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Reds, Albert Abreu Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Reds have agreed to a minor league contract with free agent righty Albert Abreu, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. The Vayner Sports client will be in major league camp as a non-roster invitee this spring.

Abreu, 29, has pitched in parts of four big league seasons, mostly with the Yankees, but spent the 2024 campaign with the Seibu Lions of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. He logged 49 innings out of the Lions’ bullpen and pitched to a strong 2.39 earned run average, albeit with poor rate stats. Abreu fanned only 16.3% of the hitters he faced and issued walks at a 9.9% clip. He’s had a similar run with los Tigres de Licey in the Dominican Winter League this offseason, tossing 22 2/3 frames with a 3.18 ERA, 15% strikeout rate and 9% walk rate.

Abreu originally debuted with the 2020 Yankees but was torched for four runs (three earned) in just 1 1/3 innings across two appearances. He fared better in larger samples across the next three seasons — including brief stints with the Royals and Rangers — but mirrored the same shaky K-BB profile he’s displayed in Japan and in winter ball over the past year. In 135 2/3 career innings, Abreu carries a 4.58 ERA, 22.4% strikeout rate and 12.9% walk rate. He’s kept the ball on the ground at a nice 47.4% rate and averaged a whopping 97.8 mph on his sinker, but home runs have also been an issue (1.53 HR/9).

The Reds beefed up their bullpen yesterday with a trade for San Francisco’s Taylor Rogers, though they’ve also subtracted righty Fernando Cruz this offseason (in a trade netting them backup catcher Jose Trevino). Rogers joins Alexis Diaz, Sam Moll, Emilio Pagan, Brent Suter and out-of-options Tony Santillan as virtual locks for the bullpen — health permitting. Former starters Graham Ashcraft and Carson Spiers are in the mix for spots but could also be optioned to Triple-A to either remain stretched out in the Louisville rotation or continue working on a transition to shorter stints. Righties Casey Legumina and Yosver Zulueta are also on the 40-man roster and could factor into the relief corps with a strong spring showing.

Abreu, Bryan Shaw, Alex Young and Ian Gibaut are among the experienced arms who’ll be non-roster invitees this spring and look to grab one of those final spots in new manager Terry Francona’s bullpen.

The Opener: Santana, Reds, Relief Market

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With pitchers and catchers set to start reporting in less than two weeks, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:

1. Santana, Pirates await hearing results:

Right-hander Dennis Santana and the Pirates went to an arbitration hearing yesterday, according to a report from the Associated Press. Santana struggled early in the season for the Yankees with a 6.26 ERA in 27 1/3 innings despite a solid 3.93 FIP, but upon be plucked off waivers by Pittsburgh he turned his season around and delivered a 2.44 ERA with an identical FIP while striking out 50 batters in his final 44 1/3 innings of work. The righty filed at $2.1MM while the Pirates countered at $1.4MM, leaving a fairly substantial $700K gap between the sides. The hearing occurred against the backdrop of fellow Pirates righty Johan Oviedo losing to the club in his own hearing; Oviedo will be paid $850K rather than $1.15MM as a result. Players won the majority of cases in 2024 but historically teams have typically come out ahead in arbitration hearings.

2. Reds staying active:

This offseason initially appeared likely to be a very quiet one for the Reds, as right-hander Nick Martinez wound up accepting the club’s qualifying offer and that $21.05MM commitment single-handedly took Cincinnati’s payroll for this back to 2024 levels. They’ve managed to stay busy in spite of that, however. Trades for Gavin Lux and Jose Trevino helped bolster the club’s depth. Most recently the Reds have signed outfielder Austin Hays and lefty starter Wade Miley (on a minor league deal) while swinging a trade with the Giants for southpaw Taylor Rogers to bolster the bullpen.

It’s a solid collection of complementary additions, though RosterResource projects the club for a $116MM payroll in 2025 that might represent the upper limits of their payroll capacity for this year. President of baseball operations Nick Krall indicated earlier this month that the club’s new TV deal for 2025 would allow them to be more active in upgrading the club for the remainder of the winter, but it’s not clear exactly how much more budget space the front office has to work with at this point after $11MM to the payroll in the past week by picking up Hays and Rogers.

