Tanner Rainey is headed back to free agency after another brief, uneven stay with the Detroit Tigers, closing a second straight season in which the veteran right-hander showed enough stuff to earn a look and not enough command to keep it.
The Tigers designated Rainey for assignment on August 31, then outrighted him to Triple-A Toledo on September 2 after he went unclaimed on waivers.
With more than five years of major-league service, he had the right to reject the assignment and elect free agency immediately. He accepted the move instead, finishing the year in the organization.
Once the season ended, his minor-league deal expired, returning him to the open market, via the MiLB transaction log.
The stint that produced the designation was short. Detroit selected his contract on August 11 to cover a paternity-list absence, and he appeared in six games, working seven innings.
He allowed three runs on three hits with six strikeouts, but he also walked eight, hit a batter, and threw four wild pitches. A 3.86 ERA looked presentable. The walk rate did not.
That has been the pattern. Before the call-up, Rainey had been one of Toledo’s more effective arms, posting a 2.32 ERA across 42⅔ innings with 60 strikeouts in 39 appearances.
He missed bats at a rate above 33 percent and sat 96–97 mph with a usable slider. He also walked more than 14 percent of the hitters he faced. Every club passed when he hit waivers.
Rainey, 33, was a second-round pick of the Cincinnati Reds out of West Alabama in 2015 and built his reputation in Washington.
He won a World Series ring as a rookie in 2019 and followed it with a sharp 2.66 ERA in the shortened 2020 season.
Tommy John surgery and recurring control problems have defined the years since. His career line sits around a 5.46 ERA in more than 200 innings, with a strikeout rate near 27 percent and a walk rate above 15 percent. He has recorded 15 career saves.
Detroit has already been through this cycle with him.
The Tigers signed him to a minor-league deal in July 2025 after Pittsburgh released him, used him late in the season, non-tendered him in November, then brought him back days later on another non-roster contract with a spring-training invite.
He is likely looking at the same kind of deal this winter: a minor-league agreement, an invitation to camp, and a chance to prove the fastball still plays if the walks come down. Clubs know the arm. They also know the risk.
