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Jim Duquette's AL Deadline Trade Watch + Roaring Tigers Checkup · Foul Territory

0:08
Speaker 1: That is quite the catchy tune. There, My goodness, we
0:10
Speaker 1: want to welcome in former Major League Baseball general manager
0:13
Speaker 1: for the New York Mets and the Baltimore Orioles, our
0:16
Speaker 1: friend of the program. Always good to be joined by
0:18
Speaker 1: Jim Duquette.
0:19
Speaker 2: Good to see you.
0:19
Speaker 1: Let's start with the O's, my friend. They now have
0:22
Speaker 1: the worst record than the team did through the same
0:25
Speaker 1: number of games last year. They are now in last
0:27
Speaker 1: place in the Al East. The Boston Red Sox are
0:29
Speaker 1: psyched about that. What has happened to this team?
0:34
Speaker 2: Good to be with you guys again. Nice to see
0:36
Speaker 2: you know what this is one.
0:38
Speaker 3: It's a mystery for me because you know, I think
0:42
Speaker 3: it was literally two weeks ago that Michael IIAs said
0:45
Speaker 3: they're all in, they're buying, and they've lost nine to
0:48
Speaker 3: thirteen since then, Like you want to talk about putting
0:52
Speaker 3: on a bad show. Offensively, it's a dud stretch here
0:56
Speaker 3: for them, and I still keep waiting for them to
0:59
Speaker 3: figure out. Craig am is on my show the other
1:01
Speaker 3: day and he said, you know, starting pitching has been
1:04
Speaker 3: better lately, which.
1:05
Speaker 2: I agree with.
1:06
Speaker 3: The team defense has been better lately, which I mean
1:09
Speaker 3: by comparison to what it was earlier.
1:11
Speaker 2: I guess the answer is yes on that.
1:13
Speaker 3: But usually you see a much better, you know, stretch
1:16
Speaker 3: of baseball, winning baseball when you have good pitching, good
1:20
Speaker 3: starting pitching, and good defense.
1:22
Speaker 2: But you know, the offense has been slacking for sure.
1:25
Speaker 3: It just seems like every little thing that they had
1:28
Speaker 3: that goes wrong, you know, ends up costing him a game.
1:31
Speaker 3: And so you know this stretch was going to be
1:33
Speaker 3: a difficult one anyway. But here's my big concern guys,
1:37
Speaker 3: and I'm curious if you think this too, but they
1:39
Speaker 3: they have been They're well below five hundred. They're below
1:43
Speaker 3: five hundred in their own division. They have about twenty
1:46
Speaker 3: six games left to play in the American League East
1:48
Speaker 3: as well.
1:49
Speaker 2: That does not.
1:51
Speaker 3: Pretend to be a very real good stretch here going
1:55
Speaker 3: into the trade deadline. So I think they obviously want
1:58
Speaker 3: to keep an open mind about what are going to
2:00
Speaker 3: do trade wise, but I think they're sellers, and I
2:02
Speaker 3: think it's clear that they're sellers.
2:05
Speaker 4: Is this the chance that they can actually get value
2:07
Speaker 4: from this organization though, because this is an organization that
2:10
Speaker 4: we've heard has so many prospects, Well, we're we're not
2:14
Speaker 4: gonna deal one of those guys to another team because
2:18
Speaker 4: we're we're building for this, Are they actually gonna do it?
2:21
Speaker 4: Or does there need to be a quick change in
2:24
Speaker 4: somebody else making the decisions, not firing Michael Lias who
2:27
Speaker 4: knows how to.
2:28
Speaker 5: Make those changes and decisions.
2:30
Speaker 3: But you know, it's it's the Agel question, right, So
2:33
Speaker 3: on this particular situation, And it's happened to me when
2:36
Speaker 3: I was early in my front office days. I fell
2:38
Speaker 3: in love with our prospects and our guys that we
2:43
Speaker 3: drafted and we developed, and a lot of times, you know,
2:47
Speaker 3: held on to them too long. Like it's it's fairly
2:50
Speaker 3: common if you look around the sport like it's hard
2:52
Speaker 3: to especially if you are you know, if you're hampered
2:56
Speaker 3: by an extended payroll like some of the other you know,
2:58
Speaker 3: the large revenue teams, you don't have to don't have
3:00
Speaker 3: to worry about that, Right, they make mistake that covered up,
3:02
Speaker 3: they use a guy, they can trade them, and you know,
3:05
Speaker 3: if it haunts them in terms of a trade, then
3:09
Speaker 3: you know they can you know, fix it with a
3:11
Speaker 3: signing of some sort and you kind of forget about it.
3:13
Speaker 3: But these small market clubs in mid market clubs. They're
3:16
Speaker 3: relying on their their farm system. And you know, if
3:19
Speaker 3: like this kind we're having this conversation today, Colton Cowser
3:22
Speaker 3: is playing well, He's a center fielder, playing well defensively,
3:26
Speaker 3: would you would you consider trading him at the deadline
3:29
Speaker 3: here and trying to, you know, maximize his value. But
3:33
Speaker 3: you have the same sense of, well, jeez, I've been
3:35
Speaker 3: waiting all this long, why don't I just wait a
3:37
Speaker 3: little longer and he can do it for us? Like
3:38
Speaker 3: you go through that that that mind uh you know,
3:42
Speaker 3: mess was to be nice with it about it in
3:46
Speaker 3: every single time, with every decision, and I think that's
3:48
Speaker 3: where there are.
