Well, barring a real miracle, the Detroit Tigers 2026 season is a lost cause. After playing themselves back into contention by the middle of August, they've absolutely cratered since getting swept by the Chicago White Sox. A massive payroll expansion, multiple talented rookies added to the mix, Jackson Jobe's return from Tommy John surgery, and the ongoing brilliance of Kevin McGonigle's AL Rookie of the Year caliber season have not been enough to overcome the hellscape that was May's 6-22 debacle. The season is a failure and there will be plenty of accounting of blame to place when this is all said and done, but for now, there are several things the Tigers should do in September to start setting themselves up for the future.
The obvious overriding theme here, is play the kids.
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For starters, the Tigers should set Gleyber Torres free. The veteran second baseman has been a stabilizing, professional presence in the lineup, and a mentor to younger players, but his physical decline has cut down his playing time in both of his two seasons with the Tigers. It's hard to imagine a scenario where the Tigers sign him again this offseason in free agency. Even so, this has nothing to do with performance. It just makes sense to place Torres on unconditional waivers this morning, giving contending teams a chance to claim him on Monday and assume the roughly $3.5M still owed to him this season. That move would be good for Torres, who at 29 years old may not have many cracks at the postseason left in his career. More importantly for the Tigers, it opens up second base and playing time for their multitude of young players who primarily work at second and third base.
Play the kids in the infield
Hao-Yu Lee is already up, and a report from Emily Waldon indicates that infield prospect John Peck is to be promoted from Triple-A Toledo to the major leagues for his debut. Peck can play second, third, and shortstop, and overall is a pretty good defender. He's not exactly a slam dunk defensive shortstop, but he's good enough to hang there, and likely a plus defender everywhere else. Peck and Brett Callahan have basically moved up in lockstep, and while one is a left-handed hitting corner outfielder and the other a right-handed hitting infielder, there are plenty of similarities as both are good defenders with a nice mix of speed and power, who could both use a little more plate discipline to make them staples of the Tigers bench next season. Neither got much time at the Triple-A level, particularly Peck, but they're both eligible in the Rule 5 draft this offseason, and the Tigers need to work with them in the big leagues, see what they've got, and give them each some experience to take into the offseason.
The other obvious call-up is 24-year-old second baseman Max Anderson. I've tended to be the low man on Anderson among prospect writers on the Tigers' system, but that doesn't mean he isn't talented. The issue is that he's pretty limited defensively, and despite good bat-to-ball skills and above average raw power, he entered the season still decidedly a free swinger who chases too much and gets himself out on pitcher's pitches rather than being selective enough to get more pitches he can drive. On that latter score he's made some nice progress this season in his first full look at the Triple-A level, chasing a little less and finally taking his walks. He's earned a look at the major leagues as well. Anderson is a below average second baseman in my opinion, with decent hands but mediocre range, agility, and arm strength, and at a listed 5'11" he doesn't really have the big frame preferred in a first baseman either, though his glove would play there. Still, he can hit, and the Tigers might as well see what they've got in him before the season ends.
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To facilitate all this, releasing Torres is the obvious move, and one would expect that Torres would be pleased to get a crack at October baseball with another team. If he's really not that interested and prefers to stay, that's fine. He's a good leader and has plenty of knowledge to pass along to younger teammates, but his playing time needs to be cut down so the Tigers can embrace the youth movement.
Experiment with the bullpen
The Tigers committed to Kenley Jansen as their closer last offseason, and while he's been much better since June 1, it's gone pretty poorly overall. He struggled when the Tigers really needed him in April and May, and at his best since then he's just been okay. Jansen stands at 493 saves, and his status as one of the great relievers of all-time isn't in doubt. Here in the waning years of his Hall of Fame caliber career, no doubt he would like to reach 500 saves and the Tigers would probably like to have something like that to celebrate, but he's not going to get there this year anyway. He has 17 saves and 5 blown saves on the year, and it's impossible to imagine a scenario in which he saves seven of the final 26 games.
Instead, the Tigers might as well give at least a few of those chances to lefty Drew Sommers, who has emerged as the Tigers' best reliever in the second half. There's no reason to cut Jansen loose, as the Tigers don't have much in the way of compelling relief options in Toledo, but they've got to start thinking ahead. Sommers doesn't really profile as a pure closer type, and high leverage work in the seventh and eighth innings really isn't much different than closing games, but it would be good to see him get a crack at a save or two.
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We'd also like to see 26-year-old right-hander Yilber Diaz recalled back to Detroit to work in the bullpen. Guys in their 30's like Tanner Rainey aren't part of the future Tigers bullpen, but Diaz might be if he can lock in control of his fastball-slider combination. Probably, as with veteran outfielder Corey Julks, the Tigers are just doing Rainey a bit of a solid by getting him some major league paychecks for being a good soldier stashed in Triple-A all season. Rainey's recent velo burst is at least vaguely interesting, but he's always had pretty good stuff, he's 33, and he's never thrown strikes with any consistency.
Once again, play the kids.
Turn the kids loose
The final part of this is stylistic more than anything. I'm decidedly not a big sacrifice guy, and the hit and run isn't utilized much anymore, both because of high strikeout rates for pitchers, but also because a team like the Tigers already goes first to third well on singles. However, working on stealing bases, trying to work on bunting for base hits a little more in cases like Max Clark, who has the speed to beat them out for hits, and working on elements of situational hitting like right-handed hitters doing the other way with runners on base, would be advisable.
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The Tigers aren't just going to throw caution to the wind and make tons of outs on the basepaths. For coaches and players, no matter the circumstances, winning the day's game is still the goal. That doesn't mean this isn't a good time to try and turn the younger players loose to experiment, make outs without major consequence, and try to push the limits and improve.
Modern pitchers are a lot harder to steal on than in the old days. The quick, compact deliveries utilized by most pitchers gives a lot less time in which to run, and makes reading first moves to the plate crucial. Yet just about everyone is running more than the Tigers do, and they rank last in all of baseball with just 40 stolen bases. 28 other teams have more than 50 stolen bases this season, and 17 different teams have at least doubled the Tigers' stolen base totals. They've got to get a lot better at this, and with a faster, younger team, they have the personnel to run way more often now.
The only way to get good at getting perfect jumps is by trial and error. There's really nothing to lose, so it would be nice to see A.J. Hinch turn them loose and let them make their mistakes now rather than next season when their place in the standings will hopefully matter more. Either way, the club is behind the times here, and after switching out both first and third base coaches at various points this season, it would be nice to see those changes pay some dividends in the stolen base department. After finishing 10th best in baserunning ranking in 2025, the Tigers have fallen back to 22nd this season. There is clearly more work to be done in this area.
Another element of "turn the kids loose" is moving Max Clark to the leadoff spot. This is exactly what he's built to do. He's a classic leadoff hitter type with the addition boon of average raw power. It made sense not to rush him into that spot when the Tigers were still hoping to reach the postseason, but there's no reason now not to get ahead of the game in this regard. Let him settle in atop the order and get used to setting the table and the tone for the Tigers' offense.
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The season is lost, but there is always work to be done to get better. It's hard to know how hard the Tigers will push in 2027 to get back into contention, but they have enough pieces to expect a much better season if the front office can get its act together in free agency, and perhaps pull off a useful trade or two in regard to the brewing logjams at first and second base in particular. For now, the best thing they can do is take the governor off, play more aggressively, and let their big crop of talented rookies get some mistakes out of the way and learn to play the game closer to the edge of their ability at the major league level.
