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Tigers Designate Tomas Nido For Assignment

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The Tigers announced Tuesday that catcher Tomas Nido has been designated for assignment. His spot on the roster will go to fellow catcher Jake Rogers, who is being reinstated from the injured list after missing about six weeks with an oblique strain.

Nido’s DFA shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. Though he’s hitting .343 with Detroit, that’s a 12-for-37 sample that’s consisted entirely of singles and has come without a walk. Nido’s offense has been buoyed by a .480 average on balls in play. He’s fanned 10 times in 37 plate appearances (27%) and chased pitches off the plate at a grim 41% clip. He’s a well-regarded defender, but Nido entered the season as a career .210/.245/.309 hitter in 945 major league plate appearances. He was hitting .160/.222/.320 in 28 Triple-A plate appearances at the time he was originally summoned to the majors in place of the injured Rogers.

Detroit will happily take the month-plus of solid backup work for Nido and would surely love to pass him through waivers in order to retain him as a depth option in Triple-A Toledo. It’s hardly out of the question that he gets claimed, but there’s a good chance he’ll pass through waivers unclaimed as he did in June 2023 after the Mets had designated him for assignment. If Nido does clear waivers, he’d have the right to reject a minor league assignment (by virtue of both service time and that 2023 outright) in lieu of electing free agency.

Tigers To Activate Jake Rogers

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The Tigers will reinstate catcher Jake Rogers from the injured list today, manager A.J. Hinch announced to the team’s beat (link via Evan Woodbery of MLive.com). The likely corresponding move will be to move on from veteran Tomas Nido, who has hit well in a small sample of 37 plate appearances but can’t be optioned to the minors without first clearing waivers.

Rogers, 30, went 5-for-15 with three doubles during a brief Triple-A rehab assignment. He landed on the injured list about a week into the season thanks to an oblique strain that wound up sidelining him nearly six weeks. He was 4-for-18 with a double and three walks in 22 plate appearances when healthy and carries a .198/.262/.351 batting line dating back to last season.

Though he’s coming off a down season with the bat, Rogers is a premium defensive catcher who popped 21 home runs as recently as 2023. From 2022-23, Rogers slashed .225/.291/.457 (103 wRC+) with 27 big flies in only 492 plate appearances. The Tigers will certainly hope that he can return to that form at the plate, but Rogers’ glovework is strong enough that he’ll hold down a key role on the team even if his bat doesn’t return to form.

In Rogers’ absence, former second-round pick Dillon Dingler has seen the lion’s share of playing time and made a case for a larger role than that of the standard backup. He’s hitting .292/.319/.462 with four homers, eight doubles and a triple in 135 turns at the plate. Dingler’s 27.4% strikeout rate is a few ticks too high — though lower than Rogers’ typical levels — and he’s not going to sustain a .382 average on balls in play, but he increasingly looks like a competent offensive player whose glovework is similarly well-regarded to that of Rogers. Time will tell how the Tigers will divide up the reps behind the dish, but it’s possible that Dingler has played himself into more of an even timeshare already.

As for the 31-year-old Nido, he’s appeared in 10 games since Rogers’ injury and gone 12-for-37. He’s hitting .343, but all of his hits have been singles and he’s sitting on a .480 average on balls in play he can’t possibly sustain over a larger sample. Nido, like his two fellow Detroit backstops, is a plus defender but entered the season with a career .210/.245/.309 batting line. He’s out of minor league options and has more than five years of service anyhow (meaning even if he did have minor league option remaining, he’d have to consent to being sent down).

If the Tigers end up designating Nido for assignment, they’ll have five days to try to trade him before he’d have to be placed on outright waivers (which is a 48-hour process). The Tigers would presumably prefer to keep Nido in the organization as depth in Triple-A Toledo, but even if Nido were to go unclaimed on waivers, he could reject an outright assignment to Triple-A in favor of free agency.

Tigers Place Reese Olson On Injured List

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The Tigers placed Reese Olson on the 15-day injured list due to right ring finger inflammation, as first reported by Chris McCosky of The Detroit News. Reliever Chase Lee was recalled from Triple-A Toledo in a corresponding active roster move.

