Tigers Claim Yoniel Curet, Transfer Parker Meadows To 60-Day IL
The Tigers announced Monday that they’ve claimed righty Yoniel Curet off waivers from the Phillies, who’d designated him for assignment last week. In order to open a spot on the 40-man roster, Detroit transferred center fielder Parker Meadows from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day injured list. Meadows suffered a concussion and a forearm fracture last week in an outfield collision with teammate Riley Greene when both were tracking down a ball hit to the left-center gap.
Curet, 23, was optioned to the Tigers’ Rookie affiliate in the Florida Complex League. He’ll presumably ramp up there before heading to Triple-A Toledo. He hasn’t pitched since spring training, so he’s not ready to join a minor league affiliate just yet.
Originally signed by the Rays as an amateur out of his native Dominican Republic, Curet landed in Philadelphia by way of an offseason trade sending righty Tommy McCollum back to Tampa Bay. The Rays had designated Curet for assignment themselves in order to clear a roster spot for free agent signee Cedric Mullins.
Curet has yet to make his big league debut. He’s a hard-throwing, command-challenged righty who’s posted decent numbers in the upper minors and briefly cracked FanGraphs’ top 100 prospect list prior to the 2025 season. The 6’2″, 250-pound righty sits mid-90s with a four-seamer and sinker that can both reach the upper 90s. His go-to breaking pitch is a slider in the 87-88 mph range.
A shoulder injury limited Curet to 14 starts and a pair of relief outings in the Rays’ system last year. He totaled 55 1/3 innings with a 3.90 ERA, a sharp 25.5% strikeout rate but a concerning 12.8% walk rate.
While Curet has consistently missed bats in the minors, he regularly runs up poor walk rates. He looked to be on the right track in 2024, when he posted a sub-3.00 ERA with a 31.5% strikeout rate and a 10.7% walk rate that was down several percentage points from the year prior. That shot him up the rankings at FanGraphs, but last year’s shoulder injury was accompanied by that nearly 13% walk rate — including a 17.4% walk rate in 33 1/3 Triple-A innings. This spring, Curet faced 14 hitters and walked four of them. He plunked another. Overall, he was tagged for eight runs in 1 2/3 innings.
Time will tell what role the Tigers envision for the righty, but he’s worked consistently as a starter to this point in his career. Detroit could build him back up for some rotation depth, but it’s hard not to wonder what Curet’s already powerful arsenal might look like in short relief. The 95-96 he averages on his pair of heaters would presumably tick up a couple miles, and that slider could creep into the 90 mph range on average. Max-effort relievers tend to have a bit easier time running a higher-than-average walk rate than a starter who needs to turn the lineup over multiple times.
Scouting reports at FanGraphs, Baseball America, MLB.com and other public outlets have long suggested a move to relief could be in the offing eventually. For now, Curet is in his final minor league option year, so there’s no immediate urgency to sort it out. The Tigers can get him built up and see how he looks in a variety of roles.
As for Meadows, the move to the 60-day IL isn’t all that surprising in light of the fractured radius he sustained in pursuit of a potential game-saving catch. Today’s move to the IL means he’ll be sidelined into at least mid-June. A light-hitting plus defender who runs well, Meadows opened the season with a .250/.308/.333 slash in 39 turns at the plate. The 2018 second-rounder was hoping to move past a rough 2025 season (.215/.291/.330) and get back closer to his 2024 form (.244/.310/.433), but that rebound effort is on hold for a couple months at the very least. In the meantime, the Tigers have Wenceel Pérez, Javier Báez and Matt Vierling as options in center field.
Tigers Place Parker Meadows On Injured List
The Tigers have placed outfielder Parker Meadows on the 10-day injured list with a concussion and a fractured radius in his left arm. He also received five stitches in his mouth, per Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press. Fellow outfielder Wenceel Pérez has been recalled in a corresponding move. Evan Woodbery of MLive reported the moves prior to the official club announcement.
