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Tigers Option Matt Manning, Reinstate Derek Holland From Injured List

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The Tigers optioned right-hander Matt Manning to Triple-A after last night’s ballgame, the team announced. The move makes room for Derek Holland, who will be reinstated from the 10-day injured list.

Manning has been one of the Tigers’ top prospects since he was taken ninth overall in the 2016 draft. Along with Casey Mize and Tarik Skubal, Manning figures heavily into the Tigers’ rebuilding strategy. The Tigers have long been a pitching forward organization, of course, but it’s only now that all three of their highly-touted arms have begun to arrive in Motor City. With five starts this season, Manning is the last of the three to make his Major League debut.

Like Mize and Skubal, Manning’s early results have been relatively underwhelming. The 23-year-old has a 6.95 ERA/5.36 FIP through 22 innings with a solid 7.9 percent walk rate, but subpar 8.9 percent strikeout rate. It’s early to judge Manning, of course, and he put forth arguably his best effort yet on Friday night against the Twins, tossing five innings and yielding two earned runs on two hits and three walks while striking out three. The move makes sense at this juncture, however, as the Tigers won’t need a fifth starter for the foreseeable future with the All-Star break beginning Monday.

Thus far, Manning has presented a relatively diverse arsenal, fronted by 93.3 mph four-seamer, thrown 62.0 percent of the time. He compliments the heater primarily with a change-up to lefties and a slider to righties, occasionally mixing in a change-of-pace, looping curveball, clocking in at 78.3 mph.

The slider-forward approach is one that we’ve seen many Tigers’ hurlers take this season, with Mize and Skubal also showing increased reliance on the slider, as noted here and here by Timothy Jackson of Baseball Prospectus. Ace Spencer Turnbull, too, had increased his slider usage from 20.9 percent to 24.5 percent this year prior to being injured.

A flyball-heavy approach has left Manning somewhat prone to the long ball this season, especially in Triple-A  where he was tagged with a 27.5 percent home-run-to-fly-ball rate. While that number is astronomically high and sure to regress to the mean somewhat, he was tagged for three more home runs in the Majors, amounting to a 3.0 percent home run rate – right around the league-average rate.

As for the 34-year-old Holland, he will rejoin the Tigers bullpen. The veteran southpaw has 14 appearances on the season totaling 15 innings of work with a unsightly 9.60 ERA. ERA indicators — 4.01 SIERA, 4.04 FIP — are far more complimentary of Holland’s contribution, however. The difference could be due to a .426 BABIP that’s well above both the league-wide average of .297 and his own career average mark of .299.

Holland has been a touch wild, with an 11.5 percent walk rate, despite a career best 74.4 percent first pitch strike percentage. To his credit, as he’s gotten ahead in counts, Holland has struck out 25.6 percent of batters, a strong mark just above the league average for relievers.

Holland has been on the injured list since June 10th with shoulder inflammation. It was his second stint on the IL so far this season. Formerly of the Rangers, White Sox, Cubs, Giants and Pirates, the journeyman joined the Tigers on a minor league deal this offseason and made the team out of spring training.

Tigers Make Four Roster Moves

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The Tigers made a quartet of roster moves today, including the reinstatement of utilityman Niko Goodrum from the 10-day injured list.  Goodrum will replace Daz Cameron, who is headed to the 10-day IL (retroactive to July 5) due to a right toe sprain.  Left-hander Ian Krol will join the roster after his contract was selected from Triple-A, and righty Spencer Turnbull was moved to the 60-day IL to accommodate Krol on the 40-man roster.

Turnbull’s situation appears somewhat ominous, as Tigers manager A.J. Hinch told The Detroit News’ Chris McCosky and other reporters that the right-hander had a setback in his recovery from a forearm strain.  That injury was initially thought to be a relatively minor muscular issue rather than a structural problem within Turnbull’s forearm, but he will now undergo further examination.  The 60-day IL timeframe begins from the start of Turnbull’s first placement on the 10-day IL, though while he’ll be able to return to Detroit’s rotation in early August, even that target date seems fluid if a more serious forearm problem is detected.