Detroit will temporarily operate with a nine-man relief group and four starters. McCosky adds that they’ll push Jack Flaherty’s start back to what would have been Olson’s turn on Thursday against the Guardians while deploying a bullpen game on Wednesday in St. Louis. The Tigers are three games into a nearly two-week stretch without an off day, so there aren’t upcoming opportunities for their starters to work on regular rest in a four-man rotation.

Olson’s injury comes as a surprise. He looked sharp as ever during Saturday’s start in Toronto, firing six scoreless innings in an eventual 2-1 loss. He sat north of 95 MPH with both his four-seam fastball and sinker, slightly above his season average. It’s not clear if the soreness arose during that start or in the past two days, but it’s evidently enough to shelve him for at least two weeks.

The 25-year-old Olson has somewhat quietly emerged as one of the better young pitchers in the sport. He owns a 3.60 ERA over parts of three seasons and is out to a career-best start. Olson carries a 2.96 earned run average across 48 2/3 innings. He’s striking out more than a quarter of opponents while getting grounders on half the batted balls he allows. Olson has reeled off four scoreless appearances through his first nine starts. He could be in the mix for his first career All-Star selection if this injury proves minor.

At 31-16, the Tigers have MLB’s best record. Olson, Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize each carry sub-3.00 ERAs, helping Detroit to a 3.39 rotation earned run average that ranks fifth in the majors. Mize went down with a hamstring strain a couple weeks ago, while they’ve been without Alex Cobb all season due to a right hip issue. Skubal, Flaherty, Jackson Jobe and Keider Montero comprise A.J. Hinch’s current four-man starting staff. McCosky writes that Mize could be activated from the IL by the weekend.

AL Central Notes: Lugo, Ragans, Castro, Meadows

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Seth Lugo was scratched from a scheduled start today against the Cardinals, as the Royals right-hander is battling inflammation in the middle finger of his throwing hand.  The hope is that Lugo will be out for just one turn in the rotation, manager Matt Quatraro told reporters (including Jaylon Thompson of the Kansas City Star) though “we are in the very early stages of it and we are going to see how [Lugo] responds” to the extra rest.  Last season’s AL Cy Young Award runner-up is having another good year with a 3.02 ERA over 56 2/3 innings, though Lugo’s 4.26 SIERA and his Statcast metrics aren’t nearly as flattering.

It was just a few weeks ago that the Royals skipped a Cole Ragans start due to a minor groin strain for the southpaw, but while Ragans was able to avoid the injured list at the time, his nagging injury continues to be a concern.  Ragans left during the sixth inning of yesterday’s game due to left groin tightness, though Quatraro described the removal as somewhat preventative.  Rookie Noah Cameron will be recalled from Triple-A to start today’s game in Lugo’s place, and Cameron might well be in line for an extended look in the majors if one or both of Lugo or Ragans ultimately require a 15-day IL stint to fully heal up.

More from around the AL Central…

  • X-rays were negative on Willi Castro’s right knee after the Twins utilityman made an early exit from yesterday’s 3-0 win over the Brewers.  Castro fouled a ball off his knee during a first-inning at-bat and was able to play in left field in the bottom of the frame, but was replaced in the bottom of the second.  The injury was officially termed as a knee contusion, and it remains to be seen if Castro will be okay after a day or two of rest, or if he may require a stint on the 10-day injured list.  Castro’s numbers (.235/.306/.367 in 108 plate appearances) are down from his All-Star production in 2024, though he has continued to be a versatile option all over the diamond, already logging starts at five positions this year.  The injury bug already bit Castro once this season, as he missed over two weeks recovering from an oblique strain.
  • Parker Meadows is traveling with the Tigers on their current road trip in Toronto, and the outfielder is scheduled to throw from the outfield to the bases in pre-game drills today.  Manager A.J. Hinch told Jeff Seidel of the Detroit Free Press and other reporters that Meadows’ ability to throw is “the last step for him to hopefully get him to a rehab assignment soon,” and the club will monitor how Meadows’ arm is feeling tomorrow.  Meadows has missed the entire season due to a musculocutaneous nerve problem in his right arm, and his placement on the 60-day injured list will keep him off Detroit’s roster until May 26 at the earliest.  Given the long layoff and Hinch’s observation that Meadows “doesn’t have to be fully 100% back throwing wise to go on a rehab assignment,” it would seem like the outfielder will need quite a few games in the minors to get up to full readiness, so a June return seems more likely.  While the 30-15 Tigers have baseball’s best record even without their starting center fielder, the club will be even stronger with a healthy Meadows, a superb defender who was also an offensive sparkplug during Detroit’s late-season surge in 2024.

