The Tigers announced that they have claimed left-hander Bennett Sousa off waivers from the Brewers and optioned him to Triple-A Toledo. They already had a vacancy on their 40-man roster after recently outrighting infielder Isan Díaz. The Brewers had not previously announced that Sousa was removed from their roster, so their 40-man count drops to 39.
Sousa, 28, was a 10th round pick of the White Sox in 2018 and was with that organization until the start of this year, but the past six months have been fairly tumultuous for him. He was designated for assignment in February, went to the Reds on a waiver claim, then to the Brewers in a cash deal in April. He served as an up-and-down pitcher for Milwaukee before landing on the injured list in June due to left shoulder nerve irritation, only getting reinstated a few weeks back.
Amid all of that, he’s only made two major league appearances this year. He also made 25 for the White Sox last year but has a career earned run average of 9.00 in his 23 innings between those two campaigns. But in his larger sample of minor league work, he’s shown a capability to get both strikeouts and ground balls, though also with a fair share of walks. In 17 innings for Triple-A Nashville this year, he had a 4.76 ERA, 31.5% strikeout rate, 9.6% walk rate and 58.5% ground ball rate. In 27 1/3 innings for Triple-A Charlotte last year, he posted a 3.95 ERA, 30.2% strikeout rate, 10.3% walk rate and 51.5% grounder rate.
Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris recently hinted that the club’s open roster spot would be used for an external addition rather than for calling up a prospect from within the system. It seems that Sousa is that move, though he’s been optioned to Toledo for now, providing the club with some left-handed relief depth. With rosters expanding from 26 to 28 when the calendar flips to September, the club will still have to decide who gets those active roster spots. Sousa can still be optioned for the rest of this year and one additional season.
Yawn! Actually BIG YAWN!!!
Yeah, this DOES look like a useless move.. On the other hand, Tigers pitching coach Chris Fetters has done a great job of developing and maintaining nobodies, has-beens and never-wases into useful bullpen pieces. Dunno if that will happen to THIS guy…..guess we’ll find out in ’24 Spring Training, assuming he isn’t bumped off the roster in the meantime.
Not the bold move many hoped for, and doesn’t seem like an impactful move. But Fetter has done more with less. Scott Harris’ strategy seems to be to cycle through castaways, hoping that some of them work out. Tyler Holton has been an absolute rock star (except last Sunday’s blowup). Give Harris and Fetter time to round out the roster before judging their actions.
Any update to the status of
JOHN PHILLIP SOUSA ??
He got his marching orders a while back…
BP guys are finicky….one yr they are awesome and then the very next year they are dfa’s. By the time Harris dumpster dives and finds 1 out of 10 thats needed a change of scenery, the odds theyre good back to back years is not very high. There have been very very few BP arms make it to 5 yrs service time. You really only have 1-2 yrs with the the waiver claim guys.
Tigers have found 1 arm out of what feels like 20 they’ve picked up…..toledo pitching has been bad too which is where they’ve been placing them. I honestly don’t understand the logic…i wish someone would ask him because i’m genuinely curious.
Tigers need flame throwers, they have bunch of soft tossers. Think i saw they are bottom 3 in teams with fewest players to hit 100mph this yr. Orioles are #1. Players averages fall off on 97+.
The bullpen guys that don’t make it to 5 years are usually one-trick ponies. Having more than one good pitch…basically like a starter… mixing it up and keeping hitters guessing will keep you around longer. Guys like Gregory Soto will hit 100mph but as the league figures them out, their K’s per 9 will slowly drop every year until they become useless.
Kinda like Chapman and Hader?
Yep
He’s never done anything anywhere… Bold move Cotton.
I read this article because I care.! The brewers have plenty of other broken down and never were veterans’ like him. Good Luck! I hope he does well!
I was hoping a little bit better, to fill Cisnero’s hole on the roster…..
As of right now, Cisnero has been put on waivers, not DFA’d. He might be released if no one claims him on waivers, but until either of those happen, we’re stuck with him 🙁
OMG Harris has finally found a potential Cy Young pitcher in the scrap heap!!!! What a freaking waste Harris is, use the spot to call up a rookie, give us something to look forward to!
I wonder if Fetter and Hinch have input in who they pick up? Fetter is the one who has to fix the broken toys brought in so you’d think he’d be consulted about whether they are worth a flier?
Definitely, secret information available only to the Tigers’ front office…..
Is this Keyser Sousa’s son?
Nope, Scammin’ Sammy Sousa.