Tigers mailbag, part 1: What will the roster look like when Matt Vierling returns?

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DETROIT — The Detroit Tigers finished their series against the Los Angeles Angels in dominating fashion Sunday, winning 13-1 and completing another series victory.

Kenta Maeda is off the roster, which is one more sign that this team is serious about competing. And with Matt Vierling on a rehab assignment in Triple A, reinforcements are coming soon.

With that good news comes complications. So ahead of the Tigers’ three-game series against the Rockies in Colorado, let’s check the mail and see what readers are most curious about.

Note: Submitted questions have been edited for clarity and length.

When (Parker Meadows) and Matt Vierling come back, the obvious choices for demotion are J-Hen and Jung, right? – Trent Z.

I think Justyn-Henry Malloy and Jace Jung are the most obvious choices for the two players sent down in this scenario.

This is tough because you would like to see Jung get a little longer runway in the major leagues. But if the rest of the team can stay healthy, it will be hard to justify his roster spot, especially with the likes of Zach McKinstry and Javier Báez playing so well and the team competing with raised stakes.

The only other option I see would be sending Trey Sweeney down rather than Jung. Sweeney, though, homered again Sunday and is showing the right signs after a tough series in Houston. The Tigers seem to love Sweeney and have a lot invested in him.

Jung is only 3-for-30 so far in this stint in the major leagues. He’ll have to get going soon to even make this much of a discussion.

Trey Sweeney celebrates his home run against the Angels in the Tigers’ 13-1 win on Sunday. (Luiza Moraes / Getty Images)

I’ve been hearing a lot of “Malloy is going to get sent down” when either Margot or Vierling comes back. Has he done anything wrong? Or is it just because he can’t play defense? And if that’s the case, what do you think his future looks like in this organization? — Kevin T.

First of all, I’ll be highly interested to see what the Tigers do with Manuel Margot, who has already played five games on a rehab assignment. It’s possible the Tigers simply option him after his rehab assignment, and he never actually rejoins the MLB team.

At the same time, Margot could give the Tigers a right-handed bat with more defensive value than Malloy — and thus more optionality for manager A.J. Hinch. In that case, Malloy could go down in exchange for Margot. Jung could go down for Vierling. And assuming the Tigers stick with Sweeney, Margot could get sent down again whenever Meadows is ready to rejoin the club.

Now, if we’re being honest, there’s a good chance someone else will pull a muscle or suffer some other minor injury, and a lot of these discussions will sort themselves out. Meadows isn’t eligible to come off the 60-day injured list until May 26, and that’s the best-case scenario. But the Margot component complicates things, and we’re about to learn how much the Tigers value him. He signed a split contract, meaning he will make a much lower amount when he is in the minor leagues.

We have signed outfielder Manuel Margot to a one-year, split contract for the 2025 season, paying him $1,300,000 in the major leagues and $200,000 in the minor leagues.

He can earn performance bonuses of $300,000 for 200, 300, 400, and 500 plate appearances reached each while…

— Tigers PR (@DetroitTigersPR) March 24, 2025

As for Malloy, I think your assessment is pretty spot-on. Malloy entered Sunday hitting only .175. His .347 on-base percentage reflects the plate discipline he is so well known for. But he has only one home run and a .627 OPS. He has started only three games since May 19. Other players keep earning time in the outfield, and the Tigers have hesitations about Malloy’s defense.

His status as a right-handed hitter who controls the zone and has power potential means he should have a spot in this organization for the foreseeable future. But it’s also hard to see how he’s going to earn regular playing time at any point soon. The Tigers seem happy with a collection of different chess pieces, even if a couple of those have to be stashed in Toledo.

But in a way, you can see why the Braves were once OK with trading Malloy for a relief pitcher.

I’m pretty big on Malloy’s hitting potential. But his bat has to be clicking for his spot on the roster to make sense.

What is the approach with Báez, if he continues this production, when Meadows comes back in a month or so? — Jimmy C.

Unless Báez is playing so well that the Tigers decide to demote Sweeney and make Báez their everyday shortstop, I think Báez is most likely to revert to a utility role. The fact that he’s looked so good in center field means he could sometimes spell Meadows against rough lefty starters. He could split time with Sweeney at shortstop and get some occasional action at third base, potentially as a late-game defensive replacement.

In this perfect world where everyone is healthy, it will be tough to get Báez consistent at-bats without taking away from anyone else.

