Detroit and Kansas City appear tired of playing near the bottom of the American League Central. Each has signed a pair of free agent starting pitchers to join young position player groups with an eye toward upward mobility.
Detroit has added right-handers Kenta Maeda and Jack Flaherty and the Royals have acquired right-handers Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha.
The Tigers and Royals did not invade the high end of the free agent market, but this tier group offers limited-risk, potentially high-reward gains in a division where 2023 champion Minnesota, the only team to finished over .500, has lost key right-hander Sonny Gray.
Kansas City committed $77 million to Lugo and Wacha, and they will immediately upgrade a rotation that finished with a 5.17 ERA last season, which was lower than only Oakland and Colorado.
Lugo signed a three-year, $45 million contract that includes a $15 million player option in 2026. Wacha signed a two-year, $32 million deal worth $16 million next season and includes a $16 million player option in 2025. He also can make $500,000 per season with incentives based on innings pitched.
Wacha leads the majors with an .806 winning percentage in 2022-23 among pitchers with at least 45 starts, and his .620 winning percentage is fifth among active starters.
The Twins agreed to a one-year $14 million contract with Flaherty on Friday after stepping into the market early by signing Maeda on Nov. 26, a week before the winter meetings. Maeda is to make $24 million on a two-year deal, $14 million in 2024 and $10 million in 2025. Flaherty can make another $1 million with incentives based on starts.
All four pitchers should make an immediate impact.
Wacha and Lugo were two of the most effective starters last season for the Padres, who were forced to pitch through injury absences to Joe Musgrove and Yu Darvish last season.
Lugo was 8-7 with a 3.57 ERA in 26 starts, the second-most on the staff behind Cy Young winner and current free agent Blake Snell. Lugo also was second with 17 quality starts and a career-high 146 1/3 innings in his first full season in a rotation after spending most of his previous seven years with the New York Mets coming out of the bullpen.
Lugo spent the season proving he could handle a starter’s workload, and his major selling point is a curveball that carries an off-the-charts spin rate of about 3,200 revolutions per minute. The more a pitch spins, the more gravity acts. Lugo threw a 3,233-rpm breaking ball in a game against the Twins last season. New Royals reliever Chris Stratton, signed last week, has a similar spin rate on his curve.
Lugo last season had a 1.8 WAR, which ranked 24th among NL pitchers who made at least 25 starts.
Wacha was 14-4, tying Snell for the team lead in victories, and had a 3.22 ERA in 136 1/3 innings. He signed a creative four-year, contract worth $26 million in guaranteed money with the Padres last spring that included both player and team options after the 2023 season.
He declined a two-year, $32 million option for 2024-25 to join Kansas City after the Padres also declined the option. An 11-year veteran, Wacha came out the other side of shoulder issues to go 11-2 with a 3.32 ERA with Boston in 2022 and had another double-digit win season for the Padres last year. His 2.4 WAR ranked 20th in the NL among pitchers with at least 24 starts.
Lugo and Wacha are expected to slot in as the Royals’ 2-3 starters, behind midseason acquisition Cole Ragans and ahead of holdovers Brady Singer and Jordan Lyles. Lyles was 6-17 with a 6.28 ERA in 31 starts last season, and free agent Zack Greinke was 2-15, 5.06 in 27 starts.
That should make it easier on the Royals’ offense. Athletic shortstop Bobby Witt has blossomed into a star, and catcher Salvador Perez and Vinny Pasquantino are strong at the plate. The Royals recently added free agent outfielder Hunter Renfroe.
Flaherty and Maeda also also expected to be 2-3 in the Tigers’ rotation behind Tarik Skubal.
Flaherty is looking to retain his early form with St. Louis, when he finished fifth in the NL Rookie of the Year voting in 2018 and was fourth in the NL Cy Young voting in 2019. Arm issues limited him to 32 starts the following three seasons, but he will pitch this season at age 28 and is coming off a full season in which he was 8-9 with 148 strikeouts in 144 1/3 innings with St. Louis and Baltimore last year.
Maeda has been very effective when healthy. He has a 3.92 ERA in seven seasons, and he was 6-8 with a 4.23 ERA in 21 games last season after that missing the 2022 season following Tommy John surgery.
The Tigers were 78-84 last season, second in the division, and finished strong, going were 18-10 from Aug. 31. First baseman Spencer Torkelson, the first player taken in the 2020 draft, hit 31 homers, and young outfielders Riley Green and Kerry Carpenter added the punch the Tigers have yet to see from Javier Baez, who signed a six-year, $140 million free agent deal in 2022. Baez is the only player with a higher salary than Flaherty and Maeda.