Tigers Rumors

Albert Pujols, Miguel Cabrera Selected To All-Star Game

By Anthony Franco | July 8, 2022 at 10:28am CDT

Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera have been selected to the 2022 All-Star Game, MLB announced this morning. They’ve been tabbed as the National and American League’s respective “legendary” nominees.

Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic reported this week that the new collective bargaining agreement permitted the commissioner’s office to select one or more players from each league as bonus additions to the game. The honor is in recognition of the player’s career body of work, not their 2022 performance.

“I am delighted that Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera have agreed to participate in the All-Star Game,” commissioner Rob Manfred said in the league’s press release. “Albert and Miguel are two of the most accomplished players of their generation. They have also represented the baseball traditions of the Dominican Republic and Venezuela with excellence for the last two decades. Albert and Miguel are two all-time greats whose achievements warrant this special recognition.”

Pujols is playing the final season of his career. He finished in the top five in NL MVP voting in ten of his first 11 years with St. Louis, claiming the award three times. After spending parts of ten seasons with the Angels and a bit more than half of last year with the Dodgers, he returned to the Cardinals for his final run. Pujols has appeared in 45 games in a part-time first base/designated hitter role.

Cabrera has seven top-five MVP finishes in his career, including back-to-back wins in 2012-13. He’s won seven Silver Slugger Awards and claimed the AL Triple Crown in 2012. He’s under contract with Detroit through 2023 and hasn’t suggested he plans to retire after this season, but he’s nevertheless a perfectly sensible choice as the AL’s first “legendary” All-Star. Cabrera has gotten the nod for 68 of Detroit’s 82 games at DH and posted slightly above-average offensive numbers.

Among active players, Pujols and Cabrera rank first and second, respectively, in career hits, home runs and RBI. Pujols is the active career leader in Baseball Reference WAR, while Cabrera ranks third among position players in that category (behind Mike Trout). They’re both locks to reach the Hall of Fame in their first years on the ballot. This will be Pujols’ 11th All-Star nod, while Cabrera is heading to the Midsummer Classic for a 12th time.

Injury Notes: Kikuchi, Soroka, Peralta, Segura

By Anthony Franco | July 8, 2022 at 8:42am CDT

The Blue Jays placed struggling starter Yusei Kikuchi on the 15-day injured list last night due to a neck strain. The team didn’t provide any specifics on a timetable for his return, but he’ll be out of action at least through the All-Star Break.

Kikuchi may have been in danger of ceding his rotation spot anyhow, as manager Charlie Montoyo implied before his IL placement the club could move him to the bullpen in lieu of his next scheduled start (link via Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet). That’s reflective of how poorly the southpaw has pitched of late, as he’s been tagged for a 7.99 ERA in seven starts since the calendar turned to June. That brought his season line up to a 5.12 ERA, on track for his third 5.00+ mark in his four MLB seasons. He’s dominated same-handed batters but been tattooed for a .270/.397/.526 clip against righties, a trend he also showed throughout his three seasons with the Mariners.

With Kikuchi’s underperformance and the loss of Hyun-jin Ryu to Tommy John surgery, the Jays are widely expected to prioritize starting pitching help over the coming weeks. Toronto has gotten generally excellent work from Kevin Gausman and Alek Manoah, while swingman Ross Stripling has stepped in well at the back end. José Berríos is amidst a career-worst season, however, and Nate Pearson won’t resume throwing until the end of the month after suffering a lat strain while building back from a battle with mononucleosis.

