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Tigers Designate Donny Sands For Assignment

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The Tigers announced Friday that catcher Donny Sands has been designated for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster goes to right-hander Shelby Miller, whose previously reported one-year contract has now been formally announced by the club.

Sands, 27, came to the Tigers from the Phillies alongside Matt Vierling and Nick Maton in the trade sending left-hander Gregory Soto and utilityman Kody Clemens to the Phillies. The Tigers viewed him as some valuable, optionable depth behind the plate, but the performance of Jake Rogers in the Majors and some struggles from Sands in Triple-A combined to keep Sands in the upper minors all season.

In 371 trips to the plate with Triple-A Toledo, Sands hit .225/.318/.353. Even when backup catcher Eric Haase struggled in the majors and was designated for assignment, the Tigers went outside the organization to bring Carson Kelly aboard on a one-year deal with a 2024 club option. The Tigers exercised that option earlier this winter, and Kelly is now in line to serve as Rogers’ backup.

Sands still has one more minor league option year remaining, and he’s posted roughly average framing grades in the upper minors. This past season, he logged a 24% caught-stealing rate. And, despite his scuffles in Toledo, Sands still carries a career .261/.352/.403 batting line parts of three Triple-A campaigns. Another club with some needs behind the dish could well hold interest in Sands, be it in a small trade or via a waiver claim. Detroit will have a week to find a trade partner or attempt to pass Sands through outright waivers.

Tigers Sign Shelby Miller

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1:48pm: The Tigers have announced the signing. It’s a one-year contract worth a guaranteed $3MM, the team announced. They also hold a club option worth $4.25MM and a $250K buyout.

The Tigers, who have recently begun announcing the full terms of their contracts, added that Miller can earn an extra $1.175MM per season via incentives. He’ll receive $100K bonuses for reaching each of 50, 55 and 60 games pitched, plus another $125K for reaching 65 and 70 appearances. If he winds up serving as the closer, there’s even more money to be unlocked. The contract calls for $150K bonuses for 40, 45, 50 and 55 games finished.

The value of the club option can also be boosted by $1.4MM. Those escalators are tied to appearances ($100K for 50, 55 and 60 games pitched; $150K for 65 and 70 games pitched) and games finished ($200K for finishing 40, 45, 50 and 55 games).

8:39am: It’s a one-year contract with a 2025 option, reports Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press. Miller is in Detroit for his physical today, Petzold adds, so the contract should become official soon.

8:26am: The Tigers have agreed to a deal with free agent right-hander Shelby Miller, reports Kiley McDaniel of ESPN. The contract is still pending a physical. Detroit’s 40-man roster is full, so they’ll need to make a corresponding move to accommodate this latest addition. Miller is represented by Excel Sports Management.

Miller, 33, enjoyed a resurgent season with the 2023 Dodgers, pitching to a brilliant 1.71 earned run average in 42 innings over 36 appearances (35 relief outings, one start). He fanned a strong 25.8% of his opponents against a bloated 11.7% walk rate and kept the ball on the ground at a 37.4% clip — a few percentage points below the league average. Miller’s fastball is down about a mile per hour from its peak levels, sitting at a league-average 93.6 mph, but he also brandished a newly implemented splitter in 2023, which flummoxed his opponents.

Prior to the 2023 season, Miller had thrown exactly one splitter in his career — way back in 2014. He threw the pitch 26.2% of the time this past season, however, and batters were largely helpless against it. Miller threw 174 splitters in 2023 and finished off 47 plate appearances with the pitch; opponents posted an awful .136/.191/.250 against the pitch in that sample. Statcast credited the pitch with a .170 “expected” opponents’ batting average and a .274 expected slugging percentage.

That marked Miller’s first successful season since back in 2015. While he’d shown flashes of promise in the interim seven years, injuries and poor performances were far more common for the former top prospect and once-promising young starter. The 19th overall pick by the Cardinals back in 2009, Miller debuted in St. Louis as a 21-year-old, pitched to an outstanding 3.22 ERA over his first 575 1/3 big league frames and was twice traded in blockbuster deals — first going from St. Louis to Atlanta in exchange for Jason Heyward and a year later going to Arizona in the trade that brought Dansby Swanson and Ender Inciarte to the Braves.

