left hand framber valdez and this detroit tigers Sources told ESPN that an agreement has been reached on a three-year, $115 million contract that will add the best free agent left-hander on the market to a team that is looking to win its first division title in more than a decade.
The deal, which is pending physicals and includes an opt-out after the second season, came together just hours after the Tigers concluded arbitration hearings with the two-time American League Cy Young Award winner. tariq skubal. Should the Tigers retain Skubal — an impending free agent who is demanding a $32 million salary, while Detroit has asked for a $19 million salary — he and Valdez would be one of the most potent top-rotation combinations in baseball.
In the 32-year-old Valdez, Detroit landed one of baseball’s foremost workhorses and winningest pitchers, a late-bloomer whose high-octane sinker and tendency to swallow innings made him one of the most productive arms in the game over the past half-decade. While concerns about paying Valdez in his late 30s prevented him from receiving a long-term deal, his $38.3 million salary set a record for left-handed pitchers and pitchers from Latin America.
Valdez, who is from the Dominican Republic, entered free agency after spending his career there Houston Astros And is putting together one of the best resumes of any starting pitcher since joining Houston’s rotation in 2020. The move reunites him with AJ Hinch, his former manager in Houston, and puts him behind Skubal in a rotation that also includes jack flaherty, casey corn And reese olsonwith free agent signing drew anderson and hard working newbie troy melton Candidates too.
Whether Skubal will remain with the Tigers is one of the most important questions as spring training begins next week. While Detroit has resisted offers to trade him, having a frontline backup in the form of Valdez would help mitigate any potential deal.
Valdez is a reliable lefty with extensive playoff experience who has regularly posted an ERA in the high-2 to mid-3 for an average of 3.20 since 2021, and that mark has been driven by the highest ground ball rate in the league among starters over that span. With a sinker averaging 94.3 mph, a tough changeup and a vicious curveball, Valdez has been a weak-contact king, rising from an unknown to become the ninth nine-figure prospect signed by Major League Baseball teams this winter.
Originally signed by the Astros at age 21 for $10,000, Valdez shrugged off concerns about the health of his arm by making dependability on the mound his most important trait. Valdez has pitched 973 innings since 2020, fifth-most in baseball, and has been on the injured list only twice, with a fractured finger and two weeks with elbow inflammation. With top prospects Kevin McGonigal and Max Clark set to join a Tigers team that was already the favorite to win the AL Central for the first time since 2014, Valdez validated his desire to wait for a representative contract. The deal negotiated by Octagon’s Ulises Cabrera includes a $20 million signing bonus – 2,000 times the size of his first bonus.
Valdez was made a qualifying offer of $22.025 million by the Astros, which he rejected by the November 18 deadline. Because he signed with a new team, Houston will receive a compensatory selection after Competitive Balance Round B in the draft, around the 75th pick.
Since 2020, when he became a full-time starter, Valdez ranks first in the majors in wins (73), sixth in pitcher WAR (20.3) and first in groundball rate (62%). He led the American League with 201⅓ innings pitched in 2022 and made two All-Star appearances, received AL MVP votes in two seasons and received AL Cy Young Award votes in four starts, finishing fifth in 2022.
