DALLAS — The Tigers’ quest to restock their rotation following last year’s “pitching chaos” led president of baseball operations Scott Harris down a familiar path. Detroit has reached an agreement with veteran right-hander Alex Cobb on a one-year contract pending a physical, MLB.com has learned.
The Tigers have not yet confirmed the deal, as is their practice when deals are pending a physical. Harris declined comment during his media session Monday at MLB’s Winter Meetings in Dallas.
The 37-year-old Cobb will try to follow the bounce-back seasons the Tigers enjoyed from Jack Flaherty and Michael Lorenzen after signing similar deals the past couple of offseasons. Cobb is older than both and has more of an injury history, but he has also had recent success, including an All-Star selection with San Francisco in 2023 after Harris — then the Giants’ general manager — signed him to a three-year deal in 2022.
Cobb returned from injuries, including left hip surgery and a broken fingernail on his pitching hand, to pitch in five games last season for the Guardians — three in the regular season, two in the postseason — after the Giants traded him at the July 30 Deadline. He faced the Tigers in Game 3 of the AL Division Series at Comerica Park, allowing two runs on three hits in three innings with a walk and two strikeouts in defeat, then faced the Yankees in Game 1 of the ALCS five days later before a lower back strain ended his season.
When Cobb is healthy and effective, he’s a strong ground-ball pitcher with a near-equal mix of mid-90s sinkers and upper-80s splitters. He ranked in the 90th percentile or better among MLB pitchers in ground-ball rate from 2021-23, and he had what would’ve been a career-best 61 percent ground-ball rate last season. Correspondingly, his 20.4 percent line-drive rate was his lowest since 2014.
Cobb’s pitching will put to work a Tigers infield defense that posted a 73.1 percent ground-ball out rate, just above the MLB average of 73.0 percent according to Sports Info Solutions. Shortstop Trey Sweeney ranked in the 78th percentile among MLB players with 2 Outs Above Average despite being in the Majors for just under two months. Second baseman Colt Keith overcame a slow start defensively and finished at 0 Outs Above Average and plus-1 Fielding Run Value.
However, the Tigers’ interest is believed to include the potential for more strikeouts from Cobb with some adjustments to his game. Though he has averaged 7.5 strikeouts per nine innings for his career, and 7.8 in his last full season in 2023, he averaged 9.5 in 2021 for the Angels and 9.1 in 2022 for the Giants.
Cobb would join AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal, Reese Olson, Casey Mize, Kenta Maeda and a slew of young arms in a Tigers rotation picture that aims to provide stability and innings. While Detroit leveraged a mix of openers and bulk relievers behind Skubal and Keider Montero in a late-season run to the playoffs last year, such a mix isn’t an option for a full season.
