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Tigers Designate Donny Sands For Assignment

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The Tigers announced Friday that catcher Donny Sands has been designated for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster goes to right-hander Shelby Miller, whose previously reported one-year contract has now been formally announced by the club.

Sands, 27, came to the Tigers from the Phillies alongside Matt Vierling and Nick Maton in the trade sending left-hander Gregory Soto and utilityman Kody Clemens to the Phillies. The Tigers viewed him as some valuable, optionable depth behind the plate, but the performance of Jake Rogers in the Majors and some struggles from Sands in Triple-A combined to keep Sands in the upper minors all season.

In 371 trips to the plate with Triple-A Toledo, Sands hit .225/.318/.353. Even when backup catcher Eric Haase struggled in the majors and was designated for assignment, the Tigers went outside the organization to bring Carson Kelly aboard on a one-year deal with a 2024 club option. The Tigers exercised that option earlier this winter, and Kelly is now in line to serve as Rogers’ backup.

Sands still has one more minor league option year remaining, and he’s posted roughly average framing grades in the upper minors. This past season, he logged a 24% caught-stealing rate. And, despite his scuffles in Toledo, Sands still carries a career .261/.352/.403 batting line parts of three Triple-A campaigns. Another club with some needs behind the dish could well hold interest in Sands, be it in a small trade or via a waiver claim. Detroit will have a week to find a trade partner or attempt to pass Sands through outright waivers.

Tigers Sign Shelby Miller

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1:48pm: The Tigers have announced the signing. It’s a one-year contract worth a guaranteed $3MM, the team announced. They also hold a club option worth $4.25MM and a $250K buyout.

The Tigers, who have recently begun announcing the full terms of their contracts, added that Miller can earn an extra $1.175MM per season via incentives. He’ll receive $100K bonuses for reaching each of 50, 55 and 60 games pitched, plus another $125K for reaching 65 and 70 appearances. If he winds up serving as the closer, there’s even more money to be unlocked. The contract calls for $150K bonuses for 40, 45, 50 and 55 games finished.

The value of the club option can also be boosted by $1.4MM. Those escalators are tied to appearances ($100K for 50, 55 and 60 games pitched; $150K for 65 and 70 games pitched) and games finished ($200K for finishing 40, 45, 50 and 55 games).

8:39am: It’s a one-year contract with a 2025 option, reports Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press. Miller is in Detroit for his physical today, Petzold adds, so the contract should become official soon.

8:26am: The Tigers have agreed to a deal with free agent right-hander Shelby Miller, reports Kiley McDaniel of ESPN. The contract is still pending a physical. Detroit’s 40-man roster is full, so they’ll need to make a corresponding move to accommodate this latest addition. Miller is represented by Excel Sports Management.

Miller, 33, enjoyed a resurgent season with the 2023 Dodgers, pitching to a brilliant 1.71 earned run average in 42 innings over 36 appearances (35 relief outings, one start). He fanned a strong 25.8% of his opponents against a bloated 11.7% walk rate and kept the ball on the ground at a 37.4% clip — a few percentage points below the league average. Miller’s fastball is down about a mile per hour from its peak levels, sitting at a league-average 93.6 mph, but he also brandished a newly implemented splitter in 2023, which flummoxed his opponents.

Prior to the 2023 season, Miller had thrown exactly one splitter in his career — way back in 2014. He threw the pitch 26.2% of the time this past season, however, and batters were largely helpless against it. Miller threw 174 splitters in 2023 and finished off 47 plate appearances with the pitch; opponents posted an awful .136/.191/.250 against the pitch in that sample. Statcast credited the pitch with a .170 “expected” opponents’ batting average and a .274 expected slugging percentage.

That marked Miller’s first successful season since back in 2015. While he’d shown flashes of promise in the interim seven years, injuries and poor performances were far more common for the former top prospect and once-promising young starter. The 19th overall pick by the Cardinals back in 2009, Miller debuted in St. Louis as a 21-year-old, pitched to an outstanding 3.22 ERA over his first 575 1/3 big league frames and was twice traded in blockbuster deals — first going from St. Louis to Atlanta in exchange for Jason Heyward and a year later going to Arizona in the trade that brought Dansby Swanson and Ender Inciarte to the Braves.

