Once again, left-handed reliever Andrew Chafin has signed with the Detroit Tigers. This time it’s a minor league deal that will allow the club to evaluate him in camp without commitment. Should the Tigers add him to the active roster, the 34-year-old southpaw will earn $2.5 million plus another $1.5 million in incentives are available, along with a $250,000 assignment bonus. Chafin signed a one-year deal worth $4.75 million with the Tigers last year before being traded to the Texas Rangers at the trade deadline.
Chafin is a veteran of 11 major league seasons since getting selected with the 43rd overall pick in the 2011 amateur draft out of Kent State. He first pitched for the Tigers in 2022, posting a 2.83 ERA/3.06 FIP combination. He signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2023 and was traded at the deadline to the Milwaukee Brewers before Scott Harris re-signed him heading into the 2024 season.
The reason he’s lasted so long is pretty simple. Chafin can get either-handed hitters out effectively, and he continues to rack up a lot of punchouts. What he hasn’t done well is transition to new teams after getting traded. The deal from Arizona to Milwaukee came right amidst a health scare with a child, so no surprise he wasn’t sharp under those circumstances.
In 2024, Chafin pitched well for the Tigers again. He racked up a 30.9 percent strikeout rate, and just quietly did his thing, putting up a 3.16 ERA/2.54 FIP combination. His walk rates have ticked higher with other teams, perhaps as a function of weaker pitch framing at the bottom of the zone where he tends to live, but with the Tigers he’s thrived in both tours with the club despite his overall walk rates even in Detroit slowly ticking up over time.
After getting dealt to the Texas Rangers for pitching prospect Joseph Montalvo and side-arm reliever Chase Lee, Chafin struggled again with a new club. His walk rates soared and he gave up far more home runs with the Rangers as well. However, his stuff is undiminished. The slider remains an outstanding weapon, and he’s basically averaged 92 mph with his sinker and lesser used fourseamer for four seasons now. He’ll have another opportunity to get right in Detroit this spring. There is an ongoing trend developing where even with the Tigers his walk rates have climbed over the last few years, but the strikeout rate and ability to limit damage, particularly with the Tigers, says he should still be effective this year.
While not a major move, this is just an easy dunk for Scott Harris. A.J. Hinch and Chris Fetter know Chafin well by now, and he’s clearly well liked and generally quite effective. There just isn’t a big market for veteran lefty relievers, and often teams prefer to try internal options before spending any money on a non-elite southpaw reliever. Frankly there are a lot of teams who just whiffed with Chafin just sitting there a week into camp without a deal. If someone wants to check and see how many teams have two dependable left-handers who routinely punch out 30 percent of hitters faced, I will bet you can count them on one hand.
The process is simple. Chafin pitches well with the Tigers, then ends up with a team who don’t use him particularly well, his numbers suffer, and once again he’s available to come back to Detroit and thrive some more. Last summer he got the Tigers a pretty decent looking starting pitching prospect, and a reliever in Chase Lee who might play a small role this season. Now he’s back again to help out and perhaps once again end up as minor trade bait at the deadline.
Do the Tigers really need him?
That’s a little more debatable. Tyler Holton isn’t used like a traditional lefty reliever, going just one inning and facing left-handed hitters as much as possible. Instead he’s a jack of all trades and one of the most valuable relievers in the game as a result.
Having two more lefties of the more normal, one inning role, variety isn’t a bad idea. Right now the Tigers have Sean Guenther, who was a brief revelation late in the season, as their likeliest second left-hander behind Holton. However, Guenther’s numbers show some pretty extreme luck in his favor in terms of batted balls, and he’s not likely to put up too many strikeouts.
Brant Hurter was so solid last season in a bulk innings/long reliever role, that the Tigers may well want him to continue starting and work out of Toledo for a while until the rotation or the bullpen needs help.
Both Guenther and Hurter have all their options remaining. So Chafin should immediately have an inside track to an Opening Day job with the Tigers’ bullpen as long as he can get up to speed in time. For a veteran who doesn’t rely on overpowering velocity anyway, that’s probably not a problem. He’ll join Tommy Kahnle and John Brebbia as the offseason free agent additions to a bullpen that is looking very deep even before the Tigers dip into their stockpile of young pitchers trying to break into the major leagues after making their debuts last year.
The minor league deal covers the Tigers in case he’s in rough shape entering camp, but the odds are quite good that Chafin will be in the Tigers pen for the third time in four years on Opening Day.