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AL Central Notes: Crochet, Clevinger, Wacha, Lange

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Unsurprisingly, the White Sox have set an “exorbitant” asking price on Garrett Crochet in early trade talks, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale writes.  As we already saw this past winter with the Dylan Cease trade negotiations and the eventual deal that sent Cease to the Padres, the Sox are naturally out for the biggest return possible when moving any of their most valuable trade chips.  Crochet definitely fits that description, as he has broken out as a starting pitcher this year and is under arbitration control through the 2026 season.

Chicago isn’t likely to drop its demands much (or even at all) until closer to the deadline, and Crochet’s arbitration control also gives the Sox some extra leverage since the team doesn’t need to move the southpaw any time soon.  If anything, Crochet having a full and healthy season as a starter might only increase what the White Sox might be looking for in trade talks during the offseason, when the Sox could speak to a wider array of potential suitors.

More from around the AL Central…

  • Sticking with the White Sox, Mike Clevinger told reporters (including MLB.com’s Scott Merkin) that he is set to begin rehab assignment with Triple-A Charlotte.  The plan is for Clevinger to start on Tuesday and Sunday in Charlotte before then possibly being activated from the 15-day injured list if all goes well.  Clevinger hasn’t pitched since May 23 due to a bout of elbow inflammation, and he has a 6.75 ERA over 16 innings and four starts this season.  Clevinger’s season already got off to a late start since he didn’t sign his one-year, $3MM free agent deal with Chicago until the start of April, but if he able to return healthy, he’ll have over a month to audition for interested teams heading into the trade deadline.
  • Michael Wacha is slated to make a rehab start with the Royals’ Arizona Complex League team tomorrow, manager Matt Quatraro told MLB.com’s Anne Rogers and other reporters.  This might be Wacha’s only rehab outing, as Quatraro indicated that the Royals are planning to have the veteran righty back in their rotation next weekend.  Wacha signed a two-year, $32MM contract (with an opt-out after this season) with Kansas City this past winter, and delivered a 4.24 ERA over his first 68 innings as a Royal before a non-displaced fracture in his left foot resulted in an IL stint.  June 1 was the retroactive start date of that IL visit, so returning by next weekend makes for a relatively quick return for Wacha, which is good news considering the tricky nature of such injuries.
  • Alex Lange had to leave the mound during an outing with Triple-A Toledo on Friday, and the Tigers reliever was in visible discomfort with an apparent upper-body injury.  Lange was set to undergo tests this weekend and the team hasn’t yet given any official word on his status.  Detroit optioned Lange to Triple-A last month after he posted a 4.34 ERA and (more distressingly) an 18.9% walk rate over 18 2/3 innings this season.  Lange has long battled control problems but his stay in Toledo seemed to be bearing dividends, as he had only a 2.9% walk rate and a 3.12 ERA over 8 2/3 Triple-A innings.

MLBTR Podcast: Injured Astros, The Chances Of Bad Teams Rebounding In 2025 And More

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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…

  • The Astros have lost several players to injury but general manager Dana Brown insists they will be deadline buyers (0:45)
  • With so few teams clearly out of contention, signs are pointing towards a seller’s market at the deadline (7:20)

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • Out of the five worst teams right now (Athletics, Angels, White Sox, Marlins and Rockies), who most needs to replenish their farm system and who could possibly turn things around by 2025? (11:20)
  • The Guardians need a right-handed right fielder with power. Who is a viable target? (20:40)
  • Will the Marlins to try trade Jesús Luzardo and Jazz Chisholm Jr.? (24:30)
  • Could you see Alex Anthopoulos of the Braves trying to get Kevin Gausman from the Blue Jays? (28:35)
  • How active will the Reds be at the deadline? (32:15)
  • Should the Dodgers acquire Javier Báez from the Tigers and move Mookie Betts back to the outfield and/or option Gavin Lux? (35:40)

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!

Tigers Notes: Baez, Kreidler, McKinstry, Flaherty

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Javier Báez’s rough season continues, as the Tigers placed the veteran shortstop on the 10-day injured list before tonight’s game against the Nationals. The placement, which is retroactive to June 9, is due to lumbar spine inflammation. Ryan Kreidler is up from Triple-A Toledo to take the open active roster spot.

