- Tigers youngster Sawyer Gipson-Long once appeared likely to compete with other youngsters such as Casey Mize, Reese Olson, and Matt Manning for a role in the club’s starting rotation alongside Tarik Skubal, Jack Flaherty, and Kenta Maeda. Unfortunately for Gipson-Long, he’s been nursing a left groin strain throughout camp that, as noted by Evan Woodbery of the Detroit Free Press, will lead to him opening the season on the injured list. Gipson-Long, who the club acquired at the 2022 trade deadline in exchange for right-hander Michael Fulmer, made his big league debut late in the season last year and impressed during four starts in the majors. In 20 innings of work, the right-hander posted a 2.70 ERA with a 3.16 FIP while striking out an excellent 31.7% of batters faced. With Mize and Olson now set to start the season in the rotation, Gipson-Long figures to head to Triple-A Toledo once healthy, where he’ll provide Detroit with quality rotation depth alongside Matt Manning and wait for an opportunity in the big leagues.
Tigers Rumors
Casey Mize, Reese Olson Win Rotation Spots With Tigers; Matt Manning Optioned To Triple-A
The Tigers announced Friday that they’ve optioned right-hander Matt Manning to Triple-A Toledo. That puts an end to the three-horse race for the final two spots in manager AJ Hinch’s rotation. Right-handers Casey Mize and Reese Olson will open the season on the starting staff behind lefty Tarik Skubal and righties Kenta Maeda and Jack Flaherty. Detroit also reassigned non-roster right-hander Drew Anderson to minor league camp.
Detroit’s talented trio of right-handers didn’t make the decision easy — at least not in terms of spring results. Each of Mize, Olson and Manning pitched between 14 2/3 innings and 16 innings this spring, and none posted an ERA north of Olson’s 3.68. Olson posted the best blend of strikeout and walk rates in camp (22.6% and 6.5%, respectively). Mize notched the lowest ERA but the highest walk rate. Manning was perhaps done in by the six home runs he yielded in 16 innings.
While Manning won’t open the season in the rotation, it’s likely that he, Mize and Olson will all make their share of starts in Detroit this season. Mize is in his first full season back from Tommy John surgery and back surgery. He’ll be on an innings limit of some degree. Injuries in the rotation are also a virtual inevitability. Even with Manning opening the year in Toledo, it wouldn’t be a shock to see him start 15-plus games in the bigs.
Mize, 27 in May, was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 draft. He showed plenty of promise in 2021, tossing 150 1/3 innings of 3.71 ERA ball with a below-average 19.3% strikeout rate but a strong 6.7% walk rate and similarly encouraging 48.1% ground-ball rate. That looked to set the stage for Mize to seize a long-term spot in the Detroit rotation, but he unfortunately suffered a UCL tear early in the 2022 season. He wound up undergoing Tommy John surgery and, while he was rehabbing that procedure, underwent surgery to address a nagging back issue that had been plaguing him for some time. He’s still under club control for three seasons.
Olson, 24, made his big league debut with Detroit last season and quickly impressed. In his first 103 2/3 MLB frames, he turned in a 3.99 ERA with average or better strikeout (24.4%), walk (7.8%) and ground-ball (42.8%) rates. Olson supported those rates with solid marks in swinging-strike and opponents’ chase rates as well. The Tigers control him all the way through 2029.
The 26-year-old Manning was Detroit’s first-round pick back in 2016. He’s pitched in parts of three big league seasons, logging a 4.37 ERA with a 16.1% strikeout rate, 7.8% walk rate and 41.6% grounder rate. Manning hasn’t missed bats at the levels expected throughout his time as a top-ranked prospect, but he’s shown solid command and kept the ball in the yard nicely to this point in his career. He’s also had frequent bad luck with injuries, including a 2023 season in which he incredibly broke his foot on two separate occasions upon being struck by a comeback line-drive. He’s under club control through 2027 and will remain a notable piece of the Tigers’ rotation puzzle in the foreseeable future, even if he starts this season out in Toledo.
