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AL Central Notes: Baez, Gray, Correa, Twins, Moncada, Soroka

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The Tigers placed shortstop Javier Baez on the 10-day injured list yesterday, calling up Ryan Kriedler from Triple-A to fill the void in the infield.  It is the second time this season that Baez has been sent to the IL due to lumbar inflammation, though this latest placement also involves inflammation in his right hip.  Tigers manager A.J. Hinch told reporters (including Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press) that “we haven’t gotten the full diagnosis” on Baez’s injuries yet, but the team should shortly “know a little bit more about what the next month looks like and what, if any, baseball activity he’ll be able to do.”

That doesn’t sound like it bodes well for Baez’s chances of returning in 2024, as the Tigers have only the faintest hopes of a wild card berth and might just choose to shut Baez down to get him ready for next year.  While injuries have contributed to Baez’s struggles this season, his .184/.221/.294 slash line over 289 plate appearances marks the third straight disastrous year for Baez since coming to Detroit on a six-year, $140MM free agent deal in the 2021-22 offseason.  With $73MM still owed to Baez over the 2025-27 seasons, the contract is already an albatross, and it remains to be seen exactly how much longer the Tigers still stick with Baez as a regular part of their lineup (or whether they could release him altogether).

More from around the AL Central…

  • Sonny Gray told the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Bobby Nightengale that the Twins didn’t make much of a push to re-sign him when the veteran righty entered free agency last winter.  “They were very transparent from the get-go, saying, ’Listen, we do not have the resources to give you a contract, as much as we would like to.’  So, I kind of knew that,” Gray said.  “Even though we did come back a couple of times and try to work on some things, I kind of knew early on that it wasn’t [happening].”  The Twins’ lack of certainty over their broadcasting contract led to a payroll reduction last winter and continued budget limitations this year, so it didn’t seem too likely that Minnesota would be able to outbid the several other clubs who had interest in Gray’s services.  Gray ended up signing a three-year, $75MM deal with the Cardinals, and he has continued to pitch well in St. Louis, if not at the level of his AL Cy Young runner-up performance with the Twins in 2023.  Gray will face his old teammates today when he gets the start for the Cards in today’s game in Minneapolis.
  • In other Twins news, Alex Kirilloff started a Triple-A rehab assignment yesterday and Brooks Lee will start a similar assignment today, manager Rocco Baldelli told the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Bobby Nightengale and other reporters.  However, Baldelli still didn’t have any new news on Carlos Correa, saying the shortstop is just “continually making steady improvement” as he recovers from plantar fasciitis in his right heel.  Correa hasn’t played since July 12, and he received a PRP injection early in his recovery process.
  • White Sox GM Chris Getz told reporters (including Mike Clark of the Chicago Sun-Times) that Yoan Moncada and Michael Soroka will start Triple-A rehab assignments on Tuesday.  Moncada played in only 11 games before a left adductor strain sidelined him for the majority of the season, but it looks like he’s on track to get back to the majors at some point in September.  Soroka had a 5.23 ERA over 72 1/3 innings in his first season with the White Sox, and he has missed close to six weeks recovering from a strain in his right shoulder.

Tigers Sign Oscar Mercado To Minor League Deal

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The Tigers inked outfielder Óscar Mercado to a minor league contract, as reflected on the MLB.com transaction log. He’s headed to Triple-A Toledo.

Mercado has spent the last few weeks in free agency. He opted out of a non-roster deal with the Padres at the start of August. Mercado wasn’t having a great season in Triple-A, hitting .226/.307/.425 in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. That unsurprisingly wasn’t enough to convince San Diego to call him up.

A former second-round pick, Mercado appeared in the majors each season between 2019-23. He looked like a potential everyday center fielder as a rookie in Cleveland, though his production dropped off sharply from there. Since the start of 2020, he owns a .206/.262/.334 slash in nearly 500 big league plate appearances.

