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MLBTR Podcast: Final Days In Oakland, The Surging Tigers, And If The Nats Will Pursue Soto

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • What will the Yankees’ backup plan be if they don’t re-sign Juan Soto? (30:20)
  • Do you see the Pirates making any significant off season moves to put a good offense around Paul Skenes and Jared Jones? (39:30)
  • Which three teams will be the most interested in signing Willy Adames? Could he command $100MM over 4 years? (46:10)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Tigers To Promote Jackson Jobe

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The Tigers announced that pitching prospect Jackson Jobe will be selected to the roster prior to tomorrow’s game. He will pitch out of the bullpen and right-hander Shelby Miller will be designated for assignment as the corresponding move, per Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press on X.

It’s been a wild season for the Tigers. They were a bit below .500 for a lot of the summer and ultimately acted as straightforward sellers at the deadline. They flipped out impending veteran free agents Jack Flaherty, Andrew Chafin, Mark Canha and Carson Kelly.

With two months left to go in the season, they gave playing time to their younger players, looking to see who would step forward and take on roles in 2025 and beyond. But the results have been so positive that the club has resurrected what looked like a lost season. They have gone 30-17 over August and September as other American League clubs have scuffled. As of today, the Tigers and Royals are tied for the final two Wild Card spots with the Twins one game back and the Mariners two games back.

With one week left and the Tigers looking to put the finishing touches on their improbable comeback, they are willing to consider all options for strengthening their club, which apparently includes calling up one of the top prospects in baseball.

Jobe, now 22, was selected third overall in the 2021 draft. Going into 2022, he hadn’t yet made his professional debut but was already considered one of the top prospects in the league, as Baseball America ranked him #79 overall at that time. He didn’t post amazing results immediately. He made 18 starts at Single-A to begin his career, logging 61 2/3 innings. He struck out 26.3% of batters faced and walked 9% but allowed 12 home runs, leading to a 4.52 ERA. He was promoted to High-A for three starts to finish the year with better results, posting a 1.15 ERA in those.

In 2023, inflammation in his lower back prevented him from getting into a game until the middle of June, but he performed well from there. He tossed 64 innings across multiple levels with a 2.81 ERA, 32.6% strikeout rate and miniscule walk rate of 2.3%. Here in 2024, he has thrown 91 2/3 innings, again across multiple levels. He has a 2.36 ERA in those 21 starts, striking out 25.6% of batters faced but walking 12%.

The strong results have boosted his prospect stock. Baseball America currently ranks him second overall, behind only Roman Anthony of the Red Sox. MLB Pipeline has him #6 and FanGraphs #15. ESPN ranked him #9 last month while Keith Law of The Athletic put him at #10 in July. He sits in the mid to high 90s with his fastball and has a slider/sweeper that is considered his best pitch, as well as featuring a changeup and cutter.

Jobe is considered a potential future ace but will join the club’s relief mix for now. That’s understandable since his workload this year is already a personal high and thrusting an inexperienced guy into a rotation role in the middle of a tight playoff race could lead to unknown results. However, it’s also worth noting that the Tigers haven’t been deploying a traditional pitching staff of late, using a lot of openers followed by bulk guys to strong results. Though Jobe will be working as a reliever, it’s entirely possible that manager A.J. Hinch could give him lots of innings if that seems to be the best course of action.

Exactly how and when the club lets Jobe loose remains to be seen, but it’s an intriguing development for the final week of the regular season and perhaps into the playoffs. If the Tigers hold on to play in October, Jobe should be eligible to participate. If a player is in an organization but not on a 40-man roster prior to September, they are often granted an exception by the commissioner to be postseason eligible.

Jobe won’t have enough time to exhaust his rookie status here in 2024, so the Tigers will be able to keep prospect promotion incentives on the table for 2025. Per the collective bargaining agreement, top prospects can earn their clubs extra draft picks if they are promoted for a full year of service and meet certain awards voting criteria. If Jobe is able to secure a rotation job out of the gate in 2025, that could be in play next year. He’ll be competing for a gig next to Tarik Skubal, Reese Olson, Casey Mize, Keider Montero, Brant Hurter, Kenta Maeda and others.