Keston Hiura Won’t Make Tigers, Has Upward Mobility Clause
4:30pm: Petzold tweets that the upward mobility clause dates are March 26, June 1 and August 1.
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.
Offseason In Review: Detroit Tigers
The Tigers had a fairly encouraging season last year and spent the offseason bolstering the depth with various mid-tier acquisitions.
Major League Signings
- RHP Kenta Maeda: Two years, $24MM
- RHP Jack Flaherty: One year, $14MM
- LHP Andrew Chafin: One year, $4.75MM (including buyout of 2025 club option)
- RHP Shelby Miller: One year, $3MM (including buyout of 2025 club option)
- IF Gio Urshela: One year, $1.5MM
2024 spending: $37.25MM
Total spending: $47.25MM
Option Decisions
- LHP Eduardo Rodríguez opted out with three years and $49MM remaining on his deal
- SS Javier Báez declined to opt out with four years and $98MM remaining on his deal
- Team declined $30MM option on 1B Miguel Cabrera in favor of $8MM buyout
- Exercised $11.5MM club option on OF Mark Canha instead of $2MM buyout
- Exercised $3.5MM club option on C Carson Kelly
Trades And Claims
- Acquired OF Mark Canha from Brewers for RHP Blake Holub
- Claimed RHP Devin Sweet off waivers from Mariners (later outrighted off 40-man)
- Traded IF Tyler Nevin to Orioles for cash considerations
- Claimed LHP Kolton Ingram off waivers from Angels (later lost on waivers to Mets)
- Traded IF Nick Maton to Orioles for cash considerations
- Acquired LHP Blake Dickerson from Padres for international bonus pool space
- Claimed OF TJ Hopkins off waivers from Giants (later outrighted off 40-man)
- Claimed IF Buddy Kennedy off waivers from Cardinals
- Traded IF Andre Lipcius to Dodgers for cash considerations
Notable Minor League Signings
- Bligh Madris, Garrett Hill, Ryan Vilade, Anthony Bemboom, Brenan Hanifee, Freddy Pacheco, Trey Wingenter, Andrew Vasquez, Drew Anderson, Keston Hiura
Extensions
- IF Colt Keith: Six years, $28.6425MM (plus three club options for 2030-32)
Notable Losses
- Eduardo Rodríguez, Matthew Boyd, José Cisnero, Spencer Turnbull (non-tendered), Austin Meadows (non-tendered), Zack Short, Tyler Alexander, Tyler Nevin, Nick Maton, Andre Lipcius
The Tigers had a somewhat encouraging season in 2023, with various players either returning to health or taking a step forward in terms of performance. They were never really in contention, but did manage to go 39-34 after the All-Star break and sneak into second place in the American League Central.
That vaguely echoed the club’s 2021 campaign, where they went 37-34 after the break and felt like they had a chance of coming out of their rebuild. They spent big on Javier Báez and Eduardo Rodríguez that winter but the 2022 campaign turned into a disaster. General manager Al Avila was fired in August and the Tigers eventually finished 66-96.
Avila was eventually replaced as the club’s top decision maker when Scott Harris was hired as president of baseball operations. Harris seemed leery of making the same mistake as Avila and didn’t want to overplay the club’s hand this winter.
“Sometimes, teams overestimate their proximity to being a team that’s right on the verge of the playoffs,” Harris said in November. “And they spend a lot of money and it doesn’t push them forward. It pushes them back.” He added that the Tigers are going in the right direction but “can’t do anything in free agency or in trades that sets us back. If we find an opportunity that’s going to push us forward and we’re confident of that, we’re going to do it.”
That threw some cold water on the Tigers being big players in free agency, though they could have done so if they wanted. Miguel Cabrera’s contract finally reached its end, which freed up a lot of capital in the club’s budget. The Tigers went into this offseason with nothing committed beyond 2024 except for the Báez deal. That deal pays him salaries of $25MM or $24MM for the remaining four years, which isn’t nothing.
