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Tigers Preparing To Return Jose Urena, Matthew Boyd To Rotation

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The Tigers have designated Ian Krol for assignment in order to make room for Jose Urena, who will come off the injured list tomorrow, per Evan Woodbery of MLive Media Group (via Twitter).

In 12 appearances, Krol has a 5.11 ERA/3.82 FIP covering 12 1/3 innings. Urena has been out since July 17th with a groin strain. The veteran right-hander posted a mostly unimpressive 80 innings of 6.19 ERA baseball through 17 starts. Nevertheless, Urena is scheduled to reclaim his spot in the rotation tomorrow.

Matthew Boyd is also returning to the Tigers this weekend to start Sunday’s game. Another roster move will be required to bring him onto the roster. Boyd hasn’t pitched since June 15th, but he’s a big piece of their rotation moving into next season.

Tigers Outright JaCoby Jones

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June 10: Jones indeed cleared waivers and has been sent outright to Triple-A Toledo, per an announcement from the Tigers. He’ll remain with the organization and collect the remainder of this year’s salary but no longer occupy a spot on the 40-man roster. As a player with three-plus years of service who has been outrighted from the 40-man roster, he’ll be able to become a free agent at season’s end (unless he’s selected back to Majors and finishes the year on their 40-man roster).

June 6: The Tigers announced they’re selecting the contract of right-hander Jason Foley from Triple-A Toledo. To create 40-man roster space, they’re designating outfielder JaCoby Jones for assignment. Additionally, righty Michael Fulmer has been placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to June 3, with a right shoulder strain. As expected, José Ureña has been reinstated from the IL to take Fulmer’s place on the active roster.

Jones’ designation registers as something of a surprise. Acquired from the Pirates at the 2015 trade deadline in exchange for Joakim Soria, Jones has appeared in the big leagues with Detroit in each of the past six seasons. He’s been a fairly regular contributor between 2018-21, starting about half the team’s games between center and left field. Altogether, Jones managed just a .219/.282/.389 (78 wRC+) mark in that time, albeit with intermittent flashes of enough power and defensive upside to keep the Detroit front office intrigued.

Across the board, advanced defensive metrics lauded Jones’ glovework between center and left field in 2018. The Tigers gambled he could play a full-time center field after that season, although the metrics all suggest he dropped off rather significantly in that regard between 2019-21. Jones has proven similarly inconsistent on the other side of the ball. Despite always-lofty strikeout rates, the right-handed hitter has occasionally shown enough thump to be a productive hitter. That was particularly true in 2020, when Jones hit .268/.333/.515 across 108 plate appearances before suffering a season-ending hand fracture.

For as strong as Jones began the 2020 season, he opened 2021 with an absolutely dismal start at the plate. He hit just .170/.210/.250 over 105 trips to the dish, leading the Tigers to demote him to Toledo. Things haven’t gotten much better with the Mud Hens, as Jones is off to a .205/.255/.364 start in the minors, where he’s struck out in 18 of his first 47 plate appearances.

The Tigers will now have a week to trade Jones or place him on outright waivers. Any team that claims Jones off waivers would assume the remaining portion of his $2.65MM salary (approximately $1.7MM). Given Jones’ immense struggles this season, it seems unlikely another club will put in a claim, although it’s at least possible the Tigers could agree to pay down some of that money in exchange for a prospect if a rival team has interest in acquiring Jones via a small trade.

The more probable outcome is that Jones will clear waivers and be sent outright to Toledo. As a player with between three and five years of MLB service time, Jones technically has the right to refuse a minor league assignment and elect free agency. Doing so, however, would require forfeiting the remainder of his guaranteed salary, so Jones would almost certainly accept an outright assignment and look to play his way back to Detroit at some point this season.

Foley, a 25-year-old reliever, is now in line to make his major league debut. In their writeup of the Tigers farm system, Eric Longenhagen and Kevin Goldstein of FanGraphs note that Foley works in the 96-99 MPH range with his fastball. Longenhagen and Goldstein call Foley a potential “foundational piece of the Tigers bullpen,” but note that his relatively advanced age and injury history, including a 2018 Tommy John surgery, add some risk to the profile. Foley has thrown ten innings of four-run ball with ten strikeouts and four walks at Triple-A this season, his first crack at the minors’ highest level.

