The Cubs have informed reporters, including Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic, that they have traded infielder Zach McKinstry to the Tigers for right-hander Carlos Guzman. In order to make room on their 40-man roster for McKinstry, the Tigers have recalled Freddy Pacheco and placed him on the 60-day injured list, per Jason Beck of MLB.com.
McKinstry, 27, came to the Cubs in a 2022 trade that sent right-hander Chris Martin to the Dodgers. Chicago gave him plenty of reps down the stretch last year, but he responded with a tepid .206/.272/.361 batting line in 171 trips to the plate following the swap. Those numbers generally align with McKinstry’s career totals in Los Angeles; overall, he’s a career .208/.269/.384 hitter in 364 plate appearances at the MLB level.
In Triple-A, it’s been another story. McKinstry owns a .323/.401/.550 batting line in 489 plate appearances while appearing at every position other than first base, catcher and pitcher. He’ll give the Tigers a lefty-swinging bench option who can be plugged in just about anywhere. McKinstry doesn’t have minor league options remaining, so it looks as though he’ll make Detroit’s Opening Day roster.
In return, the Cubs will pick up a 24-year-old righty who split the 2022 season between High-A and Double-A (albeit just an inning and a third at the higher of the two). Guzman worked to a combined 4.11 ERA, striking out 20.6% of his opponents against a 7.8% walk rate with a 42.8% ground-ball rate. The 6’1″, 185-pound righty originally signed as a 16-year-old out of Venezuela back in 2015 and generally hasn’t ranked among the Tigers’ best prospects over the years. Guzman was Rule 5 eligible this past December but went unselected.
That said, Guzman has a 3.80 ERA across 317 minor league innings with strikeout and walk rates that are only slightly worse than average. He’ll give the Cubs an arm they can plug into their Double-A rotation and hope to mold into a potential option at the back of their rotation or perhaps as a middle or long reliever in the coming years.
Congrats to the Tigers for acquiring a player from themselves lol
“Tigers acquire Zack McKinstry from Tigers”
I’m playing both sides, so I always come out on top
A cherry always comes on top…
Breaking News! MLB will never be the same.
It’s the raw writing, like the omissions and typos that separate that give this site its character…
Zach is already on the journeyman status – if he doesn’t improve he will see himself either on the minor league roster filler and/or DFA team
We all saw that title!
Well what happens to Zach Short now?
Nothing, this doesn’t really effect him that much. He wasn’t going to make the 26 man roster anyway, and he’s still on the 40 man roster.
For the time being….I suspect that when Wingenter and Shreve get roster spots Zach’s time will be up.
You could be right.
Well you’re getting a guy who can hit AAA pitching but MLB pitching, Not so much. Who knows, maybe he catches fire because he sure didn’t here.
Wrong Guzman in the link.
baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=guz…
I think it’s the right guy.
Nope. They changed it to the right guy. The other guy wasn’t a pitcher.
Fair enough, they must of changed it before I checked.
Just what we needed, another non hitting utility player! Harris will end up fielding a whole club like this at this rate. Play what you have and let’s see what happens
Are you sure you don’t want Rowan Wick too? Would make my day anyway.
The good news is that you’ll get the to watch him pitch for the Iowa Cubs.
He has options left? Huh
If only he’d stay in Iowa. He’s got a world of stuff every year… until he doesn’t.
This guy must’ve been out of options, and in jeopardy of being released, from the Cubs? At least he’s not a guy signed to a minor-league deal.
Question: Has any team signed Gary Sanchez?
Out of options guy. Had a horrible 1st half last season, better 2nd half and a horrible spring. Cubs need to the 40 man slot.
I heard the Lower Manhattan Whiffle Ball League was interested. Stay Tuned.
Sanchez remains unsigned and will probably continue to be unless and until some frontline catchers go down with serious injuries.
That may open a spot where he could be the backup to the backup, temporarily. No team would let him be the frontline catcher. Sandy Leon has a better chance.
No team wants Gary Sanchez to catch.
Backup C’s typically aren’t heavy hitting piss poor defenders. Sanchez doesn’t even really hit that well anymore either. KBO could be his next stop
Tigers could use Sanchez’ bat. You could have him DH most games, and allow him to catch two days a week.
The Tigers have no use for Sanchez.
Why the hell would the Tigers want McKinstry on their 26 man roster? I’m seriously confused… Kreidler and Hernandez are better options.
Surely, the Tigers will DFA him and try to pass him through waivers. They won’t actually put him on their 26 man roster?
