CRUCIAL DEADLINE: Detroit Tigers FACE Big Decisions on Hao-Yu Lee and Thayron Liranzo — FIND OUT Why

CRUCIAL DEADLINE: Detroit Tigers FACE Big Decisions on Hao-Yu Lee and Thayron Liranzo — FIND OUT Why

There are multiple roster deadlines for Detroit on Tuesday that will shape the Tigers roster in 2026. You are Locked on Tigers, your daily Detroit Tigers podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. What is up everybody? Welcome back to another edition of Locked On Tigers. I’m of course your host, Scott Bentley. Today is Tuesday, November 18th, 2025. Thank you so much for making Locked On Tigers your first listen every single day. We are free and available wherever you get your podcasts, including YouTube, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every single day. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. So download the app today. Welcome in. Welcome all everybody. A busy Tuesday that we have been talking about for weeks already on this show that will determine and kind of shape the Tigers 40man roster in a big way in 2026. There’s another deadline on Friday that will also shape a lot of the Tigers roster. We’ll talk about that later in the week. Today we discuss at the end of the show Glaver Torres, the qualifying offer. Is he going to accept? Is he not? We’ll dive into the last updates from then or from that rather before his deadline on Tuesday afternoon. We’ll also talk a little bit about news from around the league, Josh Naylor signing with the Mariners. But the biggest story we are going to discuss today and the biggest talking point today will be the rule five protection deadline. Always a big day in the Tigers off season. Um I want to start with the criteria. Okay. What makes a player eligible for the rule five draft? uh who is is a part of the decision that has to be made for the Tigers on Tuesday for all teams on Tuesday. So all and any and all players that are in any organization that fit the criteria I’m about to lay out must be added to the 40man roster by Tuesday afternoon or else they will be eligible for the rule five draft in December. rule five draft at the end of winter meetings. Any team can take any player that is in that draft pool. Uh you can also just skip your pick and not take anybody in the rule five draft. The Tigers have done that the last couple of years. Very notoriously in the Ala era took at least one player in the rule five draft almost every single year. Victor Reyes a rule five pick few others that come to mind as well. So that criteria is that if you are 19 years or older, when you sign with your professional baseball organization, you then have four years from then to be added to the 40man roster, or else you are eligible for the rule five draft that off season. If you are 18 years or younger when you sign with your professional organization, then you have to be added within the first five seasons before you are eligible for the rule five draft. So the difference between 19 and older, four years, 18 and younger, five years. We do some quick math here. Some quick math here, not year. Some quick math here. And that means that 2021 high school drafties and international free agents. Those guys are signed at, you know, 16, 17 years old. Um those guys are eligible for the rule five draft this year for the first time. 2022 college drafties are eligible for the rule five draft this year for the first time. So obviously the full list of players that fit that criteria is an absolute laundry list and we will not talk about every single person. We’d be here for hours. We will not talk about every single player in the organization that falls under that category. We will talk about the biggest names and the players that are most likely to be added or at least the biggest talking points within the Tigers organization heading into this. These are guys that very well could play for the Tigers in 2026. The player the most confident will get added to the 40man roster is Howul Lee. How Lee was uh a return in a trade what two seasons ago now. Michael Lorenz into the Phillies for Howul Lee. It was half a season of Michael Lorenz in the year he made the All-Star game. I don’t think that How Lee has an all-star ceiling necessarily or or like is a perennial, you know, four plus war player or anything like that. But I do think that he has a a he has Major League talent. He will be a Major League Baseball player in the near future. And I think that he debuts for the Tigers in 2026. I want to start with when the Tigers acquired him a and really start breaking down his career so far in 2024. In double A that season, he rad. He hit almost 300. He had an OPS over 850. He was incredible. Had a really solid walk numbers. Didn’t strike out a ton. In 2025, he spent all of this year start to finish in AAA and he hit 243 with a 748 OPS. He didn’t strike out a ton, but