Mercado is still capable of playing all three outfield positions. He logged a decent amount of action in both center and right field this season. He’s an above-average runner who swiped 12 bases in 16 tries in the minors with San Diego. He’ll provide the Tigers glove-first depth for the season’s final few weeks. Detroit is operating without a traditional fourth outfielder behind Parker Meadows, Riley Greene and Matt Vierling. Kerry Carpenter is mostly a designated hitter who is limited to the corners if he plays the outfield, while the Tigers have rotated infielders Zach McKinstry and Andy Ibáñez on the grass.

MLBTR Podcast: Who Could Get Waived, Potential Rule Changes, Austin Riley, And Hector Neris

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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…

  • Will any players be placed on waivers before September 1 who could help? (35:15)
  • How much longer do the Tigers stick with Javier Báez and what holes will they be looking to fill in the offseason? (41:00)
  • If Pete Alonso walks in free agency, what will the Mets do at first base next year? (49:40)

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!

Blue Jays Claim Easton Lucas

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The Blue Jays have claimed left-hander Easton Lucas off waivers from the Tigers and optioned him to Triple-A Buffalo, per announcements from both clubs. The lefty was designated for assignment by Detroit a few days ago. The Jays transferred right-hander Alek Manoah to the 60-day injured list to open up a 40-man roster spot.

Lucas, 27, made his major league debut with the Athletics last year. He had been in the Orioles’ system prior to that but went to Oakland in the July 2023 trade that sent righty Shintaro Fujinami to the O’s. This year, Lucas has found himself on the waiver wire a couple of times, getting claimed by the Tigers in May and now by the Jays.

Between the A’s and Tigers, he has 13 2/3 major league innings at this point in his career. He has allowed 14 earned runs to this point, leading to an unimpressive 9.22 earned run average in that small sample of work.

The interest from the Jays likely comes from his intriguing results in a larger sample of work in the minors. He has thrown 49 Triple-A innings this year with a 3.31 ERA. His 11.2% walk rate in that time is on the high side but he struck out 25.2% of batters faced. Last year, he threw 46 2/3 minor league innings with a 3.86 ERA, 25.8% strikeout rate and 8.6% walk rate.

Lucas is in his first of three option years and has less than a year of service time. That means the Jays can stash him in the minors until he’s ready for another look in the big leagues or they can simply bring him up whenever they next need a fresh arm. If his performance justifies his continued presence on the roster, he is still a ways away from qualifying for arbitration or free agency.

The Jays have recently been remaking a bullpen that let them down here in 2024. Jordan Romano has been on the injured list for much of the year and it’s unclear if he’ll be able to make it back before the campaign is done. Erik Swanson struggled enough to get sent to the minors for a while, though he has since returned. Tim Mayza’s struggles were strong enough that he was released and is now with the Yankees.

Last year, the club’s relievers had a collective 3.68 ERA, one of the ten best marks in the majors. This year, the group is at 4.22 and in the bottom ten. That undoubtedly played a role in the club falling from contention, which led them to further subtract from the group by trading Yimi García, Trevor Richards and Nate Pearson prior to the deadline.

As the season has gone along, they have picked up Ryan Burr, Tommy Nance, José Cuas, Yerry Rodríguez, Luis Frías and now Lucas, either through small trades or waiver claims. The club will undoubtedly be making more moves to address the relief corps in the offseason, but for now, the Jays can try them out either in the majors or Triple-A as they look to bolster the depth for next year’s club.

As for Manoah, he underwent UCL surgery in June and won’t be back until next summer at the earliest, so this move was an inevitable formality. He’ll stay on the IL for the rest of the year but will need to retake a 40-man roster spot in November as the IL goes away in the days after the World Series.

AL Notes: Verlander, Garcia, Buxton, Paddack, Rangers, Skubal

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Justin Verlander “felt strong” during a bullpen session today in Houston, Astros manager Joe Espada told reporters (including Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle), which should line Verlander up to return to the rotation on Wednesday when the Astros face the Red Sox.  A neck strain has kept Verlander from pitching in the majors since June 9, and he has amassed only 57 innings this season due both this current ailment and a bout of shoulder inflammation coming out of Spring Training.  However, Verlander has completed two minor league rehab outings and today’s bullpen session looks like the final checkpoint on his path to recovery.

