A Detroit Tigers guide to available free agent starting pitchers

Carlos Rodon signed a one-year, $44 million contract with the Giants on Friday afternoon. The Detroit Tigers need to sign a starting pitcher. They have Eduardo Rodriguez, Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal, and Matt Manning in their current starting line-up. Tyler Alexander is fifth on the depth chart. Most of the players on this list are fifth starters or players to try and stash on a minor league deal. If the Tigers want to upgrade their starting pitching, they should look for a player on trade.

Michael Pineda is a 33-year-old right-hander who has been with the New York Yankees for over a decade. He has played for the Minnesota Twins for three years. Pino's last played over 150 innings in 2016.

Richards had a UCL reconstruction in 2021. He had his best season with the Boston Red Sox in 2016. Richards is a lesser option than Pineda and not a lock to get a major league contract. He's an injury risk and probably won't get more than 20 starts for the Tigers.

Tyler Anderson is a left-handed pitcher who played for the Rockies, Giants, Pirates and Mariners. He has a fastball sitting 90-91 mph and a changeup. Anderson has good command and induces a lot of weak contact. His lack of strikeouts keeps him from being a desirable starter in the modern era. The Tigers are interested in signing him.

Wily Peralta is a free agent starting pitcher. He was signed by the Detroit Tigers on a minor league deal last year. Perterta doesn't strike out many hitters but he does get a lot of ground balls without giving up too many homers. His 14.4 percent strikeout rate and 9.5 percent walk rate are terrifying, but his game plan and good defensive positioning helped him get the ball hit roughly where he wanted.

Zack Greinke is 38 years old and is going to settle for a cheap, short-term contract this season. He posted a 4.16 ERA with a. 471 FIP for the Houston Astros last season and averaged over $30 million per season on his last deal.

Yusei Kikuchi declined a $13 million option with the Seattle Mariners. He has good velocity, but he's not a good enough pitcher to be considered a back-up starter. The Tigers would have an edge in coaching and they would want to pay him $8-9 million.

Chris Archer is 33 and has been on the downswing since his excellent 2013-2015 season. He has an excellent slider and strikeouts, but his velocity dipped to 92 mph last year. If he's healthy, he could be an interesting pickup for the Tigers.

Danny Duffy had a good season with the Royals last year. He had some forearm problems and had to have surgery. Duffy is expected to be available as a free agent. He is similar to Matthew Boyd. The team will try to sign him to an incentive-heavy deal. It will be interesting to see if he can keep the ball in the park.

The Detroit Tigers are looking for a starting pitcher. The Oakland A's and Cincinnati Reds have some good starters available. If the Tigers want to boost the rotation, they will have to make a trade. They could also build up the bullpen with relievers.  The free agent market for starting pitchers is too thin to offer exciting options. It might be better to build a deep, talented bullpen. it might avoid the need to trade young talent. to get to the deadline.