Tigers Option Zack Short, Activate Jose Urena From Injured List

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The Tigers optioned infielder Zack Short to Triple-A Toledo after today’s ballgame, the team announced. Starter Jose Urena will be reinstated from the 10-day injured list tomorrow. He will re-join the rotation.

Short was recalled on his 26th birthday, May 29th. Though he did not appear in a game on his birthday, he did make three appearances, starting two games at shortstop. He made just nine plate appearances, but Short can consider it a success after going 2-for-6 at the plate with three walks, a couple of runs, and his first career stolen base.

All that said, the Tigers will welcome Urena back to the rotation, as they’re a little short-handed on the hill. The Tigers not only placed Spencer Turnbull on the 10-day IL, but an injured list stint could follow for Michael Fulmer as well. He has been unavailable the past couple of days because of arm fatigue, tweets Chris McCosky of The Detroit News. Fulmer has mostly pitched out of the pen, but he’s been a reliable source of innings with 35 innings pitched across 20 outings (four starts). His 3.34 ERA/3.57 FIP are the best run prevention numbers posted by Fulmer since his rookie campaign in 2016.

Urena has provided solid innings through ten starts this season, and the Tigers will hope he can get right back to it. He owns a 4.14 ERA/3.84 FIP across 54 1/3 innings on the season.

Tigers Place Jose Urena On 10-Day Injured List, Recall Zack Short

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The Tigers announced a pair of corresponding roster moves this morning. Jose Urena has been added to the 10-day injured list with a right forearm strain, and infielder Zack Short has been recalled from Triple-A to take his roster spot.

It’s going to be a short stint on the IL for Urena, per Evan Woodbery of the MLive Media Group (via Twitter). It’s possible that Urena will only miss one start. The Tigers can roll with a four-man rotation for the duration of a 10-day IL stint because of a pair of off days coming up. They’ll have a rest day both before and after a four-game set with the White Sox that starts next Thursday.

Urena has a bit of a quirky profile, but he’s put together a solid 10-start stretch for the Tigers, pitching to a 4.14 ERA/3.81 FIP across 54 1/3 innings. The 29-year-old has burned worms at a career-best 54.3 percent rate and otherwise kept the ball in the ballpark with an excellent 6.8 percent HR/FB rate. Despite above-average velocity, Urena doesn’t miss many bats with just a 15.0 percent strikeout rate. He ranks just in the 8th percentile for whiff rate and sixth percentile for K-rate. Regardless, he’s been one of the Tigers’ more prolific arms this season, racking up the third highest innings total on the team.

Short returns to the big league club on his 26th birthday. The right-handed infielder has just seven career plate appearances, all coming this season. He’ll be an extra bat for potential pinch-hitting opportunities when the Tigers travel to a National League park to take on the Brewers starting on Monday. The former Cubs farmhand was hitting .227/.424/.409 through 59 plate appearances in Triple-A this season.

NL Notes: Rockies, Phillies, Fuld, Urena, Cardinals

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The Rockies would like to add another bat to the lineup, preferably in the outfield or on the right side of the infield, manager Bud Black told reporters (including Thomas Harding of MLB.com). That leaves plenty of options for GM Jeff Bridich and the front office, but Harding casts doubt on Colorado playing at the top or even second tier of the free agent market. The Rockies have had discussions this offseason with free agent outfielder Kevin Pillar, who performed reasonably for Colorado last season after being acquired from the Red Sox in a midseason trade. The Rockies got next to nothing from their first and second basemen in 2020. The free agent market is significantly deeper at the latter position.

