The Tigers are acquiring right-hander Paul Sewald from the Guardians, according to a report from Chris McCosky of The Detroit News. According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, Cleveland will receive a player to be named later or cash from Detroit to complete the deal. Buster Olney of ESPN reports that the Tigers are taking on the remainder of Sewald’s contract in its entirety, which Olney estimates is about a $2MM commitment.
Sewald, 35, was one of the better closers in the league with the Mariners just a few short years ago. After debuting with the Mets all the way back in 2017 and spending some time in New York as an up-and-down middle reliever with mediocre results, Sewald came to Seattle in 2021 and pitched to a 2.88 ERA with a 3.34 FIP across 171 2/3 innings of work with the club while racking up 52 saves across parts of three seasons. He was swapped to the Diamondbacks at the 2023 trade deadline and began to struggle after leaving the Pacific Northwest. While he remained a closer for the majority of his time in Arizona and managed to pick up an additional 29 saves during that time, his results were pedestrian as he pitched to a 4.08 ERA with a 4.29 FIP. After striking out 35.0% of his opponents with the Mariners, that figure dropped to just 25.7% during his time with Arizona.
That middling performance in the desert left Sewald to enter free agency last winter in a less than ideal spot. He ended up signing with the Guardians on a one-year, $7MM guarantee back in January but has not lived up to that contract so far. The right-hander has been placed on the injured list due to a right shoulder strain two separate times this year; once back in April and once just two weeks ago. He’s only managed to make 18 appearances around those injury woes, and hasn’t exactly impressed during those outings with a 4.70 ERA and 4.07 FIP across 15 1/3 innings of work. Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press writes that Sewald is currently expected to return in early September, meaning he’ll be a late-season addition to the club’s bullpen at best.
All of that explains why the Tigers were able to take Sewald off Cleveland’s hands for little more than salary relief, but it’s still not hard to see why Detroit would be intrigued. The veteran righty is still punching out batters at a high level, with a 29.0% strikeout rate this year. He was managing to keep his walks under control as well, allowing free passes at a 6.5% clip that leaves him with his best K-BB% since 2022. A .297 BABIP that’s slightly elevated by his standards and an extremely low 65.2% strand rate suggest there could be some poor fortune when it comes to batted balls and sequencing baked into Sewald’s lackluster results, offering optimism for better days ahead. Perhaps most importantly, the elevated home run rates that have dogged Sewald throughout his career could be mitigated in Detroit given the cavernous outfield of Comerica Park.
Sewald is the fourth pitcher Detroit has added in recent days, joining relievers Rafael Montero and Randy Dobnak as well as starter Chris Paddack. All four of those additions are relatively low-impact veterans, with Paddack slotting firmly into the back of Detroit’s rotation while Montero and Dobnak are both little more than middle relievers. Sewald has the upside of a quality set-up man, but won’t be able to pitch at all for another month at least. Overall, it’s a volume approach to the deadline for a club that entered the summer with a clear need in the bullpen. Sewald won’t unilaterally solve the Tigers’ need for a late-inning reliever to pair with Will Vest, but he could represent a viable fallback option in case a larger deal for a more impactful piece doesn’t ultimately come together in the final hours before this afternoon’s deadline.
Garbage signing by Cleveland FO this off-season.
Hindsight
Tigers needed this really bad. Vest looking tired
He’s not even expected to be off the IL anytime soon
Holy crap I didn’t realize September!! That sucks
Nice pickup if healthy. That whip and strikeouts are much needed.
Fly ball rate hr rate scary
Bullpen innings. Gotta have em.
Paul Sewald is a funny way to spell David Bednar.
😆 it’s a lot cheaper. sewald a good vet
Not this year and probably not anymore. He’s pushing a 5 ERA and is 35 years old. Tiggers with a VERY disappointing deadline so far. They need to realize they aren’t guaranteed to be back in this position again.
He’s a leader and good vet, he’ll bounce back, got to have someone eat innings.
Although I didn’t realize he’s out till September so this won’t help at all
A good vet if you like a late inning RPer who is prone to giving up HRs in big games. A good majority of M’s fans still think Robbie Ray is solely responsible for the heartbreaking 2022ALDS G1 loss in HOU where Alvarez capped of a late rally w a 3R HR for a walk off win. They forget Munoz gave up 2R’s (at 7-3) in the 8th
Sewald came into the 9th to protect that 7-5 lead, he got one out then hits the number 9 batter! From there it was inevitable even after he gets to 2 outs. When Peña singled putting two on for YA the damage was done by Sewald.
