- Tigers shortstop Javier Baez is coming off perhaps the worst season of his career in 2023, having slashed a brutal .222/.267/.325 in 547 trips to the plate this year. That was the second-worst offensive performance from a qualified regular in baseball last year by measure of wRC+; Baez’s 61 figure, which was 39% worse than league average, clocked in just barely ahead of former White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson’s 60 wRC+. Brutal as the 2023 season was for Baez, Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press relays that Baez is planning to spend much of his offseason stateside this winter rather than return to his home in Puerto Rico, as he typically does after the season comes to an end. During his time stateside, Petzold indicates that Baez plans to focus on strengthening his back and core muscles to recapture the athleticism that allowed him to connect for 86 home runs from 2017-2019, the fourth highest figure among qualified shortstops during that time span. If Baez, 31 next month, can successfully combat father time and recapture the power that carried his offensive profile in his youth, that would provide a massive boost to a Tigers team that finished bottom four in the majors with a team-wide wRC+ of just 89 in 2023.
Tigers Rumors
Tigers Non-Tender Austin Meadows, Spencer Turnbull
The Tigers announced this evening that they have non-tendered outfielder Austin Meadows and right-hander Spencer Turnbull. Right-handers Brenan Hanifee, Garrett Hill, and Freddy Pacheco were all non-tendered as well. All five players will now hit the open market as free agents.
The decision to non-tender Meadows is hardly a surprise. While the former ninth-overall pick sports a career slash line of .259/.333/.472 over the past six years between his time with the Pirates, Rays, and Tigers, the 28-year-old has only rarely been able to take the field since arriving in Detroit. He played just 36 games in 2022 before being sidelined by vertigo, and in 2023 was placed on the injured list due to anxiety after six games before departing from the team in June.
Given his inability to stay on the field during his Tigers career, it’s hardly a surprise the club decided to non-tender Meadows rather than pay him the $4.3MM MLBTR’s Matt Swartz projected he could earn in his final trip through arbitration this season. That’s an especially reasonable decision given the club’s deep outfield mix that includes the likes of Riley Greene, Mark Canha, Akil Baddoo, Kerry Carpenter, and Austin’s brother Parker Meadows.
That being said, if Meadows is healthy and ready to go for the 2024 season he could prove to be among the most interesting bats available on the open market this offseason. After all, Meadows won’t celebrate his 29th birthday until May and was one of the best hitters in the sport as recently as 2019, when he slashed .291/.364/.558 in 591 trips to the plate for Tampa en route to his first career All Star appearance and a 14th-place finish in AL MVP voting. In a class of free agent hitters that has few surefire, quality bats beyond top of the market stars Shohei Ohtani and Cody Bellinger, Meadows could be an interesting buy-low candidate for clubs with a need in left field or at DH.
Turnbull’s non-tender, on the other hand, is something of a shock. Just last month, president of baseball operations noted that he expected Turnbull to compete for a spot in the club’s starting rotation this spring, seemingly suggesting that the club would tender the right-hander a contract at a projected $2.4MM. Turnbull made just seven starts in the big leagues due to injury this year, struggling to a 7.26 ERA and 5.55 FIP across 31 innings of work. It was his first time on a professional mound since undergoing Tommy John surgery early in the 2021 campaign.
Prior to Turnbull’s health issues, he looked like a budding mid-rotation or better starter with a 3.46 ERA and 3.24 FIP with a 21.4% strikeout rate across 106 2/3 innings (20 starts) between 2020 and 2021. Though he struggled badly both in the majors and at the Triple-A level in 2023, it seemed reasonable to expect Turnbull to be tendered by the Tigers this year, particularly given Harris’s previous comments. Now a free agent, Turnbull figures to be an attractive low-cost depth option for rotation-needy clubs this offseason given the considerable upside he flashed as recently as two years ago.
