Within the 5 days between the World Sequence and the beginning of free company, there’s loads of paperwork to do — exercising or declining choices, finding out 40-man roster spots, that kind of factor — earlier than a group begins the offseason in earnest. Generally, that shuffling reveals a touchdown spot for a participant who was going to be turned unfastened anyway, and we get a commerce.
Mark Canha, your pleasant neighborhood on-base machine, is headed from Milwaukee to Detroit, with 25-year-old Double-A reliever Blake Holub headed in the other way.
Canha is moving into his mid-30s, however he’s nonetheless an excellent participant. He hit .262/.355/.400 final season (a 111 wRC+), together with .287/.373/.427 (120 wRC+) in 50 video games after being traded to the Brewers on the deadline. He doesn’t have excellent energy for a nook outfielder, however he can take a stroll and wears a pitch in addition to anybody within the league. Canha bought plunked 17 instances this previous yr, and has been hit 72 instances prior to now three seasons, which is second-most in baseball. That works out to a .360 OBP since 2021, which is within the high 10% of certified hitters.
Milwaukee parted with minor league pitcher Justin Jarvis in an effort to purchase Canha, however apparently didn’t discover his $11.5 million group choice to be price selecting up. Even with Canha’s age, unremarkable energy and protection, he does an important factor a hitter can do — get on base — very properly, sufficient to make him roughly a mean massive leaguer general. And this present day, $11.5 million over one yr isn’t that a lot to pay for a participant of his abilities.
Nonetheless, the Brewers have been about to let him go, for 2 causes. The primary is that outfield is a place of relative energy for Milwaukee, a minimum of comparatively talking. This comparability is extra amusing than probative, however right here’s how Canha stacks up towards Christian Yelich the previous three seasons:
We Have Mark Canha at House
| Identify | G | PA | HR | R | RBI | BB% | Ok% | AVG | OBP | SLG | wOBA | wRC+ | WAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christian Yelich | 415 | 1778 | 42 | 275 | 184 | 13.3% | 23.3% | .260 | .362 | .404 | .336 | 112 | 7.9 |
| Mark Canha | 420 | 1674 | 41 | 215 | 184 | 10.4% | 18.2% | .252 | .360 | .396 | .336 | 118 | 7.3 |
2021-2023 Seasons
The Brewers additionally need to give at-bats to their youthful outfielders in 2024: Sal Frelick, Joey Wiemer, and Garrett Mitchell. Is Canha higher than a minimum of a few of these guys? Sure. Ought to there nonetheless be a spot for him on Milwaukee’s roster, on condition that he may play first base, and Rowdy Tellez is a left-handed hitter with a giant platoon break up? Additionally sure. For that matter, it wouldn’t be an enormous shock if the Brewers non-tendered Tellez within the subsequent couple weeks, which would depart first base roughly open.
However whereas $11.5 million isn’t that a lot cash for a standard contender, it represents about 9% of what the Brewers spent on payroll final yr. That’s loads for a reasonably good participant at a place the place youthful, cheaper choices can be found internally.
Holub, who is unquestionably a participant you heard of earlier than this commerce, was an honorable point out on Eric Longenhagen’s Tigers prospect listing again in Might. The Tigers made him a fifteenth spherical in choose in 2021 out of St. Edward’s College, a Division II faculty in Texas, and like most Texan pitchers, Holub is giant (6-foot-6, 230 kilos), right-handed, and has an intriguing fastball. Eric studies Holub’s heater at 93-96 mph with plus-plus life, with a vertically oriented slider that pairs properly with the fastball in idea however underwhelms when thought-about in insolation. Holub will even not require a 40-man roster spot till subsequent yr.
This isn’t a adequate return to offset dropping Jarvis to accumulate Canha within the first place, but when Holub can enhance his slider, he might be a helpful massive league reliever. The Brewers have a superb monitor document of growing pitchers over the previous few years, particularly relievers.
Greater than that, getting Holub again is best than letting Canha stroll for nothing, which was apparently the choice. When information of this commerce broke, the primary place my thoughts went was to an analogous deal Detroit made in the summertime of 2022. Not the Tigers, to be clear, Detroit.
It’s been some time since I shoehorned a hockey reference right into a column, so please think about Ville Husso. Within the 2021-22 season, Husso was a 26-year-old second-year backup goalie with the St. Louis Blues. Husso received the beginning job midway by the yr and managed to get into 40 video games, however because of the NHL’s far superior free agent guidelines, he was due for unrestricted free company at season’s finish. St. Louis, with longstanding starter Jordan Binnington locked all the way down to a long-term contract, couldn’t afford to maintain Husso as properly, so that they traded him to the Purple Wings on the draft (which kicks off the NHL offseason) for a third-round choose.
St. Louis bought one thing again for a participant who was about to stroll for nothing, and the Purple Wings have been in a position to land an unique negotiating window with a coveted free agent, and positive sufficient they signed Husso to a three-year extension the identical day. This type of factor occurs on a regular basis in hockey, the commerce of token draft picks for would-be free brokers, and Canha’s group possibility put him in the identical scenario, considerably unusually for a baseball participant.
Why would the Tigers quit a prospect, even a fringy one, in an effort to safe Canha’s companies once they might’ve waited every week and signed him without cost after Milwaukee declined his possibility? Effectively, there’s all that stuff I mentioned earlier than about him being a beneficial hitter on an inexpensive deal. And in distinction to Milwaukee, the Tigers are a greater match.
With the retirement of Miguel Cabrera, Detroit mainly had no ironclad contract commitments for 2024 aside from Javier Báez. Riley Greene and Kerry Carpenter have been shiny spots for Detroit final yr, however after that the outfield depth chart will get actually bleak actually shortly. The one participant I’d fear about Canha blocking or changing is Matt Vierling, however initially, Vierling can play in every single place. And second — and I say this as a giant Matt Vierling fan — he’s not the type of participant you are concerned about blocking should you care about profitable.
Not a whole lot of what the Tigers have finished over the previous few years is sensible to me, and their lineup nonetheless has as many holes as solutions. However imagine it or not, Detroit completed second within the AL Central this previous season, because of a season-ending 19-10 run. Spencer Torkelson hit 19 second-half dwelling runs. Casey Mize can be again from Tommy John surgical procedure firstly of 2024. Tarik Skubal is lastly wholesome and pitching properly. Matt Manning had a promising 2023 as properly, supplied he can cease taking line drives off the foot. If that long-hyped trio can lastly put all of it collectively on the similar time, that makes the lack of Eduardo Rodriguez, who opted out of his deal over the weekend, simpler to swallow. Moreover, the Tigers might put the three years and $49 million they not owe E-Rod to make use of patching the opening he leaves within the rotation.
Plus — and maybe you inferred this from the truth that 78-84 was adequate for second place, however I’ll state it immediately simply in case — the AL Central is there for the taking. You can begin to see a path for the Tigers, if you’d like it.
Does including Canha make Detroit an automated contender? In fact not. However he’s a legit leadoff hitter on an inexpensive one-year deal, and the Tigers have been in a position to get him for mainly nothing. That’s a strong day on the workplace.