NEW: 2025 Top 100 Prospects list

By Sam Dykstra @SamDykstraMiLB

January 24, 2025

He was one of the most sought-after talents this offseason, and he hadn’t even played stateside ball yet. Now, he can add another bullet point to his already lengthy baseball resume.

Dodgers right-hander Roki Sasaki tops MLB Pipeline’s 2025 preseason ranking of the Top 100 prospects, followed by Red Sox outfielder Roman Anthony and Twins outfielder Walker Jenkins in the top three.

The 23-year-old pitcher was posted this offseason after four professional seasons in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, and after taking meetings with multiple Major League clubs, he signed with the Dodgers for $6.5 million earlier this week. Since Sasaki is younger than 25 and did not play more than six professional seasons overseas, he qualified to sign under the international amateur signing rules and was therefore considered prospect-eligible for the purposes of this list. His triple-digit fastball and 80-grade splitter become two of the best pitches in prospectdom immediately, and he has the ceiling of a true ace with Los Angeles.

Anthony -- one of three Boston prospects in the Top 12 -- continues to close in on Fenway Park with improved bat speed, power and overall hitting ability. Jenkins is another potential plus hitter with plus power who could stick in center field, as is No. 4 Dylan Crews, who debuted for the Nationals late last summer. Rounding out the top five is a fellow 2024 debutant Jackson Jobe, who sports four plus to plus-plus pitches that he put on display during the Tigers’ recent run to the postseason.

The Top 10

1. Roki Sasaki, RHP, Dodgers
2. Roman Anthony, OF, Red Sox
3. Walker Jenkins, OF, Twins
4. Dylan Crews, OF, Nationals
5. Jackson Jobe, RHP, Tigers
6. Max Clark, OF, Tigers
7. Kristian Campbell, 2B/SS/OF, Red Sox
8. Andrew Painter, RHP, Phillies
9. Carson Williams, SS, Rays
10. Travis Bazzana, 2B, Guardians
36. Chase Delauter, OF, Guardians
60. Jason Chourio, OF, Guardians
62. Angel Genao, IF, Guardians

Here are myriad other ways to look at the 2025 preseason Top 100:

Biggest rises

There are 40 new faces on this preseason Top 100 compared to last year’s, though that total does not include the 15 players from the 2024 Draft and the only 2025 international signee on the list in Sasaki.

No one who was eligible for the list in 2024 made a bigger leap than Campbell, who wasn’t even on the Red Sox’s Top 30 list heading into last season. The 2023 132nd overall pick slashed .330/.439/.558 with 20 homers and 24 steals in 115 games across three levels (including Triple-A Worcester) in his first full season and won Hitting Prospect and Breakout Prospect of the Year honors for his efforts. Padres shortstop Leodalis De Vries – the top 2024 international prospect – also jumped from outside the Top 100 at this time last year to No. 18 after looking advanced at the plate and in the field in Single-A at just 17. Tigers infielder Kevin McGonigle (No. 28), Dodgers outfielder Josue De Paula (No. 40) and Marlins left-hander Thomas White (No. 41) also make strong debuts on a preseason Top 100 after missing out this time last year.

The highest jumper

from the 2024 edition to 2025 is Pirates right-hander Bubba Chandler, who leapt from No. 93 to No. 15 after a strong season at the upper levels, especially down the stretch with Triple-A Indianapolis. The others to climb 40-plus spots were Giants first baseman Bryce Eldridge (No. 96 to No. 24), Mariners shortstop Colt Emerson (No. 87 to No. 20), Rangers shortstop Sebastian Walcott (No. 71 to No. 17), Royals catcher Blake Mitchell (No. 94 to No. 48) and Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing (No. 75 to No. 30).