Goodrum hit the injured list on June 19 due to a tendon injury within his finger, which seemed concerning enough that Hinch said Goodrum was planning to consult with several hand specialists.  Fortunately, Goodrum has been able to return to the lineup after only a few weeks, and he will now return in his old utilityman role, Hinch said.  Goodrum has mostly worked as the Tigers’ starting shortstop for the last two seasons, and the more regular usage led to a marked dropoff in his production at the plate after roughly league-average numbers in 2018-19.

Krol hasn’t pitched in the majors since a single appearance with the Angels during the 2018 season, as the southpaw bounced around on minor league contracts with the Mets, Reds, Twins, and Tigers (plus a stint in independent ball last season) before finally getting another crack at the big leagues this season.  Krol has a 4.50 ERA over 190 career MLB innings from 2013-18, which included 60 2/3 innings in a prior stint with Detroit in 2014-15.

Chip Hale Leaves Tigers For Head Coaching Position At University Of Arizona

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Tigers third base coach Chip Hale is leaving his position to accept a job as head coach at the University of Arizona, per an announcement from the school’s baseball department. Michael Lev of the Arizona Daily Star tweeted this morning that there were “strong indications” Hale would be the program’s new head coach.

This, rather remarkably, is the second time in the past month that the Tigers have lost a member of their Major League staff to a college program. Assistant hitting coach Jose Cruz Jr. accepted a job as the head coach at Rice University back on June 9.

Both Hale and Cruz were in their first season as members of AJ Hinch’s coaching staff in Detroit. Hinch, of course, is also in his first year as Tigers skipper after serving his suspension on the heels of the Astros’ 2017 sign-stealing scandal. Prior to taking his now-former post with the Tigers, Hale was the bench coach for the 2019 World Series champion Nationals. He also spent two years as the D-backs’ manager and has served as a bench coach and/or third base coach with the D-backs, Mets and Athletics.

Hale, 56, played his college ball at Arizona and was a 17th-round selection of the Twins back in the 1987 draft. He spent parts of seven seasons in the Majors (six with Minnesota, one with the Dodgers), serving as a utility infielder and batting .277/.346/.363 in 333 MLB games.

“I am very honored and excited to be the new head baseball coach at the University of Arizona,” Hale said in a statement released by the Wildcats. “We will work tirelessly to build on the success that has been established here and continue to coach and develop our Wildcats to be champions on the field and in the classroom. With the help and support of the University of Arizona and the Wildcat Family, we plan on making many trips to Omaha!”

The Tigers have yet to announce who will be taking over as their new third base coach in the wake of Hale’s departure.

AL Notes: Blue Jays, Jansen, Moreno, Mariners, White, Mize, Skubal

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Before this afternoon’s game against the Rays, the Blue Jays activated catcher Danny Jansen from the injured list and optioned Riley Adams to Triple-A. Jansen will be limited to scripted usage in the near-term, as manager Charlie Montoyo is committed to riding the hot hand of Reese McGuire for now, per Scott Mitchell of TSN Sports (via Twitter). McGuire was designated for assignment at the start of the season, and he’d have to be waived again for Toronto to take him off the active roster. He’s not going anywhere for now, however, not while he continues to hit as he has, with a .302/.350/.406 triple slash line through 104 plate appearances. That means Alejandro Kirk will remain in Triple-A for the time being, where he is currently on a rehab assignment.