That being said, it’s worth noting that reports from earlier in the season indicated that the relationship between Turnbull and the Tigers began to fray this year after the Tigers attempted to option the right-hander to Triple-A early in the season, prompting Turnbull to disclose neck discomfort that ultimately resulted in him being placed on the injured list instead. The Tigers ultimately activated Turnbull from the injured list and optioned him to the minors in August, just six days before he would reach five years of MLB service time. The move ultimately delayed Turnbull’s free agency from after the 2024 campaign until after the 2025 campaign. Given the frayed relationship between club and player, it’s more understandable that the sides have decided to part ways.
As for the other three righties non-tendered by Detroit this evening, both Pacheco and Hanifee had already been designated for assignment by the Tigers earlier this week, making the decision to non-tender the pair little more than a formality. Pacheco has not yet appeared in the major leagues in his career and underwent elbow surgery back in June, while Hanifee posted a 5.40 ERA in five innings of work with the Tigers this year. Hill, by contrast, is the most established of the three at the big league level with 76 total innings in the big leagues over the past two seasons. While he pitched decently as a swing option for Detroit in 2022 with a 4.03 ERA in 60 1/3 innings, Hill’s nine appearances out of the bullpen this season were nothing short of disastrous with a 9.19 ERA in 15 2/3 innings of work.
Diamondbacks, Tigers Interested In Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto has garnered the attention of many clubs around the league and Jon Heyman of The New York Post adds the Tigers and Diamondbacks to the list.
The incredible popularity of Yamamoto is due to a couple of factors. Primarily, he has utterly dominated hitters in his career in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. He has an earned run average of 1.82 over his seven seasons, including a ridiculous 1.21 mark in 2023. He struck out 169 of the 636 batters he faced this year, a rate of 26.6%, while his 28 walks led to a rate of just 4.4%.
In addition to the results, teams will be incredibly interested in the fact that Yamamoto is just 25 years old. Players that come up through the affiliated ranks need to get six years of major league service time before reaching the open market, meaning they usually are close to or beyond their 30th birthday by the time they become free agents. That makes it extremely rare to have an opportunity to sign a player that is both this talented and this young. MLBTR predicted him for a contract of $225MM over nine years.
A projected contract of that size would normally restrict a player’s market to the top spenders but his age might open the door to some surprise bidders. Yamamoto has indeed been connected to plenty of moneyed clubs such as the Mets, Yankees, Red Sox, Giants and others. But even teams that don’t usually come up in these rumors could perhaps be willing to stretch their usual spending habits and take a chance on Yamamoto since the chance of him suddenly succumbing to the aging curve would be far lower than other free agents.
The Diamondbacks clearly need starting pitching, despite having just gone on a run to the Fall Classic. Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly and Brandon Pfaadt give them three arms for next year’s rotation but they clearly have a drop-off after that, as demonstrated by the fact that they deployed a bullpen game in the fourth contest of the World Series, allowing 11 runs that night. Slade Cecconi, Ryne Nelson and Tommy Henry are on the roster as options for the back end but a rotation upgrade would surely help them build off the momentum of this year.
Their track record doesn’t give a lot of optimism of them getting this kind of deal done, however. They gave a mega deal to Zack Greinke going into 2016 but that was under a different front office and seems to be the exception more than the rule. Leaving that deal aside, their largest free agent contract is the $85MM they gave to Madison Bumgarner. They would likely have to more than double that to land Yamamoto. The Greinke deal was for $206.5MM, though, so landing Yamamoto wouldn’t be completely unprecedented. And as mentioned, some teams may be willing to go beyond their comfort zones for an exceptional case like this.
They are currently projected for a payroll of $104MM next year, per Roster Resource. They have gone a bit beyond that in the past, with Cot’s Baseball Contracts listing their franchise high as $132MM. Teams sometimes spend a little more after a strong postseason run, with some extra cash on hand after hosting some lucrative playoff games, perhaps giving the Snakes a bit of money to spend this winter.
The Tigers have struck plenty of big deals in the past but Scott Harris has kept things on the modest side since taking over as president of baseball operations a year ago. Last winter, they kept themselves to one-year deals for Matthew Boyd and Michael Lorenzen.
