Detroit Tigers Reportedly Agree to Contract With Standout Third Baseman Gio Urshela
The Detroit Tigers and infielder Gio Urshela have agreed to a one-year, $1.5 million contract, ESPN's Jeff Passan reported Thursday afternoon.
The New York Post's Jon Heyman reported that Urshela has incentives baked into his new deal with the Tigers. Per Evan Petzold of The Detroit Free Press, he can earn an additional $500K if he reaches a certain threshold of plate appearances.
Urshela, 32, spent last season with the Los Angeles Angels. He hit .299 with two home runs, 24 RBI, a .703 OPS and a 0.8 WAR in 62 contests, missing the entire second half of the season with a pelvic fracture.
The veteran, who was once a mainstay in the New York Yankees' lineup, was a free agent for the first time in his career this winter. The Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Miami Marlins were reportedly among the teams the Tigers were competing with for Urshela's services on the open market.
New York took a flier on Urshela in 2018, coming off the back of his two largely uneventful stints with the Cleveland Indians and Toronto Blue Jays. Urshela emerged as the Yankees' everyday third baseman in 2019, immediately bursting onto the scene with gaudy stats.
That season, Urshela hit .314 with 21 home runs, 74 RBI, an .889 OPS and a 3.8 WAR in 132 games. He remained effective in the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign, batting .298 with six home runs, 30 RBI, an .858 OPS and a 2.0 WAR across 43 appearances.
Urshela's stats dipped in 2021, though, and he missed nearly 50 games that year. The Yankees traded Urshela to the Minnesota Twins the following offseason, and he enjoyed somewhat of a bounce-back year, bumping his batting average, OPS and WAR from .267, .720 and 0.6 to .285, .767 and 3.1, respectively.
Following a trade to Anaheim and an injury-plagued 2023 season, Urshela had racked up 608 hits, 64 home runs, 280 RBI and a 9.1 WAR in his MLB career. He is a lifetime .277 hitter with a .745 OPS.
The right-handed hitter owns a .290 batting average and .773 OPS against left-handed pitchers in his career, though, which made him a perfect fit for the Tigers' needs heading into 2024.
Urshela will likely push for the starting third base job in Detroit, with Zach McKinstry and Matt Vierling standing out as his most notable competitors. Urshela, 35-year-old outfielder Matt Canha and 31-year-old shortstop Javier Báez will serve as veteran accents in an otherwise extremely young Tigers lineup.
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