Tigers finally DFA player who should have never been here in the first place

Scott Harris had made quite a few mistakes in his short tenure as Detroit Tigers president of baseball operations. He's also shown an unwillingness to take huge risks, being afraid that he'll make another mistake. Making mistakes is fine. It's whether you learn from them, and you quickly you realize a mistake has been made.

Well, he may have taken a while to realize it, but trading for Tyler Nevin last offseason was a huge mistake. The Tigers only gave up cash to get him. but he was a AAAA player. The fact that he got so many chances throughout last season over guys like Colt Keith and Justyn-Henry Malloy was just criminal.

Thankfully, Harris finally moved on from this mistake. Nevin was DFA'd Thursday to make room for RHP Devin Sweet, who was claimed off waivers from the Giants.

To say Nevin was a flop would be an understatement. Sure he had a walk rate just shy of 11%, but he had no power, other than a fluke 415-foot blast to dead center early in the season. In 111 plate appearances, he slashed .200/.306/.316 with a 76 wRC+ and a -0.4 fWAR. He was capable of putting up a good at-bat, but just couldn't hit the ball hard whatsoever.

Now, Triple-A was a different story. He slashed .326/.400/.543 with 15 home runs and a 136 wRC+ in Toledo last season. Too good for Triple-A, not good enough for the big leagues. The epitome of a AAAA player.

So what about Devin Sweet? Who cares! Tyler Nevin is gone! Okay, that's just wrong. Anyway, Sweet was anything but in 8.2 IP for Seattle and Oakland. The 27-year-old had a 10.38 ERA and walked over 6 batters per nine innings. Ouch.

However, he has a history of high strikeout numbers in the minors, so it's easy to see why the Tigers and their newfound pitching lab would be interested in him. He throws a fastball/slider/changeup combo. He might get a look in spring training.

Not to rain on everyone's parade, but there's a good chance Nevin still gets a look this spring as well. He'll probably go unclaimed on waivers, and will be outrighted to Triple-A Toledo. It wouldn't surprising if the Tigers invited him to spring training as a non-roster invitee.

So while it's nice to see Nevin finally get the boot, it might only be temporary. We'll see what happens over the coming days.