The Tigers appear set for a roster move, as left-hander Zach Logue is in the clubhouse this morning while fellow southpaw Joey Wentz does not have a locker, tweets Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press. Chris McCosky of the Detroit News tweets that Detroit is set to make a 40-man roster move to add Logue prior to this afternoon’s game against the Rangers. Wentz, notably, has a minor league option remaining, so he’s not necessarily the 40-man roster casualty for this move.
Logue, 27, was a December waiver claim out of the Athletics organization, less than one year after Oakland acquired him in a four-player package that sent Matt Chapman to Toronto. The 2017 ninth-rounder was coming off a solid year between Double-A and Triple-A at the time of the swap but was clobbered for a 6.79 ERA in his first 57 MLB frames in 2022, to say nothing of a similarly concerning 8.12 ERA in 78 2/3 frames at Triple-A last year.
The Tigers wound up passing Logue through waivers themselves after initially claiming him, which allowed them to send him to Triple-A Toledo to begin the season without occupying a spot on the 40-man roster. It’s been a tough year for Logue with the Mud Hens, however. In 15 appearances (13 of them starts), he’s totaled 51 2/3 innings and been tagged for a grisly 5.92 ERA with a below-average 21.6% strikeout rate and a higher-than-average 12.4% walk rate.
Logue’s last appearance came out of the bullpen, but he tossed 87 pitches in a game as recently as June 20, so if the Tigers need him to make a spot start he should be able to do so without any real pitch restrictions. That said, he could also just add some length to the bullpen after what’s been a taxing week for Detroit’s relief corps. The Tiger bullpen had to cover 8 1/3 innings Monday after Matthew Boyd departed his start in the first inning. (Boyd later required Tommy John surgery.) Tigers relievers Mason Englert, Brendan White and Garrett Hill have all had outings of 40-plus pitches over the past three days. Infielder Jonathan Schoop took the mound and recorded the final four outs in last night’s blowout loss to Texas.
A 4 2/3-inning start from Wentz yesterday contributed to that bullpen workload, and short starts have unfortunately been all too common for the former top prospect as he tries to establish himself in the Detroit rotation. The 25-year-old Wentz, acquired from the Braves as part of the Shane Greene trade, has pitched 71 2/3 innings this season but been hammered for a 6.78 ERA in that time. Wentz has fanned 20% of his opponents against a 9.4% walk rate — both worse than league-average marks but neither seeming indicative of struggles of this magnitude.
However, Wentz is also allowing an average exit velocity of 90.6 mph and an opponents’ barrel rate of 11.2%, both of which align with his glaring home run issues this year. Wentz is averaging 2.01 homers per nine innings pitched, and paired with a somewhat elevated walk rate, it’s been a recipe for disaster. He’s only completed six innings twice in 15 starts, and six of his past eight starts have fallen shy of five innings.
With Wentz at least temporarily dropped from the rotation, the Tigers’ already muddled starting staff now even further lacks clarity. Rookie Reese Olson is taking the ball today and will be followed by veteran Michael Lorenzen tomorrow. The Tigers welcomed Matt Manning back from the injured list this week, and he’ll fill a third spot. However, Detroit starters Eduardo Rodriguez, Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal, Spencer Turnbull, Alex Faedo, Beau Brieske and the previously mentioned Boyd are all on the injured list. Manning is lined up to start Sunday’s game, but the Tigers’ Saturday starter is listed as TBD. If Logue isn’t needed in relief prior to that point, he’d presumably be one option to take that start. Petzold wrote yesterday that Skubal could be back as early as the first week of July, which would add a much-needed quality arm to that beleaguered staff.