While things are looking promising for Verlander, Luis Garcia is more of a question mark.  The Athletic’s Chandler Rome wrote (via X) that as of Friday, Garcia hadn’t yet resumed throwing since he was shut down due to soreness over two weeks ago.  This is the second time Garcia has hit a setback in his recovery from Tommy John surgery, and since Garcia went under the knife in May 2023, a normal rehab timeline would’ve had him ready to return to the majors by this point over 15 months past his procedure date.  Though the Astros have said Garcia might return as a reliever rather than as a starter, he is running short on time to fully ramp up his readiness to rejoin Houston’s pitching staff in any capacity.

More from around the American League…

  • Twins athletic trainer Nick Paparesta updated reporters (including The Athletic’s Dan Hayes) about several injured Minnesota players on Saturday, including Byron Buxton and Chris Paddack.  Buxton received a cortisone shot in his inflamed right hip and recently worked out in a pool, so Paparesta feels “we’re kind of heading in the right direction.”  This comes as a relief given Buxton’s long history of injury problems, including a more serious hip issue in 2022 that Paparesta feels may have created scar tissue related to Buxton’s current discomfort.  As for Paddack, he is set to undergo an MRI on August 27, which will be his second scan since a left forearm strain sent him to the 15-day injured list on July 17.  More will be known on Paddack’s timeline if the next MRI comes back clean, and he has already started playing games of catch in preparation to return to Minnesota’s staff before the season is over.
  • Three of the Rangers’ injured veteran starters took steps in their recoveries over the weekend, as Max Scherzer threw a bullpen session today and Jacob deGrom and Jon Gray each threw three-inning simulated games on Saturday.  Gray seems to be the closest to returning, as he told MLB.com that he could return as a reliever during the Rangers’ series with the Pirates that begins tomorrow, if he isn’t lined up for a proper start during a series with the Guardians that gets underway Friday.  A right groin strain sent Gray to the 15-day IL on July 29, while deGrom could begin a Double-A rehab assignment this week in his first game action since undergoing Tommy John surgery in June 2023.  Scherzer hasn’t pitched since July 30 due to shoulder fatigue, and Texas manager Bruce Bochy said it hasn’t yet been decided if Scherzer will also embark on a rehab assignment next, or if he’ll first take part in a live batting practice session.
  • Tarik Skubal had another quality start tonight in the Tigers’ 3-2 win over the Yankees, as the star southpaw limited New York to one run (on three hits and four walks) over six innings of work.  Skubal is up to a career-high 155 1/3 innings pitched, and manager A.J. Hinch told MLB Network’s Jon Morosi and other reporters that Sunday “could very well be his last start on regular rest” this season.  Since Detroit is all but out of the wild card race, the team has no real reason to put too many extra miles on Skubal’s arm, though naturally the team isn’t going to shut him down completely as he pursues the AL Cy Young Award.

Riley Greene, Jasson Dominguez Added As 27th Men For Little League Classic

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The Yankees and Tigers square off in Williamsport tonight for the Little League Classic, and due to the special nature of the game, both clubs are allowed to add a 27th player to their active rosters.  The two teams have each addressed this extra roster spot in a particularly noteworthy way, as the Yankees called up star prospect Jasson Dominguez from Triple-A and the Tigers activated outfielder Riley Greene from the 10-day injured list.

While Dominguez is in tonight’s starting lineup, it looks like it’ll just be a cup of coffee in the majors for the 21-year-old, as Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters (including MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch) that Dominguez will be returned to Triple-A after the game.  Obviously plans could change in the event of an injury, but for now, it looks like the Yankees are just utilizing the right-hitting Dominguez to spell lefty-swinging Alex Verdugo in left field since southpaw Tarik Skubal is starting for Detroit.

Tonight will mark Dominguez’s first MLB game since last September, when he hit .258/.303/.677 with four homers in his first 33 plate appearances in the big leagues.  However, just as “the Martian” appeared to be living up to the hype, he had to undergo Tommy John surgery, which kept him on the shelf until he returned for a rehab assignment in single-A ball in mid-May.  Dominguez quickly moved back up the ladder to Triple-A but then suffered an oblique strain in June that kept him out of action for another six weeks.

