Friday at 5 p.m. ET was baseball's (very soft) deadline to either agree with arbitration-eligible players on contracts for 2026 or to decide not to bother with them at all. The Tigers had 12 who were arb-eligible — including first-timers Riley Greene, Spencer Torkelson, and Kerry Carpenter — after they DFA'd Jason Foley, Alex Lange, and Tanner Rainey, all of whom were projected to make a combined $52.9 million by MLB Trade Rumors.
There were a few non-tender candidates, but Andy Ibáñez's name stood out above the rest. MLBTR predicted a modest $1.8 million for him in his first year of arbitration eligibility, but his demotion this season and responsibility for pinch-hitting lefty-killing being transferred over to Jahmai Jones made Ibáñez a clear cut.