Latest roster moves

[Roger King]

Tigers roster moves: Max Clark reassigned to minor-league camp; Hao-Yu Lee, Eduardo Valencia optioned to Triple-A Toledo, Thayron Liranzo optioned to Double-A Erie.

Roger King
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[Michael W]

It's interesting that, with Briceno injured, neither Valencia not Liranzo was given much of a look.  Nido has gotten as much time, and we there isn't anything to learn about him.  Valencia in particular seems like he might have something to offer.  I guess the message to Dingler and Rogers is - "don't worry, you're in."  

Dingler hasn't played much and only at DH so far.  I assume he's dealing with some minor injury.

Michael

[Peter Welch]

Valencia is a terrible defensive catcher by all accounts.

Peter

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From: detroit...@googlegroups.com <detroit...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Michael W <miw...@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, March 9, 2026 3:19 PM
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Subject: Re: Latest roster moves

 

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[Michael W]

Peter wrote:

> Valencia is a terrible defensive catcher by all accounts.

Peter, tell us more.  By whose accounts?  Bad at throwing out base-stealers, or fielding bunts, or bad at handling pitchers? 

Michael

[Peter Welch]

I've read some social media posts making comments about Valencia's defense being subpar during spring training games.

Here's a scouting report from Bless You Boys:

https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/bless-boys-2026-tigers-prospects-150000277.html

From the article: Behind the plate, Valencia still lacks the framing, blocking, and pop times to play the position regularly at the major league level. He stands 6’1” but he’s quite stocky at this point, with below average speed and agility, which doesn’t bode real well for his ability to improve behind the dish. Gabe Alvarez, his manager in Toledo, preached some patience considering the injury history and lack of reps, and that carries some weight, but we’ll just have to see how he’s improved this spring after an offseason in which defense was a major focus for him.

On a club that highly values catchers for their defensive ability, it’s hard to imagine Valencia getting much catching work without some real improvements. He’s clearly put a ton of work into it already, and so the odds of a major transformation at age 26 are slim.

This scouting report is a bit more favorable to Valencia's defense, although like most scouting reports, they see his future more as a 1B (or DH) than catcher.  https://tigersmlreport.com/2026/03/08/eduardo-valencia-scouting-report/

The Tigers place strong emphasis on defense from their catchers so Valencia seems to be 4^th or even 5^th on the depth chart because his defense isn't major league level.  He could be the best hitter of the Tigers' catching options, but right now he's behind Tomas Nido because Nido is much more polished defensively (apparently Nido has been working with Valencia on his catching skills).  I'm not saying I agree with putting Valencia behind Nido (or even Jake Rogers) in the depth chart, but that's what the Tigers are doing because they don't think Valencia's defense is ready for the majors.  

The good news is that Valencia gets good reviews of his hitting skills (plus he lost some weight going into camp this spring).  He made huge improvements last year and has some legit hitting skills.  If Tork gets injured or struggles badly, Valencia might be a 1B/DH option.

Peter

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From: detroit...@googlegroups.com <detroit...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Michael W <miw...@gmail.com>

Sent: Monday, March 9, 2026 3:41 PM

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[Mike Coveyou]

Dingler underwent an  arthroscopic elbow procedure January.  Projected to return to catching soon.

Mike Coveyou

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[Roger King]

In fact, Dingler started at catcher today.  

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[David Panian]

And made a nice play on a dribbler along the third-base line:

https://bsky.app/profile/jasonbeck.bsky.social/post/3mgnean52zs2d

David

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[Michael W]

All good info, thanks for posting, Peter.

It does seem a little bit of the same failure mode.  Here we have a guy whose defense is sub-standard, so the Tigers plan is: move him to a brand new position, have him keep playing his old position too, and DH him a lot.  They don’t seem to understand that you improve through repetition. 

Michael