Dominguez is hitting .298/.365/.477 with seven homers over his 167 combined PA at three levels of the Yankees’ farm system this season, so while he isn’t dominating minor league pitching, his numbers are still quite solid (especially for a player battling so many injuries).  Under normal circumstances, he would likely be in the majors already if it wasn’t for the crowded nature of New York’s outfield picture.  Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, and Verdugo are the starting outfield trio, and Giancarlo Stanton has the DH spot on lockdown, leaving little room for Dominguez to find regular playing time.

GM Brian Cashman stated last week that “There’s currently no lane for us to bring him [up].  It’s nice to know he’s there. He’s just knocking rust off and waiting for his opportunity if it comes.”  Tonight’s one-game cameo doesn’t really counter Cashman’s statement, as the team would surely prefer to see Dominguez continue his development with regular reps in Triple-A rather than only sporadic playing time in New York.  It is worth noting that Verdugo has been in a deep slump for over three months now, so as we continue down the stretch to the postseason, it wouldn’t be a shock to see Dominguez promoted to take the lion’s share of work in left field.

Greene last played on July 25, as a right hamstring strain has kept the outfielder sidelined for the better part of a month.  The Tigers don’t need to make a corresponding roster move today because of the 27th man rule, but some kind of roster adjustment will need to be made before Detroit’s next game, on Tuesday against the Cubs.

Now in his third Major League season, Greene has continued to take strides as a budding star for the Tigers, hitting .264/.357/.485 with 17 home runs over 427 PA.  Between this production at the plate and some excellent glovework as Detroit’s primary left fielder, Greene has already generated 2.8 fWAR, and his success was acknowledged with his first All-Star nod.  While the Tigers haven’t yet turned the corner in their rebuild process, Greene certainly looks like a cornerstone player within the club’s future plans.

Tigers Designate Gio Urshela, Easton Lucas For Assignment

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TODAY: The Tigers announced today that Urshela has cleared outright waivers and has been placed on release waivers. In the likely event that Urshela clears release waivers, he’ll become a free agent and be eligible to sign with any of the league’s clubs for a pro-rated portion of the big league minimum.

August 16: The Tigers announced today that they have selected the contracts of infielders Jace Jung and Trey Sweeney, moves that were reported yesterday. In corresponding moves, outfielder Akil Baddoo was optioned to Triple-A Toledo and infielder Gio Urshela was designated for assignment. To open another 40-man spot, left-hander Easton Lucas was designated for assignment. Robert Murray of FanSided reported the Urshela move on X prior to the official announcement.

Urshela, 32, reached free agency for the first time after the 2023 season. He had a solid four-year run in the big leagues from 2019 to 2022 but then had an injury-marred 2023 campaign. He got into 62 games with the Angels, hitting just two home runs before a pelvic fracture wiped out the second half of his season.

That was naturally going to impact his individual market but he also had the misfortune of being a part of one of the frostier offseasons in recent memory. Even big-name free agents lingered on the open market well into the new year. Many players below the superstar level ended up settling for very modest deals in the early parts of 2024. Guys like Michael A. Taylor, Enrique Hernández, Adam Duvall, Randal Grichuk and others settled for one-year deals of less than $5MM.

The Tigers were able to nab Urshela for a guarantee of just $1.5MM on a one-year deal. Though his 2023 season wasn’t great, they were likely excited to get a solid veteran at such a low price point. As mentioned, Urshela had a strong four-year run prior to 2023, spending time with the Yankees and Twins. In that stretch, he hit 54 home runs in 435 games and slashed .290/.336/.463 for a wRC+ of 118.

He spent most of that time at third base and generally had the reputation of a strong defender. Bizarrely, Outs Above Average hates him and gave him a grade of -17 in that 2019-22 period, but Defensive Runs Saved gave him a solid grade of +5.

If the Tigers got anything close to that kind of performance for their modest investment, it would have been a steal. Unfortunately, Urshela has not been able to bounce back as hoped. He has been in 92 games for Detroit this year with five home runs and a modest batting line of .243/.286/.333. That translates to a 73 wRC+, indicating he’s been 27% below league average at the plate this year.

