DETROIT — Scott Harris has a pretty good poker face. But it’s not as if the Tigers’ president was bluffing all this time.

No, Harris just knew that, even with the cards he’d been dealt, he still had a hand that was better than most. And perhaps that he had another ace — or two — up his sleeve.

Tuesday was just the latest tell, as the Tigers announced they’d signed Justin Verlander — remember him? — to bolster what was already a strong starting rotation. It’s a one-year, $13 million deal that’s heavy on the deferred money, for what that’s worth, and also heavy on the nostalgia, which should be worth plenty for the Tigers in ticket sales and TV ratings this season. (And maybe even beyond, if all goes well and Verlander, who is 34 wins shy of that magic No. 300 for his career, decides to keep going.)

Mostly, though, it’s the kind of move the Tigers probably regret not making a year ago when Harris instead invested heavily in a deal for oft-injured starter Alex Cobb, who never pitched an inning for the Tigers.

Verlander returns to the franchise that drafted him, of course, and to the city where he started building his first-ballot Hall of Fame career as the AL Rookie of the Year two decades ago. Ten days shy of his 43rd birthday, he's now Major League Baseball’s active leader in wins, innings pitched and strikeouts, and if last season is any indication — Verlander posted a 3.85 ERA over 29 starts for San Francisco and was terrific down the stretch — he still has plenty left in the tank.

And if that signing doesn’t get Tigers fans gassed up for the start of spring training — pitchers and catchers officially report Wednesday in Lakeland — what it says about the team's intentions really should.

Last week, it was the blockbuster free-agent signing of Verlander’s former teammate in Houston, Framber Valdez, whose three-year, $115 million deal set a new MLB standard for a left-handed pitcher and dramatically raised the Tigers’ ceiling this season. Then came Tarik Skubal’s record arbitration award, a $32 million salary in 2026 for the reigning two-time Cy Young winner, who’ll now chase a third alongside Verlander, the last pitcher to hit that trifecta in 2022.

And seeing Skubal’s celebratory reaction on social media Tuesday after the Verlander news broke, it was hard not to think back to last May, when the Giants were in town and the two pitchers — “Tigers ace then, Tigers ace now,” Skubal quipped — traded compliments. Only in Skubal’s case, he admitted to feeling a bit “starstruck.”

“When you’re in my shoes,” he noted, “you strive to be who he is.”

And when you’re in the Tigers’ shoes? Well, this is what you should be striving to be: A contender that’s prepared to go all-in to win a pennant.

Give them credit

So give them credit for that, certainly. Detroit’s projected $240 million payroll now ranks ninth-highest in the majors, just under the luxury tax threshold, and it’s more than division rivals Cleveland and Minnesota will spend combined in 2026. Heck, the Tigers will pay their starting rotation more this season than they paid their entire roster in 2021, AJ Hinch's first season as manager here. This offseason might’ve started slowly, but it finished with a bang ... and a lot more bucks spent by owner Chris Ilitch than most fans in this town would’ve anticipated.

Though if you were listening to Harris all along, he insisted these chips were always on the table.

“If I bring compelling opportunities to Chris, he’s gonna say yes to them,” Harris said at the MLB winter meetings in December. “It’s on me to bring those opportunities to him.”

Now it’s on all of them to make the most of this opportunity. And not just because this is Skubal’s walk year, though that’s obviously a factor.

“The thing I talked to Tarik about after the (arbitration) hearing was now are you ready to go win the Central and try to win the World Series?” Hinch said last week on the “Foul Territory” podcast. “And in a few exclamation marks, he was ready to go.”

Still, while all that debate about whether the Tigers might trade Skubal over the winter proved pointless, the reality is 29-year-old ace likely will go after this season. His agent, Scott Boras, is determined to make him the highest-paid pitcher in baseball and reportedly is seeking a massive long-term contract worth in excess of $400 million.

That’s why a signing like the Valdez deal always made the most sense for the Tigers, even if it required a significant payroll bump this season. That move gives Hinch, who managed both Valdez and Verlander with the Astros, arguably the best 1-2 punch of any starting rotation in the majors, not to mention two dominant left-handers capable of shutting down a Cleveland lineup they’ve faced in each of the last two postseasons.

But it also gives the Tigers a proven front-line starter signed beyond 2026, and in Valdez, 32, whose contract includes an opt-out after the ’27 season, they’ve got one of baseball’s most durable and effective arms.

“He's tough to beat,” Hinch said. “I mean, he does a lot of things that we love here. He pounds the zone, he gets the ball on the ground, he doesn’t give up homers. He puts in the innings, but not just innings — it’s the quality that comes with it.”

Indeed, since 2020, Valdez ranks fifth in the majors in innings pitched, but also sixth among pitchers in WAR. And for a Tigers rotation that ranked 11th in ERA last year, that’s no small addition. Consider, too, that Skubal’s the only pitcher who has managed a five-inning start in the postseason for Detroit the last two years.

Detroit depth

Verlander’s arrival helps, obviously. The move undoubtedly was spurred by the news that starter Reese Olson, whose 2025 campaign was cut short by a shoulder issue last July, will miss all of this season following surgery to repair a labrum tear. But it's also worth noting that Verlander remains a workhorse: Last year marked the 16th time in his 20 MLB seasons he pitched more than 150 innings. And when you combine that with Skubal, Valdez, Jack Flaherty and Casey Mize — those last two also are entering contract years — that's about as good as it gets.

If that pushes Troy Melton to the minors this spring, or Drew Anderson to the bullpen, so be it. Because it likely means the days of “pitching chaos” as a necessary strategy for the Tigers might finally be behind them. And it sure beats Harris having to scramble at the trade deadline later this summer or Hinch having to do something like he did a year ago, relying on the likes of Charlie Morton and Chris Paddack amid the Tigers’ epic collapse.

The bullpen has been bolstered as well, with Harris adding Kenley Jansen, MLB’s active career saves leader, and re-signing Kyle Finnegan, who was a real weapon down the stretch last season as a trade-deadline pickup. That gives Hinch three relievers who racked up 20-plus saves a year ago to hold down the back end.

And for all the hand-wringing about the Tigers’ offense, what the Tigers have done in the last week alone should tell you they’re prepared to do whatever it takes come July if Harris decides this group needs another bat.

Yet if you ask Hinch about all of that, I imagine he’ll tell you the same thing he plans to tell his team before their first full-squad workout Sunday in Lakeland: "Take a hike."

“There’s an expectation to win,” Hinch said. “And there’s an expectation to be better. And ‘better’ is pretty good off of the last two seasons that we’ve been able to put together. ... So there’s a lot to like about what we’re doing. But now we’re at the bottom of the mountain, and we gotta climb up again and see if we can win this division.”

The way they’ve set themselves up here at base camp, though, it’s clear they’re aiming even higher.

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