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Jeff PassanESPN
Left-hander Matthew Boyd and the Detroit Tigers are in agreement on a one-year contract, sources told ESPN, reuniting the 31-year-old and the team with whom he spent the majority of his career.
Boyd’s deal, which is pending a physical, is expected to be for $10 million, sources said. Coming off flexor-tendon surgery last season, Boyd signed a $5.2 million deal with the San Francisco Giants, who traded him to the Seattle Mariners, where he put up a 1.35 ERA in 10 relief appearances.
Detroit intends to slot him back in the rotation, where he played for seven seasons. In his time with the Tigers, Boyd was a strikeout artist whose Achilles heel was the home run ball. He went 37-60 with a 4.87 ERA over 777.2 innings, punching out 752, walking 247 and allowing 137 home runs.
The deal reunites Boyd with Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris, who, as general manager last year with the Giants, helped sign Boyd and bring him back from the surgery.
Injuries have bedeviled the Tigers’ pitching staff, with former No. 1 overall pick Casey Mize undergoing Tommy John surgery in June, left-hander Tarik Skubal needing flexor-tendon surgery in August, right-hander Matt Manning being shut down in September for a forearm strain and right-hander Spencer Turnbull still recovering from Tommy John surgery in June 2021.
The Tigers signed left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez to a five-year, $77 million deal last winter along with a six-year, $140 million contract for shortstop Javier Baez as part of an effort to contend in 2022. It did not work, as they went 66-96, the sixth-worst record in baseball.
Detroit figures to be busy this winter, with a strong bullpen that is eliciting trade interest from teams that prefer not to dabble in a free agent market with high prices for pitchers. While the Boyd deal isn’t expected to cause any sort of run, multiple executives believe what’s been a slow free agent market is about to pick up ahead of — and especially during — the Winter Meetings that start Sunday.