3:49
Speaker 2: They just fall in love with their guys.
3:50
Speaker 3: It's it's hard for them to pull the plug on
3:53
Speaker 3: guys until they lose their value.
3:54
Speaker 2: So in the end, Eric, I think they should. Will
3:57
Speaker 2: they do it?
3:58
Speaker 3: I don't know at the end, you know, I think
4:01
Speaker 3: I don't think there's any change that's going to happen
4:03
Speaker 3: between now and the trade deadline.
4:05
Speaker 2: But I do wonder, you know, I said this today
4:08
Speaker 2: on my show. I think he is on the.
4:11
Speaker 3: Clock, just like a couple other general managers, like if
4:13
Speaker 3: this doesn't go well at the end, of this year,
4:15
Speaker 3: with all the expectations they had, it wouldn't shock me
4:18
Speaker 3: if they made a change there.
4:20
Speaker 6: Jim, we look at the American League standings in general
4:22
Speaker 6: and how how tight it is. Why are some of
4:25
Speaker 6: these gm not going out and trying to make some
4:28
Speaker 6: trades right now before the deadline to try to separate themselves.
4:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I asked the same question recently.
4:35
Speaker 3: We had a couple of GMS on our show on Sunday,
4:38
Speaker 3: the last couple of Sundays, and the answer I keep
4:40
Speaker 3: getting back is that no one is really ready to
4:44
Speaker 3: make a deal yet now there. I think there are
4:47
Speaker 3: more obvious teams should be making deals, right. I think
4:50
Speaker 3: the Mets, I think the Giants. We could throw the
4:53
Speaker 3: Orioles in there. But a lot of these teams still
4:55
Speaker 3: aren't ready to make a decision, even in the even
4:58
Speaker 3: in the National League, or you know, they're they're waiting
5:01
Speaker 3: until they get through the draft, which is coming up
5:04
Speaker 3: on Saturday, and then usually after the amateur Draft, uh,
5:08
Speaker 3: they will.
5:09
Speaker 2: Start to move on the trade deadline.
5:11
Speaker 3: I never really bought that as a as an excuse,
5:14
Speaker 3: Like I feel like in some ways you're hiding behind
5:17
Speaker 3: the draft, like you have a lot of personnel involved,
5:19
Speaker 3: and those those are important decisions.
5:21
Speaker 2: But you should be able to do both.
5:22
Speaker 3: You should be able to make a deal and and
5:24
Speaker 3: you know, be prepared and get be ready for the draft.
5:27
Speaker 3: But a lot of teams they put they're putting so
5:29
Speaker 3: much personnel and and uh money and all of the
5:33
Speaker 3: time into it that they like to put the trade
5:36
Speaker 3: conversation aside until they get through that, and that that's
5:40
Speaker 3: it seems to be the most common reason that that
5:43
Speaker 3: I'm I'm getting And I know Jim Bowden who comes
5:46
Speaker 3: on this a lot too, He's gotten the same answers.
5:49
Speaker 3: I don't necessarily agree with it, because I think there's
5:52
Speaker 3: always an aggressiveness.
5:53
Speaker 2: That you need to have at the deadline.
5:54
Speaker 3: But that seems to kind of play with every every
5:57
Speaker 3: general manager that we've asked.
6:00
Speaker 4: They all want to keep their job. They could care
6:01
Speaker 4: less about winning a ring. They would, oh, I got
6:04
Speaker 4: a draft. Look at these guys, they're five years away.
6:06
Speaker 4: What a neat draft, which should be in June at omahall.
6:10
Speaker 4: But that's another completely different conversation. I'm with you, every
6:14
Speaker 4: team we talk about that is truly trying to win.
6:18
Speaker 4: Once some right handed slug in the outfield is Taylor
6:22
Speaker 4: Ward maybe one of the more underrated super valuable pieces.
6:27
Speaker 4: I get it his powers down, but I don't think
6:29
Speaker 4: you just lose your power unless you're Jerkson Profar or
6:32
Speaker 4: Fernanda Tatise type of situations.
6:35
Speaker 3: I think he's for me. He's one of the top guys.
6:38
Speaker 3: I know this arek you know, right handed power. You know,
6:41
Speaker 3: I know defensively, it hasn't looked great. That's a tough
6:43
Speaker 3: left field came in yards now is way bigger than
6:47
Speaker 3: it ever used to be, and so I think it's
6:48
Speaker 3: more difficult to play out there. And so you know,
6:51
Speaker 3: somebody else I think could certainly, you know, in a
6:55
Speaker 3: different ballpark, he'd be just fine. He'd be an average
6:58
Speaker 3: defender out there and left field. And I think there's
7:00
Speaker 3: more to come with his power. You know, he got
7:02
Speaker 3: a little too selective early on he was in the
7:04
Speaker 3: leadoff spot. And I also think just hitting in that park,
7:07
Speaker 3: your right handed hitters, unless you hit the ball straight
7:09
Speaker 3: away or mostly to right center field. You guys know
7:12
Speaker 3: this like it doesn't travel anymore to left field because
7:15
Speaker 3: of how far back the fence has been. That has
7:17
Speaker 3: gone even when they brought it in. So I think
7:20
Speaker 3: there's definitely value there for Ward. I'll throw another right
7:23
Speaker 3: handed batter out there in Joe Adele if the Angels
7:26
Speaker 3: can ever figure out how to convince Ardie Moreno to sell,
7:30
Speaker 3: you know, and that's maybe what John Mosaalak is going
7:32
Speaker 3: to be able to or hopefully going to be able
7:33
Speaker 3: to do.
