DALLAS >> It may have been the most insightful and revealing moment of the Winter Meetings, at least in terms of understanding how the Tigers are tackling this offseason.

It was Tuesday night, up in the club’s executive suite on the 14th floor of the Hilton Anatole Hotel. President Scott Harris and general manager Jeff Greenberg were holding court for a small group of beat writers.

The signing of veteran right-handed pitcher Alex Cobb (one year, $15 million) was, to this point and much to the chagrin of a large portion of the fan base, the first and only move of the offseason.

The conversation with Harris and Greenberg helped put their quiet hot-stove start into perspective. The question was asked: Given how the last season ended, going 31-13 and steamrolling into the playoffs for the first time in a decade, were you more compelled to upgrade the talent around the core group of young players or stay the course and grow from within?

Greenberg went first.

“I don’t think it’s an either-or,” he said. “It’s taking what we did last year and seeing the progress we made down the stretch. We were one of the best teams in baseball for more than two months with one of the youngest teams in baseball. Having that experience that all our guys gained making that run and getting into the playoffs — with that comes a lot of development.

“Guys got better. They stepped up when they got opportunities. We saw value in giving the guys the runway we gave them.”

Who could argue the value of that runway for players like Parker Meadows, Colt Keith, Trey Sweeney and Wenceel Perez, or for young pitchers like Brant Hurter, Keider Montero, Ty Madden, Brenan Hanifee and even Beau Brieske?

“Acknowledging where we are and how we got there, it presented additional opportunities to do more,” Greenberg said. “Obviously, we’re going to try to get better. We’re going to continue to do work on the free-agent front and on the trade front, but I think it’s about building off of where we are and how we got there.”

The reality is, there is another wave of highly talented young players coming. Players like pitcher Jackson Jobe, infielder Jace Jung, catcher Dillon Dingler and Sweeney have yet to even play half a season in the big leagues, and they already have playoff experience. And, as Harris pointed out, there is a third wave coming in another year or so, including prospects like infielders Hao-Yu Lee (who could be an option this year), Max Clark and Kevin McGonigle plus catcher-first basemen sluggers Josue Briceno and Thayron Liranzo.

When the Tigers weigh the pros and cons of taking on a multi-year deal for a veteran position player, be it through trade or free agency, the development track of these players is a big factor.

“Every winter meeting that I’ve sat here talking with you guys, there’s been a handful of players that felt like question marks and then we fast-forward a year and they are anchors on our team,” Harris said. “They become middle-of-the-order bats or mainstays in our rotation.

“They do get better. And the only way for us to help these young players go from question marks to mainstays is to give them opportunity. We have to keep doing that.”

A two-month run doesn’t change that reality.

“We’re a playoff team now,” Harris said. “Everybody feels that. We have to find ways to get better internally, but also find ways to add players like Alex Cobb who can add something we can’t access from within.”

The Tigers are still searching for offensive upgrades, specifically a right-handed-hitting corner infielder or corner outfielder. They are going to make a presentation for Japanese star pitcher Roki Sasaki and they are also on the lookout for bullpen help.

But, as Harris said at the end of the season and reiterated Tuesday, the primary growth needs to come from within. And in saying that, he acknowledged that development is never linear. It is possible some of the young players who made gains last season could regress in 2025, just like Spencer Torkelson did from 2023 to ’24.“I don’t think it’s a possibility; I think it’s likely,” Harris said. “Yes, there will be some guys who hit bumps in the road moving forward, and we are trying to attack that in a few different ways.”

One is through detailed and individualized off-season work plans.

“One of the ways guys keep from going from mainstay to question mark is to keep getting better in the offseason,” Harris said. “The second way is through volume. We have a lot of good players here and my hope is that we could stagger the bumps a little bit, so if there is a mainstay that has become a question mark, there are two others that go from question mark to mainstay.”

We saw that last year. When veterans Kenta Maeda and Casey Mize faltered, either performance-wise or health-wise, Montero, Hurter, Madden and others stepped up. In the bullpen, when Alex Lange faltered and Andrew Chafin was traded, Brieske, Hanifee, Sean Guenther and others stepped in.

“And the third way is to add from the outside,” Harris said. “Is there a risk? Absolutely. But we’re doing everything we possibly can to minimize that risk.”

The Tigers have manager AJ Hinch, to combat regression. He went through this early in his tenure in Houston. He led a young Astros team to 86 wins and an upset of the Yankees in the Wild Card game in his first season in 2015 and then they started 7-17 the next year.

“The biggest challenge for a young team, and I’ve seen it before, is not looking backward as you are trying to progress,” Hinch said. “We can’t repeat last season and we’re not trying to repeat next season. We’re trying to be better. We want to win the AL Central. We want to put ourselves in a better position.

“You can’t do that looking backward. I want our guys to take ownership of the fact that we are going to be looked at a lot differently. We have a lot of things we need to do better. That was a fun run and fun time and a memorable playoff chase for us. Now we start over again.”

There isn’t going to be a massive spending spree by the Tigers this offseason. That was never the plan. There will likely be another move or two, specifically to add a right-handed hitter. And if there are other holes to be plugged or upgrades to be made between now and the trade deadline, that will be addressed.

Like it or loathe it, that’s simply the way it is. The Tigers believe they have a young, still-developing championship core with Riley Greene, Parker Meadows, Kerry Carpenter, Colt Keith, Matt Vierling, Jake Rogers and hopefully Torkelson, with a rotation led by Tarik Skubal, Reese Olson and Cobb and a lot of talented and versatile arms in the bullpen and a couple of waves of high-level prospects still coming.

“We are trying to build a window in which we are a mainstay in October,” Harris said. “Not just a flash in 2024 and never get back.”