Detroit Tigers should sign these two players as depth options

Detroit Tigers executive vice president of baseball operations and general manager Al Avila could do with more depth signings. Here are two fits in Christhian Adames and Kevin Jepsen.

Detroit Tigers fans have seen plenty of impact players leave town since Opening Day 2017.

With a list of departures that includes Justin Verlander, J.D. Martinez, Justin Upton, Alex Avila, Justin Wilson, Andrew Romine, Alex Presley and Anibal Sanchez, Detroit has had plenty of players to replace.

While some players like Verlander, Martinez and Upton will be near impossible to replace like-for-like, the Tigers have been adding some minor league free agents to help add some depth.

Ideally, some of these signings will pair with the Tigers’ more advanced prospects to help the club stay somewhat competitive.

Moving forward, the team should look into signing more depth pieces.

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In a perfect world, some of these players could become a contributor or even an eventual trade chip for Detroit.

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

Once again, this is all speculative mind you, but here are two hypothetical depth adds for the Detroit Tigers.

Christhian Adames

The Detroit Tigers are in need of a new utility infielder to replace the departed Andrew Romine.

That could very well be Dixon Machado, but if starting shortstop Jose Iglesias or second baseman Ian Kinsler are traded, Machado is perhaps the only Major-League ready replacement in the system.

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If Machado is an everyday player in 2018, Detroit will obviously have a hole to fill on the bench.

One potential solution could be Christhian Adames.

Still just 26-years-old, Adames has played in 166 games (343 plate appearances) at the Major League level.

While he only saw 14 plate appearances worth of action in 2017 with the Colorado Rockies, the infielder appeared in 121 games in 2016.

That season also saw him rack up 256 plate appearances while playing across the infield.

Adames’ career numbers at the plate in a Rockies’ uniform aren’t anything to write home about (38 wRC+ and a .296 wOBA).

However, he recently notched a 95 wRC+ and a .198 ISO in 362 plate appearances for Colorado’s Triple-A squad in 2017.

A middle infielder who can provide pop can provide plenty of value. Because of this, Adames would be a useful depth piece to stash at Toledo.

Kevin Jepsen

Kevin Jepsen is just two years removed from registering a 2.33 ERA and a 3.54 FIP for the Tampa Bay Rays and Minnesota Twins in 2016.

While he struggled mightily in 2016, incidentally with both Tampa Bay and Minnesota, the right-hander is exactly the kind of buy-low candidate the Tigers should be targeting in free agency.

In 2017, he showed in a 23.2 inning stint with Washington’s Triple-A squad that he can still be somewhat effective.

The veteran reliever posted a 3.89 xFIP and 11.03 strikeouts per nine innings.

As a potential member of Toledo’s bullpen, Detroit should take a flier on Jepsen to see if he can regain his past form.

Next: Prospects recently added to 40-man who could make the team

After all, Tampa Bay previously deal the reliever to Minnesota, netting current big leaguer Chih-Wei Hu as well as pitching prospect Alexis Tapia in the process.