DETROIT -- For the second time in two weeks, the Tigers have retained a key player from their 2025 playoff team on a one-year contract. This time, it’s second baseman Gleyber Torres, who became the first Tiger to accept a qualifying offer from the club.
The one-year, $22,025,000 deal marks a raise from the one-year, $15 million contract Torres signed with Detroit last December. It’s not the long-term deal he had hoped to line up following his rebound season, but it brings the soon-to-be 29-year-old back where he put together an All-Star campaign this past season before a midsummer sports hernia injury slowed him down the stretch. He underwent surgery last month but is expected to be ready for Spring Training.
Torres became a sparkplug at the top of the Tigers' lineup and a quiet leader in the clubhouse. 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 mph was just off his career-best mark of 90.1 from 2022.
Torres’ 2.9 bWAR marked a full win over his 2023 value, and tied Zach McKinstry for third on the Tigers behind AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal and Gold Glove Award winner catcher Dillon Dingler.
The qualifying offer gave Torres a simple choice this offseason: Decline the offer if he could line up a lucrative long-term contract on the open market, or accept the salary bump if multiyear offers are underwhelming. Players can only receive a qualifying offer once in their career, so Torres will have a chance to go back on the free-agent market next winter with no Draft-pick compensation attached.
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For the Tigers, the qualifying offer -- their first since 2014 -- presented a win-win scenario: Keep Torres for another year if he accepted, or pick up a first- or second-round pick in next summer’s Draft if Torres declined the offer and signs elsewhere.
By retaining Torres, the Tigers have a chance to set their infield for next season and focus on fortifying their pitching. They can still be opportunistic on the market for offensive help, but they don’t have to make a signing to fill a void. General manager Jeff Greenberg told reporters last week at MLB’s GM Meetings that Torres’ decision “inevitably affects the rest of the offseason. … It will affect the rest of the infield, the outlook of the offseason.”
Torres’ return to second base shifts Colt Keith to third, where he picked up much of his playing time over the second half of the season. Fellow All-Star infielders Javier Báez and McKinstry also return and could split time at shortstop. Top prospect Kevin McGonigle, fresh off Arizona Fall League MVP honors, faces a longer shot to crack Detroit’s Opening Day roster, but he is still expected to get a long look in Spring Training at shortstop and third base, and he is likely to make his MLB debut at some point next season. No. 9 prospect Max Anderson, who hit .447 in the AFL after batting .296 between Triple-A Toledo and Double-A Erie, has a chance to work into the mix at third base as a righty-hitting option, as does No. 6 prospect Hao-Yu Lee.
The Tigers have prioritized opportunities for young players ever since Scott Harris took over as president of baseball operations in 2022. Torres’ return gives the Tigers a veteran presence in their infield for another year without blocking a position for the long term.