Tigers Acquire Rafael Montero From Braves

The Tigers announced the acquisition of right-handed reliever Rafael Montero from the Braves, in exchange for minor league infielder Jim Jarvis.  Detroit designated Tyler Owens for assignment in a corresponding 40-man roster move, and the Tigers will also need to clear 26-man roster space at some point before their next game.

Montero is on the move for the second time in less than four months, as Atlanta picked up the reliever in an early-April trade with Houston.  That deal was mostly a matter of salary relief for the Astros, who are covering roughly $8.5MM of Montero’s $11.5MM salary for the 2025 season.  Montero is still owed roughly $3.83MM for the remainder of the campaign, so while it depends on how exactly the money is being split up, he’ll still be a relatively inexpensive rental add for the Tigers during the pennant race.

Detroit has thus far added Chris Paddack to the rotation, free agent Luke Jackson to the bullpen, and now Montero its relief corps, as the Tigers have yet to pull the trigger on any headline moves.  Merrill Kelly is known to be on the team’s radar and third base targets Eugenio Suarez and Ke’Bryan Hayes have both been dealt already, but since the Tigers’ focus is reportedly on bullpen upgrades, they could be looking to add some arms first before turning to other matters.

How much help Montero can provide is up for debate, as he has a 5.40 ERA over 38 1/3 combined innings for the Braves and Astros, with an untenable 13.9% walk rate that stands out as one of the worst in baseball.  This lack of control has overshadowed some other decent metrics (and an excellent chase rate), and it should be noted that Montero’s numbers were looking a lot better even 10 days ago.  However, he has allowed eight earned runs over his last four games and 3 1/3 innings of work, sending his ERA through the roof.

It could be that the Tigers view these recent struggles as just a blip, and that Montero can right the ship and at least slightly cut back on the walks.  The Tigers surely view Montero more as a middle relief option than a candidate for higher-leverage innings, and even his okay-ish strikeout numbers are a boost to a Detroit bullpen that doesn’t miss many bats.

Montero was an obvious trade chip for a Braves team looking ahead to 2026.  The trade brings back Jarvis, a multi-positional infielder who was an 11th-round pick for Detroit in the 2023 draft.  The University of Alabama product has spent the whole season with Double-A Erie, hitting .242/.316/.336 over 310 plate appearances while playing mostly shortstop, with a good chunk of time at second and third base.