Jake Rogers trade officially puts Tigers-Astros Justin Verlander trade in rearview

The Detroit Tigers made a roster move on Tuesday by designating catcher Jake Rogers for assignment (and he was traded to the Orioles on Thursday for a prospect). The move means that there are now no players remaining in the organization from the team’s blockbuster Justin Verlander trade with the Houston Astros back in 2017.

The Tigers got prospects Franklin Pérez, Dax Cameron, and Rogers out of the deal. It turned out to be a pretty terrible trade from Detroit’s perspective, as none of those guys really turned into anything at the big league level.

Pérez, a right-handed pitcher, never made it to the big leagues and in fact never made it beyond High-A ball. Injuries unfortunately played a big role in limiting his career as he underwent a shoulder surgery that he never bounced back from. He’s now out of ranked baseball altogether and last played in an independent league back in 2024.

Cameron played 73 games for Detroit from 2020 to 2022 and had a slash line of .201/.266/.330 with five home runs and 24 runs batted in. Detroit put him on waivers in 2022 and he bounced around from team to team, playing for the Baltimore Orioles, Athletics, and Milwaukee Brewers. He was in the KBO earlier this year but recently signed a minor league deal with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Rogers was the last remnant of that Verlander deal, and he, too, never really materialized into much with the Tigers. Over six seasons, he hit .197/.270/.379 with 47 home runs and 138 runs batted in.

He was a perennial backup catcher, so it makes sense why the Tigers moved on from him. But it would have been kind of fitting if Verlander pitched one last start and was caught by Rogers.

Verlander has outlasted all of the prospects he was traded for

The great irony of it all is that Verlander is now back with Detroit all these years later and he has stayed in the big leagues long enough to outlast the guys he was traded for.

Looking back, the Tigers have to regret the deal because Verlander was so beloved by Tigers fans and had done so many great things in a Tigers uniform. Then they traded him for three guys who did not really do much of anything for Detroit.

Who knows how Tigers history would be different had they not pulled the trigger on that trade, but the Rogers DFA is a reminder of that controversial deal nearly a decade after it was made. At least Verlander will close out his career where it all began.

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