Breaking: Tigers dismisses nine highest paid and most experienced players.

The Detroit Tigers enter the 2024 season with an overhauled roster that will be without nine of their ten highest paid players from the 2023 Opening Day roster. Those ten players also had the most major league service time on the roster, with only Javier Baez returning.

Gone are Miguel Cabrera, Eduardo Rodriguez, Jonathan Schoop, Matthew Boyd, Michael Lorenzen, Austin Meadows, Jose Cisnero, Spencer Turnbull, Tyler Alexander, and Chasen Shreve. With them, some $84 million is slashed from a payroll that totaled $123 million on opening day, 2023.

While the veterans departed, that cast of  core group of young players that has begun to emerge in the major leagues remains, poised to take over a team that finished the 2023 season in second place, albeit in a weak American League Central division.

All that being said, the Tigers began their transition from those now dearly departed veterans to a group of young players who form the core of their future. This season that process should really accelerate as the organization’s player development has emerged as one of the better groups around the game.

Before any off season additions, the “veterans” among the returning players included Tarik Skubal- now the ace of the starting rotation, catcher Jake Rogers, Casey Mize who has pitched just 10.1 innings over the past two seasons, and Akil Baddoo, who is the odd man out in a newly crowded outfield. Those were the only arbitration eligible players remaining after the roster shakeup following the ‘23 season.

The Tigers supplemented their roster during the off season, adding free agents Kenta Maeda and Jack Flaherty to the starting pitching rotation, Andrew Chafin and Shelby Miller to the bullpen, and Mark Canha and Gio Urshela to the lineup. Carson Kelly, who was acquired during the ‘23 season also returns as the backup backstop. Notably, only Maeda has a guaranteed contract while two others have club options for the 2025 season.

These seven new players will be paid $52.3 million in 2024. With arbitration increases, the Tigers active payroll for 2024 comes in at just over $103 million, or about $20 million lower than it was one year ago. There is also an $8 million payment to buy out Miguel Cabrera’s option.

Following is a chart showing each player on the 40 man roster, with their position, age, service time, options remaining, salary, and contract status for 2024.

2024 Detroit Tigers’ Roster, Payroll, Salary, and Options

PLAYER	AGE	SERVICE	OPTIONS	2024 SALARY	2025
Báez, Javier	31	8.089	2 / 3	$25,000,000	$25.000
Flaherty, Jack	28	6.006	2 / 3	$14,000,000	FA
Maeda, Kenta	36	8.000	3 / 3	$14,000,000	$10.000
Canha, Mark	35	8.092	2 / 3	$11,500,000	FA
Chafin, Andrew	34	9.020	2 / 3	$4,250,000	$0.500*
Kelly, Carson	28	5.161	1 / 3	$3,500,000	FA
Miller, Shelby	33	8.016	2 / 3	$3,000,000	$0.250*
Keith, Colt	22	0.000	3 / 3	$2,833,333	$3.833
Skubal, Tarik	27	3.114	3 / 3	$2,650,000	Arb 2
Rogers, Jake	29	3.040	2 / 3	$1,700,000	Arb 2
Baddoo, Akil	25	2.119	2 / 3	$1,550,000	Arb 2
Urshela, Gio	32	6.127	0 / 3	$1,500,000
Mize, Casey	27	3.111	3 / 3	$830,000	$0.010*
Lange, Alex	28	2.112	3 / 3	$760,600	Arb 1
Díaz, Miguel	29	2.163	0 / 3	Minimum	Arb 1
Vest, Will	29	2.100	2 / 3	Minimum	Arb 1
McKinstry, Zach	29	2.099	1 / 3	Minimum	Arb 1
Manning, Matt	26	2.098	3 / 3	Minimum	Arb 1
Foley, Jason	28	2.033	3 / 3	Minimum	Arb 1
Vierling, Matt	27	2.026	1 / 3	Minimum	Arb 1
Ibáñez, Andy	31	1.170	2 / 3	Minimum	Arb 1
Brieske, Beau	26	1.166	3 / 3	Minimum	Arb 1
Torkelson, Spencer	24	1.137	2 / 3	Minimum	Arb 1
Greene, Riley	23	1.110	3 / 3 Minimum Carpenter, Kerry 26 1.057 3 / 3 Minimum Holton, Tyler 27 1.045 2 / 3 Minimum Englert, Mason 24 1.000 3 / 3 Minimum Dingler, Dillon 25 0.000 3 / 3 Minimum Faedo, Alex 28 0.169 1 / 4 Minimum Flores, Wilmer De Jesus 23 0.000 3 / 3 Minimum Gipson-Long, Sawyer 26 0.022 3 / 3 Minimum Kennedy, Buddy 24 0.096 1 / 3 Minimum Kreidler, Ryan 26 0.051 2 / 3 Minimum Leonard, Eddys 23 0.000 1 / 3 Minimum Meadows, Parker 24 0.042 2 / 3 Minimum Montero, Keider 23 0.000 3 / 3 Minimum Olson, Reese 24 0.123 2 / 3 Minimum Pérez, Wenceel 24 0.000 2 / 3 Minimum Wentz, Joey 26 0.166 0 / 3 Minimum White, Brendan 25 0.111 2 / 3 Minimum Source: Cot’s Contracts Salaries Notes- The major league minimum salary is $740,000 for the 2024 season. That’s an increase of $20,000 from 2023, and there will be annual increases of $20,000 through the end of the current collective bargaining agreement in 2026. Casey Mize has a club option for the 2025 season worth $3.1 million, with a $10,000 buyout. If the option is declined, he will be eligible again for arbitration. Shelby Miller has a club option for $4.25 M for ‘25, with a $250,000 buyout. The price of the option may increase based on games pitched and games finished. Andrew Chafin has a club option for $6.25 million for the 2025 season, with a $500,000 buyout. He also has performance bonuses up to $1.3 million based on game appearances. Out of Options: Joey Wentz, Zach McKinstry, and Miguel Diaz are out of options, so they would have to clear waivers before they could be sent to the minors. In addition, any player with five seasons of major league service time can not be optioned without their consent. The salaries of each player with five years of service and those who were arbitration eligible this season are all fully guaranteed for the season. In a final purge of potentially larger salaries, in relative terms, the Tigers outrighted Trey Wingenter, who was the lone million dollar man remaining after the ‘23 season, other than Baez, and resigned him to a minor league contract. They also traded arb eligible Nick Maton and released Eric Haase. Options A player may be optioned in three seasons in his career without clearing waivers. Only one option is used per season, so once a player on the 40-man roster is sent down, they can be freely moved between the majors and minors (after the requisite 10-day waiting period) up to five times in a given season. A player must be on optional assignment for at least 20 days to be charged with an option year.