Tigers Place Parker Meadows On Injured List
The Tigers have placed outfielder Parker Meadows on the 10-day injured list with a concussion and a fractured radius in his left arm. He also received five stitches in his mouth, per Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press. Fellow outfielder Wenceel Pérez has been recalled in a corresponding move. Evan Woodbery of MLive reported the moves prior to the official club announcement.
The injury occurred in yesterday’s game against the Twins. Josh Bell hit a ball to left-center field, the perfect spot for the center fielder Meadows and left fielder Riley Greene to get there at the same time. As seen in this video from MLB.com, the two collided. Greene caught the ball and seemed unscathed but Meadows was down for a while and had blood coming out of his mouth. He seemed woozy when getting onto a cart, which took him off the field.
Given what transpired yesterday, it’s not especially surprising that he has suffered a concussion. He also revealed yesterday, per Chris McCosky of Detroit News, that he bit the inside of his mouth on impact. That explains the blood and the stitches. The broken bone in his arm, presumably suffered when he collided with the ground, may be the thing that keeps him out for longer. The Tigers haven’t provided an estimated timeline for his recovery but a broken arm will surely require him to miss weeks, if not months.
There will likely be more information provided in the near future. For now, the Tigers will sub Pérez into their outfield mix. He has been a solid player for them in recent years but he got squeezed off the Opening Day roster by Kevin McGonigle. Detroit decided to break camp with their top prospect and someone had to go. Pérez still has options and he also had a rough spring, slashing .190/.277/.333, so he got sent down.
In ten Triple-A games to start the year, Pérez has a .250/.353/.455 line. That’s a small sample size but is much closer to his big league line of .243/.304/.405, so it seems he has put his rough spring behind him.
Though it was a brief stint in the minors, it was just long enough to impact Pérez’s career. He came into this year with exactly two years of big league service time. There are now only 171 days remaining in the season and a player needs to be in the majors for 172 days to earn a full service year. Even if Pérez stays up for the rest of the season, he can’t get to the three-year line in 2026. That means his path to free agency has been pushed into the future by a year, though he could still qualify for arbitration after this season as a Super Two player.
Pérez will join an outfield mix that includes Greene as a staple in left. The other two spots will likely involve some rotation of Pérez, Kerry Carpenter, Matt Vierling, Zach McKinstry, Jahmai Jones and Javier Báez, with the designated hitter spot also fairly open for guys in that group to get more at-bats.
Photo courtesy of Bruce Kluckhohn, Imagn Images
Tigers Place Justin Verlander On 15-Day Injured List
5:10PM: Verlander and manager A.J. Hinch told the Detroit News’ Chris McCosky and other reporters that the injury is fairly minor, and the IL placement is precautionary in nature. The Tigers don’t have another off-day until April 13, leaving Verlander without the benefit of any extra rest in between starts to fully get over his hip problem. “It’s just difficult because I feel like it’s close to being able to just work through it,” Verlander said. “But the timing is bad, the weather is bad and the schedule is bad. Everything worked against it, unfortunately.”
12:09PM: The Tigers announced that Justin Verlander has been placed on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to April 1) due to inflammation in his left hip. Right-hander Keider Montero was called up from Triple-A Toledo to take Verlander’s spot on the 26-man roster.
The IL stint adds to a tough first week in Verlander’s return to Detroit. The right-hander’s first start of the season saw Verlander last just 3 2/3 innings on Monday, and he gave up six hits and two homers to the Diamondbacks en route to being charged with five earned runs. Verlander was slated to start against the Cardinals on Sunday, which would’ve marked his first home appearance in a Tigers uniform since August 2017.
While there isn’t yet any indication that the hip problem is particularly serious, it does add to the lengthy list of injuries that have piled up for Verlander in recent years, which isn’t surprising given how the righty is now in his age-43 season. After missing almost all of the 2020-21 seasons due to Tommy John surgery, Verlander has been placed on the IL five times in the last four seasons. He missed about five weeks in 2023 due to a teres major strain and a month of the 2025 season due to pectoral soreness, and the 2024 campaign saw Verlander limited to 90 1/3 innings because of shoulder inflammation and then a lingering neck injury.
Verlander has still logged 579 2/3 innings from 2022-25 — a very respectable total for any pitcher, let alone a hurler of Verlander’s age. After winning the AL Cy Young Award in 2022, Verlander’s only truly rough year was his injury-plagued 2024 season, as he still posted a 3.85 ERA, 20.7% strikeout rate, and 7.9% walk rate over 152 innings for the Giants last year.
