Detroit Tigers catcher Grayson Greiner is a free agent.
After the Tigers removed Greiner from the 40-man roster, the 29-year-old cleared waivers Monday and decided to test the open market. He hit .236 with one home run, seven RBIs, nine walks and 31 strikeouts across 31 games in 2021.
Had the Tigers not cut Greiner, he would have received roughly $800,000 in salary arbitration, according to projections from MLB Trade Rumors. The Tigers decided Greiner wasn’t worth keeping around for that price, so they cut him ahead of Tuesday’s 8 p.m. tender deadline.
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The tender deadline is when teams must decide whether arbitration-eligible players will earn a contract for the 2022 season. The Tigers already decided to non-tender left-hander Matthew Boyd, and they still have choices to make about Jeimer Candelario, Michael Fulmer, Jose Cisnero, Joe Jimenez, Spencer Turnbull, Dustin Garneau, Harold Castro and Victor Reyes.
MORE: Tigers must make decisions about arbitration-eligible players as deadline looms
More importantly, the Tigers’ 40-man roster drops to 38 players. The team has room to add two players ahead of the likely lockout by MLB owners, which would freeze transactions, upon the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday.
The Tigers remain interested in signing a premier shortstop, as well as another starting pitcher.
For now, the Tigers have four catchers on the 40-man roster: Garneau, Tucker Barnhart, Jake Rogers and Eric Haase. If the organization tenders Garneau a contract, he is expected to receive about $1.6 million for his services in 2022.
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Greiner played four years for the Tigers, from 2018-21, after he was drafted in the third round of the 2014 draft from South Carolina. He finished with a .201 batting average, nine home runs, 46 RBIs, 42 walks and 153 strikeouts in 137 games, along with a .274 on-base percentage and .309 slugging percentage.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.