Furthest falls

Rockies middle infielder Adael Amador (No. 28 in 2024) slashed just .230/.343/.376 in 455 plate appearances with Double-A Hartford and slid over to second base full-time (aka away from a more premium position at shortstop). The 21-year-old switch-hitter was also pushed to the Majors likely before he was ready, and his 6-for-35 (.171) turn with limited power didn’t help his stock in the eyes of evaluators, deepening his slide off the Top 100 heading into this year. Others from last year’s Top 50 to fall off completely while retaining prospect eligibility for 2025 were Blue Jays left-hander Ricky Tiedemann (No. 29), Marlins left-hander Robby Snelling (No. 36), Brewers first baseman Tyler Black (No. 46), Nationals third baseman Brady House (No. 48) and Phillies right-hander Mick Abel (No. 49).

Nine players moved down 25 spots or more from their 2024 ranking. Most notably was Brewers right-hander Jacob Misiorowski, who dropped from No. 33 to No. 100 as it looked more likely he’s headed for a long-term bullpen role with Milwaukee. The others were Pirates second baseman Termarr Johnson (No. 44 to No. 83), White Sox shortstop Colson Montgomery (No. 9 to No. 39), Marlins right-hander Noble Meyer (No. 57 to No. 85), Mariners catcher Harry Ford (No. 38 to No. 65), Cubs right-hander Cade Horton (No. 26 to No. 52), Padres catcher Ethan Salas (No. 8 to No. 33), Cubs outfielder Kevin Alcántara (No. 65 to No. 90) and Reds shortstop Edwin Arroyo (No. 67 to No. 92).

Demographics

Shortstops

carry the day on this ranking, taking up 25 spots – the most we’ve ever had on a preseason or midseason Top 100 update. There were also MLB Pipeline preseason highs for most catchers (13) and second basemen (eight). Those peaks correspond with a valley for total pitchers. Only 25 arms (19 righties, six lefties) cracked the Top 100 this year, in part because innings limits and injuries have lowered the ceilings of pitchers across the sport. That isn’t to say there aren’t still high-quality pitching prospects, however, with Sasaki sitting up top and three in the top eight.

Outfielders (18)
first basemen (6)
third basemen (3)
round out the positional groups.

The Top 100 prospects hail from 11 countries. Seventy-five were born in the United States, with the Dominican Republic (11), Venezuela (five) and Cuba (two) claiming multiple representatives. Australia, The Bahamas, Canada, Colombia, Japan, Panama and Puerto Rico also boast a Top 100 prospect this year.

Seventy-five of the 100 also entered pro ball via the Draft, including 2024 No. 1 overall pick Bazzana. Angels right-hander Caden Dana (No. 78) is the lowest pick in this year’s crop, having been taken in the 11th round out of a New Jersey high school in 2022. Of the 25 international signees on the list, bonuses have ranged from Sasaki’s $6.5 million this month to Tigers catcher Thayron Liranzo’s $30,000 when he first joined the Dodgers in January 2021.

Farm reports

The Cubs and Mariners both claim the most Top 100 prospects this year with seven apiece, while the Dodgers, Tigers and White Sox all set the next tier with six each. All 30 farm clubs have at least one prospect on this year’s list.

But raw numbers of Top 100 prospects don’t tell the whole story. We can also look at the strength of each group’s Top 100 class through the prism of Prospect Points (100 points for No. 1, 99 for No. 2, etc.). In that mode, we have an AL Central battle at the top between the rebuilding White Sox and the upstart Tigers.

The Top 10 organizations in terms of Prospect Points, with their best prospect in parentheses

White Sox, 364 (Noah Schultz, LHP, No. 16)
Tigers, 337 (Jackson Jobe, RHP, No. 5)
Dodgers, 317 (Roki Sasaki, RHP, No. 1)
Red Sox, 307 (Roman Anthony, OF, No. 2)
Mariners, 263 (Colt Emerson, SS/3B, No. 20)
Cubs, 253 (Matt Shaw, INF, No. 19)
Guardians, 236 (Travis Bazzana, 2B, No. 10)
Phillies, 212 (Andrew Painter, RHP, No. 8)
Twins, 202 (Walker Jenkins, OF, No. 3)
Rangers, 192 (Sebastian Walcott, SS/3B, No. 17)

Sam Dykstra is a reporter for MiLB.com and MLB.com.