More from Toronto and the rest of the American League:

  • In other Blue Jays catching news, top prospect Gabriel Moreno underwent surgery on his fractured right thumb, as first reported by Future Blue Jays (and confirmed by Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet). There’s no specific timetable on his return, but the young backstop will be out for multiple weeks. Moreno entered the season as one of the top catching prospects in the minors, and he’s taken his stock to another level with Double-A New Hampshire. Despite only being 21 years old, Moreno has thrived at the minors’ second-highest level, hitting .373/.441/.651 with eight homers across 145 plate appearances.
  • The Mariners don’t appear particularly close to returns from either of a pair of injured regulars. There’s still no timetable on center fielder Kyle Lewis, who is recovering from a meniscus tear in his right knee, relays Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times (Twitter links). Lewis isn’t eligible to return from the 60-day injured list until early August, but it doesn’t seem feasible to expect him back at that point given the vague outlook on his injury. First baseman Evan White, meanwhile, “isn’t close” to even resuming baseball activities after receiving a cortisone shot in his ailing left hip, per Divish. White is eligible to return from the 60-day IL in a little over a week, but he’s obviously going to need significantly more time than that to recover.
  • The Tigers are planning to be more judicious with Casey Mize’s and Tarik Skubal’s in-start workloads in the coming weeks, writes Evan Woodbery of MLive. Detroit isn’t planning to shut down either of their prized young hurlers entirely; instead, there’ll be pre-planned quick hooks during some starts to keep their innings totals in check. The process already began during Mize’s start yesterday, as manager A.J. Hinch lifted the 24-year-old after three innings and 56 pitches against the White Sox. Mize, who threw 28 1/3 innings during last year’s shortened season, is up to 91 1/3 frames in 2021. Skubal tossed 32 innings in 2020 and is up to 82 2/3 this season after today’s five-inning outing against Chicago.

Roster Notes: Mariners, Tigers, Indians, Rockies, Mets

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The Mariners have reinstated Marco Gonzales from the paternity list, the team announced. Donovan Walton has been optioned to Triple-A to create the roster spot. Gonzalez was gone for just a couple of days, and he’ll step right back into his rotation spot. Walton, meanwhile, has appeared in 21 games and posted a .205/.254/.365 line.

Let’s make the rounds and check in on some roster moves and injury updates…

  • The Tigers and Indians will play a doubleheader today, meaning both teams get to add a 27th man for the day. The Indians have brought up infielder Owen Miller, per Mandy Bell (via Twitter). The Tigers, meanwhile, will add Derek Hill, who only recently has been healthy enough to return from the injured list.
  • Ryan Castellani has cleared waivers and been assigned outright to Triple-A, the Rockies announced. Castellani made one start for the Rockies this year, tossing 3 1/3 innings and allowing two earned runs. The 25-year-old will look to put together more productive outings in Triple-A where he owns a 7.82 ERA across 35 2/3 innings.
  • Mets infielders Jonathan Villar and J.D. Davis will both begin rehab assignments with the Syracuse Mets today, tweets Tim Britton of The Athletic. What began as a hand contusion has ended up keeping Davis out for all but 14 games of the season thus far. Villar filled in ably for much of the year, but he, too, went down with a calf strain. Both now appear to be on the mend.

Quick Hits: Sticky Stuff Crackdown, Cardinals, Verlander

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As we approach trade season, teams are burdened with the overwhelming task of re-evaluating the league in the wake of the crackdown on illegal substances. Broad strokes, evaluators will be more trusting of pitchers who rely on two-seamers and sinkers, writes ESPN’s Buster Olney. Unsurprisingly, those pitchers who have taken to the recent trend of high-velocity heaters up in the zone and wicked curveballs diving away will be watched more closely. The next month will obviously provide important data points for potential buyers, but looking at how players have struggled and/or succeeded in the first few months of the year will also be heavily scrutinized by teams looking to find players on the rebound. In other MLB news….

  • The Cardinals are doing their best to patch together a rotation in the wake of Jack Flaherty’s extended absence, but they’re also exploring their options outside the organization. They have reached out to the Twins about Jose Berrios and the Rangers for Kyle Gibson, but the price for Berrios was “high,” and presumably, the same will be true of Gibson, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. With very few difference-making arms likely to be available, Berrios and Gibson are sure to be in high demand. President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak spoke of the Cardinals’ desire to win, but “not at the cost of our future.” While that’s a reasonable mode of thinking, such a mind-set isn’t likely to procure an arm like Berrios or Gibson.
  • Justin Verlander hasn’t rule out the possibility of returning to the Detroit Tigers before his career runs out, per Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press. Of course, Verlander needs to get healthy first. He will be a free agent at the end of the season, however, free to pursue a return to Detroit, should that be his desire. Verlander played in Detroit for 13 seasons. He ranks 2nd in Tigers’ history for rWAR among pitchers, 2.7 rWAR behind Hal Newhouser. He is fifth in Tigers’ history in games started with 380 and 2nd in total strikeouts with 2,373.

