The Tigers announced that they have acquired outfielder Brewer Hicklen from the Brewers in exchange for cash considerations. He was designated for assignment by Milwaukee yesterday as that club set its Opening Day roster. The Tigers have optioned him to Triple-A Toledo and transferred right-hander Ty Madden to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot.
Hicklen, 29, has a tiny major league track record. The Brewers sent him to the plate five times last year and he also got four plate appearances with the 2022 Royals. He struck out in eight of those nine appearances without a hit.
The Tigers are surely more interested in his minor league work, which is greater in quality and quantity. He has a combined .244/.352/.469 batting line over the past four minor league seasons. That production leads to a 114 wRC+, indicating he’s been about 14% above league average. His 30.7% strikeout rate in that time is quite high but he also drew walks at a strong 11.7% clip and stole 140 bases.
The Detroit outfield has taken a number of hits in recent weeks, particularly in center field. Each of Parker Meadows, Wenceel Pérez and Matt Vierling started the season on the injured list due to various ailments suffered during the spring.
That left Riley Greene as the last man standing from what their projected outfield would have been a few months ago. Kerry Carpenter was once projected as the regular designated hitter but could perhaps move to the grass. That would open the DH spot for Spencer Torkelson, who was pushed off first base when the club signed Gleyber Torres to play second and moved Colt Keith to first. To bolster the group around Greene and Carpenter, the Tigers signed Manuel Margot, who had been released by the Brewers. They also recalled utility player Ryan Kreidler.
Hicklen will give the club a bit of optionable outfield depth, alongside Justyn-Henry Malloy. Given his speed, perhaps Hicklen could carve out a role as a fourth outfielder who gets thrown in for pinch-running and defensive replacement opportunities. Until then, he will presumably get regular reps in the minors.
As for Madden, he was diagnosed with a rotator cuff strain in his throwing shoulder three weeks ago. His current timeline is unclear but this transfer means he can’t be reinstated until late May at the earliest.
Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, USA TODAY Sports
How can you trade him? His name invalidates any trade
Apparently he wasn’t brewing enough
When you got a brewer who doesn’t brew
Might as well have a mouse living in a shoe
This is like trading your first born son.
Didn’t Alex Avila get traded away from the Tigers at one point when his father Al Avila was GM? Or am i imagining that?
He wasn’t traded, but became a free agent and his dad chose not to re-sign him.
Yeah Avila to the White Sox
Sonny was traded so Fraydo and Mikey could live a comfortable life in Miami with their little friend
Reminds me of Marlins GM Dan Jennings trading a pitcher named Dan Jennings.
That sounds slim shady did he take the money and run , awoogah
Brewer is leaving the Brew Crew!
He’s changing his first name to Tiger.
Woods came tumbling after
Followed by laughter
And pitter patter
Tigger joining Eeyor and pooh and Robin Ventura’s cousin Christopher
Nooooooooo
The level of inventive comedy here is simply the best.
He put an apostrophe on his jersey and the Brewers weren’t having it
I had to read the headline like 3 or 4 times because I thought my brain was malfunctioning.
I don’t understand how you can build a roster this bad in so many different positions. They knew the outfield was injury prone. The outfielders are always on IL. They needed a proven outfield bat. They have no one at third. Short is weak because they thought Baez was the answer. The evaluators in house felt Tork was a bust and they moved him. It looks like he may be fine after all. Who knows? Catching is solid on defense but they can’t hit.
So many questions on a team that’s supposed to contend every single year.
Good thing the pitching is decent. They might be a .500 team.
On the plus side… they hung in against the best team in the league on the road. They did much better than the Cubs did and they are supposed to be a good team.
Trust in Harris. LOL.
I, too, am disappointed that they didn’t do more in the off season. 3B has been a hole since Candelario was released over a $1mm difference going into arbitration. That was the same year that saw Willi Castro non-tendered for cost savings. This winter, Gage Workman was left unprotected and the Cubs grabbed one of our minor league 3B in the rule 5. I see the IF as the problem. Watching two balls get by Torres yesterday helped confirm my belief that he is not the answer. Leaving Keith in one place so he can concentrate on the bat would have been beneficial. Tork would have stayed at first and they continue working with Malloy as backup, or sign Justin Turner to be backup and platoon DH if they thought Malloy was not ready.
A year ago I was pushing for Matt Chapman and Imanaga with Wyatt Langford in the draft. That would have a great haul.
New plans… This past offseason of course I wanted Bregman, but I also wanted O’Neil for RF. I liked the idea of Bellinger at 1B. If Tork had a cruddy spring, then Bellinger could cover 1B. If Tork did well, then Bellinger becomes the CF and Meadows becomes the 4th OFer. Greene, Bellinger and O’Neil would be an excellent OF. Tork, Keith, Sweeney and McKinstry on the infield would have been pretty bad. Of course, I wanted Feduccia as back-up catcher.
Oh well… struggle through another season of what could have been.
Whine on, Melchez. The injury bug is always unpredictable. Go back to motownsports and you’ll fit in better. They will welcome you back with open arms. (here comes the usual Melly lie, “I never was there”. Gaslighter!)
I predicted it. Greene played 106 games in the OF last year… Wenceel 105… Vierling 98. Someone should have told Scottie how many games are in a MLB season.
I wasn’t on motown sports… I like baseball. I was on the Tiger MLB site and Bless You Boys. I kept getting banned.
