The Tigers have traded right-hander Chase Lee to the Blue Jays in exchange for minor league lefty Johan Simon, according to announcements from both clubs. This move is likely to open a 40-man spot for the Tigers to make their signing of Kyle Finnegan official. The Jays had a 40-man vacancy but Lee takes up the final spot. Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic first reported that Lee was headed to the Jays while Mitch Bannon of The Athletic first mentioned Simon as the return.
Lee, 27, doesn’t throw especially hard but is able to deceive batters with his sidearm delivery. Originally a draft pick of the Rangers, he was traded to the Tigers as part of the 2024 deadline deal which sent Andrew Chafin the other way.
In 204 2/3 minor league innings, Lee has allowed 4.13 earned runs pere nine, with a fairly average 8% walk rate but a strong 30.9% strikeout rate. The Tigers called him up to make his major league debut in 2025. He gave them 37 1/3 innings with a 4.10 ERA. His four-seam fastball only averaged 89.2 miles per hour while he also threw a sinker, slider and changeup. He struck out 24.3% of opponents while limiting walks to a 6.1% clip.
For the Jays, Lee adds some extra bullpen depth. He still has options and can therefore be sent to Triple-A Buffalo and back throughout the year. Shi Davidi of Sportsnet recently wrote a piece about how the Jays appear to be prioritizing different arm angles, so it’s possible they are particularly attracted to Lee’s sidearming abilities. He has less than a year of service time and is therefore years away from qualifying for arbitration and even further from free agency. If he’s able to carve out a meaningful role in the big leagues, he could be a long-term piece for the Jays.
To get Lee, the Jays are giving up Simon, an international signing out of the Dominican Republic. In 2025, he began at Single-A and then climbed to High-A and Double-A. Across those three levels, he tossed 71 relief innings with a 3.42 ERA, 25.1% strikeout rate, 9.2% walk rate and a massive 64% ground ball rate.
For the Tigers, they had a 40-man roster crunch and needed to lose someone. With this deal, they’ve lost a bit of immediate depth but replaced Lee with a non-roster arm who is only slightly farther away from the majors.
Photo courtesy of Rick Osentoski, Imagn Images
Dang, I kinda liked him.
Only got cut because of his handedness tbh.
Got enough righties for depth on the 40 man, probably don’t want to risk losing Sommers on waivers with a DFA, and Horn they might have plans to swing man him, even if I would’ve jettisoned both of them (or Trei Cruz or like Eduardo Valencia who shouldn’t be on a 40 man post rule 5 draft anyways) over Lee for a roster spot tbh.
Well, the Tigers get an entire minor league in return, so advantage Tigers.
Hey, Lee’s just that good.
Bluejays minor league isn’t all that great sooooo…maybe advantage tigers lol
False
Tigers selling low on decent, controllable relievers is probably not what they should be doing right now
+ RJ Petit. They already have poor pitching depth.
Petit will be awful in Colorado. That said even Pedro Martinez might have been awful in Colorado.
Let’s see what the Tigers get in return before we judge them too harshly.
There are only 40 roster spots…
Someone had to go. Compared to the other choices, I’m good with Lee being traded.
In return they got a younger, decent controllable talent. that doesn’t need to be on the 40-man roster yet. For a pitcher that lost the strike zone, got demoted, and never made it back from AAA. That is called a win.
That’s the wrong Whiff Lee
Hey congrats to Chase Lee from Carolina University for being linked on mlbtraderumors. Cool for him
Whiff Lee’s believe it or not.
The baseball reference link is for the wrong Chase Lee
Will the real Chase Lee, please stand up? Please stand up.
Chase “The VIPER” Lee
Yeah, they should’ve linked Chase (Ut)ley instead.
They might be looking to sign someone and need the 40-man slot; a lower minor-leaguer would be outside of the 40-man.
