Detroit Tigers: 4 players who should be out of the picture for 2024

3 of 4

The 2023 season is coming to a close. There's less than one month to go, and the Detroit Tigers are pretty much out of it once again this season. It's time to look ahead to 2024.

The Tigers have been playing lots of Quad-A players — players that are too good for Triple-A but not good enough for the big leagues — for several years now. We hoped that would stop with Scott Harris coming in a team president, but this problem only seems to have gotten worse.

The 2023 season has been one giant tryout session. Many players have gotten the chance to show what they can do — or not do. Mostly the second part.

Scott Harris said last offseason that he wanted to earmark at-bats for young players. By that, I guess he meant 25-27 year old waiver claims and fringe big leaguers, and not prospects that are actually unproven and deserve a shot to play.

But enough rambling, because there are some players that we know aren't any good. We're going to go over those, starting right now.

Here are four Detroit Tigers players who should be out of the picture for 2024

Tyler Nevin

Why is Tyler Nevin back up here AGAIN? He's proven time and time again that he's not a good hitter at the major league level. Sure, he hit that three-run homer to dead center way back in April, but that has been his one highlight in a Detroit Tigers uniform.

Nevin had a career slash line of .188/.297/.269 in 263 major league plate appearances with the Tigers and Orioles. He has a career walk rate of almost 12%, but that's about the only value he provides offensively.

He's an amazing hitter in Triple-A. He's hitting .326 with a 135 wRC+ for the Mud Hens this season. But he cannot hit in the big leagues. He's the epitome of a Quad-A player.

I'm not quite sure why Scott Harris is so fascinated with him, but when he was called-up to replace Riley Greene after he was placed on the 10-day IL over someone like Justyn-Henry Malloy or even Colt Keith, there was a collective groan from the fanbase. What is Nevin going to show you that he hasn't already shown?

There's no question about this one. Tyler Nevin cannot be on this roster in any way, shape, or form in 2024.

Zach McKinstry

Remember when Zach McKinstry had that six-week stretch where he looked like the best leadoff hitter in baseball? He was walking in bunches and just being the most annoying hitter he could possibly be. Well, those days have since passed, and McKinstry has revealed himself to be the player we all thought he was when the Tigers first traded for him.

McKinstry has a slash line of .236/.308/.360 in 454 plate appearances this season. He's completely forgotten how to walk. If he could at least do that, there would be some value.

Pitchers have found that you can just spam breaking balls down and in, and he'll swing every single time. He just can't lay off.

He is decent defensively, and he's a good athlete, but it means pretty much nothing if you can't hit a lick. The Tigers have plenty of other guys in the organization that are more deserving of MLB at-bats than McKinstry.

Zack Short

Personally, I've always kinda liked Zack Short. He's scrappy, has sneaky power, and plays a solid second base. But the fact of the matter is that he's just not a good major league player.

He's good coming off the bench as a pinch-hitter. He has an OPS over 1.000 after coming into the game late. He's actually hitting .315 with runners in scoring position this year as well. He's had some clutch moments this year.

But the Tigers can do better. The overall numbers have never been good. He strikes out a ton.

Could the Tigers do a heck of a lot worse than Zack Short? They can, and have. But that can also do a lot better. Much like McKinstry, there are plenty of other players that deserve a shot over him.

Spencer Turnbull

Yep, we're going there. This entire year has been a disaster on the Spencer Turnbull front.

There was a lot of promise coming into the season as he was coming off Tommy John surgery and showed flashes of dominace in spring training. He got lit up in his first start of the season in Tampa against the Rays. Looking back, that was a sign of things to come.

Turnbull had a 7.26 ERA in seven starts this season before he was optioned to Toledo. Then, he never reported to Toledo and a random neck injury popped up, prompting the Tigers to place him on the IL.

He also mysteriously switched agents during all of this. He is now a Scott Boras client. That's not fishy at all.

He missed about three months. His rehab assignment went pretty poorly. He was getting lit up in Triple-A. Now, he's on the IL again with a cracked fingernail. I'm not joking.

It's pretty clear that Turnbull thinks the Tigers are trying to game his service time and gain an extra year of control. But the way he's going about is so childish. Even if the Tigers were trying to play the service time game, faking injuries to avoid accruing service time is not a good look.

You can kind of tell that A.J. Hinch is done with the drama, and Harris probably isn't far behind. It'd be best for both sides at this point to just move on.

Home / Detroit Tigers News