The Tigers announced that they have given left-hander Hector Santiago his unconditional release. Meanwhile, southpaw Tarik Skubal has been cleared to rejoin the Tigers’ 60-man player pool and been reassigned to their alternate training site, and righty Zack Hess has been removed from their player pool.
Santiago, 32, joined the Tigers on a minor league deal last offseason after mostly working as a reliever in 2019 and combining for 33 2/3 innings of 6.68 ERA/5.89 FIP ball with the White Sox and Mets. That continued a multiyear run of subpar production in the majors for Santiago, who served primarily as a starter earlier in his career and generated solid results for for the White Sox and Angels. During his peak from 2011-15, Santiago notched a 3.55 ERA/4.54 FIP with 8.25 K/9 and 4.00 BB/9 over 532 2/3 innings.
The Tigers didn’t say why they placed Skubal on the injured list when they made the move July 10. Regardless, it’s encouraging to see one of baseball’s top pitching prospects on his way back. The 23-year-old Skubal, who ranks as MLB.com‘s 46th-best farmhand, was dominant in his first taste of Double-A action in 2019 with a 2.13 ERA/1.26 FIP and 17.43 K/9 against 3.63 BB/9 across 42 1/3 frames.
Is Hess available to any team now?
No. Since he was a COVID replacement, he doesn’t have to go through waivers, release, etc.
I believe that, unless I’m misunderstanding the rules, any player who’s removed from the 60-man player pool is still under contract and wouldn’t be subject to waivers anyway. They just also aren’t eligible to be added back to their (or any other) teams 60-man pool (unless they were to subsequently be released and signed by another team). In other words say the Tigers for some reason decided to drop Skubal from their ’60-man pool’ … they would still keep him as a player under contract, and he wouldn’t be subject to waivers or anything, he just also wouldn’t be eligible to return to the ’60-man pool’ and thus ineligible to be called up to the majors. The only way a player would be subject to waivers is if a player out of minor league options were outrighted off the (30/28/26-man) roster… or if a player on a team’s 40-man roster were outrighted off of it. Basically normal 162-game roster/waiver rules still apply… the 60-man pool is entirely separate and not subject to waivers etc.
Wouldn’t mind seeing the Red Sox take a flier on Santiago… I know it’s been several years since he’s really been a reliable starter in the majors BUT he is only 32 years old and the Red Sox desperately need SP — so if they could bring him in and somehow find a way to get him back to anywhere close to the P he was 3 years ago… he could wind up being a really valuable arm for them – considering they currently only have like 2/3 healthy starters… anyone who could pitch to even a 4.50 type ERA would be a blessing!
I don’t know what kind of game shape he is in, I can’t recall seeing him pitch in spring and I’m certain he didn’t pitch in ST 2.0. That being said, if you’re desperate for innings in the near future, he’s definitely worth the flier. The Tigers have a good problem on their hands with the number of veteran pitchers they’ve released in the last couple of days and the young guys scratching at the door.
Red Sox already picked up former White Sox starter Dylan Covey and I would not recommend adding another failed White Sox starter. trust me, our starting pitching outside of Sale and Quintana was nothing to be envious about from the 2010s
Wonder if we’ll see Skubal in the majors this year? Based on how absolutely dominant he was in AA he looks like he could potentially be ML ready. But with no real minor league games to prove himself, it might not be worth the risk and service time to call him up during this shortened season.
At this point, JOSE Santiago would make the rotation.
“Where in the world is Hector Santiago?”
Good job, gumshoes.
I liked Hector with the Angels. He’s got good stuff when he’s on his game.