We all knew it was coming and today the Tigers made it official by calling up their fourth-best prospect in infielder Jace Jung as well as the recently acquired Trey Sweeney, who they acquired in the deal with the Dodgers for Jack Flaherty.
What we initially didn’t know was who would get sent down and/or DFA’d in return.
For those who didn’t survive, Akil Baddoo in a sense who after hitting a game-winning double a couple of nights ago was optioned back to Toledo, something he’s probably used to at this point. However, the actual casualties with the Jung and Sweeney call-up were infielder Gio Urshela and lefty Easton Lucas.
Lucas isn’t any kind of head-turner. He was picked up back in May off waivers from the Athletics and ended up making three appearances for the Tigers accumulating two earned runs allowed, two strikeouts, and two walks. Urshela on the other hand signed a $1.5 million dollar deal with the Tigers this past offseason and hit five homers with 37 RBIs and a .619 OPS over 92 games this season. In any sense though the 32-year-old Urshela is probably gone if he ends up making it past waivers since he has more than enough service time in the Majors to turn down any assignment which he more than likely will. In that case, the Tigers will still be on the hook for the remainder of his contract.
As far as Baddoo goes, the 26-year-old is now out of Major League options with this most recent demotion.