Báez told the Detroit beat that he was headed to Florida for additional testing (link via Cody Stavenhagen of the Athletic). The Tigers haven’t provided a timeline for his return, though he’s expected to be out beyond the minimal stint. Báez has battled back discomfort dating to Spring Training, which could be a contributing factor to the worst performance of his career.

The two-time All-Star has only hit one home run over 196 plate appearances. He’s hitting .183/.209/.247 across 53 games. Among hitters with 150+ trips to the plate, only Mickey Moniak has a lower on-base percentage. Tim Anderson and Moniak are the only such hitters who have made less of a power impact. Báez has rated as a slightly below-average defender over 451 2/3 innings at shortstop. The overall production is well below replacement level.

Báez now carries a .223/.264/.344 slash line in 333 games since signing a six-year, $140MM free agent contract with Detroit. Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris downplayed the chances of moving on from Báez entirely in an appearance on MLB Network late last month. That won’t need to be a consideration while he’s on the injured list, but the Tigers clearly need much better production out of the position. Detroit is last in all three triple slash stats from their shortstops on the year.

For now, that task will fall on Kreidler and Zach McKinstry. Manager A.J. Hinch indicated that duo will split the shortstop reps while Báez is on the shelf. The lefty-hitting McKinstry and righty-swinging Kreidler will form something of a platoon, although Hinch indicated Kreidler won’t be completely shielded from right-handed pitching. With the Nats starting lefty Mitchell Parker this evening, Kreidler is in the lineup for his first MLB work of the season.

The UCLA product appeared in 37 big league contests between 2022-23. Kreidler didn’t hit much in that limited look, turning in a .165/.220/.209 slash over 102 plate appearances. He owns a .242/.362/.448 mark with a lofty 27.1% strikeout rate in parts of four seasons with Toledo. McKinstry has hit .225/.296/.341 in 624 MLB plate appearances since the Tigers acquired him from the Cubs just before the start of last season. He’s a career .219/.284/.365 hitter versus right-handed pitching.

While the Tigers are patching things together on the infield, they seem to have dodged a bullet in the rotation. Jack Flaherty exited last week’s start against the Rangers after experiencing back tightness. He hasn’t pitched since then but seems on track to avoid the injured list. As noted by Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free-Press, Flaherty received an injection yesterday and is lined up to take the ball during this weekend’s series against the Astros. Signed to a one-year pillow contract over the winter, Flaherty is pitching at an All-Star level. He owns a 3.22 ERA while striking out more than a third of his opponents over his first 12 starts.

Tigers Sign Miguel Diaz To Minor League Contract

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Miguel Diaz is heading back to Motown as the Tigers announced that the right-hander has been signed to a minor league contract.  Diaz pitched for the Tigers in 2022-23 before being claimed off waivers from the Astros in early April.

That stint in Houston resulted in just a single Major League appearance, as Diaz threw a perfect inning of mop-up relief work in an 10-2 Astros loss to the Rangers on April 5.  He otherwise pitched at Triple-A Sugar Land and didn’t have much success, struggling to a 9.64 ERA across 14 innings (13 appearances).  While Diaz didn’t help himself with a 15.2% strikeout rate, he also had the misfortune of a .392 BABIP and a 40% strand rate, explaining the big gap between his ERA and his much more favorable 3.63 FIP.

The Astros designated Diaz soon after his lone big league appearance, and he elected free agency but re-signed quickly on a new minor league deal.  The lack of results in the minors led Houston to release Diaz last week, and now the circle has been completed with his return to the Tigers organization.  Since Diaz is out of minor league options, the Tigers would have to designate him for assignment him again in the event that he is called up to the MLB roster and then the team wished to send him back down again to Triple-A Toledo.