MLBTR Podcast: Devers Drama, Managerial Firings, And Jordan Lawlar

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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 Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • Should the Orioles try to extend Cedric Mullins or Tomoyuki Sugano (35:05)
  • How real are the Twins and the Tigers? (39:00)
  • What should the Cardinals do in right field if Jordan Walker doesn’t get going? (44:50)
  • Why do the Mets seemingly do better with external pitching additions than their homegrown arms? (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!

Photo courtesy of Ken Blaze, Imagn Images

White Sox Return Rule 5 Pick Gage Workman To Tigers

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Infielder Gage Workman has cleared waivers, and the White Sox have returned him to the Tigers, as reflected by his transaction log on MLB.com. He will report to Triple-A Toledo.

This hardly comes as a surprise after the White Sox designated Workman for assignment earlier this week. The Cubs initially selected Workman from the Tigers in the Rule 5 draft this past December. He made the Opening Day roster for the North Siders and suited up for the club in nine games over the first few weeks of the season. However, the Cubs no longer had a role for him after signing the much more experienced utility infielder Nicky Lopez to a big league deal in mid-April. Per the Rule 5 regulations, the Cubs could not simply option Workman to the minors, so they DFA’d him and traded him to the White Sox for cash considerations not long after.

Workman played just three games for the White Sox before landing on the IL with a right hip flexor strain. Upon reinstating him, the South Siders chose not to add him back to their active roster and DFA’d him instead. This time, evidently, no other teams were interested in giving him (and his .485 OPS through 17 PA) a spot on their active roster, so passed through waivers unclaimed. The White Sox then had to offer him back to the Tigers. As his original team, Detroit is not obligated to add him to its 26 or 40-man roster. He will return to the Tigers’ minor league system, where he thrived last year, hitting .280 with a 142 wRC+ in 126 games at Double-A.

Poll: Is Javier Baez Back?

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During the 2021-22 offseason, the Tigers felt they were close enough to competing that it was time to start spending. Then-GM Al Avila signed two major free agents that winter: southpaw Eduardo Rodriguez and shortstop Javier Baez. Those offseason moves did not work out, generally speaking. The Tigers lost 96 games in 2022 as Rodriguez posted below-average numbers in an injury-marred season while Baez put up the worst full season by wRC+ of his career with a figure of 89. Avila was fired that August, giving way to a new regime under president of baseball operations Scott Harris.

Baez, meanwhile, went on to have a pair of disastrous seasons marred by injury and ineffectiveness in 2023 and ’24, hitting a combined .208/.251/.315 (56 wRC+) while being limited to just 216 games by hip and back issues. Those injuries eventually required season-ending hip surgery last year, leaving Baez on the sidelines while his team went on a miracle run last September that led them to Game 5 of the ALDS. Entering 2025, there were heightened expectations for the Tigers following that September surge.

For Baez personally, however, expectations had never been lower. The 32-year-old had multiple All-Star appearances and Gold Glove awards under his belt, but he entered 2025 without a specified role in Detroit despite the three years and $73MM remaining on his contract. Injuries during Spring Training paved the way for Baez to have a clearer role in Detroit, but even on Opening Day he was limited to a utility role where he would mostly face left-handed pitching.

