The Detroit Tigers have acquired veteran pitcher Kenta Maeda, via a two-year deal amid the MLB free agency, according to Jon Heyman of the MLB Network.
Seeing the Tigers land Maeda isn't quite much of a surprise, as the Tigers were among those who reportedly had shown interest in him.
The 35-year-old Maeda last pitched for the Minnesota Twins in the 2023 MLB season, going 6-8 with a 4.66 ERA and 1.298 WHIP across 21 starts and 106.1 total innings on the mound. He did not play at all in the entire 2022 MLB campaign due to injury, but ended his stint with the Twins with decent a 18-14 record in 53 appearances (52 starts). He had a mediocre 4.02 ERA what the Twins, but his 3.81 FIP during his time in the Twin Cities suggests he's a much better pitcher than what his ERA portrays him to be.
The Tigers finished just 17th in the entire big leagues in the 2023 MLB season with a starters ERA of 4.31 and 12th with starters FIP of 4.29.
Tigers land Kenta Maeda
Although Maeda isn't a big name on the same level as Blake Snell or Shohei Ohtani, he's a solid signing for the Tigers, who made a leap in 2023.
After winning just 66 games in 2022, the Tigers went 78-84 in the recently concluded season. They missed the playoffs for the ninth year in a row, but they have shown promise that the club can finally end their postseason drought sooner than later.
Apart from the Twins, Maeda also played for the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2016 to 2019. During that stretch, he went 47-35 with a 3.92 ERA and 3.71 FIP in 137 games (103 starts).
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