In other health situations around the game:

Mike Soroka has made just three starts since the end of the 2019 season. The Braves right-hander tore his Achilles tendon early in 2020, then unfortunately suffered the same fate a year later. Soroka has been working his way back from that pair of devastating injuries in hopes of a midseason return, but he’s now dealing with another setback. As Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution first reported, the 24-year-old was hit in the knee by a comebacker while throwing live batting practice. Atlanta is calling the injury a bruise and has shut Soroka down for the time being, preferring to make sure his knee is at full strength before he resumes a throwing program. It’s obviously a far more minor concern than either of the Achilles tears have been, but the stroke of poor luck will push back his timeline to begin a minor league rehab assignment by at least a little bit.
The Tigers lost reliever Wily Peralta to the 15-day injured list earlier this week, as he’s dealing with a strained left hamstring. Manager A.J. Hinch told reporters (including Chris McCosky of the Detroit News) that Peralta is expected to miss a fair bit of time. Hinch suggested it was unlikely he’d be back before the end of July, and it seems possible his absence could extend beyond that. Peralta, who returned to the organization on a minor league deal last winter, has tossed 33 1/3 innings through 23 appearances. The righty has a sparkling 2.16 ERA and a solid 48.4% ground-ball rate, but he’s walked 14% of batters faced with a strikeout rate below the league average.
Jean Segura has been out since the beginning of June. The Phillies second baseman fractured his right index finger on a bunt attempt, an injury that required surgery and came with a 10-12 week recovery estimate. That set his timetable at late August or perhaps into September, but Segura told reporters this week he feels he could beat that initial projection (link via Todd Zolecki of MLB.com). The 32-year-old recently had a trio of pins removed from his finger and is set for further evaluation next week. If that round of testing comes back as hoped, he could be cleared to start throwing and taking swings. Phils second baseman have posted an impressive .268/.339/.429 line since Segura went down, but there’s no question they’d welcome an opportunity to get him back sooner than anticipated and free up some of their utility options for work elsewhere around the infield.

Avila: Tigers Have Not Had Recent Contact With Eduardo Rodriguez

By Anthony Franco | July 6, 2022 at 7:47pm CDT

Eduardo Rodríguez has been away from the Tigers for nearly a month, as the club placed the starter on the restricted list on June 13. Detroit announced at the time he was attending to personal matters, which Jon Heyman of the New York Post subsequently reported was a marital concern. There was no timetable for his return at the time, and it seemingly remains up in the air when he’ll be back with the club.

Speaking with reporters this afternoon, Detroit general manager Al Avila stated the team hasn’t heard from Rodríguez recently (link via Cody Stavenhagen of the Athletic). “We reached out, but obviously he hasn’t reached out back. We’re just kind of waiting it out,” Avila said. “It is unusual, but we have no choice but to wait it out right now and see how it develops as we move forward.”

Manager A.J. Hinch offered a similar report last week. “From what I know, there’s been no movement whatsoever and no communication,” Hinch said at the time. “We know he’s safe, we know he’s home with his kids, we know he’s back in Florida, but it’s been pretty quiet.”

As part of an aggressive offseason, the Tigers added Rodríguez on a five-year, $77MM free agent contract last November. The deal also affords the southpaw an opportunity to opt-out following the 2023 campaign. He made eight starts over the season’s first couple months, working to a 4.38 ERA through 39 innings. Rodríguez landed on the injured list on May 22 with a ribcage strain; he’d been on a minor league rehab assignment working his way back from the injury at the time he stepped away from the club.

Players on the restricted list are not paid, so Rodríguez is forfeiting salary for any time he spends away from the team. Avila declined to answer when asked if the Tigers would look into the possibility of attempting to void his contract entirely. “I’m not going to get into that at this point. Obviously that’s a situation, it’s a private situation right now on his part. I won’t get into that.“

Tigers Designate Sam Howard For Assignment

By Steve Adams | July 5, 2022 at 1:05pm CDT

The Tigers announced Tuesday that they’ve designated left-hander Sam Howard for assignment. His spot on the roster will go to righty Drew Hutchison, who’s back up for a third stint with the big league club. Hutchison is starting tonight’s game.

Howard, 29, was a waiver claim out of the Pirates organization in mid-May but has yet to pitch at the big league level with Detroit. He’s logged a dozen innings with the Tigers’ top minor league affiliate in Toledo, pitching to a 3.75 WERA with a huge 36.5% strikeout rate but also a very concerning 17.3% walk rate.