Things changed once the season began, however. Baez took quite well to both center field and third base despite having virtually no experience in the outfield and only sparing appearances at the hot corner. In more recent weeks, his role has moved from a part-time utility role to being the club’s go-to option in center field, where he’s started 16 of the club’s last 20 games. Baez has always been an impressive defender anywhere he plays when healthy, so perhaps the veteran taking to new defensive positions isn’t exactly surprising. More shocking than his glove work this year has been his impressive offensive production: he’s hit a whopping .319/.357/.513 with a wRC+ of 148 across 126 plate appearances.

Even when Baez was at his best, he was a somewhat fickle hitter. While some seasons saw Baez hit extremely well, such as his 2021 (117 wRC+) and 2018 (131 wRC+) campaigns, he was actually below average at the dish in three of his six seasons as an everyday player for the Cubs. Given that unevenness, Baez’s 89 wRC+, two-win performance during his first season with Detroit wasn’t incredibly shocking. And when the injuries began to pile up in 2023 and ’24 and his offensive numbers began to rapidly decline, few expected him to ever return to the above-average form he showed during his days on the north side of Chicago.

Is 126 plate appearances of strong production enough to change that narrative? The underlying numbers offer mixed reviews. Baez’s 24.6% strikeout rate and 4.0% walk rate this year are virtually identical to his 23.9% strikeout rate and 4.3% walk rate across his first three seasons in Detroit. That strikeout rate is actually five points lower than his strikeout rate with the Cubs, but the main red flag in Baez’s performance with the Tigers wasn’t his free-swinging approach. After being a consistent power threat during his days in the National League, where his ISO is an impressive .212, Baez saw his power evaporate over his first three seasons in Detroit as his ISO plummeted to just .126.

Going from 2024 Elly De La Cruz to 2024 Alex Verdugo in the power department is a drastic downturn in performance, and while Baez’s .193 ISO this year hasn’t gotten all the way back to his previous heights, it’s a big step in the right direction. That renewed power might not be entirely sustainable, however. Baez is posting his lowest hard-hit rate since 2017, his 6.8% barrel rate is actually lower than last year, and he’s hitting more grounders (51.6%) than ever before. That suggests his current power output (five homers and eight doubles) may not be entirely sustainable, and his massive .398 BABIP surely isn’t either for a player who routinely posted BABIPs in the .340 to .350 range at his peak.

Perhaps that means Baez’s return to form this year is nothing more than a mirage, but there are some positive signs in his underlying data. Baez is swinging outside the strike zone less than ever before in his career, and his in-zone contact rate is also the best of his career. That improved plate discipline may not be showing up in his walk rate at this point, but better pitch selection could be allowing him to avoid making the worst types of contact; his 3.4% infield fly ball rate is tied with 2019 for the best figure of his career, and his 12.5% soft-contact rate would be 40th best in the sport if he had enough plate appearances to qualify.

Those subtle improvements don’t support his star-level production so far, but his .291 xwOBA is a perfect match for the wOBA he posted for Detroit back in 2022. Perhaps that means offensive production on the low-end of what was expected of him at his peak, in line with the 2016, ’17, and ’22 seasons, could be sustainable for the veteran. Given that Baez was a potential DFA candidate just a few months ago, the Tigers would surely take that sort of solid, two-to-three win production from their $140MM man very happily.

How much do MLBTR readers buy into Baez’s resurgence? Will he be able to continue tapping into his power enough to float above-average offensive numbers despite shaky peripherals? Will he fall back to Earth and be a replacement level player going forward, as he was the past two years? Or will he find a middle ground as an average to slightly-below average hitter who remains valuable thanks to strong defense? Have your say in the poll below:

Tigers Select Akil Baddoo, Option Jace Jung

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The Tigers announced that they have selected outfielder Akil Baddoo to the 40-man roster. Infielder Jace Jung has been optioned as the corresponding active roster move. The 40-man roster already had a couple of vacancies, due to recently cutting Kenta Maeda and Manuel Margot, so no move was required to open a spot in that regard. Chris McCosky of Detroit News first reported that Baddoo was at the ballpark today and that Jung would be optioned for him.

