Tigers Should Have Invested More in Alex Bregman Rather Than Signing Alex Cobb

It was a busy winter for the Detroit Tigers, and while they have the best record in baseball so far, not all of their decisions in the offseason were good ones.

So far this campaign, the Tigers are off to a great start. As arguably the team to beat in the American League, Detroit has hit the ground running in 2025.

Last season, the franchise shocked everyone with its impressive performance in the second half of the year and in the playoffs.

Now, expectations are much higher for the team, but they have been living up to it so far.

With a strong young core in place, the Tigers were focused this winter on trying to improve the roster and make this team a true contender. They added some notable free agents, but not all have panned out so far.

Which Free Agent Signing Has Been Detroit's Worst?

Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report recently wrote about the biggest mistake the Tigers made this offseason so far, being the signing of veteran starter Alex Cobb.

"Detroit threw $15M at Cobb, who has yet to pitch in 2025. Perhaps most frustrating for Tigers fans is that the rotation has been darn good without him, so they could have used that money instead to add an impact bat at third base," he wrote.

The signing of Cobb for $15 million was a shocking move for Detroit and one that didn’t make a lot of sense.

In 2024, the veteran right-hander missed most of the year due to injury. At 37 years old, investing that much in a player who barely pitched in the campaign before was very risky.

So far, there have been no results to report for Cobb in 2025, with the veteran yet to pitch.

Considering how well the rotation has performed for the Tigers this season, signing Cobb doesn’t appear to be a good move at all.

While Detroit might not have thought some of their young rotation pieces were going to perform as well as they have, signing an often-injured 37-year-old likely wasn’t the answer.

At $15 million for this campaign, that money could have been allocated toward Alex Bregman in free agency, who was a perfect target for the team. In hindsight, the Tigers should have made a bigger push, as his bat might have put this lineup over the top.

While hindsight is always 20/20, Cobb hasn’t been a good signing thus far for Detroit. While there is still time to turn it around, the right-hander will have to get healthy to do so.

Luckily, Detroit didn’t invest in the veteran for more than one season, but that money could have been used elsewhere.