Aug. 10: Jackson cleared waivers and has chosen to become a free agent rather than accept an outright assignment to Triple-A Toledo, as per Jackson’s MLB.com profile page. Because Jackson has previously been outrighted in his career, he had the right to opt for free agency.
Aug. 8: The Tigers have recalled right-hander Codi Heuer from Triple-A Toledo, with fellow righty Luke Jackson designated for assignment. The moves haven’t been officially announced but Craig McCosky of Detroit News was among the reporters to relay them.
The Tigers picked up Jackson a couple of weeks ago after he had been released by the Rangers. He had been having a rough season in Texas but has a good track record, so the Tigers scooped him up, hoping for a bounceback.
Unfortunately, they didn’t get it. He tossed 4 2/3 innings for Detroit, allowing four earned runs via three hits and five walks while striking out four. Combined with his results with the Rangers, he has a 4.54 earned run average in 39 2/3 innings this year. His 52.5% ground ball rate is good but his 16.1% strikeout rate and 13.8% walk rate are both noticeably worse than league average.
Despite the rough numbers, he might get another shot somewhere. The Rangers are still on the hook for the remainder his $1.5MM salary. That means another club could sign Jackson and would only have to pay him the prorated version of the $760K league minimum for any time spent on the roster. That amount would be subtracted from what the Rangers pay.
From 2018 to 2024, Jackson tossed 289 2/3 innings in the majors with a 3.91 ERA. His 10.2% walk rate in that time was a bit high but he punched out 27.1% of batters faced and got opponents to hit the ball into the ground on 54.3% of balls in play.
The punchouts haven’t been there this year, which is why he’s now twice been designated for assignment. But with the trade deadline now passed, it’s harder for clubs to find useful pitching upgrades. Since Jackson has a good track record and would essentially be free, some team might take a shot on him soon.
Photo courtesy of Junfu Han, Imagn Images
I suspected he would be leaving quite soon. If he clears waivers they may try to get him to Toledo or just release him.
Yes Fetter can do a lot with pitchers. He has to have time to work with them. Luke wasn’t here long enough to really help him. Then all the trades and then there were more new pitchers to help. What hurt Luke was the 5 walks when Detroit was looking for a reliever to come in and throw strikes
Barves please don’t claim
I don’t think the Braves will after he performed poorly for them last year
don’t do it giants
You know they will.
It should say something when two of the three comments (so far) are pleading for their team NOT to acquire them.
He’s another Joe Kelly. There will always be a place for him on an MLB roster, whether he deserves it or not.
Cave
“It should say something when two of the three comments (so far) are pleading for their team NOT to acquire them.”
Yes
That the average MLBTR commenter is worse than mid.
In baseball parlance, you would say the average MLBTR commenter is worse than replacement level
That experiment failed quickly. Hopefully this next one works out better
That seems to be Scott Harris’ MO – cycle through castoffs and see where you can fix someone. Every once in a while you get a Tyler Holton or Brenan Hanifee. Most of the time you get another DFA candidate. Let’s see which category Codi Heuer fits into.
Maybe Fetter is a little overrated. I mean is success rate with these scrubs is about 10 percent. Most are DFA’d.
Lorenzen was left for dead when the Tigers signed him. Flaherty revived his career in Detroit.
Mute this troll
Braves in 3…2…1…
Darragh just wrote Luke Jackson has a good track record.
Thanks! I needed a good laugh.
Farhan Zaidi’s trade of Soler and Jackson for Sabin Ceballos was one of his greatest transactions. Dumped two overpaid players for a decent prospect.
I would’ve much rather seen Rafael Montero DFA’d first.
Wonder how much more of the Rafael Montero experiment there is? Talk about a long shot in the dark.
Why pick just one? Unless Harris finds another Schlub on the waiver wife, Montero will be DFA’d on Aug. 17th when Brenan Hanifee is eligible to be recalled.
Laughed out loud reading waivers wife. Autocorrect knocked that out of the park.
Or Kahnle. In his last 30 games, he’s given up 21 ER in 26.2 innings. Show me someone else on the team who has been that bad for that long and still has his job.
Kahnle is fixable if he can stop putting his changeup in the middle of the strike zone!
He’s had plenty of time to fix this. If the issue started in Apr/May, maybe you could justify keeping him around a little longer, but not in mid Aug. This should also not be the time for reclamation projects. It’s ridiculous that Hanifee is pitching in Toledo right now while we’re throwing all these 6.00 ERA scrubs out there.
Jackson’s 4 runs all came in one inning after he was acquired and they were leading 10-0, after that he put up zeros, 4ip for zero with 3 k’s. Some perspective would be fair.
Being a Hall of Famer trumps being a World Series champion. Being on a championship baseball team involves a lot of luck, and is very dependent upon who your teammates were. Look at Ohtani and Trout on the Angels. They never made it to a World Series, through no fault of their own.
Yes, very true. A great human being and I hope he gets another shot……
AA peaking around the corner about to bring him back to the Braves…. Smh lol
Being a Hall of Famer is a better indication of being a great player than being a member of a World Series team, for sure.
But you can bet every HOF’er in any team sport who didn’t win a title wishes they had won one.
Mr. FANCY PANTS
has a system……
He thinks it works, so he sticks with it.
It’s not been bad.
Too bad though, he didn’t continue to build the teams’ future through trading pending Free Agents and middling prospects.
Being in first place is no excuse!
Stick with the system.
Definitely should have traded those pending FA’s.
Tigers would have been better off with him than Kahnle- he looks completely shot.
He should have signed the minor league contract, the way the Tigers revolving door pitching has been lately…
Free Agency isn’t free! Like freedom fries
Two solid starts in a row for Troy Melton. Kid looks good – not flukey. Nice boost for the depleted rotation.
Sawyer Gibson Long had a nice relief effort, too, (as did Finnegan & Vest, thankfully). Some may forget, SGL was trending very nicely prior to TJ. He’s a potentially above-average bullpen piece if he can round back into decent shape the next 7 weeks. Prior to his injury, I had him ahead of Mize & Brieske.