A lefty masher who finished last season with the Yankees will not return to The Bronx.
Veteran outfielder Austin Slater has agreed to a minor league deal with the Tigers, noti.group’s Jon Heyman first reported Tuesday.
The deal, which includes an invitation to major league spring training, is worth $2 million if Slater makes the team, with an additional $500,000 in incentives, per Fansided.
Slater, 33, was acquired from the White Sox at the trade deadline last season to provide some right-handed punch for a lefty-heavy Yankees lineup.
From 2017-23, Slater hit an outstanding .285/.374/.463 with an .837 OPS against lefties.
He suffered a hamstring injury in his second start with the Yankees and missed more than a month of action after hitting the injured list.
The nine-year veteran, who sported an .814 OPS versus lefties at the time of the injury, finished his Yankees stint just 1-for-16 with 11 strikeouts against southpaws.
In 53 games between New York and Chicago last season, Slater slashed .216/.270/.372 with five home runs and 13 RBIs.
In search of a right-handed outfielder for the bench, the Yankees pursued a reunion with Slater, offering a one-year, $1 million deal, Heyman reported last week.
The sides could not reach an agreement, however, and the Yankees instead reunited with another lefty masher, Paul Goldschmidt.
“[Goldshmidt] wasn’t necessarily the perfect fit, like we’d probably want the right-handed outfielder with more flexibility,” manager Aaron Boone said on MLB Network Radio on Sunday.
“Inevitably, things happen over the course of spring and the course of the season to where having the better player, especially a guy who has performed here and been part of the culture, it was a really good day for us.”
Instead, Slater, who wields a career .248/.336/.384 line with 45 homers and 184 RBIs between the Giants, Reds, Orioles, White Sox and Yankees, has a chance to make more than double what New York offered.
Slater was part of a busy day for the Tigers, who also reunited with legendary pitcher Justin Verlander on a one-year, $13 million deal.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
