The Tigers announced that four of their players have cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Toledo. They are left-hander Zach Logue, right-hander Ángel De Jesus, catcher Mario Feliciano and infielder Andy Ibáñez. Logue and De Jesus were designated for assignment last month. The Tigers had not previously announced that either Feliciano or Ibanez had been placed on waivers. Detroit’s 40-man roster is now at 38 players.
Logue, 27 in April, looked like a potential back-of-the-rotation starter this time last season, when he was one of four players traded from Toronto to Oakland in the Matt Chapman deal. He made his big league debut with the A’s, starting ten games and adding another four appearances out of the bullpen. The former ninth-round pick got out to a nice start, pitching to a 2.04 ERA in his first 17 2/3 innings, but the wheels came off shortly thereafter.
The Mariners torched Logue for seven runs on May 23, and from that point through season’s end he yielded 39 runs in 39 1/3 big league innings. Things didn’t go any better during a disastrous Triple-A run that saw Logue record an ERA north of 8.00. Oakland designated Logue for assignment last month, and the Tigers picked him up via waiver claim. They can now keep him in the organization without dedicating a 40-man roster spot to him.
Grisly as those results are, Logue is a reasonably young lefty who sported a 3.32 ERA through 17 Triple-A starts as recently as 2021. He also has a pair of minor league options remaining, so if he pitches his way back into 40-man consideration, he’ll give the Tigers some rotation depth with a good bit of flexibility.
De Jesus, 25, also made his big league debut in 2022, tossing 12 2/3 innings out of the Detroit ’pen. He yielded only three runs on nine hits and four walks in that time, though De Jesus also fanned just seven hitters (13%) while benefiting from a .179 average on balls in play during that tiny sample. He spent the bulk of the 2022 season with Triple-A Toledo, where he notched a 4.15 ERA in 47 2/3 innings out of the bullpen. De Jesus has never ranked among the Tigers’ top prospects but does have a lengthy track record of solid results in the minors.
The 24-year-old Feliciano, like Logue, was claimed off waivers by the Tigers this season (although from the Brewers, not the A’s). He’s appeared in three big league games with Milwaukee and gone 1-for-4 in that time. Feliciano spent the vast majority of the 2022 season in Triple-A Nashville, batting .274/.326/.386 with six homers in 311 trips to the plate. Feliciano has plus bat-to-ball skills, evidence by a 16% strikeout rate in Triple-A, but he rarely walks and is regarded as a sub-par defender behind the plate.
Ibanez, 29, is yet another offseason waiver claim, coming over from the Rangers in early November. Once a prospect of some note when he originally left Cuba, Ibanez has spent parts of two seasons in the big leagues with Texas. He hit fairly well in 2021 (.277/.321/.435) but cratered with a .218/.273/.277 batting line in 128 plate appearances this past season. The dip in production carried over to Triple-A as well, but on the whole, the 29-year-old Ibanez has a solid .288/.358/.456 batting line in just shy of 1500 plate appearances at the minor leagues’ top level. He’s primarily a second baseman and third basemen but also has brief experience at first base, shortstop and in left field.