Tigers trade RHP Chase Lee to the Blue Jays

The Tigers have been stocking up on minor league pitchers over the last few days. On Friday afternoon, they made a trade as well, sending side arm specialist Chase Lee to the Toronto Blue Jays. In return, they got left-hander Johan Simon. The move clears a 40-man roster spot for reliever Kyle Finnegan, and adds another southpaw relief prospect to the upper levels of the farm system.

The 24-year-old Simon was an international free agent signing back in 2020 out of the Dominican Republic. He took a few years to advance out of the Complex League level and battled some injuries, but in 2025 he put that behind him and had a breakout season. Simon went from Single-A to High-A to Double-A, throwing 71 innings with a 3.42 ERA and a 3.20 FIP with a 25.1 percent strikeout rate overall that trended up all season. In six appearances for Double-A New Hampshire, Simon posted a 32.7 percent strikeout rate. He allowed just three home runs all year.

Simon was Rule 5 eligible, but wasn’t selected. The reason is his still too high walk rates. He’s not completely wild by any means, but he did have a 9.2 percent walk rate for the season across all three levels. Simon has a mid-90’s fourseamer with ride and some cutting action, but his primary two pitches are his sinker and slider. He gets a lot of ground balls from that combination, posting an eye-popping 64 percent ground ball rate for the season. He can also mix in a good changeup that improved throughout the season. It’s a pretty good pitch mix overall.

The 27-year-old Chase Lee came to Detroit in the trade that sent reliever Andrew Chafin to the Texas Rangers at the 2024 trade deadline. He pitched well at the Triple-A level after the trade, and quickly got called up for his major league debut on April 22. For the next five weeks he was very sharp and looked like he might stick in the bullpen all year. In June he was knocked around a little more and then collapsed entirely in July. He never really got it going again, pitching out the year in Toledo without much success.

Lee’s arm angle gave the Tigers’ bullpen a different look, and when he’s on he is pretty tough against right-handed hitters in particular. It just takes a lot of precision to work with a low-powered fastball and he lost it after a promising start. The Tigers would probably like to find themselves another reliever with a funky angle to the plate, but they also lack left-handed relief options after struggling to find answers from that group all throughout the 2025 season. Long-time minor league left-hander Andrew Magno left the Tigers to sign a minor league deal with the Baltimore Orioles after he failed for a few seasons to develop into a more consistent reliever. So there was a need for lefties. Simon should start the season in Triple-A and he and Drew Sommers will get looks if they’re pitching well. Left-handed Double-A starters Jake Miller and Andrew Sears will probably be the better options, but the Tigers would like to keep developing them in a starting role as they look to move up to Toledo as well.

The Tigers 40-man roster is once again full with the return of Kyle Finnegan on a two-year, $19 million deal earlier this week.