There’s little doubting that Howard has the ability to miss bats in droves. He punched out 30.1% of the batters he faced in 66 innings with the Pirates from 2020-21 and, for a time early in the 2021 campaign, at least brandished impressive surface-level numbers. Howard opened the 2021 season with 25 2/3 innings of 2.45 ERA ball and had whiffed 33% of his opponents to that point in the season. However, he’d also walked 15.5% of opponents and skated by with an unsustainable 88.2% left-on-base rate and .163 average on balls in play.

Howard was torched for six runs on June 18 last year, hit the injured list with knee tendinitis, and returned to give up another six runs over his next 3 1/3 innings. An oblique strain then sent him to the shelf for another six weeks. He returned to yield another nine runs in his final 15 1/3 innings, maintaining the ability to miss bats but also maintaining his lack of comment and displaying increased susceptibility to home runs.

Taking a broader look, Howard’s strikeout numbers exploded when the Rockies, who selected him with their third-round pick in 2014, moved him to the bullpen for the 2019 season. However, the command issues that have plagued him over the past two seasons have been an ongoing problem, never more so than in the past two seasons. The Tigers will have a week to trade Howard, attempt to pass him through outright waivers, or release him.

Tigers To Select Drew Hutchison

By Steve Adams | July 5, 2022 at 9:24am CDT

Righty Drew Hutchison is headed back to the Tigers for his third stint this season. Chris McCosky of the Detroit News reports that Hutchison’s contract will be selected this week so that he can start one of the final two games of the team’s current series against the Guardians. The Tigers will need to make a corresponding 40-man roster move to accommodate Hutchison’s selection back to the big leagues.

Hutchison inked a minor league deal with the Tigers back in March, made the Opening Day roster and has twice been designated for assignment by the team. He elected free agency and quickly re-signed on a new minor league deal in both instances. That’s not entirely uncommon for veteran players of this nature who are playing on minor league contracts.

Hutchison discussed the cyclical nature of his Tigers tenure with McCosky, praising the team for being “very upfront” and honest with their communication. “That’s all you can ask for as a player,” said Hutchison. Given the circumstances of Hutchison’s latest call to the big leagues — the Tigers again find themselves in need of a starter for an injury-depleted rotation — the whole process could eventually play out again. However, none of the Tigers’ absent starters appear close to a return at present, so Hutchison could be entrusted with multiple starts this time around.

The 31-year-old Hutchison has made just one appearance in Triple-A Toledo since rejoining the Tigers late last month, tossing four innings and yielding three runs on five hits and no walks with six punchouts on June 30. He threw 67 pitches in that outing — his most in any Major League or Triple-A game this season — which suggests he could build on that a bit further in his forthcoming start for the Tigers. Hutchison has a 3.95 ERA in 13 2/3 innings with Toledo this season and a 4.81 mark in 24 1/3 Major League innings.

Injury Notes: Jansen, Faedo, Lewis, Stephenson, Dunn

By Mark Polishuk | July 4, 2022 at 8:44pm CDT

Kenley Jansen’s problems with irregular heartbeats have plagued him for over a decade, yet that familiarity has also made this serious issue seem oddly matter-of-fact for the Braves closer. With Jansen again on the injured list, he spoke with reporters (including MLB.com’s Mark Bowman) about his latest bout with atrial fibrillation. Jansen said he actually first had an irregular heartbeat on June 18, but after a visit with doctors, he pitched five more times before his symptoms continued to the point that some time off was necessary. However, after being placed on the IL on June 28, Jansen said he plans to miss only the minimum 15 days.

