The Detroit Tigers have cut ties with right-handed pitchers Al Alburquerque and Neftali Feliz as the team did not tender offers to the relievers, as first reported by James Schmehl of MLive.
Since the two were non-tendered by Detroit, they are free agents and available to any team on the open market. Alburquerque was set to earn $2.1 million in 2016, while Feliz was on his way to $5.2 million. It is also fair to note that the Tigers could bring back the arms through free agency.
Alburquerque struggled with his command, which caused the 24-year-old to post a 4.21 ERA with a 1.55 WHIP, a career-high, during the 2015 season. The native of the Dominican Republic logged a 58-to-33 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 62.0 innings. The Tigers did not think he was worth the probable $2.1 million raise, but Alburquerque should draw some decent interest on the market this winter.
Over 48.0 innings between the Texas Rangers and the Tigers, Feliz logged a 6.38 ERA with a 39-to-18 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 2015. Feliz, who was formally an American League Rookie of the Year winner, was not worth the projected $5.2 million that Detroit would have had to give him in his final arbitration year.
The righty has logged a 3.17 ERA with a 15-12 record over 289.2 innings during his seven-year Major League tenure with the Rangers (2009-2015) and the Tigers (2015). Feliz was signed as a free agent after coming to the United States from the Dominican Republic in 2005.
Meanwhile, the Tigers tended contracts to right fielder J.D. Martinez and shortstops Jose Iglesias and Andrew Romine. Martinez will make a projected $7.8 million in 2016, which is his second year of arbitration. Iglesias will make a projected $1.5 million and Romine will score himself about $700,000. Both Iglesias and Romine are in their first season of arbitration.