Detroit Tigers: Jermaine Palacios tenure with Tigers ends already

Detroit Tigers infielder Jermaine Palacios elects to be a free agent.

The Detroit Tigers have already lost out on one of their depth additions from the early part of the offseason. Earlier this offseason, President of Baseball Operations Scott Harris started trying to build some depth for the Tigers organization, losing his first addition already.

The Detroit Tigers claimed infielder Jermaine Palacios off of waivers from the Minnesota Twins. There was an assumption he was added to provide organizational depth and be a possible Quad-A player or at least an intriguing option to stash in Triple-A and build some depth for the 2023 season.

After a recent roster move, he elected free agency. The Tigers outrighted him to Toledo to join the Triple-A team. The 26-year-old infielder rejected the assignment and chose to head to the free agent market as a minor league free agent.

It was a short tenure and, in reality, does not mean a whole lot. But for the Tigers, who continue to build organizational depth, it sucks to see a player walk after trying to clear them to the Triple-A squad.

Palacios has logged 30 career games at the MLB level, all of them coming in 2022. He slashed .143/.184/.229 with 27 punchouts over 70 at-bats. He spent the rest of the 2022 season with the Twins Triple-A affiliate, slashing .283/.341/.462 with 28 doubles and 14 RBI.

There was some thought that he would be an infield bat the Tigers were going to be able to stash at the Triple-A level, but in the effort to clear him from the 40-man roster, Palacios had other ideas. He was just one of many players who refused the demotion or elected free agency to create a new pool of minor league free agents.

But, this should not be a massive shock to anyone as the Tigers roster purge was bound to happen sooner or later. Harris made things clear early on and then backed that up in his General Manager Meetings interview out west in Las Vegas.

Things will change with the Tigers organization, so turnover is expected. But turnover from the recently added shortstop likely was not part of what the Tigers had envisioned. But it’s not an earth-shattering move or offseason-altering decision from Palacios.

The Tigers will continue to build depth for the organization moving forward in this young offseason. They just grabbed Andy Ibáñez off of waivers from the Texas Rangers as well, adding another infielder to the mix.