But the club has run payrolls as high as $200MM in the past, as their last competitive window was shutting down, as shown at Cot’s Baseball Contracts. That spending was under owner Mike Ilitch, who passed away in 2017. His son Chris has been calling the shots since then and hasn’t had the budget as high, but the club has also been rebuilding in that time and hasn’t had the need to spend wildly. With some encouraging developments on the roster and Cabrera’s deal gone, it was at least possible to dream on the club coming out firing.
That made it at least somewhat plausible when the club was connected to Yoshinobu Yamamoto early in the winter. But the comments from Harris pointed to a more measured offseason, which is what eventually transpired.
Yamamoto went to the Dodgers but the Tigers did make a couple of additions to their rotation. Kenta Maeda was added via a modest two-year, $24MM pact. It might not be the most exciting signing, with a cynic able to point to the facts that Maeda is about to turn 36, missed all of 2022 due to internal brace surgery and then posted a middling 4.23 ERA in 2023.
But there’s also a more optimistic lens through which to view the deal. Maeda went on the injured list due to a triceps strain in late April last year, right after getting shelled by the Yankees, allowing 10 earned runs in three innings. That poor performance could perhaps have been a byproduct of his injury, as he finished quite strong after he recovered. He was activated off the IL in June and put up a 3.36 ERA the rest of the way, pairing an excellent 29% strikeout rate with a strong 7% walk rate.
The Tigers also added Jack Flaherty on a one-year “prove it” deal. Flaherty was one of the best pitchers in league in 2019 but struggled with his health over the three following campaigns. He was finally healthy again in 2023 but finished the year with a 4.99 ERA.
If Flaherty can take a step forward in terms of results now that he’s further removed from his health troubles, the Tigers will be the beneficiary. They can either trade him at the deadline or give him a qualifying offer at season’s end, depending on how things play out.
The Maeda and Flaherty deals perhaps aren’t as exciting as a major splash would have been, but they raise the floor of the rotation. Perhaps more importantly, they do little to hurt the club in the future. Flaherty’s deal is just for one year while Maeda’s is only two, and slightly frontloaded. He’ll made $14MM this year and just $10MM in 2025, meaning he’ll do little to hamper any spending the club may try next winter.
The approach was similar with other parts of the roster. The club has some intriguing outfielders in Riley Greene, Parker Meadows, Kerry Carpenter and Akil Baddoo. But they are all fairly inexperienced and all happen to hit from the left side. The Tigers decided to complement that group by acquiring Mark Canha from the Brewers.
Canha had actually finished the final guaranteed year of his contract, but there was an $11.5MM club option with a $2MM buyout. The Tigers sent a modest return, minor league reliever Blake Holub, in order to get Canha at that reasonable price point. He’ll provide their young outfielders with a veteran presence and give the club a solid right-handed-hitting veteran, while not committing them to anything beyond this year.
That approach carried to the infield as well, with the Tigers having some uncertainty at both second base and third base. They had internal options for those spots with guys like Zach McKinstry, Andy Ibañez and Matt Vierling on the roster, though the guys in that group are arguably best suited to multi-positional part-time roles. They also had prospects like Colt Keith, Jace Jung and Justyn-Henry Malloy, though none had reached the majors by the end of 2023 and Malloy was likely slated for a move to the outfield due to his subpar infield defense.
The club added to this group by making a late signing of third baseman, Gio Urshela, who lingered on the open market well into February. The Tigers were able to get him to put pen to paper for just $1.5MM. He’s coming off an injury-marred season with the Angels but he’ll be a bargain if he can get back to health and the kind of form he showed with the Yankees and Twins.
As for second base, the club signalled its intentions there by signing Keith to a six-year extension with three club options as well. It was a remarkable show of faith in a player who has yet to make his major league debut, but he has continued to hit at every level he’s played. He hit .306/.380/.552 between Double-A and Triple-A last year while just 21 years old for much of the year, as he turned 22 in mid-August.
