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Edwin Rios

Reds Re-Sign Edwin Rios To Minor League Deal

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The Reds brought back infielder Edwin Ríos on a minor league contract. He was assigned to Triple-A Louisville, where he’s in tonight’s starting lineup. Ríos had elected free agency on Monday after being designated for assignment.

He’ll again provide a non-roster bat from the left side. Ríos inked a minor league deal over the winter and has spent the bulk of the year in Louisville. He owns a .243/.340/.486 batting line with 11 homers and a robust 11.8% walk rate over 50 contests for the Bats, but he also struck nearly 29% of the time. The Reds gave him a brief look while Jake Fraley was unavailable. Ríos appeared in five games and went 1-9 with a walk.

A career .202/.290/.455 hitter over parts of six MLB seasons, Ríos is mostly limited to the corner infield. He has big power — 21 homers in 335 MLB plate appearances — that comes with an alarming whiff rate. The 30-year-old has fanned in more than a third of his trips to the plate at the major league level.

Edwin Ríos Elects Free Agency

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Infielder Edwin Ríos recently elected free agency, per his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He had been designated for assignment by the Reds last week and was sent outright to Triple-A Louisville after clearing waivers, but he instead exercised his right to return to the open market.

Ríos, 30, started the year on a minor league deal with the Reds and had a nice run at Triple-A. He got into 50 games for the Bats and hit 11 home runs while drawing walks at an 11.8% clip. He also struck out in 28.6% of his plate appearances but his .243/.340/.486 batting line still translated to a solid wRC+ of 108.

He was called up by Cincinnati a few weeks ago but didn’t get much playing time, which has been a theme of his career. The Reds gave him just ten plate appearances in five games during his two weeks on the roster. The Reds acquired Austin Slater from the Giants and also welcomed players like Stuart Fairchild and Jake Fraley back from absences and Ríos got squeezed off.

Players with at least three years of service time or a previous career outright have the ability to elect free agency rather than accept another outright assignment. Ríos qualifies on both of those counts and now used that right to look for a new gig on the open market.

Ríos has always hit well in the minors and also had a nice start to his major league career with the Dodgers. In 2019 and 2020, he slashed .260/.338/.634 in the big leagues with Los Angeles but was limited to 139 plate appearances on a fairly crowded roster. In 2021, he was limited to just 60 trips to the plate and struggled to a line of .078/.217/.137 but then bounced back in 2022. Though he still only got 92 plate appearances, he hit seven home runs and slashed .244/.293/.500 in those.

By the end of 2022, he had 20 homers in just 291 trips to the plate and a .219/.299/.492 batting line that translated to a 112 wRC+. But he qualified for arbitration by crossing the three-year service mark and the Dodgers decided not to tender him a contract. He signed with the Cubs and continued hitting well in the minors but slashed just .071/.235/.214 in the small sample of 34 plate appearances he got at the major league level. He exhausted his final option season last year and was outrighted off the roster in the middle of the campaign.

Since the start of 2018, Ríos has hit .272/.347/.511 and a produced a 110 wRC+ in almost 1400 Triple-A plate appearances. Despite that consistently strong work and his encouraging showing with the Dodgers in the majors a few years ago, he still hasn’t cracked 100 plate appearances in any individual MLB season. Defensively, he provides a bit of versatility since he has lined up at the four corner spots at the major league level.

29 clubs passed on the chance to grab Ríos from the Reds, so he’s likely looking at a minor league deal in the coming days or weeks. With the trade deadline coming up on July 30, it’s possible that some new opportunities might open up for him. If he finds a role anywhere, he is out of options but has less than four years of service time and could theoretically be retained via arbitration beyond this season.

Reds Designate Edwin Ríos For Assignment

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The Reds announced today that outfielder Stuart Fairchild has been activated from the 10-day injured list with infielder Edwin Ríos designated for assignment as the corresponding move. The club’s 40-man roster count drops to 39.