Miller struggled immediately with the D-backs and never found his footing before undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2017. At various points, his career looked to be on the brink, but he persevered through considerable struggles and now, in his mid-30s, looks to have found new life as a quality bullpen arm.

The Dodgers didn’t use him in high-leverage spots often last year, but Miller could have a clearer path to setup work in Detroit. Right-handers Alex Lange and Jason Foley are the primary ninth- and eighth-inning options, respectively, and Detroit brought lefty Andrew Chafin back on a one-year deal as a left-handed setup option as well. But Miller has a good bit more experience than the bulk of the Tigers’ relievers and could find himself in more tight, late-inning spots this season.

Miller becomes the latest addition in what’s been a nice offseason of veteran pickups for the Tigers. Detroit has added righty Kenta Maeda (two years, $24MM) to help stabilize a young pitching staff and also bought low on former Cardinals ace Jack Flaherty (one year, $14MM), who’ll look to return to his prior heights in a new setting. The Tigers kicked off the winter by acquiring Mark Canha from the Brewers and picking up his 2024 option; he’ll join the team’s outfield and DH mix this coming season. Chafin, as previously noted, is returning to Comerica Park, where he excelled in 2022 before struggling with Arizona and Milwaukee in 2023. He and Miller have the potential to meaningfully fortify the Detroit relief corps.

There’s still room for some further additions, be they in the bullpen, on the bench or perhaps around the infield, where Detroit still lacks some certainty at multiple positions. Some of those could come from the trade market rather than free agency, although president of baseball operations Scott Harris indicated this week that he doesn’t envision trading from his newly deepened rotation mix. Wherever further reinforcements come from, the Tigers’ 2024 outlook is already brighter than the 2023 group. It’s a deepened roster that, with some continued development from young players like Spencer Torkelson, Riley Greene, Kerry Carpenter and prospects like Colt Keith and Justyn-Henry Malloy, could emerge as a viable contender in a weak American League Central division.

Padres Claim Luis Patiño

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The Padres announced Friday that they’ve claimed right-hander Luis Patiño off waivers from the White Sox, who’d designated him for assignment earlier in the week. It’s a homecoming for Patiño, a former top prospect who was originally signed and developed by the Padres. Their 40-man roster is now up to 33 players.

Now 24 years old, Patiño was traded from San Diego to Tampa Bay alongside catcher Francisco Mejia, minor league catcher Blake Hunt and minor league righty Cole Wilcox in the 2020 trade that brought eventual two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell to the Padres. At the time of the swap, Patiño was regarded as one of the sport’s very best pitching prospects; he’d scuffled through 17 1/3 innings in his initial call to the Majors the prior season (5.19 ERA, 21-to-14 K/BB ratio), but that debut came at just 20 years of age. Entering the 2020 campaign, each of Baseball America, MLB.com, Baseball Prospectus, FanGraphs, ESPN and The Athletic had ranked among the top 30 prospects in all of MLB.

As is made clear by the manner in which he’s returning to the Friars, things haven’t panned out for Patiño. The right-hander posted strong numbers in 29 1/3 Triple-A frames in 2021 and also spent the majority of that season on the big league roster in Tampa Bay. It wasn’t a great season by any means, but Patiño did post a 4.31 ERA with a 22.2% strikeout rate and 8.7% walk rate while averaging 96 mph on his heater. For a 21-year-old in his first full MLB campaign — and one who’d barely pitched above A-ball thanks to the canceled 2020 minor league season — it was a reasonably encouraging first foot forward.

From there, however, things went downhill quickly. Patiño suffered a severe oblique strain early in the 2022 campaign, prompting a 60-day IL placement and an absence of more than three months. Upon returning, he showed diminished velocity and far shakier results. Patiño walked more batters than he struck out in 20 MLB frames that year and was limited to 34 Triple-A innings, where he struggled with home runs and was tagged for a 4.50 earned run average.