But again, the chances of everyone staying healthy and staying hot through the end of the month are slim. This is baseball, and chances are the Tigers will be dealing with a whole nother set of complications by the time Meadows is back.

What the heck do we do with Alex Cobb?  — David P.

I think the Tigers are probably asking themselves the same question.

Cobb is throwing bullpens, but it’s still unclear how close he might be to starting a rehab assignment. It’s already been a couple of weeks since I’ve heard much about Cobb’s throwing sessions. Early reviews indicated his arm looked good, but there was still some concern about how efficiently his lower half was moving.

If the current starting five stay healthy, let’s just say the Tigers might not be in any rush to get Cobb ramped up for major-league action. The presence of Keider Montero in Triple A serves as another reason I could see them going very slowly with Cobb.

However, the Tigers are only one injury to a starting pitcher away from having a very clear place for Cobb.

Based on performance to date, what does the Tigers’ primary “full health” lineup look like in July?  Does Baez take over at SS or 3B?  Does Vierling take over at 3B or RF?   Has Dingler become the primary catcher? Are Jung and Sweeney casualties of a fully healthy Tigers team? — Mark B.

OK, let’s take everything we’ve talked about and try to build some perfect-world starting lineups.

vs. RHP
C Jake Rogers
1B Spencer Torkelson
2B Gleyber Torres
SS Trey Sweeney (L)
3B Zach McKinstry (L)
LF Riley Greene (L)
CF Parker Meadows (L)
RF Matt Vierling
DH Kerry Carpenter (L)

Bench
Javier Báez
Andy Ibáñez
Dillon Dingler
Colt Keith (L)

A few thoughts here: One, it’s weird to see Keith just stashed on the bench. But what else do you do? There could certainly be days where Carpenter plays right, Keith or Torkelson is the DH and Vierling gets a day off.

I think Rogers and Dingler could split time closer to 50-50 when Rogers comes back. Rogers will likely still catch Tarik Skubal and perhaps Jackson Jobe, so I don’t think there will be a clear 1-2 hierarchy unless Dingler keeps hitting above .300 with an .800 OPS.

There’s also no real spot for Báez here. It will be hard to have a true shortstop platoon with Sweeney, because so far, Sweeney oddly hits left-handed pitching better than he does right-handed pitching. But perhaps Hinch could play the hot hand when it comes to McKinstry, Sweeney and Báez on the infield.

vs. LHP
C Dillon Dingler
1B Spencer Torkelson
2B Gleyber Torres
SS Javier Báez
3B Andy Ibáñez
LF Riley Greene
CF Parker Meadows (L)
RF Matt Vierling
DH Kerry Carpenter (L)

Bench
Zach McKinstry (L)
Colt Keith (L)
Jake Rogers
Trey Sweeney (L)

It’s worth noting Keith is only 2-for-21 against left-handed pitching so far this season. Along with Báez, it’s tough to see how Keith is going to factor in here, even with his bat seeming like it’s heating up. It’s also worth noting Hinch mixes and matches lineups so often based on rest and opponents that predicting some sort of “regular” lineup is almost a fool’s errand.

But even in an ideal world where everyone is healthy, the Tigers would have some tough decisions to navigate. Against left-handers, it would be nice to have Malloy available to DH, but that means taking someone else off the roster.

Another thing: We’re not even counting Wenceel Pérez here. Out with lumbar spine inflammation, Pérez is currently going through a running progression, but there’s no firm timetable for when to expect him back.

How surprised are you by Detroit’s successful first month? — Ed H.

Count me as pretty surprised. I thought the Tigers would have a competitive team this season based on the strength of their pitching alone. But I had some concerns about their ability to score runs, and I certainly thought they might have a tough start given the injuries they faced at the end of spring training.

Instead, the start to the year has been nothing short of stellar. The number of players who have exceeded expectations — McKinstry, Báez, Dingler and Torkleson all being big ones — has changed the complexion of what has been a top-10 lineup in baseball, with power to boot. And the fact that the Tigers are getting reinforcements makes me believe a lot of what we’re seeing is real.

The season is long, and there will likely be some rough patches ahead. There’s an old baseball adage I think about a lot: It’s never as good as it seems, and it’s never as bad as it seems.

But if you want to run back a favorite pastime from last summer and look at playoff odds … well, the Tigers entered Sunday sitting at 81.9 percent.

(Top photo: Jason Miller / Getty Images)

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