December 19th: Guenther will make $787K if he cracks the roster, per Petzold.
December 18th: The Tigers have made a handful of depth additions in the past few days. Relievers Jack Little and Sean Guenther return on minor league contracts after being non-tendered, according to the MLB.com transaction tracker. They’re adding left-hander Enmanuel De Jesus on a minor league deal that’d pay him at a $1.3MM rate if he makes the big league roster, reports Evan Petzold of The Detroit Free-Press. Righty reliever Cole Waites will also be in camp as a non-roster invitee after signing a minor league deal last week, as first reported by Ari Alexander of 7 News Boston.
Guenther is the only of the four pitchers who has appeared in a game for the Tigers. The left-hander has pitched 31 1/3 innings of 2.30 ERA ball over the past two seasons. He didn’t miss enough bats to support the excellent run prevention mark and has been an up-and-down middle reliever. Guenther missed the final three months of the ’25 season working back from hip surgery. Detroit used the non-tender deadline to drop him from the 40-man roster with an eye towards bringing him back on a minor league contract.
They did the same thing with Little, whom they’d claimed off waivers from Pittsburgh a couple weeks earlier. The 27-year-old righty (28 in January) debuted with two appearances for the Dodgers this year. He spent the rest of the season in Triple-A, where he turned in a 4.06 ERA with a modest 20.2% strikeout percentage over 62 innings.
De Jesus, 29, returns to affiliated ball after two seasons in Korea. He spent a year apiece with the Kiwoom Heroes and the KT Wiz. De Jesus worked out of the rotation and posted a sub-4.00 ERA while starting 30 games in both seasons. He struck out 24% of opponents with a 3.81 earned run average in 335 combined frames. The Venezuela native pitched in two MLB games for the Marlins in 2023.
Waites also most recently appeared in the big leagues two years ago. He allowed seven runs in eight innings for the Giants between 2022-23. He underwent elbow surgery late in the ’23 season and has missed most of the past two seasons. The 27-year-old Waites owns a 4.46 ERA in 43 career appearances at the Triple-A level.
I don’t know how to love anymore
Depth is great. Now go sign a bat or a #2 starter!
Agree. People shouldn’t overreact to non-needle-moving moves. All teams do this. But let’s also go sign Bo Bichette!
Skubal replacements
You just pulled the scab off the wound 😉 Hopefully any talks about that between Detroit and other teams are done.
Guenther was decent at times, this gives them options to play musical pitchers again, although signing a few more decent players would be better. We all know Dumpster Diving Harris won’t sign enough to really help all season. He prefers signing players who might pitch instead of guys who can pitch!
Harris has proven that he can have the best team in baseball but still can’t tweak it when things go bad. His absolute screw up at last year’s deadline proves that, too afraid to make a move that will help, wasted a real shot at a World Series berth last season. Between the cheap owner and inept front office we have to be prepared for another almost season!
Oh damn. Seah Guenther retires and makes John Cena tap out. Now he’s gonna venture into the world of professional baseball. Personally I think he’d do better with football.
I know!
They still haven’t….
Hired the Superfife!
I think they hired that de Jesus guy to pitch to Ohtani and Judge….they’ll be praying!
Praying they don’t get hbp!
I like Guenthervand was hoping they would bring him back. Harris has done pretty good with waiver wire bullpen arms. I have liked most of what he has done but his Achilles heel has definitely been the trade deadline every year he has been here. Finnegan and even Montero to a lesser degree were not bad adds but the rest was like watching a plane crash unfortunately.
I really think, when it comes to minor league signings…depth signings; unless you have a specific player scouted or one you have worked with….the very best source…..are the player agents themselves.
Call Boras in Feb…”ok, dude…what mlb worthy guys do you have that are unsigned? We’ll give them a chance to prove themselves.”
If they succeed, you’ll get a good deal and make a professional friend.
If they fail…it’s on the agent and his credibility.
Use several agents, make them compete for that credibility.
Jeeez….giving away.my trade secrets for free…
Face it. The best scouts work for Scott Boras or own their own agencies…
Hire the Superfife!
I don’t live in a box!
As long as Tigers’ front office feels comfortable.
Lazy scouts!
The Tigers have a ton of non-roster depth for relief pitching! Just use it when you need it!
Guenther still has potential. In 2024 he did a real nice job. He’s welcome on my Tigers.
** YAWN**
Tigers celebrate
Christmas by signing De JESUS!!
One of the dumber trade proposals I’ve read was from one of those lame Sports Illustrated “articles” that appear to be AI: Mize & Melton for Jazz Chisolm.
Yeah, the Tigers are going to trade 40 percent of their rotation for yet another 2B. Please.
I need to find better toilet reading.