Detroit Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris addressed his team’s roster as they look to build on the momentum of last year’s playoff appearance.
The Tigers lost in five games to the Cleveland Guardians in the American League Division Series in their first postseason appearance since the 2014 season after sweeping the Houston Astros in the Wild Card Series.
Detroit attempted to be active in the offseason but only signed second baseman Gleyber Torres and pitcher Alex Cobb to one-year, $15 million deals and stuck out trying to sign free-agent Alex Bregman, who spent his first nine MLB seasons with the Astros.
Harris said he wasn’t disappointed that Bregman didn’t sign with Detroit,
“We want players who want to be here,” Harris said. “We made a very compelling offer to Alex Bregman, but he chose to sign somewhere else. That’s fine. We knew that was a possibility throughout this process, and we planned for that outcome.”
Bregman was offered a six-year deal worth $171.5 million with an opt-out clause after the 2026 season from Detroit, but instead took a three-year, $120 million deal with the Boston Red Sox, with opt-out clauses after the 2025 and 2026 seasons.
If Harris wasn’t salty about the snub, he sure didn’t sound like it.
“We’re going to be just fine without Alex Bregman,” Harris said, “and we still have a clubhouse that just got to the postseason and just beat a team with Alex Bregman, so it clearly can be done. We just got to focus on the guys we have in camp right now.”