The Tigers announced Tuesday that they’ve selected the contract of left-hander Enmanuel De Jesus. Righty Troy Melton, who’s been slowed in camp due to elbow inflammation, was placed on the 60-day injured list to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Efraín Zavarce of IVC and 107.3 La Mega first reported De Jesus would be added to the 40-man roster. Daniel Alvarez Montes of El Extra Base reports that De Jesus had been in talks with a team in Asia, so it seems the Tigers had to choose between adding him to the 40-man roster and cutting him loose to sign in NPB, the KBO or the CPBL. Jason Beck of MLB.com adds that there’s been no setback with Melton, but his expected debut had been pushed into May already by this point.
Adding De Jesus to the 40-man roster doesn’t guarantee that he’ll make the major league club on Opening Day. The 29-year-old has only limited major league experience and thus has a full slate of three minor league option years remaining. Now that he’s on the 40-man, however, he’s a clear candidate to break camp with the team or be among the first arms summoned to the majors in the event of an injury.
De Jesus, who pitched briefly with the 2023 Marlins, tossed 6 1/3 shutout innings this spring and held opponents to four hits and a walk with seven strikeouts before joining Venezuela’s team in the World Baseball Classic. He’s started one game in the Classic so far, holding Israel to one run on a pair of hits and no walks with eight punchouts through five terrific innings.
A stint in Asia wouldn’t have been surprising for De Jesus. He’s spent the past two seasons in the Kiwoom Heroes’ rotation in the Korea Baseball Organization, working to a combined 3.81 ERA in 343 innings. He’s fanned 23.8% of his opponents there against a 6.1% walk rate. Detroit scooped him up on a minor league deal and non-roster invite this winter, but it’s common for such deals to have foreign interest clauses that permit the player to ask for his release if an Asian club comes calling with a guaranteed offer. De Jesus seems to have had such a clause this time around, but his strong spring performance both with the Tigers and in the WBC has prompted his current MLB organization to keep him around.
De Jesus could open the season as a swing option on the big league roster, although righty Drew Anderson may have first dibs on that role. Like De Jesus, he’s returning to the majors after a strong run in the KBO — although Anderson’s dominance with the SSG Landers was enough to land him a $7MM guarantee on a major league contract. There’s no room for either Anderson or De Jesus in a Detroit rotation that will feature Tarik Skubal, Framber Valdez, Jack Flaherty, Casey Mize and a returning Justin Verlander.
Starters Jackson Jobe (Tommy John surgery last June), Reese Olson (shoulder surgery last month) and Melton are all opening the season on the 60-day IL. In addition to a potential Melton return in late May, Jobe could be back in the season’s second half. Recently optioned Keider Montero had been the top depth option still on the 40-man roster, joining Sawyer Gipson-Long and Ty Madden in that regard. De Jesus provides some more cover and a possible southpaw arm for the bullpen, where Tyler Holton, Brant Hurter and Drew Sommers are the club’s other options on the 40-man roster.
That sucks about Melton but De Jesus does look like an interesting arm so far. I wonder if they will run with three lefties in the pen? Does he beat out Brieske for a spot because there doesn’t seem to be many spots available this year in the pen.
You have to figure our backend is Holton-Vest-Finnegan-Jansen…so L-R-R-R. I’ve been saying this since FA started, we need some more lefties in the BP outside of Hurter who has not looked good this spring.
They need to put Drew Anderson in the rotation he has been dominating in spring training.
Anderson, is the #6 guy, at best.
Yes, and they should run with a 6 man rotation until another one goes down; at that point it becomes a 5 man rotation. Keep DeJesus, Keider, Madden, and Sawyer at Toledo for reinforcements.
Who do you sub out then?
Skubal
Valdez
Mize
Flaherty
Verlander
It’s nice to have Anderson in the mix, but I wouldn’t replace anyone with him in the rotation.
Sounds like TJ coming soon.
Let’s hope not.
It’s always a matter of when, not if.
Now that DeJesus is on the 40-man, he probably has a better chance of making the team than Hurter.
I think Brieske has to dominate the next two weeks in order to win a spot. With Anderson in the pen now, a good groundball inducing righty like Hanifee seems less redundant than Brieske. Right now, bullpen probably looks like this:
Vest
Jansen
Finnegan
Holton
Anderson
Hanifee
DeJesus