The Tigers sent righty Yoniel Curet and infielder Zack Short through outright waivers, Chris McCosky of The Detroit News was among those to relay. Short is still weighing whether to accept the assignment or elect free agency. This is the first career outright for Curet, so he has no choice but to report to Triple-A Toledo.
Both players were recent acquisitions. Detroit picked up Curet off waivers from Philadelphia in the middle of April. They traded for Short, who was playing on a minor league contract, in a cash deal with the Nationals on Friday. Detroit called him up on Sunday and designated him for assignment on Tuesday after he went 0-3 in two games.
Curet, 23, has yet to pitch in the big leagues. He garnered some prospect hype after a strong run between 2022-24 in the low minors of the Rays’ system. Tampa Bay carried him on the 40-man roster for two years as a long-term development project. A shoulder injury sidelined him for the first half of last season, and the big righty struggled to throw strikes once he got healthy. The Phils picked him up in a DFA trade in December but dropped him from the roster early in April.
The Tigers will now get to work with Curet without needing to carry him on the 40-man roster. He has a mid-90s fastball and showed big strikeout potential early in his minor league career. It seems likelier at this point that any MLB future is going to come out of the bullpen. Curet spent the first couple weeks of his time in the Detroit system at their Florida complex, presumably to work on his mechanics. He has only pitched once for Toledo and walked three of his six opponents.
Short is a utility player who owns a .171/.269/.295 line in just shy of 600 big league plate appearances. Detroit was very thin on upper minors shortstop depth behind Kevin McGonigle once Javier Báez joined Zach McKinstry and Trey Sweeney on the injured list. McKinstry returned this week and they brought in Paul DeJong on a minor league contract on Tuesday, pushing Short down the depth chart a couple notches.
