Wingenter, 31 in April, has shown potential in his North American career but without really cementing himself as a major leaguer over a long stretch. His biggest chunk of big league playing time was with the Padres in 2018 and 2019. In that time, he tossed 70 innings for the Friars, allowing 5.14 earned runs per nine innings. His 33.1% strikeout rate was impressive but he also gave out free passes at a 13% clip.

He then spent a long time in the wilderness, as Tommy John surgery and some back surgeries prevented him from pitching in the majors from 2020 to 2022. In 2023, he was back in the bigs with the Tigers, but right shoulder tendinitis put him on the injured list for almost half the year. He finished the year with a 5.82 ERA in 17 big league appearances, though he may have been unlucky in that sample. His .333 batting average on balls in play and 64.7% strand rate were both on the unfortunate side, leading to a 3.43 SIERA and 3.96 FIP as he struck out 28.9% of batters faced and limited walks to a 9.2% clip.

In 2024, he re-signed with the Tigers on a minor league deal but didn’t get called up to the majors with them, eventually bouncing to the Red Sox and Cubs. He only logged 8 1/3 big league innings last year and allowed nine earned runs in that small sample, getting non-tendered by Chicago at season’s end. His minor league numbers on the year were more intriguing, however. Between the three clubs, he tossed 48 1/3 Triple-A innings last year with a 2.98 ERA, 35.9% strikeout rate and 10.5% walk rate.

If Wingenter had stayed in North America this year, he likely would have been limited to another minor league deal. Even if he got a roster spot at some point, he may have had a hard time hanging onto it since he exhausted his final option year in 2024. Instead, he’ll head overseas and join the Lions. Though the salary figures weren’t reported, it’s possible he locked in a nice guarantee that he would not have found in affiliated ball. If he can turn the opportunity into a solid season, perhaps he can parlay that into a return to North America or another contract in Asia for the 2026 season.

Onto the transactions…

• The Braves non-tendered outfielder Ramón Laureano, left-hander Ray Kerr, as well as right-handers Griffin Canning, Huascar Ynoa and Royber Salinas, which you can read more about here.
• The Brewers parted ways with lefty reliever Hoby Milner, who’d been projected at $2.7MM for his final arbitration season. The typically reliable southpaw was tagged for a 4.73 ERA in 64 2/3 innings this year.
• The Cardinals have non-tendered right-hander Adam Kloffenstein, per Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat (Bluesky link). The righty only just made his major league debut in 2024 and was not yet arb-eligible. He immediately becomes a free agent without being exposed to waivers.
• The Cubs have non-tendered infielder Nick Madrigal, per Jesse Rogers of ESPN (X link). Madrigal has hit .251/.304/.312 for a 76 wRC+ over the last three seasons with the Cubs and was projected for a $1.9MM salary next year. Chicago also announced they non-tendered outfielder Mike Tauchman, which comes as a bit of a surprise after he reached base at a .357 clip this year. Patrick Wisdom, Adbert Alzolay, Brennen Davis and Trey Wingenter — all of whom were designated for assignment earlier this week — were also dropped.
• The Diamondbacks non-tendered lefty reliever Brandon Hughes, per a club announcement. The 28-year-old southpaw allowed 16 runs over 17 2/3 big league innings this year. He wasn’t eligible for arbitration but would’ve occupied a 40-man roster spot if offered a contract.
• The Dodgers are non-tendering right-hander Brent Honeywell Jr. and left-hander Zach Logue, per Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times (X link). Both pitchers are still in their pre-arbitration years, so this was more about the Dodgers sending them to free agency without exposing them to waivers, as opposed to cost cutting. Perhaps the club will look to re-sign them on minor league deals.
• The Giants only made two non-tenders, parting with lefty Ethan Small and righty Kai-Wei Teng. Teng had been designated for assignment earlier in the week. Small, who was in his pre-arbitration years, spent the season in the minors or on the injured list.
• The Marlins had zero non-tenders. They offered contracts to everyone on the 40-man roster.
• The Mets dropped a trio of players from the 40-man roster: relievers Grant Hartwig and Alex Young and outfield prospect Alex Ramirez. Young was the only member of that group who’d been eligible for arbitration. The southpaw pitched well in a depth role, but the Mets didn’t want to keep him around at a $1.4MM projection. Hartwig made four appearances this year, while the 21-year-old Ramirez (a former top prospect) had a .210/.291/.299 showing in Double-A.
• The Nationals announced that they have non-tendered right-hander Kyle Finnegan and Tanner Rainey, which you can read more about here.
• The Padres dropped four players from the roster: righties Luis Patino and Logan Gillaspie, outfielder Bryce Johnson and infielder Mason McCoy. Patino, who underwent Tommy John surgery last summer, was the only member of the group who’d been eligible for arbitration. The other three cuts are simply about roster maintenance. The Padres could try to bring anyone from that group back on minor league deals.
• The Phillies will not be tendering a contract to outfielder Austin Hays, which MLBTR covered earlier today.
• The Pirates are expected to non-tender first baseman/outfielder Connor Joe and outfielder Bryan De La Cruz, per Alex Stumpf of MLB.com (Bluesky link). They are also non-tendering right-hander Hunter Stratton, per Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (X link). Joe was projected for a salary of $3.2MM next year and De La Cruz $4MM. Stratton had not yet qualified for arbitration. Joe has been around league average at the plate in his career but doing more damage against lefties. De La Cruz has hit .253/.297/.407 in his career for a wRC+ of 90. Startton had a 3.58 ERA this year but his season was ended by knee surgery, giving him an uncertain path forward.
• The Reds have non-tendered right-hander Ian Gibaut, per Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer (Bluesky link). The righty was projected for a salary of $800K. He spent the vast majority of 2024 on the injured list due to arm trouble and only made two appearances on the season.
• The Rockies moved on from starter Cal Quantrill and second baseman Brendan Rodgers, which MLBTR covered here.