he also it wasn’t a super low number either. Middle of the road K rate and a solid walk rate, 10 and a half, 11% somewhere around there. The reason why I think he gets added despite the step back in numbers and the fact that I don’t think he necessarily has again like perennial all-star caliber ceiling is because I think at worst there is a belief that he can replace some of these utility players at the bottom of the 40man roster and produce more than they can. He isn’t an elite defender by any stretch of the imagination, but he did have almost a 5050 split at second and third base in 2025. So, he does give you a little bit of positional versatility. But the biggest point here and the biggest reason as to why I think he gets added, he is a right-handed hitter that crushes left-handed pitching in the minor leagues in AAA this year. How you Lee hit 228 with a 702 OPS and a slug under 375 against right-handed pitching. That is not very good. And there is a lot of room for improvement in that area. That is just straight up those numbers in AAA do not uh I don’t know signify a major league talent. That being said, against lefties, he hit almost 300 with a 919 OPS and he had 32 total hits against left-handed pitchers in TripleA this year. 11 of those were extra base hits. Over a third of his total hits against lefties were for extra bases. He had a slug well over 500. He crushed left-handed pitching. So, I think he gets added. Ultimately, there’s there’s pros and cons here. I I think that you can do both of these things at the same time. A be concerned that he may have trouble adjusting to major league hitting against right-handed pitching. and given his the the questions surrounding his defense, um I I think it’s fair to question the type of value he is going to have as a major leager throughout his MLB career. I also think that at worst he’s Andy Abanz that also walks more. And that is not like my brainchild comparison that’s been made by a handful of other people that are are probably way smarter than me. But like at worst, you’re getting a guy that plays second base, he plays third base, he’s a righty, he crushes lefties, and he walks presumably way more than Andy Abanz as well. So that and that like Andy Abanz has been very productive and had some of the biggest hits in the Tigers organization over the last two seasons. Like that that’s that’s fine. There is absolutely a a role for that. And he’s still only 22 years old. He’ll be 23 next season and will likely start off, I think, in AAA next season. I doubt he makes the major league team out of camp even if he does get protected. It’s just like he’s still young. he will keep making adjustments. The fact that that is kind of his floor is like, “Okay, this guy at at absolute worst is going to be a a versatile defender, maybe not a plus defender, but a a a utility guy that can pinch, hit, and crush left-handed pitching.” Like, we we’ve gotten a lot of use o over guys with that profile over the last couple of years. And because he’s so young, at best, you’re talking about a guy that is 23 years old, still could make adjustments to how he his approach against right-handed pitching. And if he does do that and improve in that area, then you’re talking about a a potential everyday major league player that can be a, you know, three plus win player and and be pretty darn valuable to your organization. He’s got a lot of stuff going for him and despite the the step back maybe in production this year and the shortcomings that he also still has. I’m I’m pretty confident he gets added to the 40man roster on Tuesday and we’ll 2026 the outlook for him will be you know what this is a development year for you. Try to get better against right-handed pitching and if you don’t that’s still okay. There’s probably a bench role in your future for the Tigers at some point, whether it’s due to injuries or or or whatnot next year as well. Let’s talk about Thyron Loronzo. Maybe the biggest name that is eligible to be protected from the Tigers organization this year. We’ll talk about him right after this. First though, going to talk to you about our friends over at FanDuel. The NFL. NFL is back. The N and NFL has been back for a while. The NBA is also back. And there’s no better place to get in on the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you miss the start of a game or want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. It keeps every game exciting, especially when your team’s making the late push. Right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So, head to fanduel.com right now and play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. All right, everybody. Welcome back here. Segment two, locked down Tigers. Appreciate you all for tuning in as always, making us your first listen every single day. Shout out to the everydayers that do tune in every day. And