Detroit is 7.5 games back of a playoff spot, which isn’t a totally hopeless position, but they are clearly focused on the future at this point. Prior to the deadline, they traded away Jack Flaherty, Carson Kelly, Andrew Chafin and Mark Canha. They are going to use the remainder of the schedule to get Jung and Sweeney exposed to major league pitching, which will nudge Urshela out of their plans.

Since the trade deadline has come and gone, they will have no choice but to place Urshela on waivers in the coming days. He has about $345K of his salary still to be paid out, meaning a claiming team wouldn’t be taking on huge amounts of money by grabbing him. However, given his performance both last year and this year, it’s possible that he passes through unclaimed. He has been hot of late, with a .265/.342/.412 batting line and 108 wRC+ in August, but that’s a sample of just 38 plate appearances amid a rough two-year stretch.

If he passes through unclaimed, he has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment while keeping that salary in place. If he ends up a free agent, the Tigers would be on the hook for that money. Any other club could sign him for the prorated league minimum, which would be subtracted from what the Tigers pay.

Lucas, 27, was just claimed off waivers from the Athletics in May. Since that claim, he has made three appearances for the Tigers with two earned runs allowed, two strikeouts and two walks. Combined with his time with the A’s, he now has 13 2/3 major league innings pitched with a 9.22 earned run average.

His minor league work this year has been far more interesting. Between the two organizations, he has thrown 49 Triple-A innings with a 3.31 ERA. The 11.2% walk rate is on the high side but he’s countered that with a 25.2% strikeout rate.

Lucas still has a full slate of options and less than a year of service time. For any club intrigued by his Triple-A numbers this year, he could be a long-term depth piece. Like Urshela, he will have to be placed on waivers in the coming days since the trade deadline has passed. Lucas has a previous career outright, which would give him the right to elect free agency if he eventually passes through waivers unclaimed.

Tigers Promote Spencer Torkelson

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10:01PM: The Tigers officially announced Torkelson’s recall and Madris being optioned to Toledo.

8:18AM: The Tigers are set to recall first baseman Spencer Torkelson from Triple-A Toledo today, according to Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press.  Torkelson will take the place of Bligh Madris, as Petzold reports that Madris was optioned to Triple-A after the Tigers’ 3-0 loss to the Yankees yesterday.

It has been over two and a half months since Torkelson’s last Major League game, as the Tigers decided the first baseman was in need of a refresh after a brutal start to the season.   Torkelson hit only .201/.266/.330 with four home runs in his first 230 plate appearances in 2024, translating to only a 68 wRC+.  With his Statcast numbers not hinting at any underlying reasons for optimism, Torkelson went back to Toledo looking to get himself back on the track.

The results in Triple-A have been mixed.  Torkelson has hit .239/.356/.443 with 11 homers in his 275 PA with the Mud Hens, so his numbers have been solid yet far from dominant.  He also posted a 30.9% strikeout rate in the minors this season, well above his past strikeout rates at either the Major League or minor league levels.  As Petzold notes, a lot of these strikeouts are coming against sliders and changeups, though Torkelson has at least been performing better against higher-velocity offerings.

A winning record is still within reach for the 59-64 Tigers, but with a playoff run looking quite unlikely, Detroit is using the rest of the season to evaluate its young talent.  Jace Jung and Trey Sweeney were just called up yesterday for their respective MLB debuts, so between those rookies, Torkelson, and Colt Keith becoming a fixture in his first Major League season, the Tigers could be getting an early look at what might be their infield of the future.

Torkelson still must be considered part of that future, as he hit .233/.313/.446 with 31 homers over 684 PA during the 2023 season.  The first overall pick of the 2020 draft doesn’t turn 25 years old until next week, and while the Tigers naturally would’ve liked to have seen the youngster adjust to the big leagues in much smoother fashion, it is still far too early to wonder if Detroit should be looking to move on from Torkelson.  Of course, Torkelson will need to hold up his end of the deal against MLB pitching, and even average-ish production won’t cut it from a bat-first player expected to deliver big numbers from the first base position.

