Detroit Tigers: 3 players who won't be on the roster by May 1
The Detroit Tigers need to make some roster changes
The Detroit Tigers offense is atrocius. Despite a much-needed change at the hitting coach position, the team still ranks dead last in baseball in runs per game. Since they didn't make any outside additions to the lineup this offseason, it's time to look internally.
There are several players currently on the roster they have overstayed their welcome. It's not just the offense, as there a couple pitchers that are on thin ice as well. There are several players in Triple-A that could use a look at the big league level.
The Detroit Tigers need to do something. They can't be this bad once again. With that being said, here are three players that won't be on the roster by May 1.
INF Jonathan Schoop
The is by far the easiest change to make. Schoop is pretty over the hill at this point. He's late on fastballs and can't keep the ball off the ground. I'm not sure what happened, but he's cooked offensively.
Last year, he slashed .202/.239/.322 with a 57 wRC+—the worst in all of baseball. This year, he's hitting .179/.281/.179 with a 41 wRC+ in 12 games. He doesn't have an extra-base hit yet this season.
Defensively, he's still pretty elite at second base, so it would be tough to lose him on that front. But his defense does not justify him being an automatic out at the plate. It would be better to pay him the rest of the $7.5 million to not play for the team at this point.
Zack McKinstry could have been another cut, but his bat has perked up over the past week and a half. He hit a couple of homers last week. He's also solid defensively.
I would love for Justyn-Henry Malloy to take his spot on the roster since he's been crushing it in Toledo, but I have a feeling he's behind a couple of guys. Andy Ibanez and Andre Lipcius are likely to get looks before he does. Either way, the Detroit Tigers need to move on from Jonathan Schoop. They can do better.
OF Akil Baddoo
This one hurts a bit. Baddoo's magical 2021 rookie season was so fun. He gave fans a reason to watch this team, which is something I haven't been say very often the past seven years. But the more I watch him play, the more it's clear that season was a fluke.
He just hasn't been the same player since that season. Big league pitchers have figured him out at the plate. He strikes out and chases a ton. He can still work a walk every now and then and wreak havoc on the basepaths, but he just looks overmatched at the plate in most situations.
Defensively, he's never been very good. Despite his speed, he doesn't play a good outfield. He takes questionable routes and has a brutal throwing arm, which was on full display in Sunday's game against Baltimore where he threw a two-hopper to the cutoff man, allowing the tying run to score.
That play in particular looked very low-effort on his part. He just kind of nonchalantly jogged over to the ball and delivered a terrible throw to Nick Maton. That's the kind of play that gets a player demoted, and that's exactly what I think is going to happen.
He has the options and is not playing well. He's still young, so they can afford to send him down to Triple-A. The only thing I can see preventing thsi from happening is they don't really have anyone internally they can replace him with.
Parker Meadows is off to a rather pedestrian start in Toledo. I don't think Brendon Davis or Jonathan Davis are real options. So you're looking at either calling up an infielder and giving someone like Zach McKinstry some time in the outfield, or you call up Meadows and see how things go.
It's unfortunate given how fun to watch he was in 2021, but the Akil Baddoo experiment could be coming to an end soon. I'm not sure how many more chances he's going to get.
RHP Jose Cisnero
Cisnero is somebody I've been wanting the team to move on from for a while. He just doesn't have it anymore. His velocity isn't the same and he doesn't have a reliable breaking ball or offspeed pitch.
In eight games this season, Cisnero has a 5.14 ERA, an 8.18 FIP, a WAR of -0.4, and has allowed three home runs in seven innings pitched. This is after he came back from a shoulder injury last season and didn't look the same despite good surface numbers.
He hasn't had same the velocity or command since suffering that shoulder injury in spring training in 2022. For some reason. A.J. Hinch continues to run him out there in high-leverage situations, and it has not gone well.
There are plenty of arms in Toledo that can fill Cisnero's spot and actually contribute. Miguel Diaz and Brendan White immediately come to mind. The rest of the bullpen has pitched much better as of late, but Cisnero is still struggling.
Jose Cisnero was a reliable arm out of the Tigers bullpen for a few years, but it looks like those days have passed. It's time to move on and give some other arms a shot.