More out of the National League:

  • The Phillies have revamped their front office this winter, bringing in Dave Dombrowski as president of baseball operations and promoting Sam Fuld to general manager. Dombrowski has final say over personnel decisions. That’s not a responsibility he’s planning to give up any time soon, but Dombrowski acknowledged that part of his job is to prepare Fuld to potentially lead his own front office someday. “I’m not looking to move out because I just started with the Phillies organization, I have a lot of energy and I look to do this for a while,” Dombrowski told reporters (including Corey Seidman of NBC Sports Philadelphia). “I’m not, though, 44. I’m 64. And if I’m doing my job correctly and we’re doing our job correctly, as Sam progresses, he will be the guy making those types of decisions, the final decisions. That’s where my goal is.” Seidman chronicles Fuld’s quick ascent as an executive in a piece that’s worth reading in full.
  • The Phillies were among the teams interested in right-hander José Ureña, reports Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter link). Ureña ultimately wound up signing a one-year deal with the Tigers. The 29-year-old had spent his entire pro career with the Phils’ division rivals in Miami, pitching to a 4.60 ERA/4.74 FIP over parts of six seasons with the Marlins.
  • The Cardinals have been exploring “cash-neutral” trades this winter, writes Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch as part of a reader mailbag. More specifically, a framework in which St. Louis moves MLB pitching for big league ready offensive help makes some sense, Goold feels. Cardinals hitters ranked just nineteenth leaguewide in park-adjusted hitting last season, with particularly dismal work from the outfielders. The St. Louis organization has generally been expected to have a quiet offseason after chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. claimed the baseball industry “isn’t very profitable” in June. Nevertheless, the front office exploring cash-neutral deals perhaps hints there’s no organizational mandate to further slash costs. St. Louis currently projects for a 2021 payroll around $131MM, per Roster Resource, after opening the 2020 season in the $167MM range (before prorating).

Tigers Sign Jose Urena, Designate Eric Haase

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6:54pm: The Tigers have announced the signing. They designated catcher Eric Haase for assignment in a corresponding move. Haase, whom Detroit acquired from division-rival Cleveland last winter, collected 19 plate appearances for the Tigers in 2020. The 28-year-old owns a .122/.170/.184 line in 53 major league PA.

5:08pm: The Tigers have agreed to a one-year deal with free-agent right-hander Jose Urena, Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets. It’s a $3.25MM pact, Robert Murray of FanSided reports. The contract comes with up to $250K in incentives based on games started, according to Heyman. Urena is a client of Kelly Kinzer.

Detroit will be the second major league organization for Urena, a 29-year-old who pitched in the bigs with the Marlins from 2015-20. Urena enjoyed a couple of respectable seasons in Miami from 2017-18, during which he recorded a 3.90 ERA/4.68 FIP with 6.36 K/9, 3.01 BB/9 and a 46.3 percent groundball rate across 343 2/3 innings.

At his best, Urena looked like a potential building block for the Marlins’ rotation, but the team soured on him after he was unable to offer much positive production during the previous two seasons. Urena threw 108 frames from 2019-20, including 23 1/3 last season, and combined for a subpar 5.25 ERA/5.02 FIP. Despite a fastball that clocked in at 95.5 mph, Urena notched one of his lowest strikeout rates of his career last season with 5.79 per nine and registered by far his highest BB/9 (5.01). The Marlins then non-tendered Urena in lieu of paying him a projected $3.8MM to $4.2MM via arbitration.

Urena will now look to get back on track in Detroit, which has Matthew Boyd, Spencer Turnbull, Michael Fulmer, Daniel Norris and Tyler Alexander as veterans with at least some degree of starting experience. Meanwhile, prospects Casey Mize, Matt Manning and Tarik Skubal don’t seem far away from vying for full-time roles. Urena figures to be a stopgap for the Tigers, then, but they clearly regard him as an interesting reclamation project.

Pitching Notes: S. Gray, T. Williams, Urena, Phils, Jays, Matz

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“Several teams” have interest in Reds right-hander Sonny Gray, Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets. That isn’t at all surprising in the wake of the late-November news that the Reds will at least listen to offers for Gray. General manager Nick Krall suggested later that he isn’t in a hurry to trade Gray away, but it does seem the Reds are in payroll-cutting mode, evidenced by Monday’s trade that sent reliever Raisel Iglesias to the Angels. Gray only has a guaranteed $20MM left on his contract over the next two years, but his performance in 2020 should help make it easier for the Reds to garner a major return in a deal if they do decide to move him. The 31-year-old ended the season with 56 innings of 3.70 ERA/3.05 FIP ball, 11.57 K/9 against 4.18 BB/9, and a 51.1 percent groundball rate.

