The Detroit Tigers made just two additions to their 40-man roster on Tuesday. Both catcher Dillon Dingler and RHP Wilmer Flores were added today to protect them from the Rule 5 draft in December. A pair of right-handed relievers were designated for assignment. The Tigers also made a small signing, inking outfielder Bligh Madris to a minor league deal.
Dingler and Flores were obvious choices, so no surprises there. Flores is arguably the Tigers second best pitching prospect behind Jackson Jobe, while Dingler is their only real catching prospect in the upper minors and reached the Triple-A level in 2023. The only borderline surprise is that the Tigers opted not to protect lefty relief prospect Andrew Magno, who also briefly reached the Triple-A level this season and could be a useful pickup for a team in December.
Designated for assignment to make space on the 40-man roster were right-handers Freddy Pacheco and Brenan Hanifee. Hanifee was a no-brainer, but Pacheco had Tommy John this summer and was previously a very good relief prospect. Hopefully the Tigers can ink him to a minor league deal and keep him rehabbing with the team with an eye to returning to action late next summer. We’ll see.
The Tigers have announced the following roster moves:
⁰*Selected RHP Wilmer Flores and C Dillon Dingler to the 40-man roster
*Designated RHP’s Brenan Hanifee and Freddy Pacheco for assignment— Tigers PR (@DetroitTigersPR) November 14, 2023
Unprotected went Magno, infield prospect Gage Workman, outfielder Roberto Campos, center fielder Trei Cruz, and first baseman Jake Holton, among the more notable names. We’d be very surprised if anyone but maybe Magno was selected. Of course, getting selected in the Rule 5 draft is one thing, sticking throughout the season on the major league roster is quite another. Probably Magno isn’t ready to do that just yet. The rest just don’t seem like any loss right now, though we wouldn’t mind giving Workman, Campos, and Cruz one more year to see if they can make some progress at the plate.
The Tigers made one other move prior to the 6:00 p.m. ET deadline to finalize the 40-man roster in advance of December’s Rule 5 draft. They signed outfielder Bligh Madris to a minor league deal, taking him from the Houston Astros. The Tigers signed the 27-year-old Madris last offseason as well before flipping him to Houston for cash. He played in 12 games with Houston, but did nothing at the plate and had a miserable year at the Triple-A level as well, so who knows what they see in him. Madris is a left-handed hitter with a modicum of plate discipline, but his contact ability is mediocre and he’s never gotten to significant power. Just a filler move for a system without many true outfielders in the upper minors, presumably.