Miller, 33, signed with the Tigers in the offseason on a one-year deal with a $3MM guarantee, club option and incentives. That investment hasn’t paid off especially well for the club. He has tossed 55 2/3 innings this year with a 4.53 ERA, 21.8% strikeout rate and 5.8% walk rate. He seems to have fallen out of favor, only pitching twice since September 6 and not at all since September 17.

The Tigers will put him on waivers in the coming days but there will be little incentive for any club to claim him. He won’t be postseason eligible for any other team and the regular season is almost done. He’s an impending free agent so there’s no long-term benefit. If he clears waivers, he would have the right to elect free agency. He accept an outright assignment and hope for a postseason opportunity to open up, as Carlos Carrasco just did with the Guardians, or perhaps he will simply decide to get his offseason started ahead of schedule.

Tigers Notes: Keith, Jung, Offseason

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Tigers second baseman Colt Keith departed yesterday’s game after injuring his shoulder on a diving play. As noted by Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic, the 23-year-old initially stayed in the game after the incident but took himself out later on after he realized he couldn’t throw at full strength.

Keith will be sent for testing by the Tigers but the club is hopeful the injury won’t prove to be significant. As noted by MLB.com’s Injury Tracker, Keith suffered an injury to the same shoulder as a prospect back in 2022 that limited him to 48 games that year, though the rookie told reporters after the game that yesterday’s issue “felt different” than his old shoulder ailment.

An absence of virtually any length could have a significant impact on the AL playoff picture with just over a week remaining in the regular season and Detroit just 1.5 games behind the Twins for the final AL Wild Card spot. Keith, who signed a pre-debut extension with the Tigers over the offseason that guaranteed him just over $28.5MM over six years, struggled early in his MLB career but has really turned things around in recent months, with a solid .293/.340/.444 slash line in his 403 trips to the plate that’s brought his full-season offensive performance to essentially league average (99 wRC+).

Utilityman Zach McKinstry, who has hit just .224/.284/.352 in 109 games with the club this year, would presumably see an uptick in playing time in the event that Keith misses any time or heads to the injured list. Top prospect Jace Jung is another option. He’s played third base exclusively since being brought up to the majors but has spent more time at second base in his minor league career. Jung is out to a .214/.337/.257 start through his first 83 MLB plate appearances, but he turned in a more impressive .257/.377/.454 slash in Triple-A prior to his promotion.

Both Keith and Jung have split their professional playing careers between second base and third base, with a bit more of an emphasis on the former. There’s potential for Jung to cement himself as the team’s everyday third baseman now that Keith increasingly looks to be the long-term second baseman, but Jung is still adapting at third base after spending his college career at second base. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic suggests that Jung may not end up as a fixture at the hot corner, in part because the Tigers stand as a viable fit for free agent third baseman Alex Bregman, who obviously has longstanding ties to Detroit skipper (and former Astros manager) AJ Hinch.

That scenario is framed in speculative fashion, to be clear. Conceptually, however, it’s sensible for the Tigers to consider premium free-agent additions and to be willing to move from the top tiers of their farm system. The team only has likely Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal under club control through 2026, and while an extension is always possible, those chances are lessened given that he’s represented by the Boras Corporation. There will surely be efforts to keep Skubal, be they via extension or free agency, but the two remaining years he has with the team do create something of a window.

Skubal headlines a growing core that also includes Riley Greene, Reese Olson, Kerry Carpenter, Parker Meadows and the aforementioned Keith, among others. They’re still hopeful of getting meaningful contributions from former No. 1 picks Spencer Torkelson and Casey Mize, but neither has lived up to expectations thus far (though Torkelson has been productive since returning from Triple-A, hitting .267/.330/.448 — albeit with a 32% strikeout rate and .375 BABIP). Jung and young Justyn-Henry Malloy could both be prominent players, and Detroit has two of the game’s top overall prospects in outfielder Max Clark and right-hander Jackson Jobe.

