The Tigers added a pair of right-handers to the middle of the rotation early in the offseason. Detroit signed to a two-year pact and took a one-year rebound flier on . That duo helps compensate for the lo s of , who opted out and signed a four-year pact with the Diamondbacks. Detroit president of baseball operations Scott Harris spoke with reporters yesterday at the pre s conference to announce the Flaherty signing. Most notably, the front office leader downplayed the odds of another significant rotation move either via an acquisition or trading away someone bumped from the staff by the Maeda and Flaherty pickups. We did not add Jack intending to trade one of our starters , Harris told reporters ( ). Were always going to listen to opportunities to make trades to make the organization better, but that Nick Pivetta Jersey was not the goal of adding Jack. At the same time, Harris acknowledged that while the organization is broadly open to stockpiling pitching depth as a matter of due course, he (doesnt)know that were going to be in the starting pitching market anymore after this signing . Maeda and Flaherty step in as veteran additions to a fairly young rotation. is the staff ace. The left-handers 2022 breakout was cut short by an unfortunate forearm injury that required flexor surgery. Upon returning from a nearly year-long rehab proce s in early July, he was even better than hed been before the procedure. Over 15 starts, Skubal turned in a 2.80 ERA while striking out almost a third of batters faced. The 27-year-old kept his walk rate below 5% while averaging 95.8 MPH on his fastball, nearly two ticks higher than hed shown the preceding season. Barring an injury in Spring Training, Skubal, Maeda and Flaherty are locks for the Opening Day starting five. The last two spots will likely go to some combination of , , and . Olson and Gipson-Long debuted last season with solid results. The former built a lengthier rsum, pitching 103 2/3 innings over 21 appearances. He allowed just under four earned runs per nine with better than average strikeout and walk rates (24.4% and 7.8%, respectively). Gipson-Long was a September call-up in his age-25 season. He had excellent numbers over his first four starts, allowing a 2.70 ERA with a 31.7% strikeout rate acro s 20 innings. That came against a very weak group of opposing lineups the Angels, White Sox, Royals and As but aligns with his minor league track record of running big strikeout tallies. Mize and Manning are former top 10 picks who have posted back-of-the-rotation results in their MLB time. Both pitchers have battled injury i sues, with Mize mi sing all of 2023 after undergoing Tommy John surgery. Hes at full strength going into Spring Training, although its likely hell be limited from an innings perspective. The Auburn product only made two starts in 2022 before the injury, so he has 10 innings over the last two years. Manning has started between 12 and 18 MLB games since making his debut midway through the 21 season. Shoulder i sues sidelined him for a good portion of the 2022 campaign. His injuries last year were more fluky, as he fractured his foot upon being struck by a comebacker on two separate occasions. Thats seven viable starters. and are still on the roster after making 12+ starts apiece last year, although neither pitched well enough that theyre likely in the Opening Day rotation mix. Teams almost never get through a 162-game schedule with only five starters, so its not surprising the front office is content to hold everyone in the group. Petzold writes that the Tigers arent considering a six-man rotation, though, so there could be camp battles between Mize, Manning, Olson and Gipson-Long for season-opening jobs. Garrett Whitlock Jersey