Jung, 24, is a former first-round pick and top 100 prospect but the Tigers are still waiting for him to click at the big league level. He was promoted late last year and put up a serviceable .241/.362/.304 line in his first 34 big league games, though he did that while striking out at a 30.9% pace. The Tigers clearly weren’t fully convinced by that performance, as they made a strong push to sign Alex Bregman in the offseason, though he went to Boston instead.

Coming into this year, Jung struggled in the spring, hitting .121/.216/.273. He was optioned down to the minors prior to Opening Day but crushed it in Triple-A, slashing .239/.409/.463. That got him recalled three weeks into April but he hasn’t done much with the opportunity. His 28.3% strikeout rate is a slight improvement relative to last year but he has no extra-base hits, leading to a .111/.245/.111 line.

The Tigers apparently want him to work things out with more time on the farm, though he doesn’t have much left to prove there. He slashed .257/.377/.454 for a 123 wRC+ at the Triple-A level last year and, as mentioned, was good at that level for a spell this year. Still, it’s understandable that the club considers his current performance unacceptable for a competitive big league club.

The length of this optional assignment could be significant for Jung. He came into this year with 45 days of major league service time, putting him 127 shy of the one-year mark. He added another 23 days with this recent stretch in the majors but will need to come back up fairly quickly in order to have a shot at getting over that line. There are 137 days left in the regular season at this point.

Jung has been the club’s regular third baseman for past few weeks, so the club will need to come up with a new solution there. Javier Báez, Zach McKinstry, Andy Ibáñez and Trey Sweeney have also started games at third base this year. McKinstry and Báez have also been drawn into the outfield in order to cover for Detroit’s many injuries there, but Baddoo’s promotion will perhaps allow the club to shift some of those utility guys from the grass to the dirt.

Baddoo, now 26, seemingly had a breakout season in 2021. A Rule 5 pick, he hit 13 home runs, stole 18 bases and provided passable outfield defense. However, his bat cratered over the next three seasons. He hit .203/.292/.328 over the 2022 through 2024 campaigns.

That dropped his stock enough that the Tigers were able to pass him through waivers unclaimed in the offseason. He then required hamate surgery in February, putting him on ice during the spring. He has since recovered and has been performing well in Triple-A. He has a .245/.336/.471 line for a 123 wRC+ in 116 plate appearances, with six stolen bases to boot.

The Detroit outfield currently consists of Báez, McKinstry, Kerry Carpenter, Riley Greene and Justyn-Henry Malloy. Carpenter is often in the designated hitter slot while Báez and McKinstry could move to the infield a bit more now, as mentioned, which could open outfield playing time for Baddoo.

Matt Vierling is on a rehab assignment and could factor into the mix soon as well, either at third base or in the outfield picture. Baddoo still has an option and could be sent back down to the minors when Vierling is reinstated.

Photo courtesy of Junfu Han, Imagn Images.

Jason Foley Undergoes Season-Ending Shoulder Surgery

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Tigers right-hander Jason Foley underwent season-ending surgery. Manager A.J. Hinch announced the news to reporters, including Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic.

It’s been an odd season for Foley, who led the 2024 Tigers with 28 saves. Detroit surprisingly optioned him to Triple-A Toledo after a rough spring training. He took the demotion in stride and carved up Triple-A opposition, firing 6 2/3 shutout innings with a 41% strikeout rate in five appearances. He looked as though he was on the cusp of a return to the majors, but Foley was diagnosed with a shoulder strain in the middle of last month and hasn’t pitched since. Now, he won’t throw again until the 2026 season.

Unfortunately for Foley, he won’t accrue big league service time right now since he’s on the minor league injured list. He could pick up some big league time if the Tigers call him to the majors and place him on the 60-day IL whenever they next need a roster spot. Enough time has passed in 2025 that Foley won’t be able to move from three years of service to four years. The Tigers surely weren’t intending for their original demotion of Foley to buy them another season of club control, but it’s effectively done just that — so long as they tender him a contract anyhow.