Tigers Place Michael Fulmer On 10-Day Injured List

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The Tigers placed right-hander Michael Fulmer on the 10-day injured list due to a right cervical spine strain.  Left-hander Miguel Del Pozo was called up from Triple-A Toledo to take Fulmer’s spot on the active roster.  Despite the rather ominous-sounding official injury designation, “the normal term is his neck is bothering him,” manager A.J. Hinch told The Detroit News’ Chris McCosky and other reporters.  Fulmer felt the injury following yesterday’s outing against the Astros, which saw the righty allow three runs on two homers over an inning of work.

While the issue doesn’t sound overly serious, it does represent at least 10 fewer days for opposing scouts and front offices to gauge Fulmer’s value as a trade candidate.  The 2016 AL Rookie Of The Year has reinvented himself as a reliever coming off Tommy John surgery in 2019 and some tough results as a starter in 2020, and Fulmer has a 3.62 ERA, 29.66% strikeout rate, and 5.08% walk rate in 27 1/3 innings out of the bullpen this season.  He has also shown some quality in high-leverage situations, racking up six saves as part of Detroit’s closer committee.

With Fulmer still under control through one final arbitration year in 2022, he makes for an interesting trade chip for the Tigers to shop prior to July 30, assuming that he is able to return from the IL in good condition.  An enterprising team could acquire Fulmer as bullpen help for this season, and then perhaps consider stretching him out next spring for one last crack at starting pitching, with a return to the relief corps available as a fallback option.

The transaction also creates another opportunity for Del Pozo, who didn’t get a chance to pitch when he was briefly called up to the Tigers earlier this month.  Del Pozo signed a minor league deal with Detroit last winter, and over 13 innings with the Angels and Pirates in 2019-20, the southpaw issued 16 walks and posted a 12.46 ERA.  At Triple-A Toledo this season, however, Del Pozo has a 1.02 ERA over 17 2/3 innings, with a 35.4% strikeout rate and (perhaps most importantly) a much more palatable 9.23% walk rate.

Tigers Option Isaac Paredes, Keep Zack Short On Active Roster

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After splitting today’s doubleheader with the Astros, the Tigers announced that they are keeping 27th man Zack Short on the active roster and optioning Isaac Paredes to Triple-A. Paredes, 22, was given an opportunity to fill in for Niko Goodrum when the latter was placed on the injured list.

With a 17.1 percent walk rate and 14.3 percent strikeout rate in a small sample of 35 plate appearances, Paredes has shown a solid, contact-first approach. The bottom line results haven’t been there yet, however, as he slashed .143/.286/.321 in that time. His .130 BABIP suggests some poor luck, and his batted ball numbers (such as exit velocity, hard-hit percentage, and barrel rate) are a touch below average. Paredes will head back to the minors with hopes of producing more solid contact in regular playing time at Toledo.

Short, 26, is having a stellar season at the plate, both in Triple-A (.132 wRC+ in 124 plate appearances) and with the parent club (143 wRC+ in 16 plate appearances). The former Cubs’ farmhand can play all over the infield while filling Paredes’ role as a right-handed complement to switch-hitting infielders Jeimer Candelario and Willi Castro. Short may not have the long-term promise that Paredes does, but he has impressed in short-run samples this season, earning himself an opportunity.

Moving to the outfield, the Tigers have another roster decision coming soon, writes Evan Woodbery of Mlive.com. With Derek Hill and Victor Reyes close to returning from the injured list, the Tigers will have a surplus of outfielders. The most obvious move would be to activate Hill and option Reyes back to Triple-A, but Woodbery wonders whether Detroit might find this the right time to cut ties with Nomar Mazara.