Miller struggled immediately with the D-backs and never found his footing before undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2017. At various points, his career looked to be on the brink, but he persevered through considerable struggles and now, in his mid-30s, looks to have found new life as a quality bullpen arm.

The Dodgers didn’t use him in high-leverage spots often last year, but Miller could have a clearer path to setup work in Detroit. Right-handers Alex Lange and Jason Foley are the primary ninth- and eighth-inning options, respectively, and Detroit brought lefty Andrew Chafin back on a one-year deal as a left-handed setup option as well. But Miller has a good bit more experience than the bulk of the Tigers’ relievers and could find himself in more tight, late-inning spots this season.

Miller becomes the latest addition in what’s been a nice offseason of veteran pickups for the Tigers. Detroit has added righty Kenta Maeda (two years, $24MM) to help stabilize a young pitching staff and also bought low on former Cardinals ace Jack Flaherty (one year, $14MM), who’ll look to return to his prior heights in a new setting. The Tigers kicked off the winter by acquiring Mark Canha from the Brewers and picking up his 2024 option; he’ll join the team’s outfield and DH mix this coming season. Chafin, as previously noted, is returning to Comerica Park, where he excelled in 2022 before struggling with Arizona and Milwaukee in 2023. He and Miller have the potential to meaningfully fortify the Detroit relief corps.

There’s still room for some further additions, be they in the bullpen, on the bench or perhaps around the infield, where Detroit still lacks some certainty at multiple positions. Some of those could come from the trade market rather than free agency, although president of baseball operations Scott Harris indicated this week that he doesn’t envision trading from his newly deepened rotation mix. Wherever further reinforcements come from, the Tigers’ 2024 outlook is already brighter than the 2023 group. It’s a deepened roster that, with some continued development from young players like Spencer Torkelson, Riley Greene, Kerry Carpenter and prospects like Colt Keith and Justyn-Henry Malloy, could emerge as a viable contender in a weak American League Central division.

Tigers Not Pursuing Trades From Rotation

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The Tigers added a pair of right-handers to the middle of the rotation early in the offseason. Detroit signed Kenta Maeda to a two-year pact and took a one-year rebound flier on Jack Flaherty. That duo helps compensate for the loss of Eduardo Rodriguez, who opted out and signed a four-year pact with the Diamondbacks.

Detroit president of baseball operations Scott Harris spoke with reporters yesterday at the press conference to announce the Flaherty signing. Most notably, the front office leader downplayed the odds of another significant rotation move — either via an acquisition or trading away someone bumped from the staff by the Maeda and Flaherty pickups.

“We did not add Jack intending to trade one of our starters,” Harris told reporters (link via Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free-Press). “We’re always going to listen to opportunities to make trades to make the organization better, but that was not the goal of adding Jack.” At the same time, Harris acknowledged that while the organization is broadly open to stockpiling pitching depth as a matter of due course, he “(doesn’t) know that we’re going to be in the starting pitching market anymore after this signing.”

Maeda and Flaherty step in as veteran additions to a fairly young rotation. Tarik Skubal is the staff ace. The left-hander’s 2022 breakout was cut short by an unfortunate forearm injury that required flexor surgery. Upon returning from a nearly year-long rehab process in early July, he was even better than he’d been before the procedure. Over 15 starts, Skubal turned in a 2.80 ERA while striking out almost a third of batters faced. The 27-year-old kept his walk rate below 5% while averaging 95.8 MPH on his fastball, nearly two ticks higher than he’d shown the preceding season.

Barring an injury in Spring Training, Skubal, Maeda and Flaherty are locks for the Opening Day starting five. The last two spots will likely go to some combination of Reese Olson, Matt Manning, Casey Mize and Sawyer Gipson-Long.

