Detroit Tigers Veteran Infielder Poised to Hit Free Agency This Week
The Detroit Tigers and Gio Urshela are one step away from parting ways after he cleared outright waivers on Sunday.
The Tigers announced the move at the same time they announced that outfielder Riley Greene was being activated from the 10-day injured list as the 27th player for Sunday’s Little League Classic game with the New York Yankees.
Urshela had already been designated for assignment. By clearing waivers, it means that no team put in a claim and no team was interested in a potential trade.
The 32-year-old Urshela has one final step before he can hit free agency and that is to clears release waivers. If a player clears outright waivers, that tends to be a formality.
At that point he would be free to sign a deal with any club for a pro-rated salary the rest of the season. He signed a $1.5 million, one-year deal with Detroit in the offseason.
Urshela was caught in the Tigers’ youth movement in the infield on Friday, as they selected the contracts of infielders Jace Jung and Trey Sweeney. That necessitated moves on their 40-man and 26-man roster.
Along with designating Urshela for assignment, the Tigers optioned Akil Baddoo to Triple-A Toledo. The expectation is that Sweeney and Jung will get the majority of playing time at shortstop and third base, respectively, as Detroit assesses their roles for 2025.
He signed with Detroit in the offseason and it was his fourth team in four years. He played in 92 games and slashed .243/.286/.333/.619 with five home runs and 37 RBI.
Urshela’s value after last season was down after he dealt with injuries during the 2023 season as he was only able to play in 62 games. But he still slashed .299/.329/.374/.703 with two home runs and 24 RBI.
From 2019-22 he played for the New York Yankees (2019-21) and the Minnesota Twins (2022) and averaged .290 with 54 home runs and 217 RBI. That made him a valuable middle infielder before he hit the free-agent market after the Yankees traded him to the Twins before the 2022 season.
He broke into the Majors in 2015 with the Cleveland Guardians, as he played 81 games that season and batted .225 with six home runs and 21 RBI.
The Guardians sent him back to Triple-A Columbus in 2016 before he returned to the Majors in 2017 and played 67 games and batted .224 with one home run and 15 RBI.
He played thee 2018 season with Toronto after the Guardians traded him and he managed 19 games with the Blue Jays before he was traded again, this time to the Yankees. That season, he put himself on the map with a .314 batting average and a career-high 21 home runs.
MATT POSTINS