Tigers DFA once-promising infielder as Scott Harris roster churn continues

Detroit Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris loves to turn over that last spot on the 40-man roster. He's pretty trigger happy when it comes to claiming other teams' roster fodder. Up until this point, it hadn't really come at the cost of anybody we cared about. That was, until today.

The Tigers have claimed Buddy Kennedy off waivers from the Cardinals and designated INF Andre Lipcius for assignment.

Now I'm sure everyone's first question is something along the lines of "who the heck is Buddy Kennedy?" Well, we're here to tell you. Kennedy was drafted in the fifth round by Arizona in 2017. His big league numbers to this point have been pretty awful. He has a career .592 OPS in 107 at-bats.

His minor league numbers are likely why the Tigers claimed him. He has a career .380 OBP in the minors. He can draw himself a walk. The Tigers love to take chances on guys like this.

The next question you're probably going to ask is simply, why? Why Andre Lipcius? After all, he essentially has the same profile as Kennedy, and he's already on the roster. Why get rid of depth for arguably worse depth?

I wish I had a good answer for that. Would Lipcius have made the Opening Day roster? Probably not, but he's good to have around in the minors. He also put up solid numbers in a 38 PA sample with the Tigers last year, slashing .286/.342/.400 with a 107 wRC+. I'd take that over whatever Kennedy can do (which isn't much) any day.

There's always a chance Lipcius could clear waivers. But because he's shown the ability to put up quality at-bats. I think a team takes a flier on him. He's not anything special, but he's good depth, something this regime has been trying to get more of. This move seems like a step backward in the department.