7:34
Speaker 7: So.
7:34
Speaker 3: I think those two outfielders right hand hitters, specifically Ward,
7:38
Speaker 3: because he's an on base guy too and with power
7:41
Speaker 3: like I think he'd get a ton of value back.
7:45
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8:46
Speaker 1: Jim, let's talk about the Red Sox for a second.
8:47
Speaker 1: Like everybody in the American League, they're in the thick
8:50
Speaker 1: of things, if you will, just three games out of
8:52
Speaker 1: the wild card race. In your opinion, does a rule
8:55
Speaker 1: he doesn't have to be a given permission? I mean
8:58
Speaker 1: a role as Chabmin could be sent, could be dealt.
9:00
Speaker 1: Do you think that happens? And it seems like a
9:02
Speaker 1: second part of the question seems like Jared Duran is
9:05
Speaker 1: in trade conversation talks for the last four years. Do
9:08
Speaker 1: either of those guys get moved?
9:11
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think you're right Duran and I never understood
9:13
Speaker 3: the Duran trade talk during that stretch, even when they
9:18
Speaker 3: had outfield depth, because he's such a good player. I
9:20
Speaker 3: know he's having a little bit of a of a
9:21
Speaker 3: down year, but I think if the Red Sox want
9:24
Speaker 3: to see part of the part of the conversation here
9:27
Speaker 3: recently has been can you do a major league for
9:29
Speaker 3: major league deal? So if you could match up somehow Duran,
9:35
Speaker 3: you know, But here's the problem. They need offense help,
9:38
Speaker 3: offensive help really more than anything that was for as out.
9:41
Speaker 3: They might need a starter too, depending on how long
9:45
Speaker 3: he's out. But I think I think Duran for sure
9:48
Speaker 3: is a guy that will get moved if they decide.
9:50
Speaker 2: They're out of it. Here's the thing, what are they
9:52
Speaker 2: like a game and a half, two and a half back.
9:54
Speaker 3: Something like that after winning five games in a row,
9:56
Speaker 3: and there's seven or so games under five hundred, not
10:00
Speaker 3: that far out of the wildcard. That's that's the whole
10:02
Speaker 3: problem with Toronto in Boston where all those teams kind
10:06
Speaker 3: of sit in the wildcard. Yeah, their their record below
10:10
Speaker 3: five hundred tells you they're not very good, but you're
10:13
Speaker 3: not that far out from And Craig Brezil, I know
10:15
Speaker 3: you guys have talked about this too, like his his
10:18
Speaker 3: seats pretty hot too when it comes to whether he's
10:20
Speaker 3: going to be back next year. So I think they're
10:22
Speaker 3: going to wait as long as they can and decide
10:25
Speaker 3: if that, you know, they're trending up, so they might
10:27
Speaker 3: end up being buyers. But I think that because they
10:31
Speaker 3: have some outfield depth, depending on when Anthony comes back,
10:34
Speaker 3: they could do they can move Duran. The only problem
10:37
Speaker 3: is you're looking for maybe a right handed hit or back,
10:40
Speaker 3: you know, and so is there a deal like that
10:42
Speaker 3: that you can, you know, trade out major leaguer for
10:44
Speaker 3: major leaguer. That's that's where I'm having a hard time
10:47
Speaker 3: seeing it fit, at least at the moment.
10:50
Speaker 6: Assuming that Blue Jays don't play any better and potentially
10:53
Speaker 6: they're sellers at the deadline. How difficult of a decision
10:57
Speaker 6: is that to go out and potentially rate a guy
11:00
Speaker 6: like Kevin Gosman who's meant so much to the organization
11:03
Speaker 6: given where they were at last year. How difficult is
11:06
Speaker 6: it to justify a move like that to the fan
11:09
Speaker 6: base that's been so loyal and especially coming off of
11:12
Speaker 6: World Series appearance last year.
11:14
Speaker 2: I don't care.
11:14
Speaker 3: I mean that was a great story too, and you
11:16
Speaker 3: know their offense has been a struggle. Ross Atkins said
11:21
Speaker 3: it was a couple of weeks ago now that they're
11:22
Speaker 3: looking for starting pitching. If they're buying, but if they're selling,
11:26
Speaker 3: Gosman will get you a ton. You know, there's not
11:28
Speaker 3: a lot of starters out there. I forget his contract
11:32
Speaker 3: situation if it's up at the end of this year
11:34
Speaker 3: or next year, but it's up this year, right, So
11:38
Speaker 3: so you know, if you put him in the mix
11:39
Speaker 3: with Peralta, who is out there. I don't think Google's
11:44
Speaker 3: going to be in play now the way Detroit's been playing,
11:46
Speaker 3: but you know, you could throw Clay Holmes into that.
11:49
Speaker 2: Because he's going to opt out at the end of year.
11:52
Speaker 3: You can get a ton for Gosman, And I think
11:54
Speaker 3: if you're Toronto, you know what they've at least been
11:58
Speaker 3: able to do is buy a little bit of grace
12:02
Speaker 3: with their fan base in the sense that, hey, listen,
12:04
Speaker 3: we're going to go out and find somebody else. Like
12:07
Speaker 3: you know, I thought part of signing Dylan Cees was
12:09
Speaker 3: a little bit of protection in case, you.
