DETROIT -- The Tigers opened their offseason dealings on Friday with a minor trade, acquiring middle infielder Tsung-Che Cheng from the Red Sox for cash considerations.
It’s the kind of smaller, on-the-margins addition that has become a regular part of offseason transactions under president of baseball operations Scott Harris and general manager Jeff Greenberg, usually around the time when teams have to adjust their 40-man roster. With the Red Sox needing to open roster space for players who had been on the 60-day injured list, the Tigers made the move for Cheng before a potential waiver claim, of which Cheng had several last offseason.
The 25-year-old Cheng is a 5-foot-8, left-handed-hitting shortstop/second baseman from Taiwan who signed with the Pirates in 2019. He spent five years in the Pittsburgh farm system before being claimed off waivers by the Rays, then the Mets, then the Nationals and, finally, the Red Sox -- all within a month.
Cheng made MLB debut with the Pirates in 2025, going 0-for-7 across three games. He picked up his first MLB hit in his Red Sox debut on June 26 this past season. Overall, he went 10-for-39 (.256) with five RBIs in 14 games with Boston before going back to Triple-A Worcester, where he slashed .241/.345/.390 with eight home runs and 30 RBIs in 94 games.
Cheng was a teammate of Tigers infielder Hao-Yu Lee on the Chinese Taipei roster for the World Baseball Classic, in which he went 3-for-9 with five walks and four stolen bases in four games.
Cheng will likely serve as organizational depth if he stays with the club. The Tigers currently have 36 players on their 40-man roster, not counting eight players on the 60-day IL. The Tigers will have to open spots for those eight players by Monday. They could remove Cheng and hope he clears waivers, or they could try to create roster space with other players.