In 2023, Patiño developed alarming command troubles, walking more nearly 18% of the opponents he faced in Triple-A between the Rays and the White Sox, who acquired him for cash considerations on the day of the trade deadline. In 21 1/3 innings at the MLB level, Patiño posted a 4.57 ERA with an 18.2% strikeout rate and 14.1% walk rate.

He’ll now head back to a Padres club that’s in need of pitching depth after seeing starters Snell, Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha and Rich Hill reach free agency in addition to relievers Josh Hader, Luis Garcia and Drew Pomeranz. Clearly, Patiño can’t be counted on like the Padres might have expected in 2021, had he not been traded, but he gives them a still-young arm to plug into the rotation mix or bullpen this spring. Patiño is out of minor league options, it should be noted, meaning he’ll have to either make the Opening Day roster or else be traded or placed on waivers once again.

Angels Claim Alfonso Rivas

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The Angels have claimed first baseman Alfonso Rivas off waivers from the Guardians, per announcements from both teams. Cleveland designated Rivas for assignment last week. The Angels’ 40-man roster is now full.

Rivas, 27, lost his roster spot when the Guardians made their one-year contract with backup catcher Austin Hedges official. He’d only been in the organization for about a month, having come over in an early November waiver claim.

Rivas has seen MLB time in each of the past three seasons, splitting those years between the Cubs, Padres and Pirates. He hit well in a tiny sample of 49 plate appearances during his 2021 MLB debut with the Cubs but carries a more tepid .233/.316/.342 slash in 410 trips to the plate over the two previous seasons.

That said, Rivas has a minor league option remaining and an excellent track record at the game’s top minor league level. He’s a career .313/.424/.492 hitter in parts of four Triple-A seasons and has drawn a walk in a massive 15.1% of his plate appearances there. He’s more of a gap hitter than true power bat, evidenced by his 40 doubles and 15 long balls in 637 career plate appearances in Triple-A.

In some respects, Rivas has a skill set similar to that of expected Angels first baseman Nolan Schanuel, who raced to the Majors and debuted not even two months after being selected in the first round of the 2023 draft. Both are lefty-swinging first basemen with excellent plate discipline and more of a gap approach than a prototypical slugging first base profile. Schanuel, however, has a better hit tool, evidenced by his tiny 14.4% strikeout rate in a 132 plate appearance MLB debut (again, just months after playing NCAA ball).

Because Rivas has a minor league option remaining, he’s a sensible fallback option if the Angels both miss out on a larger upgrade at first base/designated hitter and see Schanuel struggle (be it in spring training or in the Majors early in the year). He could also serve as a lefty bat off the bench, if the Halos forgo further bench additions and prefer Rivas to 26-year-old first baseman/outfielder Trey Cabbage.

KBO’s Samsung Lions Sign Connor Seabold

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The Samsung Lions of the Korea Baseball Organization announced Friday that they’ve signed former Red Sox and Rockies right-hander Connor Seabold. The Beverly Hills Sports Council client will be guaranteed $900K with another $100K available to him via incentives, per Jee-ho Yoo of South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency.

Seabold, 27, was a third-round pick of the Phillies back in 2017 and has twice been traded — first to the Red Sox as part of the deal bringing Brandon Workman and Heath Hembree to Philadelphia, and second to the Rockies last winter in exchange for cash. Colorado released Seabold on the day of the Rule 5 draft, opening a spot to make a selection in the process.

Earlier in his professional tenure, Seabold ranked among the top pitching prospects in both the Phillies and Red Sox systems, but elbow and forearm injuries shortened his 2021 and 2022 seasons. Seabold came to the Rockies with a solid track record in the upper minors, but his lone season with the Rox proved nightmarish both in Colorado and with their Triple-A affiliate in Albuquerque.