12:12
Speaker 2: Know, Gosman moves on.
12:13
Speaker 3: So yeah, I think that you know that they're a
12:16
Speaker 3: smart front office, I think from you know, if they're
12:20
Speaker 3: out of it and they've been trending down in that
12:22
Speaker 3: unfortunately trending out, and then recently they won two in
12:24
Speaker 3: a row. But they're another team like they got to
12:28
Speaker 3: wait another two weeks before they really.
12:29
Speaker 5: Know for sure.
12:30
Speaker 3: But Gosman could get a haul, and I think they
12:32
Speaker 3: could because they have the money.
12:35
Speaker 2: As we've seen, they're willing to spend it.
12:36
Speaker 3: I think they could turn things around pretty quickly next
12:39
Speaker 3: year and replace Gosman, you know, with a starter or two,
12:42
Speaker 3: you know, and then add it to what they already have.
12:45
Speaker 4: Duke, I think every time you say somebody wins two
12:48
Speaker 4: games in a row and they're back in the race,
12:50
Speaker 4: tells us that the American League stinks. It just it stinks.
12:55
Speaker 4: But a team that is not playing well, I think
12:58
Speaker 4: they're one and nine in their last ten is the Athletics.
13:02
Speaker 4: Is this the time where you could see because last
13:04
Speaker 4: year it's like, well we have Mason Miller, We're never
13:06
Speaker 4: gonna trade him.
13:07
Speaker 5: We love this guy. Oh okay, well we'll trade him
13:10
Speaker 5: for this.
13:11
Speaker 4: Is this the time that possibly the a's front office
13:15
Speaker 4: could find their superstar in like a weird trade deadline
13:19
Speaker 4: because no superstars are going to play in Sacramento. They
13:22
Speaker 4: have Kurtz, they have different guys, but another cornerstone guy
13:27
Speaker 4: that would be like we're taking him into Vegas and
13:30
Speaker 4: finding it or are they just find having pieces that
13:33
Speaker 4: they could sell.
13:34
Speaker 5: Yeah.
13:34
Speaker 2: I think they're a real.
13:38
Speaker 3: Underrated team that's gonna sell that could do exactly what
13:42
Speaker 3: you're talking about. They have a couple of they have
13:44
Speaker 3: a lot of position players.
13:45
Speaker 2: You know Rooker. I love Rooker. I think he's great there.
13:48
Speaker 2: I think it's a perfect fit.
13:50
Speaker 3: But if he wasn't injured, I would have said, Jesus,
13:52
Speaker 3: that might be a guy to keep an eye on
13:54
Speaker 3: in terms of in terms of trading, Geloff could be
13:57
Speaker 3: a guy. I mean, I know there'd be considerable interest
13:59
Speaker 3: there young controllable power power hitter. Uh yeah, I don't
14:05
Speaker 3: know how much how deep they would be willing to go.
14:08
Speaker 3: I don't think they're moving Langoliers or Kurtz on it,
14:11
Speaker 3: you know, or Wilson.
14:11
Speaker 2: They're not moving those key guys.
14:13
Speaker 3: But they need something, a trade like that to do, uh,
14:18
Speaker 3: to get themselves controllable starting pitching, and this would be
14:22
Speaker 3: this could be the time to do it, you know,
14:24
Speaker 3: in terms of just moving one of your position players.
14:26
Speaker 2: So I think their team to watch how to how
14:29
Speaker 2: they match up.
14:30
Speaker 3: It's kind of you know, it's not really clear at
14:33
Speaker 3: the moment, and obviously they're going through it right now
14:35
Speaker 3: and it doesn't look like they're going to come out
14:37
Speaker 3: of it. But I think that this would be absolutely
14:40
Speaker 3: the time to go get some kind of young starting pitching.
14:43
Speaker 3: The problem is like, like I think, as an example,
14:46
Speaker 3: read debtmers, if they're trying to win over the next
14:48
Speaker 3: couple of years, he'd be he'd be an interested and
14:50
Speaker 3: got to go trade for you's only got a couple
14:52
Speaker 3: of years left though of control. You know, could they
14:55
Speaker 3: pull off a deal there, you know where you know
14:58
Speaker 3: they give them a prospect or two and so they
15:01
Speaker 3: add and help their team now and then you know
15:03
Speaker 3: they're good for the next couple of years. Somebody like
15:06
Speaker 3: that I think would be intriguing for the for they's.
15:09
Speaker 6: All right, let me let me talk some no trade
15:11
Speaker 6: clause guys, Corey Seeger and then clearly the Lindor Soto
15:16
Speaker 6: kind of saga continues, and clearly it's not working there
15:19
Speaker 6: in New York and they're a team that's probably gonna
15:22
Speaker 6: be seller and then I'll throw Boba shit in there.
15:23
Speaker 6: The difficulty in trying to trade some of these guys
15:26
Speaker 6: that have no trade and if.
15:29
Speaker 3: You see it in the moving yeah yeah, yeah, so
15:32
Speaker 3: that I mean that navigating through that can be difficult, right,
15:37
Speaker 3: and we saw it was in I think twenty three
15:39
Speaker 3: would stay with the Mets for a second when I
15:42
Speaker 3: think Verlander and Suzer both had no trade clauses there,
15:45
Speaker 3: but they went to them and said, listen, we're going
15:47
Speaker 3: in a different direction.
15:49
Speaker 2: We'd like you to waive no trade.
