The Rumor: After making 297 career appearances in the majors with a single start among them, free-agent closer Ryan Helsley is being pursued as a potential starting pitcher, with the Detroit Tigers possibly foremost among the suitors, per The Athletic (on Nov. 23).
BS Meter: No BS detected, though questions on whether Helsley can cut the mustard as a starter are certainly warranted.
At this point, it feels like we’re just going to keep getting at least one of these free-agent-reliever-to-starter conversions on an annual basis.
Sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn’t. Seth Lugo made that transition extremely well. So did Reynaldo López, when healthy. Jordan Hicks…not so much. Clay Holmes ended up being one of the Mets’ better starting pitchers this season.
And here’s why Detroit surely loves the idea of taking a chance on Helsley: All four of those pitchers signed multi-year deals with an AAV of $12.7 million or less, and the Tigers are already committed to at least $20 million in 2026 on each of Jack Flaherty, Gleyber Torres, Javier Báez and Tarik Skubal (presumably, in arbitration).
They need a starting pitcher, and they probably need a “cheap” one at that.
And if it ends up going terribly and it becomes clear Helsley needs to be converted back to a high-leverage reliever? Well, Detroit could use at least one of those, too.
For what it’s worth, Helsley was predominantly a starter prior to arriving in the big leagues, and a pretty good one at that. He had a 2.84 ERA in 87 minor league appearances, 69 of those as starts. If it’s like riding a bicycle for him, he could be a great buy-low after that rough finish to last season.