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2025 Central League Team Expectations



Yuri Karasawa

January 20, 2025

Flamethrowing phenom Roki Sasaki finally signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers for a $6.5 million bonus after narrowing his field of finalists down to the Dodgers, San Diego Padres, and Toronto Blue Jays this week. He joins Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, forming a stacked trio of Japanese superstars on the defending World Series champions. Meanwhile, Koyo Aoyagi signed a minor league deal with the Philadelphia Phillies.

In other news, 18-year-old Shotaro Morii signed with the Athletics for a $1.5 million bonus. The two-way prospect skipped the NPB Draft last fall and will now begin his journey in an MLB organization. Following in the footsteps of Rintaro Sasaki, some believe more Japanese amateurs will bypass NPB to start their careers stateside in the future.

Last week, we looked at the realistic expectations for each of the six Pacific League teams entering the 2025 season. This time, we turn it over to the Central League. Let’s dig in.






Yomiuri Giants
(Last Year: Lost Championship Series)

Under new manager Shinnosuke Abe, the Giants won its first pennant since 2020 with a strong 77-59-7 record. But the team’s formidable offense fell apart in the League Championship Series, leading to an early exit at the hands of the DeNA BayStars. MVP Tomoyuki Sugano left for MLB, but they still have superstars like Kazuma Okamoto and Shosei Togo and added free agents like Raidel Martinez, Takuya Kai, and Masahiro Tanaka to compensate for the loss. It’s Japan Series or bust!

Expectation: Win Japan Series






Hanshin Tigers
(Last Year: Lost Wild Card Series)

The Tigers broke the curse of the colonel in 2023 with a title but failed to return to the Japan Series in 2024, finishing 3.5 games behind the Giants for first place in the regular season. But with a championship core of players like Shoki Murakami, Hiroto Saiki, Koji Chikamoto, and Shota Morishita still together, Hanshin will be expected to be very competitive under new skipper Kyuji Fujikawa.

Expectation: Pennant Contender






DeNA BayStars
(Last Year: Won Japan Series)

It took a late-season collapse by Hiroshima for the BayStars to sneak into the playoffs, but they got hot at the right time and took that momentum across the finish line with a magical Japan Series championship run. Led by premier hitters Shugo Maki, Toshiro Miyazaki, and Tyler Austin, DeNA will be a force to be reckoned with again so long as the pitching continues to hold up.

Expectation: Playoff Contender






Hiroshima Carp
(Last Year: Missed Playoffs)

The Carp punched well above its weight for most of 2024 but fell apart in September with a nightmare 7-22 record down the stretch to miss the postseason. To make matters worse, the team lost one of its top starters, Aren Kuri, in free agency. While Takahiro Arai’s men always seem to do the little things right and exhibit great fundamentals, the roster isn’t quite as inspiring as other CL contenders.

Expectation: Below .500






Yakult Swallows
(Last Year: Missed Playoffs)

After winning back-to-back pennants in 2021 and 2022, the Swallows have missed the postseason in consecutive seasons. On paper, Yakult still has one of the most explosive lineups in NPB led by Munetaka Murakami, Yasutaka Shiomi, Tetsuto Yamada, and Domingo Santana. However, health concerns and pitching flaws may continue to hold the team back in what will be Murakami’s final year in Japan.

Munetaka Murakami, 1B, 3B
2018 AGE 18 36 HR;
2019 AGE 19 36 HR;
2020 AGE 20 28 HR;
2021 AGE 21 39 HR;
2022 AGE 22, 56 HR;
2023 AGE 23 31 HR;
2024 AGE 24, 33 HR;
43 AVG HR/YR
AGE 24, G 934, PA 3983, AVE 272, AB 3295, OBP 395, SLG 543, OPS 938, R 558, H 897, 2B 160, 3B 5, HR 241, RBI 670, SB 71, CS 40, W 640, K 997,
THINK THE GUARDS COULD USE A HITTER LIKE MURAKAMI ??