The injury occurred in yesterday’s game against the Twins. Josh Bell hit a ball to left-center field, the perfect spot for the center fielder Meadows and left fielder Riley Greene to get there at the same time. As seen in this video from MLB.com, the two collided. Greene caught the ball and seemed unscathed but Meadows was down for a while and had blood coming out of his mouth. He seemed woozy when getting onto a cart, which took him off the field.
Given what transpired yesterday, it’s not especially surprising that he has suffered a concussion. He also revealed yesterday, per Chris McCosky of Detroit News, that he bit the inside of his mouth on impact. That explains the blood and the stitches. The broken bone in his arm, presumably suffered when he collided with the ground, may be the thing that keeps him out for longer. The Tigers haven’t provided an estimated timeline for his recovery but a broken arm will surely require him to miss weeks, if not months.
There will likely be more information provided in the near future. For now, the Tigers will sub Pérez into their outfield mix. He has been a solid player for them in recent years but he got squeezed off the Opening Day roster by Kevin McGonigle. Detroit decided to break camp with their top prospect and someone had to go. Pérez still has options and he also had a rough spring, slashing .190/.277/.333, so he got sent down.
In ten Triple-A games to start the year, Pérez has a .250/.353/.455 line. That’s a small sample size but is much closer to his big league line of .243/.304/.405, so it seems he has put his rough spring behind him.
Though it was a brief stint in the minors, it was just long enough to impact Pérez’s career. He came into this year with exactly two years of big league service time. There are now only 171 days remaining in the season and a player needs to be in the majors for 172 days to earn a full service year. Even if Pérez stays up for the rest of the season, he can’t get to the three-year line in 2026. That means his path to free agency has been pushed into the future by a year, though he could still qualify for arbitration after this season as a Super Two player.
Pérez will join an outfield mix that includes Greene as a staple in left. The other two spots will likely involve some rotation of Pérez, Kerry Carpenter, Matt Vierling, Zach McKinstry, Jahmai Jones and Javier Báez, with the designated hitter spot also fairly open for guys in that group to get more at-bats.
Photo courtesy of Bruce Kluckhohn, Imagn Images
Kevin McGonigle Makes Tigers’ Roster; Wenceel Pérez Optioned
12:43pm: The Tigers announced that infielder/outfielder Wenceel Pérez, infielder Jace Jung and outfielder Trei Cruz have all been optioned to Triple-A Toledo. Center fielder Parker Meadows has made the Opening Day roster.
The 26-year-old Pérez is the most notable among the cuts. He was a key contributor in Detroit last year, giving Hinch a defensively versatile switch-hitter who could be deployed at various spots in both the infield and outfield. Pérez played exclusively in the outfield last year but has more than 1800 minor league innings at both middle infield slots and another 259 at third base. In 383 MLB plate appearances, he slashed .244/.308/.430 (103 wRC+) with 13 homers, 17 doubles, four triples and eight steals. Pérez will surely get a long major league look this year as injuries and/or poor performance elsewhere on the roster dictate, but for now he’ll open in Toledo.
Pérez didn’t help his case with a dismal .158/.238/.158 showing in 46 spring plate appearances. With better production, he might’ve edged out Meadows, who struggled at the plate in 2025 and batted only .222/.314/.289 in 52 spring plate appearances. Meadows, however, is a plus defender in center field. Given that he nominally outperformed Pérez with the bat and has a clear defensive edge with the glove, he’ll get the nod for an Opening Day roster spot and look to get back to his 2024 form at the plate (.244/.310/.433).
11:28am: It’s official. The Tigers announced Tuesday that infielder Kevin McGonigle, the consensus No. 2 prospect in baseball, will make their Opening Day roster. The 21-year-old will likely begin the season as Detroit’s shortstop after a spring in which he batted .250/.411/.477 with two homers, two doubles, a triple, two steals and more walks (11) than strikeouts (9) in 56 plate appearances. McGonigle is not on the Tigers’ 40-man roster, so they’ll need to make a corresponding transaction when they formally select his contract.