Seabold started 13 games and made another 14 relief appearances with Colorado this past season but was tagged for a gruesome 7.52 ERA in the process. He posted a sharp 6.9% walk rate but struggled with a well below-average 16.4% strikeout rate and a sky-high 1.96 HR/9. Seabold’s status as a pronounced fly-ball pitcher did him no favors at Coors Field, and he allowed hard contact a fair bit more often than the average big league pitcher (40.5%). Things didn’t go any better in Triple-A, where Seabold posted a 7.47 ERA in 31 2/3 frames.

As recently as 2022, Seabold tossed 86 2/3 innings of 3.32 ERA ball with Triple-A Worcester in the Sox’ system, striking out 24.7% of his opponents against an excellent 5.3% walk rate. The Lions will be hoping for something closer to that form, and if he’s able to replicate that performance, Seabold would likely position himself to be re-signed on a potential seven-figure guarantee. Given that he’s only heading into his age-28 season, Seabold is certainly young enough that an eventual return to MLB could be in the cards.

Oftentimes that requires multiple strong seasons in the KBO or NPB, although right-hander Erick Fedde, who’s three years older than Seabold, just parlayed one dominant KBO season (wherein he was named league MVP and won the KBO’s Cy Young equivalent) into a two-year, $15MM deal with the White Sox. That’s an ideal scenario for any player headed to Japan or Korea, and Seabold has enough prospect pedigree that if he can reinvent himself (perhaps with the help of a new pitch, as Fedde did), a similar path feels plausible.

Diamondbacks Designate Diego Castillo For Assignment

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The Diamondbacks announced Friday that they’ve designated infielder Diego Castillo for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr., whose previously reported three-year deal has now been formally announced by the club.

Castillo, 26, was traded from the Pirates to the D-backs 364 days ago, with Arizona sending minor league righty Scott Randall the other way in the deal. He appeared in just one game with the Snakes this season and went hitless in his lone plate appearance. He tallied 283 plate appearances in Pittsburgh a year prior but struggled to a .206/.251/.382 batting line in that MLB debut.

The bulk of Castillo’s 2023 season came in Triple-A Reno, where he played second base, shortstop, third base and left field over the course of 124 games. In 556 plate appearances, Castillo turned in an excellent .313/.431/.410 slash while walking more often than he struck out (17.4% versus 14.2%). In 177 career games at the Triple-A level, Castillo is a .296/.410/.407 hitter with nearly as many walks (124) as strikeouts (125).

Given his versatility, keen eye at the plate and excellent bat-to-ball skills, there’s a good chance that Castillo will draw interest from another club — if not in a trade (which seems quite plausible) then at least via waiver claim. He was never an elite prospect, but reports on the Venezuelan-born infielder have long touted his plus hit tool, even if that’s generally seen as his only above-average tool. Castillo has never swiped more than 13 bases and only has two seasons where he’s reached double-digit home runs; he hit just three long balls in 2023 despite spending the year in an immensely hitter-friendly setting.

Even if he’s “only” a contact-oriented utilityman, there’s still value to be had with Castillo. The fact that he’s being designated for assignment to make way for Gurriel’s return speaks to the manner in which the Arizona roster has deepened in a short time. The 2021 D-backs lost 110 games, but in just two years they’ve climbed to the World Series runners-up and are jettisoning a player who’d have been a veritable lock for playing time there just a couple seasons ago.

The Diamondbacks will have a week to trade Castillo or attempt to pass him through outright waivers.

Diamondbacks Re-Sign Lourdes Gurriel Jr.

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Dec. 22: The D-backs have now formally announced the signing.

Dec. 17: The Diamondbacks have agreed to a reunion with free agent outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. on a three-year, $42MM contract. The deal (which becomes official once Gurriel passes a physical) contains a opt-out clause after the 2025 season, as well as a $14MM club option for the Diamondbacks for the 2027 campaign. Gurriel is represented by Magnus Sports.