MURAKAMI WORLD CLASSIC HOMER VS TEAM USA

https://www.mlb.com/video/murakami-s-115-1-mph-home-run

Expectation: Close to .500






Chunichi Dragons
(Last Year: Missed Playoffs)

The Dragons are amid a 12-year playoff drought, but there’s reason to believe the team can finally break through in 2025. A young position player core is coming together with burgeoning sluggers like Hiroki Fukunaga and Seiya Hosokawa, while the pitching features elite youngsters like ERA title winner Hiroto Takahashi and No. 1 prospect Yumeto Kanemaru. The question is, can new skipper Kazuki Inoue lead Chunichi out of the cellar?

Expectation: Not Last Place

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Dodgers making more 'pen moves?

Jan. 21: Yates, Dodgers in talks (reports)
The Dodgers apparently aren't done making moves just yet. After recently adding Roki Sasaki and reaching a deal with reliever Tanner Scott (per a source), the club is "looking very likely" to bring in two-time All-Star reliever Kirby Yates, per MLB Network insider Jon Heyman. A potential agreement was first reported by USA Today's Bob Nightengale.

Yates would be joining newcomer Scott and Blake Treinen in Los Angeles' revamped bullpen. The Dodgers have also added starters Sasaki and Blake Snell, infielder Hyeseong Kim and outfielders Teoscar Hernández and Michael Conforto this offseason.

Though their pursuit of Yates is a bit of a surprise given their other moves in the past week, it's hard to imagine the Dodgers making any other major moves before Spring Training outside of potentially re-signing free agent Clayton Kershaw.

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Chicago White Sox Dominate MLB Pipeline's Preseason Top 100 Prospect Rankings

Even though Colson Montgomery took a tumble down the rankings, the Chicago White Sox have Noah Schultz, Kyle Teel and Hagen Smith propping up an elite farm system.

MLB Pipeline released its fully-updated list of the top 100 prospects in baseball on Friday night, featuring six White Sox players. While the Chicago Cubs and Seattle Mariners lead the way with seven top-100 prospects, the White Sox have more top-66 prospects than any other organization.

Left-handed pitcher Noah Schultz came in at No. 16, followed by catcher Kyle Teel at No. 32, left-handed pitcher Hagen Smith at No. 34, shortstop Colson Montgomery at No. 39, outfielder Braden Montgomery at No. 55 and catcher Edgar Quero at No. 66.

Schultz and Smith are ranked as the top-two southpaw prospects in the league. Teel and Quero, meanwhile, are the No. 3 and No. 9 catching prospects.

Colson Montgomery has been pegged the No. 11 shortstop – a far cry from the No. 2 spot he had at the position at the start of 2024, but still impressive in a vacuum.

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Roki is here. This superstar slugger could be next

January 25th, 2025






Roki Sasaki is here. Munetaka Murakami could be next.

From Shohei Ohtani to Yoshinobu Yamamoto to Sasaki, there's been a wave of young Japanese superstars coming to MLB from Nippon Professional Baseball over the last few seasons. And there could be another big one coming next year.

The superstar slugger Murakami, who two years ago hit 56 home runs in NPB to break the legendary Sadaharu Oh's record for the most in a season by a Japanese-born player, is said to be coming to the Major Leagues in 2026.

Murakami is just turning 25 years old, and he's already a two-time Central League MVP, Triple Crown winner and four-time All-Star in Japan. He's won the Japan Series with his NPB club, the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, in 2021, and he's won the World Baseball Classic with Team Japan in 2023.

Here are four key things to know about Murakami and what to expect from him if he jumps to MLB.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1642025262429925376




1) He's the most dangerous power hitter in Japan

Murakami's slugging numbers are off the charts. He doesn't just have the 56-homer season, he has five 30-homer seasons before turning 25.