Ríos, 30, was just added to the roster a couple of weeks ago. He received 10 plate appearances in five games but recorded just one walk and one hit, a single, while striking out four times. That’s a fairly meaningless sample size but he may have been squeezed out by forces beyond his control. In addition to Fairchild’s return from the IL, Jake Fraley has returned from a stint on the family medical emergency list and the club acquired Austin Slater from the Giants. On top of that, Rece Hinds has slashed an absurd .423/.464/1.192 in his first seven major league games.

The Reds gave Ríos a couple of starts at first base and a few pinch-hitting opportunities but it would have been hard to get into the lineup with those developments in the outfield. Spencer Steer had been playing some left field but might now be pushed to spending more time at first base, splitting that spot and designated hitter with Jeimer Candelario as the outfield is manned by Fraley, Fairchild, Slater, Hinds and Will Benson. Candelario can also play third but the club has Noelvi Marté getting regular run there.

Since Ríos is out of options, the Reds had to cut him from the 40-man roster entirely to squeeze him off the active roster. Prior to getting called up, Ríos got into 50 Triple-A games with some success. He hit 11 home runs and was drawing walks at an 11.8% clip, though he was also striking out 11.8% of the time. His .243/.340/.486 batting line translated to a 108 wRC+.

The Reds will have a week to trade Ríos or pass him through waivers. Since the waiver process takes 48 hours, that leaves five days for them to explore any trade interest. Players with more than three years of service time or a previous career outright have the right to reject outright assignments in favor of free agency, with Ríos qualifying on both counts.

Prior to this stint with the Reds, he had played with the Dodgers and Cubs. This is his sixth straight season getting MLB time but he’s never been able to stick around for more than 32 games in any individual year. Overall, he has 335 plate appearances over 135 games with 21 home runs and a batting line of .202/.290/.455 for a wRC+ of 100.

Reds Select Austin Wynns, Edwin Ríos

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The Reds announced that catcher Luke Maile has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a herniated disc in his back. Outfielder Jake Fraley was placed on the family medical emergency list. To take those two roster spots, the club has selected catcher Austin Wynns and infielder Edwin Ríos. They had one open 40-man spot but opened another by designating infielder/outfielder Levi Jordan for assignment.

Maile, 33, was visibly injured in yesterday’s game. In video provided by Bally Sports Cincinnati on X, he can be seen limping and clutching at his back while running towards first base. It’s unclear how serious the issue is but the Reds have decided to let him sit out for the next ten days at least.

The injury will get Wynns selected to the roster for the third time in the past two weeks. He was first added when Tyler Stephenson was hurt with a day-to-day issue, but removed once Stephenson felt better. Then Stephenson needed to go on the paternity list, getting Wynns a second stint. When Stephenson came back, Wynns was bumped off again and now returns once more.

Every time he’s been nudged off the roster, Wynns has cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment. As a player with more than three years of service time but less than five, he has the right to reject outright assignments, but doing so means walking away from whatever money is left on his contract. He signed a split deal with the Reds in the offseason that pays him $900K in the majors and $300K in the minors and seemingly wants to keep that on the table for himself.

Now he’ll presumably get at least a stretch of 10 days to serve as Stephenson’s backup while Maile is out. Wynns has hit just .229/.276/.331 in his career but is generally considered to be a competent defender.

Ríos, 30, signed a minor league deal with the Reds in the offseason. He’s taken 203 trips to the plate at the Triple-A level this year, striking out in 28.6% of those but also drawing walks at an 11.8% clip and hitting 11 home runs. He has a .243/.340/.486 line for the year, which translates to a 107 wRC+.

That has generally been the recipe with Ríos, who has previously been with the Dodgers and Cubs. He has 21 home runs in just 325 big league plate appearances but has also been punched out at a 33.5% clip. He’ll provide the Reds with a potent left-handed power bat but also one with some holes in it. Defensively, he’s mostly played first and third base but also the outfield corners.

