Veteran reliever Finnegan returning to Tigers on 2-year deal

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The Tigers’ revamped bullpen is getting a big piece back. Detroit has signed Kyle Finnegan to a two-year deal worth $19 million.

The agreement, reached during the Winter Meetings earlier this month, became official on Saturday. It includes an $8.75 million salary for 2026 and an $8 million salary for 2027, with $125,000 performance bonuses in each year for 40, 45, 50 and 55 games finished. There is a $10 million mutual option for 2028 or a $2.25 million buyout.

The 34-year-old Finnegan joined the Tigers at the Trade Deadline from Washington, where he spent the first 5 1/2 years of his Major League career, including 108 saves. The Detroit-born, Texas-raised right-hander didn’t take over the closer role with the Tigers, but fit right into manager A.J. Hinch’s mix-and-match bullpen, racking up four saves in 16 regular-season appearances while allowing just three runs on nine hits over 18 innings with a 23-to-4 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

It was one of the best stretches of Finnegan’s career, including a big boost in strikeout rate for a pitcher who previously averaged less than a strikeout per inning.

Both Finnegan and the Tigers expressed interest in a reunion at season’s end, but Finnegan’s strong finish made him a coveted free agent in a bullpen market that heated up quickly. Once free-agent closers Ryan Helsley, Devin Williams and Edwin Díaz signed lucrative multi-year deals, Finnegan loomed as one of the top relievers left on the market.

“At the outset of the offseason, I knew that a reunion with Detroit was very possible,” Finnegan said. “It was very mutual on both sides that we had interest in a reunion and just kind of from there, trying to let the process play out. … Did have a fair amount of interest, just trying to navigate those teams and the offers. I knew that the Tigers were going to be there all the way, and then it finally came together. Super happy to be back.”

Finnegan is the first free-agent reliever to agree to a multi-year contract with the Tigers since Andrew Chafin signed a two-year, $13 million contract after the 2021 season. That contract had an opt-out, which Chafin exercised after the 2022 season. Before that, Mark Lowe signed a two-year deal before the 2016 season.

“It was great to have put myself in a good position to have a better outcome in free agency,” Finnegan said. “But honestly, the way I’m feeling now, I’m hungrier than ever. I’m not complacent. Now that I’ve got some security, I think this is an opportunity to push it even more and look for more advantages.”

Finnegan joins Will Vest, Tyler Holton, Brenan Hanifee and Brant Hurter as key returning members of the Tigers bullpen. The Tigers added veteran closer Kenley Jansen to the mix, and are expected to continue pursuing relievers.

“We’re always going to stay open-minded to finding additional ways to make this team better,” general manager Jeff Greenberg said. “So it feels like we’re in a position now where we can be pretty opportunistic.”

According to research from Elias Sports Bureau, no team has opened a season with three pitchers who recorded 20 or more saves the previous year since the save became an official statistic in 1969. The Tigers currently have three with Finnegan (24 saves in 2025), Vest (23) and Jansen (29).

“I think it just feeds into the mindset of our bullpen,” Finnegan said. “We have lots of different guys that can do lots of different things, and anytime you can get more options to throw in leverage is a huge advantage. You look at a lot of the teams in the postseason, and their bullpens are built with multiple guys that you can throw out there in the eighth, ninth inning and have confidence that they can get it done.”

To open a spot for Finnegan on the 40-man roster, the Tigers designated outfielder Justyn-Henry Malloy for assignment. Malloy, one of Scott Harris’ first acquisitions as Tigers president of baseball operations three years ago, bounced back and forth between Detroit and Triple-A Toledo over the last couple seasons. He found a role at various points as a specialist against left-handed pitching, and made Detroit’s Opening Day roster last season. He batted .221/.346/.308 in 52 games for the Tigers last season with six doubles, a home run and 17 RBIs, including a .757 OPS against lefties. The Tigers can outright him to Triple-A Toledo if he clears waivers.

“Obviously with J-Hen, he’s had a track record of performance coming up through the Minor Leagues, that combination of on-base and damage,” Greenberg said. “It hasn’t yet translated at the big-league level. It’s not to say it can’t or it won’t. In our situation in particular, we just ran into a point where we didn’t have the space and the time to see that come to fruition.”