No Major League player has ever done that. Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, Frank Robinson, Eddie Mathews and Jimmie Foxx are the only MLB players with even four 30-homer seasons before age 25.

Murakami has already hit 224 home runs for the Swallows. The most by any Major Leaguer before their age-25 season is 190 by Mathews.

Murakami has three home run crowns in six full seasons in the Central League, averaging 37 home runs a year over that time. He has a career .550 slugging percentage and .945 OPS. This is a player with elite power, no matter what league he's playing in.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1834907841091477913




2) He hits the ball as hard as MLB stars

Murakami's run in the 2023 World Baseball Classic didn't just let him showcase his power on the international stage, it gave us some Statcast data on how hard he hits the ball.

It's "very hard."

In Japan's win over the U.S. in the championship game, Murakami absolutely crushed a 115.1 mph, 432-foot home run off D-backs starting pitcher Merrill Kelly. It was the hardest home run hit by any player in the entire World Baseball Classic.






Murakami's blast reached the upper echelon of exit velocity. It is a skill to be able to hit a baseball that hard -- only 27 of the 252 qualifying hitters on Statcast's exit velocity leaderboard for 2024 had a max exit velo of 115-plus mph. And it's another thing entirely to also be able to drive the ball that hard in the air, over the fence.

Murakami hitting such a mammoth home run off a Major League starter is a sign of how his power could translate to the Major Leagues. In the 2024 season, only 14 MLB players hit even one home run 115 mph or harder -- and that list includes many of the game's biggest sluggers like Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Yordan Alvarez, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Pete Alonso and Fernando Tatis Jr. That is the class of power Murakami possesses.

That homer wasn't the only big hit Murakami had in the World Baseball Classic. His walk-off double against Mexico in the semifinals was a 111.0 mph, 400-foot rocket off the wall at loanDepot park, and it came against another big league pitcher, Cardinals reliever Giovanny Gallegos.






https://youtu.be/JjNC5GCHFEg

Murakami Walkoff Double Vs Mexico World Baseball Classic




And in the quarterfinals against Italy, Murakami also ripped a 112.4 mph opposite-field double that was hit so hard it ate up the Brewers' Sal Frelick in left field. That's three balls hit 110 mph or harder in the WBC for Murakami. The only player with more was Ohtani.

The point is this: Murakami fits right in with top MLB players with how hard he hits the ball, and he can do it to all fields.




3) His 2022 season was one of the best ever

Let's take a second to appreciate Murakami's record-setting 2022 season for the Swallows. It's one of the greatest batting seasons we've ever seen.

Breaking Oh's home run record was historic by itself. But Murakami also won the batting Triple Crown -- he batted .318 with the 56 homers and 134 RBIs. And he did all that at age 22.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1576901577335394304

Murakami Breaking Oh's home run record




Murakami was NPB's eighth batting Triple Crown winner and the first in nearly two decades, since Nobuhiko Matsunaka in 2004. And he was the youngest Triple Crown winner in NPB history.

Murakami's season earned him unanimous MVP honors, making him a back-to-back MVP winner. Before him, the last unanimous MVP in NPB was Masahiro Tanaka in 2013, and the last hitter to be a unanimous MVP was Oh in 1977.

He hit everything. Here's a breakdown of Murakami's ranks in various batting metrics that season, including how he hit both righties and lefties and against different pitch types (courtesy of the NPB batter profile app).







Murakami was more than twice as good as the average NPB hitter that season. His wRC+, a stat measuring all-around offensive performance, was 228; league average is 100.

Murakami was, essentially, Japan's Aaron Judge. Judge, who had his historic 62-home run season for the Yankees that same year, had a 206 wRC+. Judge's 11.2 Wins Above Replacement in MLB was nearly identical to Murakami's 11.0 WAR in NPB.




4) He'll need to get his strikeout numbers under control

Murakami at his best is more than just an elite home run hitter. He's an elite all-around hitter, who crushes home runs, draws tons of walks, doesn't chase bad pitches and gets on base at a high clip.

