The Tigers face the potential loss of Eduardo Rodriguez, who officially opted out of his contract on Saturday. The move was entirely unsurprising with the left-hander in good position to land a much better deal than the three years and $49MM that remained.
MLB.com’s Jon Morosi tweeted shortly before Rodriguez opted out that his camp had continued discussions with the Tigers about potentially reworking his contract. At this week’s GM Meetings, Detroit president of baseball operations Scott Harris confirmed that report but seemed to downplay the chance of re-signing Rodriguez now that he has reached free agency.
The Tigers’ front office leader told reporters the club’s valuation of the pitcher is “locked in” after two seasons in the Motor City (relayed by Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free-Press). Asked whether the team would stay in contact with Rodriguez’s camp, Harris referenced rules prohibiting him from commenting on specific free agents before adding he “can wish him the best of luck in free agency.”
Should Rodriguez sign elsewhere, it stands to reason the Tigers would bring in a starter from outside the organization. Tarik Skubal looked like a top-flight starter when he returned from flexor surgery, but the rest of the rotation has a relatively brief track record at the MLB level. Reese Olson and Sawyer Gipson-Long showed promise as rookies. Matt Manning pitched to a 3.58 ERA but was limited to 15 starts by separate foot fractures. Former first overall pick Casey Mize missed the entire 2023 season recovering from June ’22 Tommy John surgery.
Detroit announced this evening that Mize has been throwing bullpen sessions without issue and is expected to have a normal offseason. The same can’t be said for infielder Nick Maton, who recently underwent an arthroscopic procedure to address a left knee problem. The Tigers haven’t indicated whether the issue could linger into Spring Training, noting only that Maton is currently in post-operation rehab. Acquired from the Phillies in last offseason’s Gregory Soto deal, the left-handed hitter ran a .173/.288/.305 line over 93 games during his first season as a Tiger.
In one other piece of roster news, Harris addressed the future of corner outfielder Akil Baddoo. The former Rule 5 draftee seemed a potential non-tender candidate, particularly after the club brought in Mark Canha to join Riley Greene and Parker Meadows in the outfield mix. Harris implied that Baddoo would be tendered a contract, telling the media (including Chris McCosky of the Detroit News) that the outfielder “still very much fits in” their plans. Baddoo, who hit .218/.310/.372 this past season, is projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for a $1.7MM salary as a Super Two qualifier.
That’s how I read Harris’ quote about the valuation being “locked in”.
After two seasons with the team, Harris has a good idea what he is worth to the Tigers, which is what he means by value being locked in. So he isn’t going to go over that if the market goes that way for E-Rod. They tried to reach an agreement before free agency and it didn’t happen. Don’t blame E-Rod for wanting to see if he can do better. And if he does, it won’t be from the Tigers.
I do not blame a player for not wanting to spend two months with another team, and free agency would have meant three teams in the span of fourteen months. The players are traveling so much as it is already.
Family reasons are totally legitimate!
It is easy for stupid fans to comment when they are not the ones affected!
Obviously you’ve never been a serious athlete. I’m not trying to be a jerk here, but there is an innate competitive drive to win that needs to occur to be successful. Athletes salivate over the opportunity to compete for the highest prizes, and while at times family issues do occur which distract you from this competitive drive, it needs to be the exception and not the rule. The other side of this is a red flag
Half of those two months were going to be on the road anyway, so it was only one month away from beautiful Detroit ( I live here), one month to try for a WS with a favorite. Why would anyone say no.
According to the athletic …..Dodgers wanted Erod to opt in at 49$mm. Haha. Why the hell would he do that?!
His agent came to the dodgers and said he’d waive the no trade clause but he needed 1 additional yr and 20$mm. So call it 69MM total. The tigers offered him nothing but kept his contract the same…..knowing he wouldn’t take that.
Now he’s forecasted to get 4 for 80$MM by this site , and another site has him at 5 yrs 100$MM.
Erod clearly did the right thing. I’m sure they’ll try to collude and keep his contract down now. He earned his no trade clause by pitching well, then he excercises it and the front offices get mad ha. Crazy times.
