According to a report Sunday in ‘The Athletic,’ the Detroit Tigers are one of the teams looking at former St. Louis Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley as a starting pitcher this offseason.
The Detroit Tigers are among the clubs talking to the free-agent right-hander about becoming a starter, according to people familiar with his market.
In recent seasons, Seth Lugo, Michael King and Clay Holmes have been among the relievers who have successfully converted to starting. Helsley, 31, hasn’t started since 2019, when he was at Triple A with the St. Louis Cardinals.
Reynaldo Lopez, a former reliever with the Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Angels, became an All-Star starter in 2024 for the Atlanta Braves as well, so the list of converted pitchers is growing.
However, the transition didn’t work out for former Cardinals righty Jordan Hicks, who signed as a starter with the San Francisco Giants, only to be traded to the Boston Red Sox in 2025, where he was a mostly ineffective reliever again.
While this note on Helsley is interesting, it also could impact the Cardinals this winter. Just recently, Helsley said he expected the Cardinals to reach out to him again this winter. It’s unknown if they’d be interested in him as a starter.
Now 31 years old, Helsley was a fifth-round pick of the Cardinals in 2015 out of Northeastern State University. He spent seven years in St. Louis before getting traded to the New York Mets at the deadline in 2025. He was a two-time All-Star with the Cardinals who led the majors in saves (49) during the 2024 campaign, but he was worse in 2025, going 3-4 with a 4.50 ERA. He registered 21 saves with St. Louis before serving as a leverage reliever for New York, where he had an ERA of 7.20.
At the moment, it’s also unclear how Helsley would feel about being a starter. On one hand, starting pitchers make more money, but at 31, does Helsley want to do something he hasn’t done since 2019, and never in the big leagues?
It will be one of the more fascinating developments of the winter and we could get more clarity by the time the baseball world convenes again for the winter meetings, which are Dec. 7-10 in Orlando.
The Cardinals finished fourth in the National League Central this season, missing the playoffs for the third consecutive year. It was the second straight losing season for Oli Marmol’s bunch.
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