The 29-year-old Diaz is a veteran of seven Major League seasons, with a 4.81 ERA over 127 1/3 career innings with San Diego, Detroit, and Houston.  His 41 2/3 innings in his 2017 rookie season with the Padres and his 42 innings with the 2022 Tigers represent the bulk of that resume, and Diaz has a respectable 24% career strikeout rate, albeit with some large year-to-year variance.  Diaz will give the Tigers some extra bullpen depth in the minors in the event of an injury in the big league relief corps, or if Detroit simply needs to cycle in a fresh arm.

Hank Foiles Passes Away

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Former All Star catcher Hank Foiles passed away late last month at the age of 94, as noted by various sources including Jami Frankenberry of The Virginian-Pilot. An veteran of 11 major league seasons, Foiles played for the Reds, Indians, Pirates, Athletics, Tigers, Orioles, and Angels throughout his time in the big leagues.

Foiles started his professional career at the age of 19 as a member of the Yankees organization back in 1948, but he didn’t make his big league debut for several years. He was selected in the 1951 Rule 5 draft by the Reds but didn’t make his big league debut with the club until 1953. He appeared in just 12 games at the big league level that season between Cincinnati and Cleveland and collected three hits across his first 20 major league at-bats. Foiles wouldn’t play at the big league level in 1954 but split time with Hal Naragon as the backup to five-time All Star Jim Hegan in 1955. In 132 plate appearances that year, Foiles hit .261 with a solid .354 on-base percentage.

Foiles would appear in just one more game with Cleveland before being traded to Pittsburgh during the 1956 season. Although he had a down season at the plate during his first year with the club, his years in Pittsburgh would prove to be the most significant of his career as he earned the everyday catching job for the Pirates in 1957 and 1958. Foiles made the lone All Star appearance of his career in 1957 when he combined his glove-first profile with above average offense to slash .270/.352/.431 in 109 games.

On the 1957 NL All Star team, he joined legends of the game such as Stan Musial, Frank Robinson, and Henry Aaron opposite AL legends like Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, and Ted Williams. Foiles pinch-hit in the bottom of the ninth inning with Willie Mays on third base and drew a wild pitch to score Mays and bring the NL within two before delivering a single against longtime White Sox ace Billy Pierce. Foiles later scored from second on a single by Ernie Banks, though the NL would go on to lose the game 6-5.

Foiles would remain in Pittsburgh for two more seasons following his All Star season, and though his offense took step backward with a .209/.314/.355 line between the next two campaigns, he nonetheless made 157 appearances and 402 trips to the plate across those two seasons. 1960 saw Foiles change organizations multiple times, as he was traded from the Pirates to the then-Kansas City Athletics during the 1959-60 offseason but appeared in just six games with the club before being returned to the Pirates. He was then traded to Cleveland to act as their back-up catcher before a late July deal sent him to the Tigers. He finished the 1960 season in Detroit but was selected in the Rule V Draft for the second time that November, putting him in five different organizations over the course of one calendar year.

Over the next two years, Foiles would find his groove at the plate again as a back-up catcher for the Orioles and Reds with a combined slash line of .275/.338/.482 across 43 games. Foiles found himself on the move again in 1963 when he joined the Angels, and he appeared in 45 games for the club over the next two seasons with a roughly league average slash line of .216/.289/.386. He played his final game in the big leagues just a month before his 35th birthday on May 2, 1964. A career .243/.321/.392 hitter who appeared in 608 big league games, Foiles tallied 353 hits, 46 home runs, and 166 RBI during a solid major league career.

We at MLBTR offer our condolences to the Foiles family and to his friends, fans, and others who are mourning him around the game.

Tigers Trade Buddy Kennedy To Phillies

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10:33am: The Tigers have now announced that Kennedy has been traded to the Phillies in exchange for cash.

Kennedy becomes the latest depth addition for a Phillies club that has acquired non-roster players such as Ruben Cardenas and Jonah Dipoto in a pair of cash swaps. Philadelphia also recently plucked right-hander Freddy Tarnok off waivers from the A’s.

The Phillies already had an open spot on the 40-man roster after minor league infielder Jose Rodriguez was suspended for one year amid MLB’s recent wave of bans for betting on baseball. Kennedy will both take Rodriguez’s roster spot and replenish the infield depth lost with Rodriguez’s placement on the restricted list.