Everyone recalls that historic comeback by Seattle the game before in the WC game 2 v TOR. Sewald is lucky the lineup bailed him out because he gave up a couple Runs in that game too
Saying that tho he is a helluva personality who is well liked in the clubhouse and by our fanbase. He is always available to do interviews w local media and he is super active in the local community. He’s a likeable human and a sneaky good golfer from what I hear too haha
I remember Seawald pitching here in AZ, more time than not when Seawald would come in, it definitely was not light’s out, he would put the winning runs on base, he was always putting fans on the edge of their seats. You always wanted at least a 3 to 4 run lead before he came in because he would give up 1 to 2 runs to get the save, unless he would fall apart altogether and give up HR’s. Good luck with this guy Tiger fans.
Hopefully we will have both by the deadline cutoff! I like the trade but they need more.
GREAT ONE ! GO TIGERS !!!!
LOL
I get depth, but this is the third bullpen arm they traded for and all have negative WARs.
It’s a good add in that he’s a completely different look/arm angle than the other relievers. If he’s healthy can be a good matchup piece in late innings.
It’s fine if they make bigger moves. If they don’t Make bigger adds this is massively underwhelming. Stop trying to be the smartest guy in the room and get proven guys who’ve been good this year and the last few years
Tigers gotta tiger. Ahahahahahahahaha!
Paddack, Dobnak, Sewald, and potentially Cobb coming back. Yeah, Detroit needs to shoot higher. They ought to be in on David Bednar too
They’re just replacing in house bums with other teams bums
Bumming around.
Scott Harris, the garbage man picking up every other teams washed relievers
But that has worked out a lot for them. Holton, Guenther, Hannifee…
Finnegan now too
So there’s our “improvements” we were promised folks… Paddock, Jackson, Sewald (In Sep) and Montero. I’m assuming we’re done. Regardless of Fetters magic and regardless of whatever positives they are seeing in analytics, I’d give a grade of C-. I really hope these prospects you’ve held onto pan out Scott. You must be real high on Max Anderson.
I share your frustration, but the prices for rentals is breathtaking. The window of contention is just opening; the Tigers will win at least one World Championship in the next decade. By the way, Max Anderson will be great in Comerica Park. The bar should be very high to trading him. For Bednar? Yes.
Next decade? Nice thought but huh? Based on what exactly? Clark and McGonicle?? Without Skubal? With an owner who doesn’t like to spend? Especially now that he sees how good AJ and Fetters are at turning reclamation projects and low level minor leaguers into ok players? Sorry, I can’t agree with that assessment.
Just get Verlander so we can at least have a feel good deadline i liked the paddock deal but these relief options seem to be just shots in the dark.. we need high leverage guys in that pen especially the way Hinch utilized them last post season. Im no GM im just a hopeful tigers fan lol..
If they get Bednar and one if the others works out then I’d be happy.
No Verlander. It’s not the time for nostalgia. If we were a .500 club and did an even swap, sure.
Bullpen arms are so fickle so I don’t mind this one bit. A 5 era guy can have 3-4 good outings and be back to 3.5.
Not a splashy trade but still good imo
The Tigers are 18-9 when playing teams in the worst league in baseball (AL Central). Our record is a bit deceiving. Were good. But World Series favorite? No. Not at all. And this 48 hr window we had with only 11/3 of Skubal left, is disappointing. On paper, put this roster next to the Dodgers (who will make moves any minute) and tell me how Illitch and Harris think we can actually compete against them if we made it all the way. We were not “all in”.
What’s their record outside of the AL central?
46–37
What AL team is better than the Tigers?
Houston. Toronto. Texas. Seattle. Maybe NY in the next couple hours.
NL- Chicago. Philly. LA. Milwaukee. SD. Mets.
So if we make the ALCS it’s gonna be rough.
If we’re in the WS, rougher.
We got an old guy who’s hurt and gives up a lot of homers (but hey, look at that k rate, sigh) and another old guy who walks a lot of guys. It’s so anti what Harris has been preaching. We couldn’t have put a package together for Max Anderson for what some of these guys went for?
For a moment there, I thought that said Paul Skenes, and I’m all, damn, what kind of package did Detroit put together for that.
Is Paul Sewald still pissed off at the Mets?
Maybe Austin Adams is next!! Tigers could have the All-Pissed-Off-at-the-Mets duo in the bullpen.
Besides Paddock the Tigers deadline deals are mediocre at best
At this point, I’d take mediocre, and this ain’t it.
Wrong pitcher named Paul.
Merrill Kelly and Bednar or bust. Max Anderson Liranzo. Hamm. Let’s do this.
No bring Verlander and Katie back home
Finnegan!!!!!
Y.A.W.N. !!
No, he had been terrible for a couple seasons prior. Hindsight used properly would have led to the conclusion he is no longer good. They spent 25 million last off season on Sewald, Hedges, Bieber. And they cheaped out and did not to get Glyber Torres.
Sewald is cooked. Glad he went to Detroit. WTH were they thinking adding an arm with a teres major issue.
Hes cooked. Horrible trade for Detroit. I couldn’t be happier with it.