Thaiss, 30 in May, leaves the Angels for the first time in his professional career. He was a first-round pick of that club in 2016, getting taken 16th overall. He was a catcher in college but the Angels announced him as a corner infielder when they drafted him, clearly more interested in his bat.

As he worked his way up the minor leagues, he did indeed show that his offense could be an asset. He hit .279/.363/.445 for a 117 wRC+ across multiple minor league levels from 2016 to 2019. However, his major league work hasn’t been nearly as impressive. At this point, he has 771 big league plate appearances with a .208/.313/.342 line and 83 wRC+.

That production would be unacceptable for a corner infielder but not bad by backup catcher standards. The Halos often had a crowded mix of guys vying for playing time as the designated hitter or the corner spots over the years, such as Shohei Ohtani, Albert Pujols, Anthony Rendon, Jared Walsh and others. That prompted them to move Thaiss back behind the plate in 2021. Most metrics view Thaiss as a subpar defender back there, perhaps not surprising for a guy who spent several years away from that spot.

Though he’s been a passable backup to Logan O’Hoppe in recent years, the Angels decided to move on. After Travis d’Arnaud was let go by Atlanta, the Halos quickly swooped in and signed him to a two-year deal. That nudged Thaiss down to #3 on the catching chart. Since he’s out of options, they designated him for assignment, which led to today’s deal.

For the Cubs, he’s a sensible landing spot for now, as they have question marks behind the plate. They released Yan Gomes in June, Tomás Nido in August and then outrighted Christian Bethancourt in November. Prior to acquiring Thaiss, Miguel Amaya was the only catcher on their 40-man roster. It was reported back in August that they would be looking for catching help this winter.

Amaya performed well down the stretch for the Cubs but was subpar for the season overall. He’s out of options and not far removed from being a top prospect, so he probably has a decent grip on a roster spot, but he’s far from established as a big leaguer. He has 170 major league games under his belt with a .227/.300/.357 batting line and 87 wRC+.

Perhaps the Cubs envision a platoon arrangement, since Amaya hits from the right side and Thaiss from the left, though Amaya has reverse splits in his short career so far. It’s also possible that the Cubs will sign a more established catcher and try to pass Thaiss through waivers later in the offseason. Danny Jansen, Kyle Higashioka and Carson Kelly are just some of the many backstops available in free agency.