Noelvi Marté has been at third base most of the time lately, with Jeimer Candelario and Spencer Steer sharing first base and the designated hitter slot. Steer can also play a bit of left field, but the Reds have some other options on the grass. Even with Fraley away from the club, they have Stuart Fairchild, Nick Martini, Will Benson and Blake Dunn as capable outfielders. Ríos is out of options but can be retained beyond this season via arbitration if he manages to hang onto his roster spot through the end of the year.

21 Players Elect Free Agency

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With the offseason quickly approaching, a number of players elect minor league free agency on a regular basis. Separate from MLB free agents, who reach free agency five days after the World Series by accumulating six years of service time in the big leagues, eligible minor league players can begin electing free agency as soon as the regular season comes to a close. Each of these players were outrighted off of their organization’s 40-man roster at some point during the season and either have been outrighted previously in their career or have the service time necessary to reach free agency since they were not added back to their former club’s rosters. For these players, reaching free agency is the expected outcome, and there will surely be more in the coming weeks. Here at MLBTR, we’ll provide occasional updates as players continue to elect minor league free agency.

Here is the next batch, courtesy of the transaction tracker at MiLB.com:

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Pitchers

Cubs Outright Edwin Rios

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The Cubs have outrighted infielder Edwin Rios, according to Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune. There had been no previous indication that Rios had been designated for assignment. Chicago’s 40-man roster drops to 39 as a result of the move. Rios has the requisite service time to reject an outright assignment, but would forfeit the remainder of his $1MM salary in doing so.

A sixth-round pick by the Dodgers in the 2015 draft, Rios made his big league debut with the club in 2019 and thrived in a bench role with LA, slashing a phenomenal .260/.338/.634 in 139 plate appearances across his first two seasons in the majors. The following two seasons, however, weren’t as fruitful. From 2021-22, Rios battled hamstring and shoulder injuries while slashing just .183/.263/.365 in 152 plate appearances. That combination of injuries and ineffectiveness led the Dodgers to non-tender Rios this past offseason.

Upon departing LA Rios joined the Cubs, who signed him to a $1MM major league deal in hopes of Rios providing lefty power off the bench for the club. Things didn’t go according to plan for Rios or Chicago, however, as the now 29-year-old slugger slashed just .071/.235/.214 with a massive 47.1% strikeout rate in 34 trips to the plate. That performance was enough for the Cubs to demote Rios to Triple-A for most of the 2023 campaign despite the small sample size.

Now, more than a month removed from Rios’s last big league appearance, he’s off the 40-man roster entirely. Assuming he opts to accept his outright assignment in order to retain the remainder of his salary, Rios figures to serve as a depth bench option for the Cubs’ infield, though he’s blocked by the likes of Matt Mervis and Miles Mastrobuoni, both of whom are already on the 40-man roster.

Cubs Designate Eric Hosmer For Assignment

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The Cubs announced a series of roster moves today, with Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic among those to relay them on Twitter. Infielder Nico Hoerner has been activated off the injured list, Edwin Ríos was recalled from Iowa and outfielder Mike Tauchman has had his contract selected. In corresponding moves, Cody Bellinger has been placed on the 10-day injured list retroactive to May 16 with a left knee contusion, Keegan Thompson has been optioned to Iowa and first baseman Eric Hosmer has been designated for assignment.

Hosmer, 33, signed an eight-year, $144MM deal with the Padres going into the 2018 but then saw his production tail off once the ink on that deal was dry. He had a career batting line of .284/.342/.439 prior to that deal but has hit just .263/.323/.406 since then. That latter line amounts to a wRC+ of 98, indicating he’s been a couple of ticks below league average. Since first baseman are generally expected to produce more on the offensive side of things, that’s been an obviously disappointing performance.

He was frequently the subject of trade rumors during him time in San Diego and eventually was flipped to the Red Sox at least year’s deadline with the Padres eating almost all of the remaining money on his deal, with Boston on the hook for just the league minimum. Boston was then encouraged enough by the developments of first base prospect Triston Casas that they released Hosmer in the offseason.