The 30-year-old Gurriel played in Arizona in 2023 after he and catcher Gabriel Moreno were acquired from the Blue Jays in the trade that sent Daulton Varsho to Toronto. Gurriel got off to a hot start in his new locale, making his first career All-Star appearance thanks in large part to a blistering month of May (.352/.416/.714 in 101 plate appearances). That production proved to be something of an outlier for the outfielder, however, as he posted a sub-.700 OPS in each of April, June, and July that left him with an overall slash line of just .246/.294/.445 in 388 trips to the plate entering the month of August.

Gurriel managed to turn things back around down the stretch, however, finishing with a .261/.309/.463 slash line to show for 592 PA over the entire regular season. He also performed decently (93 wRC+) in 70 trips to the plate during Arizona’s postseason run, including a .333/.350/.500 slash line against the Rangers during the World Series.

Despite Gurriel’s uneven performance in 2023, he’s been a pretty solid bat throughout his career with an above-average wRC+ every year since he debuted in the majors back in 2018. Since becoming an everyday player during the shortened 2020 season, Gurriel has slashed .279/.326/.456 with a 112 wRC+. He also receives strong marks for his defense in left field, including a +14 Defensive Runs Saves with Arizona last season. While Gurriel managed just five homers in 121 games with the Blue Jays in 2022, he rediscovered his power stroke with the Diamondbacks last year, clubbing 24 home runs to go along with 35 doubles, both career-best figures.

If he can maintain that power output while bouncing back from a career-worst .282 BABIP last season, it’s possible Gurriel can unlock another level of offensive potential as he enters his thirties. The opt-out clause reflects this ceiling, as Gurriel could now re-enter the market heading into his age-32 season after what he hopes are a pair of very productive seasons in the desert.

Given the dearth of consistent offensive options available on the free agent market this offseason, it’s not a shock that Gurriel was able to land a healthy guarantee. The total guarantee of $42MM clocked in below the four-year, $54MM contract MLBTR projected for Gurriel when placing him 14th on our annual Top 50 MLB free agents list, though it’s worth noting that the average annual value of the deal is, by contrast, higher than we projected. While Gurriel is largely limited to left field defensively and has not yet posted truly impactful offensive numbers over a full season as an everyday player, his consistency and potential upside make him a worthwhile investment for an Arizona club that was looking to add to its outfield mix this offseason.

Looking ahead to 2024, Gurriel profiles as the club’s everyday left fielder where he’ll likely patrol the outfield alongside Alek Thomas and Corbin Carroll, with the likes of Jake McCarthy and Dominic Fletcher as depth options behind the starting trio. Gurriel is the only right-handed bat in that outfield mix and could help the club’s outfield produce against left-handers. Arizona struggled badly against left-handed pitching in 2023, though Gurriel slashed an impressive .301/.363/.452 against southpaws. Retaining Gurriel and adding another righty bat in third baseman Eugenio Suarez should help shore up the team’s performance against left-handers.

It has already been a busy offseason for the Diamondbacks, who inked left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez to a four-year deal earlier this month in addition to the aforementioned trade for Suarez. While Roster Resource projects the Gurriel contract to take the club’s 2024 payroll into uncharted territory with a $140MM figure, it appears that the club does not intend on slowing down from here. ESPN’s Jeff Passan suggests the club still plans on adding a power-hitting DH to their lineup before the offseason comes to a close, while USA Today’s Bob Nightengale specifically denotes the club’s interest in right-handed veterans J.D. Martinez and Justin Turner. Jorge Soler is another name the club has been connected to in recent weeks that could fill that role.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic was the first to report the agreement between Gurriel and the Diamondbacks.  ESPN’s Jeff Passan and Kiley McDaniel had the length of the deal and the financial terms, while MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand had the details on the opt-out clause and the club option.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Twins, Niko Goodrum Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Twins have agreed to a minor league deal with veteran utilityman Niko Goodrum, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. It’s a homecoming for the Roc Nation client, who was originally selected by Minnesota in the second round (71st overall) of the 2010 draft. Presumably, the switch-hitter will be in big league camp with the Twins this spring and compete for a bench role.

