DETROIT -- The Tigers¡¯ first big move of the offseason is the kind of trade that president of baseball operations Scott Harris has hinted at for a while, leveraging their organizational pitching depth to address their offense. Detroit acquired veteran outfielder Mark Canha from Milwaukee on Saturday in exchange for relief prospect Blake Holub.

Canha, a nine-year veteran who also spent time with the A¡¯s and Mets, fits the Tigers¡¯ offensive profile, providing double-digit home run power while dominating the strike zone. He owns a .364 on-base percentage and a 120 OPS+ since 2018. He batted .262 this past season between New York and Milwaukee with 25 doubles, 11 home runs, 62 RBIs, a .355 on-base percentage and a 108 OPS+.

¡°Mark is an on-base machine,¡± Harris said on a conference call with reporters. ¡°He goes up to the plate with a plan. He grinds out at-bats. He never gives in to pitchers. He makes a ton of contact. He¡¯s been one of the biggest on-base threats in our game over the last four or five years. So I think he immediately makes us better.¡±

Canha is a little older compared to the rest of the Tigers¡¯ roster; he¡¯ll turn 35 in February. But the Tigers are hoping to use that experience as an advantage for the rest of their club.

¡°We feel really good about what he's going to add to our clubhouse,¡± Harris said. ¡°It's no secret we're going to have a very young team next year. Adding Mark, who's a high-character guy who brings grit and toughness to our team, as a veteran who's seen a lot in this game, will only help our young guys adapt to the big leagues faster. I also think adding this type of bat with this caliber of approach at the plate can only help the young players. I hope many of our young hitters emulate this type of approach when they see it every day.¡±

In return, Canha allows the Tigers to address an offensive need without a long-term contract or testing a thin free-agent market. His contract has an $11.5 million club option for next season, which the Brewers appeared unlikely to pick up but the Tigers will.

The Tigers took advantage of the situation by acquiring him for Holub, a 15th-round Draft pick in 2021 who emerged as a relief prospect this year while helping Double-A Erie to its first-ever Eastern League title. The 6-foot-6 right-hander posted a 3.03 ERA and eight saves in 48 appearances between Erie and High-A West Michigan, striking out 76 batters over 65 1/3 innings. With two other big, hard-throwing right-handed relievers at the same level in Tyler Mattison and RJ Petit, the Tigers felt they had the depth to swing a deal.

¡°I didn¡¯t want to trade Blake. He¡¯s a talented young reliever who has a chance to pitch in a Major League bullpen in the future,¡± Harris said. ¡°But in this game, you have to give up something to get something. I think that in this case, our player development group deserves a lot of credit here. They helped Blake take a huge step forward this year. [Vice president of player development] Ryan Garko and his staff helped him get in the zone, his stuff improved and he put together a really nice year that made him a valuable trade chip for us to go out and acquire Mark.¡±

The Tigers will plug Canha into a predominantly left-handed outfield group that includes Riley Greene, Kerry Carpenter, Parker Meadows and Akil Baddoo. Another left-handed-hitting outfielder, Austin Meadows, has one more year of team control but could be a non-tender candidate. The Canha trade could also allow Matt Vierling, another right-handed outfielder, to focus more on third base, where he played for a good stretch of the summer.

¡°I think it¡¯s a little early in the offseason to truly forecast playing time. We have a lot of time left in the offseason to reshape our team,¡± Harris said. ¡°I view my job as trying to make [manager A.J. Hinch¡¯s] life more difficult, trying to make his decisions much more difficult. I think we made it more difficult today, and I intend to keep doing that and we¡¯ll let A.J. put all the pieces together. He¡¯s pretty good at that.¡±