3. Relief market movement continues:

Rogers was far from the only notable bullpen arm to change teams yesterday. Free agent right-handers Ryne Stanek, Tommy Kahnle, and Carlos Estevez agreed to deals with the Mets, Tigers, and Royals, respectively. Stanek joins Edwin Diaz, A.J. Minter, and Jose Butto in the Mets bullpen, while both Kahnle and Estevez appear to be strong bets for high-leverage roles with their new teams. Estevez, in particular, seems to be all but certain to lock down the ninth inning in Kansas City with Lucas Erceg likely to shift back into the setup role he held with the A’s ahead of star closer Mason Miller. Even after yesterday’s moves, plenty of notable names remain available such as David Robertson, Kenley Jansen, and Kyle Finnegan. Who will be the next to sign?

MLB Mailbag: Bregman, Red Sox, Kelenic, Tigers, Marlins

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This week's mailbag gets into Alex Bregman's possible landing spots, Boston's failure to add a right-handed bat, potential contracts for Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Kyle Tucker, Jarred Kelenic's trade value, the Tigers' relatively quiet offseason, the Marlins' rebuild, and much more.

Mark asks:

Logically, which team makes the most sense to sign Alex Bregman? I see awkward fits in HOU and BOS. And while TOR has a logical fit roster-wise, DET just makes the most sense to me. A need for veteran leadership on a young team, need for a 3B, and room on their payroll. I'm not a DET fan, but an STL fan who wants to find a team for Nolan Arenado, which I doubt happens until Bregman signs! Thanks.

Troy asks:

Big Astros fan here, what is your feeling about where Bregman goes? I'd love to have him back with the team but to me it may not be a good fit anymore with the other moves that have already been made, plus with a win now team such as this I'd rather them take the money they saved trading Pressly and get a true outfielder.

On Tuesday, Astros GM Dana Brown said, "I would mostly say it’s all internal conversations as to what we would like to do in terms of Bregman."  Asked a few days earlier whether the door is shut, Brown hesitated and replied, "I would say it's cracked."  At another point he said it's a "long shot."

On Monday, Chandler Rome and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic wrote that Bregman "maintains interest from five teams and is no closer to a decision now than before Pressly’s departure."  They added, "All winter, sources have indicated Astros owner Jim Crane is unwilling to pay the tax for a second consecutive season."  Estimates have the Astros' CBT payroll at $4.86MM shy of the first tax threshold, or $4.68MM short.

Crucially, the Athletic reporters said the Astros' six-year, $156MM offer to Bregman "remains on the table."  If that's true, then Crane absolutely is willing to go over the tax threshold again, since Bregman could theoretically just accept their offer right now.

It seems fair to guess that the Astros will not be increasing their offer much if at all.  In our early November contract predictions, we gave Bregman the Kris Bryant contract: seven years, $182MM.  Bryant, however, was about nine months younger than Bregman will be on Opening Day this year.  Plus, Bryant had to join a poorly-run, typically non-competitive team to get his maximum contract.

I don't see why Scott Boras wouldn't just accept the Astros' offer.  It's true: if he finds Bregman a bigger offer elsewhere, he wins.  I'm not sure Bregman would be happier; I don't know what's going on in his head.  But accepting $156MM to stay in Houston would hardly be a disappointment, and it'd still be more money than Matt Chapman received on his recent extension.

Dana Brown might have a great poker face, but I saw nothing to indicate he's bluffing and a deal is right around the corner.  On the other hand, if that Astros' offer is indeed on the table, one word from Bregman and the deal could be done.

It's true, the fit is mildly awkward now that the Astros have Christian Walker and Isaac Paredes.  But as MLBTR's Steve Adams has said, it's really not crazy to take one of the game's worst defensive second basemen in Altuve and stick him in left field to make the pieces fit.  Plus, it wouldn't be surprising to see Yordan Alvarez miss a month or age start to catch up with Walker (34 in March) or Altuve (35 in May).  The odds that one of these guys gets hurt are pretty strong.

So I do still like the Astros as the best fit for Bregman, but let's look at the other suitors.

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Where Can The Guardians Find A Center Fielder?

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The Guardians have made four free agent acquisitions this offseason. They retained Austin Hedges as their backup catcher. Shane Bieber re-signed to finish his Tommy John rehab and return to the rotation midseason. Cleveland brought back Carlos Santana to play first base -- a move made in tandem with the trade sending Josh Naylor to Arizona. Last week, they added Paul Sewald to an already excellent bullpen. Cleveland also brought in Luis Ortiz and Slade Cecconi via trade to deepen the rotation.