Ultimately, the club’s young players will determine the future of the franchise. Keith, Jung, Malloy, Meadows, Greene, Carpenter and Spencer Torkelson are all controlled through at least 2028. On the pitching side, Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize can still be retained through 2026 while Reese Olson, Matt Manning and Sawyer Gipson-Long are controllable beyond that. Pitching prospects like Wilmer Flores, Ty Madden and Jackson Jobe are creating some buzz despite not yet having reached the majors.
For this year, that young core will have some help from the veterans that the club brought in. Maeda and Flaherty join the rotation, Canha and Urshela on the position player side. The bullpen got a couple of veteran additions as well, with lefty Andrew Chafin and righty Shelby Miller signed to one-year deals.
If a few things break right, it’s possible to imagine the club competing this year. As mentioned, they were above .500 after the break last year and the division is arguably the weakest in the sport. The Royals were aggressive this winter but face a steep climb after losing 106 games last year. The Guardians did almost nothing this offseason. The White Sox are tearing things down. The Twins are the reigning champions in the division and are still strong overall but made some cost-cutting moves and are arguably in a weaker position than they were last year.
The Tigers will see how things go and will continue to have a fairly wide open future. The Keith extension added some more money to the long-term ledger, but they still have less than $40MM committed to each season beyond this one. As things develop, there should be plenty of opportunity to hit the gas whenever the front office decides the time is right.
One thing that would appear to be a constant in that future is the presence of manager A.J. Hinch. He and the club agreed to a long-term extension in December. The details of that new arrangement aren’t clear, but he was previously under contract through 2025, so he is now locked in beyond that. He was hired by the previous Avila regime, so this new deal acted as a sort of symbolic stamp of approval from the Harris front office, showcasing that the two sides could indeed work together while helping to avoid any conversations about future lame-duck situations.
MLBTR Podcast: Injured Pitchers, Brayan Bello’s Extension, Mookie At Shortstop And J.D. Davis
The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…
- Injuries to pitchers such as Gerrit Cole of the Yankees and Lucas Giolito of the Red Sox and the potential ripple effects (1:45)
- Red Sox sign Brayan Bello to an extension (7:10)
- Dodgers moving Mookie Betts to shortstop (10:40)
- Giants release J.D. Davis (16:10)
- Noelvi Marté of the Reds suspended for PEDs (22:50)
Plus, we answer your questions, including…
- Who had the worst offseason and why is it the Angels? (25:15)
- Fact or Fiction? The Red Sox are going to trade Masataka Yoshida. (28:50)
- Considering the amount of effort the Tigers front office has put into fielding a major league team in the past 10 years, should Tiger fans feel slighted? “They can wait” seems to be the attitude. Should Tiger fans just stop buying Little Caesars pizza and encourage their friends to buy their pizzas elsewhere? I am sure franchise owners enjoy being associated with a cheap loser. (31:20)
Check out our past episodes!
- The Giants Sign Matt Chapman, Zack Wheeler’s Extension, And Blake Snell And Jordan Montgomery Remain – listen here
- How Cody Bellinger’s Deal Affects The Other Free Agents And Why The Offseason Played Out Like This – listen here
- Finding Fits For The “Boras Four,” Which Teams Could Still Spend? And Rob Manfred In His Last Term – listen here
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
Keith Meister Discusses Pitcher Injuries
It seems as though players remain skeptical of the idea that certain breaking balls are creating an injury problem in the league, with Chris McCosky of The Detroit News noting that several Tigers pitchers seemed to hold reservations regarding the concept. Southpaw Tarik Skubal told McCosky that he believes velocity to have “more of a correlation” with injury than specific pitches, while adding that he doesn’t believe “any one thing” has led to the increase in pitcher injuries in recent years. One of the game’s most promising young lefties, Skubal was limited to just 36 starts across the past two seasons by flexor-tendon surgery. For their part, Rosenthal and Sarris note in their own article that many pitchers in the big leagues view injuries as an “occupational hazard” and are unbothered by the spiking injury rates around the game.