The Cubs then agreed to bring Hosmer aboard, which was a move that had no financial risk since the Padres were still responsible for most of the $39MM remaining on the final three years of his contract. It was seen by many that Hosmer would be a sort of placeholder, hopefully playing at a serviceable level until some younger player such as Matt Mervis eventually forced their way into the major league plans. Mervis was called up a couple of weeks ago and is hitting just .220/.256/.317 so far but Hosmer isn’t doing much better, currently slashing .234/.280/.330 for a wRC+ of 67. It seems the Cubs will use Hosmer’s at-bats on other players and let him seek out his next opportunity.

Hosmer will inevitable be released in the coming days and return to the open market. He hasn’t been able to provide much value lately but he might still get interest based on his previous work and the fact that he’d be essentially free in terms of dollars. He also appears to be respected around the game for intangibles like his clubhouse presence and leadership, which could also appeal to certain clubs.

Turning to the other moves, Bellinger seemed to injure himself by colliding with the wall in Houston while making a catch on Monday. The club took a few days to see how his situation developed but has decided to let him rest for at least another week. He was non-tendered by the Dodgers after last season due to his struggles in both 2021 and 2022 but is in better form so far this year. After signing a one-year, $17.5MM deal with the Cubs this winter, he’s hitting .271/.337/.493 in addition to stealing nine bases and playing quality defense. Christopher Morel is in center field tonight and could perhaps stay there until Bellinger comes back.

Tauchman, 32, could also be in that mix, as he’s been playing all three outfield slots in Triple-A this year. He’s also walked in an incredible 20.4% of his plate appearances, leading to a .278/.427/.443 slash line and 129 wRC+. He has 257 games of major league experience under his belt, having played for the Rockies, Yankees and Giants from 2017 to 2021. His career batting line is currently .231/.326/.378 for a wRC+ of 90. He spent 2022 with the Hanwha Eagles of the Korea Baseball Organization, hitting .289/.366/.430 in 144 games there.

Cubs Promote Matt Mervis

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May 5: The Cubs officially selected Mervis’s contract this morning, as noted by MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian. In a corresponding move, infielder Edwin Rios was optioned to Triple-A Iowa. The club already had an open spot on the 40-man roster, so no additional move was required to select Mervis. Mervis will make his MLB debut in this afternoon’s game against the Marlins, playing first base and batting seventh.

Rios, 29, has struggled with the Cubs so far this season, albeit in a tiny sample of just 25 plate appearances, with a slash line of .100/.280/.300 and nine strikeouts. He figures to serve as infield depth for the club at the Triple-A level going forward.

May 4: The Cubs will select the contract of first base prospect Matt Mervis, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan. He’s not with the team for today’s series finale in D.C. but will join the Cubs when they return to Chicago tomorrow to kick off a homestand with a series against the Marlins.

Mervis, 25, was a 39th-round pick of the Nationals back in 2016 but didn’t sign, instead opting to attend college at Duke. He wasn’t selected in the shortened, five-round iteration of the 2020 draft and wound up signing with the Cubs as an undrafted free agent.

That’s proven to be quite the find for the Cubs, as Mervis has laid waste to minor league pitching and established himself as one of the organization’s top-ranked prospects. Over the past two seasons, Mervis has skyrocketed from High-A to Triple-A (and now the Majors), batting a combined .305/.383/.615 with 42 home runs in 161 games across three minor league levels. That includes a torrid .286/.402/.560 slash and six home runs through his first 112 plate appearances in Triple-A this season.

