DETROIT — The Detroit Tigers added five youngsters to the 40-man roster to protect them from next month’s Rule 5 Draft.
Six relievers, including former closer Jason Foley, were designated for assignment.
Tuesday night was the deadline for MLB teams to protect eligible minor leaguers before the draft, which allows clubs to select unprotected prospects.
The Tigers protected utility man Trei Cruz; infielder Hao-Yu Lee; catchers Eduardo Valencia and Thayron Liranzo; and left-handed pitcher Jake Miller.
In addition to Foley, right-handers Dugan Darnell, Jack Little, Tyler Mattison and Tanner Rainey, and left-hander Sean Guenther were designated for assignment.
The Tigers also re-added second baseman Gleyber Torres to the roster after he accepted the team’s qualifying offer on Tuesday night.
The roster now stands at 40.
Lee and Liranzo were the only prospects who seemed certain to be protected, but the Tigers acted more aggressively by adding three others.
Miller, 24, put up impressive numbers in 2024 but missed nearly all of 2025 with injury.
Valencia, 25, spent six seasons in the Tigers’ minor-league system before bursting onto the prospect radar with a monster campaign in 2025.
Cruz, 27, is the oldest of the bunch and has also had a long minor-league journey since being selected in the third round out of Rice in 2020. He profiles as a switch-hitting utility man who can play every position but pitcher and catcher.
The two highest-profile protected prospects were both acquired in trades and are both coming off uneven 2025 campaigns. Liranzo, 22, came to the Tigers from the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Jack Flaherty trade in 2024. The Tigers acquired Lee, 22, from the Philadelphia Phillies for Michael Lorenzen in 2023.
Foley, 30, missed nearly all of 2025 after undergoing shoulder surgery. He was projected to make about $3 million in arbitration, which was one factor in being dropped from the roster.
Foley was an undrafted free agent out of Sacred Heart University in Connecticut. He missed the 2018 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery and spent 2019 in Class A Lakeland. But he earned a late-season invitation to the Tigers’ alternate training site during the COVID-shortened 2020 season and impressed manager A.J. Hinch and his staff the following spring.
He made his MLB debut in 2021 and became a bullpen mainstay starting in 2022, leaning on a signature two-seam fastball that helped reshape his career.
Along the way, he was part of a combined no-hitter in 2023 and played a key role in the Tigers’ push for the playoffs in 2024.
This story will be updated.
TIGERS’ 40-MAN ROSTER (40)
Left-handed pitchers (6): Tyler Holton, Bailey Horn, Brant Hurter, Jake Miller, Tarik Skubal, Drew Sommers.
Right-handed pitchers (13): Beau Brieske, Jack Flaherty, Sawyer Gipson-Long, Brenan Hanifee, Jackson Jobe, Chase Lee, Ty Madden, Troy Melton, Casey Mize, Keider Montero, Reese Olson, Dylan Smith, Will Vest.
Catchers (4): Dillon Dingler, Thayron Liranzo, Jake Rogers, Eduardo Valencia.
Infielders (10): Javier Báez, Trei Cruz, Jace Jung, Andy Ibáñez, Colt Keith, Hao-Yu Lee, Zach McKinstry, Trey Sweeney, Spencer Torkelson, Gleyber Torres.
Outfielders (7): Kerry Carpenter, Riley Greene, Jahmai Jones, Justyn-Henry Malloy, Parker Meadows, Wenceel Pérez, Matt Vierling.
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