The Tigers have claimed infielder Andy Ibáñez off waivers from the Rangers, according to announcements from both teams. Detroit also outrighted six players — infielders Jermaine Palacios and Luis Garcia, right-handers Elvin Rodríguez, Bryan Garcia and Luis Castillo and outfielder Víctor Reyes — off their 40-man roster. After reinstating all their players from the injured list, Detroit has a full 40-man roster.
Ibáñez was Texas’ Opening Day starter at third base in 2022. He’d earned a look from the Rangers after hitting .277/.321/.435 through his first 76 big league games in 2021. The Cuban-born infielder looked like a viable late-blooming utilityman, but his offense dropped this year. Ibáñez hit .218/.273/.277 over 128 MLB plate appearances, connecting on just one home run. He had a better but still unimposing .255/.330/.390 mark over 315 plate appearances at Triple-A Round Rock.
Tough season aside, Ibáñez does have quality bat-to-ball skills and a typically solid track record of upper minors performance. He’s a career .288/.358/.456 hitter through parts of four Triple-A seasons. He’ll be 30 at the start of next season but has yet to reach arbitration and still has a minor league option year remaining. Ibáñez can play first, second or third base and adds a contact-focused depth infielder to the Tigers organization.
Of the players coming off the roster, Reyes is the most notable. He’s played parts of five seasons with the Tigers, tallying a personal-high 336 plate appearances in 2022. The switch-hitting outfielder put up a .254/.289/.362 mark with just three homers. He’s capable of defending all three outfield spots but has consistently provided below-average offense. Projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for a $2.2MM salary for his penultimate season of arbitration eligibility, he proved a fairly straightforward non-tender for first-year president of baseball operations Scott Harris.
Rodríguez debuted this year and started five of seven games. He surrendered a 10.62 ERA through 29 2/3 innings, posting a 4.98 mark over 99 1/3 innings with Triple-A Toledo. Bryan Garcia had spent his entire career as a reliever until 2022, when he took a few starts late in the year for an injury-battered rotation. He had a 3.80 ERA over 85 1/3 innings with the Mud Hens. Castillo, a 27-year-old reliever, made his first three big league appearances this year after posting a 1.74 ERA in 40 games for Toledo.
Palacios and Luis Garcia, meanwhile, never suited up for the Tigers. Palacios played in 30 games for the Twins, and Detroit nabbed the infielder off waivers from their division rivals after the end of the season. Garcia was once an interesting prospect in the Phillies farm system, but his bat stalled out in High-A this year. He has very little Double-A experience. Detroit claimed him late in the season but it always looked likely they’d try to run through waivers at some point.
Luis Garcia will remain in the organization without occupying a 40-man roster spot. Palacios, Bryan Garcia, Rodríguez, Castillo and Reyes all have the requisite service time to refuse an outright assignment and test minor league free agency.
World Series here we come!
the wsox have their team!
Victor Reyes will get claimed on waivers. I know it’s a roster crunch, but would have liked to keep him around.
I was hoping they would let him go. He has a low ceiling, and they can do better. I do wish him the best of luck.
If he was outrighted, that means he has already passed through waivers.
No way he’d get claimed. Not heading for arbitration and a 2 million dollar payday.
Ya, you’re right. Makes sense.
Ibanez is Harold Castro 2.0
Imagine being outrighted by the Tigers? Gut. Check.
Why claim someone and then cut them a week later? Why would they toy with someone like that?
They’re hoping that some of these guys pass through waivers and that they can convince them to stick around.
I liked Reyes, but he’ll for sure play in the majors long enough to retire from it, he’s just that valuable a piece to have on a team. If 2,2 is too much to pay him, the majors are infested with more getting more, and doing less. I mean Grossman should have worn a mask last year, what robbery. He’ll do well wherever he ends up.
An outfielder with a sub-300 OPS and minimal power is barely employable at the major league level.
Well you can always pull up baseball reference 2022, and compare his an Miguel’s stat’s which are conveniently next to each other, and say they got a lot of production for the price. For 2..2 million he’s outrageously a steal.
Reyes will end signing a minor league contract with someone.
None of these are surprising except for maybe Reyes. His arb number wasn’t huge and he is a SH and can play all 3 OF positions. Thought that would have had some value for the team. Ibanez isn’t and exciting pick up but he fits what Harris wants to do, which is dominate the strike zone. Too many Tiger hitters strike out at an alarming rate and swing at too many pitches out of the zone. Also looks like Harris did the bare minimum he needed to get to a 40 man roster. The non-tender decisions will come at a later date. Tigers are probably not big players in the FA market but between what they might pick up and protecting guys from the rule 5 draft there probably is at least 4-5 more roster cuts coming. Stay tuned.