Baseball America ranks Mervis fourth among Cubs farmhands, while MLB.com has him sixth. Mervis is generally regarded as an all-bat prospect, as he’s a sub-par runner and not a standout defender  at first base. BA’s report on him notes that a shortened swing and refined approach at the plate unlocked a new level of performance for Mervis in 2022, and he’s clearly kept that up in 2023, given that he’s walked (16.1%) nearly as often as he’s punched out (17%). The left-handed-hitting Mervis was awful against left-handed pitchers in his first pro season, but he improved to .268/.339/.529 against southpaws in 174 plate appearances last year and is 6-for-20 with two homers, two doubles, six walks and six strikeouts in 27 plate appearances against same-handed opponents so far in 2023 (.300/.482/.700).

Mervis’ ascension to the big leagues comes at a time when veteran first baseman Eric Hosmer is struggling, having batted just .250/.294/.363 in 85 plate appearances. Cubs first basemen are still hitting .296/.331/.470 on the season, though that’s skewed by the fact that the vast majority of Trey Mancini’s production has happened to come while he’s playing at first base rather than in the outfield or at designated hitter. Mancini is certainly capable of playing either outfield corner and has enough bat to be an option at DH, so there’s room to get both into the lineup.

Keeping Hosmer, who’s also a lefty hitting, first base-only player on the roster alongside Mervis would be trickier, though there’s no direct indication yet that Mervis’ promotion puts Hosmer’s roster spot in jeopardy. Hosmer himself recently acknowledged that may end up being the case in an interview with Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, though he voiced nothing but support for Mervis.

“This is my 13th year in the league,” Hosmer told Rosenthal. “I’m not going to sit here and be bitter about a young kid coming up. That’s not right. … I was in spring with Matty. I was always trying to help, give him my two cents on what’s coming for him in the league, how you can simplify some stuff. It’s not something where I’m watching over my shoulder, or living and dying by his at-bats. When it comes that time, that’s when you can move on and do something else. I know he’s going to be a big part of this organization. I’ve got to help him any way I can.”

While future optional assignments can always impact a player’s timeline to arbitration and free agent, it’s worth at least outlining where those milestones currently stand for Mervis. If he’s in the big leagues for good from this point forth, he’ll fall shy of a full year of service in 2023 (barring a top-two finish in NL Rookie of the Year voting). That means he’d be on pace to reach free agency after the 2029 season, although an early-May call-up will surely afford him enough service time to qualify as a Super Two player. As such, he’d reach arbitration following the 2025 season and be eligible four times rather than the standard three.

If Mervis does manage to secure a top-two place in NL Rookie of the Year voting, he’d gain a full year of service and bump his free agent timeline up to the 2028-29 offseason in the process. He’d still be arb-eligible following the 2025 season, but he’d get there as a player with three years of service and thus only be eligible three times.

Cubs Sign Edwin Rios To Major League Deal

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6:37pm: Ríos is guaranteed $1MM on the deal, reports Kiley McDaniel of ESPN (Twitter link).

6:24pm: The Cubs have signed corner infielder Edwin Ríos to a big league contract, tweets Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times. Reliever Ethan Roberts was placed on the 60-day injured list to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Ríos is represented by Excel Sports Management.

Ríos, 28, has played in each of the last four MLB campaigns as a member of the Dodgers. He hasn’t gotten more than 32 appearances in any individual season, a testament both to Los Angeles’ position player depth and Ríos’ personal injury history. The left-handed hitter has spent time on the injured list in each of the past three seasons. He lost some time in 2020 to a left hamstring strain and has missed significant chunks of the last couple years with respective right shoulder and right hamstring injuries.

Those maladies have disrupted what has been a promising start to Ríos’ big league career. He has 20 home runs, nine doubles and a triple in just 292 trips to the plate. A lofty 32% strikeout rate has worked against his batting average and on-base percentage (respectively .219 and .299) but he owns a very strong .492 slugging mark against MLB pitching. That power outburst included seven round-trippers in 27 games last season.

Ríos has been a quality offensive player over an even larger body of work at Triple-A. Through parts of four seasons at the top minor league level, the Florida International product carries an excellent .282/.349/.526 line with a decent 8.2% walk rate but a 31.1% strikeout percentage in a little under 1200 plate appearances. Ríos bat-to-ball skills are questionable, but there’s little doubt he has significant power upside.

