Tigers owner Christopher Ilitch recently spoke with journalists, including The Athletic’s Cody Stavenhagen, about a variety of topics related to the team. Fans are encouraged to check out the full interview for more details. In this post we will focus on quotes related to clubs’ salaries and competitive balance tax.
Detroit is coming off a relatively aggressive offseason, which included several late signings. Framber Valdez and Justin Verlander In February. Verlander’s deal was fairly minimal, with $11 million of his $13 million guaranteed being deferred to the next decade. There were some delays with the Valdez deal as well, but it was still a significant commitment at a price tag of $115 million over three years.
“It’s really about winning and giving back,” Ilitch said of adding these high-profile deals to his payroll. “What we’re doing in Detroit and Michigan comes down to the fans. I’m really motivated to build a championship-caliber organization that can win for Tigers fans.”
As data from Cot’s Baseball Contracts shows, the Tigers are poised to set a new record high in terms of payroll. In 2016 and 2017, payroll was less than $200 million. This was at a time when Christopher’s father Michael was still running the club. Michael passed away in February 2017, at which point Christopher inherited the throne.
The 2017 season was a huge blow for the Tigers. They sold off veteran players that summer. JD Martinez, justin upton And Verlander went out of town. They then entered a long rebuilding period that left payrolls well below their 2016-17 peak. The Tigers finally returned to contention more recently, making the playoffs in 2024 and 2025.
Despite opening a new window of competition, the club remained somewhat conservative, at least until recently. They mostly signed free agents on one-year deals that begin with the 2025 season. The only exception was a two-year contract. jack flahertyThere was even an opt-out in between. Their 2025 trade deadline was also relatively timid. They mainly chose complementary depth pieces that didn’t make a real difference.
Even the 2025-26 season looked like it would be more of the same until the Valdez and Verlander trades took them to a new level. Cot’s expects $206 million on a net salary basis. RosterResource’s calculations are even higher, with a projected salary of $217 million. Either one would be a new franchise record.
These expenditures also bring the club closer to the baseline competitive balance tax threshold of $244 million. Cot’s estimates RosterResource’s figure is about $500,000 higher, at $241 million. Ilić was asked if he was willing to push his club over the line.
“Scott and I talked about it,” Ilitch said, referring to President of Baseball Operations Scott Harris. “The most important thing for me and him is to give our organization, our team and our players the best opportunity to succeed. So, depending on our team, I leave it up to Scott to decide whether to add or not. If he does, it’s not really an issue.”
It’s not a firm declaration that the club intends to pay the tax, but Ilitch isn’t closing the door on that possibility either. This would be encouraging for fans of the club as it would otherwise be difficult for the Tigers to add players during the season. They are already so close to paying taxes that if there had been a strong club policy on paying taxes, Harris would have had little wiggle room on the trade deadline.
The Tigers will likely make some progress in 2026. Tarik Skubal Under club control for another year. He obviously won the American League Cy Young Award in each of the last two seasons, and pairing him with Valdez is a huge win. This is especially true if the team makes a deep run in the postseason, where they usually rely more on the power at the top. It’s possible that Skubal will sign with another club next offseason, leaving the 2026 season as the last opportunity for the Tigers to have him on their roster.
Every club has a salary cap, but it would be disappointing if taxes this year were some sort of insurmountable barrier. So perhaps that can be a cause for optimism that taxes will be able to be paid. The Tigers last paid CBT in 2017.
Photo credit: Junhu Han, Imagn Images
