Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

PJ Poulin

Nationals Activate PJ Poulin For MLB Debut

By | at

The Nationals announced today that left-hander PJ Poulin, recently claimed off waivers from the Tigers, has been added to the active roster. He’ll be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game. The club also recalled right-hander Clayton Beeter and optioned righties Zach Brzykcy and Ryan Loutos in corresponding moves. TalkNats reported the moves prior to the official announcement.

It’s been a long journey to the big leagues for the lefty Poulin, now 29 years old, who was drafted by the Rockies back in 2018. With that organization, he reached Triple-A in 2022 and pitched at that level in 2023 as well. However, his results weren’t great for the Isotopes. He had a 6.20 earned run average in 69 2/3 innings for Albuquerque over those two seasons.

In March of 2024, the Rockies flipped him to the Tigers for cash. He was sent to Double-A after that trade but worked his way back up to Triple-A by July of 2024. In the year-plus since that promotion, he has thrown 68 2/3 Triple-A innings with a 3.54 ERA, 31.9% strikeout rate, 9.5% walk rate and grounders on about half the balls in play he’s allowed.

The Tigers selected him to their 40-man roster a month ago but immediately optioned him back to Triple-A Toledo. He had an upward mobility clause in his contract and the Tigers didn’t want him to get away. However, they made a number of additions to their roster ahead of the deadline, squeezing Poulin onto the waiver wire.

The Nats gave him a roster spot and could give him a significant big league audition as well. Ahead of the deadline, they sent out Kyle Finnegan, Luis García and Andrew Chafin, opening some bullpen spots. They also moved Brad Lord to the rotation a few weeks ago to replace the injured Trevor Williams. The trade of Michael Soroka opened another rotation spot.

In short, there are a lot of innings to cover down the stretch, so guys like Poulin and Beeter could earn roles on next year’s club by putting up some decent numbers before the offseason. Poulin becomes the fourth lefty in the big league bullpen alongside Jose A. Ferrer, Konnor Pilkington and Shinnosuke Ogasawara.

Photo courtesy of Dave Nelson, Imagn Images

Nationals Claim PJ Poulin

By | at

The Nationals announced this afternoon that they’ve claimed left-hander PJ Poulin off waivers from the Tigers. Poulin was designated for assignment to make room for right-hander Charlie Morton on the club’s 40-man roster on the day of the trade deadline.

Poulin, 29, was an 11th-round pick by the Rockies back in 2018. A two-way player in college, Poulin committed to pitching upon his move to affiliated ball. He looked quite good in the lower minors as a reliever in his first two years as a professional, but the canceled minor league season in 2020 lost him a year of development and he generally struggled with his effectiveness in the upper minors during his time with the Rockies organization. He was dealt to the Tigers prior to the 2024 season and has looked quite good since then, with a 2.10 ERA, 2.59 FIP, and 29.8% strikeout rate across the Double- and Triple-A levels last year.

The southpaw returned to Triple-A Toledo this year and has pitched well in 42 2/3 innings of work, with a 3.38 ERA and a fantastic 33.7% strikeout rate against a 9.2% walk rate. Those huge numbers got the attention of the Tigers last month, and led them to add Poulin to the 40-man roster after he exercised an upward mobility clause in his contract. Unfortunately for Poulin, he did not make it to the majors in Detroit before being DFA’d this past week. The good news, however, is that he’s been plucked off the waiver wire by a Nationals team that will be in need of bullpen help down the stretch after parting with key relievers like closer Kyle Finnegan and lefty Andrew Chafin in a sell-off at the deadline.

That should give Poulin a clear shot to make the majors and show what he can do at the big league level at some point down the stretch, and if he impresses the Nationals would have full control over him given that he has not yet made his big league debut and has zero MLB service time. He’ll be competing with players like Konnor Pilkington and Shinnosuke Ogasawara to serve as a left-handed bullpen option for the team now that Jose A. Ferrer is seemingly ticketed for the closer role in Finnegan’s stead.

Tigers Acquire Charlie Morton

By and | at

The Tigers have acquired right-hander Charlie Morton from the Orioles in exchange for minor league left-hander Micah Ashman. Baltimore will also send cash considerations. To free up space on their 40-man roster, the Tigers designated left-hander PJ Poulin for assignment. Jeff Passan of ESPN was the first to report that Morton was heading to Detroit.