15:50
Speaker 3: We have a deal set up, and they kind of
15:52
Speaker 3: dictated where they where they wanted to go, Like Ry
15:54
Speaker 3: surez Er dictated that he was fine going to Texas,
15:57
Speaker 3: Verlander was fine going back to Houston, Like there are
16:00
Speaker 3: ways to do this, and we've seen it over time
16:04
Speaker 3: where it can be done. Now you know their contracts,
16:07
Speaker 3: there was maybe a year left on both. Lindor's contract
16:12
Speaker 3: is long term, Sodo long term. I don't think any
16:15
Speaker 3: of them if they're if they get traded at all,
16:17
Speaker 3: one of them, and if they would be more Lindor
16:19
Speaker 3: than Sodo, it wouldn't happen till the wintertime. I think
16:22
Speaker 3: that's just a hard contract to deal at the deadline.
16:26
Speaker 3: Now Bashette with you know, an opt out and shorter term.
16:30
Speaker 3: And you know the Phillies were into like you want
16:32
Speaker 3: to have a deal where you help your Indivision rival.
16:37
Speaker 3: And listen, when I was in the front office, I
16:38
Speaker 3: couldn't stand Philly. I would have never helped them on
16:41
Speaker 3: any deal. I don't care if we were going to
16:43
Speaker 3: crush them into trade. I'm no chance I'm trading the
16:46
Speaker 3: guid to Philly, right, But but they have to look
16:48
Speaker 3: at it, and I've changed my mind since then. We're like, okay,
16:51
Speaker 3: if I can get something back in return, because they
16:53
Speaker 3: were the biggest you know, they really wanted Bashette as
16:56
Speaker 3: you guys know in the wintertime. So I think a
16:58
Speaker 3: guy like that is easier and more likely to be
17:01
Speaker 3: traded Corey Seeger because of all the injuries and is
17:04
Speaker 3: he healthy is he not? How long you know they
17:07
Speaker 3: that's a harder one, even though I love him when
17:09
Speaker 3: he's on the field. That one's a little more difficult
17:12
Speaker 3: to pull off, I think just because of the injury history.
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18:19
Speaker 4: All right, well that's fine if you're you used to
18:21
Speaker 4: be used to be hard nosing competitive. Now you're just soft.
18:24
Speaker 4: You're like, it's fine, I'll I'll trade to anybody. I'll
18:27
Speaker 4: keep my job for five years, but I'm gonna go
18:29
Speaker 4: to catching a position, especially starting catching that doesn't get
18:33
Speaker 4: moved at the trade deadline. It's bantered about and Ryan
18:37
Speaker 4: Jeffers's name is on the list for the Yankees, but
18:41
Speaker 4: they already have two catchers elite at framing, and Ryan
18:45
Speaker 4: Jeffers would be down the list still above average. Would
18:49
Speaker 4: the Yankees make them move and or is there hey,
18:52
Speaker 4: if he's out there, we can we can dangle these
18:55
Speaker 4: guys out here too from other teams.
18:58
Speaker 3: Sure, I mean I think that's a uh, that's a
19:00
Speaker 3: you know, a good fit right handed hitter, which they
19:03
Speaker 3: could use as well. But like you said, the defense,
19:06
Speaker 3: the defensive side is you know, they're.
19:09
Speaker 2: They're both really good defenders.
19:11
Speaker 11: You know.
19:11
Speaker 3: The hard part with the with the Yankees is like,
19:14
Speaker 3: we know, I think we know what their lineup is
19:17
Speaker 3: going to look like when Judge comes back and hopefully
19:20
Speaker 3: Stanton and once Grisham gets his timing back.
19:24
Speaker 2: You know, the depth of the lineup is is really good.
19:26
Speaker 3: Too, So you can get by with below average offensive
19:30
Speaker 3: catchers because of the elite defense.
19:34
Speaker 2: The problem is it's so.
19:35
Speaker 3: Glarting because their offense is just just wretched right now.
19:38
Speaker 3: Right So, so, I you know, I don't know in
19:41
Speaker 3: the end if they're going to go down that road.
19:44
Speaker 3: I think it certainly seems obvious that they that they
19:47
Speaker 3: could do it, but I'm not so sure.
19:48
Speaker 2: It would be the right move.
19:50
Speaker 11: I know.
19:50
Speaker 3: You you know, it's scratchy, like being traded in the
19:53
Speaker 3: middle of the season as a catcher, that is a
19:54
Speaker 3: hard transition.
19:55
Speaker 2: It's hard for the pitchers, it's hard for.
19:57
Speaker 3: The catcher, right So I'm and I think that plays
20:00
Speaker 3: into a little bit. Only we saw Carson Kelly traded
20:02
Speaker 3: a couple of years ago. There was one other, Oh,
20:05
Speaker 3: Danny Jansen got traded a couple of years ago. And
20:08
Speaker 3: then Gabrielle moreno buster posey, Yeah that was a while ago.
20:12
Speaker 4: You didn't get No, he didn't get traded, but he
20:14
Speaker 4: became the starter. They traded Benji Molina and they played
20:18
Speaker 4: against each other in the World Series.
