Tigers acquire RHP Chris Paddack from Minnesota, Reese Olson out for the season

Monday afternoon, news broke that the Detroit Tigers had moved to acquire RHPs Chris Paddack and Randy Dobnak from the Minnesota Twins for switch hitting catcher Enrique Jimenez. Paddack is a rental starting pitcher with 4.95 ERA4.39 FIP. He will likely slot into the backend of Detroits rotation as other arms progress in their rationale wasnt clear until it was reported by Dan Miller of FOX Sports and Evan Petzold of the Freep that starter Reese Olson will be shut down for the rest of the season with a shoulder strain. This is the second straight season that shoulder trouble has wiped out most or all of the the second half of the season for him. There is at least a chance he could back in time for October but the odds don sound this is a huge blow to the Tigers starting rotation, which was already struggling recently. Paddack isnt an ideal replacement but he should be able to give the Tigers some solid starts in Olsons main piece in the deal, Paddack is a flyball pitcher with strong command of an underpowered arsenal. He averages around 94 mph and throws the kitchen sink at opposing batters; his four seamer Alex Lange Jersey, changeup, slider, curveball and slider all feature at least 10% usage, and hell occasionally toss in a sinker too. None have rated well this year, but the four seamer has been useful in the past. Paddack is listed at5 and leverages that into a toptier 7 even of extension, which should help his fastball play , Paddack is a fairly typical backend arm. His career walk rate is a tiny 5.2%, but his strikeout rate has hovered around 18% the last two years. When he came back from injury late in 2023, his stuff played up in a big way out of the bullpen, and thats surely what Detroits banking on. As youd expect from a crafty, underpowered starter, his third time through the order splits are horrendous. Using Paddack in more of a hybrid role to limit that third look and let his stuff play up could, theoretically, get him closer to the 36.4% K rate he flashed down the stretch in 2023. Of course, pitching chaos requires a deep bullpen full of effective mentioned earlier, Paddack is in his final year before free agency. This year, he receives $7.5M, so hes still due approximately $2.5M. Thats pretty insignificant in todays is likely there for salary balancing purposes. He signed a small extension to buy out his arbitration years back in 2020 when he looked like a solid backend starter, then immediately flamed out and was DFAd earlier this year. At his best, he was a controldriven righty, he just doesnt have the stuff to get outs. His 7.12 ERA in AAA for Minnesota speaks for itself. Hes owed the remainder of his $3M salary this year, a little under $1M. In total Dick Mcauliffe Jersey, that means Detroit took on approximately $3.54M in salary for these is a bit of a surprise to be going the other way. The 19 year old is still in the Complex League, which isnt surprising at his age. Hes small, listed at 59, but had a strong hard hit rate last year, and is generally regarded as a solid receiver for his age. As a switch hitting, young catcher, its safe to assume his offense will be very slow to develop, which makes his.250.339.450 slash line this year a bit more encouraging than the basic stats suggest. He isnt a particularly exciting prospect yet, not unless or until he puts the ball in the air better against real minor league pitching and develops a good deal more raw power Reese Olson Jersey, but as far as lottery tickets go, hes one of the better Fetter can tune Paddacks fastball back into an aboveaverage offering, everything starts to look a little rosier. With pinpoint command of a strong fastball, he could be a useful weapon in shorter starts, especially against right handers. Unless or until that happens, Paddack looks like another depth arm, and with Olson out the Tigers really need to find a real impact pitcher before the deadline.