Morton, 41, joins Chris Paddack as the Tigers’ second veteran rotation addition near the trade deadline.  Morton signed a $15MM free agent deal with the Orioles in January, but lost his rotation job after five disastrous starts.  After the Orioles designated Kyle Gibson for assignment on May 18th, Morton returned to the rotation.  He’s been a new pitcher in those 11 starts, posting a 3.88 ERA, 22.7 K%, and 8.9 BB%.

Now Morton joins the first-place Tigers, who are tied for the best record in the American League.  The club’s rotation consists of ace Tarik Skubal, Jack Flaherty, Casey Mize, Paddack, and Morton.  Reese Olson is out for the season with a shoulder strain, while free agent signing Alex Cobb was able to resume his rehab assignment on Tuesday as he recovers from a hip injury.  Rookie Troy Melton, who drew two starts this month, has been moved to the bullpen to accommodate Morton.

It’s unclear how the Tigers would make it work if all six veteran pitchers are healthy, but that’s a good problem to have.  Morton could perhaps serve as the Tigers’ fourth starter in the playoffs.  He has extensive postseason experience, including for manager A.J. Hinch’s 2017-18 Astros.

Perhaps because of the success of his team or a desire to hang on to his best prospects, Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris didn’t shoot for the top of the market at the trade deadline.  Aside from adding Morton and Paddack to the rotation, Harris picked up Kyle Finnegan, Rafael Montero, the injured Paul Sewald, and Codi Heuer as bullpen reinforcements.  It was not unlike the club’s offseason, which consisted of modest free agent deals for Flaherty, Cobb, Gleyber Torres, Tommy Kahnle, John Brebbia, Manuel Margot, and Jose Urquidy.

At one point it seemed like the Orioles might move three starting pitchers, but Zach Eflin and Tomoyuki Sugano ended up staying put.  Eflin was placed on the IL today with back discomfort, while Sugano likely didn’t move the needle for teams given his 15.2 K%.  The Orioles still traded Ryan O’Hearn, Ramon Laureano, Ramon Urias, Cedric Mullins, Andrew Kittredge, Seranthony Dominguez, Gregory Soto, and Bryan Baker this month, so it was an incredibly active trade deadline for Mike Elias and company.

Ashman, 22, was drafted in the 11th round by the Tigers last year out of the University of Utah.  The reliever has a 1.49 ERA and 25.5 K-BB% in the minors this year and moved to Double-A earlier this month.  It appears the Tigers are taking on all $4.76MM owed to Morton for the rest of the year, which likely dampened Baltimore’s return.

Tigers Select PJ Poulin

By | at

The Tigers announced a pair of roster moves this morning. They’ve selected the contract of left-hander PJ Poulin to the 40-man roster and optioned him to Triple-A Toledo. Left-hander Sean Guenther was recalled from Triple-A and placed on the 60-day injured list to make room for Poulin on the 40-man roster. According to Evan Woodbery of MLive, Poulin had an upward mobility clause in his contract and the Tigers opted to add him to their 40-man roster in order to keep him in their organization.

Poulin, 29 later this month, was an 11th-round pick by the Rockies back in 2018. A two-way player in college, Poulin committed to pitching upon his move to affiliated ball. He looked quite good in the lower minors as a reliever in his first two years as a professional, but the canceled minor league season in 2020 lost him a year of development and he generally struggled with his effectiveness in the upper minors during his time with the Rockies organization.

He was dealt to the Tigers prior to the 2024 season and has looked quite good since then, as he posted a 2.10 ERA in 60 innings between Double- and Triple-A last year before posting a 3.72 ERA in 36 1/3 frames at Triple-A this season. That solid but unspectacular ERA comes with a much more impressive 33.8% strikeout rate, and that kind of strikeout stuff from the left side makes it easy to see why the Tigers decided it was worth it to add the lefty to their 40-man roster rather than risk losing him to another organization.

Making room for Poulin on the 40-man roster is Guenther, who has a 2.30 ERA and 2.73 FIP across 31 1/3 innings of work with the Tigers over the past two seasons. Guenther was on the shelf in the minors after undergoing hip surgery last week, meaning that the move to place him on the 60-day IL is largely a procedural one. With that being said, it does come with the side effect of allowing him to collect a big league salary and earn MLB service time until he’s activated and optioned back to the minor leagues.

Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top