It was enough for Detroit to sign Verlander to a one-year, $13MM free agent contract in February, in a move that made sense for both nostalgic and practical reasons. Reese Olson‘s shoulder surgery ended his 2026 season before it even began, opening the door for Verlander to slot into the back end of the Tigers’ rotation.
Montero will now fill that role for the time being, and the righty has been a serviceable swingman over his two MLB seasons, delivering a 4.57 ERA over 189 innings. Montero has performed better as a starter (4.05 ERA in 144 1/3 IP) than as a reliever (6.25 ERA in 44 2/3 IP), and replicating that kind of rotation performance would be a great help for the Tigers in holding the fort until Verlander is back.
While the Tigers have a solid amount of rotation depth, that depth has already been tested between Olson’s surgery, Troy Melton‘s season-opening stint on the 60-day IL, Sawyer Gipson-Long is on the 15-day IL with an oblique strain, and now Verlander’s absence. Melton and Jackson Jobe (who had a Tommy John surgery last June) are expected back before season’s end, and perhaps most importantly, the top four in Detroit’s rotation — Tarik Skubal, Framber Valdez, Casey Mize, and Jack Flaherty — are all still healthy.
Tigers Release Phil Bickford, Colin Poche
The Tigers have released right-hander Phil Bickford and left-hander Colin Poche, reports Jason Beck of MLB.com. Both pitchers signed minor league deals with Detroit this offseason. They will now head back to the open market to search for their next opportunities.
Bickford, 30, was invited to big league camp but wasn’t able to pitch in any official spring action. He was diagnosed with a triceps strain in late February. He was reassigned to minor league camp a few days later. His current health status is not known.
He has 189 innings of big league experience under his belt, split between the Brewers, Dodgers, Mets and Yankees. Overall, he has allowed 4.62 earned runs per nine frames with a 26.1% strikeout rate and 9.1% walk rate.
His last big league appearance was in 2024. He spent 2025 in Triple-A, signing minor league deals with the Cubs and Phillies. Between those two organizations, he had a 3.52 ERA, 28.5% strikeout rate and 9.1% walk rate in 46 Triple-A innings. That wasn’t enough to get him to the big leagues last year. He did get a camp invite with the Tigers a few months ago but the injury scuttle any chance of him making the team.
Poche, 32, has a better overall track record but has fallen on hard times lately. At the end of 2023, he had 171 career innings pitched with a 3.58 ERA. His 9.3% walk rate was a bit high but he struck out 28.2% of batters faced. In 2024, his strikeout rate fell to 21.6%. His ERA didn’t suffer greatly, as he finished that year with a 3.86 mark, but the Rays non-tendered him.
He signed a minor league deal with the Nationals for 2025 and made the Opening Day roster but was designated for assignment on May 1st after 13 appearances. He had allowed 11 earned runs in 8 2/3 innings while giving out walks to 12 of the 46 batters he faced, an awful 26.1% clip. He spent most of the rest of the year with the Mets at the Triple-A level, where he walked 17.3% of opponents.
The Tigers gave Poche a minor league deal but didn’t invite him to big league camp. His transaction tracker at MLB.com says he was placed on the Triple-A Toledo injured list last week, without specifying the issue.
Photo courtesy of Junfu Han, Imagn Images
Mets To Hire J.D. Martinez As Special Advisor
The Mets are going to hire J.D. Martinez as a special advisor to baseball operations, reports Tim Healey of The Boston Globe. Though there’s no mention of retirement, Martinez is now 38 years old and hasn’t played in the big leagues since 2024, so this seems to signal that he is moving into his post-playing days.
Martinez had a long stretch as one of the best hitters in the majors but it didn’t always seem like it would play out that way. He was drafted by the Astros with a 20th-round pick back in 2009. He made it to the big leagues in 2011 but didn’t immediately flourish. By the end of the 2013 season, he had taken 975 trips to the plate but had produced a tepid .251/.300/.387 line. That resulted in an 87 wRC+, indicating he was 13% worse than league average. Martinez was a corner outfielder without much speed, so it was hard for him to provide value when he wasn’t hitting. The Astros gave up, releasing Martinez in March of 2014.
He was scooped up by the Tigers, who signed him to a minor league deal. That allowed Detroit to benefit from Martinez breaking out offensively. He hit ten home runs in 17 Triple-A games to begin the season and was up in the majors three weeks into April. He hit 23 more home runs in the big leagues that year, slashing .315/.358/.553. He added two more long balls in the postseason, though the Tigers were eliminated by the Orioles in the ALDS.
