DETROIT — The Tigers upgraded their roster Friday with a two-time All-Star who at age 28 is still in the prime of his career. And they got him, surprisingly, on a one-year deal.

Not too shabby.

"We feel we got better today," said Tigers president Scott Harris, who announced the signing of veteran second baseman Gleyber Torres for $15 million plus a one-time $500,000 assignment bonus. "Adding Gleyber makes us better and he's going to make the players around him a whole lot better."

Torres spent the last seven years with the Yankees, making the All-Star team in his first two seasons. He’s slashed .265/.334/.441 with a .774 OPS over his career. He's also accrued 198 playoff plate appearances, hitting .267 with a .359 on-base percentage and a .795 OPS.

"He's a player who dominates the strike zone, makes elite swing decisions, who makes a ton of contact," Harris said. "And we think there's more damage in there."

Torres, a right-handed batter, hit a career-best 38 home runs in 2019, his second season, and he hit 24 and 25 homers, respectively, in 2022 and 2023.

His offensive production fell off slightly last season (15 homers, .257 batting average) but over his final 68 games, he hit .298 with seven home runs, 30 RBIs and a .788 OPS. He had some productive moments in the postseason this past October (.348 on-base, two homers, 10 walks, 10 runs, eight RBIs in 14 games) despite finishing on a 1-for-16 skid in the World Series.

"We think there's more in there on both sides of the ball," Harris said. "If you go back and look at his season, we saw him tap into more of his offensive upside in the second half and the postseason."

Adding a right-handed hitting infielder was one of the Tigers' top offseason priorities.

"We got a little too left-handed toward the end of last year," Harris said, referencing the Tigers' lineup that regularly featured six or seven left-handed hitters. "Adding a player with Gleyber's track record against left-handed pitching (.507 slugging, .854 OPS) is a significant boost to our lineup. We think he adds on-base skill, we think he's going to add damage and we think he's going to be able to protect some of our young but very talented left-handed hitters in the middle of our lineup."

Defensively, Torres made a MLB-worst 18 errors at second base and was a minus-7 outs above average (second worst in baseball). Torres has already been in contact with Tigers infield coach Joey Cora.

"We think he can get better and Gleyber believes that, too," Harris said. "He had a lot of opportunity to go to other (teams) this winter on longer deals than the one he took. He was very upfront with me about his desire to bet on himself. And honestly, that made me want him more.

"His agent was very upfront about him wanting to go to a place where he can get better and win at the same time. Detroit represents that type of environment now. … Gleyber found this an appealing place because he knows he can come here and get better and win at the same time."

Harris said he spent most of Christmas Eve putting the deal together. He also had to make a couple of phone calls to players whose 2025 seasons will be directly impacted by the signing.

First, Harris said Colt Keith will move from second base to first base.

"He may move back to second base in the future but for 2025, our best team has Gleyber at second and Colt Keith at first," Harris said.

Harris said Keith was "fired up" by the news.

"He said, 'I'll play anywhere, I just want to win,'" Harris said. "It was such a refreshing reminder of the unselfishness that permeates our entire clubhouse."

The next phone call was to Spencer Torkelson, who has been the Tigers' primary first baseman the last few seasons but whose production fell off alarmingly last season.

"My message to Tork was, 'If you have a big offseason and a big spring training, there is a role for you,' " Harris said. "This team needs right-handed power and we've seen Tork do that in the past. He reminded me how hard he was working. He seems determined to demonstrate that he deserves a role on this team, too."

If Torkelson, who is still just 25, wins a spot on the opening day roster, it will likely be as a right-handed bench bat, alternating between DH and first base.

"This move makes the Tigers better," Harris said. "We got better as an organization. But it didn't block either of those players."

Harris said he's not done trying to upgrade the roster. He was asked specifically about third base and the possible pursuit of a big-ticket free agent like Alex Bregman, who the Tigers continue to be linked to in industry reports.

"I can't comment on any current free agent," Harris said. "I can tell you we're already working on trying to get better. We're trying to find ways to make this organization better. We feel we already have with (signing free agents) Alex Cobb and Torres. But we're going to continue to find ways to get better.

"You guys know me, I can't really sit on my hands. We will continue to help this group get better. But I really like where we're at right now."

Around the horn

Outfielder Justyn-Henry Malloy, another right-handed power option, is also in the process of adding first base to his resume. He and Torkelson might be battling for one roster spot next spring.

"When I stare at our group right now, this is the deepest we've ever been in my tenure on both sides of the ball," Harris said. "We're going to have a lot of competition in camp to earn at-bats and that's how we want it. That's what good teams do.

"This organization has turned. We made the playoffs for the first time last year and I know our group is coming to camp really hungry next spring."

… To make room for Torres on the 40-man roster, the Tigers designated left-handed pitcher Bailey Horn for assignment. The Tigers claimed him off waivers from the Red Sox on Nov. 22.

… Harris said the Tigers have submitted their presentation to Japanese right-hander Roki Sasaki. He said he expects to hear back from Sasaki's agent Joel Wolfe after the new year.

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