More on other injury situations from around baseball…

Tigers right-hander Alex Faedo left during the third inning of today’s start due to what the club described as right hip soreness. More will be known about Faedo’s condition after the game, yet another injury would continue Detroit’s horrific luck with pitcher health this season. Just about all of Detroit’s starting pitchers have spent time on the IL at some point and several are still recovering, which opened the door for Faedo to both make his MLB debut and then make 11 starts in his rookie season.
Kyle Lewis has started a Triple-A rehab assignment, and Mariners manager Scott Servais told reporters (including MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer) that Lewis will get “a healthy dose of playing time” as an outfielder. Lewis suffered a torn meniscus in May 2021, and thus far in 2022 has played almost exclusively as a DH in minor league action and in four Major League games. A return to regular outfield work is a positive sign for Lewis, who has missed over a month on the concussion-related IL.
Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson is set begin a Triple-A rehab assignment today, while Justin Dunn will make his next minor league rehab start on Wednesday, according to Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer (Twitter links). Stephenson suffered a fractured right thumb on June 9, but looks on pace to return within the original 4-6 week projected recovery timeline. Dunn, meanwhile, has yet to pitch at all since the Reds acquired him from the Mariners as part of the Eugenio Suarez/Jesse Winker trade package in March — a shoulder injury sidelined Dunn in Spring Training. Dunn has two rehab outings under his belt already, and he is slated to throw around 60-65 pitches in his next trip to the mound.

Tigers Select Garrett Hill

By Darragh McDonald | July 3, 2022 at 9:05am CDT

The Tigers announced that they have selected the contract of right-handed pitcher Garrett Hill. He will take the active roster spot of fellow righty Rony Garcia, who has been placed on the 15-day injured list with right shoulder soreness, retroactive to June 30. To create space on the 40-man roster, Matt Manning has been transferred to the 60-day IL.

Hill, 26, was selected by the Tigers in the 26th round of the 2018 draft. Since then, he’s climbed the rungs of the minor league ladder, racking up strikeouts at each level along the way. He started this year at Double-A and made seven starts for the SeaWolves. In that time, he struck out 40.9% of the batters he faced, walking 7.9% of them and getting grounders at a 33.3% clip.

Based on those strong results, he was moved up to Triple-A and made eight starts for the Mud Hens. The higher level of competition naturally resulted in lesser results, though Hill still fared well. His Triple-A ERA is 4.06, along with a 28.7% strikeout rate, 9.4% walk rate and 32.6% ground ball rate. Baseball America ranked him the #21 prospect in the system as part of a recent update. The Tigers’ plan is for Hill to start one of the games in tomorrow’s doubleheader against the Guardians, which will be his MLB debut.

Detroit was supposed to have their rotation as a strength this year but have seen a litany of injuries derail that plan. Casey Mize underwent Tommy John surgery and is out for the rest of the year, joining Spencer Turnbull, who underwent the procedure last year. Matt Manning has only made two starts due to shoulder issues. Eduardo Rodriguez made eight starts before landing on the IL and then the restricted list due to a personal matter. Michael Pineda spent about six weeks on the IL as well, but has since returned. Now Rony Garcia is the latest starter to land on the shelf.

Due to all of that, the Tigers have leaned hard on their starting depth this year, giving MLB debuts to pitchers such as Beau Brieske, Alex Faedo, Elvin Rodriguez and Joey Wentz, with Hill now stepping up as the next rookie to get a shot.

The move for Manning is strictly procedural as he’s been on the IL for over 60 days already. He will be eligible to return as soon as his health allows, though he will need to be added back onto the 40-man roster at that time. He is close to starting a rehab assignment but will need some time to build back up into game shape.

Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press reported Hill’s promotion before the official announcement.

AL Central Notes: Twins, Guardians, Blitzer, Ilitch, Tigers

By Mark Polishuk | July 2, 2022 at 6:49pm CDT

The bullpen will be a focus for the Twins heading into the trade deadline, even though “the reliever (trade) market is always the toughest one to navigate and always the toughest one to pin down,” chief baseball officer Derek Falvey told The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman and other reporters. “It all depends on what’s available, but this year we’ll be more open-minded to adding whatever what we think will be something that will help us more toward the middle or the back end, ideally.”