There is perhaps an argument that the club is ready for more aggression, as they were above .500 after the All-Star break in 2023 and were able to climb into second place in the American League Central. With Miguel Cabrera’s onerous contract off the books, perhaps they could feel it’s time to make a splash. However, that was thinking a couple of years ago when the club tried to surge back into contention by signing Javier Báez and Eduardo Rodriguez, which didn’t work out.
“This game has taught us time and time again,” Harris recently said, per Chris McCosky of The Detroit News, “Sometimes, teams overestimate their proximity to being a team that’s right on the verge of the playoffs, and they spend a lot of money and it doesn’t push them forward. It pushes them back.” He then said that the club is going in the right direction but “can’t do anything in free agency or in trades that sets us back. If we find an opportunity that’s going to push us forward and we’re confident of that, we’re going to do it.”
The club is only projected for a payroll of $79MM next year, per Roster Resource, with a couple of non-tenders likely dropping that even further. They have been way beyond that in past, per Cot’s, so there’s room for them to make a bold strike on Yamamoto financially. But given the comments from Harris, it seems there are things beyond the money that would have to align for something to come together.
As for the Yankees, there were reports this week that suggested that club’s chances of signing Yamamoto took a hit in a strange way. Cashman alluded to the injury history of Giancarlo Stanton in a manner that was apparently viewed as disrespectful. Since Stanton and Yamamoto both have Joel Wolfe as an agent, some worried that the kerfuffle with Stanton would have the domino effect of spilling into their pursuit of Yamamoto. However, Andy Martino of SNY recently reported that the Japanese righty wasn’t even aware of the squabble.
In addition to the sum guaranteed to the player, a signing team will have to send money to the Orix Buffaloes, his NPB club. The MLB team will pay a fee to the Buffaloes in proportion to the size of Yamamoto’s contract. They’ll owe the NPB club 20% of the contract’s first $25MM, 17.5% of the next $25MM and 15% of any dollars thereafter. Once he is officially posted, there will be a 45-day window for him to work out a deal.
Tigers Select Wilmer Flores, Dillon Dingler
The Tigers announced they’ve added right-hander Wilmer Flores and catcher Dillon Dingler to the 40-man roster. In corresponding moves, righties Brenan Hanifee and Freddy Pacheco have been designated for assignment. Flores and Dingler would otherwise have been eligible for the Rule 5 draft.
Flores, the younger brother of the Giants veteran infielder of the same name, is a 22-year-old pitcher from Venezuela. He went undrafted in 2020 out of an Arizona junior college. While he entered pro ball without much fanfare, Flores has developed into one of the best prospects in the system. He was a fringe top 100 talent going into 2023. Baseball America ranked him eighth in the Detroit organization midseason.
Listed at 6’4″ and 225 pounds, Flores has prototype size. Scouting reports praise his mid-90s sinker and an offspeed combination of a cutter and curveball. He also has solid control and is regarded as a potential starter. Flores spent the bulk of 2023 at Double-A Erie, pitching to a 3.90 ERA through 90 2/3 innings. He struck out 24.3% of opponents and kept the ball on the ground at a 48.6% clip while walking a slightly elevated 9.5% of batters faced.
Dingler, 25, is a right-handed hitting catcher. The Tigers selected him with the 38th pick in the 2020 draft out of Ohio State. He ranked sixth in the system midseason at Baseball America. The outlet praised his athleticism, arm strength and defensive potential. While there’s a lot of swing-and-miss to his game, he has shown strong plate discipline and some power upside in a 6’3″ frame.
Dingler split this year between three minor league levels, hitting .256/.361/.478 with 16 homers through 89 games. He struck out in nearly 28% of his plate appearances while walking 11% of the time. He’s likely to start next season in Triple-A but could get a big league look at some point in 2024.
Hanifee got a cup of coffee late in the ’23 campaign. The 25-year-old pitched five innings over three relief appearances, allowing three runs. He averaged 93.7 MPH on his sinker in that limited look. Before his call-up, Hanifee worked in a swing role at Triple-A Toledo. The former fourth round draftee turned in a 4.38 ERA in 90 1/3 innings spanning 25 appearances. He kept the ball on the ground at a massive 57.2% clip that could get him some attention in a minor trade or waiver claim in the next week.
