- Chris Illitch is officially the controlling owner of the Tigers, having gotten approval from the league’s other 29 owners earlier this week, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (Twitter link). Illitch is taking over for his father, Mike Illitch, who passed away in February after a nearly 25-year run at the helm of the Tigers.
Tigers Rumors
J.D. Martinez: Extension Talks "Highly Doubtful" To Occur
- Free-agent-to-be J.D. Martinez told reporters today that he’d love to remain in Detroit, but it’s “highly doubtful” that there’ll be any contract negotiations during the season (Twitter link via MLB.com’s Jordan Horrobin). Detroit could always look to re-sign Martinez this offseason, though that would run counter to GM Al Avila’s stated goal of lowering the team’s long-term payroll outlook. Martinez has burst back into the Tigers’ lineup with an outrageous four-game stretch, as he’s already blasted four homers and collected hits in six of his 12 at-bats while also drawing five walks. Detroit is two games back from the division lead and Martinez doesn’t figure to be a trade chip if they remain that close to a potential division title. But, if the team begins to slip, he’ll be an interesting player to monitor as the non-waiver deadline approaches.
- While many are beginning to wonder whether the Royals will engineer a tear-down of the current MLB roster this summer, GM Dayton Moore says he’s not yet entertaining that possibility, as Dodd further reports. There’s no rush in making any decisions, Moore emphasized, noting that trades can come together quickly “if you have two willing partners.” While the club is still six games under .500, moreover, it has performed better of late and remains within reach of the front of a tightly-bunched pack in the AL Central. Moore drew an interesting analogy to the 2015 Tigers in explaining why he sees little reason to contemplate a summer sale effort. While that organization seemed prepared to hold at the deadline, he notes, “all of a sudden, some things changed, and Dave Dombrowski says he’s going to trade David Price, and the deal comes together very quickly.”
Tigers Agree To Minors Deal With Matt Den Dekker
The Tigers have agreed to a minor league contract with veteran outfielder Matt den Dekker, Evan Woodberry of MLive.com tweets. The 29-year-old den Dekker will report to Triple-A Toledo.
[Related: Updated Tigers depth chart]
den Dekker has spent time in the Majors in each of the past four seasons, logging 237 plate appearances for the Mets in 2013-14 before tallying 149 PAs on the other side of the division rivalry with the Nationals from 2015-16. In that time, he’s recorded a .236/.318/.359 batting line with seven homers and a dozen stolen bases. Capable of playing all three outfield spots, den Dekker has received positive overall grades from Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating.
As for the 2017 season, den Dekker once again opened the year in the NL East, reporting to the Marlins’ Triple-A affiliate in New Orleans after failing to make the club out of Spring Training. MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro recently reported that he’d exercised an opt-out clause after hitting .247/.280/.481 with three homers, seven doubles and a triple through 82 PAs with New Orleans.
With the return of J.D. Martinez from the disabled list, there’s one less spot in the Tigers’ Major League outfield. Both Martinez and Justin Upton are locked into the outfield corners, though center field is murkier. Mikie Mahtook has struggled at the plate all season (.184/.262/.316), while Andrew Romine has moved to center field out of necessity but cooled after a slow start (.230/.302/.391). Tyler Collins, too, is capable of playing center field but has batted just .226/.294/.323. JaCoby Jones, meanwhile, was demoted to Triple-A earlier this year and is currently hitting .250/.344/.375 in Toledo.
AL Central Notes: Infante, White Sox, Jimenez, AJax
It has been a long and winding path back to the big leagues for White Sox righty Gregory Infante, as Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago writes. After briefly making his MLB debut at 22 years of age, the now-29-year-old had bounced around the upper minors waiting for another shot. That finally came after Infante threw 13 dominant innings at Triple-A Charlotte to open the current season, earning him a ticket back to the majors. “I am very happy and glad to get this opportunity,” Infante said. “The last seven years were tough years, but I also worked a lot in the last seven to get to this point because this is where you want to be as a player.”
- That White Sox bullpen of which Infante is now a member figures to draw plenty of attention over the coming months. With a variety of interesting arms — closer David Robertson, injured setup man Nate Jones, and suddenly interesting righties Tommy Kahnle and Anthony Swarzak — on hand, the rebuilding organization could be in quite a nice selling position at the deadline. In the meantime, manager Rick Renteria tells Hayes, the organization plans to carry eight relievers — helping to spread the burden in the pen and alleviate any innings shortages from the rotation.
