6:08PM: The Tigers have officially announced the signing.
2:58PM: The Tigers have struck a deal with free agent righty Tyson Ross, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link). It’s a $5.75MM guarantee over a single season, with a readily achievable roster bonus that would add another $250K, per Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter).
Ross, 31, finally got back on track last year after a pair of injury marred campaigns. He ended up throwing 149 2/3 innings of 4.15 ERA ball, with 7.3 K/9 against 3.7 BB/9 along with a 45.9% groundball rate.
Clearly, that’s not quite a vintage Ross showing. He was a 3.07 ERA hurler over a 516 2/3 inning run from 2013 to 2015. For a pitcher who once steadily worked in the mid-nineties, it’s hardly promising to see a career-low 91.7 mph average fastball. And he was far shy of his peak strikeout and groundball rates.
All that being said, it’s still rather impressive that Ross was able to turn in a full season after shoulder issues and eventual thoracic outlet procedure sidetracked his career. His prior effort, in 2017 with the Rangers, had fallen notably flat as he struggled to stay in the zone.
For Detroit, Ross will join the recently inked Matt Moore to help fill out the rotation and perhaps provide the club with a summer trade chip. That approach yielded dividends this past season with Mike Fiers.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Wrong link.
Seem correct to me.
They fixed it now.
5.75MM Guaranteed for Tyson Ross? Ouch
As an outsider looking in, it makes sense to me. He gets to pitch in a big ballpark against a weak division to rebuild his value. He’s a good flip candidate if he pitches well and even if he doesn’t, he isn’t breaking the bank.
He pitched well for the Padres and was dirt cheap last year and they couldn’t get anything at the deadline for him. Still could be flipped this year but I wouldn’t expect anything of real value based on last years deadline. $6mil seems pretty steep.
Probably had to guarantee more money to avoid a 2 year deal.
Same amount they gave Fiers coming off a worse season. If it works out anything like that I’m sure they’ll be happy. Good sign by Detroit. Not a lot of reliable arms in their rotation.
chaaaampionship
“Ah, another idiot.”
Saaaarcasm
A lot of those in Tigers posts lately
The Tigers certainly are cornering the market on mediocre starters.
The Rangers: Hold my beer
i know, sucks to be the Orioles who aren’t going to have any left to sign
5.75M guarantee and best case he gets traded to a contender
Now that’s what I call win-win. Pillow contract 101, folks.
Yep
He was soooo good last year that the Padres couldn’t even find a taker for him at the deadline. They had to let him get taken on waivers by the Cardinals in which he was pedestrian at best like he was for the first 3 months of the season with the Padres but okay.
Celebrate the over-pay. He shouldn’t have cost more than 3 million.
Thank you Johnny Super Scout, for taking time out of your busy day to bless us with this rubbish assessment.
Well he is right in some regards. Ross pitched pretty well last year and the Padres couldn’t find anyone to take him at the deadline. Plus he was making 1/3 of this contract. Could still be a good deal but I wouldn’t bank on getting a return at the deadline.
The Tigers are banking on him being better than last year. He had an adequate year last year coming off surgery. There should/could be more improvements in his stuff and command as he will be two years removed from injury. It’s also worth pointing out that teams are wary of trading for pitchers from SD, as there ballpark is so extremely pitcher friendly, it’s impossible to expect a pitcher’s results to be the same in a normal ballpark.
He posted a 3.65 FIP coming out of STL’s pen. Preller didn’t want to pay him anymore so he put him on waivers. Odd to gripe over such a small guaranteed sum a year after guys like Cashner and Vargas received 16MM guarantees.
Was actually hoping the brewers would have taken a chance on him. Could be a nice deadline deal waiting to happen for the tigers.
Milwaukee is a tough park for flyball pitchers. I was hoping for his sake he could sign with the Giants. If healthy, Detroit did well.
Mike Fiers 2.0.
I like it
I like the deal for the Tigers… Ross is a full season back from TOS surgery, he was solid last season with lower velocity than before the surgery, but probably not entirely healed… now, he should be healed more, and if he can get his velocity up a couple ticks (prior to arm problems, he threw a dominating slider and a solid fastball to go with it), he has a real shot at having a strong season and being a hot commodity at the deadline. With Tigers signing Ross and Moore, it’s a near guarantee they’re trading Boyd away while his value is near its peak. It won’t take much for Ross to give the Tigers solid value out of this deal.