Selected with the No. 37 overall pick in the 2023 draft, McGonigle has raced through the minors relative to most high school picks. He’s raked at every level from Rookie ball up through Double-A last season despite being one of the youngest players in the league at the most recent stops on his minor league journey. McGonigle totaled 397 plate appearances across three levels in 2025 and slashed .305/.408/.583 with 19 homers, 31 doubles, two triples, 10 steals and more walks than strikeouts.
Scouts rave about McGonigle’s preternatural feel for hitting. He’s never punched out in more than 12.6% of his plate appearances at any minor league stop, and his overall strikeout rate of 10.6% in 908 professional plate appearances speaks volumes about the advanced nature of that hit tool — especially considering his age. McGonigle only turned 21 in mid-August. He’ll play the vast majority of his rookie season before even celebrating his 22nd birthday.
Some scouting reports express skepticism about his ability to stick at shortstop, though he’s continued to get reps there this spring and could yet develop into a quality option at the position. Even if a move to another position — second base, third base, outfield — becomes a necessity somewhere down the line, McGonigle’s bat is so highly regarded that it doesn’t matter. He’s viewed as a fixture in the top half of the Detroit lineup for the foreseeable future, regardless of his ultimate defensive home.
Since he’s breaking camp with the club and is a consensus top prospect, McGonigle could net the Tigers some future draft considerations via the league’s Prospect Promotion Incentive (PPI) program. A Rookie of the Year win in 2026 or a top-three finish in MVP voting in any of McGonigle’s pre-arbitration seasons would net the Tigers an extra draft selection after the first round the following season. (Prospects can only net their team one bonus pick overall.)
Assuming McGonigle sticks on Detroit’s roster all season, he’ll accrue a full year of service and be under club control through the 2031 season. He’d be eligible for arbitration following the 2028 season as things stand. Of course, those timetables are subject to change.
McGonigle will have a full slate of three minor league option years upon being formally added to the roster, and Detroit could always look to extend its window of club control with a long-term deal, be it early in his MLB tenure or during subsequent springs, when McGonigle is still years from the open market. It’ll take a hefty offer to do so in all likelihood, as McGonigle is currently slated to reach free agency ahead of his age-27 season, which would put him in line for a mammoth contract if he reaches his ceiling (or anything close to it).
In addition to his work at shortstop, McGonigle also saw time at third base this spring. Detroit doesn’t have set starters at either position, so he could bounce between both spots. McGonigle, Javier Baez and Zach McKinstry are all capable of playing short and third base. Colt Keith can play third base, second base or first base. Matt Vierling is capable of playing third base or the outfield. Manager A.J. Hinch will have no shortage of matchup-based options with that contingent on hand, but regardless of which defensive spot he occupies on a given day, McGonigle should be expected to be in Hinch’s lineup.
Tigers Place Kyle Finnegan On Injured List, Activate Parker Meadows
The Tigers announced Friday that right-hander Kyle Finnegan has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a right adductor strain. Finnegan felt tightness when warming up in the bullpen recently and was held back from entering that game. The team had hoped he’d avoid an IL trip, but Finnegan will now be down for at least the next couple weeks.
In more positive news, the corresponding move for placing Finnegan on the injured list is the reinstatement of outfielder Parker Meadows from the 10-day IL. He’s been out since late July due to a strained quadriceps but is in tonight’s lineup, hitting ninth and playing center field.
Detroit acquired the 32-year-old Finnegan from the Nationals at the deadline in exchange for pitching prospects Josh Randall and R.J. Sales. He’s been exceptional in his new surroundings, firing 14 1/3 shutout innings with a mammoth 38.8% strikeout rate against a sharp 6.1% walk rate. The Nats have more than doubled the usage rate on Finnegan’s splitter and have him throwing far fewer four-seamers, and he’s seen enormous jumps in both strikeout rate and swinging-strike rate (from 9.2% to 14.3%).