It’s hard to imagine Clark or Jobe on the table in offseason trade talks, but the Tigers have surged into the postseason picture and figure to have a relatively aggressive offseason in store whether they reach the playoffs or narrowly miss. But with room for additions at third base, on the pitching staff (rotation and bullpen) and perhaps another corner bat in the first base/outfield/designated hitter mold, the Tigers have myriad paths to bolstering the roster, any number of which could be accomplished via trading from their non-Clark/Jobe prospect depth.

In terms of payroll capacity, while the Javier Baez contract looms large as an albatross, he and Keith are the only players signed to guaranteed contracts beyond the 2025 season. There’s considerable room for the Tigers to make a splash or two — if not from the top tier of available names then certainly in the three- or four-year range for mid-market free agents.

Tigers Sign Tomas Nido To Minor League Deal

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The Tigers signed catcher Tomas Nido to a minor league deal, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. Nido was announced in the lineup for the Triple-A Toledo MudHens today, so the signing is clearly already official. Nido, an ACES client, was with the Cubs and Mets earlier this season but was cut loose by Chicago at the end of August. Since he’s signed well into September, he won’t be eligible for postseason play in the event that the surging Tigers qualify, but he’ll give them some glove-first depth behind the plate in the season’s final couple weeks.

Nido, 30, has appeared in 49 games between the Mets and Cubs this season but struggled to a .192/.219/.315 batting line in 140 trips to the plate. As usual, he’s drawn strong grades for his defense at catcher. Nido’s 23% caught-stealing rate is better than league-average (21%), and he grades well in terms of blocking pitches in the dirt. However, this is his second straight season with a sub-.200 batting average and an OBP south of .220.

While Nido’s bat has cratered the past two seasons, he’s still not far removed from being a highly serviceable backup with the Mets. From 2020-22, he hit .236/.275/.338 in exactly 500 plate appearances and did so while grading out as one of the premier defensive backstops in the game. His offense during that time was about 28% worse than that of a league-average hitter, by measure of wRC+, but catchers are generally lighter hitters than the standard big leaguer. The average catcher tends to be around 10% to 12% worse than par with the bat, so Nido’s shortcomings at the plate during that three-year run weren’t as glaring as they’d have been at another position — particularly when coupled with his defensive contributions.

The Tigers traded Carson Kelly to the Rangers prior to the deadline and haven’t gotten any real offensive production out of Jake Rogers and rookie Dillon Dingler behind the dish. That said, Rogers himself is an elite defender at his position and has at least managed to pop 10 homers and 15 doubles on the season. Nido could get a look if either player requires a late trip to the injured list, but he’ll otherwise likely become a minor league free agent at season’s end.

Reese Olson Nearing Return

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  • The Tigers have been without Reese Olson for virtually the entire second half this year after the right-hander went on the IL back in July due to a shoulder strain. Fortunately, manager A.J. Hinch told reporters (including Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic) this afternoon that the club hopes to activate Olson from the IL during the club’s upcoming series against the Royals early next week. A healthy and effective return from Olson would be a huge boost for a Detroit club that sits just 2.5 games back of Minnesota for the final AL Wild Card spot, as the 25-year-old righty was in the midst of a breakout season with a 3.23 ERA and 3.13 FIP in 19 starts before being sidelined.

MLBTR Podcast: Matt Chapman’s Extension, Star Prospect Promotions, Bichette’s Future In Toronto

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, pinch-hitting host Mark Polishuk is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • What the heck is up with the AL wild card?  Is Minnesota going to be able to hold off the Tigers, or anyone else?  K.C. made them look pedestrian and Detroit is, scarily enough, beginning to figure things out. (49:25)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Pirates Claim Joey Wentz

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The Pirates have claimed left-hander Joey Wentz off waivers from the Tigers, according to announcements from both clubs. The Tigers had designated him for assignment in recent days. The Pirates had an open 40-man spot but will need to open an active roster spot once Wentz reports to the team since he is out of options.

Wentz, now 26, was once a notable prospect. He was selected 40th overall by Atlanta in the 2016 draft and posted some good numbers in the minors before being flipped to the Tigers in the July 2019 trade that sent Shane Greene the other way. Unfortunately, Wentz required Tommy John surgery in March of 2020, putting him on the shelf for that year and part of 2021. The Tigers nonetheless believed in his future, adding him to their 40-man roster in November of 2020 to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft.