However, it doesn’t seem like a trade may come together quickly, as with a month still left before the trade deadline, Falvey noted that many teams still haven’t decided if they’ll be buying or selling. “You can’t really accelerate that part of the conversation,” Falvey said. “Sometimes it’s ’all right, we’ll wait and see, we’ll put you down as interested in Player X and we’ll circle back if we’re moving in that direction.’ ” While the Twins could push the market with an aggressive offer, that only increases the risk of overpaying for a player now when they could get the same pitcher for less in a few weeks’ time. Getting at least one of Emilio Pagan or Tyler Duffey pitching well would greatly help Minnesota’s bullpen and trade leverage, but until that happens, the club may need to continue to explore outside options.

Austin Meadows Placed On Injured List With Achilles Strains

By Anthony Franco | June 28, 2022 at 10:12pm CDT

Austin Meadows’ injury-plagued first season in Detroit continues, as the Tigers announced this evening that he’s been placed on the 10-day injured list with Achilles strains in both legs. The outfielder had been on the COVID-19 list for the past 11 days; he’d been set to go on a minor league rehab assignment but the Achilles issues represent a notable setback. Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free-Press writes there’s currently no timetable for his return.

Meadows also lost a couple weeks in May while fighting vertigo-like symptoms. The series of health issues has kept him to 36 games thus far, and his production at the plate has taken a step back. Meadows is hitting .250/.347/.328 across 147 plate appearances, and he’s yet to hit his first home run in a Tiger uniform. The left-handed hitter popped 27 homers and 29 doubles for the Rays last season, but he’s unfortunately not had much of an opportunity to get into a groove this year.

Needless to say, it’s not been the kind of season the Tigers front office envisioned when acquiring Meadows from the Rays for infielder Isaac Paredes and a draft choice just before Opening Day. It’s been something of a Murphy’s law season altogether for the Tigers, who have been hit by a host of injuries in the starting rotation and an offensive drought throughout the lineup. Detroit entered play tonight 28-44 and is certain to move some shorter-term players over the coming weeks after their hopes of competing this season were dashed early on.

Meadows is playing this season on a $4MM salary after avoiding arbitration with the Rays over the winter. He’s controllable twice more via the arb process and can stick around in Detroit through the end of the 2024 campaign.

Tigers Re-Sign Drew Hutchison

By Steve Adams | June 27, 2022 at 8:36am CDT

The Tigers have re-signed righty Drew Hutchison to a new minor league contract, MLBTR has confirmed. Chris McCosky of the Detroit News tweeted yesterday that a new deal between the Tigers and the ACES client was expected to come together at some point this week.

That’s now three minor league deals with Detroit in the past three months for Hutchison. Originally signed in mid-March, Hutchison cracked Detroit’s Opening Day roster and pitched out of their bullpen for the first month of the season before being designated for assignment and electing free agency mid-May. He returned a couple weeks later, was selected back to the big league roster in mid-June, and was again designated for assignment last week. Hutchison elected free agency at that point but will return for another stint with the Tigers organization.

The 31-year-old Hutchison has pitched well in Triple-A this season and has been a serviceable source of big league innings both in the rotation and bullpen for an injury-depleted Tigers pitching staff. In 24 1/3 Major League frames, he has a 4.81 ERA, though his 17-to-16 K/BB ratio is rather ominous. Hutchison recently made a pair of starts for the Tigers, who have four starting pitchers on the injured list, and allowed five runs over a total of 8 2/3 frames.

The 2022 campaign is the seventh in which Hutchison has logged big league time. He’s tallied 506 Major League innings between the Blue Jays, Pirates, Phillies, Rangers and Tigers, pitching to a combined 4.96 ERA with a 20% strikeout rate, an 8.3% walk rate and a 39.3% ground-ball rate in that time.

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