Finnegan has always had plus velocity but has generally posted strikeout rates around the league average despite that fact. He’s still sitting 96.3 mph on his four-seamer, per Statcast, but the Tigers have helped him unlock greater bat-missing ability, which should bode well for his return trip to free agency at season’s end. For the time being, the focus will be on getting him back to the field as quickly as possible. Finnegan has picked up four saves and a hold with Detroit, and since his acquisition, he’s been their No. 2 option in high-leverage situations behind Will Vest.
As for the 25-year-old Meadows, he’s had a season to forget, thanks in no small part to injuries. The 2018 second-rounder had a breakout performance in 2024 when he hit .244/.310/.433 with nine homers, nine steals and strong defense in 82 big league games. He missed the first two-plus months of the current season due to a nerve issue in his upper arm, however, and he strained his quad only seven weeks after returning. In the interim, he hit just .200/.270/.296 with a 29.2% strikeout rate that was up four percentage points over his 2024 level.
The Tigers have been using Wenceel Perez and Javier Baez in center field, but Perez’s glove doesn’t grade out particularly well there and Baez can now mix in at additional positions as he continues to embrace his super-utility role. Meadows will be flanked by Riley Greene and a combination of Perez, Baez, Justyn-Henry Malloy and Kerry Carpenter in the outfield.
Tigers Pull Alex Cobb Off Rehab Assignment
Tigers right-hander Alex Cobb will be pulled off his rehab assignment and shut down for a week. Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press spoke to manager A.J. Hinch about the situation. Hinch framed this as a way to restart Cobb’s rehab window. A rehab assignment for a pitcher comes with a 30-day maximum. Cobb began his rehab assignment July 29th and was coming to the end of his 30 days. A player can finish a rehab assignment and start a new one but, per MLB rules, must be shut down for seven days in between.
In essence, this is the Tigers kicking the can down the road on Cobb again. Detroit signed him to a one-year, $15MM deal in the offseason but he has yet to throw a pitch for the big league club, mostly due to issues in his hips. He had missed a decent chunk of 2024 recovering from left hip surgery, but then his right hip was inflamed in spring training 2025. The right hip issue put him on the injured list to start the year.
Since then, he’s been battling issues in both hips and struggling to get back on the mound. He started a rehab assignment in late May but that only lasted three appearances before he was shut down again. He started a new rehab assignment about a month ago but he seemingly struggled to pitch for more than about two innings at a time. Last week, the club decided to pivot Cobb to a relief role to see if that could help him get back to the majors. The soreness in his hips has continued.
The tricky part of the calculus is that the Tigers are playing meaningful baseball. They have a huge lead in the Central division but have a tighter fight for a bye through the first round of the playoffs. Just because Cobb is a respected veteran and earning a decent salary, doesn’t mean he’s guaranteed a role as the games become more important.
“I think the goal is to have as many productive players as we can and guys that can help us win,” Hinch said this week. “If that’s the case and it lines up, then great. We want him to be good. We want him to help us win. We want him to be a part of this because we think that the stuff has been pretty good throughout the summer. He just hasn’t been able to bounce back as much. It’s not just trying to be the good guy and try to give him a platform to pitch again. That’s not been the motivation. It’s because when he has flashed that stuff over the last handful of outings, it’s been pretty good. He hasn’t always been able to retain it, or hasn’t been able to bounce back, and that’s what we’re working towards. We’re going to go day by day. This isn’t something that we’re looking at over the course of weeks. We know how much of the season is left. We know what he has to accomplish to be one of the best 13 pitches that we have — or 14 when September rosters expand. We’re just going to continue to evaluate.”
In other news from Detroit, Hinch said this week that outfielder Parker Meadows will begin a rehab assignment shortly, per Chris McCosky of The Detroit News. “He will have a schedule and we’re going to go day-to-day to see how much activity he has and how much he can handle,” Hinch said. “Which is good. We need him out there playing the field and we need him running around freely.”