we will of course be back tomorrow as we recap the decisions that were made by Glabber by the organization and kind of talk about other big decisions surrounding, you know, Major League Baseball, other qualifying offer players, other, you know, maybe highly regarded minor leaguers that weren’t or were protected, all of that good stuff. And we take a look ahead and Friday’s deadline as well. Today, I want to talk about Thyron Loronzo, get back into it here. Um he came over from the Jack Flity trade last season and absolutely mashed in high single A for West Michigan. Had a batting average over 300, had an OPS over a thousand. Crush the ball. He’s a switchhitting catcher. He has tools, highly ranged prospect. A lot to like this year in double A. Full season of DA baseball for him. He hit 206 with a 659 OPS. He had good walk numbers, about 12% walk rate this year, but also had a K rate of over 30% again in double A paired with a batting average of about 200. So, this one’s kind of a weird one because if you’re just looking at the output then like why would the Tigers use a 40-man roster spot to protect those types of numbers? But there’s a lot of nuance with this conversation specifically, really with all of them, but but more so with Loronzo than probably anybody else. I think ultimately he is simply too highly regarded and rated of a prospect and still has too many tools to leave that to chance and to not protect him and just hope nobody else takes a chance on a top 100 prospect in baseball. Switchhitting catchers with power don’t just grow on trees and he is ultimately only 22 years old. He’s taken strides defensively behind the plate but there is still a lot of issues back there. Um he he is very obviously nowhere close to being major league ready. Okay, if they add him to the 40man roster, it is strictly because they do not want to risk losing him. It has nothing to do with them believing that he’s like right around the corner from being in a major league uniform. We’re talking years, like plural probably. I I don’t think there’s any chance he’s in the majors in 2026. 2027 would be at earliest. And even then, like, is he going to make the team on opening day in 2027? That even seems based on what we saw this year a little far-fetched. But in the same breath, if he mashes in 2026, then the entire outlook on him changes. The interesting part of the nuance here is when you sign someone just in general, you sign a prospect, an amateur, um the timer starts on them for when they become eligible for the rule five draft. And that’s obviously what we’re talking about today. But once you’re added to the 40man, then another a lot of nuance here. So, you know, bar, it’s not this literal, but somewhat of a three-year timer then starts after that where you have because every player is given three minor league options when they’re added to the 40man roster, right? So, once you’re put on the 40, you can get sent down at the start of a season to the minor leagues three times. And there’s a again a little bit of like there’s specific rules where if you spend x amount of days in the majors and get sent back down, then it costs another option, whatever. But for the most part, blanketed, not 100% true statement, you have three years of getting sent down before then you’re out of minor league options and you have to get put on waiverss, DFA, whatever to get off of the Major League roster. Is Loronzo three years away from Major League Baseball? I’d hope so, right? He’s highly regarded enough where you would hope that in the next three seasons he’s playing Major League Baseball. And I’m relatively sure he’s gonna get added to the 40man roster on Tuesday because of the age, ultimately the ceiling. But it wouldn’t be the most shocking thing in the world to me if they risked it and they just said, “You know what? Who’s going to add a 22year-old that hit 200 and struck out 32% of the time in double A last year?” Like again, you have to remember when you get taken in the rule five draft, you that team that takes you has to keep you on the major league roster the entire season. And if they don’t, then you’re sent back to your old organization. Will vest had that happen to him. Got taken by the Mariners in the rule five draft, then got Gage Workman, another one got taken by the Cubs in the rule five draft, now is back in the Tigers organization. So what are the odds? What are the odds that he makes it past again? I still think he I I think they’re they’re not going to risk it with with somebody that is as highly ranked and regarded in prospect circles as him, but some interesting food for thought there at a minimum. Some other players that stick out, Jake Miller, we talked about Jake Miller uh yesterday uh with the Arizona Fall League recap. Did not pitch in the AFL despite being sent to the AFL. Um he is a lefty pitcher that has a