Tigers Bring Back High-Leverage Lefty (11 K/9 per season) On Free Agent Deal

He has been one of the more underrated southpaw bullpen arms throughout his career, and for 2025, he even had to settle for a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training. Andrew Chafin will very likely win a role in the Detroit Tigers 'pen, returning to the team he started the 2024 season with.

The Tigers have signed LHP Andrew Chafin to a Minor League contract. He will join Major League spring training as a non-roster invitee. pic.twitter.com/LiaCbQ8F8s
— Tigers PR (@DetroitTigersPR) February 24, 2025

It's actually Chafin's third stop with the Tigers. The 34-year-old has been pretty reliable over most of his 11-year career, with a lifetime 3.42 ERA and 9.8 strikeouts per nine innings. In his previous two stints in the Motor City, he had a combined 2.96 ERA.

Overall, in his last three years in the majors, the left-hander has averaged 11 K/9. He's had just one below-average season over the past four campaigns. In 2021, he had a 1.83 ERA across 68 innings, then a 2.83 mark in '22 with Detroit, followed by a blip in '23, when he posted a 4.73 ERA with Arizona and Milwaukee.

Last season, with the Tigers and the Texas Rangers, he combined for a 3.51 ERA and 11.2 K/9.

The minor league deal is a demotion, financially, for Chafin, as he made $4.75 million in 2024 from his contract signed then with the Tigers. Then, after putting up a 3.16 ERA and striking out 12.2 batters per nine across 37 innings, they traded him to the Rangers at the deadline for prospects Chase Lee and Joseph Montalvo.