Minnesota Twins Kenta Maeda Reaches 2-Year, Deal With Detroit Tigers

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Right-hander Kenta Maeda and the Tigers agreed Sunday on a two-year, $24 million contract, lengthening Detroit's rotation as it hopes to improve on a 78-84 finish in the winnable American League Central, sources familiar with the deal told ESPN.

Detroit had targeted starting depth in the mid-tier pitching market, and Maeda, coming off Tommy John surgery, posted a 4.23 ERA in 104⅓ innings with 117 strikeouts and 28 walks for the Minnesota Twins.

Maeda jumps to the Tigers for his eighth big league season and joins a rotation with left-hander Tarik Skubal -- who, after his July 4 return from flexor-tendon surgery, posted the most FanGraphs Wins Above Replacement of any pitcher in baseball -- right-hander Reese Olson and right-hander Matt Manning, who's coming off a broken foot.

Detroit is hoping Maeda can replicate his performance after he came off the injured list in late June with a triceps strain. In his final 16 starts, Maeda put up a 3.39 ERA and struck out 98 against 23 walks in 85 innings. If he did have a weakness, it was the home run ball, with 17 allowed on the season.

Staying in the AL Central shouldn't hurt. The division-winning Twins expect to cut payroll.

Executives across the game expected the Tigers to spend this winter, and they started with Maeda, who joins the Cardinals' Kyle Gibson (one year, $12 million) and Lance Lynn (one year, $11 million) and the Braves' Reynaldo Lopez (three years, $30 million) in the $10 million-12 million-a-year cohort.