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Catcher Tomas Nido and right-hander Jose De Leon both recently elected to become free agents, as per the MILB.com transactions log. The Red Sox outrighted De Leon off their 40-man roster last week, while Nido was outrighted off the Tigers’ 40-man roster back in May and was never added back. These outrights and the fact that both players have over three years of MLB service time allowed the duo to test the open market.
A veteran of nine Major League seasons, Nido appeared in 10 games with the Tigers after inking a minor league pact last offseason, and hit .343/.361/.343 over 37 plate appearances on the active roster. Jake Rogers suffered an oblique strain in April that opened the door for Detroit to select Nido’s contract, and the Tigers then designated Nido for assignment and outrighted him once Rogers was healthy. Nido could’ve declined the outright assignment and become a free agent then, but instead chose to stay at Triple-A Toledo in a depth role, suiting up in 48 games for the Mud Hens and hitting .209/.267/.331 over 189 PA.
Nido is a classic glove-first backstop, with only a .215/.249/.310 slash line to show for his 982 PA in the majors (895 of them with the Mets). The 31-year-old will surely land another minor league deal this winter with another team looking for experienced catching depth, though it’ll likely require another injury further up the depth chart for Nido to get any significant MLB playing time in 2026.
The Red Sox signed De Leon to a minor league contract last winter, and selected him to the active roster to make a start in Boston’s very last game of the regular season, as the Sox were saving their regular starters for the playoffs. De Leon tossed a quality start (6 2/3 IP, three ER on eight hits and three walks, with eight strikeouts) to earn his first big league win since the 2019 season, when De Leon was still a member of the Rays.
De Leon was one of baseball’s more highly-touted pitching prospects during his minor league days, but he has amassed only 72 MLB innings over parts of seven seasons since making his debut in the Show in September 2016. A pair of Tommy John surgeries and several other injuries were roadblocks in De Leon’s career, and the second of those TJ procedures (in June 2023) cost the righty the entire 2024 season. De Leon has a 7.13 ERA over his 72 innings in the bigs, and some major control problems contributed to his 6.93 ERA in 75 1/3 frames with Triple-A Worcester in 2025.
