The Detroit Tigers non-tendered right-hander Spencer Turnbull and outfielder Austin Meadows prior to Friday’s deadline to offer contracts for arbitration-eligible players.
Turnbull and Meadows are now free agents.
Turnbull, 31, threw a no-hitter against the Seattle Mariners in 2021, marking the first time (and only time) he pitched more than seven innings in a major league game. He went 12-29 overall with a 4.55 ERA in 61 appearances (60 starts) for the Tigers in parts of five seasons.
Last season, he was 1-4 with a 7.26 ERA in seven starts while missing time with neck and toe injuries. He missed the entire 2022 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
Meadows, 28, played in six games at the outset of the 2023 season for Detroit before missing the rest of the campaign due to mental health reasons. He also dealt with anxiety issues in 2022.
Meadows batted just .248 with no homers and 13 RBIs in 42 games with Detroit over two seasons after being acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays for Isaac Paredes in April 2022. Paredes has hit 51 homers since the trade.
While with Tampa Bay, Meadows hit a career-high 33 homers in 2019 when he was an All-Star. He drove in a career-best 106 runs in 2021, when he smacked 27 homers.
Overall, Meadows has a .259 career average with 70 homers and 238 RBIs in 417 major league games with the Pittsburgh Pirates (2018), Tampa Bay (2019-21) and Detroit.
The Tigers also announced that they didn’t tender contracts to right-handers Brenan Hanifee, Garrett Hill and Freddy Pacheco.