Pacheco, a pure reliever, hasn’t throw a pitch in the Detroit organization. The Tigers claimed him off waivers from the Cardinals during Spring Training. He opened the season on the injured list and underwent UCL surgery in early June. It’s likely that recovery will carry into the ’24 campaign. Pacheco has yet to make his MLB debut but turned in strong results in the upper minors with St. Louis in 2022.
Tigers, Bligh Madris Agree To Minor League Deal
The Tigers and first baseman/outfielder Bligh Madris have agreed to a minor league pact, reports Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press. His contract includes an invitation to major league spring training.
The 27-year-old Madris was briefly in the Tigers organization last offseason after they claimed him off waivers from the Pirates. Detroit wound up designating Madris for assignment themselves, however, and ultimately traded him to the Astros in exchange for cash.
Madris spent the entire season in the Houston organization, appearing in a dozen big league games plus another 100 contests at the Triple-A level. He hit just .154/.267/.192 in a tiny sample of 30 MLB plate appearances in addition to posting a .235/.349/.413 slash in 456 trips to the plate with Triple-A Sugar Land. In all, he’s appeared in 51 MLB games between Houston and Pittsburgh but has struggled to replicate otherwise solid production from the upper minors.
The lefty-swinging Madris has consistently put up solid numbers against right-handed pitching, turning in respective OPS marks of .811, .837 and .836 from 2021-23 when holding the platoon advantage. Overall, he’s a .266/.355/.448 hitter in parts of three Triple-A campaigns. The Tigers’ outfield currently consists of Mark Canha, Parker Meadows, Riley Greene and Akil Baddoo, with utilityman Zach McKinstry also in the mix for corner time. Madris will give the Tigers another lefty bat to compete for playing time in the outfield and potentially at first base, where former No. 1 overall pick Spencer Torkelson is entrenched after a 31-homer season and breakout second half in 2023.
Yankees Name James Rowson Hitting Coach
The Yankees announced Monday that they’ve hired James Rowson as their new hitting coach. He’d reportedly been offered the position last week.
Rowson, 47, is no stranger to the Yankees organization, having spent nine years as a minor league hitting coach and minor league hitting coordinator. He’s spent the past nine seasons on Major League coaching staffs, most recently working with the 2023 Tigers as their assistant hitting coach. Rowson has also served as a bench coach and “offensive coordinator” with the Marlins and the hitting coach with the Twins.
The 2024 season will be Rowson’s tenth on a Major League staff. Perhaps most notable on his resume was his third and final season in Minnesota, when he was the hitting coach for a Twins roster that set a Major League record with 307 home runs on the season. The year of the Twins’ “Bomba Squad,” as they were nicknamed, coincided with MLB’s juiced ball season, but it was nonetheless an impressive season for the lineup and one for which Rowson drew plenty of credit. The Marlins offered him a promotion and hired him away from Minnesota that offseason.
Rowson will replace outgoing hitting coach Sean Casey, who took the role midseason after the Yankees fired Dillon Lawson. Casey seemed to make an immediate impression on Yankees hitters, but after spending half a year on the job, he came to the conclusion that the time away from his family over the course of a full season would simply be too much. Casey said on October 25 that he planned to return home to spend more time with his two young daughters, stating that time for him simply isn’t “perfect” at this juncture. He did leave the door open for a possible return to coaching “in the next few years.”
With this hire, the Yankees are trotting out their fourth hitting coach in as many seasons and surely hoping that Rowson will have some staying power. The Yanks opted not to retain Marcus Thames following the 2021 season, and they’ve since quickly moved on from Lawson and seen Casey cite family reasons for his own departure. There’s always the possibility, of course, that another club will pry Rowson away with for a more prominent role. In addition to his three seasons as a bench coach in Miami, he’s also previously interviewed for the Twins’ managerial vacancy that went to Rocco Baldelli and was reportedly one of three finalists in the Red Sox’ most recent managerial search. That only speaks to how well regarded Rowson is throughout the industry, however.