Is boyd’s Value at a peak? Maybe but he just posted very pedestrian back end starter numbers. 4.39/4.45 FIP. I’m sure it has some value to a non contending team as a #4 starter but I don’t think you’re getting much for those results.
Boyd’s value is his youth, team control and prospect of improving in the future. He’s worth more than you’re giving credit.
Seems like a fine deal to me. Tigers have a great deal of salary cap room and are rebuilding. Best case scenario Ross pitches to a 3.75 ERA or lower during first half of the season and the Tigers flip him for some prospects to a contender to aid in their rebuild. Worst case scenario he pitches poorly and he leaves next year after only having made 5.75 million.
Given that the Tigers aren’t contending this year, isn’t this the kind of deal you’d want your team to be making?
As a Padres fan this is a good pickup for the Tigers. A groundball pitcher in a spacious ballpark,moderate salary can be flipped in the deadline.
Low risk high reward. I’ve heard TOS is tricky to come back from. If he takes another step forward he could turn into a nice trade chip.
Now the Tigers have six starters; Zimmerman, Fulmer, Boyd, Norris, Moore, and Ross. Not sure what the plan is here boys.
Do you believe that all of them will be healthy all season? Or effective? I think they’ll need that many.
Norris will come out of the pen
Norris and the team have mentioned his need for a full warm-up in order to maximize effectiveness. Don’t expect him to come out of pen. Im hoping to hear Gardy come out and say they are going to try a novel approach like last year’s Rays, maybe use the younger core as 3inning openers… but I shouldn’t hold my breath because Gardy is not the dynamic type of guy who does novel things successfully.
The tigers would never mess with their young starters by using them as “openers” that would just be stupid
Yes, they have six starters, but they may need twelve with the injury history of that cast.
With Zimmerman, Fulmer, Boyd, Norris, Moore and Ross, Tigers now have no starters……
But to ditto, why not? They have gobs of money, why not roll the dice and play for July 31. Other teams that have the coin should do a LOT of this.
I don’t know if they’ve still got gobs of money. Illitch ran the team like we all wish we could run a team; sign your favorite players and go for the gusto every year, to hell with profit margins. I dont think this generation is going to spend like that and willingly accept losses on baseball operations. But to your point, I selfishly like these moves because it’s getting me excited about the Tigers again. Hopefully, double gum drop wishes, this duct tape job can catch some lightning in a bottle and be buyers come July 31. Too hopeful? Yeah, but whatever, Go Tigers!
Ya I suppose Pop gave Dombrowski an open checkbook and told him to “do the best you can”….a bit like giving Willie Sutton the keys to the vault and telling him the same thing……
But I for one like what they’ve done so far. They’re walking the tightrope, trying to remain at least marginally competitive, while rebuilding. And they’re rebuilding the right way, with pitching and athletes. And I’ve had man-love for Gardy for decades.
It’s not a tough division….they can get back in the hunt quicker, than say, the Orioles can. The White Sox seem to draft and make trades out of Baseball America; the Royals are quite a way away. The Indians (sharp guys out there) are “reimaging” at exactly the right time. They’ll be tough. Sometimes the Twins just look confused.
I’d like to see them be a BIT more aggressive; taking on Desmond’s contract maybe from the Rox and pilfering from their system. And scouring the minors for the Muncy-s and Wendle-s of the world.
Tigers are making smart moves this offseason. Not breaking the bank and keeping players on one-year deals in hopes of flipping them for lotto tickets as they rebuild.
Now if both Ross and Moore crap out? So what. That just helps them tank for next season.
Makes absolute sense. If he’s pitching anywhere near league-average level, he’ll be shipped out of town by midseason.
He’s a good guy, too.
6 starters!!! Someone’s gonna go!
Norris back to Toronto for Pillar?
Boyd to Trader Jerry in Seattle.
I like the signing, wish they signed Pomeranz instead of Matt Moore though.
1 year deal traded to a contender in june/July.
Kinda wanted SD to bring him back. But oh well.
Castellanos. for a 23 rd pick. A real steal