Implying someone can’t be a serious athlete if they value their family over winning is ridiculous.
As you are NOT aware Rodriguez spent several months away from the Tigers because of “family issues” costing him millions in salary. How many athletes performance is affected by divorce, death in the family,….. more than you realize. Competitive fire is one thing, dealing with family trumps that in magnitude multiple times.
Sometimes fans need to put themselves in the players situation to understand what the real issue is. That is the problem, because the majority of people can only see things from their own perspective.
Mike Trout needs to read your comment, Jakey.
Here we go We got ourselves a real serios athlete in the comments section. We all don’t know what it’s like to drive an hour & a half on a Saturday morning for a slow pitch softball tournament or maybe giving up his Thursday evenings for the over 40 basketball league at the local Y.
Wait maybe it’s the early Sunday morning pickle ball games cause you gotta beat the real tennis players before they take their courts.
The idiocy in these comments are entertaining as hell. I don’t think there is a family orientated person in the world that would blame Rodriguez for vetoing that trade.
He would uproot his family or be away from them completely for 2 plus months.
He had the no-trade and used it. Why would someone be mad at a guy for using what he negotiated.
No, it’s not.
I crossed paths with Mike Aldrete once c 1996, and he related a harrowing story of being traded midseason by the Angels to the Yankees, about how he and his family had to fly on a red eye flight cross-country with their 5yo son being sick.
And guys like him didn’t and don’t make the big money the stars get paid.
Fail to understand how Nick Maton is even in the Tigers plan for next season and beyond…
Jayheck…And what if Maton plays like Candelario did when he got cut after a bad season? It hurts no one to give him another shot in Spring training and see if he has fixed the hole in his swing. He takes walks and has some power. If he still has that hole in his swing then cut him.
Akil “Won’t be non-tendered after the Candelario and Castro cuts” Baddoo! Nice to know HARRIS can learn from his mistakes. I can still see Akil being traded.
I hope not but I think they are likely shopping Baddoo like you said.
“Akil Baddoo… what are you doing in my car!”
Candelerio had more than one bad season, he was given several opportunities to lock down third base but never did
I’m with you here. Nick Maton is a part time player and a below average defender who was the worst hitter on a poor hitting team. .
He said that his family wanted to stay in Detroit, but then opted out of his contract. His “family” changed their mind pretty quickly.
Who cares, blame the detroit GM for agreeing to an opt out and no trade clause in a contract..dont blame the player for doing exactly what his contract says he can..which detroit agreed to..lol
Why would you even try and trade a guy to a team on his no trade list if you didn’t know he would agree to waiving it? Scotty “the clown” Harris.
Because chances are he was willing to try and Dodgers just didn’t meet his demands.
You really are a bore with your incessant whining.
Actually that was a complete blunder by Harris! He had 2 trade opportunities and blew one. But on plus side at least we didn’t get another Maton if he did trade him
Lol Maton makes Javy look like a MVP
And so would your family if you could get a contract that could double what you are currently making.
This past year we got treated to surprising contention from the Reds, Fish and Dbacks. Tigers it’s your move.
They finished quite strong at the end. Spoilers, White Sox aren’t going to be a problem for the Tigers.
I hope they hang on to Baddoo. I still see him as a 20-20 guy with a little more consistency. Clock is ticking on him though.
He’s only 25.. I think he might have a chance to improve.
Canha? Not so much.
Cahna can and has contributed to play off teams and is an above average hitter. If he can do exactly what he did last year he is a contributor.
Canha WAS an above average hitter. He’s an average hitter now which is a huge improvement to this team.
Canha will fit right in with the tigers…..he has 0 power. swings a wet noodle. But hey he doesn’t strike out lol.
Dodgers and Braves were the top 2 offenses this yr and they also happened to be top 2 in HRs. They both have 9 players each that hit a hr at least once every 25 Abs or better. Tigers only have 3 players that fit that mold. Rogers, Tork, and Carpenter. They need slugging drastically and have yet to address it. Until they do they’ll be at the bottom offensively.