They've yet to address the outfield. Steven Kwan is one of the game's top left fielders. The other two positions are far less settled. Cleveland tendered Lane Thomas a contract for his final year of arbitration. Barring a late trade, he'll be back to play regularly somewhere. For now, that looks like center field by default.

The Guardians started nine different players in center field last year. Three of them -- Ramón Laureano, Myles Straw and Estevan Florial -- are no longer in the organization. Six others, including Thomas, remain on the 40-man roster. Yet none of them should be playing center field regularly for a team trying to defend its AL Central title. Top prospect Chase DeLauter is the hopeful long-term answer, but he has only played 42 games above High-A. It's tough to bank on him breaking camp.

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Tigers Still Exploring Position Player, Bullpen Markets

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The Tigers finalized a one-year deal to add Tommy Kahnle to the back of their bullpen this afternoon. President of baseball operations Scott Harris spoke with reporters shortly after that signing was announced.

Asked about next steps, Harris pointed to both the position player group and the relief corps as continued target areas. “We’re going to find ways to get better. Bullpen and our lineup are two areas that we are going to look to upgrade if we can, but we also like our depth on both sides of the ball,” Harris said.

The Kahnle deal brings Detroit’s projected player payroll to roughly $118MM, as calculated by RosterResource. They’re up to roughly $140MM in competitive balance tax obligations. That’s around $14MM above their year-end payroll in 2024. Detroit ran payrolls above $120MM in both 2022 and ’23, however, so it’s not out of the question that ownership is willing to push spending a bit further.

Harris spoke generally of using any methods of acquisition (i.e. trades, free agency, waivers) to build the depth, so his comments aren’t necessarily an indication of anything major. The Tigers, of course, have long been viewed as one of the top suitors if Alex Bregman does not return to the Astros. As of last week, talks between the sides were reportedly at a standstill. If Detroit does not land Bregman, they’d likely turn to rookie Jace Jung at the hot corner.

Detroit has already made one notable infield move with the Gleyber Torres signing. That pushed Colt Keith to first base and increased speculation that they could market former first overall pick Spencer Torkelson, whose path to regular playing time is limited. Detroit is likely to turn to second-year player Trey Sweeney at shortstop, forming one of the game’s least experienced left side infield duos if they roll with Jung at third.

Kahnle is one of at least five pitchers who are locked into A.J. Hinch’s season-opening bullpen. Jason Foley, Beau Brieske, Tyler Holton and Will Vest join him as high-leverage options. Kenta Maeda could be in a long relief role in the second season of what looked like a disappointing free agent contract in year one. Brant Hurter and Sean Guenther made strong impressions in long relief last season, though they each have minor league options remaining. That’s also true of former closer Alex Lange, who is still on the 40-man roster and working back from lat surgery that ended his season in June.

Reds Re-Sign Ian Gibaut To Minor League Deal

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The Reds brought back reliever Ian Gibaut on a minor league contract, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. The Wasserman client will be in major league camp as a non-roster invitee.

Gibaut, 31, has been with Cincinnati for the past two-plus seasons. The Reds claimed him off waivers from the Dodgers halfway through the 2022 campaign. The righty turned in a 4.67 earned run average across 33 appearances for the rest of the season. Cincinnati kept him on the roster and were rewarded with a career-best showing in ’23. Gibaut worked to a 3.33 ERA over a personal-high 75 2/3 frames that year.

His follow-up was ruined by injury. Gibaut battled a nerve issue in his forearm and required surgery in May. The Reds activated him from the 60-day injured list in the final week of the season. Gibaut pitched twice, tossing two innings of one-run ball with a strikeout. Cincinnati decided not to carry him on the 40-man roster throughout the offseason after an injury-wrecked year. They non-tendered him in lieu of an $800K arbitration projection.

Gibaut will get an opportunity to reestablish himself in camp. His velocity was down slightly in his limited MLB work last year. He averaged 93.6 MPH on his fastball after sitting above 95 during the prior season. That’s not surprising coming off an extended layoff related to forearm trouble. If the offseason allows Gibaut to regain some of that life, he could vie for a spot in the middle innings.