Perhaps Moisés Ballesteros will be a factor as well, as he is considered one of the top 100 prospects in the game and has reached Triple-A. However, he has only 68 games at that level and is still just 21 years old, so keeping him on the farm a little longer is also possible.

Time will tell if the Cubs continue addressing their catching mix throughout the winter, but for now, they’ve taken a flier on a sensible stopgap. For what was surely a small amount of money in baseball terms, they’ve added an experienced catcher with an intriguing past pedigree, without doing anything to block the possibility of other moves down the road.

Wingenter, 31, was just claimed off waivers in August and made five appearances for the Cubs late in the 2024 season. They could have retained him for next season via arbitration, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting him for a $1.4MM salary next year. It seems they didn’t plan on doing that, so they have sent him into DFA limbo today. They will have a few days to see if there’s any trade interest, but he could end up back on waivers or non-tendered later this week. In his 95 1/3 major league innings, he has a 5.66 earned run average, 30.5% strikeout rate and 12% walk rate.

López, 31, was added to the Cubs’ roster at the end of June and he quickly took on a prominent role in the club’s bullpen. In just over two months as a Cub, he made 22 appearances, logging 24 2/3 innings. He allowed 2.19 earned runs per nine, struck out 28% of batters faced, limited walks to an 8% clip and got grounders on 60.3% of balls in play. He recorded a pair of saves and three holds.

Now he’ll be removed from the club’s high-leverage relief mix, which is an unfortunate blow to a bullpen that has been fairly unstable this year. Adbert Alzolay took over the closer’s job last year but he spent a lot of 2024 on the injured list and eventually required Tommy John surgery in August. Héctor Neris grabbed the closer’s role for most of this season but was shaky enough to get released in August and has since signed with the Astros. Mark Leiter Jr. was one of Chicago’s key setup men but he was traded to the Yankees prior to the deadline. Other key pieces like Yency Almonte and Julian Merryweather are on the injured list at the moment.

All of those issues opened the door for López to step up but now he, too, will be unavailable. It’s unclear exactly when he sustained this injury but perhaps it explains his poor results the last time out. Though his numbers as a Cub have been great overall, they were even better before Monday, when he faced the Pirates and allowed four earned runs on four hits, including two home runs.

The Cubs are 4.5 games out of a playoff spot and still in the race, but will now have to proceed without López. That will likely leave some combination of Porter Hodge, Drew Smyly and Tyson Miller taking the important bullpen roles. The club’s pitching staff also took another hit today, with Justin Steele also heading to the injured list.

Wingenter, 30, signed a minor league deal with the Tigers in the offseason. In early July, he triggered an assignment clause in his contract that forced the Tigers to trade him if some other club was willing to give him a 40-man roster spot. The Sox were willing to give him that spot and acquired him for righty CJ Weins.

Though Wingenter spent almost a month on Boston’s roster, he was mostly on optional assignment and only made two appearances for the big league club. Those two outings did not go well, as he allowed seven earned runs in 2 1/3 innings. When combined with his previous work with the Padres and Tigers, he now has a 5.84 earned run average in 89 1/3 major league innings with a strong 31.9% strikeout rate but high walk rate of 12.3%.

After their deadline deals, the Cubs had an open roster spot to work with and have used it to grab Wingenter. His major league results haven’t been great but there are reasons he’s worth a flier. His fastball velocity has averaged in the 95-97 miles per hour range. Though he’s had trouble harnessing it at times, he’s also been able to get punchouts. He’s also been in good form in the minors this year, with a 3.03 ERA in 38 2/3 innings at that level. Though he’s walked 11.1% of Triple-A hitters he’s faced this year, he’s also struck out 34.5% of them.

He’s in his final option year and can be kept at Iowa for the rest of the year if the Cubs want, but he’ll be out of options next year. He has just over four years of service time and will be eligible for arbitration in the offseason.

