Former Detroit Tigers All-Star Heading To Royals in Trade
While the baseball world waits to see if the Detroit Tigers will trade either Tarik Skubal or Jack Flaherty, a former Tigers All-Star is heading for his fourth team in the last two seasons.
Former Tigers starter Michael Lorenzen was traded from the Texas Rangers to the Kansas City Royals on Monday, a deal that netted the Rangers left-handed pitcher Walter Pennington.
The right-hander signed a one-year deal with Texas just before the season started and has been a solid starter for the Rangers all season. He is 5-6 with a 3.81 ERA and he has 75 strikeouts and 48 walks in 101 2/3 innings.
With the Rangers he filled a void left by the injuries to Max Scherzer, Tyler Mahle and Jacob deGrom. Scherzer, another former Tigers starter, has been back for more than a month, and the Rangers anticipate getting Mahle back soon.
He just pitched in games on Saturday and Sunday for Texas — the first game as a starter and the second game as a reliever.
The Tigers signed him before the 2023 season to a one-year deal worth $8 million and even though he started the season on the injured list he did enough in the first half of the season the represent the Tigers in the All-Star Game.
When Detroit traded him to Philadelphia at last year’s trade deadline he was 5-7 with a 3.58 ERA in 18 starts.
With the Phillies he threw his first career no-hitter in his second start. But he eventually ended up in the bullpen and finished 4-2 with a 5.51 ERA in 11 games (seven starts) for Philadelphia.
The Royals are in contention in the American League Central. Kansas City is 6.5 games back of the front-running Cleveland Guardians and have a one-game cushion for the final AL Wild Card berth.
MATT POSTINS