November fifth, 2023
DETROIT — The Tigers’ first large transfer of the offseason is the form of commerce that president of baseball operations Scott Harris has hinted at for some time, leveraging their organizational pitching depth to deal with their offense. Detroit acquired veteran outfielder Mark Canha from Milwaukee on Saturday in change for reduction prospect Blake Holub.
Canha, a nine-year veteran who additionally hung out with the A’s and Mets, suits the Tigers’ offensive profile, offering double-digit dwelling run energy whereas dominating the strike zone. He owns a .364 on-base share and a 120 OPS+ since 2018. He batted .262 this previous season between New York and Milwaukee with 25 doubles, 11 dwelling runs, 62 RBIs, a .355 on-base share and a 108 OPS+.
“Mark is an on-base machine,” Harris stated on a convention name with reporters. “He goes as much as the plate with a plan. He grinds out at-bats. He by no means offers in to pitchers. He makes a ton of contact. He’s been one of many largest on-base threats in our recreation during the last 4 or 5 years. So I feel he instantly makes us higher.”
Canha is a bit of older in comparison with the remainder of the Tigers’ roster; he’ll flip 35 in February. However the Tigers are hoping to make use of that have as a bonus for the remainder of their membership.
“We really feel actually good about what he’ll add to our clubhouse,” Harris stated. “It is no secret we will have a really younger crew subsequent 12 months. Including Mark, who’s a high-character man who brings grit and toughness to our crew, as a veteran who’s seen quite a bit on this recreation, will solely assist our younger guys adapt to the large leagues sooner. I additionally assume including such a bat with this caliber of strategy on the plate can solely assist the younger gamers. I hope a lot of our younger hitters emulate such a strategy once they see it day by day.”
In return, Canha permits the Tigers to deal with an offensive want and not using a long-term contract or testing a skinny free-agent market. His contract has an $11.5 million membership choice for subsequent season, which the Brewers appeared unlikely to choose up however the Tigers will.
The Tigers took benefit of the state of affairs by buying him for Holub, a Fifteenth-round Draft decide in 2021 who emerged as a reduction prospect this 12 months whereas serving to Double-A Erie to its first-ever Japanese League title. The 6-foot-6 right-hander posted a 3.03 ERA and eight saves in 48 appearances between Erie and Excessive-A West Michigan, hanging out 76 batters over 65 1/3 innings. With two different large, hard-throwing right-handed relievers on the similar degree in Tyler Mattison and RJ Petit, the Tigers felt they’d the depth to swing a deal.
“I didn’t need to commerce Blake. He’s a gifted younger reliever who has an opportunity to pitch in a Main League bullpen sooner or later,” Harris stated. “However on this recreation, it’s important to hand over one thing to get one thing. I feel that on this case, our participant improvement group deserves numerous credit score right here. They helped Blake take an enormous step ahead this 12 months. [Vice president of player development] Ryan Garko and his employees helped him get within the zone, his stuff improved and he put collectively a very nice 12 months that made him a helpful commerce chip for us to exit and purchase Mark.”
The Tigers will plug Canha right into a predominantly left-handed outfield group that features Riley Greene, Kerry Carpenter, Parker Meadows and Akil Baddoo. One other left-handed-hitting outfielder, Austin Meadows, has yet another 12 months of crew management however might be a non-tender candidate. The Canha commerce may additionally permit Matt Vierling, one other right-handed outfielder, to focus extra on third base, the place he performed for a very good stretch of the summer season.
“I feel it’s a bit of early within the offseason to really forecast taking part in time. We’ve numerous time left within the offseason to reshape our crew,” Harris stated. “I view my job as making an attempt to make [manager A.J. Hinch’s] life tougher, making an attempt to make his selections rather more troublesome. I feel we made it tougher at this time, and I intend to maintain doing that and we’ll let A.J. put all of the items collectively. He’s fairly good at that.”
