Detroit Tigers: Brandon Barnes, Travis Snider would be useful depth adds

Detroit Tigers executive vice president of baseball operations and general manager Al Avila could do with more depth signings. Here are two fits in Brandon Barnes and Travis Snider.

Detroit Tigers have seen plenty of changes since Opening Day of the 2017 season.

Players like Justin Verlander, Alex Avila, J.D. Martinez, Justin Upton, Andrew Romine and Justin Wilson have all departed.

Most of the aforementioned players were traded during the regular season.

However, Romine headed up a list of players removed from Detroit’s 40-man roster during the winter who are no longer with the organization.

The group also includes catcher Bryan Holaday, first baseman Efren Navarro, starting pitcher Myles Jaye, relief pitchers Kyle Ryan and Jeff Ferrell as well as outfielders Alex Presley, Jim Adduci and Tyler Collins.

Moving into the offseason, it wouldn’t be a surprise if more Tigers players moved to different organizations.

Second baseman Ian Kinsler, shortstop Jose Iglesias and bullpen arms Alex Wilson and Shane Greene are conceivable trade chips.

While it remains to be seen just what Al Avila and the rest of the front office will do in the coming months, Detroit could do with some added depth pieces.

Ideally some of these players could conceivably become a contributor or even an eventual trade chip for the Tigers.

At worst, they’d be useful players to stash at Triple-A Toledo.

Brandon Barnes

A former sixth-round pick of the Houston Astros in 2005, Barnes’ numbers in the Majors (.645 OPS, 68 wRC+ in 1,253 plate appearances) don’t jump off the page.

However, he could be an intriguing depth add to stash at Triple-A Toledo.

In 1,397 plate appearances at the minors’ highest level, Barnes owns a .747 OPS to go along with 119 extra-base hits and 59 stolen bases.

Last season, he logged a .751 OPS, 55 runs scored, 49 RBI, 22 doubles, 15 stolen bases, 11 home runs and a pair of triples.

Barnes’ ability to bring pop and speed to the table would be useful to have at the ready in Toledo should the need arise in the Majors for a bench piece.

The 31-year-old could also bring value defensively. In 1,265.2 innings defensively in center field, the veteran owns a +12 DRS, an 8.5 UZR/150 and a 2.8 ARM.

Travis Snider

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Snider hasn’t appeared in a Major League game since 2015, but he has amassed 1,971 career plate appearances at the games highest level.

He’s also coming off an extremely-productive 2017 season in Triple-A. The outfielder hit .296 with a .375 on-base percentage, a .432 slugging percentage and an .807 OPS. He also added 59 runs scored, 52 RBI, 26 doubles and 10 home runs.

A left-handed hitter, the former Blue Jay would provide executive vice president of baseball operations and general manager Al Avila with some outfield depth.

Snider has registered just 38 plate appearances at Comerica Park in his career, but he owns an .820 OPS in Detroit.

In his career, the outfielder owns lifetime OPS stats north of .715 against Minnesota (1.385 in 54 plate appearances), Cleveland (.864 in 63 plate appearances) and Chicago (.721 in 61 plate appearances).

Even with the signing of Chad Huffman, Detroit will still head into 2018 with an outfield mix that includes Mikie Mahtook, Nicholas Castellanos, JaCoby Jones and Huffman.

The need is still there. This will be especially true if Castellanos is moved to another position—like, say, first base—at some point in 2018.

Next: Tigers make 4 MiLB signings

It also doesn’t hurt that Snider owns a +16 DRS and a 2.7 UZR/150 in 2,023.2 lifetime defensive innings in left field.

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Detroit Tigers: Brandon Barnes and Travis Snider would be useful depth additions

By Ben Rosener | Nov 26, 2017

Detroit Tigers executive vice president of baseball operations and general manager Al Avila could do with more depth signings. Here are two fits in Brandon Barnes and Travis Snider.

Brandon Barnes

Travis Snider

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