Injuries have limited Meadows to just 38 games this season. A nerve issue in his right arm held him back during spring training and into the regular season. He was reinstated from the IL in early June but then a quad strain put him back on the shelf at the end of July. Those issues seemingly prevented him from getting in a groove. He hit just .200/.270/.296 in between those IL stints, a far cry from last year’s .244/.310/.433 line.
Meadows is a strong defender in the outfield, so he can be a useful player with a bit more offense than he’s shown this year. For now, the Tigers are using Riley Greene, Wenceel Pérez, Javier Báez, Jahmai Jones and Kerry Carpenter in the outfield. The return of Meadows could perhaps lead to Carpenter sticking as the designated hitter more often or more infield time for Baez.
Photo courtesy of Junfu Han, Imagn Images
Tigers To Place Reese Olson On 60-Day IL With Shoulder Strain
The Tigers are placing right-hander Reese Olson on the 60-day injured list due to a shoulder strain. Jason Beck of MLB.com was among those to relay the news. That will open up a 40-man roster spot for Chris Paddack, who is reportedly being acquired from the Twins. Beck adds that outfielder Parker Meadows has been placed on the 10-day IL due to a quad strain. Infielder/outfielders Andy Ibáñez and Ryan Kreidler have been recalled to take the active roster spots of Olson and Meadows.
The news on Olson sheds more light on the club’s decision to acquire Paddack. Olson had started against the Blue Jays on Thursday and gone 5 2/3 innings. Per Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic, Olson first felt discomfort on Saturday during a bullpen session.
That meant that, coming into today, the Detroit rotation was down to Tarik Skubal, Casey Mize and Jack Flaherty. They recently called up prospect Troy Melton, but he allowed six earned runs in his first big league start. Keider Montero was recently optioned to the minors.
Paddack isn’t an ace but he’s a strike-throwing veteran who lengthens the overall group. The Tigers also have Alex Cobb, Jackson Jobe, Ty Madden, Jose Urquidy and Sawyer Gipson-Long on the IL. Adding Olson to that pile seemingly prompted them to go out and add Paddack.
What’s still unclear is if Olson will be available for the postseason. Per Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press, the door is still open for that, though it depends on how things develop between now and then. Perhaps the Tigers will look to make another rotation addition in the coming days, depending on how things develop with Olson.
There’s also a bit of a position player shuffle today, with Meadows hitting the IL again. He missed the first couple of months of the season due to issues in the musculocutaneous nerve in his right arm. Since coming off the IL, he has hit just .200/.270/.296. Now his frustrating season continues with another injury setback, though it’s unclear how long he’ll be out.
Matt Vierling has also been playing some center field lately and could take over for Meadows, though he’s not having a great season either, currently sporting a .210/.306/.226 line. Javier Báez played some center earlier this year but has retaken the shortstop job more recently. If Báez were to go back out to the grass, Zach McKinstry could move from third to short, with guys like Ibáñez and Kreidler helping to fill in at the hot corner. Kreidler can also play a bit of center. Once Paddack reports to the team, the Tigers will need an active roster spot, so one of Ibáñez or Kreidler will probably be going right back down.
Photo courtesy of Kevin Sousa, Imagn Images
Tigers Reinstate Parker Meadows From 60-Day IL
The Tigers announced that outfielder Parker Meadows has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. Fellow outfielder Justyn-Henry Malloy has been optioned to Triple-A Toledo in a corresponding active roster move. To open a 40-man spot, right-hander Ryan Cusick has been designated for assignment. Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press reported the Meadows and Malloy moves prior to the official announcement.
Meadows, 25, will be making his season debut as soon as he gets into a game. Way back in February, he was battling some inflammation in his upper right arm. It was later revealed that this was due to issues with the musculocutaneous nerve. He was placed on the 60-day IL in late March, indicating he wouldn’t be an option for the Tigers in the first two months of the season.
He seems to be fine now. He has played eight rehab games over the past two weeks and put up a stout .259/.394/.556 line in those. His throwing was a concern when the issue first cropped up but he’s been playing the field during his rehab, so he’s presumably fine in that regard as well.
