The Detroit Tigers and free agent right-hander Drew Anderson made the announcement official on Monday night. The Tigers will pay the veteran $7 million in 2026 and a $10 million club option in 2027. The Athletic’s Cody Stavenhagen had first access to the contract details.
When the signing was announced over the weekend, it was met with some shrugs and some confusion. Anderson briefly joined the Tigers as a minor league signee in the 2023-2024 offseason, but was cut after a month of poor performance at the Triple-A level. He then signed with the KBO’s SSG Landers and played with the team in South Korea for the past two seasons.
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In 2025, Anderson started 30 games, pitched 171 2/3 innings, had a 2.25 ERA and a 2.62 FIP. He struck out 35.3% of the time, walked 7.3% of the time, and did a good job of limiting home runs. How that will translate to the major leagues remains an open question.
Anderson had a pretty good four-seam ride in the mid-90s and occasionally hit 97-98 mph in the past. He backs it up with an average secondary pitch mix, consisting primarily of his cutter, slider and changeup, with a few curveballs mixed in for a change of pace. The numbers coming out of the KBO don’t really show great performance from this group, but Anderson took a huge leap last year as he commanded the entire mix more consistently after years of struggling with walks.
With the addition of Anderson, the rotation looks to be Tarik Skubal, Jake Flaherty, Casey Mize, Anderson and Troy Melton, with Reese Olson bound to compete for one of the spots as long as he can recover from his shoulder injury and return to form as we head into spring training camp. That seems likely, but there’s still some uncertainty about his status after missing long periods with shoulder injuries the past two seasons.
St. Louis Cardinals starter Erick Fedde leads a wave of pitchers signing from the KBO as early as 2024. He had a pretty good season with the Cardinals but struggled in 2025. This offseason, the Blue Jays have signed right-hander Cody Ponce from the KBO to a three-year contract worth $30 million. Anderson’s numbers are comparable to Ponce’s, so the price seems pretty reasonable, at least in comparison.
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The hope is that Anderson, 31, can keep a rotation spot with the Tigers or, at the very least, be able to move into a backup role if things don’t go as planned. If things go well, having a club option at a reasonable price would look great. The Tigers’ projected 2026 payroll currently stands at $148 million, according to FanGraphs’ roster resource.
