Tigers To Sign Emilio Pagán

The Tigers are in agreement with free agent closer Emilio Pagán, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. It’s a one-year deal in the $11MM range, he adds. It’s this year’s first significant move on the free agent market. Pagán’s market moved quickly, as he finds a new landing spot within two weeks of declining a $10MM player option with Cincinnati. Pagán banks an extra million dollars and presumably will enter the season as the favorite to work as A.J. Hinch’s primary closer. The agreement comes together within hours of Detroit president of baseball operations Scott Harris telling reporters he was seeking a right-handed leverage reliever who could improve the team’s strikeout ability (links via Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic and Jason Beck of MLB.com). Pagán fanned 25.9% of opponents this year and has a 28% strikeout rate for his career, which will make him one of the team’s better swing-and-miss arms. Detroit’s bullpen was 19th in strikeout rate and 21st in whiffs this past season. They were near the bottom of the league in that regard in 2025 as well. It caught up to them this year, as the Tigers led the American League with 31 blown saves despite finishing middle of the pack in earned run average. Their high-leverage arms too frequently stumbled. Kenley Jansen had an up-and-down year in the closer’s role and was bought out at season’s end. Will Vest and Kyle Finnegan had very poor seasons and both finished the year on the injured list. Vest underwent surgeries on both a stress reaction in his elbow and on his hip. Harris provided an update today, saying that Vest is throwing and expected to be ready for the start of next season. Finnegan missed the final couple weeks with a left groin strain. Vest is eligible for arbitration once more. He’ll probably be back, as it seems likely the Tigers will tender him a contract (projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz around $4.4MM) so long as he’s on track for the start of the season. Finnegan is signed for $10.25MM, including an option buyout, so the Tigers would have a tough time moving on from him unless there’s another underwater contract swap. Detroit is better positioned from the left side. Drew Sommers had a dominant strikeout and walk profile over 43 appearances this year. Tyler Holton has reliably churned out good results and eaten a ton of innings despite pedestrian velocity. Pagán will join his seventh big league club for his age-36 season. He has spent the past three seasons in Cincinnati, operating as Terry Francona’s closer over the last two years. Pagán recorded 32 saves a year ago and went 25-28 in save opportunities this past season. There’s a good chance he’d have gotten to 30+ if not for a Grade 2 left hamstring strain that cost him seven weeks between early May and the end of June. That injury initially looked even more serious, as Pagán went down in obvious pain at the end of his delivery and had to be carted off the Wrigley Field mound. He admitted he initially expected it to end his season. Pagán had struggled early and carried a 6.43 ERA over his first 14 innings, so it would’ve essentially been a lost season had that been the case. Pagán instead made a quicker than expected recovery and was lights out down the stretch. He fired 28 2/3 innings of 1.88 ERA ball upon returning, striking out 30.5% of opponents against a 4.5% walk rate. Pagán allowed five runs in the second half, all of which came on homers (three solo shots and one two-run blast). He held opposing hitters to a .189 batting average and .230 on-base mark in that stretch. More to come.