10:25am: Evan Woodbery of MLive reports on X that the MLB.com transaction log was not accurate. MLB.com has subsequently removed Kennedy’s outright from its transaction log.

9:52am: The Tigers have sent infielder Buddy Kennedy outright to Triple-A Toledo, according to his transactions log at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment earlier this week. He has the right to elect free agency but it’s not yet clear if he’s chosen to do so.

Kennedy, 25, has spent most of this season on optional assignment, with the Tigers giving him 13 plate appearances in six major league games. Combined with his time in Arizona in the previous two seasons, he now has a career batting line of .205/.294/.316 in 136 trips to the plate in the big leagues.

His larger body of work in the minors has been more impressive, though with a bit of a swoon this year. He slashed .287/.395/.455 on the farm over the 2021 to 2023 seasons, with wRC+ giving him a 119 for that three-year stretch. He drew walks in 14.3% of his plate appearances during that span while striking out just 20.2% of the time. He did that while playing a lot of second and third base, with some stints at first base and left field as well.

That minor league performance made him plenty popular in the past year. He was designated for assignment by the Diamondbacks in September and bounced to the Athletics, Cardinals and Tigers on waiver claims.

But his performance has dipped a bit this year, as he has slashed .234/.331/.383 in Triple-A, production that leads to an 87 wRC+. His 11.7% walk rate is still strong but his strikeout rate is up a bit to 23.9%. Though he has been popular on the waiver wire, that tepid performance seems to have pushed him through unclaimed this time.

He was also outrighted by the Diamondbacks at the end of the 2022 season, which gives him the right to reject this assignment and head to the open market instead. If he eventually gets a roster spot back, with the Tigers or someone else, he can be optioned for the remainder of this season but will be out of options next year.

Tigers Designate Buddy Kennedy For Assignment, Release Keston Hiura

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The Tigers announced a series of roster moves today, selecting the contract of outfielder Justyn-Henry Malloy, which was reported on yesterday. To open a spot on the active roster, they optioned first baseman Spencer Torkelson, a move that was also previously reported. To open a 40-man spot for Malloy, infielder Buddy Kennedy was designated for assignment. The Tigers also released first baseman Keston Hiura, with Torkelson taking over as the regular first baseman for Triple-A Toledo. Evan Woodbery of MLive was among those to relay the Hiura news on X.

Kennedy, 25, was claimed off waivers from the Cardinals in February. He has spent most of this year on optional assignment, only stepping to the plate 13 times in the big leagues. In 163 plate appearances for the Mud Hens, he has drawn walks at a strong rate of 11.7% but produced a tepid line of .234/.331/.383. That translates to a wRC+ of 88, indicating he’s been 12% below league average.

The Tigers will now have a week to trade Kennedy or pass him through waivers. If the past year is any indication, he should have plenty of interest around the league. Kennedy spent most of his career with the Diamondbacks until he was designated for assignment in September of last year. He then bounced to the Athletics, Cardinals and Tigers via waiver claims in the next few months.

The interest is understandable when looking at Kennedy’s combination of plate discipline and positional versatility. He’s always drawn a fair amount of walks, taking a free pass 16.8% of the time with Arizona’s Triple-A club last year. He slashed .318/.444/.481 for Reno last year, a mark that led to a 133 wRC+ even in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. He’s also spent time at all four infield spots, though just two innings at shortstop, and has appeared in left field as well.

He is in his final option year but could be stashed in the minors for the next few months by any club willing to give him a 40-man roster spot. The offense hasn’t been quite as impressive this year but it’s been a fairly small sample and he’s just a few months removed from being a popular waiver claim target. If he were to clear waivers, he has a previous career outright, which will give him the right to elect free agency rather than accept another outright assignment.

Hiura, 27, signed a minor league deal with the Tigers in the offseason and has been playing regularly for the Mud Hens. He has hit six home runs but also been punched out in 28.1% of his plate appearances. His .232/.312/.401 line translates to an 83 wRC+. That has generally been the formula with Hiura throughout his career. He has 50 major league home runs in 1,057 plate appearances but also has a massive 36% strikeout rate in the big leagues.