That production intrigued the Cubs enough to guarantee him a major league roster spot. He’d been non-tendered by the Dodgers at the start of the offseason, with L.A. opting against retaining him on a salary projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz around $1.4MM. Financial terms of his deal with Chicago aren’t known, though it’s assuredly a low base salary. The more meaningful development is that he won’t have to work his way onto the 40-man roster.

Ríos does still have one minor league option year remaining. The Cubs can keep him in Triple-A Iowa for the upcoming season, though there’s also a path to securing regular playing time in the majors. Chicago’s third base situation is unsettled, with Patrick Wisdom, Christopher Morel and Nick Madrigal among those who could vie for reps.

Wisdom, a right-handed hitter, has been the primary option at the hot corner the past two years. He has slugged .533 against left-handed pitching in that time but posted a .209/.290/.438 line against righties. That makes him a potential platoon fit with the lefty-swinging Ríos. Morel and Madrigal also hit from the right side but could assume multi-positional roles off the bench and/or head back to the minors on optional assignment.

If Ríos carves out an important role and runs with it, he could be a long-term piece for the Chicago infield. He has a little over three years of major league service. He’ll be eligible for arbitration at least twice more after this season, and any optional stint in the minors could extend that window of control by an additional season.

The 25-year-old Roberts pitched in nine games last year after breaking camp as a rookie. He eventually landed on the shelf with shoulder inflammation and required Tommy John surgery last June. It’s possible he returns from that procedure at the tail end of the season, but there’s no chance he’d have been ready within the first two months. His IL placement was a mere formality whenever the need for a roster spot arose. He’ll be paid at the MLB minimum rate and accrue big league service time while rehabbing.

Latest On Tigers’ Offseason Targets

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The Tigers have a lot of upgrades to make following a 96-loss season, and the club is exploring several veteran options on the free agent market.  Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press reports that such players as Seth Lugo, Adam Frazier, Brian Anderson, and Edwin Rios have all drawn interest from the Tigers, and Wil Myers is also on the radar, but “the Tigers aren’t viewed as a frontrunner for Myers.”  As for players who have already landed elsewhere, Detroit also had interest in Jace Peterson before he signed with the Athletics during the Winter Meetings.

Signing any of the available players would add some experience to the lineup and address at least one position on a roster with plenty of uncertainty.  Third base is open after Jeimer Candelario was non-tendered, and Tigers manager A.J. Hinch told Petzold and other reporters during the Winter Meetings that second base playing time may also be available, depending on where Jonathan Schoop is utilized.  Hinch suggested that Schoop could also see time at first base or third base, apart from just the keystone.

Realistically, Schoop is more likely to spend most of his time on the right side of the diamond, given that his big league third base experience consists of 133 2/3 innings with the Orioles back in 2014, and a single inning at the hot corner in 2021.  Schoop (like many Detroit hitters) is also coming off a dismal year at the plate, and since he is only under contract through 2023, might not be in the long-term plans of new president of baseball operations Scott Harris.

Frazier has mostly played second base throughout his career, but he has also bounced around to both corner outfield positions, and a smattering of games at third base, shortstop, and center field.  Signing Frazier would allow the Tigers some flexibility in planning the lineup, as Frazier or Schoop or rookie Ryan Kreidler could be shuffled around the infield as matchups dictate, and Frazier could also chip in as part of the outfield mix.

Of course, Frazier also didn’t hit much in 2022, batting .238/.301/.311 with three homers over 602 plate appearances with the Mariners.  Since the start of the 2020 season, Frazier has a 95 wRC+ and a .266/.329/.362 slash line over 1471 PA with the Pirates, Padres, and Mariners, and much of his production in that stretch was concentrated within a fantastic three-month stretch with Pittsburgh early in the 2021 campaign (which helped Frazier earn an All-Star nod).

