Tigers trade LHP Andrew Chafin to the Texas Rangers

The left-hander has been hot of late, and comes with a club option for 2025.

As the final hours of the MLB trade deadline race illustrated, teams are paying a real premium for pitching with so few dedicated sellers in the market. Average starting pitchers and setup men commanded a pretty high premium. So while, the Tigers try to squeeze every bit of value out of their top trade chip, RHP Jack Flaherty, they got another offer they liked for LHP Andrew Chafin, acquiring RHP Joseph Montalvo and RHP Chase Lee in exchange.

Chafin’s second tour with the Tigers didn’t start off all that well. The southpaw’s command of his sinker was rather poor early in the season, but things started to come together in June. Combined with his typically strong strikeout rate, Chafin began to trim down the walks and has been pitching really well of late. So, it makes sense that a team would come calling for his services.

In exchange, the Tigers got a High-A right-handed starting pitching prospect in Joseph Montalvo, and a slider-heavy Triple-A reliever in Chase Lee.

Lee is 25 years old, and features a slider that can touch 3000 rpms. His fourseam-sinker combination is pretty light, however, checking in around 90 mph. He’s a As a result he’s something of a right-hander specialist who throws a ton of breaking balls.

Montalvo is further away, but the more valuable of the two pitchers acquired. The Puerto Rican product was signed by the Rangers out of high school back in 2021. His low 90’s fastball has a high spin rate with a lot of horizontal life and good angle to the plate. Like Lee, he also features a high spin, sweeping slider that probably doesn’t use his ability to spin the ball to his fullest potential. The Tigers will want to do some tuning there.Montalvo also has a solid changeup that will flash plus with good horizontal movement and depth, though it’s still inconsistent as well.

Overall he’s talented but still erratic, and could use some Fetterization and a bit more velo. Baseball America has a 45 grade on him, and for a solid left-handed setup man, that’s a pretty good get.

There is enough there to like in exchange for Chafin, who comes with a $6.5M club option or a $500K buyout for 2025. However, neither arm will be wowing anyone in the near future. Montalvo has good potential, but a lot of work ahead to get there. Lee is more a guy who could come up and just lean on his slider heavily for outs with just a little more command.

Overall, a fairly solid return for a year and a half of a good left-handed reliever It is a lot easier to trust that the Tigers have plans for both and can get them dialed in, as compared to similarly raw hitting prospects. The Tigers presumably saw how the market was setting up with good returns for rentals and short-term pitching help, and decided to dip back in and cash out Chafin to boost the farm system further. Not a bad idea, but the Tigers’ beleaguered pitching staff just took a pretty good hit, with a huge hit coming if Flaherty is dealt as expected.