Now that he’s back, it should be a boost for the Tigers. Meadows hit .241/.317/.413 for a 106 wRC+ in 119 games over the previous two seasons. He also stole 17 bases and received strong marks for his center field defense. FanGraphs credited him with 3.1 wins above replacement in that time, even though he had played less than a full season’s worth of games.
The Tigers have had a number of health problems in the outfield this year. In addition to Meadows, Matt Vierling and Wenceel Pérez have also missed significant time. Vierling was recently reinstated but went right back on the IL after just a few days.
The club has managed to weather that storm about as well as could have been expected. Riley Greene and Kerry Carpenter have both been great while utility guys like Javier Báez and Zach McKinstry have also made nice contributions. Now that Meadows and Pérez are back, that should further strengthen a team that already leads the majors with a 39-21 record.
Cusick, 25, was just claimed off waivers from the A’s a few days ago. He will likely wind up back on waivers again in the coming days and it’s possible he’ll clear. As the best team in baseball, the Tigers are last on the waiver priority list, so the other 29 clubs passed on him just a few days ago.
A former first-round pick of Atlanta, Cusick’s minor league work hasn’t produce much optimism yet. He posted poor numbers for the A’s in the minors in 2022, 2023 and through the first half of 2024. A move to relief last year inspired some optimism, as he posted a 1.73 ERA in his final 26 innings. However, his results have backed up here in 2025. He had a 6.75 ERA in 14 2/3 Triple-A innings before the A’s designated him for assignment. Since being claimed, he has tossed one scoreless inning for Toledo.
Photo courtesy of Junfu Han, Imagn Images
AL Central Notes: Lugo, Ragans, Castro, Meadows
Seth Lugo was scratched from a scheduled start today against the Cardinals, as the Royals right-hander is battling inflammation in the middle finger of his throwing hand. The hope is that Lugo will be out for just one turn in the rotation, manager Matt Quatraro told reporters (including Jaylon Thompson of the Kansas City Star) though “we are in the very early stages of it and we are going to see how [Lugo] responds” to the extra rest. Last season’s AL Cy Young Award runner-up is having another good year with a 3.02 ERA over 56 2/3 innings, though Lugo’s 4.26 SIERA and his Statcast metrics aren’t nearly as flattering.
It was just a few weeks ago that the Royals skipped a Cole Ragans start due to a minor groin strain for the southpaw, but while Ragans was able to avoid the injured list at the time, his nagging injury continues to be a concern. Ragans left during the sixth inning of yesterday’s game due to left groin tightness, though Quatraro described the removal as somewhat preventative. Rookie Noah Cameron will be recalled from Triple-A to start today’s game in Lugo’s place, and Cameron might well be in line for an extended look in the majors if one or both of Lugo or Ragans ultimately require a 15-day IL stint to fully heal up.
More from around the AL Central…
- X-rays were negative on Willi Castro‘s right knee after the Twins utilityman made an early exit from yesterday’s 3-0 win over the Brewers. Castro fouled a ball off his knee during a first-inning at-bat and was able to play in left field in the bottom of the frame, but was replaced in the bottom of the second. The injury was officially termed as a knee contusion, and it remains to be seen if Castro will be okay after a day or two of rest, or if he may require a stint on the 10-day injured list. Castro’s numbers (.235/.306/.367 in 108 plate appearances) are down from his All-Star production in 2024, though he has continued to be a versatile option all over the diamond, already logging starts at five positions this year. The injury bug already bit Castro once this season, as he missed over two weeks recovering from an oblique strain.