Dodgers Acquire Andre Lipcius From Tigers
The Tigers have traded infielder Andre Lipcius to the Dodgers in exchange for cash considerations. He had been designated for assignment by Detroit last week. The Dodgers opened up a roster spot for him by transferring left-hander Clayton Kershaw to the 60-day injured list.
Lipcius, 26 in May, will join a new organization for the first time in his career. He was selected by the Tigers in the third round of the 2019 draft and was added to their 40-man roster in November of 2022. His major league experience thus far consists of 38 plate appearances over 13 games with the Tigers last year, hitting .286/.342/.400 in that time.
During his time in the minors, he has primarily profiled as a hit-over-power utility guy. Over the past three years, he has made 1487 minor league plate appearances at various levels, walking in 13% of them while limiting his strikeouts to a 17.9% clip. He hit 36 home runs in that time and slashed a combined .264/.360/.419 for a wRC+ of 110. He hasn’t played shortstop since 2019 but has continued to play the other three infield positions, as well as getting brief looks in the outfield corners.
The Tigers bumped Lipcius off their 40-man last week when they claimed another utility infielder, Buddy Kennedy. The Dodgers had a roster spot to burn as Kershaw had shoulder surgery in the offseason and isn’t expected back until the second half of the season. They sent a bit of cash to Detroit so that they could jump the waiver claim order and add Lipcius to their roster.
Lipcius still has a couple of options and will likely be serving as a depth piece in the minors to be called upon as needed. The Dodgers have Max Muncy, Gavin Lux, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman set to be their regular infielders, with Miguel Rojas, Chris Taylor and Enrique Hernández on hand as bench options. Lipcius will join Miguel Vargas and Andy Pages as optionable depth pieces on the roster.
Tigers Claim Buddy Kennedy, Designate Andre Lipcius
The Tigers have claimed infielder Buddy Kennedy off waivers from the Cardinals, per announcements from both clubs. The Cards had designated him for assignment earlier this week. The Tigers designated infielder Andre Lipcius for assignment in a corresponding move.
Kennedy, 25, has 40 games of major league experience, all with the Diamondbacks. He has hit a mere .206/.293/.299 in his 123 major league plate appearances thus far, though that’s obviously a small sample size. But in Triple-A last year, his work was much more impressive. He walked more than he struck out, 16.8% walk rate versus a 16.3% strikeout rate, and slashed .318/.444/.481. That production was in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League but nonetheless translated to a 133 wRC+, indicating he was 33% better than league average.
The Snakes designated him for assignment in September and he has bounced to a few rosters since then. He was claimed off waivers by the Athletics towards the end of last season, then was claimed again by the Cardinals in October. That makes today his third waiver claim in the past six months.
The Tigers are likely intrigued by that minor league offense, as well as Kennedy’s positional versatility. He has played all three non-shortstop infield positions as well as a brief look in left field. He also has an option remaining, so they can keep him in Triple-A as depth if he doesn’t earn a spot on the active roster.
The Detroit infield is likely to be Gio Urshela, Javier Báez, Colt Keith and Spencer Torkelson from left to right. There’s a bit of uncertainty there as Keith has yet to make his major league debut, Urshela missed the second half of 2023 due to a pelvic fracture and Báez is coming off the worst full season of his career. Their depth/bench options include Zach McKinstry, Matt Vierling, Andy Ibañez, Ryan Kreidler, Eddys Leonard and Wenceel Pérez. Many of those guys also play the outfield so the depth chart will likely be affected by overall health of the position player mix in Detroit. Kennedy will try to earn his way up the ladder, as long as he continues to hang onto a 40-man spot.
Lipcius, 26 in May, would have been in that mix as well but he has been bounced off the roster for now. He made his major league debut last year and put up a solid line of .286/.342/.400 but in just 38 plate appearances. His 419 Triple-A appearances finished with a walk 12.4% of the time and he produced a line of .272/.363/.419, though that only translated to a 99 wRC+ in last year’s robo-ump-aided environment.