With Torkelson now taking over the first base gig for Toledo, Hiura will return to the open market and see what opportunities are out there for him. He hasn’t been in especially good form this year but the power potential is always intriguing.

Tigers To Option Spencer Torkelson To Triple-A

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The Tigers will be sending first baseman Spencer Torkelson down to Triple-A prior to tomorrow’s game with the Rangers, Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press reports.  The move opens up a 26-man roster spot for Justyn-Henry Malloy, whose impending promotion to the big leagues was reported by Petzold earlier today.

Torkelson didn’t play in two of the Tigers’ last three games, and prior to today’s 8-4 win over the Red Sox, Detroit manager A.J. Hinch have a rather non-committal answer when asked if optioning Torkelson to the minors was a possibility.  As it turned out, the speculation was correct, and Torkelson will now head for Triple-A Toledo for the first time since his 2022 season.

In July of that year, Torkelson was hitting only .197/.282/.295 when the Tigers sent him back to the minors for six weeks to try and get on track.  While he didn’t hit much better after being recalled in September, some improvement was evident last season, when Torkelson hit .233/.313/.446 with 31 home runs over 684 plate appearances.  This translated to a respectable 107 wRC+, and given that Torkelson had some of the best hard-hit ball and barrel rates in the league, there was plenty of optimism that he would fully break out in his third MLB season.

Unfortunately for Torkelson and the Tigers, his numbers have sharply swung in the other direction.  Torkelson has only a 71 wRC+ from four homers and a .201/.266/.330 slash line, and his hard-contact metrics and walk rates have all swung well below the league average.  Things have gotten particularly dire over Torkelson’s last 10 games, with just three hits to show from his last 40 trips to the plate.

This deep slump left the Tigers no choice but to see if the first overall pick of the 2020 draft can again find himself with a stint in the minors.  Torkelson’s option comes even with Kerry Carpenter on the 15-day injured list and possibly facing an extended layoff due to a stress fracture in his back, yet given his numbers, the argument can certainly be made that the Tigers’ lineup would be improved rather further hampered if someone besides Torkelson took over at first base.

Torkelson entered the season with one full year and 137 days of MLB service time.  Another full season in the majors would have put Torkelson in very good position to earn Super Two status and an extra year of arbitration eligibility, based on where the Super Two threshold has usually fallen over the last 15 seasons.  While the thresholds have trended a bit lower over the last five years, spending even a month in Toledo could take Torkelson out of the Super Two conversation altogether.

This is undoubtedly a concern for Torkelson and his reps at the Boras Corporation, and Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris surely considered the Super Two implications among the many factors involved in the decision to option Torkelson to Triple-A.  What both parties can agree on, however, is that Torkelson’s future earning potential will will be even more adversely impacted if he can’t consistently hit Major League pitching, so some time in the minors might be necessary at this still-early stage in Torkelson’s career.  It shouldn’t be overlooked at Torkelson is still not even 25 years old, and his baseball development already had the unexpected roadblock of the canceled 2020 minor league season.

Mark Canha, Gio Urshela, or Andy Ibanez could get some time at first base as Detroit will now shuffle its lineup around in search of more overall production.  Malloy figures to play as a corner outfielder or DH, and if Urshela starts playing more often at first base, it opens up more third-base playing time for the hot-hitting Matt Vierling, who is currently in a timeshare at third base and center field.

Tigers Notes: Carpenter, Canha, Harris, Spending

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1:03PM: Canha told reporters (including Petzold) and other reporters that he has a strain of his psoas muscle, but the injury “feels a lot better today” than it did Friday.  Canha won’t play today but intends to be in Sunday’s lineup, and coming out of that game in good health could determine whether or not an IL stint is needed.

9:45AM: Kerry Carpenter was placed on the Tigers’ 10-day injured list earlier this week with what was described as lumbar spine inflammation, but the issue has unfortunately proven to be more serious.  The club announced on Friday that Carpenter “is currently completing rehab for a lumbar spine stress fracture,” with no recovery timeline provided.  Manager A.J. Hinch could have more details during his pregame chat with media later today, but it would appear as though Carpenter will be sidelined for at least a month, and potentially quite longer depending on the severity of the fracture.