• The Twins selected the contract of right-hander Randy Dobnak and designated Josh Staumont for assignment. Dobnak, 29, signed a five-year extension with Minnesota prior to the 2021 season following a strong start to his career where he posted a 3.12 ERA (142 ERA+) with a 3.56 FIP in 75 innings of work across 19 appearances (15 starts). Unfortunately, things haven’t gone well since he inked that deal as he struggled to a 7.64 ERA in 14 appearances in 2021 and hasn’t appeared in the majors since. He was outrighted off the club’s 40-man roster in September of 2022 but has put up a decent 3.61 ERA in 99 2/3 innings of work at Triple-A this year. Staumont, meanwhile, signed a big league deal with the club over the winter and has posted decent numbers with a 3.70 ERA and 3.53 FIP this year but has struggled badly in recent weeks with 11 runs (10 earned) surrendered in his last 5 1/3 innings of work.
• The Athletics selected the contract of right-hander Gerardo Reyes. The 31-year-old made his big league debut with the Padres back in 2019 but struggled to a 7.62 ERA in 26 innings of work. More recently, he’s pitched for the Angels in each of the past two seasons with a 6.94 ERA in ten appearances. Despite those lackluster numbers, he’s struck out a solid 27% of batters faced during his big league career and has a solid 3.82 ERA in 33 innings of work at the Triple-A level this year. He’ll step into the Oakland bullpen after the club dealt Lucas Erceg to Kansas City earlier today.
• The Blue Jays selected the contract of infielder Luis De Los Santos today in order to replace Isiah Kiner-Falefa on the active roster following his trade to Pittsburgh. The 26-year-old initially signed with the club out of the Dominican Republic back in 2015. He’s bounced between the Double- and Triple-A levels in recent years with a career .217/.342/.375 slash line at the highest level of the minors, although this year he’s managed to flash a bit more offense with a solid .243/.393/.400 line and 16.7% walk rate in 28 games. The youngster has experience at all four infield spots and figures to step into the club’s bench mix.
• The Red Sox designated right-hander Trey Wingenter for assignment today. Wingenter was acquired by Boston earlier this month in a trade with the Tigers after he triggered an assignment clause in his contract, prompting the club to add him to their 40-man roster. Wingenter made just two appearances for the Red Sox and struggled badly in each of them, allowing a combined seven runs on five hits and two walks while striking out three in 2 1/3 innings of work. Prior to that rough tenure in Boston, Wingenter had a career 5.28 ERA and 3.82 FIP in 90 games with the Padres and Tigers. His career 31.9% strikeout rate stands out from his otherwise lackluster results and could garner him some interest from bullpen-needy clubs on the waiver wire.
• The White Sox selected the contract of left-hander Fraser Ellard today. Ellard, 26, was an 8th-round pick by the club back in 2021 and climbed the minor league ladder to reach the Triple-A level this year. In 40 2/3 innings of work this season, Ellard owns a 3.76 ERA with an eye-popping 33.5% strikeout rate against an elevated 11.6% walk rate. That big-time strikeout stuff should get Ellard plenty of opportunities in a Chicago bullpen that has been brutally bad this year with a collective 4.79 ERA, including a league-worst 6.22 ERA in the month of July. He’ll step into the lefty spot in the bullpen vacated by Tanner Banks earlier today, joining fellow southpaws Jared Shuster and Sammy Peralta.

JULY 9: The Red Sox have selected the contract of right-hander Trey Wingenter, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive on X. Wingenter was acquired from the Tigers on the weekend and had an assignment clause in his contract, meaning he needed to be added to the roster. To make room for him, the club has optioned left-hander Cam Booser and designated right-hander Naoyuki Uwasawa for assignment. They also optioned infielder/outfielder Enmanuel Valdéz and recalled infielder/outfielder Jamie Westbrook.

Uwasawa, 30, had spent his entire career with the Nippon Ham Fighters of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball until signing a minor league deal with the Rays over the winter. He wasn’t going to make the Rays’ roster out of camp but had an upward mobility clause in his deal, meaning he would have to be traded if any other club was willing to give him a spot. The Red Sox were interested and sent cash to the Rays to get a deal done, though they have largely kept Uwasawa on optional assignment.

