According to sources familiar with the transaction. Right-hander Kenta Maeda and the Tigers agreed to a two-year $24 million contract on Sunday. Expanding Detroit’s rotation as it looks to improve on a 78-84 record in the competitive American League Central.
Maeda, who will turn 36 two weeks into the season. Joins a Tigers squad that went 39-34 in the second half and had a positive run differential. Matching their first-half win total of 89 games. Detroit was looking for starting pitching depth in the mid-tier market. And Maeda, who was coming off Tommy John surgery. Recorded a 4.23 ERA in 10413 innings for the Minnesota Twins, with 117 strikeouts and 28 walks.
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He joins a rotation that includes left-hander Tarik Skubal. – Who after his July 4 return from flexor-tendon surgery. Had the most FanGraphs Wins Above Replacement of any pitcher in baseball – right-hander. Reese Olson, and right-hander Matt Manning, who is coming off a broken foot.
First baseman Spencer Torkelson hit 31 home runs in 2023. Outfielder Kerry Carpenter looked like a middle-of-the-order bat. And centerfielder Riley Greene – who had Tommy John surgery on his non-throwing elbow in September after injuring himself diving for a catch flashed All-Star potential. Top hitting prospect Colt Keith is expected arrived in 2024. Bringing another potentially impact bat the lineup.
Detroit is hopeful Maeda can recreate his brilliance. After returning from the disabled list with a triceps ailment in late June. Maeda had a 3.39 ERA in his final 16 starts, striking out 98 against 23 walks in 85 innings. If he had a weakness, it was home run balls, which he surrendered 17 of this season.
Cavernous Comerica Park should assist, and Maeda’s most effective seasons — first with the Los Angeles Dodgers after joining them from the Hiroshima Carp, then with the Minnesota Twins after being traded to them — came when he minimised homers.
It shouldn’t hurt to stay in the AL Central. The division-winning Twins intend to reduce their payroll. The Cleveland Guardians return one of baseball’s most threatening rotations, but their offence remains mediocre. Both the Chicago White Sox and the Kansas City Royals have dropped 100 games or more this season and aren’t presently a danger to win the division.
Executives throughout the game expected the Tigers to spend this winter, and they began with Maeda, who joins the Cardinals’ Kyle Gibson (one year, $12 million) and Lance Lynn (one year, $11 million), as well as the Braves’ Reynaldo Lopez (three years, $30 million) in the $10 million-12 million-a-year group.
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