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The Detroit Tigers tendered contracts to “all remaining unsigned players” currently on their 40-man roster on Monday, a procedural move announced before the December 2 deadline to finalize contracts for players already under organizational control.
More commonly referred to as the “non-tender deadline,” Monday was the last chance for MLB teams to tender contracts to players currently on their 40-man rosters. For the Tigers, this includes everyone except Miguel Cabrera and Jordan Zimmermann. Many of those players will make close to the MLB minimum salary in 2020, save for five-arbitration eligible players: Matthew Boyd, Michael Fulmer, Daniel Norris, Buck Farmer, and JaCoby Jones. Four other players that were originally eligible for arbitration — Blaine Hardy, John Hicks, Drew VerHagen, and Daniel Stumpf — were previously cut loose. Dario Agrazal, Marcos Diplan, and Troy Stokes Jr. did not play for a Tigers affiliate in 2019, but have since been added to the roster.
The Tigers’ 40-man roster currently sits at 39 players. They have not been linked to any free agents thus far, but the market generally starts to pick up in December as the MLB Winter Meetings draw closer. We will preview the Meetings in-depth at a later point, but expect the Tigers to be busy; even over the past couple years, they have gotten a lot done in early December under general manager Al Avila.
Monday’s deadline also saw a number of players from other teams cut loose. Many of those players underperformed in 2019, or were non-tendered because of an estimated rise in salary through arbitration. Former All-Stars Jesus Aguilar, Blake Treinen, Aaron Sanchez, and Addison Russell are among the bigger names now finding new homes, with Aguilar and former Orioles infielder Jonathan Villar already landing with the Miami Marlins.
There were 40 players eligible for arbitration who were non-tendered today. Last year, that number was 27. The year before, 19.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 3, 2019
Teams are clearly being aggressive with tenders, recognizing that if there is better value on the open market, using the arb system is not necessary.
Here is the Tigers’ current 40-man roster:
Right-handed pitchers: Dario Agrazal, Beau Burrows, Anthony Castro, Jose Cisnero, Marcos Diplan, Buck Farmer*, Michael Fulmer*, Kyle Funkhouser, Bryan Garcia, Joe Jimenez, David McKay, Franklin Perez, John Schreiber, Spencer Turnbull, Jordan Zimmermann
Left-handed pitchers: Tyler Alexander, Matthew Boyd*, Matt Hall, Daniel Norris*, Gregory Soto
Catchers: Grayson Greiner, Jake Rogers
Infielders: Sergio Alcantara, Miguel Cabrera, Jeimer Candelario, Harold Castro, Willi Castro, Brandon Dixon, Dawel Lugo, Isaac Paredes, Ronny Rodriguez
Outfielders: Daz Cameron, Travis Demeritte, Niko Goodrum, Derek Hill, JaCoby Jones*, Victor Reyes, Christin Stewart, Troy Stokes Jr.
*Denotes arbitration-eligible player