Tigers Hire Joey Cora To Coaching Staff
The Tigers will be hiring Joey Cora for their coaching staff, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (X link) reported earlier this week. Cora has spent the last two seasons as the Mets’ third base coach, and he “is expected” to fill that same role in Motown, according to Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press, who reports that current third base coach Gary Jones will remain on the staff in a new role. However, that new position won’t be first base coach, as Petzold suggests that Triple-A manager Anthony Iapoce might take over first-base duties from the departing Alfredo Amezaga.
Rays Claim Tyler Alexander From Tigers
The Rays have claimed left-hander Tyler Alexander off waivers from the Tigers, according to announcements from both clubs. The Tigers had designated the lefty for assignment earlier this week.
Alexander, 29, will join a new organization for the first time in his career. He was selected by the Tigers in the second round of the 2015 draft and has been with that club in some fashion for close to a decade now. He pitched for the big league club in a swing capacity over the past five years, making 120 appearances since the start of 2019, including 43 starts. He logged 341 1/3 innings in that time with a 4.38 earned run average, 18.9% strikeout rate and 5.1% walk rate.
In 2023, he was moved to the bullpen on essentially a full-time basis, making just one start that lasted three innings. He threw 44 innings over 25 appearances in total with a 4.50 ERA, though perhaps deserved better. His 24.3% strikeout rate and 2.8% walk rate were both better than average, the latter number especially so. His 65.3% strand rate was a bit on the unlucky side, leading to ERA estimators looking at him through a relatively rosier lens, such as a 4.10 FIP and 3.48 SIERA.
In early July, Alexander landed on the injured list due to a left lat/shoulder strain and wasn’t able to return. There’s no injured list during the offseason, so the Tigers opted to cut him loose instead of adding him back onto the roster. It was effectively an early non-tender, with Alexander set to go through that process for a second time. He made $1.875MM in 2023 and MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects a salary of $2MM in 2024.
It appears the Rays are willing to add Alexander at something near that price point, otherwise there would be little point in claiming him just before next week’s non-tender deadline. Assuming they plan to keep utilizing him out of the bullpen, he will join Colin Poche and Garrett Cleavinger as the club’s southpaw relief options. Alexander is still optionable and has another potential year of arb control remaining, perhaps allowing him to serve as a long-term depth piece for the Rays.
Tigers Notes: Rodriguez, Mize, Maton, Baddoo
The Tigers face the potential loss of Eduardo Rodriguez, who officially opted out of his contract on Saturday. The move was entirely unsurprising with the left-hander in good position to land a much better deal than the three years and $49MM that remained.
MLB.com’s Jon Morosi tweeted shortly before Rodriguez opted out that his camp had continued discussions with the Tigers about potentially reworking his contract. At this week’s GM Meetings, Detroit president of baseball operations Scott Harris confirmed that report but seemed to downplay the chance of re-signing Rodriguez now that he has reached free agency.
The Tigers’ front office leader told reporters the club’s valuation of the pitcher is “locked in” after two seasons in the Motor City (relayed by Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free-Press). Asked whether the team would stay in contact with Rodriguez’s camp, Harris referenced rules prohibiting him from commenting on specific free agents before adding he “can wish him the best of luck in free agency.”
Should Rodriguez sign elsewhere, it stands to reason the Tigers would bring in a starter from outside the organization. Tarik Skubal looked like a top-flight starter when he returned from flexor surgery, but the rest of the rotation has a relatively brief track record at the MLB level. Reese Olson and Sawyer Gipson-Long showed promise as rookies. Matt Manning pitched to a 3.58 ERA but was limited to 15 starts by separate foot fractures. Former first overall pick Casey Mize missed the entire 2023 season recovering from June ’22 Tommy John surgery.