The righty has made two appearances at the big league level this year, with one earned run allowed in four innings. He’s mostly been serving in a swing role at the Triple-A level, with fairly uninspiring results there. He has a 6.54 ERA in 42 2/3 innings over 13 appearances, including six starts. He only struck out 18.5% of opponents while giving out walks at a 12.3% clip. The club tried moving him to a relief role, with his six most recent appearances coming out of the bullpen, but without a significant improvement. He had a 6.32 ERA in his first seven appearances this year and a 7.15 ERA in the last six.

The Sox will now have a week to trade Uwasawa or pass him through waivers. Since the waiver process takes 48 hours, any potential deal would have to come together in the next five days. His results this year have been poor but teams could perhaps be interested based on his NPB track record. He tossed over 1,000 innings in that league with a 3.19 ERA before making the move to North American ball, though that came despite a fairly tepid 19.7% strikeout rate. The lack of velocity/strikeout stuff was the biggest knock on him before crossing the Pacific and those concerns seem to have been borne out so far.

8:36PM: The Red Sox have acquired right-hander Trey Wingenter from the Tigers in exchange for minor league righty CJ Weins per an announcement from both clubs. Wingenter was in the Tigers organization on a minor league deal and does not need to be immediately added to the club’s 40-man roster.

Wingenter, 30, has pitched in parts of three MLB seasons and most recently appeared in the majors as a member of the Tigers last year. The right-hander was a 17th-round pick by the Padres in the 2017 draft and made his debut with the club in 2018. Over two seasons with San Diego, the righty posted a lackluster 5.14 ERA in 70 innings of work, although his peripheral numbers suggested a stronger underlying performance that those run prevention numbers may have suggested. The righty struck out a whopping 33.1% of batters faced during his time with the Padres, and that was enough to garner him a 3.79 FIP despite a 13% walk rate and a 12.7% home run to fly ball ratio that both left something to be desired.

The righty wouldn’t resurface at the big league level until 2023, as a member of the Tigers. His time in Detroit went similarly to his time in San Diego, as he posted a lackluster 5.82 ERA while a big strikeout rate (28.9% in 17 innings) outweighed his elevated walk rate (9.2%) and proclivity towards home runs enough to give him solid peripheral numbers. One noticeable change from his time with the Padres was his groundball rate, however. Wingenter didn’t garner many grounders during his time with the Padres, inducing them at only a 35.7% clip, but that rate shot up 43.2% with the Tigers.

Wingenter ended up remaining with Detroit entering the 2024 campaign after re-signing with the club on a fresh minor league deal this past winter. While he hasn’t pitched for the club in the majors this season, he’s posted generally impressive numbers at the Triple-A level with a 3.31 ERA in 32 2/3 innings of work this year. He’s paired those strong results with his typical bat-missing stuff, as he’s struck out 32.9% of batters faced at the level this year while walking 11.6%. Notably, he’s continued to show improvement in terms of his batted ball profile, as he’s induced grounders at a strong 48% clip this season in Triple-A.

In heading to Boston, Wingenter joins a stockpile of interesting bullpen arms the club has on non-roster deals as potential depth options behind their current group. With that being said, it’s worth noting that much of that group (such as Lucas Luetge and Joely Rodriguez) throw from the left side, meaning Wingenter could be the club’s top non-roster depth option from the right side. With Chris Martin and Liam Hendriks both currently on the injured list, it’s at least plausible that the loss of one of Kenley Jansen, Justin Slaten, Greg Weissert, or Zack Kelly could lead the Red Sox to turn to Wingenter over either Alex Speas or Isaiah Campbell, both of whom are currently at the Triple-A level but already occupy spots on the 40-man roster. It’s also possible that the club could be intrigued enough by Wingenter’s high strikeout rates to give him a more immediate look in the majors, though such a move would require selecting him to the club’s 40-man roster.

