Before the Tigers made the questionable choice to trade for him at the deadline, Rafael Montero was quite literally one of the least valuable relievers in baseball. He had a 5.40 ERA between the Astros and the Braves this season and a 4.94 ERA over 2023 and 2024 in Houston. His first few appearances with the Tigers didn't disprove the working theory that Scott Harris was grossly mistaken to take a chance on Montero. The Tigers seem to be hoping to make Montero's fastball less of a liability, rather than turn it back into his primary pitch. It had a .619 slugging against last season and .427 in 2023, so the strategy seems to be more focused on mitigating damage.