Jason Foley DVOA, Advanced Stats, & Fantasy Rankings

According to Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic, the Detroit Tigers may opt to use a combination of relief pitchers to navigate the late innings "regardless of who gets the save." Last week, the Tigers signed relief pitcher Tommy Kahnle to a one-year contract. Last season, Kahnle posted a solid 2.11 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP across 42 2/3 innings with the New York Yankees. He operated primarily as a setup man as he tallied 16 holds and one save. Throughout his career, he has only tallied eight saves. Last season, Jason Foley led the team in saves with 28 but did begin to lose some opportunities to Tyler Holton late in the season. Foley posted a 3.15 ERA with a 1.18 WHIP across 60 innings. Holton tallied six saves after the All-Star break and held a stellar 0.83 ERA and a 0.65 WHIP over these 43 1/3 innings. While Foley will open camp as the likely favorite to earn save opportunities, he may be given a short leash given the depth in Detroit rotation.

The Detroit Tigers avoided salary arbitration with right-hander Jason Foley on Thursday by agreeing to a one-year, $3.15 million deal. In addition to Foley, Detroit also signed one-year deals for 2025 with infielder/outfielder Matt Vierling ($3.005 million), catcher Jake Rogers ($2.64 million), right-handers Casey Mize ($2.34 million), Will Vest ($1.4 million) and Beau Brieske ($1.025 million), and infielders Zach McKinstry ($1.65 million) and Andy Ibanez ($1.4 million). Foley broke out in 2024 with a career-high 28 saves for the Tigers while also sporting a 3.15 ERA (3.82 FIP), a 1.18 WHIP and a 46:20 K:BB in 60 innings pitched. Although the Tigers are a team on the rise after making the postseason last year, Foley lost the closing job midseason and also during the playoffs, so fantasy managers shouldn't bet on a repeat.

Detroit Tigers closer Jason Foley tossed a perfect ninth inning to earn the save in a 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday. Foley didn't allow a baserunner and struck out a pair in his inning of work. The 28-year-old hasn't been dominant in the closer role, but he's been the best Detroit has and has gotten the job done most of the time, converting on 27 of his 31 save chances. With the Tigers playing better of late, Foley has actually become one of the best sources of saves in September, notching eight of them in the month. It will be interesting to see if the Tigers are happy with Foley as their closer come next year because if they are he should be a relatively sought-after fantasy asset.