In exchange for adding Wingenter to their depth chart, the Red Sox are giving up Weins. The 23-year-old was Boston’s sixth-round pick in the 2023 draft and pitched just one inning in rookie ball last year before being promoted to Single-A to start the 2024 campaign. In 24 1/3 innings of work with the club’s affiliate in Salem this year, Weins has posted a lackluster 4.81 ERA with a solid 26.6% strikeout rate but a worrisome 14.7% walk rate. Those solid strikeout numbers give reason for hope that the righty could be a valuable piece of a big league bullpen someday if he can work out his control issues, and the Tigers now figure to work towards guiding Weins toward that goal going forward.

4:10pm: The Tigers announced today that they have reassigned right-hander Trey Wingenter, left-hander Andrew Vasquez, catcher Anthony Bemboom, infielder Keston Hiura and outfielders Bligh Madris and Ryan Vilade to minor league camp, indicating that no one in that group will make the club’s Opening Day roster.

Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press takes a look at the moves and notes that the organization plans to have Hiura serve as the primary first baseman for Triple-A Toledo. However, the wrinkle in that plan is that his minor league deal has an upward mobility clause, also known as an assignment clause. There are multiple dates where the Tigers must ask the other 29 clubs if any is willing to give Hiura a roster spot. If any of them say yes, the Tigers either have to call him up themselves or trade him to the team that wants him.

That means that the Tigers can only keep him in Triple-A if the other teams all pass on the chance to take him. Petzold doesn’t provide specifics about the dates when the clause will be triggered, but he does note that one of them is next week.

The 27-year-old has had a feast-or-famine career thus far, as he has shown huge home run power but also a worrying penchant for strikeouts. He has 1,057 plate appearances at the major league level, all with the Brewers from 2019 to 2022. He struck out in 380 of them, a 36% rate which is well above par. The league-wide average was 22.7% in the majors last year, for reference. But Hiura did hit 50 home runs in that time.

Last year, Hiura was stuck in Triple-A. He hit 25 homers in 367 plate appearances at that level while keeping his strikeout rate to a more passable 24.5% clip. But he never got called back up to the big leagues and hit minor league free agency at season’s end, signing a minor league deal with the Tigers.

Here in the spring, he batted .323 for the Tigers with two homers in 34 plate appearances. He only struck out at a 23.5% rate but it’s a small sample size and spring stats are always to be taken with a grain of salt as opposing pitchers may not be major league caliber or may be experimenting as they get ready for the season.

Hiura doesn’t have a strong path to playing time in Detroit. He came up as a second baseman but was a poor defender there and spent more time at first base and left field last year. The Tigers have Spencer Torkelson entrenched at first for the foreseeable future. The designated hitter slot will likely be used to rotate their outfielders through, with Kerry Carpenter perhaps seeing the most time as a DH while Mark Canha, Parker Meadows and Riley Greene are on the grass. The bench will be taken up by backup catcher Carson Kelly and utility infielder/outfielders Andy Ibañez, Zach McKinstry and Matt Vierling.

The Tigers would surely like to keep Hiura around as depth but the other 29 clubs will have multiple opportunities to take a chance on him. The Rays just lost one player from their first base/designated hitter mix as it was reported today that Jonathan Aranda requires surgery for a broken finger. The Yankees may be without DJ LeMahieu to start the season after he fouled a ball of his foot. Hiura wouldn’t be able to step in as the everyday third baseman but could provide another bench bat while Oswaldo Cabrera covers the hot corner. The Angels have Nolan Schanuel as their first baseman despite the fact that he was just drafted last summer, and he’s also currently dealing with some back tightness.

There’s also the possibility for platooning, as Hiura has significant reverse splits in his career. He’s hit just .201/.283/.323 against southpaws for a 64 wRC+ but .253/.332/.508 against righties for a 122 wRC+, despite being a right-handed hitter. For any club that feels they are weak against righties, Hiura will be there for the taking. His deal comes with a $2MM base salary if he’s in the majors.

Wingenter, 30 in April, has shown big strikeout stuff in his career but also battled injuries, with those storylines carrying into 2023. He signed a minor league deal with the Tigers last winter as well and cracked the club’s Opening Day roster. But after just six appearances, he landed on the injured list due to tendinitis in his throwing shoulder and wasn’t activated until about three months later.