- Parker Meadows is traveling with the Tigers on their current road trip in Toronto, and the outfielder is scheduled to throw from the outfield to the bases in pre-game drills today. Manager A.J. Hinch told Jeff Seidel of the Detroit Free Press and other reporters that Meadows’ ability to throw is “the last step for him to hopefully get him to a rehab assignment soon,” and the club will monitor how Meadows’ arm is feeling tomorrow. Meadows has missed the entire season due to a musculocutaneous nerve problem in his right arm, and his placement on the 60-day injured list will keep him off Detroit’s roster until May 26 at the earliest. Given the long layoff and Hinch’s observation that Meadows “doesn’t have to be fully 100% back throwing wise to go on a rehab assignment,” it would seem like the outfielder will need quite a few games in the minors to get up to full readiness, so a June return seems more likely. While the 30-15 Tigers have baseball’s best record even without their starting center fielder, the club will be even stronger with a healthy Meadows, a superb defender who was also an offensive sparkplug during Detroit’s late-season surge in 2024.
Tigers Notes: Brieske, Foley, Meadows, Vierling
The Tigers placed right-hander Beau Brieske on the 15-day injured list yesterday, and righty Brenan Hanifee was called up in the corresponding move. Brieske has been sidelined by inflammation in his right ankle, and manager A.J. Hinch told reporters (including Chris McCosky of the Detroit News) that the pitcher had been trying to play through ankle soreness for the last couple of weeks.
The injury went from sore to more severe after Brieske rolled his ankle while fielding a grounder during a relief appearance in Detroit’s 7-6 win over the Twins on April 11. Brieske wasn’t used again until Thursday when he threw 30 pitches over one-plus innings of relief, “and was pretty beat up” physically, Hinch said. The decision was then made for a proper IL stint in order to help the righty fully recover.
Playing hurt might explain Brieske’s shaky numbers over the season’s first three weeks. The reliever has an 8.59 ERA and only an 11.1% strikeout rate in his first seven games and 7 1/3 innings of the 2025 campaign, though Brieske has had some bad luck in the form of an unfathomably low 39.2% strand rate. However, he has already allowed two homers this season, after giving up five long balls over 67 2/3 frames in 2024.
Brieske was far more effective in 2023-24, posting a 3.59 ERA over 102 2/3 innings while working in a variety of different roles out of the Tigers’ bullpen. Technically, some of those bullpen outings were starts since Hinch frequently used Brieske as an opener, but the right-hander also got long relief work and some more standard one-inning outings. Brieske’s flexible usage contributed to the “pitching chaos” strategy that helped Detroit make its big late-season surge and playoff run in 2024, though obviously he simply hasn’t been nearly as effective in the early going this year.
Jason Foley is another reliever whose fortunes have taken a turn for the worse in 2025, as the Tigers’ more frequent closer from last season began this year in the minor leagues after a rough Spring Training. He looked sharp in throwing five scoreless innings with Triple-A Toledo, but any plans for a call-up were put on hold when Toledo placed Foley on the seven-day IL on Thursday due to a right shoulder strain.
Foley hasn’t pitched in a week, and Hinch told MLB.com’s Jason Beck that “We’re getting him evaluated. I feel for him, because it comes at a time where he was starting to throw the ball pretty well and [was] starting to look like the player that we expected him to be this spring.”
A proper recovery timeline will likely be known once more tests are complete, and it may be something of a good sign that Foley wasn’t immediately placed on the IL in the wake of his initial shoulder discomfort. Still, the Tigers will naturally be cautious with any shoulder-related injury, and Foley seems likely to miss well beyond the seven-day minimum. Foley missed the entire 2018 season recovering from a Tommy John surgery but has since been injury-free, and he was a workhorse in tossing 189 1/3 innings over 199 appearances for Detroit during the 2022-24 seasons.
In better injury news for the Tigers, Parker Meadows has been cleared to start a throwing program. A musculocutaneous nerve problem in Meadows’ upper right arm arose during Spring Training, preventing Meadows from throwing and necessitating a season-opening stint on Detroit’s 60-day IL. The fact that he has restarted his throwing progression in even a limited fashion is a big plus for Meadows, even if Hinch cautioned that the team will still be carefully monitoring Meadows’ ramp-up before making any further steps in his rehab.
