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This offseason, the Detroit Tigers could've gone a few different directions. One that teams around baseball likely were hoping for was a rebuild, with a trade of Tarik Skubal being the indication of such a plan.
But the Tigers kept Skubal, and instead of selling anyone, elected to bring back a few key players and add talent to become a true World Series contender. That hasn't gone well, and now the Tigers might be sellers at the deadline.
One of the biggest regrets for the Tigers from this past offseason might wind up being a Skubal trade, but for now, as Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report notes, the regret the team made revolves around the qualifying offer made to Gleyber Torres.
"Offseason Regret: Extending qualifying offer to Gleyber Torres," Miller writes. "... But if they had known in November that Kevin McGonigle would be as good as fast as he has been in the majors, there's no way they would've offered Gleyber Torres $22.025M to stick around for another year, right?"
This decision from the Tigers, to offer the $22.025 million qualifying offer to Torres, was the same mistake that the New York Yankees made with Trent Grisham. Both teams are now coming to regret those decisions.
Tigers might have same $22.025M offseason regret as Yankees
The Tigers extended the qualifying offer to Torres as there was some fear he'd sign a long-term deal elsewhere in free agency. But, apparently, the offers weren't to his liking, and Torres came back on the one-year, $22.025M deal.
The Yankees made the same mistake with Grisham, who returned on the same $22.025M qualifying offer. Both teams would've been better off had they declined these offers and left in free agency.
Both Torres and Grisham have been dealing with injuries this season, though Torres' issue has been much worse. And when they've been on the field, neither has been good. Torres has a .717 OPS this season, while Grisham has a .682 OPS.
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They aren't terrible players by any means at the moment, but neither is even remotely worth the $22.025 million qualifying offer they both accepted.
With the Tigers having Kevin McGonigle and other young infielders, and the Yankees having Jasson Dominguez and Spencer Jones in the minors, both teams could turn to youngsters in place of these expensive, struggling veterans.
Both the Tigers and Yankees made the same mistake, and Miller identified both as their top offseason regrets. It makes sense, especially in the Tigers' case, as Torres has been a severe disappointment, especially since he's missed 20 games this season already.
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