More on a handful of other pitchers…

  • There are “more than” six teams interested in free-agent righties Trevor Williams and Jose Urena, per Heyman. Both players were cut loose by their former teams last week, but they’ve had success in the past and could be interesting buy-low hurlers in free agency. Williams, 28, struggled mightily in the previous two years but gave the Pirates 321 innings of 3.56 ERA/3.94 FIP pitching from 2017-18. It has been a similar story for the 29-year-old Urena, whom offenses victimized from 2019-20. In the prior two years, though, the ex-Marlin registered a 3.90 ERA/4.68 FIP over 343 2/3 frames.
  • The pitching-needy Phillies “never engaged” righty Charlie Morton, lefty Drew Smyly or reliever Trevor May before they signed free-agent contracts with other teams, Todd Zolecki of MLB.com writes. Two of those players – Morton and Smyly – previously played for the Phillies. They could have improved the Phillies’ rotation, while May might have been an asset to a bullpen that is in desperate need of help. Each player landed an eight-figure deal, though, and the Phillies don’t seem eager to hand out large paydays to anyone this offseason.
  • Before the Mets avoided arbitration with Steven Matz on a $5.2MM agreement, they reached out to the Blue Jays to gauge their interest in the southpaw, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports. No trade came together, of course. Toronto would have been hard pressed to consider Matz an upgrade for its rotation after he recorded a horrific 9.68 ERA/7.76 FIP in 30 2/3 innings last season.

National League Non-Tenders

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With revenue losses expected to result in reduced payrolls around baseball, a larger number of players than usual are expected to be let go by their current teams by tonight’s 7pm CT non-tender deadline.  Some of these players could end up re-signing with their teams for salaries below what they were projected (by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz) to earn through the arbitration process, or teams could end up simply opting to explore other options…with many of those options arriving on the market through this same non-tender process.

You can track all of the arbitration and non-tender activity here, and we’ll also run through the list of National League players who have been let go in this post.

Earlier Non-Tenders

  • The Cardinals non-tendered righty John Brebbia and outfielder Rangel Ravelo, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch tweets. Brebbia had played a significant role in the St. Louis pen for his first three MLB campaigns but is still recovering from mid-2020 Tommy John surgery.
  • Right-handed reliever Clay Holmes has been non-tendered by the Pirates, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was among those to cover on Twitter. The 27-year-old hurler made it into just one MLB contest in 2020 owing to a forearm injury.
  • The Marlins have decided not to tender a contract to righty Ryne Stanek, Craig Mish of Sports Grid first tweeted. He joins fellow right-hander Jose Urena in departing via non-tender. (Urena had already been designated for assignment.) Stanek, 29, struggled with the free pass in limited action this year but has been a quality, high-strikeout arm in the past and could be an interesting name to watch on the open market.
  • In addition to Shreve, the Mets announced the non-tenders of righties Ariel Jurado, Paul Sewald, and Nick Tropeano.
  • The Mets will not tender a contract to left-handed reliever Chasen Shreve, Robert Murray of FanSided tweets. Shreve performed reasonably well in 2020, logging a 3.96 ERA/3.99 FIP with 12.24 K/9 and 4.32 BB/9 in 25 innings, but the Mets will nonetheless move on instead of paying him around $1MM in arbitration.
  • The Padres won’t tender a contract to infielder Greg Garcia, reports Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune (Twitter link). Garcia, 31, posted a woeful .200/.279/.250 batting line in 2020, albeit in a tiny sample of 71 plate appearances. In parts of two seasons with the Friars, he slashed .240/.351/.337, but the team opted not to give him a raise on last year’s $1.5MM salary.
  • The Reds have non-tendered outfielder Brian Goodwin, he announced on Twitter (hat tip to Mark Sheldon of MLB.com). Goodwin, whom the Reds acquired from the Angels over the summer, slashed .215/.299/.417 with six home runs and five stolen bases over 164 plate appearances between the teams in 2020. He was due to earn a projected $2.7MM to $3.6MM in arbitration.
  • The Cubs have told Jose Martinez he isn’t being tendered a contract, ESPN.com’s Jesse Rogers reports (Twitter link).  Acquired from the Rays in a deadline deal, Martinez went hitless over 22 plate appearances with Chicago, only reaching base once on a walk.  The 32-year-old mashed for the Cardinals from 2016-18, but delivered closer to league-average production in 2019 with St. Louis and with the Rays last season prior to the trade.

