Detroit Tigers reportedly sign Niko Goodrum and Kevin Comer

Detroit Tigers executive vice president of baseball operations and general manager Al Avila has reportedly added two intriguing depth pieces in Niko Goodrum and Kevin Comer.

Detroit Tigers fans could see a number of new faces next season.

With a rebuild in full swing, the Tigers are in the midst of jettisoning a number of veteran pieces in an attempt to get younger.

During the season, starting pitcher Justin Verlander, outfielders J.D. Martinez and Justin Upton, catcher Alex Avila and closer Justin Wilson were traded.

Since the season ended, Detroit bought out Anibal Sanchez, while also removing a number of players from the team’s 40-man roster.

Among the players removed from the 40-man roster include catcher Bryan Holaday, pitchers Jeff Ferrell, Myles Jaye and Kyle Ryan, first baseman Efren Navarro, utility player Andrew Romine and outfielders Jim Adduci, Tyler Collins and Alex Presley.

Moving forward, it certainly wouldn’t be a surprise to see Detroit add young players to fill in as depth pieces.

According to a tweet from The Detroit News’ Chris McCosky, the Tigers have added a pair of young players.

McCosky tweeted the following on Thursday afternoon:

“Confirmed Tigers have signed former Twins utility player Niko Goodrum to a minor league contract. Also signed RHP Kevin Comer.”

McCosky would later go on to report in a tweet that both players signed minor league deals with the Tigers.

Kevin Comer

As it would happen, Comer himself announced in a tweet on Friday that he was joining the Detroit Tigers orginization.

The right-hander was the 57^th-overall pick in 2011 by the Toronto Blue Jays.

However he has spent most of his minor league career in the Houston Astros’ minor league system.

A former starting pitcher, Comer transitioned to the bullpen full time, producing some excellent results along the way.

In 63.2 innings for Houston’s Triple-A club in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, the reliever was a bit unlucky as his BABIP finished at .367.

Still, he struck out 10.46 batters per nine innings to go along with a 3.68 ERA and a 3.78 FIP.

The right-hander surrendered just 0.71 home runs per nine frames while notching a 72.8% strand rate.

It certainly wouldn’t be a surprise to see Comer develop into a consistent contributor for the Tigers. The bullpen is in flux, to say the least and the former Astros farmhand certainly has shown he can consistently record outs.

If the season started today, and this is purely speculative mind you, only Shane Greene, Alex Wilson, Daniel Stumpf and perhaps Joe Jimenez would be assured roster spots in the bullpen.

That should leave plenty of room for Comer to crack the Major League roster at some point next season.

Coincidentally, we here at Motor City Bengals actually wrote last week about Comer being an intriguing depth piece that the Tigers should take a flier on.