Detroit announced this evening that Mize has been throwing bullpen sessions without issue and is expected to have a normal offseason. The same can’t be said for infielder Nick Maton, who recently underwent an arthroscopic procedure to address a left knee problem. The Tigers haven’t indicated whether the issue could linger into Spring Training, noting only that Maton is currently in post-operation rehab. Acquired from the Phillies in last offseason’s Gregory Soto deal, the left-handed hitter ran a .173/.288/.305 line over 93 games during his first season as a Tiger.
In one other piece of roster news, Harris addressed the future of corner outfielder Akil Baddoo. The former Rule 5 draftee seemed a potential non-tender candidate, particularly after the club brought in Mark Canha to join Riley Greene and Parker Meadows in the outfield mix. Harris implied that Baddoo would be tendered a contract, telling the media (including Chris McCosky of the Detroit News) that the outfielder “still very much fits in” their plans. Baddoo, who hit .218/.310/.372 this past season, is projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for a $1.7MM salary as a Super Two qualifier.
Tigers Exercise Club Options On Carson Kelly, Mark Canha; Designate Tyler Alexander For Assignment
The Tigers announced a flurry of roster moves this afternoon. Chief among those was the team’s decision to exercise their 2024 club options on catcher Carson Kelly and outfielder Mark Canha. In addition, the club designated left-hander Tyler Alexander for assignment, assigned left-hander Andrew Vasquez and right-hander Trey Wingenter outright to Triple-A, and selected the contract of right-hander Keider Montero. There had been no prior indication that Vasquez or Wingenter had been on waivers, but each of them now figures to have the opportunity to become a minor league free agent.
In addition, the Tigers activated Alexander, outfielders Austin Meadows and Riley Greene, as well as right-handers Casey Mize and Freddy Pacheco from the 60-day IL.
It comes as no surprise that the Tigers exercised their $11.5MM option for Canha after they dealt for the veteran outfielder on Saturday. Given the $2MM buyout on his contract, it wouldn’t have made any sense for Detroit to trade for Canha (and give up 25-year-old righty Blake Holub) only to part ways with him two days later. He figures to play an important role in the team’s offense next season, presumably splitting his time between the corner outfield and DH.
As for Kelly, the Tigers were expected to pick up his $3.5MM option for 2024. At his end-of-season press conference, president of baseball operations Scott Harris said the team was seriously considering keeping the backstop in the fold. The team already has a starting catcher in place, 28-year-old Jake Rogers, so Kelly can serve as a capable defensive backup, with the potential to be a little bit more – the former top prospect is only two years removed from an above-average season at the plate. For $3.5MM, the Tigers weren’t going to find much more than that.
Alexander, 29, made 25 appearances for the Tigers in 2023, his first full season as a reliever. He pitched to a 4.50 ERA and a career-best 3.48 SIERA in 44 innings of work. Unfortunately, his solid season came to an early end when he landed on the IL with a shoulder strain in July.
Vasquez spent the first four months of the season with the Phillies, with whom he posted an impressive 2.27 ERA but less promising underlying numbers. He was designated for assignment shortly after the trade deadline, and the Tigers scooped him up. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find the same success in Detroit. Across 12 appearances, he gave up nine runs (eight earned) in just 8 2/3 innings of work. He missed most of September with a calf injury, although he made two scoreless appearances at the end of the month.
After spending most of the first half on the injured list, Wingenter made 17 appearances for the Tigers in 2023, his first big league action since 2019. His 5.82 ERA was troublesome, but his underlying metrics were actually quite encouraging: a 3.43 SIERA, a 3.87 xERA, and a much-improved 3.14 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Then again, he produced those numbers in mostly low-leverage spots, and apparently, the Tigers weren’t impressed enough with what they saw to keep Wingenter on the 40-man roster.
After seven years in Detroit’s minor league system, Montero would have been eligible to elect minor league free agency had the Tigers not added him to the 40-man roster this afternoon. He is coming off a difficult couple of months at Triple-A, but he is still just 23 years old, and evidently, the Tigers like what they have seen enough to keep him around. According to MLB Pipeline, he is the No. 26 prospect in the Tigers system.
