5:05pm : reports that Dean Wade Jersey Chafin will make $2.5MM if he cracks the roster. Theres also $1.5MM available via incentives and a $250K a signment bonus if he is traded. 4:00pm : The Tigers announced that they have signed left-hander to a minor league deal with a non-roster invite to spring training. The southpaw is a client of Meister Sports Management. Chafin, 35 in June, has spent over a decade as an effective lefty reliever. That includes a couple of previous stints with Detroit. He was with the Tigers for the entire 2022 season, posting a 2.83 earned run average. Last year, he had a 3.16 ERA in 37 innings for the Tigers before being traded to the Rangers at the deadline. His results with Texas werent quite as strong, so he finished the year with a 3.51 ERA overall. His profile has changed over his career, as he was previously a strong ground ball guy but has moved more towards strikeouts in more recent seasons. From 2014 to 2022, Chafin to sed 400 2/3 major league innings with a 3.23 ERA, 25.2% strikeout rate, 9.3% walk rate and 50.9% ground ball rate. His pitch mix consisted of 26.6% fastballs, 39.6% sinkers, 32.8% sliders and 1% changeups. Over the past two seasons, he has bumped the slider usage to 40.6%, mostly at the expense of his fastball, which has been used just 18.3% of the time. Thats led to a 4.10 ERA, 28.3% strikeout rate, 12.6% walk rate and 37.2% ground ball rate. Though Chafin has been solid and consistent on the whole, he hasnt been viewed kindly by the open market. In the past seven full seasons, he has logged at least 49 innings, only once posting an ERA higher than 3.76. He first became a free agent after a rough showing in the shortened 2020 season, spending most of it on the injured list and to sing just 9 2/3 innings. That led to a one-year, $2.8MM deal with the Cubs for 2021. Chafin posted a 1.83 ERA that year and secured a two-year, $13MM deal with Detroit going into 2022, with the second year being a player option. After posting a 2.83 ERA in 2022, he declined his $6.5MM player option to take another shot at free agency. That didnt lead to much extra earning power, as he landed a one-year, $6.3MM deal with the Diamondbacks, plus $1MM of incentives. Last winter, another one-year deal was his result, getting a $4.8MM guarantee from the Tigers. This time around, despite a solid campaign, hes had to settle for a minor league pact. The Tigers have , and as lefty relievers on the roster. Holton should have a big league job locked down but Guenther has just 41 1/3 innings in the majors with a 5.01 ERA. Hurter just made his MLB debut last year and is also in the rotation mix, so the club might prefer to have him as a frequently-optioned multi-inning guy/depth starter. If Chafin looks like his old self in camp, he could perhaps get a job as the second lefty in the bullpen alongside Holton. If not, hell have chances to look elsewhere. Under the current collective bargaining agreement, Article XX(b) free agents get guaranteed opt-out chances on minor league deals if they are signed more than ten days prior to Opening Day. An Article XX(b) free agent is one with six years of service who finished the previous season on a 40-man roster or 60-day injured list. Those opt-out chances are five days prior to Opening Day, May 1st and June 1st. Shawn Kemp Jersey