I’ve Heard Enough…Kenta Maeda Needs To Go
We are just past the halfway point of the Major League Baseball season in 2024. And after watching/listening to the Detroit Tigers this season, I have figured out one truth that now needs to to be addressed.
Starting pitcher Kenta Maeda (pictured above) isn't any good, and needs to be gone from this roster.
The latest bad start occurred on Tuesday night at Comerica Park as the Tigers lost to the Cleveland Guardians, 9-8 in 10 innings.
Maeda didn't get out of the 3rd inning on Tuesday, going 2 2/3 innings while giving up six runs and seven hits. His record is 2-5 with a 7.26 earned run average. He's struck out 50 while walking 23. He had given up 81 hits in 65 2/3 innings pitched.
In other words, Maeda hasn't been good. And because of that, the Tigers need to get rid of him.
Because of guaranteed contracts, it isn't as easy as it used to be to just cut a guy. If the Tigers let him go, they are still on the hook for the remainder of his two-year, $24 million contract that he signed this past offseason.
The team could try to send him to the minors, but to do that they have to do what is called Designate him For Assignment (DFA). By doing this, they would essentially put him on waivers. If he cleared waivers (which would be likely given his salary), then the Tigers could send him to the minor leagues.
But because Maeda has more than five years of service time in the majors, he can refuse the assignment and become a free agent (and the team would still be responsible for the rest of his deal). So, there's no point in DFA'ing him.
So the Tigers only options are to just outright release him and eat the money, or ride this out and "hope" he turns it around.
Riding this out is no longer an option, IMO. The Tigers need to release him. The sooner, the better. I've seen enough of Kenta Maeda.