solid fast ball and just fantastic results in the minor leagues. Um now he was hurt almost all of this calendar season and like I mentioned did not even get to play in the AFL despite being put on their roster. So this one’s an interesting one. I think they should protect Jake Miller. I am on team add him to the 40man roster. Um, if they don’t, it’s not like I’ll be, you know, red in the face, angry, and talk about how it’s the stupidest decision ever or anything, but even with the injury stuff this year, I think he gets taken in the rule five. He’s 25 years old, a lefty, really solid strikeout numbers, super low walk numbers, and has experience as a starting pitcher and a reliever as a pro already. I I just I I have a hard time believing that profile does not get taken in a rule five. And that doesn’t mean that he gets taken and then, you know, maybe he isn’t major league ready. And and again, they do what the Mariners did with Will Ve or what the Cubs did with Gage Workman and send him back in like May. But like I don’t know if that’s a risk I’m necessarily willing to take, especially with the amount of just kind of mush, if you will, at the bottom of the 40man roster. And I don’t say mush in terms of like there’s no talent there or anything or like in a in an insulting way. Maybe I should think of a better word because it kind of does sound insulting. But there there’s just a lot of players that you could debate until you’re red in the face on whether they’re major league talent or not, right? Dylan Smith being one of those guys. Has had a long injury history, been up and down for a while. Drew Summers, we we saw a lot of him, not sure he’s major league talent at the present moment, right? Like there’s just a lot of those guys that you can argue one way or the other. Would you rather see? Would you rather not? And maybe even if he’s hurt to start off the season next year, more so because then somebody can just take him in the rule five when the injured list opened back up, throw him on there and be like, “Yeah, well, we kept him on the rule five. We kept him on the major league roster. He was on the major league injured list all year and that technically counts.” So, I would like them to protect Jake Miller, but I I’m That’s kind of like a tossup to me. I’m not really sure. I could go either way. And if they don’t protect him, I hope that he is not taken and that there’s enough concern over the the injured riddled 2025 where no other team takes a risk on him. Another player that’s super interesting is Trey Cruz. We’ll talk about him and a few other players right after this. All right, everybody. Welcome back here. Third and final segment of Lockdown Tigers. appreciate you all for tuning in as always. Trey Cruz is eligible again. So, he Trey Cruz was actually eligible last year for the rule five draft. Did not get protected, did not get taken obviously this year. You know, you just are continue to be eligible until you’re on a 40-man roster. Um, he is one of the guys that I think the Tigers won’t protect but also will get taken. and that’s not the place you want to like live in. You don’t want a ton of those. But he is a super utility player that just had his arguably best offensive season maybe in his entire professional career. Um had a ridiculously high walk rate. I I’m talking like at one point was pushing 20%. And a pretty darn low K rate to go along with that. He’s played all over the infield as a pro. He’s played shortstop as a pro. Uh he’s played center field as a professional. He is just an athlete. He’ll give you 10 to 15 steels as well. The thing with Cruz is he is 27 years old as we speak today and turns 28 in the middle of next season already. So it’s a it’s a give and take. You I mean what are the odds? Like I mean I guess if you if you add him to the 40man roster then with the three minor league options like you pretty much got him locked up until he’s darn near 30 years old. But he also fits the profile of what the Tigers want to a te. Positional versatility, athleticism all over the diamond, really good walk rate, really low K rate, has next to no power. I’m not even sure he hit 10 home runs across both leagues in 2025. So, it’s it’s just again it’s one of those guys where do are would you rather have him on I mean you look at the position players on the Tigers 40man roster. There’s not a lot of wiggle room. There’s a lot more on the pitching side of things. But in the same breath, if you don’t protect them, like what are the odds the Rockies like aren’t going to look at that and go like, “Well, that’s better than anybody we’re going to sign or call up this year. Why not?” You know what I mean? So, kind of an interesting one there. I I have no issue if they choose to protect him. By the way, again, I I think you could do a lot worse in terms of kind of utility major league super utility players. So, I have no issue if they choose to protect him. Um I I’m just I’m not I’m not 100% sold that they do just given kind of the the nuance and the circumstances surrounding the bottom of the 40man roster. Another player that falls into that category for me is RJ Pettit. 