The Tigers designated six relief pitchers for assignment: Dugan Darnell, Jack Little, Sean Guenther, Jason Foley, Tanner Rainey and Tyler Mattison. They added five prospects to the roster to keep them out of the Rule 5 draft: Hao-Yu Lee, Thayron Liranzo, Trei Cruz, Eduardo Valencia and Jake Miller. The sixth roster spot is filled by Gleyber Torres, who officially accepted the qualifying offer.
Liranzo, 22, isn’t too far removed from being one of the better catching prospects in the game. The Tigers landed him alongside Trey Sweeney in the 2024 deadline deal that sent Jack Flaherty to Los Angeles. He’d posted a .378 on-base percentage that season but dropped to a .206/.308/.351 slash line in 88 games with Double-A Erie this year. The Tigers weren’t going to jump ship after one bad year, but he may need to repeat Double-A.
Lee, a 22-year-old infielder out of Taiwan, came over from Philadelphia in the 2023 Michael Lorenzen deadline trade. He spent the entire season at Triple-A Toledo, where he hit .243/.342/.406 across 579 trips to the dish. He walked at a strong 11.2% clip while striking out 21% of the time. Lee can’t play shortstop and isn’t going to have a path to second base playing time behind Torres. His best chance of carving out MLB playing time in 2026 comes at third base.
Cruz gets a 40-man spot for the first time going into his age-27 season. The Tigers had left the former third-round pick unprotected in the past two offseasons. The switch-hitting infielder, the son of former big league outfielder José Cruz, earned his way onto the roster with a breakout year in the upper minors. Cruz hit .279/.411/.456 while leading all minor league hitters with 102 walks between the top two levels. The Rice product can play both left side infield positions and has the athleticism to play some center field.
Valencia is a 25-year-old catcher/first baseman who posted a monster .311/.382/.559 slash line between Erie and Toledo. He blasted 24 home runs while keeping his strikeout rate around 20%. The Venezuela native has never been viewed as much of a prospect, but the offensive performance in the high minors was too much to ignore.
Miller, a 24-year-old lefty, ranked 16th in the Detroit system at MLB Pipeline. An eighth-round pick in 2022 out of Valparaiso, he has shown an intriguing three-pitch mix with enough command and deception to project as a starter. Miller was limited to six starts between High-A and Double-A this year by a back injury, but Detroit likes him enough to keep him as a developmental play. He should begin next season in Erie.
Getting all those players onto the roster required cutting most of their depth relievers. Little and Darnell were just claimed off waivers. Detroit knew they’d be likely non-tenders but could try to bring them back on minor league deals. That’s also the case for Mattison, whom they kept out of the Rule 5 draft last winter but who had a middling year in the minors. Guenther has been up and down for the past couple seasons and missed the second half of 2025 recovering from hip surgery.
Rainey is a journeyman righty who cracked Detroit’s big league bullpen in the final week of the season. He’s narrowly shy of six years of service and therefore could have been retained via arbitration. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected a modest $1.2MM salary, but Rainey is looking at minor league deals as a free agent.
Foley was probably the toughest cut. He’d been a valuable late-innings arm between 2021-24, a run which he capped off by saving 28 games last year. Foley missed all of ’25 recovering from shoulder surgery, and he would have been set to match this year’s $3.15MM salary if they tendered him a contract. They opted not to do so and are likely to cut him loose on Friday, though they have the next few days to see if there’s any trade interest.
Evan Petzold of The Detroit Free-Press first reported the Cruz, Valencia and Miller additions.
Foley looked really good for a couple of years. Nice buy low option for somebody
100% agree with this. Could be a sneaky closing option for a small market.
He’ll probably get a minor league deal somewhere (Detroit?) until he’s done with his rehab from shoulder surgery.
Harris gives up quickly on players acquired by former GM Avila. I was actually looking at the Tigers bullpen potentially having all of Vest, Lange and Foley at the back end. Brieske is likely the next dump. I’m sure dumping Foley saved very little payroll. Shame he wasted $15MM on Cobb.
Lange is terrible and Foley coming off another major surgery.
The Avila apologist always has something stupid to say
RJ Petit should have been protected also. Beau Brieske should go!
Agree on Petit but not Brieske.
Foley and Guenther are coming off major surgery. I’m guessing their recoveries are uncertain and likely taking them out of action until later in the season.
Its Guenthers second isn’t it? Too bad they got hurt. Both pretty solid when they are on. Cheers
Interesting. Looks like Trei Cruz may be a good candidate to replace Andy Ibanez.
I hope nobody takes I. Pacheco.
I figured they’d protect Pacheco over Valencia.
I thought they’d protect both. Valencia had some sick numbers: 24 HR, 95 RBI, 43-BB, 86-K, slash of .311/.382/.559/.941.
Pacheco hasn’t played above high A so they are probably hoping he won’t get picked or is too raw to stick on a roster. I’m hoping he goes unclaimed and can be up in 27 for us! 🤞
Foley is a bit of a surprise.
Was hoping they would hang on to Foley. I’m sure someone will pick him up in a hurry
Detroit’s looking good. No need to rush McGonigle with Torres back, so that’s a great feeling. Hopefully he’ll sign a long term deal like they did with Keith. I hope Meadows can really start to hit and get on base to use his speed. Center field seems to be a problem right now batting wise, but they always have Baez to play there if all the others stumble again. GO TIGERS !
There’s almost no chance that McGonigle would sign a team-friendly, long-term deal with the Tigers. He’going to be a star, and the Tigers will eventually have to pay him like one.
I think if it’s a long-term deal right out of the gate, it will have to surpass Chourio’s contract and it won’t be like Colt Keith’s extension offer.
Don’t forget that Vierling should be healthy and likely to platoon in CF..
Pacheco would be a reach for anyone to keep on a ML roster. Cruz would have been drafted. I’m nit sure Valencia would have. I’d have been surprised.
Poor Foley. I hope the Tigers can bring him back.
I don’t think any of the other drops were huge losses. Guenther was OK when he was healthy.
MLB is a tough, unforgiving sport. Good luck to all those guys.
Foley looks like that cheap closer the Marlins’ front office (Sherman) is looking for. I won’t be surprised if they sign him by the end of the week.
Bummer.
I thought Foley was one of the better pitchers in baseball.