Olson and Gipson-Long debuted last season with solid results. The former built a lengthier résumé, pitching 103 2/3 innings over 21 appearances. He allowed just under four earned runs per nine with better than average strikeout and walk rates (24.4% and 7.8%, respectively). Gipson-Long was a September call-up in his age-25 season. He had excellent numbers over his first four starts, allowing a 2.70 ERA with a 31.7% strikeout rate across 20 innings. That came against a very weak group of opposing lineups — the Angels, White Sox, Royals and A’s — but aligns with his minor league track record of running big strikeout tallies.

Mize and Manning are former top 10 picks who have posted back-of-the-rotation results in their MLB time. Both pitchers have battled injury issues, with Mize missing all of 2023 after undergoing Tommy John surgery. He’s at full strength going into Spring Training, although it’s likely he’ll be limited from an innings perspective. The Auburn product only made two starts in 2022 before the injury, so he has 10 innings over the last two years.

Manning has started between 12 and 18 MLB games since making his debut midway through the ’21 season. Shoulder issues sidelined him for a good portion of the 2022 campaign. His injuries last year were more fluky, as he fractured his foot upon being struck by a comebacker on two separate occasions.

That’s seven viable starters. Joey Wentz and Alex Faedo are still on the roster after making 12+ starts apiece last year, although neither pitched well enough that they’re likely in the Opening Day rotation mix. Teams almost never get through a 162-game schedule with only five starters, so it’s not surprising the front office is content to hold everyone in the group. Petzold writes that the Tigers aren’t considering a six-man rotation, though, so there could be camp battles between Mize, Manning, Olson and Gipson-Long for season-opening jobs.

Tigers Sign Jack Flaherty To One-Year Deal

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The Tigers announced that they have signed right-hander Jack Flaherty to a one-year, $14MM deal. He can also earn an extra $1MM in bonuses based on games started: $250K for 26 and 28 starts, then another $500K for 30. Flaherty is a client of CAA Sports.

Just 28 years old, Flaherty isn’t all that far removed from looking like one of the National League’s budding young aces. The former first-rounder was one of the sport’s top all-around prospects prior to making his big league debut, which came in 2017.

The following year saw the California native pitch to a sharp 3.34 earned run average through 151 big league innings, but Flaherty’s best work came, of all times, during the juiced-ball season in 2019. That year’s 2.75 ERA, 29.9% strikeout rate, 7.1% walk rate and 1.15 HR/9 would be strong marks in any season but were especially impressive during the highest run-scoring environment since the steroid era. Two teams broke MLB’s single-season home run record that year, and yet while many pitchers throughout the league posted career-worst marks, Flaherty shined at his absolute brightest.

Unfortunately for both Flaherty and the Cardinals, that brilliant start to his career didn’t hold up. Injuries, primarily shoulder issues, conspired to limit Flaherty to just 154 1/3 innings over the next three seasons combined. During that time, he worked with slightly lesser velocity (93.9 mph) than his 94.5 mph peak, and his walk and home-run rates trended in the wrong direction. Overall, he posted a 3.90 earned run average but was limited to 32 starts (and another three bullpen outings).

The 2023 season for Flaherty was split between the Cardinals and the Orioles, who acquired him in a trade deadline deal sending lefty Drew Rom and prospects Cesar Prieto and Zack Showalter from Baltimore back to St. Louis. It was a mixed bag of a season for the righty. On the one hand, Flaherty’s 27 starts and 144 1/3 innings clearly made for his healthiest season since that brilliant ’19 effort. On the other, his 4.99 ERA was a career-worst (outside of a 21-inning sample as a rookie in 2017). His 22.8% strikeout rate was about average, but Flaherty’s 10.6% walk rate was elevated and his 93.2 mph average heater was down even further.

Despite the poor 2023 showing, Flaherty drew interest from at least the Pirates, Royals and Tigers — though his market surely included other suitors. There’s good sense in taking a flier on Flaherty, given his age, former prospect pedigree and the heights he reached earlier in his career.