It seems the Tigers preferred Kennedy to Lipcius, so they will now have one week to work something out with the latter, either a trade or passing him through waivers. Lipcius has always drawn plenty of walks in the minors and can also line up defensively all over the diamond. He hasn’t played shortstop since 2019 but played the other three infield spots last year and the outfield corners as well. That versatility and his keen eye at the plate could garner some interest around the league, especially with a couple of option years remaining. If he were to pass through unclaimed, he would stick with the Tigers in a non-roster capacity.
Tigers Outright TJ Hopkins
TODAY: Hopkins cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A, the Tigers announced.
FEBRUARY 22: The Tigers announced that outfielder TJ Hopkins has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move for infielder Gio Urshela, who was signed to a one-year deal earlier today.
Hopkins, 27, was with the Reds last year but has been bouncing around the league in recent months. He was designated for assignment in December when Cincy signed Austin Wynns, later getting flipped to the Giants in a cash deal. He lasted a couple of months on the Giants’ roster but was designated assignment again in mid-February when that club acquired Otto López. The Tigers claimed him off waivers two days ago but he’s now received his third DFA of the offseason.
He made his major league debut last year but hit just .171/.227/.171 in 25 games. His 94-game showing in Triple-A was much more impressive as he drew walks at a 14% clip and hit 16 home runs, leading to a slash of .308/.411/.514 and a 134 wRC+. He’s mostly played left field but has experience at all three outfield slots.
He’s never really been a highly-touted prospect but it seems last year’s strong Triple-A showing is intriguing enough for several clubs to have acquired him. He still has two option years and could be a nice depth piece somewhere. The Tigers will now have one week to trade him or pass him through waivers. Based on the way his offseason has gone so far, it wouldn’t be a surprise if he landed on another roster. If he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he would stick with the Tigers as non-roster depth.
Mets Claim Kolton Ingram
The Mets have claimed left-hander Kolton Ingram off waivers from the Tigers. Left-hander David Peterson was moved to New York’s 60-day injured list to create roster space.
Ingram was designated for assignment by Detroit earlier this week, and he’ll now be joining his third organization in under a month. The Angels DFA’ed Ingram when they signed Aaron Hicks at the end of January, and the Tigers moved to claim Ingram off waivers. The southpaw was initially a 37th-round Tigers draft pick back in 2019, but his second stint in the Motor City will last only a few weeks, as he now becomes the latest in a long line of Mets bullpen acquisitions this winter.
After first being cut loose by Detroit in 2020, Ingram caught on with the Angels prior to the 2021 season and posted some very solid numbers during his three seasons in the Los Angeles farm system. The work paid off in the form of Ingram’s MLB debut last season, when he pitched in five big league games over a pair of call-ups during the course of the year. For his first 5 1/3 frames in the Show, Ingram struggled to an 8.44 ERA with five walks and two homers allowed over 30 batters faced.
Control has been an issue throughout Ingram’s minor league career, though his 10.73% walk rate has been somewhat countered by a 30.21% strikeout rate. This ability to miss bats has been developed despite the lack of a big fastball, though Ingram has worked to increase his velocity and also develop a sweeper as a plus pitch. Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press recently profiled Ingram, detailing his steps to continually retool his mechanics and approach in the aftermath of getting released in 2020.
Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns built a reputation for finding hidden-gem relief pitching during his time with the Brewers, and Stearns has been aggressive in a semi-overhaul of the bullpen during his first offseason in change of New York’s front office. Over a dozen relievers or swingmen with past Major League experienced have been acquired on either guaranteed or non-guaranteed deals this winter, as Stearns and the Mets’ pitching development staff will get to judge from a plethora of options this spring.
Peterson’s placement on the 60-day IL was expected, as he underwent hip surgery back in November. The left-hander’s recovery timeline is 6-7 months, so if all goes well, he should be back with the Mets in May or June.