Foley and the Tigers agreed to a $3.15MM salary this past offseason, avoiding a trip through the arbitration process. Typically, when a player who’s agreed to an arbitration salary subsequently misses the entire season, he and the team agree to the same salary for the following year. That could well be the case here.

Even with Foley out for the year, there’s good reason for the Tigers to tender him this winter. He was sharp in Triple-A prior to the injury and just last year posted 60 innings of 3.15 ERA ball. Dating back to 2022, Foley has given the Tigers 189 1/3 innings with a 3.18 ERA, an 18.4% strikeout rate, a 5.9% walk rate and a 54% ground-ball rate. He’s saved 35 games and picked up another 40 holds along the way.

Tigers Place Casey Mize On 15-Day Injured List

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The Tigers announced right-hander Casey Mize is being placed on the 15-day injured list due to a strained left hamstring. Right-hander Chase Lee is being recalled from Triple-A Toledo to replace Mize on the roster. As noted by Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press, manager A.J. Hinch told reporters that the strain was “very mild.” Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic adds that the issue initially cropped up during his last start against the Rockies, but that it was initially believed to be dehydration.

Given the mild nature of the issue, it’s reasonable to think that a reasonably quick recovery could be on the table for Mize. With that said, Petzold points out that Mize has had issues with his left hamstring before and ultimately ended up missing two months due to the issue last season. Given that previous injury history, it would hardly be a surprise if the Tigers ended up being cautious with Mize’s hamstring. He’ll miss at least the next two weeks due to the issue in any case, but even mild hamstring strains can leave pitchers away from the big league mound for a month or longer.

Losing a pitcher from the starting rotation is always worrisome, but it’s especially disappointing for Mize and the Tigers given the former first-overall pick’s strong start to the 2025 campaign. After throwing just 112 1/3 innings from 2022 to 2024 due to a number of injuries and struggling to a middling 4.57 ERA even when healthy enough to pitch, Mize entered the 2025 season without any assurances of a starting role. He managed to make the club’s Opening Day rotation despite that, however, and has looked excellent in seven starts this year with a sparkling 2.53 ERA across 42 2/3 innings of work. That level of dominance isn’t quite supported by the advanced metrics, as Mize is striking out just 21.0% of his opponents with a 3.93 FIP and 3.81 SIERA, but even those less impressive numbers would be a big step forward for the right-hander if carried forward across a full season.

Now that Mize’s attempts to put together a quality season in the middle of the Tigers rotation are on hold for the time being, Detroit will need to find a way to replace his production in the rotation. Mize was next slated to start for the Tigers on May 13, so a decision won’t be necessary for another few days. Right-hander Alex Cobb threw a live, two-inning bullpen session yesterday that lasted 30 pitches, but isn’t expected to be ready to return from hip inflammation until later this month. Matt Manning and Keider Montero are both on the 40-man roster with starting experience in the majors; Montero’s last start was the same day as Mize’s start against Colorado, while Manning’s came the day prior. That means either righty would be on full rest and able to take the ball if necessary. If the Tigers don’t want to turn to either Montero or Manning as a starter, they’ll likely be left forced to go with a bullpen game against the Red Sox this week.

Fortunately for the Tigers, they’ve gotten generally strong production from the rest of their rotation this year that should help them weather the loss of Mize. Tarik Skubal looks every bit like the reigning AL Cy Young award winner after winning the pitching triple crown last year, Reese Olson has built on an excellent 2024 season with strong numbers again this year, and Jack Flaherty has looked solid even if he isn’t quite as dominant now as he was in his first stint in a Tigers uniform last year. The only slot in the rotation that’s currently providing the club below-average production is that of top prospect Jackson Jobe, but even he had a solid 3.38 ERA before he was torched for six runs in 3 2/3 innings at Coors Field during his last start. As for Lee, the 26-year-old righty made his big league debut with Detroit earlier this year and pitched to a 1.42 ERA in six appearances with six strikeouts against three walks.

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