As we noted on our Top 50 Free Agent Rankings, while we predicted a three-year pact for the righty — presuming a team would extend a multi-year pact in hopes of acquiring a below-market bargain — a straight one-year pillow deal always figured to be on the table. With strong results this year Flaherty can return to the market as a 29-year-old in position for a much more lucrative deal. The downside, of course, is that with another lackluster performance, Flaherty could well hit the market with considerably less earning power and no interest on multi-year contracts. Despite that potential, he’ll bet on himself with the more traditional approach and hope to cash in a year from now.

Should things play out that way, it’ll be to the benefit of the Tigers, who’ll not only have the opportunity to help Flaherty return to something resembling his peak levels but — if things play out that way — extend a qualifying offer to the righty. There’s a long way to go before that scenario is in play, but Flaherty’s early-career performance shows that he clearly has the talent to merit that type of offer when he’s at his best.

Flaherty becomes the second free-agent addition to what will be a dramatically different Tigers rotation than the one we saw in 2023. Gone is veteran lefty Eduardo Rodriguez, who opted out of the three years and $49MM on his contract and scored a four-year, $80MM deal with the NL champion D-backs. Flaherty and righty Kenta Maeda, fresh off an excellent finish to his ’23 campaign with the division-rival Twins, will take up the mantle of veteran rotation leaders for skipper AJ Hinch.

Not only will the Tigers have that newly signed pair of arms, they’ll also welcome 2018 No. 1 overall pick Casey Mize back into the fold after a season lost to Tommy John surgery. Standout lefty Tarik Skubal returns as the team’s top starter, and the quartet of Skubal, Flaherty, Maeda and Mize will be joined by some combination of Reese Olson, Matt Manning and Sawyer Gipson-Long. Olson, in particular, had a solid rookie campaign. Manning, meanwhile, is a former first-round pick and top prospect himself — one who’ll be looking for better luck in 2024. In astonishing fashion, Manning suffered a broken left foot on two different occasions, both upon being struck by a comeback liner (once in April and again in September).

With Flaherty’s $14MM salary added to the books, the Tigers’ payroll projection climbs north of $104MM. That’s still quite a ways down from last year’s $135MM Opening Day mark — due in no small part to Miguel Cabrera’s retirement — and nowhere close to the franchise-record $200MM mark. The Tigers will surely want to leave ample playing time for young, potential core pieces like Mize, Skubal, Manning, Olson, Riley Greene, Spencer Torkelson, Kerry Carpenter and prospects Colt Keith and Justyn-Henry Malloy. But there’s still enough payroll space for the team to make some further additions, perhaps in the bullpen or on the bench.

Trevor Plouffe of Jomboy first connected the two sides. Jeff Passan of ESPN first relayed the contract specifics.

Tigers Re-Sign Trey Wingenter To Minor League Deal

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The Tigers have re-signed right-hander Trey Wingenter to a minor league deal with an invite to major league Spring Training, reports Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press. The righty will make a base salary of $1.2MM if he cracks the roster.

Wingenter, 30 in April, has shown big strikeout stuff in his career but also battled injuries, with those storylines carrying into 2023. He signed a minor league deal with the Tigers last winter as well and cracked the club’s Opening Day roster. But after just six appearances, he landed on the injured list due to tendinitis in his throwing shoulder and wasn’t activated until about three months later.

He ultimately tossed 17 innings for the Tigers with a 5.82 earned run average in that small sample. He struck out 28.9% of batters faced while walking just 9.2%, and he also kept 43.2% of balls in play on the ground. A .333 batting average on balls in play and 64.7% strand rate led to some more runs crossing the board, hence his 3.96 FIP and 3.43 SIERA. He was outrighted off the roster in November and elected free agency.

Prior to the 2023 season, Wingenter didn’t pitch in the majors at all from 2020-2022, due to Tommy John surgery and a couple of of back surgeries. Prior to that, he pitched for the Padres, striking out roughly a third of batters faced in 2018 and 2019.

He’ll now returns to the Tigers and provide them with some non-roster depth. If he’s healthy and in good form, he could earn himself a roster spot, just as he did in 2023. If he does, he still has an option remaining and just over four years of service time. If he’s on the roster at the end of next season, the Tigers will have the ability to retain him via arbitration for 2025.