Since coming back from his surgery absence, he has generally posted solid numbers in the minors but not in the majors. Over the 2021-23 seasons, he tossed 154 innings on the farm, allowing 3.97 earned runs per nine innings. His 11.4% walk rate in that time was a bit high but he struck out 26.7% of batters faced. But he had a 5.99 ERA in 138 1/3 major league innings during that same time frame, striking out just 19.9% of batters faced in the big leagues.

He exhausted his option years in that stretch and has been out of options here in 2024. The Tigers kept him in their bullpen for the first few months of the season with some mixed results. He was able to provide them with a multi-inning relief arm, soaking up 55 1/3 frames over 38 outings, but with a 5.37 ERA. His 23.6% strikeout rate and 10.6% walk rate are close to average but his .333 batting average on balls in play and 69.8% strand rate have both been a bit on the unlucky side. His 4.52 FIP and 3.97 SIERA both suggest he deserved better results than he got this year.

Perhaps that is what the Pirates will be banking on, in addition to Wentz’s previous prospect pedigree. They will have to keep him on their active roster due to his out-of-options status but that should be doable with just a few weeks left in the season and the club now out of contention. If they manage to keep Wentz on their roster, he can be retained well into the future. He will finish this season with under two years of service time, meaning he can be retained for five seasons after this one.

Tigers Designate Joey Wentz For Assignment

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2:55pm: The Tigers made these moves official and also announced that right-hander Alex Faedo was transferred to the 60-day IL. He landed on the 15-day IL on August 22 due to a right shoulder strain and the club announced that his season is over, per Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic on X. Detroit’s 40-man roster count drops to 39.

2:03pm: The Tigers have designated left-hander Joey Wentz for assignment, reports Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press. He’ll be the corresponding roster move for right-hander Casey Mize, who is being reinstated from the 60-day injured list.

Wentz, 26, was the No. 40 overall pick by the Braves back in 2016. The southpaw quickly became one of the more prominent pitching prospects in what was then a stacked Braves farm system and made his way to the Tigers alongside outfielder Travis Demeritte in the trade that sent righty Shane Greene to Atlanta. Wentz made his big league debut with the 2022 Tigers and has pitched for Detroit in each of the past three seasons.

That 2022 cup of coffee proved to be a solid debut effort. Wentz started seven games, totaled 32 2/3 innings and posted a 3.03 earned run average along the way. His 20% strikeout rate and 9.6% walk rate didn’t necessarily stand out, but for a 24-year-old making his debut after just 12 appearances at the Triple-A level, it was an encouraging start all the same.

Unfortunately, that’s the most success Wentz has enjoyed in the majors to date. He appeared in 25 games with the 2023 Tigers — 19 of them starts — and was rocked for a 6.90 ERA with nearly identical strikeout and walk rates to that ’22 debut. Wentz became extremely homer-prone, however, surrendering an average of 2.13 round-trippers per nine innings pitched — the third-worst mark of any pitcher who totaled at least 100 innings last year.

Wentz’s 2024 season has been somewhat better but not enough to save his roster spot. In 55 1/3 innings, he’s pitched to a 5.37 ERA with a career-high 23.6% strikeout rate but also a career-worst 10.6% walk rate. He’s out of minor league options, so the Tigers couldn’t simply send him to Triple-A if they wanted to free up his roster spot. The DFA became a necessity in that regard, and Wentz will now be made available to all 29 other clubs via waivers.

If another club claims him, he’ll need to go right onto the big league roster, as he can’t be sent to the minors without clearing waivers. If he goes unclaimed, he lacks the service time and prior outright needed to reject a minor league assignment. As such, he’d stick with the Tigers as a depth option in Triple-A Toledo without occupying a 40-man roster spot.

Don Wert Passes Away

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Former All-Star third baseman Don Wert passed away at age 86, the Tigers announced this afternoon. Wert played all but 20 games of his MLB career with Detroit.

