The Mariners announced that they’ve claimed infielder/outfielder Andrew Romine off waivers from the Tigers. He would’ve had the opportunity to elect free agency had he not been claimed. Seattle’s 40-man roster is now at 35 players after also declining options on Hisashi Iwakuma and Yovani Gallardo.
Romine, 32 in December, has been one of the Tigers’ most versatile players in recent years. He’s played all over the diamond for Detroit since coming over from the Angels, including a game at the end of the 2017 season in which he played all nine spots on the field. Despite that Swiss-army-knife-esque profile, though, Romine hasn’t drawn strong reviews from defensive metrics for his infield work, though he has been viewed more favorably in a smallish sample of work in the outfield.
The benefit the Tigers see in his defensive flexibility clearly was outweighed by his lack of offensive production and projected arbitration price point, however. Romine batted just .233/.289/.336 through 348 plate appearances this season and has hit .236/.293/.313 (66 OPS+) overall in parts of four years with the Tigers. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz had projected him to earn $1.9MM via arbitration.
It remains to be seen if the Mariners will keep Romine on the 40-man roster all winter, but he’s presently a candidate to compete with Taylor Motter for a utility role next spring.
He’s a lock for the roster next season, he can literally do everything
Just because he can do it doesn’t mean he should do it.
nooooooooo
noooooooo
Why would the Tigers let a guy like him go? He was making peanuts and standing on his head for the team. Dumb, dumb move.
Tell me about it. I’m pissed to no end.
Further proof that Avila doesn’t know what he’s doing.
Na I like Romine as much as the next guy but 32, around 2 mil salary. This is a rebuilding team need to embrace that. This is a good move. Tiger prob draft 3 to 5 guys in rule 5 draft need roster spots for them
3 to 5? Has a team ever drafted 3 guys in the rule 5 draft?
Last year the Padres ended up with 4 guys. Kinda becoming a trend for deeply rebuilding teams. Also depends on who ends up being availible. Why not if they don’t make the club you just send them back or work out other deals to keep their rights. I could see tigers being active, have to see how man 40-man spots are open come the draft. If you think about it how many guaranteed spots are there on the 25 man roster, what 15 spots truly spoken for
the padres drafted 3 guys this year. Allen Cordova, Miguel Diaz and a catcher who i cant remember his name right now. I think that is the highest all time.
They only drafted Córdoba I believe, they traded for Diaz and Torrens
yeah, but the agreement was made beforehand, and the rule 5… rule still applied.
He’s just got to be better than Motter which isn’t asking much
Hey go mariners nice add
Dipoto still trying to get any former angel he can get his hands on
I like Romine as a player, however, from a business standpoint, based on his projected arbitration salary, he would have cleared waivers and could have been had for about half the price. I’d be willing to wager not too many teams would be overly interested in paying a -1.2 WAR player much in terms of guaranteed money. Seattle could have offered him a guaranteed contract worth $750k with incentives and that would have likely been enough to entice him. Obviously, I could be totally wrong, but that’s just how I view it. It’s a good move, I just think it could have been executed in a more cost efficient manner.
No you are right good move for tigers, need roster spots for rule 5 picks
Is this outrage over Andrew Romine real or a joke? Feels real, but, why?
#AndrewRomineSucks
Some people are attracted to bad players, much like women who marry convicts.
By “some people” I’m thinking you are referring to Jerry Bavas…..wait……I mean Jerry Zdure….wait, uhhh, I mean Jerry Dipoto…..
There’s outrage from Mariners fans too, that Dipoto bothered to pick up someone so mediocre.
Unfortunately, his replacement will probably not be as good. With Kinsler likely to be moved, he could have provided some stability to the middle infield. I don’t see where he was currently blocking anyone. But I still understand the move.
A -1 war player who would have gotten around 2 million in salary on a rebuilding team with tight purse strings. They can bring a guy in free agency in late in process for 750 to a million to play all the infield spots.
There goes dipoto creating his Seattle Mariners of Anaheim
Romine will be missed for his roles but we are rebuilding and can pay a younger kid a lot less and see what they can bring to the table. Maybe get some speed in this lineup!