Tigers, Freddy Pacheco Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Tigers have agreed to a new minor league deal with Freddy Pacheco, reports Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free-Press. Detroit had non-tendered the reliever in November.

Pacheco has yet to pitch in the major leagues. A former Cardinals prospect, he was added to St. Louis’ 40-man roster going into the 2022 season. The Cards put him on waivers a year later, at which point the Tigers stepped in to place a claim. His efforts to reach the majors had been halted by an elbow injury late in the winter. Pacheco unsuccessfully attempted to rehab before undergoing Tommy John surgery in early June.

The 25-year-old remains on the mend from that procedure. It cost him his 40-man spot, as the Tigers couldn’t keep him on the injured list over the offseason. He’ll stick in the organization with an eye towards a late-season return and potential MLB debut in 2024.

Before the injury, Pacheco showed interesting raw stuff in the minors. He can run his fastball into the upper 90s and punched out more than a third of opponents in 2022. The righty combined for a 3.05 ERA in 62 innings with the Cardinals’ top two affiliates that season.

Tigers Sign Andrew Chafin

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December 12: The Tigers have now made it official, announcing their deal with Chafin and the details on the $1.25MM in annual incentives. In both 2024 and 2025, Chafin can get $125K for 50 games pitched, $250K each for 55 and 60 games pitched, $300K for 65 games pitched and $325K for 70 games pitched.

December 10: The Tigers are reportedly in agreement with left-hander Andrew Chafin on a one-year deal that includes a club option for the 2025 season, according to Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press. Petzold goes on to note that the contract comes with a $4.25MM base salary in 2024 that could reach $5.5MM with incentives. The club option, worth $6.5MM, could reach $7.75MM with incentives and comes with a $500K buyout, raising the contract’s total guarantee to $4.75MM.

It’s a reunion for the veteran lefty, who pitched in 64 games with the Tigers in 2022. Chafin, 34 in June, was a first-round pick by the Diamondbacks in the 2011 draft and made his big league debut not long after in 2014. He’d go on to play in Arizona for six-and-a-half seasons as a solid left-handed middle relief option, pitching to a 3.74 ERA in 306 innings of work with the Diamondbacks before being shipped to the Cubs at the trade deadline in 2020. During his time in Arizona, Chafin struck out 25.8% of batters faced while routinely posting groundball rates north of 50%. The lefty’s 2020 season was limited by injury woes to just 9 2/3 innings, but that didn’t stop Chicago from retaining him on the roster headed into the 2021 season.

2021 proved to be a breakout season for Chafin, who dominated in 43 appearances with the Cubs as one of the club’s primary set-up men to Craig Kimbrel alongside Ryan Tepera. Early in the 2021 season, Chafin combined with Tepera, Kimbrel and starting pitcher Zach Davies to no-hit the Dodgers for the first combined no-no in Cubs history. While Chafin helped to make history in Chicago, it wound up being little more than a footnote in his dominant 2021 campaign. The southpaw’s 24.7% strikeout rate and 50% groundball rate with the Cubs that year produced an impressive 2.06 ERA and 2.69 FIP. Upon a midseason trade to Oakland, Chafin unlocked another gear, posting a microscopic 1.53 ERA in 29 1/3 innings down the stretch to bring his overall season ERA down to just 1.83 over 68 2/3 innings of work. That performance was good for a whopping 229 ERA+.

Chafin’s strong 2021 campaign earned him a two-year guarantee in Detroit that included an opt-out after the first year of the deal. Though not as dominant as his 2021 campaign, Chafin put up strong numbers for the Tigers in 2022 with a 2.83 ERA and 3.06 FIP across 57 1/3 innings of work. His strikeout rate ticked up to 27.6% while he induced grounders 51.3% of the time. The solid performance backed up by excellent peripherals persuaded Chafin to opt-out of the final year and $6.5MM of his contract in Detroit last offseason. That decision ultimately did not go well, as Chafin signed with his original team in Arizona for just $6.25MM guaranteed last year after lingering on the free agent market until mid-February.