It’s tough news for the 26-year-old Carpenter, who has quietly been Detroit’s best hitter since he made his MLB debut during the 2022 season.  After hitting .273/.334/.474 with 26 homers in 572 plate appearances in 2022-23, Carpenter has taken it up another level this year, with a hefty 154 wRC+ from a slash line of .283/.342/.572 and eight home runs in his first 163 PA.

Carpenter’s production has again stood out within a Tigers lineup that has struggled to generate consistent offense.  Matt Vierling and Wenceel Perez have earned more playing time due to their solid numbers, while among the players projected to be regulars going into the season, Riley Greene and Mark Canha are the only other batters besides Carpenter who have hit well.  However, Canha’s status is also a question mark after he was scratched from Friday’s lineup due to soreness in his left hip.

“It’s been bothering me for a week or so,” Canha told reporters, including Chris McCosky of the Detroit News.  “It was getting worse and worse and today was the pinnacle.  It got to a point where I had to shut it down.”

For now, Canha is day to day, though he has undergone testing to see if a more serious problem is causing the hip discomfort.  Acquired in a trade with the Brewers last November, Canha has delivered a 120 wRC+ (.247/.358/.401 with six home runs) in his first 215 PA in a Tigers uniform, bouncing around between the DH spot, both corner outfield positions, and some occasional work at first base.  Canha’s numbers have generally been down in May, though one of his best hitting stretches of the season has actually come over the last week of play, when he was hampered by his hip injury.

Needless to say, the Tigers would be hard-pressed to lose both Carpenter and Canha for any notable length of time.  Removing both hitters would put more pressure on Greene, Vierling, and Perez to stay hot, and increase the pressure on Detroit’s many struggling hitters to get on track.  Colt Keith and the Jake Rogers/Carson Kelly catching tandem have started to pick it up after dismal starts to the season, but quite a bit more will be required to dig the Tigers out of their early hole in the AL Central race.  A trendy dark horse pick to win the division heading into the season, the Tigers sit in fourth place with a 28-29 record, 10 games behind the first-place Guardians.

While Detroit still has four months of regular season to cut into that deficit, it is fair to wonder if the clock is really closer to two months, as in the July 30 trade deadline.  The Tigers could conceivably be deadline sellers if they remain around .500 and the Guardians (or the surprising Royals, or the reigning division champion Twins) have all continued to pull away from the pack.  Even if the Tigers do get back into the race, it isn’t clear just how aggressive they might be in making potential additions at the deadline, given that president of baseball operations Scott Harris again reiterated earlier this week that the organization isn’t yet planning any significant payroll boost.

“We’re not quite there yet as far as spending at that level because we need to build the foundation of this team to put us in a position to supplement it with free agent signings in the upcoming winters,” Harris said in an MLB Network interview with Brian Kenny (hat tip to Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press).  “I have confidence that the resources will be there. The Ilitch family has always supported the Tigers, and they are ready and eager to do it….We just have to develop the core that we’re going to spend around, and we also have to target the players in upcoming winters that can really help us.”

The Tigers’ payroll has naturally dropped as the club has undergone a lengthy rebuilding period, and Detroit hasn’t enjoyed a winning season since going 86-75 in 2016.  The splashy signings of Javier Baez and Eduardo Rodriguez during the 2021-22 offseason seemed to indicate that the rebuild was over, yet multiple pitching injuries and a near team-wide offensive slump resulted in a 96-loss season.  Former GM Al Avila was fired in August 2022, leading to Harris’ hiring a month later as the person tasked with finally getting the Motor City back into contention.

The end of Miguel Cabrera’s contract removed the Tigers’ biggest financial commitment from the books last winter, plus Rodriguez departed to sign with the Diamondbacks (for four years and $80MM) after opting out of the last three years and $49MM on his Tigers contract.  Still, the team didn’t reinvest those savings back into the roster, as the Tigers opened the season with a payroll of roughly $97.6MM, and only made modest spends this past winter on Canha and free agents Kenta Maeda and Jack Flaherty.

