10:33am: The Tigers have now announced that Kennedy has been traded to the Phillies in exchange for cash.
Kennedy becomes the latest depth addition for a Phillies club that has acquired non-roster players such as Ruben Cardenas and Jonah Dipoto in a pair of cash swaps. Philadelphia also recently plucked right-hander Freddy Tarnok off waivers from the A’s.
The Phillies already had an open spot on the 40-man roster after minor league infielder Jose Rodriguez was suspended for one year amid MLB’s recent wave of bans for betting on baseball. Kennedy will both take Rodriguez’s roster spot and replenish the infield depth lost with Rodriguez’s placement on the restricted list.
10:25am: Evan Woodbery of MLive reports on X that the MLB.com transaction log was not accurate. MLB.com has subsequently removed Kennedy’s outright from its transaction log.
9:52am: The Tigers have sent infielder Buddy Kennedy outright to Triple-A Toledo, according to his transactions log at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment earlier this week. He has the right to elect free agency but it’s not yet clear if he’s chosen to do so.
Kennedy, 25, has spent most of this season on optional assignment, with the Tigers giving him 13 plate appearances in six major league games. Combined with his time in Arizona in the previous two seasons, he now has a career batting line of .205/.294/.316 in 136 trips to the plate in the big leagues.
His larger body of work in the minors has been more impressive, though with a bit of a swoon this year. He slashed .287/.395/.455 on the farm over the 2021 to 2023 seasons, with wRC+ giving him a 119 for that three-year stretch. He drew walks in 14.3% of his plate appearances during that span while striking out just 20.2% of the time. He did that while playing a lot of second and third base, with some stints at first base and left field as well.
That minor league performance made him plenty popular in the past year. He was designated for assignment by the Diamondbacks in September and bounced to the Athletics, Cardinals and Tigers on waiver claims.
But his performance has dipped a bit this year, as he has slashed .234/.331/.383 in Triple-A, production that leads to an 87 wRC+. His 11.7% walk rate is still strong but his strikeout rate is up a bit to 23.9%. Though he has been popular on the waiver wire, that tepid performance seems to have pushed him through unclaimed this time.
He was also outrighted by the Diamondbacks at the end of the 2022 season, which gives him the right to reject this assignment and head to the open market instead. If he eventually gets a roster spot back, with the Tigers or someone else, he can be optioned for the remainder of this season but will be out of options next year.
“Buddy, we hardly knew ye … “
A lot of guys get traded for Johnny Cash records lately.
Speaking of the Men in Black, it’s open season for the Chicago stock exchange
All this time I thought it was Norm Cash with a time machine.
Even better, 70s / early 80s infielder Don Money is Buddy’s grandfather. I had Money’s 1983 Topps card. Great beard as I recall.
It’s nice to have a buddy on your team.
YES! Chris Illich likes money. He can take the family out to dinner now… Maybe Little Caesars?
They should have a Buddy Kennedy appreciation day… Everyone in attendance gets a free pizza. That should t be much.
Buddy Kennedy sounds like he should be Ozzie and Harriet’s next door neighbor.
Good on them for finding a landing spot for Buddy: all creatures, great and small deserve a good home. Filly just a Rex and Duke away from a veritable Isle of Dogs.
I’m hoping the Phillies get a Cosmo and a Baxter, as well.
Honestly, at least it wasn’t to Texas or L.A.
Per Tigers history, Kennedy will now be a .800+ OPS every day player at a position of current need for the Tigers.
I don’t think Joey Wentz will be far behind him in leaving. I think with J ham coming up the Tigers will focus on the pitching side for the nest two months. Thank God for the dead ball this year, so they can try to fix up the pitching. The Tigers have guys they can move this year, and the draft is coming too, so .500 is a big achievement for this year.
As Kansas City passes them by…..
Even their AAA team is killing the Mud Hens.
.500 would be a huge step.
If they found a RFer in Carpenter.
If Keith continues to improve.
Vierling at third or CF
Wenceel as 4th OFer.
Greene in left
Rogers as catcher… Find a solid bench guy… Dingler?
JHM for DH.
The holes are getting filled.
Can’t Harris find anyone who will take his calls other than DD? There are 28 other teams that he could talk trade with. Guess he just gave Dave back a utility fielder to replace the one he sent Detroit in the Soto trade.
Mark Canha says you’re a moron, STYMEEDONE! A great majority of us agree.
“after minor league infielder Jose Rodriguez was suspended for one year amid MLB’s recent wave of bans for betting on baseball.”
I been saying it all along. MLB promoting and advertising all these sports betting apps is the downfall of having players in the future. Because who are the one’s that are going to be gambling betting on baseball. People who enjoy and are interested in baseball and gambling. Future athletic players.
You aren’t going to see the geeks, nerds or bookworms betting on baseball.
They are only enticing the people they need to be players.
The more MLB promotes betting on their sport, the more risks of losing more potential players for their sport.
Oh no……. not Buddy Kennedy !! :-/
Not the Tigers trade headline I wanted to see! Go grab a good young bat or a Baez replacement. The Tigers are only 2 games back for the wild card.
Tobias Meyers is 1 hitting the Tigers… Urena 1 hit them a couple days ago. Tiger offense is putrid.
Rough nite tonight and another Olson start where he’s been batted around, is he tipping pitches ? Yikes.
What?
He got cash and no Miller?
Jeez….
The Ivy League has nothing on the beer league……
Holy Toledo!
Should a hired the Superfife!
Coulda had a V8!
Build a winner!
Build a dynasty!
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