But since his historic 2022 season, Murakami's strikeout numbers have shot up, and his contact-hitting numbers have plummeted. He's gone through some big slumps and even power outages.

He's still been a top-tier home run hitter and a highly productive hitter overall -- Murakami hit over 30 homers in both 2023 and 2024, and was over 50% better than average offensively in both seasons. But his batting average dropped from .318 in 2022 to .256 in 2023 and .244 in 2024. His strikeout total spiked from 128 to 168 to 180 over that same period, and his strikeout rate increased from 20.9% to 28.1% to 29.5%.







That's more of an all-or-nothing profile than Murakami would like to have as a hitter. And it's a trend that Major League teams would certainly like to see reversed if Murakami is going to be a consistent All-Star type of player in MLB.

But Murakami is still so young, he has such exceptional production, and he has all the measurable tools to be a great power hitter in MLB. So if he does follow in his fellow Japanese stars' footsteps next season, it's worth believing in him to get back to the peak version of himself and become a star in the Major Leagues, too.

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Colorado Rockies Top Prospect Charlie Condon Played Through Thumb Injury in 2024

Charlie Condon struggled in the minor leagues last season, but Colorado Rockies general manager Bill Schmidt revealed that the first round pick had been dealing with a bruised thumb.

Sam Connon | 14 Minutes Ago

Despite being the crown jewel of the Colorado Rockies' 2024 draft class, Charlie Condon failed to impress in the minor leagues last summer.

The 21-year-old outfielder hit just .180 with one home run, four doubles, 11 RBI and a .518 OPS in 25 High-A contests. That production was a far cry from what earned him the Golden Spikes Award at the University of Georgia earlier in the year, considering he hit .433 with 37 home runs, 20 doubles, 78 RBI and a 1.565 OPS in 60 NCAA games.

Rockies general manager Bill Schmidt spoke on the No. 3 overall pick's struggles on Saturday, explaining them away with a previously unpublicized injury.

"The thing with Charlie last year going out and – he had bruised his thumb and kinda didn't tell us that he had bruised his thumb," Schmidt said. "So he kinda played through it, which I think affected the performance."

Schmidt said that, while there have been internal talks, the Rockies have not yet decided which level Condon should start at in 2025. He was not included among Colorado's non-roster invitees for Spring Training, so his promotion to the big leagues is unlikely to come anytime soon.

Condon was ranked as the No. 6 outfielder prospect in baseball last week. When MLB Pipeline's fully-updated Top 100 list was revealed on Friday, Condon came in at No. 29 – down 17 spots from where he debuted in August 2024.

MLB Pipeline has Condon's power tool graded at a 70, while his hit and arm tools earned 55s. Condon's field and run tools got a 50 and a 40, respectively.

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Detroit Tigers Trending Right Way in Pre-Spring Training Power Rankings

The Detroit Tigers are steadily moving up the MLB power rankings with just a month until spring training.

Kenneth Teape | 7 Minutes Ago

What the Detroit Tigers accomplished down the stretch of the 2024 MLB regular season was one of the most shocking mid-season turnarounds in the history of the game.

Despite being sellers ahead of the deadline in July and facing a double-digit deficit in the standings, they turned into arguably the best team in baseball down the stretch. They erased that deficit, earning the second wild card spot in the American League.

The hot streak continued in the playoffs, as they swept the Houston Astros in the AL Wild Card series before being defeated by the Cleveland Guardians in the AL Division Series.

It looked as if the team just ran out of steam, but the Tigers had announced their presence as a playoff contender in the league.

Looking to build off of that positive momentum, many people thought the Tigers would be aggressive this offseason upgrading their roster.

There were clear needs that had to be addressed.

The lineup was lacking power and was in the bottom half of the league in nearly every offensive category. Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal was a one-man wrecking crew in the rotation as injuries crushed their depth, leading to several bullpen games.

Detroit did bring in reinforcements for those two spots, but not to the extent anyone expected.