Tigers To Promote Jace Jung

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The Tigers are calling up top infield prospect Jace Jung from Triple-A Toledo, reports Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free-Press. The 12th overall pick of the 2022 draft will make his major league debut tomorrow evening against the Yankees.

Jung joins what’ll be a suddenly younger Detroit infield. The Tigers are also bringing up deadline acquisition Trey Sweeney, a 2021 first-round pick whom they acquired in the Jack Flaherty deal. That duo will join rookie second baseman Colt Keith as the Tigers evaluate young players who could be key pieces of next year’s team. Keith has had an up-and-down debut campaign at the keystone, as he’s had very poor months of April, June, and August around huge performances in May and July.

Once Detroit moved Keith from third to second base, they slid Jung to the hot corner. He has started 68 games there this season against 17 starts at second base, which had been his primary position at Texas Tech and for his first two years in pro ball. Detroit has used Gio Urshela as their primary third baseman. His bat has started to come around following a rough first half, but the Tigers seem to be turning their attention toward next season. Despite an ongoing four-game win streak, they’re 7.5 back of the American League’s last playoff spot.

Jung, the younger brother of Rangers third baseman Josh Jung, adds a high-upside offensive talent. He ranks fourth among Detroit prospects and 75th overall on Baseball America’s most recent ranking of the farm system. BA credits the left-handed hitter with plus power and a patient approach. While there’s some concern about his pure hit tool, the walks and power give him a chance to hit in the middle third of a lineup.

The 23-year-old is having a nice season in Toledo. He’s hitting .257/.377/.454 with 14 homers, 23 doubles and a triple through 415 plate appearances. Jung is drawing walks at a massive 16.1% clip while striking out at a roughly average 22.4% rate. While he has fallen into a bit of a slump of late, Jung has hit very well with the platoon advantage over the course of the season. He’s hitting .272/.402/.510 in 321 plate appearances against righty pitching.

Jung has predictably had a tougher time with left-handed arms. Detroit has a few righty-hitting infielders who could take some starts against southpaws, but Jung figures to play regularly over the season’s final six weeks. Urshela is on a one-year free agent deal and always felt like a bridge until Jung was ready to take over at third base. The Tigers should give him near everyday reps to gauge whether they can pencil him in as their starter going into 2025.

Jung will not come close to a full year of service or the time necessary to reach early arbitration as a Super Two player. He’s under team control for at least six seasons beyond this one and won’t get to arbitration for three years. A future optional assignment to Triple-A could push that timeline back.

The timing of Jung’s promotion, likely not coincidentally, comes just after the cutoff for him to preserve his rookie eligibility going into next season. From tomorrow, there’ll be 45 days remaining on the regular season calendar. A position player remains a rookie so long as they’ve spent 45 days or fewer on an MLB active roster and have not topped 130 at-bats. So long as the Tigers keep him below the at-bat threshold, Jung would be eligible for Rookie of the Year consideration going into next season.

That’s a relevant factor thanks to the Prospect Promotion Incentive introduced in the most recent round of collective bargaining. A team can earn a bonus draft pick if they carry a rookie top prospect (one who made the offseason Top 100 on at least two of the lists at Baseball America, ESPN, and MLB Pipeline) for a full service year. If that player wins Rookie of the Year or finishes in the top three in MVP balloting during his pre-arbitration seasons, the team would get an extra pick after the first round of the following draft.

Jung could be in consideration for the prospect criteria, as evidenced by his placement on BA’s current Top 100. There’s no guarantee he’ll make two of the three lists next winter — and it’s certainly not a lock that he’ll win Rookie of the Year — but the Tigers would at least keep the possibility open if they plan for Jung to break camp in 2025. The Cardinals timed their promotion of top shortstop prospect Masyn Winn right at this time last season, for instance.