Now 31 years old (32 in February), Goodrum made his big league debut as a Twin back in 2017, but he appeared in only 11 games late in the season, going 1-for-17 in that brief MLB audition. Minnesota removed him from the 40-man roster that winter, and he quickly signed a minor league deal with the division-rival Tigers. It proved to be a shrewd move for Detroit, as Goodrum spent the next four seasons there and enjoyed two particularly productive years as a highly versatile utilityman.

In four seasons as a Tiger, Goodrum hit .232/.306/.401 in 1468 plate appearances. It was below-average production (10% worse than average, by measure of wRC+), though that’s weighed down by shaky performances in his final two seasons there. From 2018-19, Goodrum turned in a roughly average .247/.318/.427 slash with 28 homers and 24 steals in 968 plate appearances. He moved all over the diamond during his time with the Tigers, logging action at every position other than catcher and pitcher. During that two-year stretch in ’18-’19, however, Goodrum’s glovework graded out especially well. Statcast credited him with a whopping 10 Outs Above Average at shortstop in just 326 innings during the 2019 campaign.

Since that four-year stint with the Tigers, Goodrum has been with the Astros (for whom he made a brief MLB appearance in ’22), Red Sox and the KBO’s Lotte Giants. He concluded the 2023 season with that KBO run, posting a nice .295/.373/.387 slash (114 wRC+). Goodrum didn’t homer during his KBO time — a surprise considering he’s typically shown double-digit home run pop in North American ball — but walked at a hefty 11.4% clip.

The Twins’ bench currently projects to include catcher Christian Vazquez, infielder Kyle Farmer and utilitymen Willi Castro and Nick Gordon. Vazquez and particularly Farmer are trade candidates this winter, however, as Minnesota looks to scale back payroll amid uncertainty regarding their television rights situation. Gordon, meanwhile, struggled immensely in 93 plate appearances last year before fouling a ball into his leg and suffering a broken tibia that ended his season. He’s out of minor league options, so he’ll need a nice spring showing to solidify his place on the club. Depending on how things play out with Farmer’s trade candidacy and Gordon’s spring performance, it’s possible Goodrum could force his way into the mix. If not, he’ll likely head to Triple-A St. Paul and give Minnesota a veteran depth option who could provide insurance at the majority of spots on the diamond.

The Opener: Yamamoto, Dodgers, Last-Minute Deals

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With Christmas just around the corner, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world headed into the weekend:

1. What’s next for the teams that missed out on Yamamoto?

Right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto exceeded all expectations by signing a whopping 12-year, $325MM deal with the Dodgers last night that includes two opt-out clauses. Including the posting fee L.A. owes to the Orix Buffaloes as compensation for Yamamoto’s services brings the total financial outlay to more than $375MM. While the megadeal likely takes the likes of the Mets, Blue Jays, and Phillies out of the running at the top of the pitching market, plenty of other suitors for Yamamoto figure to attempt to pivot elsewhere as they attempt to find front-end starting pitching. The Yankees, Giants, and Red Sox all appear likely to continue exploring the top of the pitching market as the offseason continues, with lefties Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery, and Shota Imanaga among the best remaining arms available in free agency. Meanwhile, the trade market offers righties Shane Bieber, Dylan Cease, and potentially Corbin Burnes as front-of-the-rotation options.

2. Will the Dodgers keep going?

Between the additions of Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani, and Tyler Glasnow the Dodgers have now spent over $1 billion this winter, at least before accounting for the deferrals in Ohtani’s contract. That massive outlay leaves the club with a projected payroll of just over $282MM in 2024 for luxury tax purposes according to RosterResource, which puts the club around $15MM under the highest threshold of luxury penalization. What’s next as they look to improve their roster this offseason? Rumors have indicated that the club could look to upgrade at shortstop, where Gavin Lux and Miguel Rojas currently figure to split time. Beyond that, an outfield bat who can push Chris Taylor into a utility role or an additional starting pitcher to round out the club’s rotation alongside Yamamoto, Glasnow, Walker Buehler and Bobby Miller could make some sense for the club.

