Detroit Tigers: Mikie Mahtook is perfect example of why team should take fliers on young talent

It’s what good teams do

Good teams around Major League Baseball seem to always be taking fliers on players to add depth.

The reigning World Series champion Chicago Cubs do this, as do the red-hot Los Angeles Dodgers.

These teams find useful contributors to fill out rosters.

Sure, Chicago and Los Angeles have young, impact players that they will continue to build around, but their entire rosters aren’t entirely comprised of young stalwarts.

The team’s respective rosters are partially filled out with under-the-radar additions.

Hector Rondon, who saved 18 games for the Cubs in 2016 and has turned in a SIERA under 3.00 in each of the last three seasons was a Rule 5 draft pick.

Meanwhile, Dodgers’ third baseman Justin Turner, who currently leads the National League with a .336 batting average, signed with Los Angeles in a relatively unheralded deal after three seasons with the Mets.

Infielder and outfielder Chris Taylor, who is sporting a .923 OPS and a 4.5 WAR, in 2017 was acquired from Seattle for a pitcher with 12.2 career innings in the Majors and a 5.23 lifetime ERA at Triple-A.

Boston and Houston

The American League’s best have also acquired talent by buying low on players, in a manner of speaking.

Boston brought in catcher Sandy Leon from the Nationals after Leon had appeared in just 34 games over a three year period for the National League East franchise.

Leon turned in a 2.4 WAR for Boston last season, and is currently splitting time with Christian Vazquez behind the plate for the pennant-chasing Red Sox.

Over in Houston, the American League-leading Astros have two key hurlers on the team’s pitching staff who were acquired via waiver claim.

Right-hander Will Harris was selected off waivers from Arizona, while starter Collin McHugh was snagged off waivers from Colorado.

Harris owns a 2.23 ERA, a 3.07 FIP and 9.3 strikeouts per nine innings in 169.2 frames since joining Houston.

Over in the rotation, McHugh has pitched to a WAR of 3.0 or above in each of the 2014, 2015 and 2016 campaigns.

Waiver claims

One way the Detroit Tigers could add talent is through waiver claims.

With waiver claims, Detroit wouldn’t have to give up any prospects or players in trades to acquire younger talent. The team simply would have to submit a claim.

Dating back to 2015, the Tigers have made few waiver claims. These include Josh Zeid, Marc Krauss, Donn Roach and John Hicks.

Past examples

Zeid turned in a 4.46 ERA, a 1.514 WHIP and 5.0 walks per nine innings in 70.2 frames for Toledo in his lone season in the Detroit organization.

Meanwhile, Krauss helped fill in for Miguel Cabrera in 2015. He collected just five hits in 33 plate appearances, with a .394 OPS while wearing a Detroit uniform.

Roach was successful in five starts for Toledo in 2016 (3.03 ERA, 21 strikeouts in 29.2 innings), but was soon lost on waivers to Oakland.

Hicks has been the only real bright spot of the group, hitting .311 with an .879 OPS, 16 RBI, 11 doubles and four home runs in 110 plate appearances.

That limited playing time has also seen the former Seattle farmhand turn in a 130 wRC+, a .368 wOBA, a .223 ISO and a 0.6 WAR.

Those four examples somewhat summarize waiver claims in general. Many probably aren’t going to stick or work out. However, there are useful contributors to be found.

The more waiver claims a team makes, the more likely they are to hit on a player who can improve the roster.

Detroit Tigers and waiver claims

In terms of claiming players on waivers, a team must have a free 40-man roster spot or else they need to remove a player from the 40-man unit to make room.

As it stands, it isn’t as if the Detroit Tigers have a full 40-man roster.

The team currently has 39 players on the 40-man roster. Detroit could be saving the open roster spot for a prospect not on the roster who will be called up in September.

That being said, the 40-man roster count could conceivably go down as well.

Detroit could try and sneak Arcenio Leon (12.15 ERA in 6.2 innings for Detroit, 5.24 ERA currently for Toledo) or another struggling pitcher through waivers.

Regardless of the state of the 40-man roster, the Tigers should be looking to take fliers on players via waivers.

Considering the Detroit’s low spot in the standings, Al Avila and company are high up the totem pole when it comes to priority for players designated for assignment by other teams.

Depth

The front office should be using this to their advantage to find added depth ahead of the 2018 campaign.

Not only can Detroit find talent via waiver claims, but the team can also find depth pieces via the waiver process.

If a team claims a player who was recently designated for assignment and later designates the same player for assignment, they can try sneaking him through waivers.

Should this happen, the franchise has a depth piece to stash in the high minors.

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The Tigers have been burned by lack of Major-League ready depth in the past, but with waivers claims, the team should be able to add better depth for the future as the team’s reconstruct the roster.