The Tigers have Keith and Malloy coming up, and Bigbie and Jung just behind them. Their offense will improve.
Thonolan – the Tigers have the worst offense in the league the past 2 years… yes, they will improve. It’s a greater challenge to get worse.
I read that quote from Harris differently. He said Akil fits into the plans and that he didn’t want to give him away for nothing. To me, that sounded like he’s on the trade block.
Rodriguez would be a fool to leave the Tigers. He wasn’t dominant against AL central foes, but only allowed something like 7ER in 8 starts against the rest of his division. He went 7-1 in the Central and pitched 7ip in all but one start.
He’s long gone.
-Wants a big contract.
-Made a fool out of Harris
-Missed a lot of time two years straight.
Tigers do not want him and ERod does not want to be here. Too bad to, because he is a good pitcher.
HARRIS does not want him here, because he blames him for the deadline fiasco, even though it was HARRIS’ own doing.
Not for nothing, I gathered that E-Rod indicated that he would be willing to go to the Dodgers, and then decided to start negotiating compensation for waiving his rights way late into the process. He should have been much more clear with his intentions to the Tigers. It’s a shame that he then started pulling the “family” card. He didn’t seem to mind sacrificing “family” if L.A. came to the table with a big pay increase / opt-out fee for the remainder of the year.
Only thing Erod did was his job. All this other stuff was GMs fault.
ERod did nothing… Harris made a fool of himself.
Spend the money elsewhere. Sign Sonny Gray for 2 years AND Jack Flaherty to a 1 year contract. Let Fetter have a go at fixing Flaherty. Even Kenta Maeda night be an interesting add for a year if Gray proves too costly. Gives them wiggle room to let Mize ease back in and some vets to mentor the young guys like Olson and Gipson Long. Solid vet in Gray to be the 1-2 punch with Skubal. Oh and trade Manning for a bat. Jobe and Madden should be ready in 2 years. Gray, Skubal, Olson, Flaherty, Mize and Gipson Long looks like a pretty decent top 6.
Sonny Gray will cost Tigers a draft pick. Harris not going to give that up
I’m guessing Braves.
They just agreed to picking up Morton’s option at somewhere around 20mil probably, idk.
Either way though, that likely means with Fried, Strider, Morton, Elder, and then with guys like Soroka, Smith-Shawver, Winans, Vines, Shuster, and Dodd hanging around the Braves are likely going to spend the majority of the rest of their money on their hole in LF.
They might add a buy-low candidate like Eric Fedde, or some of the other names coming off of disappointing seasons, but I HIGHLY DOUBT they’re going to add someone like E-Rod who will be looking at getting top dollar.
The money would be better spent sending me and Miggie to Japan and beyond!
Miggie, obviously, already knows how to scarf sushi….I can teach him how to drink sake. As an added bonus, MLBTR readers get a break. Support the Superfife!
It makes sense!
Between Miggies’ sushi eating and my sake drinking….
Chris Illich may have to…….
increase the budget……..
We really can get Y.
Tigers should try and get Whit Merrifield for 2B, Gio Urshela for 3B. Pick up a couple veteran starters…. Wacha and Clevinger. And a lefty back end reliever… Aroldis Chapman.
Whitfield and Urshela have raked at Comerica. Both have career averages over .300 there and they fill 2 spots where the Tigers have holes.
I would send guys like Brieske, Faedo, Wentz and Turnbull to teams looking for pitching, but not wanting to spend… A’s, Reds, Brewers, Tampa, Pirates… they may have some A ball guys that the Tigers might have some interest in.
I wonder if the Dodgers would deal left handed hitting catcher Dalton Rushing? They could use some inexpensive young pitching? Olson, Brieske and Andy Ibanez gets it done on trade simulator. They need right handed bats and they were short on infielders last year… Ibanez can play 2B or 3B.
Manning and Faedo to the Reds for SS Edwin Arroyo. Arroyo is a 20 year old switch hitting SS who is an excellent defender and has some speed and power.
Wentz and Turnbull to the A’s for a bag of balls. A’s only have 33 on their 40 man roster.