- Tigers reliever Joe Jimenez is expected to miss about a month with a back injury, writes John Wagner of the Toledo Blade. Jimenez, 22, has been working at Triple-A after a rough debut in the majors. Since his demotion, Jimenez has continued the dominant path he charted over the preceding four seasons, racking up 13 strikeouts against four hits and two walks over 6 1/3 scoreless innings. Had that continued, he may well have been positioned to return to the bigs in relatively short order. Instead, he’ll first have to rehab the injury.
- Indians outfielder Austin Jackson appears to be progressing from his toe injury, as Jordan Bastian of MLB.com reports on Twitter. The veteran is with the club today, participating in agility drills and baserunning work. It’s not clear whether he’ll require a brief rehab stint once he’s back to health, but presumably he’ll be ready for MLB duty in relatively short order once his toe is healed.
Tigers Activate J.D. Martinez From DL
10:38pm: The Tigers have now announced that Martinez has been activated and that Adduci has been placed on the 10-day DL.
10:25pm: The Tigers will get one of the most productive bats in their lineup back tonight, as they’re set to activate right fielder J.D. Martinez from the disabled list, as Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press writes. Detroit had been hoping to get Martinez a few more at-bats on a minor league rehab assignment, but an oblique injury to outfielder Jim Adduci instead forced the team’s hand a bit. Aducci will head to the 10-day DL as a corresponding roster move for Martinez’s reinstatement.
As Fenech points out, it’s been seven weeks to the day since Martinez suffered a lisfranc sprain in his right foot while making a sliding catch in Spring Training. The team originally projected an absence of five weeks, but Martinez required a bit more time to work up to running the bases and playing right field on a regular basis. He played the outfield on consecutive days during his abbreviated rehab stint, however, and is seemingly able to run the bases well enough to return to the lineup. Manager Brad Ausmus told Tigers reporters that Martinez is said to “feel fine moving around,” tough he noted that there could be “some residual soreness” in Martinez’s foot.
In Martinez, the Tigers will be getting back one of the American League’s premier sluggers across the past three seasons. Released by Houston late in Spring Training 2014, Martinez blossomed after inking a minor league deal with the Tigers. Since joining Detroit, he’s mashed at a .299/.357/.540 clip and slugged 83 home runs in 401 games. All of that has positioned him quite nicely as a free agent this coming offseason. While missing the first five weeks of the year certainly doesn’t do his free-agent stock any favors, Martinez remains a candidate to sign a contract worth more than $100MM in free agency this coming winter — a notion that would’ve been unfathomable when he initially signed with Detroit.
Of course, it remains to be seen how Martinez will perform on the defensive side of the ball in 2017. While both Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating pegged Martinez as an above-average defender in right field back in 2015, those same metrics characterized him as one of baseball’s worst defenders in 2016. If there are any lingering limitations on his mobility in 2017 due to the lisfranc injury, that could understandably hamper his defensive play, which could, in turn, alter his perception on the free-agent market.
It’s also worth noting that the play of both Martinez and the Tigers will be worth monitoring as trade season approaches. The 17-16 Tigers are currently just a game out of first place in the AL Central, and assuming they remain in contention, the team could be content to keep Martinez and issue him a qualifying offer at season’s end. However, if the Tigers’ team performance begins to slip, then Martinez could find himself as a trade candidate.
Speculatively speaking, the 29-year-old could even find himself on the block if the Tigers are in the Wild Card hunt but appear long shots to take home an AL Central crown. The newly restructured collective bargaining agreement drastically reduced the compensation that teams will receive when free agents that decline a QO sign elsewhere; as such, the Tigers wouldn’t even be able to pocket a first-round pick as compensation in the event of a Martinez departure.
Though Martinez has yet to suit up for even a single game with the Tigers this season, he nonetheless landed at No. 6 on the most recent edition of MLBTR’s Free Agent Power Rankings. If Martinez comes out of the gates strongly, that ranking could rise, as well, especially considering the struggles of several players that previously rated ahead of him (e.g. Jake Arrieta, Johnny Cueto, Masahiro Tanaka).
Latest On Tigers' Closer Situation
- Even if a closer upgrade were available to the Tigers at the moment, they don’t have the money to make an addition (or at least wouldn’t be willing to spend it). Detroit recently demoted Francisco Rodriguez from the ninth inning in favor of Justin Wilson following a brutal start to the season for K-Rod, and their bullpen has once again been a weak spot. Heyman notes that GM Al Avila at one point made a trip to Triple-A Toledo and “read the riot act” to right-hander Bruce Rondon, who has responded by dropping 15 pounds. Rondon was once viewed as a potential closer of the future, but he’s yet to establish himself and has had issues with his conditioning and effort level.