Wert signed with the Tigers at age 19 out of Pennsylvania’s Franklin & Marshall College. The right-handed hitting infielder spent five years in the minors, including two full seasons at Triple-A. He earned his first big league call in 1963 and established himself as Detroit’s starting third baseman the next year.

After playing in 148 games during his first full MLB season, Wert started all 162 contests in 1965. He hit .261 with 12 homers and more walks than strikeouts in nearly 700 plate appearances. Wert was charged with only 12 errors despite logging more than 1400 innings at the hot corner. Award voters rewarded his durability and solid all-around game with a 10th-place finish in AL MVP balloting.

Wert was a reliable and consistent presence in the Detroit infield for the remainder of the decade. He made an All-Star team in 1968, although his .200/.258/.299 slash line that year was one of his least productive showings. A June hit-by-pitch that broke his helmet and required a stint in the hospital surely contributed to his offensive downturn. Wert remained a valuable defensive player and appeared in 150 games on a Tigers team that won 103 games to claim the AL pennant.

Detroit knocked off the Cardinals in a seven-game World Series. Wert played in six of those contests. He went 2-17 but drew six walks and drove in a pair of runs. The latter RBI came with two outs in the top of the ninth in the deciding game. He singled off Bob Gibson to push Detroit’s lead to 4-0; they held on to win by a 4-1 margin.

After the 1970 season, the Tigers traded Wert to the Washington Senators as part of an eight-player deal that also shipped out two-time Cy Young winner Denny McLain. Wert spent a couple months with Washington before being released in June, ending his playing career. He retired with a .242/.314/.343 line in more than 1100 games over parts of nine seasons. Wert played nearly 9000 innings at third base, where he had a .968 fielding percentage. MLBTR sends our condolences to his family, friends and loved ones.

Javier Báez To Undergo Season-Ending Hip Surgery

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The Tigers announced a series of roster moves today, including the selection of right-hander Ty Madden, which was reported yesterday. The club also recalled right-hander Mason Englert from Triple-A Toledo. To open active roster spots for those two, the club placed right-hander Will Vest on the paternity list and optioned left-hander Bryan Sammons to Toledo. To open a 40-man spot for Madden, infielder Javier Báez was transferred to the 60-day injured list. Manager A.J. Hinch informed reports that Báez will undergo right hip surgery and is done for the year. Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press was among those to relay the news on X.

Báez was placed on the 10-day injured list a few days ago, with what the Tigers described as lumbar spine and hip inflammation. It’s possible the issue has been bothering him for a while, as he also missed close to a month earlier this year due to lumbar spine inflammation. He previously told Petzold that he has dealt with lower back discomfort throughout his time with the Tigers.

Perhaps the back/hip issues provide some kind of explanation for his precipitous drop-off in terms of performance since coming to Detroit. Through the end of 2021, he had a career batting line of .264/.307/.477 for a wRC+ of 104. When combined with his strong shortstop defense and baserunning, he had produced 21.6 wins above replacement in the eyes of FanGraphs.

The Tigers signed him to a six-year, $140MM deal going into 2022 but he has hit just .221/.262/.347 over the life of that deal for a wRC+ of 69. That includes an atrocious .184/.221/.294 line and 41 wRC+ this year. Among players with at least 250 plate appearances this season, only Brandon Drury has a lower wRC+. Báez has also had less impressive numbers on defense in recent years and his contract is considered one of the worst in the sport at the moment.

Ideally, the surgery will address the issue and allow Báez to put this miserable stretch behind him, but there’s no guarantee that will come to pass. He’s now 31 years old, turning 32 in the offseason. That means the rest of the contract will see him trying to battle against the standard effects of time, in addition to overcoming this back/hip problem.

Even if he doesn’t get all the way back to his pre-Tigers form, there’s a lot of room for improvement over his current results, which the Tigers would happily take. They are pivoting to a young crop of position players, giving lots of playing time to infielders Colt Keith, Jace Jung and Trey Sweeney. The Tigers likely view that group as a more significant part of their next competitive window than Báez, but even if he could become a solid utility/bench player, that would likely be viewed as a nice consolation relative to how rough things have gone over the past three seasons. His deal will still have $73MM and three years remaining after the conclusion of the 2024 season.

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