Despite these struggles, Frazier is looking for a two-year contract, according to Petzold.  An argument can be made that Frazier (who turns 31 later this week) might still be worth such a commitment since he is a strong defender, and he has consistently been one of baseball’s tougher hitters to strike out.  While Frazier’s extreme contact doesn’t result in many hard-hit balls, the potential is there for Frazier to become a very productive hitter if he can just barrel the ball with more consistency.  Given how the Tigers had one of the highest strikeout rates of any team in baseball in 2022, simply getting a contact hitter of any ilk might also help Detroit’s offensive woes.

Anderson and Rios were respectively non-tendered by the Marlins and Dodgers, and while both players have experience at other positions (Anderson mostly in right field, Rios at first base), the Tigers would probably view either as candidates to take over from Candelario at third base.  Like Frazier, these two are also looking to bounce back from underwhelming seasons, as Anderson and Rios both missed time to injury.

After posting solid numbers in 2018-20, it seemed like Anderson was on his way to becoming a building block in Miami before injuries cut into his playing time in each of the last two seasons.  Anderson hit .266/.350/.436 (115 wRC+) over 1419 PA from 2018-20, but those numbers dropped to a 93 wRC+ and a .233/.321/.359 slash line over 647 PA in 2021-22.

Rios is an intriguing wild card option, as he owns a career 112 wRC+ but only over 291 career PA in the majors.  The Dodgers used Rios as a part-time player for four seasons, and while it is quite possible he might’ve earned more playing time on a less star-studded team, Los Angeles seemingly never saw Rios as more than a spare part.  Injuries also played a factor, as Rios missed most of the 2021 campaign due to shoulder surgery, and a hamstring tear last season resulted in a trip to the 60-day injured list.

While it doesn’t seem like Myers will be arriving in Detroit, he is an on-paper fit for playing time as a right fielder, DH, and first baseman.  Spencer Torkelson will naturally get every opportunity for regular at-bats at first base next season, but Schoop might also get some first-base time, and Miguel Cabrera and Austin Meadows will get DH at-bats.  A player like Myers would be an option for right field when Meadows is getting a DH day, plus Myers could also shift over to left field.

The Tigers are the latest of many teams linked to Lugo’s market, and Detroit is one of the clubs with interest in Lugo as a starting pitcher.  The right-hander has worked exclusively as a reliever in three of the last four seasons with the Mets, and he hasn’t been a true full-time starter since 2017.  However, Lugo has kept his arm relatively loose as a swingman and multi-inning reliever, and naturally a move back to rotation work could be very lucrative as he enters free agency for the first time.

Given how the Tigers were crushed by pitching injuries in 2022, the club can offer plenty of opportunity to Lugo as it looks to rebuild its rotation.  With so much interest in his services, it isn’t hard to imagine that Lugo could land a two-year contract, as a team could view him as a starting candidate for 2023 and (if things don’t go well) at worst a reliever for 2024.  If Lugo succeeds as a starter and the Tigers’ younger arms all return healthy down the road, such a crowded-rotation scenario counts as a nice problem to have for the team in the future.

Detroit already brought back Matt Boyd on a one-year contract, with Boyd also looking for a move back to starting pitching.  The Tigers’ current rotation lines up as Eduardo Rodriguez, Matt Manning, Spencer Turnbull, and Boyd, with Joey Wentz, Tyler Alexander, Alex Faedo, and Beau Brieske all in competition for that fifth starter’s job.

In the bigger picture, none of Detroit’s free agent targets look to receive more than a one- or perhaps a two-year deal at most.  This speaks to Harris’ apparent strategy (or ownership’s preference) of avoiding any big immediate expenditures, as the Tigers flopped after last winter’s major spending spree.  The plan for 2023 might be for Harris and the Tigers to patch holes with some veteran additions, and then see how the roster — both the younger core and veteran stars like Rodriguez or Javier Baez — can collectively regroup after the disastrous 2022 season.

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