68, 300 pound right-handed pitcher. Just a a massive human being that spins the heck out of the baseball. A friend of the program actually R.J. Pettit came on and had an interview with me on this show his draft year. So, we’re talking well the rules of the the thing, right? Four years agoish now. Um had great seasons in double A and AAA in 2025. both sub3ra stints first half, second half. We’ll see. I I think this one I I like the stuff. I I like the amount of spin. He’s got a good slider. I I think this probably depends a little bit more on the opinions of those again like Drew Summers, Dylan Smith kind of guys in the eyes of the the Tigers front office more so maybe than anything about RJ Pettit himself but certainly is a candidate to uh maybe somebody takes a flyer on a reliever in the rule five but he’s a guy that you probably don’t have to protect and also has a better likelihood of maybe anybody we’ve talked about so far of making it through and kind of sneaking through the rule five draft untaken. Um some other names really quickly here. Isaac Pacheco had a great bounceback season um but is still ultimately like 22 23 years old in high single A. He’s got no chance of getting poached. They won’t protect him and and they also uh he like he won’t get taken in the rule five draft either either. So that’s fine. Uh you have guys like Tanner Coppp, uh Moises Rodriguez, um Marco Jimenez, uh a couple of those guys, I think Tigers minor league report even pointed out that they already have minor league deals, so they probably won’t get protected, but are already like it’s an understanding that they’ll be back in the Tigers organization. The only other player I want to bring up here before we we move on is Eduardo Valencia. Now, Valencio had one of the best offensive seasons literally any Tiger any minor league tiger had in 2025. He rad like OPS like around a thousand. I’m talking type of stuff. Um and and just completely out of nowhere. Has not had even remotely close to that type of success as a professional in his what fourish years as a pro. Now, the thing is he has a lot of shortcomings defensively. Catcher, first baseman. Not sure he’s going to stick behind the plate. I’m not sure he’s kind of putting it nicely. I don’t think he will stick behind the plate. And I’m not sure they’re even really convinced that he’s going to stick at first base either. Um, and again, this is kind of a oneoff year. He he like I’m talking OPS’s full seasons of OPS’s in like the high 600s uh before this year where it was, you know, in the mid 800s in double A and then around a thousand in AAA. So I I think the Tigers can afford to not protect him and also have some confidence at 25 years old with kind of the one outlier year that you know he’s not going to get taken, but somebody to maybe keep an eye out for as well. The other big decision on Tuesday is Glabber Torres qualifying offer. The update is, drum roll please. There is no update. Um, like we’re just gonna have to wait until what is it? 4 PM on one of the the the rule five deadline and the QO deadline are both Tuesday. One’s at 400 pm, one’s at 6 p.m. And I keep getting mixed up which one’s which. So, whatever. Tuesday afternoon, we will know the fate of Glaver Torres in terms of his free agency decision. I don’t have too much else to add. I’ve said it a million times. This all comes down to his market value on multi-year deals. If there’s multiple teams that are willing to give him three, four plus years, then he’ll decline the QO and he’ll go and negotiate and try to carve out a market for that. And if they don’t feel like he has the market for it, then he’ll accept the QO and still, I think he’s still 29 years old, um can go into next off seasonason and maybe look for that multi-year deal. Um so yeah, we’ll talk about that tomorrow. not only the 40man roster decisions that are made, but also look around the league at some of the biggest names that weren’t taken from uh that weren’t protected rather from uh their teams for this deadline and also obviously the rest of the qualifying offer offeres. Is that a word? I don’t know. Lastly, we end with some news from around the league. Josh Naylor signs with the Seattle Mariners. A five-year deal. I don’t have an exact figure yet still and it’s it’s Monday evening, but it’s believed to be in the 90 to hundred million dollar range. Saw somebody say 94, but I’m not sure how accurate that is. This is the first big signing of the off season. Uh we talked a lot last week that uh you know the biggest names of MLB free agency won’t sign until after this week that