The Tigers’ competitive window closed, though Martinez continued to perform. He hit another 38 home runs in 2015 while putting up a .282/.344/.535 line. He was selected to his first All-Star team that summer and went on to win a Silver Slugger award. In 2016, he missed time due to an elbow injury and only got into 120 games but still hit another 22 home runs and slashed .307/.373/.535.
In 2017, Martinez was an impending free agent and the Tigers were in rough shape, as they would eventually lose 95 games that year. That made Martinez a logical summer trade chip, so he was flipped to the Diamondbacks for Dawel Lugo, Sergio Alcántara and Jose King.
It was a tremendous pick-up for the Snakes, as Martinez went on a torrid power binge. He hit 29 home runs in just 67 games for Arizona down the stretch, including a four-homer game on September 4th, the 18th instance of a four-homer game in major league history. He helped the Snakes win 93 games and make the playoffs, though they were ultimately knocked out by the Dodgers in the NLDS.
He finished the season with 45 home runs overall and a combined .303/.376/.690 line, giving him a fantastic platform for free agency. The midseason trade also helped, as it meant he was ineligible to receive a qualifying offer. The Red Sox gave him a $110MM deal over five years to get him to Fenway, with opt-outs after the second, third and fourth years.
The deal paid immediate dividends for Boston. Martinez hit 43 home runs for them in 2018, helping mount a strong .330/.402/.629 line. The team won 108 games and then cruised through the postseason, never losing more than one game in a series. Martinez added three playoff home runs with a .300/.403/.520 line as the Sox won the World Series for the fourth time in the 15-year span which started in 2004.
Martinez continued hitting over the course of his deal, except in the shortened 2020 season, but never used his opt-outs. He played out the entirety of the five-year pact with Boston, launching 130 home runs with a .292/.363/.526 batting line.
He returned to free agency but was limited to short-term offers ahead of his age-35 season. He signed a one-year, $10MM deal with the Dodgers for 2023. He hit 33 home runs but saw his strikeout rate jump to 31.1%, four points above his previous career high. The Dodgers won 100 games but were defeated by the Diamondbacks in the NLDS.
Martinez then joined the Mets for the 2024 season via a one-year deal, signed late in March. That was technically worth $12MM but with notable deferrals. Martinez lowered his strikeout rate by a few ticks relative to the prior season but saw his home run total essentially halved to 16, in roughly the same number of plate appearances. The Mets won 89 games and progressed as far as the NLCS before losing to the Dodgers.
Shortly after the Mets were eliminated, Martinez revealed that he thought about hanging up his spikes when he remained unsigned deep into the 2023-24 offseason.“Here I am, the team’s breaking in five days, and I don’t even have a team yet,” he said. “Your brain goes into a weird mode, where you’re like ‘Am I playing? Am I not? Am I playing? Am I not? Is this it? Am I retired?'” Going into 2025, his name popped up in some rumors but he didn’t sign anywhere and sat out the season.
Now it seems Martinez is moving into the next phase of his career. Assuming his playing days are over, he finishes his career with 6,865 plate appearances in 1,642 games played. He racked up 1,741 hits, including 331 home runs. He scored 897 runs and drove in 1,071. He made six All-Star teams, won three Silver Slugger awards and one World Series ring. FanGraphs credits him with 32.1 wins above replacement, with Baseball Reference putting him a bit lower at 30.8 WAR. B-Ref pegs his career earnings just under $154MM. He had an incredible six-year peak from 2014 to 2019 during which he slashed .307/.373/.581. His 151 wRC+ for that span was topped only by Mike Trout, among hitters with at least 2,000 plate appearances.
We at MLB Trade Rumors salute Martinez on his excellent career and wish him the best as he pivots to the next phase of his life.
Photos courtesy of John E. Sokolowski, Rick Osentoski, Kim Klement, Brad Penner, Imagn Images
Giants To Acquire Dylan Smith
The Giants are acquiring right-hander Dylan Smith from the Tigers, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. Detroit designated him for assignment when setting their Opening Day roster last week and will get cash considerations in return. San Francisco will need to make a corresponding move to open a 40-man spot for this to become official.
Smith, 26 in May, has a limited major league track record. The Tigers added him to their 40-man roster in May of last year. He spent most of the remainder of the seasons on optional assignment and was also on the minor league injured list for a while. His major league work consisted of 13 innings over seven appearances, allowing two earned runs while surrendering six hits, five walks, hitting three batters and striking out four opponents.
