Tigers Sign Former Cubs Prospect Gleyber Torres, DFA Former Cubs Prospect Bailey Horn
If it wasn’t for Cubs-adjacent news, we’d have no news at all right now. So outside of Kyle Tucker being officially announced as a Cubs Convention attendee, I have resorted to writing about the Tigers signing Gleyber Torres. Once a highly coveted shortstop prospect, Torres headlined the package that went to the Yankees in exchange for Aroldis Chapman in 2016. The Cubs got a World Series title and the Yankees got a young man who hit 62 homers in his first two seasons.
A UCL injury impacted Torres’s next two seasons, limiting him to just 12 home runs over 676 plate appearances. He bounced back with 24 and 25 dingers, then settled in with 15 in 2024 over 153 games spent exclusively at second base. That’s where he figures to play for the Tigers, whose crowded infield situation may mean they’ll finally have to part with Javier Báez by eating the remaining three years and $72 million of the ill-fated deal he inked prior to the ’22 season.
In order to make room for Torres on the roster, the Tigers designated Bailey Horn for assignment. Horn came to the Cubs in exchange for Ryan Tepera in 2021 and spent parts of three seasons in the minors before being traded back to the South Side for Matthew Thompson. The lefty was sent to Boston for cash considerations in April and made his MLB debut, posting a 6.50 ERA over 18 innings. He was claimed off waivers a week before Thanksgiving and will now be seeking another organization.
It’s sort of funny how the overlap of the Venn diagram between the Cubs and Tigers continues to grow. Friday’s transactions alone either directly or indirectly impact three former Cubs, then we can go back to Isaac Paredes and Jeimer Candelario. Wait, does that mean the Cubs have to trade to bring either Torres or Báez back? The latter would require Detroit to eat a boatload of money, but that could be better than just releasing him.
While Torres was probably never a serious consideration due to him having no experience at third and possibly not even having the arm for it any longer, some saw him as potential insurance for Matt Shaw. One year at $15 million for a guy with a career 113 wRC+ and 25-homer capability would have made sense as a way to reallocate those Cody Bellinger savings, but again, the positional fit was far from perfect.
God, I sure hope the Cubs do something else tangible so we can stop writing about what other teams are doing.