Though still just 26, Mazara is seemingly running out of chances to prove himself a Major League hitter. After struggling through the shortened season with the White Sox, Mazara has put up similar production this year. Slashing .201/.273/.317 through 154 plate appearances, Mazara doesn’t have any trade value, and on a one-year, $1.75MM contract, he can be cut loose without significant financial consequence.

If the Tigers don’t see Mazara as a part of their future, there’s certainly some logic to allocating his playing time elsewhere. The Tigers can pull from a pool of outfielders that includes Robbie Grossman, Akil Baddoo, Daz Cameron, Hill, Reyes, JaCoby Jones, Christin Stewart, Jacob Robson. Infielders Castro and Goodrum (when he returns from the injured list) are also capable of playing the outfield.

2021 Amateur Draft Rumors: Pirates, Mayer, Orioles, Mock Drafts

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The 2021 amateur draft begins on July 11, and with the later date comes more time for analysis, predictions, smokescreens, rumors, and possible major changes up and down teams’ draft boards.  With this in mind, there is naturally quite a bit of uncertainty over which prospects will land with which teams, as a real consensus has yet to develop in almost every single spot in the first round.

Baseball America’s Carlos Collazo, The Athletic’s Keith Law, MLB Pipeline’s Jim Callis, and ESPN.com’s Kiley McDaniel have all published new mock drafts within the last week, and one constant emerged between the four pundits — the Pirates taking California high school shortstop Marcelo Mayer with the first overall (1-1) pick.  It isn’t a sure thing by any means, however, as the Pirates are said to be focused “only on position players at this point,” according to Law, so such candidates as Louisville catcher Henry Davis (Callis cites Davis as Pittsburgh’s apparent “Plan B”) or high school shortstops Jordan Lawlar and Khalil Watson could still be in the mix.  Collazo also believes the Pirates are considering Vanderbilt right-hander Jack Leiter.

The Pirates’ $14,394,000 draft bonus pool is the highest of any team, and they plan to maximize value by drafting a player at 1-1 who is thought to be less willing to insist on the full slot price $8,415,300 slot price for the first overall pick.  “I think that’s what Pittsburgh’s pick will come down to: taking the one that is clearly cheaper to sign,” McDaniel writes, which certainly isn’t welcome news to Pirates fans long frustrated by the team’s unwillingness to spend.

That being said, many teams have deployed the strategy of spreading around their draft bonus money in the past.  The most famous example was the Astros’ pick of Carlos Correa (seen as a slight reach at the time) first overall in 2012, and Houston signed Correa to a below-slot bonus and then using that saved money to sign 41st-overall pick Lance McCullers Jr. to an above-slot deal.  It also isn’t like Mayer would be a controversial choice at 1-1, considering that MLB Pipeline ranks him first on their top 250 draft prospects list, and McDaniel’s most recent prospect ranking has Mayer second overall.

While Mayer looks like the favorite at the moment, it is quite possible the perceived price tags could still fluctuate in the next three weeks.  For instance, the three pundits all note that the Tigers love Mayer, so he isn’t likely to fall beyond Detroit at the third overall pick if the Pirates and Rangers (who pick second) both pass.  As McDaniel observes, this impacts Mayer’s leverage in potential negotiations with the Pirates, since the young shortstop can be reasonably certain of at least landing a bonus in range of the $7,221,200 slot price attached to the third overall pick.

There is no consensus whatsoever in the mock drafts after a hypothetical Pirates/Mayer 1-1 pick, so if Pittsburgh went in another direction, the draft boards would be entirely blown up.  To give you an idea of the wide range of scenarios, here is the list of players cited by Callis, Collazo, Law and McDaniel as possibilities for each team drafting in the top eight, along with which pundit selected which prospect for each top-eight team in their mock draft.

