The Tigers announced that they have designated right-hander for a signment. Right-hander has been recalled to take his place on the active roster. reported Maedas DFA prior to the official announcement. Maeda landed with Detroit going into the 2024 season. The two sides agreed to in November of 2023. In hindsight, thats obviously a move the Tigers wish they could undo, though there was decent logic to it at the time. The veteran didnt go into free agency with a ton of juice. He had a 4.66 earned run average with the Twins in 2021, then mi sed the 2022 recovering from UCL surgery. He returned to the mound in 2023 and to sed 104 1/3 innings but with a middling 4.23 ERA. Under the hood, there was a bit more reason for optimism. His 2023 season started awfully but he finished strong. He landed on the IL in late April due to a right triceps strain, sitting on an ERA of 9.00 at that time. In his last start before hitting the IL, he had allowed ten runs in three innings. Given the subsequent IL stint, it was fair to conclude that he wasnt right. He came off the IL in June Matt Foster Jersey and then to sed 88 1/3 innings the rest of the way with a 3.36 ERA, 29% strikeout rate and 7% walk rate. It appeared to have a chance at being a sneaky value play for the Tigers. That did not come to pa s at all. Maeda posted a 7.26 ERA through his first 16 starts last year. His strikeout rate had dropped to a paltry 17.1%. The Tigers moved him to the bullpen at that point and he did improve from there. He to sed 46 2/3 innings in a long relief role the rest of the way with a 4.44 ERA and a 23.8% strikeout rate. Over the winter, president of baseball operations Scott Harris said that Maeda would have a chance to earn a rotation spot in 2025. However, the club eventually bumped him to a long relief role yet again, going with a rotation of , , , and to start the season. Though Maeda did well out of the pen last year, he hasnt carried that over into this year. He has a 7.88 ERA through eight innings. Some of that is due to a low 60.2% strand rate but his strikeout rate has also fallen to 18.6% and he has walked 14% of batters faced. Manager A.J. Hinch has clearly been reluctant to use him, with Maeda only making six appearances in the month of April. He twice went over a week without getting into a game. Teams generally dont like to give up on players when theyve already committed significant sums of money to them, but the writing was on the wall with Maeda. He will likely end up on the open market in the coming days. The Tigers could try to trade him but they would surely have to eat basically all of his remaining contract in order to interest any other club. He is making $10MM this year, with roughly $8MM still to be paid out. No team will want to take that on, meaning Maeda would clear outright waivers. As a veteran with at least five years of service time, he has the right to reject an outright a signment and elect free agency while keeping all of that money. The Tigers may skip the formalities and release him. A suming he does end up a free agent, any club could sign him at that point and would only have to pay him the prorated league minimum salary for any time spent on the roster. That amount would be subtracted from what the Tigers owe. Its conceivable that some clubs might have interest in that scenario, since there would be no financial risk. With several teams dealing with mounting injuries, one of them might give it a shot. Owens, 24, gets to the majors for the first time. Drafted by Atlanta, he was traded to the Rangers for in , then to the Tigers in that sent to Texas. The Tigers added him to their 40-man roster in November to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. He worked both as a starter and a reliever earlier in his career but worked exclusively out of the bullpen last year with good results. He to sed 51 2/3 Double-A innings with a 2.96 ERA, 25.7% strikeout rate and 7.5% walk rate. He has been with Triple-A Toledo to start this year but the numbers havent been as good. He has a 4.50 ERA, 16.7% strikeout rate and 13.6% walk rate through 14 innings. He might be in for a short stint, as is on a rehab a signment and eligible to come off the injured list in Saturday. Regardle s, hes up in the majors today and has a chance to make his debut. Photos courtesy of Junfu Han, Imagn Images Josimar Cousin Jersey