we are presently in is done because that’s when 40man rosters are like finally officially official and are set you know going into the rest of the off season and then again eventually rule five draft and and winter meetings etc. Um, in terms of Naylor, like good for him. Uh, he hit well this year and stole a million bases despite being one of the slowest players in baseball. So, I think he proved his value and not only in the batters box, but in the field and and on the base paths. And, um, yeah, like he’s one of the more well-rounded first baseman in the sport all of a sudden. uh which you know when he first came up through Cleveland he was kind of viewed at as like oh maybe this guy is like he he was decently regarded. I’m not trying to say he was like a nothing prospect or anything but was a guy that you knew the power was going to translate to an extent and you knew he was going to hit righties to an extent. Um but really improved against lefties over the years and on top of that now again this year stole like whatever 30 bases for the Mariners like in half a season. like just absolutely absurd stuff for a guy that has one of the slowest recorded sprint speeds in all of baseball. So, um was a valuable asset for the Mariners. I think that there’s a lot to like in terms of uh the M’s going into 2026, right? I mean, they’re bringing back a lot of the same group that just made the ALCS and uh mostly I’m just glad that Josh Naylor is not in the AL Central anymore. So, sorry not sorry to Cleveland. not trying to kick you while you’re down, but I am so glad that that man cannot just absolutely destroy Tigers pitching uh at least on a consistent basis, you know, 20 times a year, however much they play now with everybody playing everybody. I’m going to take it. I’m I’m going to take, you know, only having to play him uh you know, two series a year instead of like six or whatever it is. So, good for him, though. Good for him. first baseman getting paid is uh is is is good and that certainly affects the the Petalonzo markets and what have you. So, we’ll see what happens. Thanks for making Lockdown Tigers, your first listen every single day. Shout out to the everydayers that do tune in every day and we will of course be back tomorrow as I’ve said a couple of times recapping all the decisions that are made on these Tuesday deadlines. Um, in terms of like final prediction, I’ll go I’ll go how you Lee, Thyron Loronzo, and Jake Miller. That’ll be my prediction. Those three. I think I’ve only been exactly right one time since I took over this show. So, don’t take my prediction as like gospel. Certainly, um, been wrong plenty, will be wrong again, as I always say. There’s also the last two years have been relatively chalk in terms of like expectation versus what happened, but three off seasons ago now. Um I didn’t even say Brendan White’s name on this program on deadline day and then he got protected. So there is the chance for like a complete curveball and somebody that I did not even bring up on this show that could get protected. If they like somebody, they like somebody. if they think that that they have a chance to be in the major leagues over the next couple of years, then they’ll add them. You know, relievers are are so weird in that sense where if you have one good pitch, a team could just be like, well, we’re going to protect them and see what happens. So, keep that in mind as well. Okay, peace and love. Going to therapy is dope and I’ll catch you all tomorrow, baby. Go Tigers.

Detroit Tigers face pivotal roster decisions as Rule 5 Draft protection deadline looms—whose future is safe, and who’s at risk? Scott Bentley spotlights prospects Hao-Yu Lee, Thayron Loranzo, and Jake Miller, breaking down their potential MLB impact and why leaving certain names unprotected could shake up Detroit’s depth chart for 2026. The debate heats up over super-utility man Trey Cruz and lefty pitcher Jake Miller, with insights into what makes these fringe players tempting Rule 5 targets for rival teams.

Key topics include the Tigers’ strategic 40-man roster moves, the lingering uncertainty around Gleyber Torres’ qualifying offer, and the ripple effects of Josh Naylor’s major deal with the Seattle Mariners. With free agency heating up and roster spots on the line, Scott Bentley examines whether Detroit’s front office can outsmart the competition and how these decisions could shape the team’s path in a loaded AL Central.

00:00 Rule 5 Draft Eligibility Explained
05:51 Righty Hitter Excels vs Lefties
08:46 Young Prospect with Versatile Potential
13:36 MLB Prospect Development & Rule 5
14:53 Prospect’s Path to MLB Uncertainty
18:08 Evaluating Fringe Major League Talent
22:02 RJ Pettit: Rule 5 Draft Candidate
26:58 MLB Free Agency and Naylor
28:01 Mariners’ Prospect Impresses in 2026

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