The Detroit Tigers signed Alex Cobb to a one-year, $15 million contract in free agency.
WEST SACRAMENTO, CA — The Detroit Tigers signed Alex Cobb to a one-year, $15 million contract in free agency.
That was back on Dec. 9, 2024.
Cobb, who had been contemplating retirement before the Tigers reached out to him, suffered a hip injury in the first week of February before reporting to spring training. The 37-year-old has been rehabbing injuries to both hips ever since then. He still hasn't pitched for the Tigers in the 2025 season, which is expected to be the final campaign of his MLB career.
Will the Tigers ever get Cobb, a 2006 graduate from Vero Beach High School, into an MLB game this season?
"We're wait-and-see mode," manager A.J. Hinch said.
Here's the latest news: The Tigers removed Cobb from his rehab assignment Tuesday, Aug. 26, with continual soreness in both hips after six games, including his last two as a reliever with Triple-A Toledo. In three Triple-A games, Cobb posted a 1.29 ERA with four walks and eight strikeouts across seven innings.
He tossed 40 pitches in his last outing.
The Tigers will shut Cobb down for seven days, which resets the 30-day rehab assignment clock. Without the shutdown, Cobb would have needed to be reinstated by Friday, Aug. 28, since his assignment began July 29.
"When you pull him off rehab, he's got to be down a week," Hinch said before Tuesday's game against the Athletics at Sutter Health Park. "Hopefully, that's the minimal time and the max time in the same way. And then he'll go out and start all over again."
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For the next rehab assignment, the Tigers could let Cobb waste away in Triple-A Toledo through the end of the 2025 season. As of now, the Tigers have 33 days remaining until the Sept. 28 season finale against the Boston Red Sox.
It feels like Cobb will never pitch for the Tigers in the majors.
But the Tigers aren't ready to say that.
"He's able to tolerate the pitches, and we've seen flashes of some pretty good action on those pitches," Hinch said. "It's the bouncing back that's been the biggest issue. He's going to continue to grind through it, and we're going to continue to provide the opportunity we can in hopes that he can contribute something."
In 2025, Cobb has pitched in nine games during two separate rehab assignments, with a combined 1.83 ERA with 12 walks and 24 strikeouts across 19⅔ innings for High-A West Michigan (five games) and Triple-A Toledo (four games).
At the Triple-A level, Cobb averaged 91.5 mph on his sinker, while his splitter produced a 27.6% whiff rate. He also mixed in curveballs and four-seam fastballs.
Before signing with the Tigers, the oft-injured Cobb pitched in 13 MLB seasons for the Tampa Bay Rays (2011-14, 2016-17), Baltimore Orioles (2018-20), Los Angeles Angels (2021), San Francisco Giants (2022-23) and Cleveland Guardians (2024). He has never come out of the bullpen, working as a starter in all 233 of his appearances.
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The Tigers aren't motivated to activate Cobb for a feel-good story.
He won't join the Tigers unless he can help them win.
Here's what Hinch said about that: "I think the goal is to have as many productive players as we can and guys that can help us win. If that's the case and it lines up, then great. We want him to be good. We want him to help us win. We want him to be a part of this because we think that the stuff has been pretty good throughout the summer. He just hasn't been able to bounce back as much. It's not just trying to be the good guy and try to give him a platform to pitch again. That's not been the motivation. It's because when he has flashed that stuff over the last handful of outings, it's been pretty good. He hasn't always been able to retain it, or hasn't been able to bounce back, and that's what we're working towards. We're going to go day by day. This isn't something that we're looking at over the course of weeks. We know how much of the season is left. We know what he has to accomplish to be one of the best 13 pitches that we have — or 14 when September rosters expand. We're just going to continue to evaluate."
Contact Evan Petzold at [email protected] or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Alex Cobb injury update: Detroit Tigers shut down Vero Beach High grad
Category: Baseball