How will Bernie Brewer avenge this?
Seems wrong that the Brewers traded away the person named after their team. Where is Seth Beer?
Or they should trade for Shelby Miller.
Sure, but Bud is wiser.
The Pirates should have kept Kramer and Newman together.
Why does Harris keep signing other team’s discards. With all the money he has spent on these types he could have signed a star.
Heck, with Maeda, Cobb and Canha, they could have had Bregman. I know, who would be sitting on the IL if Cobb wasn’t signed.
They put a true good faith effort into acquiring Bregman and put in a very competitive contract offer.
As for Maeda, he hasn’t worked but the other SP signing of that offseason worked out quite well(Flaherty). Its always easy to judge in hindsight.
Judge in hindsight? I’m pretty sure everyone knew Maeda was a bad signing and Flaherty was a good signing. Just like Cobb will be a terrible signing. You can wait until the year is over to decide and then when he has a terrible season you can pull out the “Hindsight” card.
They put in a good offer for Bregman. He obviously felt the Tigers are a clown show organization and took anything else he could get.
Maeda’s #s in 2023 were better than Flaherty’s. Flaherty was also a gamble as far as health. And yes when one passes judgement after the fact it is called hindsight. You have made multiple hindsight judgements to this article.
As far as Cobb, I hope I’m wrong but I’m not a fan of that deal at all. It’s not often he stays healthy amd his upside seems rather limited when healthy.
The prior offseason I liked both Maeda and Flaherty signings. Both Vets with risk but some upside and felt they complemented the young arms on staff well.
Maeda was 36 coming off an injury… I didn’t have much hope for him. Flaherty was 28 and was going deeper into games. I wasn’t excited about either one, but I felt Flaherty had a better chance of success.
Personally, I wanted them to sign Shota Imanaga.
Maeda returned from his only injury of 2023 on Apr 27th. He pitched all the way up until Sept 26th for the Twins.
I would ve preferred Imanaga as well, I don’t think Tigers haven’t gotten to the point to lure free agents of that tier. They seem to still be stuck settling for those with something to prove.
They were in this position before with Pudge, Magglio, and Rogers.
The Cubs can lure guys like that? Imanaga… Suzuki… Bellinger… Swanson… Turner… Taillon. The Cubs have been just as bad as the Tigers recently, yet they can sign younger, better free agents.
By the time this roster starts filling out, Greene and Skubal will be gone. They probably might just as well trade them and let everyone know they are looking at 2027 to compete again.
I knew the season would start off slow. A west coast road trip against the World Champs and a good Seattle club. I was hoping they’d take 1 out of 3 in each. They had a chance, which is all you can ask for.
I’m still rooting for them, but it’s reminding me of 2003.
I think the Tigers are interested in his speed. 44 stolen bases last year in aaa Nashville. Decent power but to many strikeouts. If Detroit wants speed they should have offered the Yankees something for Duke Ellis. 72 steals last year between MLB and the minors. To many strikeouts but a true cf.
The Tigers have a speedy CF coming up in Seth Stephenson. 130 steals over the past 2 seasons. About a 20% k rate… decent OBP. He will start the year in AA.
The guy I’ve wanted the Tigers to make an aggressive move for is Jake McCarthy of the Diamondbacks. Would love him in our outfield mix. He’s legit. A good fit on this team. I think he’s on the verge of really putting it all together and is going to have an impressive season.
Congratulations to the owner who makes the most trades “for cash considerations” !!
The more “cash considerations” he accumulates, he can use to get his REAL interest, Norwich City, to the English Premier League in a year or two.
this move solidifies a 4th place finish in the division
No longer the Brewers’ Brewer
Tigers are quietly building a hyper-athletic, base-stealing bench to exploit late-game chaos. No one’s talking about how Hicklen’s 11.7% walk rate and speed could turn low-risk cash deals into a high-impact weapon, shifting focus from power to disruption in a way teams haven’t cracked yet.
Also, he can brew beer.
Sweeney is only other player who is a speed threat who sometimes comes off bench. McKinstry had about 15 SB last season his first time in double digits. None of Dingler, Margot, and Ibanez are hyper athletic base stealing threats.
As fir Hicklen he’ll be in Toledo.
Fraydo says hi
Brewer the Brewer on the move.
Great how everyone seized on this it was the top story on Brewer sport radio driving thru Mil-a-wah-kay the harshness of dispatching their namesake
Sad day
The Tigers could’ve used him as a defensive sub in LF for Greene.
Brewer Hicklen has very good power and speed but doesn’t walk and is strike out prone. His numbers don’t indicate he has much defensive range in CF or LF but good range in RF. Maybe it’s the injury bug, lack of contact or just too much competition that the Crew dropped him.
Tigers have come out of spring training with a little engine knock after fueling up this spring. They were expected to lose all three games, but could have won all 2 so far.
Fining their feet so to speak as they look very good at times. I If Torres is day to day it may give Colt the jump start he needs to get going playing second tonight. They are playing hard nothing to be embarrassed about losing 2 to the Dodgers. Hoping for another competitive game tonight. GO TIGERS !!!!
Colt at 2B backing up 1B seems to have a play at the plate, but throws it up the 3B line in game 3 vs LA.
Tigers infield defense is still shaky.
One the one hand: Brewer on the Brewers.
On the other hand: he’s struck out in all but one of his at-bats.