The final day to accept or decline qualifying offers has arrived. Teams will be finalizing their 40-man rosters in advance of the December 10th Rule 5 draft as well, but most of the big news through the day will also cycle around qualifying offer decisions. In a sense, the offseason doesn’t really begin until teams and free agents know where they stand as of 6:00 p.m. ET this evening.
Second baseman Gleyber Torres is the only player the Tigers made a qualifying offer to, so he can either accept it and
make $22 million playing for them in 2026, or decide to test free agency again. Last year, the Tigers signed him to a one-year deal worth $15 million, and they were able to land him on such an inexpensive deal specifically because the offers the 28-year-old was looking for never emerged in his first go-around as a free agent. After a good season with the Tigers that crumbled after Torres developed a hernia in July, will teams be more aggressive in pursuing him this time around?
I think the odds that Torres will get multi-year offers are a little better this time around after an improved year at the plate compared to his final season with the Yankees in 2024. Still, the main difference was that he drew more walks and posted a .358 OBP vs. a .330 OBP in his final season in New York. He cut down his strikeouts by 4.4 percent as well. What he didn’t do was hit for more power.
Some of that was presumably due to the hernia, as Torres power numbers cratered once he was playing through the injury. He posted a pretty average .144 ISO in the first half with nine home runs, and a very meager .116 ISO in the second half, with seven home runs. After hitting 16 doubles in the first half, he had just six in the second half, and his already minimal speed on the bases got even worse, cutting his extra base hit totals overall. An interested team looking for a disciplined, professional hitter may expect him to get back to hitting 20+ home runs in the years ahead, but there’s still a leap of faith involved. The market for Torres is also complicated by the fact that any team that signs him will have to surrender a draft pick.
Kiley McDaniel at ESPN has Torres as the 16th ranked free agent this offseason, projecting a deal of three years, $57 million. MLB Trade Rumors points out that a team like the Royals would have to give up their third highest pick in signing Torres, while top clubs would have to give up their second and fifth highest picks, as well as a million dollars in international bonus pool money to sign him.
Those are real market killers.
The Tigers wouldn’t mind having him back on a one-year deal, or presumably they wouldn’t have extended the qualifying offer considering the likelihood that he accepts it. He was a mentor to younger players, and provided the discipline and contact skills that much of the lineup lacked. His defense at second base was below average as expected, but solid enough until the injury when his range was impacted. The Tigers certainly could use a veteran hitter used to big game scenarios who consistently gives them professional at-bats. The problem is that he doesn’t really do anything else well. It’s all about the bat.
Joe Rampe of Tigers Minor League Report recently posted Bo Bichette’s Statcast percentile rankings next to Torres’ and it does make for an interesting comparision. Torres’ below average bat speed has been on my mind as a cause for concern, despite his relative youth. He does match up pretty well with Bichette though, and one would expect the former Toronto Blue Jay to land a deal well in excess of $100 million. As Bichette is bound to play second base going forward or remain a very mediocre shortstop, it’s a pretty decent comp although Bichette certainly provides a little more value defensively overall.
Torres isn’t going to be landing a major long-term deal as Bichette is expected to, but with minimal options to upgrade an infield in free agency, perhaps a multi-year deal isn’t out of the question for him. Will a team go that far for a modestly above average player, and surrender a draft pick on top of it? Maybe, but all these factors certainly limit his market and make it a lot more likely he stays with the Tigers next year.
While the Tigers certainly need a hitter like Torres, in my view the ideal here is that he declines the offer, the Tigers collect a compensation pick after the first round, and then they go pursue a more well rounded player. You know who I’m referring to if you’re a regular reader of the site. Yes, I still want Alex Bregman badly, and collecting a pick and then signing Bregman, which wouldn’t cost a pick, would be my ideal scenario to improve the infield and the offense. Colt Keith plays second base, and then you mix in Kevin McGonigle at 2B/SS as the Tigers see fit and when they decide he’s ready.
Should Torres accept the qualifying offer, you have to assume the Tigers offseason is pretty much over before it began. Sure, they’ll probably add some relief help, but it’s hard to even see them adding a free agent starting pitcher other than hunting for one who is injured and can be moved to the 60-day injured list as a stash for later in the season. Unless they’re getting someone who is an upgrade, there isn’t much point in just adding another healthy starter on a major league deal. They’ll just end up blocking Troy Melton and Keider Montero from the rotation for a veteran backend starter who costs 15 times their salary. However it plays out, the Tigers are basically running back the 2025 squad again if Torres accepts.
That would be a pretty disappointing offseason, particularly coming on the heels of a pretty rough year for the front office. To return basically the same roster in 2026, with only top prospect Kevin McGonigle as a potential upgrade in the lineup somewhere, would be a pretty weak send-off for ace Tarik Skubal. If the Tigers aren’t really going to push harder this season, many would argue that they might just as well trade Skubal rather than just hoping things go their way with roughly the same team plus a bullpen addition or two in 2026.
For the moment, the ball is in Gleyber Torres’ court. The Tigers made a choice to try and land draft pick compensation by giving him the qualifying offer, but it’s probably not going to work out that way and you have to figure they knew the odds were more on the side of Torres taking the offer. He’s not getting $22 million a year in free agency, though a multi-year deal would offer security and more guaranteed money. The Tigers can at least hope for a healthy season and something more like first half Torres in 2026. If he declines it, they get a pick and more flexibility to make a bigger move somewhere on the roster. So Torres’ decision will have major implications for the type of offseason the Detroit Tigers are going to put together.
