The Detroit Tigers and free agent relliever Kyle Finnegan agreed to a two-year, $19 million contract back on December 9. That deal took 11 days to be finalized, leading to some speculation on what was holding things up, but on Saturday, the contract was made official. Rather than Finnegan’s medicals or some other issue, the wait was apparently just in deciding who else to release from the 40-man roster with free agent reliever Kenley Jansen also added to the fold this week. That name turned out to be Justyn-Henry
Malloy, who was designated for assignment on Saturday to open a roster spot for Finnegan.
Finnegan and Kenley Jansen make for pretty solid additions to a Tigers bullpen that needs to be better in 2026. Finnegan took a step forward from his journeyman history after the Tigers dealt for him at the trade deadline, before a groin strain cut his season short. His return for the postseason didn’t go well, but he has a long history as an average reliever, and the increased use of his splitter flashed a upgraded level of performance the Tigers will hope carries into 2026. Meanwhile, Jansen has one of the best track records in the sport, and while he’s now 38 years old, he bounced back after a rough start to his season with the Los Angeles Angels last year and pitched really well for the rest of the season.
Hopefully, this is enough to signicantly improve a bullpen that was just 17th best in ERA and 24th best in fielding independent pitching last year.
As for Malloy, he came to Detroit in a trade for reliever Joe Jimeñez as Scott Harris’ first notable deal after taking over the helm for the Tigers during the 2022-2023 offseason. The soon-to-be 26-year-old Malloy arrived as a third baseman in theory, but never developed enough at that position or as a corner outfielder. That left him a bat without a defensive home with first base occupied by Spencer Torkelson. And unfortunately the bat never developed much with the Tigers.
Malloy has plus raw power and a superb understanding of the strike zone. He also tends to drive the ball in the air when he does make good contact. He brought those skills to Detroit along with a strong ability to hit the fastball. His big problem remains a major vulnerability to secondary stuff that he’s never been able to resolve, leading to minimal power production and a below average strikeout rate despite continuing to draw walks at a pretty good clip. In 357 major league plate appearances, Malloy has slashed .209/.346/.308 with just one home run. He holds a meager. 207 wOBA against breaking stuff and even worse numbers against offspeed stuff. And even if the bat comes around somewhat, the difficulty is figuring out where to play him as well.
So, it’s clearly time to move on.
Presumably the Tigers spent some time over the last 10 days trying to find a minor trade offer that would get them a lottery ticket style young prospect, but no one was biting. The same may prove true with former infield prospect Jace Jung before too long. He seems highly likely to be next on the chopping block should the Tigesr make another major league free agent signing this offseason.
Colt Keith seems set to start the year at third base, but is probably better off at second where he’s again blocked by Gleyber Torres. Beyond him they also have plenty of infield depth at the Triple-A level starting with top prospect Kevin McGonigle who is likely to hit his way to the Show quickly next year if not right out of the gate on Opening Day. Beyond him they have another infield prospect better suited to first base in Max Anderson. Minor league utilityman Trei Cruz is also capable of filling in around the infield this year as something of an understudy to Zach McKinstry. It’s pretty hard to see Jung sticking around much longer, and like Malloy, his former prospect value is exhausted at this point.
There are some Triple-A level relievers who could be designated in such a contigency, but the club needs to stockpile as much pitching depth as possible to try and develop someone. They already dealt reliever Chase Lee to the Blue Jays for a minor league reliever in Johan Simon, opening a 40 man spot when the initial news of Finnegan’s deal was reported.
Malloy has been a very personable and hard-working player with the club. It just didn’t work out, so we wish him the best unless he lands in Cleveland. The Tigers’ 40-man roster is once again full.
