Detroit Tigers Sign Humberto Quintero To Minors Deal

Detroit Tigers catcher James McCann is out injured. The team called up Bobby Wilson to take his roster spot. Now, Detroit has signed Humberto Quintero to replace Wilson at Triple-A.

Detroit Tigers general manager Al Avila made a conscious effort to improve the team’s catching depth during the offseason. Avila brought in Jarrod Saltalamacchia to serve as a backup to regular starter James McCann.

With McCann currently on the disabled list, the man known as Salty has been forced into the spotlight. It is safe to say that Saltalamacchia has thrived.

In the week since McCann went down, his replacement’s play has been stellar. The catcher has provided added length to the batting order with his power, not to mention a number of clutch home runs.

While that has been a definite positive with McCann sidelined, the Tigers did have to dip into the team’s catch depth to fill out the roster. Bobby Wilson, the defensive-minded backstop acquired as part of the Bryan Holaday trade, had his contract selected from Triple-A Toledo. 

With Wilson in Detroit, Drew Longley and Miguel Gonzalez were left as the remaining catchers at the Triple-A level. Longley has yet to appear at the Major League level, while Gonzalez only has five big league games under his belt. In other words, depth was needed.

Enter Humberto Quintero.

The 36-year-old veteran was signed to a minor-league deal on Tuesday, the Tigers announced via the team’s official Twitter account.

Quintero has plenty of experience in the Majors. He’s appeared in parts of 12 big league seasons, never starting more than 88 games. The veteran started those 88 games with the Astros in 2010. In fact, most of the catcher’s career came in Houston, where he spent seven seasons.

One of the main reasons that the 36-year-old probably never started was due to the presence of a certain Brad Ausmus. Quintero spent four straight seasons from 2005 to 2008 behind Ausmus on the depth chart.

With the signing of the backstop, the Tigers have now acquired a second player in two years that has played with Ausmus. Last year, Detroit brought in another former teammate of the manager in starting pitcher Randy Wolf.

Quintero’s Career Numbers

For his career, the now-current Toledo Mud Hen is a .234 hitter with a .594 OPS. He has accumulated 127 RBI, 95 runs scored, 61 doubles, 20 home runs and two triples in 471 career games.

Quintero’s best season came in 2011 when he hit .240 with 25 RBI, 22 runs scored, 12 doubles, two home runs and a triple. As he’s generally played as a reserve, the catcher’s career WAR is only 2.1.

The 12-year veteran last saw action in the majors with the Seattle Mariners in 2014. Quintero only played in three games last season, but he also logged 22 games with Seattle in 2013. Seattle’s manager over that span was none other than current Toledo skipper Lloyd McClendon.

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Quintero will likely serve as a depth piece for the Tigers.