The veteran lefty went on to struggle in 2023, posting a 4.73 ERA and 4.01 FIP across 51 1/3 innings of work split between the Diamondbacks and Brewers last year. Chafin’s 28.1% strikeout rate was as good as ever, but he generated a groundball rate of just 38.5% while walking a career-high 12.5% of batters faced. Despite Chafin’s struggles in his age-33 season last year, the signing could prove wise for a Tigers club that was known to be interested in adding a lefty reliever to its bullpen should he find a way to either cut down on the walks or rediscover the proclivity for grounders he demonstrated in recent years.

Tigers Sign Anthony Bemboom, Brenan Hanifee To Minor League Deals

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The Tigers have agreed to minor league contracts with catcher Anthony Bemboom and right-hander Brenan Hanifee. Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic reported (on X) the Bemboom deal, while Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free-Press reported Hanifee’s signing. Both players will be in camp as non-roster invitees.

Bemboom has spent the past two seasons as a depth catcher with the Orioles. He played in 22 games two seasons back but only got into six contests this summer. The left-handed hitter saw most of his action in Triple-A, where he had a league average .288/.365/.417 batting line through 148 trips to the plate.

The Creighton product has appeared at the big league level in each of the last five years. Bemboom has suited up with the Angels, Rays and Orioles and hit .161/.236/.260 over 82 MLB contests. He has a more impressive .252/.343/.395 slash through parts of seven seasons at the Triple-A level. Bemboom will turn 34 before Opening Day.

Hanifee, 25, made his MLB debut with three outings for the Tigers in September. He worked five innings of three-run ball. A minor league signee going into 2023, he’d pitched in a swing capacity at Triple-A Toledo. Hanifee posted a 4.38 ERA with a modest 20.5% strikeout rate while demonstrating strong control over 90 1/3 innings for the Mud Hens. Detroit non-tendered him at the start of the offseason. He returns to the organization without occupying a 40-man roster spot, which he’ll work to reclaim next spring.

Central Notes: Tigers, Marmol, Ashby, Brewers

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The hot corner was a clear problem area for the Tigers in 2023. The club’s third basemen slashed a collective .211/.294/.323 last season, good for a 72 wRC+ that was better than only that tied with the A’s for the second-worst offensive production from the position in the majors, beating out only the Mets. In terms of fWAR, Detroit’s third basemen combined for -1.0 fWAR, tied with the Angels for bottom three in the majors ahead of the aforementioned clubs. Despite that dire situation, however, Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic suggests that the Tigers may be content to enter 2024 relying on their internal options at the position.

That strategy could be more sensible than it may seem. Top prospects Jace Jung and Colt Keith could both find themselves in the majors in 2024 after strong offensive seasons in 2023 that saw them each slug over .500 while reaching the Double- and Triple-A level, respectively, for the first time in their career. Until the club’s young infielders are ready for the show, Stavenhagen suggests that the Tigers figure to rely on Matt Vierling as their primary third baseman. Vierling slashed a respectable .261/.329/.388 across 134 games in 2023 while primarily playing the outfield, but Detroit’s acquisition of Mark Canha figures to allow Vierling more time on the infield dirt in 2024 after making 27 starts at the hot corner this past season.

One area the Tigers do hope to make an addition this offseason is the bullpen, where Stavenhagen notes the club hopes to add a left-handed reliever. The club already has southpaws Tyler Holton and Joey Wentz among their relief options for 2024, but Wentz struggled badly in 2023 with a 6.90 ERA in 105 2/3 innings of work across 25 appearances, 19 of which were starts. While Wentz posted a more respectable 4.26 ERA in 25 1/3 innings of work out of the bullpen last year, it’s easy to see why the club may want additional support from the left side headed into 2024. That’s particularly true after the club released Chasen Shreve back in August and lost Tyler Alexander on waivers to the Rays last month.