Who will not get tender ?
Candelario is a likely candidate. Maybe one or both Castro’s.
Yeah, there’s definitely more roster cuts coming… At least five more.
Victor Reyes was a slightly better Nico Goodrum. Reyes looked like he was ready to explode at any moment…but he never did. He’ll end up somewhere.
Bryan Garcia is the enigma. I thought he was a steal in the draft coming out of U. of Miami. He had TJ surgery. Again, he looked like a guy who was ready to break through…but he just couldn’t. I bet he shows up in someone’s bullpen and ends up sticking around. Just watch.
The best part of Scott Harris to date has been unloading some of Al Avila’s favorite baggage.
For one example, Victor Reyes was never going to be Michael Brantley no matter how long he was trotted out there.
The worst part of Scott Harris – so far – was trying to sell Miguel Cabrera as still totally worthwhile and highly valued. Typical baseball (and political) speak. Say the exact opposite of true.. That was disappointing.
Sometimes “political” is the way to go. What was he supposed to do or say about a franchise legend who is gone after 2023 no matter what, especially when there’s no hope of competing next year and the team desperately needs the “say goodbye to Miggy tour” to sell any tickets at all. It’s going to be a terrible team with or without Miggy, so they should play nice and allow him to retire with dignity and full team support.
Another factor in treating Miggy w/respect is how future FA’s see it. Many MLB’ers do look up to Miggy, and if they see him getting treated like crap, they’re not going to want to sign w/DET.
Like TommyTheTiger says, it’s not going to hurt anyone to be nice to Miggy one more season that’s going to suck anyway. I’m betting they’re going to put him on DL/IL more, also.
It is nice to see young players who don’t strike out every three at bats.
Reyes showed some promise over the years, but never delivered. He had many chances, so I understand that he was outrighted. He is the typical AAAA player – too good for AAA, but slightly not good enough for an MLB roster.
B. Garcia had an interesting year, turning from a subpar reliever into a stopgap starter. Unless he is picked up by another team, he should get a decent minor-league contract from the Tigers.
Ibanez is a right-handed IF. Did Harris really mean him, when he stated the Tigers’ demand yesterday?
Gruß,
BSHH
He’s just depth, the Tigers will probably take him off the 40 man roster sooner than later.
Not to beat a dead horse, but Reyes is another example of something systematically rotten in the Tigers player development. Reyes has always been an incredible raw talent: tall, muscular, fast. Somehow, no one ever made a project of maximizing his ability to manage the strike zone. And I don’t know someone who, just by looking at him, exudes power, can hit so few home runs.
Reyes is an exciting player and I’ve always enjoyed watching him. The right team with the right coaching could turn him into an outstanding player. He has the physical tools and can clearly HIT big league pitching.
It wouldn’t surprise me if we never heard from him again. But it also wouldn’t surprise me if he delivered a few years of .750+ OPS.
Player development appears to have been a huge problem in DET. E. Suarez, W. Adames, I. Paredes, even Grossman all flourished after being traded.
Exactly 84LeFlore! I don’t know about Grossman but the others displayed a combination of (a) being bad at evaluating your own talent, (b) undervaluing your players in trades, or (c) leaving talent “on the table” for other teams to poach, coach, and reap the benefits of their improvement.
Seeing the article with salary predictions, makes.me want to vomit.
NO WAY SHOULD ANYONE IN THEIR RIGHT MINDS SIGN ANYONE AT.THOSE PREDICTED SALARIES!
DONT DO IT HARRIS!
THOSE WRITERS ARE OUT OF THEIR MINDS!
$40Mil the new norm????
No way!
Baseball WILL collapse.
I will help.
2 weeks of Sunday prayers for Mr. Harris.
I take it a good sign, nothing has been done. No idiot moves by the desperate.
I can help you, Mr. ILLICH, Mr. HARRIS.
Identify contracts teams would like to shed in exchange for prospects.
Offer signing bonuses to meet player salary requirements, lowering actual cost and making those contracts completely tradable.
Convince Chris Illich, he has contracts that should.be.moved, he has to pay it down and move it.
Identify trade targets.
Move all of.your international prospects due in 25 for near mlb ready prospects = yes, you have to give good to get good.
Salesmanship is what matters, not waiting by the phone hoping someone will express interest!
Besides, I need OUT OF THIS PLACE! For God’s sake…..help yourself help.a.brother out…….and seeing the Tigers get handed thier xxxxs…..is just too much for me to handle.anymore.
Our lives.should not be this way!