Lee’s an interesting critter; he has a side-arm delivery which lets his modest velo play a lot better. Toronto should like him. Detroit liked him as well, so I think this is a prelude to a bigger sighing or trade.
Mark, they had to clear a roster spot for Finnegan
They needed a roster spot for Finnegan and picked up a lottery ticket in the process
Chase Lee should be a ground ball specialist, but he’s also homer prone when he gets his fastball up. I think Brenan Hannifee is better when you need a groundball.
Bullpen depth.
Grunt Grunt Grunt
He threw 2024.2 minor league innings? Man that is some 19th century stamina for a 27 year old. That is like 400 innings a year.
400 IP?
That does not sound realistic. Yes 19th century number.
@ hi I read that as 2/3 IP in 2024. The lack of editing on some of these posts leaves a lot to be desired. It is why I don’t buy the subscription.
Meh…
Good move from the TIgers standpoint. They needed to clear a roster spot for Finnegan. Instead of having to DFA someone (Lee) and risk them getting claimed, they swing a trade for a minor league arm that doesn’t need a roster spot.
Yeah, I”m not too torn up about this. I’m more concerned about losing Petit than Chase.
The kid’s numbers don’t look bad either.
Lee’s family has followed him across the many stops along his baseball journey via RV. Quite the adventure! Let’s see how the adventure continues with international travel!
A great story…
Looking at him, I assumed he’d be a soft contact pitcher like other soft tossing sidearm guys, but he got barrelled up a lot in his first taste of the majors. But I like having a profile like this as minor league depth. I wonder if this hints that they might consider Tyler Rogers as a different arm angle and release height as their bigger relief addition instead of lesser closer types like Fairbanks etc. I haven’t heard much about Rogers’ market.
I saw Lee vs Nats in July…in DC. Flaherty stunk. Lee pitched well then Kahnle came in and blew up. Tigers lost 9-3 or something like that. It was right around the time the Tigers started to fold.
I liked him but get the 40-man thing, You don’t want to give up a position player for a pitcher in that situation. Lee goes. Finnegan takes his spot. The 40 man definitely is stronger when you look at it that way.
Well, you called that one.
Ha. Yeah, that was a well timed thought.
Keeping the Chafin ball rolling. Neat.
So far, 4 wins, 1 loss, 37 innings and 36 strike outs and some minor league innings.
Welcome Chase, Claire and Micah…
Weird. You’d think he would be kind of a Roogy but he was actually much better vs LHB last year. OPS of .902 v RHB, .587 v LHB
Part of Lee’s reverse splits is that a righty sidearmer doesn’t get to face the good lefty sluggers. And part is small sample size. His minor league splits are what you’d expect.
The Tigers’ other pitching acquisition today: 27-year-old, RH reliever Cole Waites, who pitched for the Giants in 2022-23; minor-league contract, non-roster invitation to spring training, two minor-league options remaining.
Had Tommy John surgery Sept. ’23; missed all of the 2024 season and most of 2025.
Best results were in 2022, went from High-A to MLB in one season when he had a 1.94 ERA over 41⅔ innings at three minor league levels; averaged 16.4 strikeouts per 9 IP, incl 12.4K’s/9 IP @ Triple-A Sacramento.
Looks like a cheaper Nick Sandlin replacement
Chase Lee was interesting. A RHP who was effective against LH bats but had an opposing OPS of about .900 against RH bats. An ERA at home of about 6.00 but 2.00 on the road. He had a great Apr, May and Jun and then completely imploded in July. If you can get him back on track, he’s actually fun to watch.
I don’t like losing him, but it seems like an even up trade. His ERA is pretty deceptive. It took what seemed like half a season for him to be scored upon. And, many of his earned runs weren’t scored when he was on the mound. He was very effective.
And, I called him Mike Henneman’s goofy little brother.
Mike Henneman was an orphan.
Jays chase Lee. See spot run.
See Tigers do nothing
More depth at the very least. Anyone else play ootp on mobile or pc? great game.