Tigers Release Francisco Rodriguez

The Tigers announced today that they have released veteran righty Francisco Rodriguez. He’ll be replaced on the active roster by righty Bruce Rondon.

Detroit also announced that it has selected the contract of outfielder Matt Den Dekker. He’ll take the spot of Alex Presley, who’s headed to the 7-day concussion DL.

Rodriguez, now 35, was acquired from the Brewers before the 2016 season with one more year and an option left on his free-agent contract. He had shown signs of deterioration last year, but still gave the Tigers 58 1/3 innings of 3.24 ERA ball. That showing led the Tigers to pick up the extra year at $6MM, rather than spending $2MM on a buyout.

After years of mostly steady production, the veteran righty has fallen off badly thus far in 2017. Over 25 1/3 innings, he owns an unsightly 7.82 ERA with 8.2 K/9 and 3.9 BB/9. Opposing hitters are driving home runs at a rate of more than one per every three innings, offering at pitches outside of the zone just 20% of the time (lowest in K-Rod’s career), and hitting grounders at only a 30.1% clip.

While the signs aren’t promising, that’s not to say other organizations won’t at least take a look at Rodriguez. He has a lifetime 2.86 ERA, was dominant as recently as 2015, and even in his diminished state has managed a 9.6% swinging-strike rate — though that’s well off his 12.4% career average. At this point, though, it seems likely that Rodriguez will need to spend some time at Triple-A working out the kinks before being asked to face major leaguers.