Tigers sign RHP Alex Cobb to one-year free agent contract
DETROIT – The Detroit Tigers have signed RHP Alex Cobb to a one-year, $15,000,000 contract for the 2025 season. Cobb can earn $1,000,000 bonuses for each 140 and 150 innings pitched, which can bring the maximum total value of the contract to $17,000,000.
Cobb, 37, joins Detroit for the 14th season of his Major League career, during which he’s posted a combined 79-76 record and 3.84 ERA (1,327.2IP/566ER), with 1,108 strikeouts and 383 walks. Some of his most successful seasons were his last two of full-season work, coming in 2022 and 2023 with San Francisco. During those seasons he combined to earn 5.5 fWAR (24th most among pitchers over that span), with a 3.80 ERA (301.1IP/127ER) on 282 strikeouts and 80 walks. He earned a spot on the National League All-Star team in 2023.
Over the course of his career, Cobb has induced groundballs at an elite 55.5% clip. Among pitchers with 1,300 innings since Cobb’s debut season of 2011, only two have a higher groundball rate: Dallas Keuchel at 58.6% and Marcus Stroman at 56.7%.
Cobb joins the Tigers following an injury-truncated 2024 campaign. Beginning the season with San Francisco, he was traded to Cleveland where he appeared in three games, posting a 2.76 ERA (16.1IP/5ER) in the regular season. He pitched in two postseason games for the Guardians, allowing five earned runs in 5.2 innings pitched.
Born in Boston, MA, Cobb attended Vero Beach High School (FL) from where Tampa Bay drafted him in the 4th round of the 2006 MLB Draft.