He ultimately tossed 17 innings for the Tigers with a 5.82 earned run average in that small sample. He struck out 28.9% of batters faced while walking just 9.2%, and he also kept 43.2% of balls in play on the ground. A .333 batting average on balls in play and 64.7% strand rate led to some more runs crossing the board, hence his 3.96 FIP and 3.43 SIERA. He was outrighted off the roster in November and elected free agency.

Prior to the 2023 season, Wingenter didn’t pitch in the majors at all from 2020-2022, due to Tommy John surgery and a couple of of back surgeries. Prior to that, he pitched for the Padres, striking out roughly a third of batters faced in 2018 and 2019.

He’ll now returns to the Tigers and provide them with some non-roster depth. If he’s healthy and in good form, he could earn himself a roster spot, just as he did in 2023. If he does, he still has an option remaining and just over four years of service time. If he’s on the roster at the end of next season, the Tigers will have the ability to retain him via arbitration for 2025.

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.

Detriot acquired Marisnick from the White Sox in cash transaction at the end of May, just when Riley Greene suffered a stress reaction in his left fibula.  Greene just returned from the 15-day IL this weekend, and even though the Tigers will somewhat ease him back into action via DH duty and some more frequent off-days, the team felt comfortable enough to move on from Marisnick.

Over 33 games and 75 plate appearances in a Tigers uniform, Marisnick hit .232/.270/.420 with two home runs, though the 11-year veteran has never been known for his bat.  Marisnick has generally been an excellent defender throughout his career, and the public defensive metrics (+4 Outs Above Average, +15.5 UZR/150, +4 Defensive Runs Saved) have loved his work over 206 innings as a center fielder in 2023.  It’s a bit of a bounce-back for Marisnick after some slightly more inconsistent defensive numbers in recent years, though it’s worth noting the small sample-size factor, as Marisnick has been a part-time player for most of the last four seasons.

If Marisnick clears waivers, he’ll have the right to decline an outright assignment to Triple-A Toledo, since he has previously been outrighted in his career.  The 32-year-old might opt to remain in Detroit’s farm system as depth, or perhaps choose free agency in search of yet another team in need of defensive outfield help at the big league level.  Marisnick has played for eight MLB teams over his 11 seasons, though he is best remembered for his six-year run with the Astros that included a World Series ring in 2017.

9:30am: The Tigers have placed center fielder Riley Greene on the 10-day injured list with a stress fracture in his left fibula, tweets Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic. Greene exited last night’s game with discomfort in his lower leg, and a subsequent MRI revealed the injury. There’s no firm timetable on his recovery just yet, as he’s headed for a second opinion, but the injury figures to sideline him well beyond that 10-day minimum.

Just hours before Greene suffered the injury, the Tigers had acquired veteran outfielder Jake Marisnick from the White Sox in exchange for cash. Manager AJ Hinch said after last night’s game that the plan had been to select Marisnick’s contract anyhow, but the injury to Greene makes Marisnick’s acquisition all the more important, as the slick-fielding and fleet-footed veteran can provide Detroit with an alternative in center field.

Greene’s injury comes just as the 22-year-old former top prospect looked to be breaking out and reaching his potential. Drafted with the fifth overall selection back in 2019, Greene entered the 2022 season ranked among the sport’s ten best prospects on most publications but delivered a fairly tepid .253/.321/.362 batting line in 93 games as a 21-year-old rookie. This season, he’s slashing .296/.362/.443 with five home runs, nine doubles, three triples and six steals (in six attempts).

The past month, in particular, has been a torrid one for Greene. He’s hitting .365/.435/.573 since the calendar flipped to May, and while he won’t sustain this month’s sky-high .485 average on balls in play, there are plenty of positives amid the hot streak. Greene fanned in 31.1% of his plate appearances in March/April but cut that to 25% in May. His walk rate jumped from 7.8% to 11.1% as he’s cut five percentage points off his chase rate on pitches off the plate.

After averaging a pedestrian 89.4 mph off the bat with an overall 38.6% hard-hit rate in the season’s first month, Greene erupted with a 94.1 mph average exit velocity and 55.1% hard-hit rate in May. Even assuming some regression of that BABIP, Greene has cut back on his chases, struck out less, walked more and radically improved the quality of his batted-ball profile during his recent hot streak.