Marlins Acquire Adam Cimber, Designate Jose Urena

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The Marlins have acquired right-hander Adam Cimber from the Indians for cash considerations, per an announcement from Cleveland. The Indians will receive $100K, according to Tom Withers of the Associated Press. Miami designated righty Jose Urena for assignment in a corresponding move, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports.

Also a former Padre, the 30-year-old Cimber will now join his third team since he debuted in the majors in 2018. Although he only averages around 86 mph on his fastball, Cimber has generated decent results in the bigs, including during a 2020 campaign in which he logged a 3.97 ERA/3.99 FIP with a 52.4 percent groundball rate and a 1.59 BB/9. Cimber averaged a paltry 3.97 strikeouts per nine during his 11 1/3 innings of work (down from 6.51 the previous year), though, and the Indians then deemed him expendable when they designated him last week.

Cimber will go down as the first trade acquisition for new Marlins general manager Kim Ng, and he’ll try to help a bullpen that ranked fifth from the bottom in ERA and second to last in FIP in 2020. He’ll be an inexpensive part of their relief corps next year, as he’s projected to earn between $800K and $1MM in arbitration. Cimber isn’t due to reach free agency until after 2024, so he could be a multiyear piece for Miami.

Urena is the Marlins’ longest-tenured player, Craig Mish of Sports Grid notes, but it appears the two sides are going to part ways. The 2020 season, which could go down as Urena’s last as a Marlin, ended in ugly fashion when he suffered a right forearm fracture at the end of September. He concluded his season with 23 1/3 innings of 5.40 ERA/6.06 FIP ball and 5.79 K/9 against 5.01 BB/9. It was the second straight rough season for the 29-year-old Urena, who enjoyed a solid run as a viable innings-eater from 2017-18. But considering his performance since 2019 and his $3.8MM to $4.2MM arbitration projection for next year, Urena entered this offseason as an obvious non-tender candidate.

Starling Marté, Jose Ureña Exit Game With Injuries

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5:05 pm: Ureña has a non-displaced ulna fracture in his right forearm, per Jose Frisaro of MLB.com. Ureña will miss the postseason.

4:15 pm: The Miami Marlins are headed to the postseason for the first time since 2003. As the second-place team in the NL East, they can finish no worse than the #6 seed. As things stands right now, the Marlins appear headed to a first-round match-up with the Cubs, whom they famously eliminated in 2003 to reach the World Series.

The Marlins overcame a lot this season to rebound from a 105-loss year in 2019, but there are more roadblocks to come. Starling Marté left today’s ballgame after being hit by a pitch, an injury the team has announced as a left ear contusion caused by the jostling of his helmet after being hit. It’s not clear at this time if Marte will miss time in the playoffs. Jose Ureña also left the game early after taking a line drive off his hand, notes ESPN’s Marly Rivera.

Losing Marte at this juncture would be a major blow for a resilient Marlins team. Upon his arrival in Miami, he instantly became the most recognizable player on this Marlins squad. The 31-year-old owns a triple slash of .282/.339/.432 between the Diamondbacks and Marlins this season. The Marlins would lean on a trio of youngsters to replace Marte in center should be miss time. Monte Harrison, Lewis Brinson, and Magneuris Sierra are all capable for manning the grass in center, though none of the three have established themselves at the plate.

As for Ureña, his status is not yet known. The Marlins planned to use him as a reliever in the wild card round, per MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro. Ureña has a 6.00 ERA through 4 starts since returning from the injured list. We’ll keep you updated on the status of both Marlins players as updates trickle in.

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