Tigers Make Change At Closer
- The Tigers have moved Francisco Rodriguez out of the closer role, as Bob Nightengale of USA Today first reported on Twitter. He’ll be replaced, at least for the time being, by Justin Wilson. While it seems that Rodriguez could yet regain his spot in the ninth, he’ll now need to show he’s a better option than Wilson, who has been lights out thus far. Rodriguez, meanwhile, has been generating plenty of strikeouts but has also allowed 11 earned runs on 19 hits in his 11 2/3 innings.
Tigers Notes: K-Rod, JD Martinez
- After two blown saves in as many days for Francisco Rodriguez, Tigers manager Brad Ausmus told reporters (including MLB.com’s Alex Espinoza) that the team is “going to have to have a discussion” about the closer role. Rodriguez has blown four saves in 11 opportunities this season, and his ERA ballooned to 8.49 after today’s ugly performance. K-Rod has seen a marked increase in hard contact this season (36.8%, as opposed to 29.2% last year) and he has lost a mile off his fastball from last season, now averaging 88.2mph on his heater. With that being said, there may also be some bad luck involved in Rodriguez’s poor start, such as a .405 BABIP, 29.3% grounder rate and 21.1% fly ball rate that all seem destined to eventually normalize. Set-up man Justin Wilson is off a very good start and could seem like the logical candidate to take over as closer if Rodriguez is indeed demoted. Be sure to check out @CloserNews (MLBTR’s affiliate Twitter feed) for all the latest updates on ninth-inning situations from around the majors.
- In other Tigers news, Ausmus told Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press and other media that J.D. Martinez could make his season debut next weekend. The slugging outfielder has been on the DL since suffering a Lisfranc sprain in Spring Training, and the Tigers announced today that Martinez will take the next step his minor league rehab process by moving from Class-A to Triple-A on Monday.
- The Rangers dropped to 13-19 after today’s loss to the Mariners, and if Texas can’t turn things around, Fangraphs’ Dave Cameron opines that Yu Darvish could be a major trade chip at the deadline. Darvish is only under contract through this season, though as Cameron notes, other rental starters dealt in recent years have still merited big returns, so the Rangers could look for something like the package the Tigers obtained from the Blue Jays for David Price in 2015. The Yankees and Cubs are best-equipped to afford this outlay of young talent (though it remains to be seen if Chicago will make another big deadline splash), with other teams like the Rockies, Astros and Red Sox also possible fits as trade partners.
Tigers Release James Loney
The Tigers have released first baseman James Loney, as announced by the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Toledo (hat tip to John Wagner of the Toledo Blade). The move was made to create a roster spot for JaCoby Jones, who was assigned to Triple-A after his Tigers DL stint ended.
The news makes for an unfortunate birthday present for Loney, who turns 33 years old today. The veteran signed a minor league deal with Detroit on April 12 after being released from another minors deal with the Rangers near the end of Spring Training. Heading into today’s action, Loney had hit .200/.351/.222 over 57 plate appearances for Toledo.
After spending his first 10 seasons with the Dodgers and Rays, Loney has bounced around with four different organizations (Padres, Mets, Rangers, Tigers) since being released by Tampa Bay in April 2016. He did score quite a bit of playing time for New York last season, hitting .265/.307/.397 over 366 PA as a replacement for the injured Lucas Duda.
Given Loney’s experience and left-handed bat, he seems like a good bet to catch on with another team as minor league depth. He owns a career .295/.349/.431 slash line against right-handed pitching, and while his once outstanding first base defense has declined in recent years (as per UZR/150 and Defensive Runs Saved), Loney can still provide at least average glovework.
Detroit, of course, has no pressing need at first base on the MLB level with Miguel Cabrera locking down the position. Alex Avila, Andrew Romine and Jim Adduci can play the position as backups, and youngster John Hicks (since demoted to Triple-A) hit quite well filling in for Cabrera during a recent DL stint.
Tigers Aren't Considering Closer Change
- Although Tigers closer Francisco Rodriguez suffered both his third blown save and loss of the year Saturday, the team isn’t ready to remove him from the role, according to manager Brad Ausmus (via Evan Woodbery of MLive.com). “We haven’t had any discussions about using anyone else other than Frankie,” Ausmus said. “Until we decide otherwise, he’s going to be the closer.” The 35-year-old Rodriguez allowed two earned runs in an 8-7 defeat to the Athletics, and has only racked up five scoreless appearances in 12 tries this season. Across 11 1/3 innings, Rodriguez has given up eight earned runs on 17 hits and four walks.