Sweeney isn’t the same caliber of prospect, but Detroit could give him a look at shortstop in place of the struggling Javier Báez. They’ll need to add both players to the active and 40-man rosters. They don’t have any obvious candidates to land on the 60-day injured list, so they might need to designate multiple players for assignment tomorrow.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Tigers To Promote Trey Sweeney

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The Tigers are calling up shortstop prospect Trey Sweeney, reports Kiley McDaniel of ESPN on X. He just recently came to the organization from the Dodgers in the deadline trade that sent Jack Flaherty to Los Angeles. Sweeney is not currently on the 40-man roster, so the Tigers will need to make a corresponding move to add him.

Sweeney, 24, was a first-round pick of the Yankees, getting selected 20th overall in 2021. He made a brief professional debut after that draft selection and then got a lengthier run the following year. In 2022, he got into 111 games between High-A and Double-A, hitting 16 home runs in that time. He was struck out in 23.2% of his plate appearances but drew walks at a strong 13% clip. His .240/.349/.413 batting line translated to a 111 wRC+, indicating he was 11% better than league average.

Going into 2023, Baseball America ranked him the #15 prospect in the Yankees’ system. Their report at that time noted that he didn’t have a standout tool but that he was generally solid across the board. On the 20-80 scouting scale, they gave him either a 45 or a 50 in the five categories of hit, power, speed, fielding and arm.

Sweeney would have been challenged to carve out a role as a regular shortstop in the Bronx with Anthony Volpe seemingly set at that spot, which is perhaps why the Yankees were willing to make him available. Back in December, Sweeney was traded to the Dodgers for left-hander Victor González and minor league infielder Jorbit Vivas.

Moving to the Dodgers didn’t go especially well for Sweeney. He got into 96 Triple-A games this year, hitting 13 home runs but also striking out at a 26.8% clip. In the hitter-friendly environs of the Pacific Coast League, his .254/.334/.427 batting line translated to an 87 wRC+.

As mentioned, the Dodgers flipped Sweeney to the Tigers in the Flaherty deal, alongside Thayron Liranzo. Some evaluators considered the return for Flaherty on the lighter side, especially compared with what the Blue Jays received from the Astros for Yusei Kikuchi. Flaherty and Kikuchi were the top two rental starters available at last month’s deadline but Flaherty was considered the greater prize on account of his higher ceiling and stronger 2024 campaign.

After the deadline, reports emerged that the Yankees walked away from a Flaherty trade due to concerns about his medical. In the eyes of some, that explained the disconnect with those trades but Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris didn’t share that framing. “I completely reject the premise,” Harris said when asked about the Tigers getting less for Flaherty than the Jays got for Kikuchi, per Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic on X. “These players we got are really good. We had opportunities to make different deals with different teams. This is the deal we chose for a reason.”

Grading the trades is something that can be endlessly debated for now and won’t truly be settled for years. But since being traded a second time, Sweeney has been red hot. He has played 11 games at Triple-A Toledo since the deal and has hit .381/.447/.667. He won’t maintain a .500 batting average on balls in play forever but he has hit a couple of home runs, stolen four bases and drawn walks at a 10.6% clip.

The Tigers are 7.5 games back of a playoff spot and focused more on the future than 2024, which is why they traded Flaherty as well as Andrew Chafin, Carson Kelly and Mark Canha. Shortstop has been a big hole for them in recent years thanks to the massive struggles of Javier Báez. Going into 2022, the club signed him to a six-year, $140MM deal but he has hit .221/.263/.346 since then for a wRC+ of 69. Among qualified hitters in that stretch, only Nicky Lopez and Myles Straw have a lower wRC+.

With just over six weeks left to go in the season, the Tigers will give Sweeney a chance to face major league pitching and see if he can maybe provide them with a solution at shortstop. If he succeeds, it would make for an interesting offseason. The Báez deal still has three more seasons on it after this one and he won’t have any trade value with his poor performance at the plate.

However, it’s worth pointing out that even the top prospects often struggle in their first exposure to the major leagues, so there’s a decent chance that won’t be an immediate concern. It’s entirely possible that Sweeney gets a bit of acclimation to major league life but may still find himself ticketed for more Triple-A time in the future. Sweeney has also played a bit of third base while Báez has previously bounced around the diamond in his career.

Time will tell how things play out at the shortstop position in Detroit. But for now, it’s an exciting moment for Sweeney, who will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game.

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