4:11PM: The Tigers’ deal with Kelly contains a club option for the 2024 season, according to The Athletic’s Cody Stavenhagen (via X). The option essentially formalizes the arbitration control Detroit already held over Kelly’s services, and forces the Tigers to make a quicker decision on Kelly’s offseason fate.
3:26PM: The Tigers have officially announced Kelly’s signing and Haase’s DFA, with the added detail that Kelly has signed a Major League contract.
3:04PM: Carson Kelly looks to have signed with the Tigers, as Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press (X link) was the first of several Tigers beat writers to note that Kelly was on field with the team prior to today’s game. Petzold later reported that the Tigers have created roster space for Kelly by designating catcher/outfielder Eric Haase for assignment.
The Diamondbacks DFA’ed and then released Kelly last week after the catcher cleared waivers, making the 29-year-old a free agent for the first time in his pro career. Formerly a top-100 prospect during his time in the Cardinals’ farm system, Kelly was one of the centerpieces of the trade that sent Paul Goldschmidt to St. Louis, as the D’Backs were hoping Kelly could be their catcher of the future. A strong 2019 season implied that Kelly was breaking out, yet the backstop’s numbers have eroded since he suffered a fractured wrist in June 2021.
Over 618 plate appearances since that wrist fracture, Kelly has hit only .216/.286/.337, translating to a 72 wRC+. It had already appeared as if the D’Backs had moved on at the catching position when they acquired Gabriel Moreno last winter, but Kelly’s playing time was further erased when his right forearm was fractured after being hit by a pitch in Spring Training. As a result, Kelly didn’t make his 2023 debut until June 12, and had only a .580 OPS this season before Arizona cut ties.
The Tigers could view Kelly as a change-of-scenery candidate, and is controlled through the 2024 season via his final year of arbitration eligibility if Detroit opts to tender him a contract. For now, Kelly is ticketed for backup duty since Jake Rogers is having a solid enough year to establish himself as Detroit’s regular starter behind the plate. For much of the season, the Tigers have given Rogers roughly twice as many starts as Haase, with the versatile Haase also getting some work as a left fielder.
A Detroit native, Haase hit .242/.291/.451 with 36 homers over 732 PA in 2021-22, with his power helping generate a 106 wRC+ despite the lackluster average and OBP. Haase was one of the few Tigers players who delivered above-average offense during their disastrous 2022 season, but his own bat went cold this year, as Haase hit only .201/.246/.284 with four home runs over 282 PA. A big dropoff in hard contact led to Haase’s extended slump, and it now might cost him his spot in the organization.
Haase turns 31 in December, though he still has all of his arbitration years, making him controllable through the 2026 season. That control, his past power numbers, and Haase’s ability to play in left field (though the defensive metrics don’t like his glovework on the grass in 2023) could get him a look from another team on a waiver claim, especially with catching depth being even trickier to find post-trade deadline.
Haase is out of minor league options, so the Tigers had to go the DFA route in order to move him off the active roster. Because he was outrighted in the past, Haase has the right to elect free agency and decline an outright assignment to the Tigers’ farm system if he clears waivers.