Gleyber receives qualifying offer, first Tigers have issued since 2014

For the first time in more than a decade, the Tigers have made a qualifying offer to one of their free agents. They extended it to second baseman Gleyber Torres, who will now weigh the appeal of a second one-year deal with Detroit against the potential of a multi-year deal on the open market.

Torres has until Nov. 18 to accept or decline the offer, a one-year, $22.025M contract. If he declines it, the Tigers could still re-sign him. If he signs elsewhere, the Tigers would receive a compensation pick in next summer’s MLB Draft – either late in the first round if he signs for over $50 million, or at the end of the second round if he signs for less.

It marks the Tigers’ first qualifying offer since Max Scherzer and Victor Martinez in 2014. Martinez declined the offer but returned to the Tigers on a four-year extension a week or two later. Scherzer declined and signed a seven-year deal with the Nationals; the Tigers drafted outfielder Christin Stewart with their compensation pick the following summer.

Torres signed a one-year, $15 million contract with the Tigers last December looking for a bounceback season that would recapture his market value following a 2024 season with the Yankees that was subpar by his standards. By nearly any standard, he bounced back; his 2.9 bWAR was well over his 2024 mark of 1.8 and matched his 2023 total.

Torres’ hot first half not only earned him his first All-Star selection since 2019 and the first All-Star start of his career, it made him the sparkplug of a team that entered the All-Star break with MLB’s best record. He faded down the stretch as he dealt with a hernia injury that required surgery following the season, but he still finished with impressive numbers.

Though Torres’ .256 batting average was a point down from his 2024 clip, his 85 walks – fourth-most among AL hitters – earned him a career-best .358 on-base percentage. He also raised his slugging percentage to .387, boosting him to a 108 OPS+. His 16.1 percent strikeout rate was the second-lowest of his career, while his average exit velocity of 90.0 miles per hour was just off his career-best mark of 90.1 from 2022.

The Tigers have an abundance of infield prospects who could debut next season, including three of their top nine prospects. Top prospect Kevin McGonigle and No. 9 prospect Max Anderson are currently tearing up the Arizona Fall League, while No. 6 prospect Hao-Yu Lee could compete for a spot on next season’s Opening Day roster. They also have Colt Keith, who moved from second base to first and then third last season to open a spot for Torres. But the Tigers value what Torres brought to Detroit this season, and they value Draft picks; McGonigle was a comp pick late in the first round (37th overall) in 2023.