The Reds have six relievers who are essentially locks for Opening Day jobs if healthy. Alexis Díaz, Brent Suter, Sam Moll, Tony Santillan, Emilio Pagán and trade pickup Taylor Rogers will all be in Terry Francona’s bullpen. Nick Martinez could be in the rotation or back in a multi-inning relief capacity. Gibaut joins Bryan Shaw and Alex Young as non-roster invitees who have MLB experience. None of those players can be optioned, so if the Reds select any of them onto their 40-man roster, they’d need to stick in the majors or be designated for assignment.

Max Scherzer Hosts Workout For Several Teams

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It’s been a relatively quiet offseason with regard to chatter on future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer. The three-time Cy Young winner was limited to nine starts of 3.95 ERA ball for the Rangers in 2024. He missed time early in the year while recovering from offseason back surgery and was also sidelined by a nerve issue in his hand, shoulder fatigue and a strained hamstring. It’s a length list of issues, particularly for a pitcher who turned 40 last summer.

Still, Scherzer has been preparing to pitch in 2025 and recently held a workout for scouts, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports. SI.com’s Pat Ragazzo reported recently that the Blue Jays, Dodgers, Yankees, Mets, Phillies, Braves, Red Sox and Cubs were among those who were represented at the showcase. (That’s not necessarily an exhaustive list of teams.)

The Blue Jays have been the team most prominently linked to Scherzer thus far in the offseason, and Feinsand indeed suggests that Toronto has been the most serious suitor for Scherzer. Ragazzo adds that the Mets have “some level of interest” in bringing Scherzer back on a one-year deal. Time will tell whether the right-hander’s recent showcase for scouts drums up any new bidders, but Feinsand quotes one showcase attendee who suggested that Scherzer looked good — not up to his prior Cy Young standards but still “good enough to be an effective starter.”

At least in the 43 1/3 innings Scherzer managed amid all those maladies in 2024, that looked to be the case. In addition to his previously mentioned 3.95 ERA, the right-hander fanned 22.6% of opponents (roughly average) with a terrific 5.6% walk rate. His once-95-mph fastball sat at a career-low average of 92.5 mph in 2024, however, and he dealt with home run troubles for a second straight year (1.65 HR/9 in 2023, 1.45 in 2024). The righty’s swinging-strike rate (14.6%) remained excellent, but most of those whiffs came off the plate. Scherzer’s opponents made contact on 83.1% of swings within the strike zone — his highest level since 2011.

For the Jays, Scherzer wouldn’t need to reprise his status as an ace, however. Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt and Jose Berrios have the top three spots in the rotation. Bowden Francis and Yariel Rodriguez follow, but Francis has minor league options remaining and Rodriguez could move back into the bullpen. Toronto’s pitching depth, in general, is somewhat shaky with Alek Manoah on the mend from elbow surgery and top prospect Ricky Tiedemann missing most of the 2024 season due to injury. Rotation candidates beyond the top five include prospects Jake Bloss and Adam Macko as well as non-roster invitees Adam Kloffenstein and Eric Lauer.

The Mets have a more crowded staff, but president of baseball operations David Stearns is known for hoarding depth. Kodai Senga, Sean Manaea, Frankie Montas, David Peterson, Paul Blackburn and reliever-turned-starter Clay Holmes make up the starting staff right now. Swingmen Griffin Canning and Tylor Megill could get looks, too, as could top prospect Brandon Sproat. Fitting Scherzer into the puzzle is a bit of a challenge, particularly given the 110% luxury task the Mets are facing.

Reds Designate Owen White For Assignment

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The Reds announced that they have designated right-hander Owen White for assignment. That opens a roster spot for left-hander Taylor Rogers, who has now been officially acquired from the Giants.

White, 25, has never suited up for the Reds. He was drafted by the Rangers and spent his entire career in that organization until they designated him for assignment last month. The Reds acquired him in early January, sending cash considerations to Texas, but have now quickly bumped him off the roster. He will be in DFA limbo for a week at most, during which time the Reds will see if they can trade him or pass him through waivers. The waiver process takes 48 hours so any trade talks would need to come together in the next five days.

It’s certainly possible other clubs are interested, just as the Reds were, hoping for a bounceback. White’s recent results haven’t been great but he is not too far removed from being one of the top pitching prospects in the game.

The Rangers took him with a second-round pick in 2018, though Tommy John surgery and the pandemic pushed his professional debut to 2021. Once able to take the hill in the minors, he put up good numbers. Over the 2021 and 2022 seasons, he threw 115 2/3 innings, allowing 3.42 earned runs per nine. His 34.1% strikeout rate was huge, while his 7.5% walk rate was also a strong mark.