His minor league track record as a reliever is also fairly limited. After being drafted in 2021, the Tigers had him working as a starter for a while. Thanks to some injuries and some mediocre numbers, he was moved to the bullpen in 2025. Around his stints in the majors and his time on the IL, he tossed 39 2/3 minor league innings with a 2.27 earned run average. His 37.7% strikeout rate was massive and his 45.5% ground ball rate was also pretty good, though his 11.3% walk rate was on the high side. His four-seamer and sinker both averaged in the mid-90s while his splitter and slider both averaged in the mid-80s.
Due to his recent move to relief work and his subpar control last year, Smith may be a bit of a project. He got squeezed off the Detroit roster but San Francisco will be the beneficiary. Smith still has a couple of options, so they can shuttle him to the minors and back fairly freely as he tries to rein in his stuff. He has just a handful of service days and could stick with the club for years to come if he takes a step forward and continues to justify a roster spot.
The Giants don’t have a lot of certainty in their bullpen. They traded away Tyler Rogers and Camilo Doval last year then lost Randy Rodríguez to Tommy John surgery. They added some guys via small deals but didn’t make any massive moves to upgrade the relief corps, so there’s room for some young guys to flourish.
Photo courtesy of Junfu Han, Imagn Images
8 Young Players Auditioning At New Positions
The 2026 season has gotten underway for all but six teams. The A's, Blue Jays, Braves, Royals, Rockies and Marlins will kick off their seasons today. The return of meaningful games has revealed or confirmed some usage plans.
There are a few veteran players who are known to be changing their primary positions this season -- in some cases sliding back to spots they've previously played. Brendan Donovan is moving over to third base to begin his Mariners tenure. The Marlins will play Christopher Morel at first base, while the Giants are giving Luis Arraez another chance to play second base. The Blue Jays are moving Andrés Giménez to shortstop after letting Bo Bichette walk. Mike Trout was back in center field for the Angels last night.
Positional movement is even more common for young players breaking in at the MLB level. Some well-regarded prospects are blocked at their natural positions and need to debut elsewhere. Others are moving down the defensive spectrum after struggling at their previous spots.
We'll run through some first- or second-year players taking on new defensive assignments to begin the year. They'll be worth monitoring to see how they take to unfamiliar spots on the diamond. For those who play fantasy baseball, this may also be an opportunity to get an early jump on players whose positional eligibility should expand within the first couple weeks of the season.
Jordan Lawlar, Diamondbacks, LF/CF
Lawlar was a full-time outfielder this spring, playing 14 games in center field and three in left. He made his regular season outfield debut as a left fielder last night. The D-Backs kept incumbent Alek Thomas in center, though they'll probably get Lawlar work up the middle as well. The 23-year-old made a nice play at the wall in his debut, taking a double away from Freddie Freeman in the process.
Throwing accuracy issues pushed Lawlar off third base at the end of the 2025 season. Arizona acquired Nolan Arenado to play alongside Geraldo Perdomo in what should be an excellent left side of the infield defensively. They need more offensive production out of the two outfield spots to the left of Corbin Carroll. Lawlar, a former No. 6 overall pick and .328/.414/.576 hitter in his Triple-A career, is going to get plenty of run out there.
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Tigers Designate Dylan Smith For Assignment
The Tigers announced they’ve designated reliever Dylan Smith for assignment. They needed to open a 40-man roster spot for rookie shortstop Kevin McGonigle, who is breaking camp. Detroit also placed three players on the injured list, retroactive to March 22: Sawyer Gipson-Long (left oblique strain), Bailey Horn (elbow arthroscopy), and Trey Sweeney (shoulder strain). Sweeney goes on the 10-day IL, while the pitchers land on the 15-day version.
Smith, 25, was called up last May. He made seven big league appearances, allowing two runs across 13 innings. The Alabama product recorded just four strikeouts while walking five batters and hitting three more. He spent most of the season’s second half on the minor league injured list. Smith was healthy this spring, tossing 2 1/3 scoreless innings before being optioned.
The 6’2″ righty has a 94-95 mph fastball and a mid-80s slider. He has fanned nearly 26% of opponents with an ERA just under 4.00 over four seasons in the minors. Smith has a pair of options remaining and will be traded or placed on waivers within the next five days.
