The Tigers have announced a barrage of minor-league signings, most notably including a reunion with former Detroit infielder Omar Infante. Other players receiving Spring Training invites include pitchers Ruben Alaniz, William Cuevas, Logan Kensing, Dustin Molleken, as well as catcher Miguel Gonzalez.
Infante, who’ll soon turn 35, enjoyed two prior runs in the Motor City. His most recent stint came in 2012-13, with a strong final season leading him to land a four-year deal with the Royals. Things didn’t go well in Kansas City, where Infante scuffled to a .238/.269/.328 batting line over 1,179 plate appearances. He was cut loose in the middle of last year, leaving the Royals still on the hook for his $8MM salary this season.
The team also reached agreement on minors deals without a non-roster invite with a variety of other players: pitchers Johan Belisario, Endrys Briceno, Jeff Ferrell, Santiago Garrido, and Arcenio Leon along with infielders Argenis Diaz and Gustavo Nunez.
Wowzers
Infante is back, huh. I suppose if he can show he can be close to the hitter he was in 2012-2013, he could be a solid bench/depth piece
Isn’t he like 100 years old?? Lol
Many of these names have been in their system before. I like that they brought back Jeff Farrell.
Back up plan in the far-fetched scenario of Ian Kinsler being traded.
Be ready for him to barely be able to throw to first. Take a ball or 20 off the chest. Every pitcher knows how to get him out…..fastballs and sliders low and away. He can’t lay off of them….either can Salvy ugh lol
Here for stint #3
Wow, 13 players on minor league contracts. Tigers hoping 2-3 sticks.
Sure hope infante is not being brought into because aa is trading kinsler. To me, if kinsler is traded we are not competing
Likely he makes the team only if they trade Romine. I just don’t see Kinsler going anywhere. Detroit has no replacement. Then, again, they had no replacement for Maybin…
Easier to replace maybin than it is kinsler
The way Infante has been playing…..you could replace him with any HS varsity player……just sayin
Uh, … little leaguer?
Touche lol
Yeah, I think Dixon Machado probably has a much better shot of making the roster.
maybe it’s for Iglesias. Jacoby Jones place cf and you don’t trust machado maybe
Do you think Infante can play SS? Doesn’t seem like a good idea
If we trade Miguel we are not competing at all…
He’s untradeable. That contract is not going anywhere.
It can go somewhere, he’s one of the greatest hitters of all time.
Either Miguel Gonzalez is a pitcher or your link is to the wrong player.
Yeah, noticed the same thing. Should be Miguel (Antonio) Gonzalez, the obscure catcher: baseball-reference.com/players/g/gonzami04.shtml
Signed into his age 43 season? At 30 million a year, no thanks I’ll take the first three years, other than that not interested
Damn, Infante is already making $8M in 2017 and $2M in 2018. What a dumb extension by KC, like they literally said “Sure, we want to pay a 36 year old Infante $2M”. 2 million is 40 people getting $50,000 each.
His first year was a “down year” but still better than what we had. Then he just fell off the face of the earth. Shoulder problems and then laziness set it. After that, there was no turning it around. I hated the deal from the get go and would’ve rather seen Giavotella get a full opportunity to play there, which, funny as it sounds, would’ve been the better way to go. Also would’ve been nice to see Falu get the shot at manning 2nd. Always liked watching him in Omaha.