Detroit Tigers: Could the team try to poach Carlos Rodón from White Sox?

As the Detroit Tigers start piecing together their offseason plans, they are going to have to decide what areas to hone in on. For example, adding a starting pitcher seems to be something the Tigers are looking to do this offseason.

While the hopes of a Detroit Tigers reunion with Justin Verlander sounds great, who knows what exactly is in store. The likelihood of the Tigers landing someone like Max Scherzer is also quite low and seems like a pipe dream.

That being said, the Tigers are going to have to target their starting pitcher help in another area. There’s a distinct chance that they may spend a significantly higher amount than they have in prior seasons on starting pitching.

One of the unlikely sources but one that could lead to a nifty addition is poaching Chicago White Sox starting pitcher, Carlos Rodón who is a free agent this offseason. It’s a move that may seem pretty unlikely but is fun to look at on paper.

The Detroit Tigers should consider signing Carlos Rodón.

Poaching Rodón from the American League Central rivals of the Tigers would be quite the move. It’s not that it could not be done; it’s that Rodón may be too expensive given the season that he had.

In 2021, Rodón logged 132.2 innings pitched where he had a 13-5 record while managing to pitch to a 2.37 ERA, a 0.96 WHIP, and punch out 185 strikeouts. It was a resurgent year from Rodón, who really turned the tables on his prior seasons’ performances and bounced back from injuries.

He was thought to be one of the best up-and-coming pitching prospects the White Sox had in their farm system; some adversity and struggles changed that, and now Rodón is showing the pitcher that he could have been.

Now, heading into the 2022 season, where he will be 29 years old, Rodón is due for a new contract. Spotrac assigned a market value of $24,079,626 to Rodón, which is just way too high. A team is going to have to shave plenty off of that, even after the year he had.

Rodón may have thrown a no-hitter this season, but his value is not that of a $24 million average annual value. The Tigers should certainly be interested in Rodón, but overpaying is not the route to go.

Taking a flier on Rodón and signing him to a two- to three-year contract certainly seems like it could work out in favor of the Tigers. Especially if he is able to continue pitching at a high level as he did in the 2021 season.