Kevin McGonigle Makes Tigers’ Roster; Wenceel Pérez Optioned
12:43pm: The Tigers announced that infielder/outfielder Wenceel Pérez, infielder Jace Jung and outfielder Trei Cruz have all been optioned to Triple-A Toledo. Center fielder Parker Meadows has made the Opening Day roster.
The 26-year-old Pérez is the most notable among the cuts. He was a key contributor in Detroit last year, giving Hinch a defensively versatile switch-hitter who could be deployed at various spots in both the infield and outfield. Pérez played exclusively in the outfield last year but has more than 1800 minor league innings at both middle infield slots and another 259 at third base. In 383 MLB plate appearances, he slashed .244/.308/.430 (103 wRC+) with 13 homers, 17 doubles, four triples and eight steals. Pérez will surely get a long major league look this year as injuries and/or poor performance elsewhere on the roster dictate, but for now he’ll open in Toledo.
Pérez didn’t help his case with a dismal .158/.238/.158 showing in 46 spring plate appearances. With better production, he might’ve edged out Meadows, who struggled at the plate in 2025 and batted only .222/.314/.289 in 52 spring plate appearances. Meadows, however, is a plus defender in center field. Given that he nominally outperformed Pérez with the bat and has a clear defensive edge with the glove, he’ll get the nod for an Opening Day roster spot and look to get back to his 2024 form at the plate (.244/.310/.433).
11:28am: It’s official. The Tigers announced Tuesday that infielder Kevin McGonigle, the consensus No. 2 prospect in baseball, will make their Opening Day roster. The 21-year-old will likely begin the season as Detroit’s shortstop after a spring in which he batted .250/.411/.477 with two homers, two doubles, a triple, two steals and more walks (11) than strikeouts (9) in 56 plate appearances. McGonigle is not on the Tigers’ 40-man roster, so they’ll need to make a corresponding transaction when they formally select his contract.
Selected with the No. 37 overall pick in the 2023 draft, McGonigle has raced through the minors relative to most high school picks. He’s raked at every level from Rookie ball up through Double-A last season despite being one of the youngest players in the league at the most recent stops on his minor league journey. McGonigle totaled 397 plate appearances across three levels in 2025 and slashed .305/.408/.583 with 19 homers, 31 doubles, two triples, 10 steals and more walks than strikeouts.
Scouts rave about McGonigle’s preternatural feel for hitting. He’s never punched out in more than 12.6% of his plate appearances at any minor league stop, and his overall strikeout rate of 10.6% in 908 professional plate appearances speaks volumes about the advanced nature of that hit tool — especially considering his age. McGonigle only turned 21 in mid-August. He’ll play the vast majority of his rookie season before even celebrating his 22nd birthday.
Some scouting reports express skepticism about his ability to stick at shortstop, though he’s continued to get reps there this spring and could yet develop into a quality option at the position. Even if a move to another position — second base, third base, outfield — becomes a necessity somewhere down the line, McGonigle’s bat is so highly regarded that it doesn’t matter. He’s viewed as a fixture in the top half of the Detroit lineup for the foreseeable future, regardless of his ultimate defensive home.
Since he’s breaking camp with the club and is a consensus top prospect, McGonigle could net the Tigers some future draft considerations via the league’s Prospect Promotion Incentive (PPI) program. A Rookie of the Year win in 2026 or a top-three finish in MVP voting in any of McGonigle’s pre-arbitration seasons would net the Tigers an extra draft selection after the first round the following season. (Prospects can only net their team one bonus pick overall.)
Assuming McGonigle sticks on Detroit’s roster all season, he’ll accrue a full year of service and be under club control through the 2031 season. He’d be eligible for arbitration following the 2028 season as things stand. Of course, those timetables are subject to change.
McGonigle will have a full slate of three minor league option years upon being formally added to the roster, and Detroit could always look to extend its window of club control with a long-term deal, be it early in his MLB tenure or during subsequent springs, when McGonigle is still years from the open market. It’ll take a hefty offer to do so in all likelihood, as McGonigle is currently slated to reach free agency ahead of his age-27 season, which would put him in line for a mammoth contract if he reaches his ceiling (or anything close to it).
In addition to his work at shortstop, McGonigle also saw time at third base this spring. Detroit doesn’t have set starters at either position, so he could bounce between both spots. McGonigle, Javier Baez and Zach McKinstry are all capable of playing short and third base. Colt Keith can play third base, second base or first base. Matt Vierling is capable of playing third base or the outfield. Manager A.J. Hinch will have no shortage of matchup-based options with that contingent on hand, but regardless of which defensive spot he occupies on a given day, McGonigle should be expected to be in Hinch’s lineup.