Since Meadows can’t be activated until the last week of May at the earliest, he has plenty of time to gradually rebuild his throwing strength. He has been able to take part in other baseball-related activities during his IL stint, so the throwing is the only obstacle remaining between Meadows and what will likely be a pretty lengthy minor league rehab assignment, given how much time Meadows has already missed.
Meadows is one of several Tigers outfielders sidelined by injury early in the 2025 season, and utilityman Matt Vierling has also yet to play after straining his right rotator cuff back in February. Vierling has now also been cleared to throw, allowing him to fully partake in baseball-related activities. The Tigers are hopeful that Vierling can begin a minor league rehab assignment before April is over.
Tigers Sign Manuel Margot
March 24: The Tigers have now officially announced Margot’s signing. They also announced that he’ll make $1.3MM in the majors and $200K in the minors. There are also bonuses available, with Margot to get $300K for reaching 200, 300, 400 and 500 major league plate appearances this year.
To open a roster spot, the club placed Meadows on the 60-day injured list. He’s been battling an issue with his musculocutaneous nerve in his upper right arm. It was recently reported that he will be shut down for about four weeks. At that point, he will effectively need to restart his spring ramp-up. Based on today’s IL move, he can’t rejoin the big league club until late May.
March 23: The Tigers are signing outfielder Manuel Margot, according to a report from Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The Athletic’s Cody Stavenhagen, meanwhile, reports that it’s a major league deal for Margot. Financial terms have not yet been disclosed.
Margot, 30, was released by the Brewers yesterday after signing a minor league deal with the club last month. Margot posted a decent .250/.314/.375 slash line in camp with Milwaukee but was squeezed off of a roster already populated with four outfielders, with a fifth on the injured list ready to join the club when healthy. That left Margot to pursue greener pastures, which he’s now found in Detroit. The Tigers’ outfield mix has been ravaged by injuries this spring, with center fielder Parker Meadows and right fielder Matt Vierling both set to open the season on the injured list. For a team that was already in search of an additional right-handed bat, that made adding Margot something of a no-brainer for the Tigers.
Obvious a fit for the club’s needs as Margot might be, however, that doesn’t necessarily make him a slam-dunk solution. After all, the 30-year-old is coming off a career worst campaign in Minnesota where he slashed .238/.289/.337 in 343 trips to the plate across 129 games. Margot split time between all three outfield spots last year, but looked overmatched according to defensive metrics with a -4 Outs Above Average overall and negative numbers at all three outfield spots. That may suggest he’s ill equipped to contribute at least in center field on a regular basis at this point in his career, although Margot’s outstanding defensive numbers with the Rays and Padres over the years could easily justify giving him an opportunity to prove himself capable of handling center once again.
Wherever he ends up in an outfield mix that figures to include Zach McKinstry, Kerry Carpenter, and Wenceel Perez in addition to incumbent left fielder Riley Greene, Margot will need to post stronger numbers with the bat this year. While beating last year’s 79 wRC+ shouldn’t be an especially tall order, the most important piece of the puzzle for Margot this year figures to be getting back to hitting well against lefties. Margot is a career .279/.338/.415 hitter against southpaws, but last season he posted just a .269/.322/.391 line against lefties. Getting that number back to above average would be a huge boon for a heavily left-handed Tigers lineup that posted a wRC+ of just 88 against southpaws last year.
The addition of Margot to the fold appears to leave just one open spot on the club’s position player staff headed into Opening Day. Slugger Spencer Torkelson, outfielder Justyn-Henry Malloy, and non-roster utility man Jahmai Jones appear to be the final three candidates for that spot as things stand, with Torkelson standing out as the likely favorite given that both Carpenter and Torkelson himself are tentatively expected to get looks in the outfield as the Tigers attempt to piece together production without Meadows and Vierling in the fold. Torkelson lost his job as the club’s incumbent first baseman to Colt Keith when the Gleyber Torres signing pushed Keith to first base, but Torkelson’s right-handed bat offers more big league success and a higher ceiling than those of either Malloy or Jones.