear direction, we agreed to wait a couple days and meet this week on the direction of the staff.”
Some notable coaches are pitching coach Chris Fetter and bench coach George Lombard. Bench coaches typically get hired out to be managers pretty often and the MLB right now has a high amount of managerial openings at eight. Lombard was interviewed by the Marlins last year for the role of manager that ended up going to Clayton McCullough. It would be safe to assume that he will be getting some looks to be the head of a major league dugout.
A possible addition to the Major League coaching staff is Gabe Alvarez who spent 2025 in Toledo as the skipper of the Mud Hens. Alvarez was promoted prior to the 2025 season after spending three seasons managing the Erie Seawolves. He has lots of experience coaching many current and future Tigers.
Troy Melton –
Melton is the new flame thrower in the Tigers clubhouse. He was drafted in the fourth round in the 2022 Draft and made his debut in July. The 24-year-old had been a starting pitcher in the minor leagues, and questions facing his potential starting pitching abilities have been looming his entire professional career but Hinch did clear up any uncertainty going into next season by saying, “We didn’t think it was fair or reasonable to just plug him into the rotation and start him every five days.”
Melton had pitched in 16 regular season games for the Tigers in 2025, only starting 4 of them and mainly appeared as a bulk innings guy. Cleveland lit him up in Game 2 of the Wild Card series but Melton threw several important innings in the American League Division Series against Seattle. This includes a 10th inning relief appearance in Game 5 in Seattle after tossing 35 pitches in Game 4.
Improvements in the Hitting Department –
Despite a few trade deadline acquisitions that were scrutinized by many, pitching was not the fall of the Tigers in the ALDS. The 15-inning game against Seattle will go down in baseball history as a thrilling postseason game. To the fans, it will be known as an offensive meltdown. A shutout would have occurred if not for Kerry Carpenter’s two-run splash in the top of the sixth inning. Players not named Kerry Carpenter went 4-for-46 at the dish. The two through five hole hitters combined to go 0-for-23 at the plate with two walks and 10 strikeouts. Scott Harris mentioned that part of the offseason will be focused on improving approach and bat path.
Chris Brown 
Rogelio Castillo 
Jerry McKennan