Baez’s struggles have only worsened over his three seasons in Detroit, and the heretofore disastrous nature of that contract acts as a cautionary tale for those critical of Harris’ measured approach to spending.  That said, Petzold notes that Tarik Skubal’s remaining years of arbitration control (through the 2026 season) might serve as a window for the Tigers to make a push to contend, since Skubal has emerged as one of the best pitchers in baseball this season.  Other promising young starters as well as Greene, Carpenter, and Keith might already form a good enough core to contend, and if Harris and ownership hold off on bigger spending until even more prospects arrive and get established, the timeline might extend past Skubal’s time with the team.  Of course, locking up Skubal to a big extension would be a way for the Tigers to both increase payroll and secure a core player in a single move.

Tigers Place Kerry Carpenter On Injured List, Call Up Keider Montero For MLB Debut

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The Tigers have placed outfielder Kerry Carpenter on the 10-day injured list due to a lower back injury and recalled right-hander Keider Montero as the 27th man for today’s doubleheader against the Pirates, per a team announcement. (Montero’s promotion was first reported on X by Tigers Torkmoil.) Outfielder Akil Baddoo was recalled from Triple-A Toledo to take Carpenter’s spot on the roster. Montero will start Game 2 of today’s twin bill.

Carpenter tells the Tigers beat that he began experiencing back discomfort over the weekend and hasn’t seen improvement yet (X link via Jason Beck of MLB.com). The team is terming his injury “lumbar spine inflammation.” He last played in a game on May 26, so the IL placement is backdated to May 27. If it proves to be a minor issue, he’ll be eligible for a return eight days from now, though the Tigers haven’t given any indication as to how long he might miss.

Subtracting the 26-year-old Carpenter from the Detroit lineup is a significant blow. He’s not as well known as more hyped prospects like outfield-mate Riley Greene, but Carpenter has burst onto the big league scene and cemented himself as a middle-of-the-order presence. Dating back to his 2022 debut, Carpenter has turned in a stout .275/.336/.495 batting line — including a huge .283/.345/.572 slash and eight homers in 163 plate appearances this season. He’s generally struggled against left-handed opponents but has tormented righties with a career .288/.345/.535 output.

With Carpenter sidelined, the Tigers will give more playing time to lefty-swinging Zach McKinstry and to Baddoo against right-handed opponents. Neither should be expected to replicate Carpenter’s production, but Baddoo was hitting a strong .260/.368/.486 in Toledo (119 wRC+) and is a career .237/.322/.406 hitter against righties in the big leagues.

As for the 23-year-old Montero, this will be his first major league call. He signed with Detroit out of Venezuela in 2016 and was added to the 40-man roster last offseason to prevent him from reaching minor league free agency. Montero spent a half decade in the low minors before breaking into the upper levels last season, climbing from High-A to Triple-A by year’s end.

Monerto took the ball 27 times and logged 127 1/3 innings. A pedestrian 4.66 ERA belied a more impressive 29.1% strikeout rate. The Tigers were concerned enough about losing him in the Rule 5 draft to put him on the 40-man roster. Baseball America ranked him as the organization’s #13 prospect over the winter, crediting him with good control and an arsenal headlined by a mid-90s fastball.

Montero has spent the season on optional assignment to Triple-A Toledo. Over nine starts, he has a 4.40 ERA. The 6’1″ righty has fanned almost 27% of batters faced while issuing walks at an uncharacteristically high 12.7% clip. Montero last pitched on May 21 and was slated to take the ball for Toledo on Tuesday. The Tigers scratched him from the scheduled appearance after their game was postponed, when they needed to add another arm for the doubleheader.

In all likelihood, they’ll return Montero to Triple-A after his debut. They’re set in the rotation at the moment with Tarik Skubal, Jack Flaherty, Reese Olson, Kenta Maeda and Casey Mize. Righty Matt Manning has been the team’s sixth starter and still figures to be above Montero on the depth chart. It’s nevertheless a momentous occasion for Montero, whose spot on the 40-man could get him a few looks over the course of the season if injuries or the schedule force Detroit to lean on their depth.

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