He was a consensus top 100 prospect going into 2023 but his stock has been sliding since then. He pitched seven big league innings for the Rangers over the past two years, but allowed 13 earned runs, giving him a nauseating 16.71 ERA at the moment. That’s obviously a tiny sample size but his minor league work has also been unimpressive. In 151 1/3 Triple-A innings over the past two years, he has a 5.41 ERA. That was in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League but his 17.4% strikeout rate and 11.7% walk rate were also rough numbers, suggesting it wasn’t just the environment.

For what it’s worth, the Rangers tried a bullpen move partway through 2024, with some mixed results. In 18 innings over his final 13 appearances of the year, he struck out 25.6% of batters faced. His 5.50 ERA and 12.8% walk rate in that time weren’t good numbers but the uptick in punchouts was maybe something.

White still has one option year remaining, so an acquiring club could perhaps use the 2025 to experiment without having to put him in the big leagues. It’s possible there are some clubs who would like to put him back in a starting role to chase his previous upside or others who would see an intriguing path forward in the bullpen. If he passes through waivers unclaimed, he’ll stick with the Reds as non-roster depth. He’ll know in the next week whether that’s his fate or if he’s destined to join a new club yet again.

Reds Acquire Taylor Rogers

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The Reds have acquired left-hander Taylor Rogers and cash considerations from the Giants, per announcements from both clubs. Minor league right-hander Braxton Roxby heads the other way. The cash going to Cincinnati is reportedly $6MM, half of Rogers’ salary this year. The Reds designated right-hander Owen White for assignment to open a 40-man spot.

Rogers, 34, has been one of the better lefty relievers in the league for quite a while now. Dating back to 2016, he has thrown 490 2/3 innings, allowing 3.34 earned runs per nine. He has struck out 28.2% of batters faced, limited walks to a 7% clip and also kept balls in play on the ground at a 46.3% rate.

He has occasionally been deployed as a closer, with a couple of seasons with 30-plus saves, but has mostly been a really good setup guy. He has 98 holds in his career. From 2016 through 2024, only ten pitchers racked up more holds. Héctor Neris is the only guy with both more saves and more holds than Rogers in that span.

The southpaw has spent the past two years with the Giants. He signed a three-year, $33MM deal with that club going into 2023. That was broken up into a $9MM salary in 2023, followed by $12MM in the final two seasons. That signing allowed him to play on the same team as his brother, righty Tyler Rogers.

As a Giant, the left-handed Rogers continued to post good numbers overall. He had a 3.83 ERA in 2023 and dropped that to 2.40 last year. It’s possible that the club saw some yellow flags under the hood last year, however. He averaged 93 miles per hour on his sinker, a career low and the third straight season in which that number dropped. He was at 95.7 mph in 2021 but then went to 94.3 and 93.6 in the next two years. His strikeout rate has also been falling in step, going from 35.7% to 30.7, 29.6 and 25.7% over the past four seasons.

He did still manage a shiny ERA in 2024 but there may have been some luck there. His 81.8% strand rate was well above the 72.1% league average, perhaps why his 3.75 FIP and 3.47 SIERA were both more than a run higher than his ERA. The Giants placed him on waivers in August last year, meaning any club could have just grabbed him if they were willing to take on the remainder of his contract, but no club did.

Those adjusted numbers are still decent, so it’s a sensible pickup for the Reds. Their relievers had a collective 4.09 ERA last year, placing them 18th out of the 30 clubs in the majors. They lost Buck Farmer and Justin Wilson to free agency. They traded Fernando Cruz to the Yankees for catcher Jose Trevino.

Adding to that bullpen has clearly been part of their plans. They have been connected to reliever Carlos Estévez multiple times this offseason but it’s been unclear how much spending capacity they have.

A couple of weeks ago, they signed a new TV deal with Main Street Sports, which prompted president of baseball operations Nick Krall to say that the club could perhaps direct some extra funding into building the roster. In recent days, they have agreed to sign Austin Hays to a $5MM deal and acquire Rogers as well as $6MM of his $12MM salary. They also agreed to a minor league deal with Wade Miley, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery but would make a $2.5MM base salary if he eventually makes the club.

