Detroit Tigers: Jonathan Schoop resigns for one-year deal

The Detroit Tigers bring back Jonathan Schoop on a one year, $4.5 million dollar deal reported first by the Atheltic. Last season, Schoop put up a slash line of .278/.324/.475 with eight home runs with an OPS+ of 115 and finished with a 1.4 fWAR. He does take a slight pay cut from last season in which he made $6.1 million dollars To make room for him on the roster, the Tigers designated Travis Demeritte for assignment.

Whether you believe in reading in between the “tea leaves”, this tweet from Cody Stavenhagen points out a phrase here from the press release from Schoop.

Here’s Jonathan Schoop on resigning with the Tigers, from the team release. Interesting line about “defensive versatility” pic.twitter.com/l5mrfsHjrG
— Cody Stavenhagen (@CodyStavenhagen) February 5, 2021

The Tigers currently do not have a first baseman but based on what we saw last season, it could be possible that Jeimer Candelario could start at first and Isaac Paredes, who I thought would get an opportunity to play at second this year, could start at third. Manager AJ Hinch has talked about player versatility throughout the off-season. Schoop has played 22 games at short and 17 at third in his eight seasons. Could Schoop see time elsewhere? We shall see but worth noting.

So what about Niko Goodrum? Hinch is a fan of Goodrum’s defense and before the Schoop signing, it could have been possible he could have started at second base like he did when Schoop missed time due to injury in 2020. Defensively, he can play all over the diamond and Hinch has stated he will use him wherever Detroit will need him so for now, it appears Willi Castro and Jonathan Schoop are your double-play combo.

Alcantara goes to the north side of Chicago

Sergio Alcantara was picked up by the Cubs this afternoon. He was DFA to make room for Wilson Ramos. As noted by Evan Woodbery of Mlive.com, he was the third Tiger player picked up in waivers this off-season.