More from around MLB’s Central divisions…

  • On the heels of a 91-loss season that saw his club finish dead last in the NL Central, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol is entering the final year of his contract in St. Louis. According to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the sides have not discussed an extension at this point, leaving Marmol poised to enter the 2024 campaign as a lame duck. For his part, Marmol told Goold that he wasn’t concerned about the lack of security, “This industry is pretty simple,” Marmol said, “If you’re good, they keep you. If you’re not good, they don’t.” President of baseball operations John Mozeliak, meanwhile, expressed confidence in his manager entering the final year of his deal with the club, suggesting that he’s “very optimistic” that Marmol will be with the club “for a long time.”
  • In conversation with reporters, including MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy, Brewers GM Matt Arnold suggested that the club views left-hander Aaron Ashby as a starting pitching option for the club in 2024. That said, Arnold was noncommittal about Ashby’s timeline for return to action following shoulder surgery, which he underwent back in April. Despite the uncertainty surrounding Ashby’s readiness for Opening Day next season, Arnold made clear that the young lefty will be “part of [the club’s] mix” when he is ready to return to action. Ashby signed a five-year extension with the Brewers partway through the 2022 season but has thrown just 31 1/3 innings for the club since then amid shoulder issues. When and if he’s healthy enough to return to the mound, Ashby figures to compete with the likes of Colin Rea and Adrian Houser for a spot in the club’s rotation alongside Corbin Burnes, Freddy Peralta, and Wade Miley.
  • Sticking with the Brewers, Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel relayed yesterday that while Arnold did not rule out the possibility of top catching prospect Jeferson Quero making his big league debut at some point during 2024, the club nonetheless hopes to make an addition behind the plate to serve as the primary backup to William Contreras. Quero, 21, is the only other catcher on the club’s 40-man roster following the departure for Victor Caratini, who landed with the Astros on a two-year deal yesterday. Tom Murphy, Austin Hedges and Martin Maldonado are among the catchers still available on the open market this winter.

Alex Faedo To Have Fourth Option Year In 2024

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Tigers right-hander Alex Faedo will have a fourth option year in 2024, according to MLive’s Evan Woodbery.

Typically, players have three option seasons with one used each season during which the player spends at least 20 days on optional assignment in the minor leagues. A player is considered to be on optional assignment when on a club’s 40-man roster but sent to the minor leagues while not on a rehab assignment. Faedo, 28, was first added to Detroit’s 40-man roster back in November of 2020 and has been optioned to the minor leagues in each of the three seasons since, spending at least 20 days in the minor leagues each time. Under normal circumstances, that would leave Faedo out of options headed into the 2024 season, meaning the Tigers would either have to expose Faedo to waivers before attempting to return him to the minor leagues.

Occasionally, teams are granted a fourth option year on certain players, typically due to the player missing significant time with injury. MLB.com explains that players with less than five full professional seasons (defined as at least 90 days on a major or minor league active roster) are eligible for a fourth option year. That applies to Faedo, who underwent Tommy John surgery in December of 2020 and missed the entire 2021 season while rehabbing. Between his lost 2021 campaign and the cancelled minor league season in 2020, Faedo has just four full professional seasons under his belt in 2018, 2019, 2022, and 2023.

The news offers the Tigers considerable roster flexibility headed into the 2024 season. The club’s first-round pick in the 2017 draft, Faedo had the look of a potential back-end starter in 2023 with a 4.45 ERA and 4.85 FIP across 64 2/3 innings of work in the majors split between the rotation and bullpen. Faedo’s work out of the bullpen late in the season was particularly impressive, as the righty posted a 1.04 ERA with a 34.4% strikeout rate in September after moving to shorter appearances, maxing out around 40 pitches. Given Faedo’s strong numbers out of the bullpen and presumed lack of minor league options, the righty seemed poised to enter the 2024 season as a member of Detroit’s Opening Day bullpen.

While that’s certainly still an option, it’s possible the Tigers could take the opportunity to allow Faedo to continue attempting to develop as a starting pitcher in the minor leagues to open the season. Of course, even if Faedo makes the club’s Opening Day roster in 2024, the right-hander’s option eligibility figures to allow Detroit additional flexibility as they look to maneuver their bullpen throughout the season, particularly given the fact that arms such as Joey Wentz and Miguel Diaz will be out of options in 2024, restricting the Tigers’ ability to move them off the active roster while retaining them as members of the organization.

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