Bringing in Rogers will hopefully upgrade the bullpen and give them a third lefty alongside Brent Suter and Sam Moll. Whether they still have funds available to go after Estévez or any other free agent remains to be seen. RosterResource estimates the club’s payroll at $110MM, about $10MM above last year. As of this writing, that doesn’t include Rogers, so adding in $6MM for him should push them up to a $16MM difference.

For the Giants, they have essentially cut the left-handed portion of their bullpen in half. Rogers and Erik Miller were the only southpaw relievers to toss more than an inning for the club last year, so they are now down to just Miller.

As mentioned, Rogers has been declining in terms of velocity and strikeouts, so perhaps the Giants expected those trends to continue and just wanted to get out now. In the process, they have saved $6MM, which could be redirected towards another part of the roster. RosterResource calculates their competitive balance tax number at $211MM, $30MM below the base threshold of $241MM. They paid the tax last year but it’s unclear if they plan to do so again in 2025. They have been connected to notable free agents such as Pete Alonso and Jack Flaherty this winter, so perhaps the savings could help them land one of those guys or some other free agent of note.

Of course, they are also adding some young talent in the form of Roxby. 26 in March, Roxby was signed by the Reds as an undrafted free agent in 2020. Due to the pandemic, that year featured a truncated draft of just five rounds.

Exclusively a reliever in his career thus far, Roxby has thrown 169 2/3 innings across multiple levels over the past four years with a 4.30 ERA. His 10.4% walk rate is a bit high but his 30.6% strikeout rate quite strong. Back in April, Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs ranked him as the #38 prospect in the Cincinnati system, noting that he’s a sidearming righty with two breaking balls. Geoff Pontes and J.J. Cooper of Baseball America highlighted Roxby ahead of the 2023 Rule 5 draft but he didn’t get selected that year nor in 2024.

Robert Murray of FanSided first reported the Rogers-Roxby swap. Mark Sheldon of MLB.com first reported the $6MM heading to the Reds.

Tigers Designate Alex Faedo For Assignment

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The Tigers have designated right-hander Alex Faedo for assignment, per Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to newly signed reliever Tommy Kahnle, whose one-year deal has been made official.

Faedo, 29, was the 18th overall pick back in 2017. The former Florida Gators standout has pitched in each of the past three seasons with Detroit but has yet to solidify himself in either the rotation or the bullpen. He’s coming off a decent showing spent mostly in relief, wherein he pitched 57 1/3 innings with a 3.61 ERA but shakier rate stats. Faedo punched out a roughly average 22.4% of opponents but issued walks at a rough 11.4% clip. He was also tagged for 1.41 homers per nine frames and benefited both from a .265 average on balls in play and especially a sky-high 83.1% strand rate, neither of which is likely to be repeated over a larger sample.

That said, there were some positives. The 94 mph Faedo averaged on his four-seamer was a career-best, and his 14.4% swinging-strike rate was excellent. He’s also upped his grounder rate in each of his big league seasons, though it still sits about three percentage points shy of league-average. Faedo did a fine job avoiding hard contact in 2024, and his slider generated excellent results; in the 82 plate appearances he finished off with that pitch, opponents posted an awful .171/.280/.314 batting line, and Statcast credited the offering with a paltry .269 expected wOBA (a nice followup to 2023’s .255 xwOBA).

Faedo is out of minor league options heading into the 2025 season. That put him at a disadvantage relative to other arms on the fringes of a Tigers roster that has turned over from rebuilder to win-now club, thanks in no small part to a magical playoff run spurred by their torrid hot streak down the stretch in 2024.

Faedo was no longer in the rotation mix, and the addition of Kahnle alongside Beau Brieske, Jason Foley, Will Vest and Tyler Holton in the late-inning mix leaves three other spots. One will likely be filled by Kenta Maeda, who’s still signed for $10MM this season. That leaves only two spots to divide up between Brant Hurter, Sean Guenther, Brenan Hanifee, Alex Lange, Mason Englert, Keider Montero and others.

If Faedo goes unclaimed on waivers, he can be sent outright to Triple-A and still compete for one of those final two spots. But as a former first-round pick with a sharp slider and encouraging swing-and-miss abilities, it wouldn’t at all be a surprise to see him land with another team. The Tigers have five days to trade him. At that point he’d need to be placed on waivers (a 48-hour process in their own right) to ensure an outcome within the one-week window for his DFA resolution.

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