Tigers' Torres and Flaherty Near Free Agency With Possible Lockout

Gleyber Torres and Jack Flaherty are headed for free agency as the CBA expires Dec. 1, with Justin Verlander set to retire and a possible lockout looming.

The Detroit Tigers ended their 2026 season Sunday with a 4-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, and an uncertain winter now awaits two of their veterans. Second baseman Gleyber Torres and right-hander Jack Flaherty are two of the three Tigers players due to become unrestricted free agents.

The timing complicates matters. Baseball's collective bargaining agreement runs out Dec. 1, and a lockout is possible at that point. Torres and Flaherty both joined Detroit before the 2025 season and helped the club reach the playoffs for a second consecutive year, though each battled injuries during a summer in which the team as a whole sputtered.

Justin Verlander, the third pending free agent, is set to retire. Beyond that trio, Detroit has no other players approaching free agency: relievers Kenley Jansen, Drew Anderson and Tyler Kinley hold team options, and the rest of the roster remains under contract through at least 2027.

Torres, 29, stayed with the Tigers on a qualifying offer and came back from offseason hernia surgery to reclaim the everyday job at second base. Two injured-list stints because of an oblique strain limited him to 96 games, and he batted .260 with eight home runs and 38 RBIs.

"I didn't do much, with the injury all year," Torres said before the finale, adding that when he did play, he did not perform the way he wanted. "Injuries suck, but they are a part of the game," he said. He plans to use the offseason to "come back stronger than ever" and knows he must prove himself in 2027, in Detroit or somewhere else.

Once Detroit fell out of the race, Torres played sparingly while the organization gave its rookies a longer look. He said a "really good conversation" with manager A.J. Hinch settled his late-season role and that he had no problem with the plan. He also described the club as a "special group" and said he does not know whether he will be back next year.

Flaherty, 30, has pitched three seasons for Detroit over two stints. He first signed entering 2024, was sent to the Los Angeles Dodgers at that year's trade deadline, then returned on a two-year contract as a free agent. His final season under contract produced a 3-8 record and a 4.48 ERA across 20 appearances and 88 1/3 innings.

Right flexor tendon inflammation cost Flaherty two months, but he wanted one more outing in the Pittsburgh series to show he is healthy. "Jack is healthy and ready to go into a productive offseason," Hinch said, adding that the right-hander "earned that opportunity to where there should be no unknown about him as he hits free agency." Flaherty said he is taking everything "one day at a time" and preparing for next year, "wherever that may be and whenever that may be."

Flaherty called it the first time in a long time he finished a season already knowing the playoffs were out of reach, and said it stung to feel like one of the reasons Detroit landed in that spot after his injury and early-season struggles. "To be going home right now is unusual and frustrating," he said. Detroit finished 76-86 after two major trades at the July deadline, but a large rookie class led by shortstop Kevin McGonigle gives the roster a foundation, and Hinch said the club "learned a lot" while conceding "we have a lot of work to do."