There has been a mini wave, so to speak, of players coming and going via minor league pacts in recent days. Some of that could have to do with the upcoming 8 p.m. ET deadline on Friday (12/01) for teams to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players.
For the Detroit Tigers, a number of players have already been let go since season’s end as the team shuffles up their roster and begin their rebuild. Some of their former players in the minors, namely former top prospect Steven Moya as well as Anthony Gose and Myles Jaye, have reportedly agreed to play elsewhere in 2018.
And it seems another former Tiger, catcher Bryan Holaday, has found himself a home for next season.
Catcher Bryan Holaday has agreed to a minor-league deal with the #Marlins. Formerly with the #Tigers, #Rangers and #Redsox.
— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) December 1, 2017
Holaday, 30, has played the majority of his professional career in the Tigers organization. The former sixth-round pick in 2010 out of TCU played the first six seasons in the bushes for Detroit. After a sizzling hot start in spring camp before the 2016 season, the Tigers ultimately traded B-Holaday away to the Texas Rangers for a pair of minor leaguers, including the also-recently-outrighted Myles Jaye, who inked a deal with the Twins.
A fan favorite for the Tigers, Holaday in 2016 played just 43 games between the Rangers and Boston Red Sox, as well as nine games at Texas’ Triple-A affiliate in Round Rock. The Tigers re-upped with him on a minor league agreement in the spring of 2017. He put together a pretty solid year at Triple-A Toledo before earning a call-up in September.
Overall, Holaday has played a little over a full season’s worth of major league games in his career, hitting .244/.279/.343 with five homers and 46 runs batted in, in 164 games. He also carries a career .248 BA and .684 OPS in nearly 450 minor league games.
Holaday will join a Marlins team that is perhaps one of the more fascinating clubs to watch this offseason. Arguably the biggest storyline is the trade speculation surrounding superstar outfielder Giancarlo Stanton. Should he be shipped out of South Beach, it could create a domino effect to the rest of the roster and lead to a tear-down and subsequent rebuild, which could include Marlins starting catcher J.T. Realmuto.
At worst, Holaday will have every chance to compete for the backup gig (if Realmuto stays put) with the Fish in 2018.