20:20
Speaker 3: That's crazy. I forgot about that. That's that's a good
20:22
Speaker 3: comp there. But I mean to the point, like how
20:26
Speaker 3: many catchers over that was what fourteen years ago, at fifteen,
20:30
Speaker 3: you know, maybe longer than that's sixteen years ago, you know,
20:35
Speaker 3: And I'm just looking at the recent history, there haven't
20:37
Speaker 3: been a lot of catchers that have been moving. Most
20:39
Speaker 3: of them have been kind of back up in backup roles,
20:41
Speaker 3: so it's just hard to move those again and hard
20:44
Speaker 3: to move them in the middle of the season. I
20:46
Speaker 3: think usually those are trades that you can make at
20:48
Speaker 3: the end.
20:49
Speaker 6: Jim final one for me. Give me the biggest name
20:52
Speaker 6: that you believe is going to be moved on deadline day.
20:55
Speaker 6: That's not Terrek school if he gets moved.
20:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was gonna say schools like the lay up.
21:00
Speaker 2: I don't.
21:00
Speaker 3: I don't like to do chalk, especially on this show.
21:04
Speaker 3: You guys don't let because then you call me out
21:05
Speaker 3: and I don't like it. So anyway, I'm gonna go
21:07
Speaker 3: I'm gonna say this, bobashett Is, I'm gonna throw his
21:11
Speaker 3: name out there. I think that you know, and you
21:13
Speaker 3: guys have seen him too, But he is a different,
21:16
Speaker 3: different hitter right now than he was the first month
21:18
Speaker 3: and a half. Is more along the lines. He's pulling
21:22
Speaker 3: the ball, more driving it, more aggressive. You know, he's
21:25
Speaker 3: not just hit trying to hit flair singles, to write
21:27
Speaker 3: like he was earlier, and he just like it looked
21:29
Speaker 3: like he was all he was a mess mechanically like
21:32
Speaker 3: he's he's back to I think what we saw out
21:35
Speaker 3: of him last year, and he's actually I really played well.
21:38
Speaker 3: I got to give him a ton of credit for
21:40
Speaker 3: the way he's played, you know, defensively at third I
21:42
Speaker 3: thought it would be rockier than that. So I think
21:45
Speaker 3: Bobashett is gonna be the biggest name. I'm just gonna
21:48
Speaker 3: look at my my list of names available real quick. Yeah,
21:52
Speaker 3: I think of all the names, he's probably the biggest
21:55
Speaker 3: for me. Unless you guys have another one. I'm gonna
21:58
Speaker 3: stick with Boba Schett.
22:00
Speaker 4: Like that you didn't go chalk. Good for you. We
22:02
Speaker 4: don't stand on one side or the other of the fence.
22:04
Speaker 4: I appreciate that too, But my question was that from
22:07
Speaker 4: another organization that's picking him up. Standpoint, are there is
22:12
Speaker 4: the trade deadline enough time to say yeah, we'll take it.
22:15
Speaker 4: But he has to restructure, he has to opt out,
22:20
Speaker 4: Like is there some is there a mechanic that has
22:23
Speaker 4: to happen or can that actually happen or is it
22:26
Speaker 4: like now he's trained you want him, you're taking him,
22:29
Speaker 4: and you're taking the whole contract, because then the Mets
22:31
Speaker 4: will be like, yeah, absolutely right.
22:34
Speaker 5: Yeah.
22:34
Speaker 3: I think if like on the on the player side,
22:39
Speaker 3: if i'm their agent, you know, I'm just sitting here
22:41
Speaker 3: to listen, We're not we're not renegotiating the contract.
22:45
Speaker 2: It is what it is.
22:46
Speaker 3: We don't know if we're going to opt out. You know,
22:49
Speaker 3: don't ask us that. Well, we got to make that
22:51
Speaker 3: decision at the end of the year.
22:52
Speaker 2: Just leave me alone. I'll make that decision when I'm ready.
22:55
Speaker 2: You know that.
22:56
Speaker 3: That's the conversation. I would expect that it would come
22:58
Speaker 3: from the player side. I think if you're a team side,
23:01
Speaker 3: you're you're buying him with the understanding that you might
23:05
Speaker 3: have him for at least another year if he doesn't
23:08
Speaker 3: opt out. And I know this for sure, Philly was
23:11
Speaker 3: fine with that, and I think there are other teams
23:14
Speaker 3: that are fine with that that that could use the
23:16
Speaker 3: right handed, you know, middle.
23:17
Speaker 2: Of the line of bats.
23:18
Speaker 3: So I think I think, you know, in his versatility
23:22
Speaker 3: between you know, we saw him play second in the
23:24
Speaker 3: World Series.
23:25
Speaker 5: I liked it.
23:26
Speaker 3: I thought that would be a really good position for
23:28
Speaker 3: him long term. He's played third fine, and he helped
23:31
Speaker 3: his team get through the World Series as a shortstop.
23:33
Speaker 3: So I'm fine with him there.
23:34
Speaker 2: I don't care what the analytics say.
23:36
Speaker 3: So, like, I think there's a ton of teams if
23:38
Speaker 3: you make him available that would take on the contract
23:40
Speaker 3: and take on his versatility.
23:42
Speaker 1: Jim really quick back on the Bobachette thing. If he
23:45
Speaker 1: does get moved. Can you think of a comp in
23:47
Speaker 1: which a player that had just come to a team
23:50
Speaker 1: for the you know, for a brand new contract of
23:52
Speaker 1: that length and that magnitude got moved at the trade
23:55
Speaker 1: deadline in the same year.
23:57
Speaker 3: Oh man, I really can't. I mean, I know, on
24:00
Speaker 3: a pitching side, it's a little different. It was Verlander
24:03
Speaker 3: with the Mets there, you know, he'd signed, he was in,
24:05
Speaker 3: he was with them for three months, he was expecting.