  • 1. Pirates: Mayer (Callis/Collazo/Law/McDaniel), Henry Davis, Jordan Lawlar, Khalil Watson, Jack Leiter
  • 2. Rangers: Leiter (Callis), Lawlar (Collazo/Law), Davis (McDaniel), Kumar Rocker, Mayer, Watson….in a contrast to the other three pundits, Callis writes that Texas has Lawlar and Davis “on the back burner” behind Watson, Mayer, and Leiter.  “Watson has real heat at this spot,” Collazo writes.
  • 3. Tigers: Mayer, Jackson Jobe (Callis/Collazo), Leiter (Law), Brady House (McDaniel), Lawlar, Watson, possibly Rocker “as a big maybe” in Collazo’s words
  • 4. Red Sox: Lawlar (Callis), Davis (Law), Leiter (Collazo/McDaniel)….Collazo doesn’t believe Leiter would fall beyond Boston at fourth overall,
  • 5. Orioles: Davis (Callis), Colton Cowser (Law), Watson (Collazo/McDaniel), House, Harry Ford, either of Mayer/Lawler if they happened to fall….Baltimore is widely expected to take a college position player at an under-slot price, as a way of keeping money in reserve to go over-slot on other picks.
  • 6. Diamondbacks: Rocker (Callis), Davis (Collazo), Watson (Law), Lawlor (McDaniel), Jobe
  • 7. Royals: Watson (Callis), Rocker (Collazo/Law/McDaniel)….this is another minor consensus area, as Law and McDaniel believe that Rocker isn’t likely to fall beyond Kansas City.  “The market for Rocker is weirdly specific,” Law writes, citing the Rangers, Red Sox, Royals, Nationals, and Mets as perhaps the only true interested parties.  Of course, Callis projected the D’Backs to take Rocker at sixth overall, so Arizona could also be a candidate for the Vanderbilt righty.
  • 8. Rockies: House (Callis/Collazo/Law), Benny Montgomery (McDaniel), Jobe

All four mock drafts are well worth reading in full, to get a sense of what the 29 teams with first-round picks are generally targeting this year or have historically looked for in past drafts.  (The Astros aren’t included, as they lost their first-rounder as part of their punishment for the sign-stealing scandal.)

For more on the prospects themselves, you can check out the aforementioned lists from McDaniel and MLB Pipeline, Baseball America’s top 500 list, or some of the individual writeups from the Sports Info Solutions blog on such top college players as Florida outfielder Jud Fabian, Wake Forest right-hander Ryan Cusick, UCLA shortstop Matt McClain, and Mississippi right-hander Gunnar Hoglund.

Twins Claim Beau Burrows From Tigers

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The Twins announced Tuesday that they’ve claimed righty Beau Burrows off waivers from the Tigers, who’d previously designated the former first-rounder for assignment. He’ll report to Triple-A St. Paul.

Burrows, 24, was the No. 22 overall pick back in 2015 and long rated as one of the Tigers’ better prospects, but he’s struggled both in the upper minors and in his brief time with the MLB club. In 8 1/3 innings with the Tigers, he’s surrendered eight runs on 10 hits and three walks with six strikeouts. Burrows’ work in Triple-A hasn’t yielded better results, as he’s been tagged for a 5.66 ERA in 82 2/3 frames.

That said, Burrows isn’t terribly far removed from ranking as the game’s No. 77 prospect in the estimation of Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com back in 2018. He’s battled shoulder and biceps injuries over the years and was limited to just 74 innings during his last full season in 2019. But Burrows sat 94.5 mph with his fastball in his brief MLB time this year and was at 93.7 mph last year. His fastball draws average or better reviews in scouting reports, but Burrows has had trouble settling on and consistently executing his mix of secondary pitches. He’s at times used a changeup, curveball, slider and cutter, but none has settled in as a consistently above-average offering to this point.

The Twins have been hit hard by injuries so far in 2021 and had an open spot on the 40-man roster, so there’s little harm in taking what amounts to a free look at a once-promising prospect. Burrows can be optioned for the remainder of the 2021 season and also has one additional minor league option year remaining beyond the current campaign.

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