I think Nolan has it right.
Apparently I’m wrong. Baddoo and Hernandez were sent to Toledo. They actually do want McKinstry on the 26 man roster. Makes no sense to me.
I would hope you are right and that is the plan. I think Short outplayed him too in Spring training. It would suck to see Kreidler and/or Hernandez not make it because they signed him.
Agreed. If he’s just minor league depth, that’s fine. As long as they don’t put him on the 26 man roster (which definitely would mean booting Hernandez or Kreidler).
I’m baffled also. He’s Lefty, so he won’t platoon with Maton at 3B. If that brings Vierling to the IF, now we have all LH OFs. If they keep Kreidler for the platoon at 3B, that would likely send Baddoo to AAA. I would rather see Baddoo and Vierling platooning in LF. Plus after all the talk of controlling the strike zone, Harris picks up a player who Ks one third of his ML plate appearances. Working with SF must have given Harris some serious Dodger envy. May as well have picked up Hiura, as they both K a ton.
Guzman is a converted position player and started pitching professionally rather late. If I remember the reports correctly, his changeup is his best pitch. There may still be some potential, but I thought Guzman made rather little progress lately – within a Tigers organization which had several pitcher emerging. Anyway, the return isn’t totally bad for a DFA-candidate.
Gruß,
BSHH
Why The Tigers would go out of their way to get McKinstry is beyond me. We already have lots of light-hitting-but versatile infielders.
Most of Scott Harris’ decisions make a lot of sense, but I don’t get this one at all. This guy doesn’t dominate the strike zone at all, four strikes for every walk. And he’s 27, this is probably as good as he’ll ever be.
And yes, I meant “four strikeouts for every walk”. Lol
BORING! You need new material or just change your username again so we think it is someone else. Why circle back to Detroit? After you slammed Joe Mauer yesterday, I thought you still had KC, Cle and the ChiSox on your AL Central hit list to slam. Very disappointed in you. Take, tsk
He’s hitting .079 in spring training. Just what the Tigers need. It’s a head-scratching Chaim Bloom-like move.
I’m fairly convinced that they won’t put him on the 26 man roster.
Then why sign him? Minors depth?
Just a guess on my part. Yes, I think he’s minor league depth, perhaps a backup plan in case the better infielders get hurt. I think they’ll DFA him and try to pass him through waivers. Sort of risky, if it doesn’t work then they gave up Guzman for nothing. But even that’s not a real big deal.
Turns out I was wrong. Baddoo and Hernandez are going to Toledo, McKinstry and Kreidler made the 26 man roster. I really don’t get it.
That makes no sense. With the new rules Baddoo could steal 30 bases. Hernandez had a ton of doubles this spring. I don’t get the logic. Do they think McKinistry can fill both Baddoo’s and Hernandez’s roles just because ge can play IF and OF. Not a good move.
The challenge for Baddoo is you can’t steal first base even with the new rules. His .289 OBP last year was ghastly. .321 in ST was better, as were his 3 HRs.
But I agree that I’d rather have Baddoo than McKinistry. But how many Scrabble “words” can you rhyme with “ministry?”
But to send him down, he has to clear waivers. Why trade someone away just to lose the player you acquired on the waiver wire?! They must have thought someone else, below them in the standings (not many of those) wanted him, or they just would have waited for the Cubs to waive him and then put in their claim.
Marlins_Fan_1 4 hours ago
I’m out of here, done being attacked on this site. No more contributions, done with it
Another new name, same old game.
THE TROLL WHO CRIED WOLF.
I thought, when I heard this trade, that it meant that Carpenter and Baddoo had made the team. along with Cesar Hernandez.
To find out that they sent down Baddoo and Cesar while keeping Kriedler was very surprising to me. I hope to god that Kriedler didn’t make the team, because he is close friends with Tork and Greene.
I’d take Kreidler (or Hernandez) over McKinstry every time.
Kreidler had a good spring, getting better as it went on. Hernandez started strong, but as the minor leaguers got sent down, he stopped hitting. Kreidler earned the spot, plus is more versatile than Hernandez.
What does being close friends with Tork and Greene have to do with anything?
Looks like Pacheco was damaged goods when he hit the waiver wire. Suspected that when the news went down that Cardinals tried to sneak him through waivers.
It was well known that he was having arm problems. If he doesn’t require surgery, he could still turn out to be a useful member of the Tigers bullpen by midsummer.
Good signing of Mckinistry. Tiggers now need to get Nicktzer Ebb, KMckFDM and Einstckeinen Neubaizen