24:08
Speaker 2: To be there longer. On on the position player side,
24:11
Speaker 2: I can't.
24:12
Speaker 3: I just cannot come up with another player like that
24:17
Speaker 3: now A little this is a little different because you know,
24:19
Speaker 3: the opt outs, you know, have changed things and their
24:23
Speaker 3: willingness to become free agents and everything like that.
24:25
Speaker 2: I think that kind of stands out to me, uh too.
24:28
Speaker 3: But man, I'm gonna have to after this, I'm gonna
24:31
Speaker 3: have to go back and look as I cannot think
24:33
Speaker 3: of anybody off the top of my head that you know,
24:36
Speaker 3: would have signed for that type of contract and then
24:38
Speaker 3: become free.
24:40
Speaker 1: All right, Jim, we always appreciate the insight. Uh, thanks
24:43
Speaker 1: for being on. Go get some water. We don't want
24:45
Speaker 1: you to coughing up along over there. All right, Jim,
24:50
Speaker 1: we'll talk to you soon. We welcome our Tiger Territory.
25:06
Speaker 1: Cody staved Hagen, senior writer for The Athletic, covers the
25:09
Speaker 1: Detroit Tigers more stories around Major League Baseball. He's the
25:12
Speaker 1: co host, of course, of Tiger Territory. Well the Tigers, Cody,
25:16
Speaker 1: thanks for being with us. They finally hit their stride.
25:18
Speaker 1: But what exactly does that mean? It seems like it
25:21
Speaker 1: causes more questions than answers, How are you?
25:24
Speaker 11: Hey?
25:24
Speaker 7: You're doing all right?
25:25
Speaker 5: A lot?
25:25
Speaker 7: And yeah, that's a great way to put it. I
25:27
Speaker 7: think more questions than answers is where we were at,
25:30
Speaker 7: because not long ago, it felt like the Tigers were
25:32
Speaker 7: going to be pretty clear sellers. It was like, well,
25:35
Speaker 7: can they make this interesting? Sure enough, they've won six
25:38
Speaker 7: of seven. They are in the process of making it interesting.
25:42
Speaker 7: Now every game really matters in some ways. They kind
25:44
Speaker 7: of still have a lot of work to do, But
25:47
Speaker 7: I'm not sure they are one hundred percent sellers anymore.
25:50
Speaker 7: You can close your eyes and twist your head and
25:52
Speaker 7: see a world where they end up buying if they
25:54
Speaker 7: can stay hot between now and the deadline. Trek school,
25:57
Speaker 7: of course, is just the biggest prize, but they try
25:59
Speaker 7: to thread the needle, trade him, plug some other holes.
26:03
Speaker 7: I don't really know, and quite honestly, I think it
26:05
Speaker 7: simply depends on how they play between now and let's
26:08
Speaker 7: say August third, or a few days leading up to all.
26:12
Speaker 5: Right, Well, I'm a mister mcpositive.
26:14
Speaker 4: So the Tigers are going to keep playing super well,
26:17
Speaker 4: and they're going to get to August third, and they're
26:21
Speaker 4: two games out. While I think two games out in
26:23
Speaker 4: a wildcard where there's six teams also, two games out
26:26
Speaker 4: is not the same as two games out of a
26:30
Speaker 4: out of a division. But is this team or is
26:36
Speaker 4: this front office prepared to make a move that would say, yes,
26:41
Speaker 4: we'll get rid of Tarrek Schouoble to also improve what
26:45
Speaker 4: we really stink at is hitting. Except for the fact
26:49
Speaker 4: that they've been hitting really well, since June. But are
26:51
Speaker 4: they willing to make that big league for big league
26:54
Speaker 4: move that would make everybody's mind blown? Or is it
26:59
Speaker 4: if you're close, there's no way this fan base will
27:01
Speaker 4: allow you to trade Tarff Schooble.
27:05
Speaker 5: Yeah.
27:05
Speaker 7: I've been shocked by kind of the sentiment of the
27:08
Speaker 7: fan base, or at least the more vocal parts of
27:10
Speaker 7: the fan base that seemed to be kind of on
27:12
Speaker 7: board with that idea trade Tarrk Schooble will get some
27:14
Speaker 7: some more stuff for now and hopefully for later. I
27:18
Speaker 7: personally don't fully agree with that. I think, if you're
27:20
Speaker 7: serious about winning and making a push, if it were
27:23
Speaker 7: to come to that, right, why would you not keep
27:27
Speaker 7: the most decorated pitcher in the American League. Why would
27:30
Speaker 7: you not keep the picture that a lot of other
27:32
Speaker 7: teams are saying, Hey, we would like this guy to
27:34
Speaker 7: start Game seven of the World Series. All of this
27:38
Speaker 7: was the the you know, at the impetus of the
27:40
Speaker 7: Tigers decision to enter this season, going for it, to
27:44
Speaker 7: sign from Bervaldez, to even add Justin Erlander, which I
27:48
Speaker 7: know hasn't gotten according to plan. I think if they
27:50
Speaker 7: wanted to trade Schooble big league for big league or
27:54
Speaker 7: for prospects or whatever. The off season would have been
27:57
Speaker 7: a perfect time to do that and to reconfigure. Now
28:00
Speaker 7: you're in it, and yeah, your first half to not
28:02
Speaker 7: at all go according to plan and you dug yourself
28:05
Speaker 7: a hole. But they are starting to play like the
28:08
Speaker 7: team we once thought they were. They have the ale's
28:10
Speaker 7: best record since June first, the best dra in baseball
28:14
Speaker 7: since June first, I think second in the AL and ops.