The only significant additions made this offseason have been second baseman Gleyber Torres and starting pitcher Alex Cobb, who both agreed to one-year, $15 million deals.

They should both help, but how much they move the needle is certainly up for debate given the question marks around them. Torres has underwhelmed more often than not since two All-Star appearances to begin his career and Cobb made only three starts in 2024 because of an array of injuries.

Despite what many would consider an underwhelming haul this offseason, the Tigers are heading in the right direction.

Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report has placed them at No. 15 in his power rankings one month away from Spring Training and there is one move that could be made to push them even closer to the top 10 — land Alex Bregman.

“The Tigers have an exciting young team on the rise, and adding Alex Bregman to the mix could be the type of addition that pushes them over the top, but the two sides remain at a stalemate in what has long looked like a logical fit for both sides," the MLB expert wrote.

If that doesn’t come to fruition, the team would benefit greatly from bringing back Jack Flaherty, who started the 2024 campaign in Detroit and was stellar, resulting in a trade to the Los Angeles Dodgers ahead of the deadline.

This is a team on the rise, as the core that emerged last season is talented and only going to get better.

Adding another established veteran or two to the mix would certainly help push things forward, as they proved in October they can hang with the best, giving the Guardians everything they could handle.

[Warning Signs - Don't get Complacent]




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MLB Analyst Predicts Detroit Tigers Are Not Done Making Moves in Free Agency

An MLB analyst has revealed a bold prediction for the rest of the offseason involving the Detroit Tigers.

By Kenneth Teape | Jan 24, 2025

The MLB offseason has been surprisingly quiet for the Detroit Tigers.

After the unprecedented run they went on during the second half of last year, which included a sweep of the Houston Astros in the Wild Card round before being defeated in five games by the Cleveland Guardians, the expectation was the team would spend money to build on the positive momentum created with that run since their timeline to compete seemed to have been moved up multiple years.

The needs that had to be addressed for the team to remain in the mix as a playoff team and eventually build their way up to being legitimate World Series contenders were clear.

They had to add some pop to the lineup and depth behind ace Tarik Skubal on the pitching staff.

To some extent, they accomplished that.

Second baseman Gleyber Torres was signed away from the New York Yankees to help solidify the lineup. But, he doesn’t help balance things out as much as they had hoped since he is essentially replacing Spencer Torkelson, another right-handed hitter who is being moved aside in favor of Colt Keith at first base.

On the mound, the team has only made one addition thus far; veteran Alex Cobb.

He is another major injury risk for a staff that has suffered plenty of ailments in recent years after only making three starts during the 2024 regular season.

Both players agreed to one-year, $15 million deals as the Tigers haven’t committed long-term money to anyone this offseason.

As a result, some evaluators have been underwhelmed by the team’s work this winter, and with a month until Spring Training, there isn’t much time to change that.

However, Bradford Doolittle of ESPN believes that is going to change soon.

In a recent piece where some bold predictions for the remainder of the offseason were shared, he predicted Detroit will land star free agent third baseman, Alex Bregman.

“There are lots of reasons this makes sense, with the exception being positional fit since Detroit added another infielder in Gleyber Torres. Nevertheless, the Tigers have the payroll space to add Bregman, and his positional versatility gives the team a lot of leeway in how to use him for the duration of the contract. He could start at any of the infield spots, and Detroit could move players around Torres to make a number of configurations work. Bregman would be the perfect veteran presence for a young team at the outset of a new window of winning. His history with manager A.J. Hinch gives him a comfort zone. Bregman has to end up somewhere and this makes the most sense to me.”

There have been reports the star has been the Tigers’ No. 1 target in free agency all along. But, to this point, they haven’t budged from the number they are offering.

With Bregman still available, it seems the front office made the right move to hold out this long. But, they shouldn’t wait any longer and need to close the deal.

He brings so much to the table that would benefit this team, being a power threat at the plate, a Gold Glover winner at the hot corner and providing championship experience this group is lacking.

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