All of that positive progress will grind to halt for the time being, however, as Greene will require an absence — likely of some note — while this injury mends. His placement on the injured list comes just one day after Detroit put top starter Eduardo Rodriguez and outfielder Matt Vierling on the injured list due to a pulley/tendon injury and a lower back injury, respectively. The injuries to Greene and Rodriguez, in particular, are major blows to the surprising Tigers, who have outplayed expectations and find themselves two games out of the AL Central lead and within arm’s reach (six games) of the final AL Wild Card spot.

Detroit’s outfield has been plagued by health issues all season. Greene will join Vierling, Kerry Carpenter (shoulder sprain) and Austin Meadows (anxiety) on the injured list. That likely leaves Marisnick, Akil Baddoo and utilityman Zach McKinstry as the primary outfield trio, with Tyler Nevin perhaps mixing in against some left-handed pitching in favor of the lefty-swinging McKinstry or Baddoo. The Tigers have some other outfield options on the 40-man roster — namely Parker Meadows (Austin’s younger brother). The 23-year-old has a .239/.327/.410 slash in Triple-A this year but has been rolling of late, batting .289/.353/.578 with three homers, a pair of doubles and a triple over the past two weeks.

For now, it seems Marisnick will be ticketed for a prominent role. He’s a career .228/.281/.384 hitter in 2166 plate appearances, which doesn’t inspire much optimism with regard to his potential offensive contributions, but the 32-year-old is also one of the sport’s premier outfield defenders. Dating back to his 2013 MLB debut, Marisnick ranks eight among 1044 big league outfielders with 76 Defensive Runs Saved — and all seven of the names ahead of him on the list have received greater playing time to accumulate those higher totals. His 48 Outs Above Average since Statcast debuted the statistic rank 12th among all outfielders.

The IL stint adds to an overall tough start to the season for Wingenter, who has an 8.31 ERA over six appearances and 4 1/3 innings of work.  While it’s hard to extrapolate from such a small sample size, it does seem like Wingenter has been unlucky to post such a large ERA —- his SIERA is a much more respectable 3.83, while his BABIP is a hefty .385.

Some rust was probably to be expected given that Wingenter has pitched only three innings of rookie ball since the start of the 2020 season.  Due to Tommy John surgery and then a variety of elbow and back problems, Wingenter’s three innings of rehab assignment work marked his only action over three full seasons.  Given his checkered injury history, the hope is that Wingenter’s latest IL visit will prove to be a short one, and it could be that the tendinitis is simply a side effect from getting back to pitching on a regular basis.

Prior to that extended layoff, Wingenter showed some promise as a high-velocity, high-strikeout relief arm over 70 innings with the Padres in 2018-19.  He signed a minor league deal with Detroit over the offseason and looked very good in Spring Training, earning himself a role on the Tigers’ Opening Day roster.

Additionally, the Tigers optioned lefty Tyler Holton to Triple-A Toledo and placed three players on the injured list. Infielder Tyler Nevin is headed to the 10-day IL with an oblique strain, while righties Beau Brieske (right upper arm discomfort) and Michael Lorenzen (left groin strain) have been placed on the 15-day IL.

The 25-year-old Uceta was a waiver claim out of the Diamondbacks organization back in January. He’s seen big league work in each of the past two seasons, first throwing 20 1/3 frames with the Dodgers in 20221 before logging 17 frames with the D-backs in 2022. Uceta’s results have been poor, as he’s served up a 6.27 ERA with a 23% strikeout rate and an elevated 11.5% walk rate. He’s struggled to limit the damage with men on base, but Uceta has solid spin and velocity on his four-seamer and a 30% strikeout rate in Triple-A.

Uceta appeared in eight spring games with the Tigers. He yielded six earned runs on 13 hits and four walks through 11 frames (4.91 ERA) but also fanned 14 of his 48 opponents (29.2%). The Tigers will have a week to trade him or attempt to pass him through outright waivers. Uceta does have a minor league option remaining, which could add to his appeal.