This frees up some roster space for the Tigers to add some free agents and some rule 5 guys.
Send us good prospects for a pile of hot steaming poopoo.
The “propose trades that at least one side would NEVER do” season is upon. Let the BS fly!
I know, we never see a deal like Isaac Paredes for Austin Meadows.
This is Scotty Harris we are talking about. Last year it was “let’s wait and see what we have. Let’s develop the players we have and look toward the future.” This year it’s, “OOoooo, a 35 year old left fielder with no power or speed. Let’s trade some of our surplus relief pitching prospect for him. We could win it all this year.”
This is the same guy who went into 2023 with no 3B and really no 2B on the roster. None! Schoop was washed up years ago, but he was hoping he could get a couple good months out of him and flip him at the deadline. LOL, what a clownshow.
Waitsfor – both those trades passed the MLB Trade Simulator. Olson and Manning have higher value than I expected. Even Faedo and Brieske have increased since last year. Reds have a bunch of solid young middle infielders on their roster and a couple more in the minors. The Dodgers have Smith and Barnes and a top prospect in Cartaya. They are deep at catcher.
@Melchez, if Tigers bring in Merrifield & Urshela you will be on here in June complaining that Tigers have not brought up Kieth, Malloy or Jung because there is no place for them to play
I won’t complain… Keep Keith, jung and Malloy in the minors to develop. They rushed Greene and Tork. Should have signed veterans then and let them develop.
If they are tearing it up at AAA in June, the Tigers have room for them. They aren’t that deep.
What…we are not adding over the hill guys ..Baddoo should be gone.Ibanez is junk should be gone…I don’t understand the love for these guys…Merrifield is the only guy I would consider maybe On a one year deal…the rest are a waste of money urshella has zero power and is coming of a bad injury…Let Vierling play 3rd..and this years free agent bats are garbage….
Ibanez played decent last year and Baddoo is 25 and still has potential. Urshela and Merrifield should not be signed as they just block young players who can come up and contribute this year. I don’t want to see Urshela in a Tigers uniform period and want to see Keith at 2B, but I do like Merrifield and what he brings to the table.
I hope the Tigers do keep Baddoo, but their outfield is looking awfully crowded.
Baddoo & Turnbull will be with the Yankees next year.
Has Javier Baez opted in yet?
Never mind; utility player Javier Baez has declined to opt out and will sit on the Tigers’ bench for the next 4 years.
Who else will play SS? Maton? Kriedler? Baez has a very low floor, but he has a higher ceiling than anyone on the team. This is where a really good coaching staff could work some Mago.
Baez’s defense is fine. It’s why he actually had a plus WAR despite his inability to hit. If he can improve his plate discipline even a little his offense will improve significantly. Then he’d be just fine at the position. Overpriced but a solid contributor.
Opposing pitchers don’t ever need to throw Javier Baez a strike to get him out swinging. He intentionally sabotages games if he’s not at the top of the lineup. Zack Short wasn’t the best SS but, I’d rather him at SS over Baez.
If he keeps playing horribly this season make him the backup infielder and play Eddys Leonard at SS.
Eddys Leonard
MLBTR has him projected at 4 years $82 million. That doesn’t seem too outlandish that any MLB team couldn’t meet. Especially a team like the a Tigers that has one seemingly reliable pitcher.
What do you think Tigers fans?
Eduardo Rodriguez bailed on the team last year without explanation. He doesn’t even mask that he’s a “me only” player. I don’t watch games he’s pitching.
That ship has sailed I think. As Harris says they fell his value is locked in, with means to me that the Tigers are not going to match what his agent wants. So Tigers will look elsewhere and so will E-Rod.
All this negativity over E-Rod, for doing what most players do, try to maximize their value and contract. That is precisely why he wanted the opt out. Does well and he can hit the market and likely get a much better contract than he did previously. He said he loved playing in Detroit, and I am sure he did. Few if any players will say they hate where they currently play. But no where in saying that did he say he would take less to stay here. Most players don’t do that so why do we expect E-Rod to suddenly do it.
Chris, I don’t appreciate scumbags signing my name and selling my property!