3. Will any last-minute deals come together before Christmas?

During the offseason, major holidays are occasionally used by teams and players as soft deadlines for deals to get done. Some free agents like to know where they’re going to live next year before a holiday, and GMs at the one-yard line on a trade may have a little extra incentive to get it over the line before they go home to celebrate. For example, Yamamoto’s market was discussed throughout much of the offseason as regarding Christmas as something of a soft deadline; considering his posting window was set to close on January 4, little time would have been left after the new year for the righty to land a contract.  Although the day before Thanksgiving was rather quiet this year, could things be different on the Friday before Christmas weekend?

Tigers Not Pursuing Trades From Rotation

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The Tigers added a pair of right-handers to the middle of the rotation early in the offseason. Detroit signed Kenta Maeda to a two-year pact and took a one-year rebound flier on Jack Flaherty. That duo helps compensate for the loss of Eduardo Rodriguez, who opted out and signed a four-year pact with the Diamondbacks.

Detroit president of baseball operations Scott Harris spoke with reporters yesterday at the press conference to announce the Flaherty signing. Most notably, the front office leader downplayed the odds of another significant rotation move — either via an acquisition or trading away someone bumped from the staff by the Maeda and Flaherty pickups.

“We did not add Jack intending to trade one of our starters,” Harris told reporters (link via Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free-Press). “We’re always going to listen to opportunities to make trades to make the organization better, but that was not the goal of adding Jack.” At the same time, Harris acknowledged that while the organization is broadly open to stockpiling pitching depth as a matter of due course, he “(doesn’t) know that we’re going to be in the starting pitching market anymore after this signing.”

Maeda and Flaherty step in as veteran additions to a fairly young rotation. Tarik Skubal is the staff ace. The left-hander’s 2022 breakout was cut short by an unfortunate forearm injury that required flexor surgery. Upon returning from a nearly year-long rehab process in early July, he was even better than he’d been before the procedure. Over 15 starts, Skubal turned in a 2.80 ERA while striking out almost a third of batters faced. The 27-year-old kept his walk rate below 5% while averaging 95.8 MPH on his fastball, nearly two ticks higher than he’d shown the preceding season.

Barring an injury in Spring Training, Skubal, Maeda and Flaherty are locks for the Opening Day starting five. The last two spots will likely go to some combination of Reese Olson, Matt Manning, Casey Mize and Sawyer Gipson-Long.

Olson and Gipson-Long debuted last season with solid results. The former built a lengthier résumé, pitching 103 2/3 innings over 21 appearances. He allowed just under four earned runs per nine with better than average strikeout and walk rates (24.4% and 7.8%, respectively). Gipson-Long was a September call-up in his age-25 season. He had excellent numbers over his first four starts, allowing a 2.70 ERA with a 31.7% strikeout rate across 20 innings. That came against a very weak group of opposing lineups — the Angels, White Sox, Royals and A’s — but aligns with his minor league track record of running big strikeout tallies.

Mize and Manning are former top 10 picks who have posted back-of-the-rotation results in their MLB time. Both pitchers have battled injury issues, with Mize missing all of 2023 after undergoing Tommy John surgery. He’s at full strength going into Spring Training, although it’s likely he’ll be limited from an innings perspective. The Auburn product only made two starts in 2022 before the injury, so he has 10 innings over the last two years.

Manning has started between 12 and 18 MLB games since making his debut midway through the ’21 season. Shoulder issues sidelined him for a good portion of the 2022 campaign. His injuries last year were more fluky, as he fractured his foot upon being struck by a comebacker on two separate occasions.

That’s seven viable starters. Joey Wentz and Alex Faedo are still on the roster after making 12+ starts apiece last year, although neither pitched well enough that they’re likely in the Opening Day rotation mix. Teams almost never get through a 162-game schedule with only five starters, so it’s not surprising the front office is content to hold everyone in the group. Petzold writes that the Tigers aren’t considering a six-man rotation, though, so there could be camp battles between Mize, Manning, Olson and Gipson-Long for season-opening jobs.

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