Tigers Sign Connor Seabold, Transfer Beau Brieske To 60-Day IL
6:27pm: Seabold will break camp, manager A.J. Hinch tells Evan Petzold of The Detroit Free Press.
5:00pm: The Tigers announced that they have signed right-hander Connor Seabold to a split contract worth $800K at the big-league level. It hasn’t been reported what he would make if sent to the minors. To open a 40-man spot for Seabold, fellow righty Beau Brieske has been placed on the 60-day injured list with a left adductor strain.
Seabold, 30, quickly finds a new landing spot. He was in camp with the Blue Jays on a minor league deal but triggered a release clause in that deal and was cut loose a couple of days ago. Now he has landed a new deal and also gets a roster spot, at least for the moment.
He is out of options and can’t be easily sent to the minors. If he were to be passed through waivers, he would have the right to elect free agency since he has a previous career outright. However, he doesn’t have enough service time to both elect free agency and keep his salary commitments in tact. Since this is a split deal, it’s possible the minor league salary is notable enough that Seabold wouldn’t want to walk away from it.
Seabold’s track record to date isn’t especially impressive. He has thrown 119 innings, allowing 7.79 earned runs per nine. However, a decent chunk of that sample was at Coors Field, as Seabold pitched 87 1/3 innings for the Rockies in 2023.
It’s possible the Tigers are betting on a recent velocity spike. As reported by Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet, the Jays were hoping to have Seabold serving in a multi-inning kind of role this year until his velo ticked up early in camp. He has averaged 92 to 93 miles per hour in his big league career but was suddenly hitting 96, with good induced vertical break to boot, so the Jays pivoted to considering him for a bullpen gig. The Jays also helped him add a slider. He faced 33 batters during official spring action and struck out 13 of them, a 39.4% clip.
It’s obviously a small sample and Seabold also walked four batters, hit three more and posted a 6.75 ERA. The Jays weren’t impressed enough to give him a roster spot even though they could have made it work. But perhaps there’s something to be unlocked with the extra life. If not, the Tigers are only committed to paying him barely above the league minimum for as long as he holds a roster spot.
As for Brieske, injuries wiped out most of his spring training. He was initially held back by some rib cage tightness. He overcame that issue and got back on the mound about two weeks ago but then a groin strain pulled him off again.
His exact timeline isn’t clear but his adductor strain is evidently serious enough that the Tigers don’t expect him back before late May. Since he effectively missed spring training, only making three appearances, he will presumably take some time to ramp up once he is healthy. Exceptions are sometimes made for guys recovering from UCL surgery but rehab assignments for pitchers are usually capped at 30 days.
Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images
Tigers Release Austin Slater
The Tigers have released outfielder Austin Slater, according to several Tigers beat writers (including the Detroit Free Press’ Evan Petzold). Slater was in camp on a minor league contract, and as an Article XX(B) free agent, the first of his three opt-out clauses fell this weekend. As per Petzold, Slater exercised his opt-out, and the Tigers chose to part ways with the outfielder rather than add him to the 40-man roster.
It is possible Slater could soon re-sign with Detroit, if this release was something of a handshake agreement just to get past the first Article XX(B) deadline. Or, it might be that the Tigers are willing to let Slater go since they’re satisfied with their right-handed hitting depth options. While a Detroit lineup heavy in left-handed bats could get another lefty swinger if top prospect Kevin McGonigle makes the team, the Tigers have Matt Vierling, Jahmai Jones, and Javier Baez set for platoon or bench duty as right-handed hitters.
Slater is entering his age-33 season, and now looking for a job in what would be his tenth MLB season. The majority of that time was spent with San Francisco, but Slater has since bounced around since the Giants dealt him to the Reds in July 2024. Slater has seen time in the bigs with the Giants, Reds, Orioles, White Sox, and Yankees over the last two seasons, with only a .212/.299/.314 slash line to show for 372 plate appearances. Injuries also impacted his 2025 season, as Slater spent time on the injured list with both a meniscus tear in his right knee and a left hamstring strain.
The chances of a potential reunion with Slater and the Tigers may hinge on how much interest Slater can find on the open market. Depending on other roster cuts or perhaps an injury or two, Slater might be able to find another job (and a clearer path to big league playing time) on another team. If nothing materializes after he tests the market, Slater could be open to returning to Detroit’s farm system.