28:17
Speaker 7: They've cleaned up their fielding. They're not doing stupid stuff
28:21
Speaker 7: night in and night out like they were for a
28:22
Speaker 7: while now. Personally, I think that means maybe you stick
28:26
Speaker 7: to your original mission and try to make a run
28:28
Speaker 7: at this thing. With the best pitcher in baseball, I
28:31
Speaker 7: guess the safer play is to trade him and get
28:34
Speaker 7: some more controllable assets. But does that actually help your
28:38
Speaker 7: chances of winning it all or making a deep playoff push.
28:41
Speaker 7: I think you don't have many bigger weapons in the
28:44
Speaker 7: sport than Trek Scoogle.
28:50
Speaker 5: Camp.
28:50
Speaker 4: I've been looking for the best deals for the All
28:52
Speaker 4: Star Game tickets in Philly. Where are you gonna get
28:55
Speaker 4: some tickets from?
28:56
Speaker 8: I'm going straight out to Rye Field. If Harper and
28:59
Speaker 8: Scharbura both joined the home run derby. I want to
29:01
Speaker 8: be catching the hometown guys hitting them, so I'm going
29:03
Speaker 8: out to the right field kind of where I think
29:05
Speaker 8: I could get the best chance of catching one of
29:06
Speaker 8: those home runs.
29:08
Speaker 5: Maybe in the second deck.
29:09
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29:10
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29:12
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29:46
Speaker 4: to sea Geek and we'll see you at the game.
29:49
Speaker 5: Now.
29:49
Speaker 6: You mentioned Burr later not going as planned when they
29:53
Speaker 6: signed him. Does the fact that he came out and
29:55
Speaker 6: said that this is going to be his last season
29:58
Speaker 6: make the signing a little bit easier to swallow. And
30:00
Speaker 6: I know he's getting healthy and he's going to potentially
30:02
Speaker 6: pitch in the second half, But the fact that he's
30:05
Speaker 6: going to retire at the end of the season where
30:07
Speaker 6: it all started in Detroit, Yeah, I don't.
30:11
Speaker 7: Know if that makes it easier to swallow or not.
30:13
Speaker 7: I think there was always kind of a hope that
30:14
Speaker 7: this would be a farewell tour and maybe his last season,
30:19
Speaker 7: given his age forty three years old. I think the
30:22
Speaker 7: announcement just at least provides clarity. Maybe he gets rid
30:26
Speaker 7: of some of the awkwardness that was lingering, but there's
30:29
Speaker 7: still a little bit of awkwardness here. Justin Verlander is
30:31
Speaker 7: going to throw a bullpen today and hopefully that'll provide
30:34
Speaker 7: some clarity as to where he is at, how close
30:37
Speaker 7: he is actually getting on the field. And as much
30:40
Speaker 7: as everyone would love to see JV come back and
30:43
Speaker 7: have a great farewell maybe even pitch well for the
30:45
Speaker 7: Tigers down the stretch, it's interesting to think about what
30:48
Speaker 7: that looks like. If the Tigers keep winning and they
30:50
Speaker 7: have the best rotation in the AL and every game matters,
30:54
Speaker 7: how are you working Justin Verlander into that mix, especially
30:57
Speaker 7: if you're less than confident about where his stuff might be.
31:01
Speaker 7: There's a world in which getting JV back on the
31:03
Speaker 7: field is a lot more palatable if the Tigers are
31:06
Speaker 7: out of it, and you can throw them out there
31:07
Speaker 7: for a game or two and sell a bunch of
31:09
Speaker 7: tickets and have a nice farewell. If they're in the
31:12
Speaker 7: thicke of this thing, I'm still not completely sure what
31:14
Speaker 7: that can end up looking like, Cody.
31:17
Speaker 1: It's been a bad season for the Korra brothers, of course,
31:20
Speaker 1: Alex Korra being dismissed by the Boston Redstocks a couple
31:23
Speaker 1: of months ago, and now Joey Korra being dismissed as
31:25
Speaker 1: the third base coach in the middle of a season.
31:28
Speaker 1: They said it was strictly baseball focused. What more can
31:31
Speaker 1: you tell us about that dismissal.
31:33
Speaker 7: Yeah, not a lot. Certainly very odd timing, and the
31:37
Speaker 7: Tigers didn't want to share a ton about it. I
31:40
Speaker 7: do think it was a baseball decision. It sounds like
31:43
Speaker 7: there had been some disagreements behind the scenes, maybe something
31:46
Speaker 7: that had been building for a while, but some things
31:49
Speaker 7: this past weekend in Texas appeared to have came to
31:52
Speaker 7: a head A. J. Hinch and Joey Kura met Tuesday morning.
31:55
Speaker 7: The result of that meeting, Joey Kuorra was out. Billy
31:58
Speaker 7: Boyder is now the third base coach. Pretty interesting because
32:01
Speaker 7: Quorra was a really intense coach. He had actually gotten
32:04
Speaker 7: a lot of praise for that helped the Tigers become
32:06
Speaker 7: one of the most aggressive base running teams in the league. Yeah,
32:09
Speaker 7: he got some guys thrown out at home, but he
32:11
Speaker 7: also greatly improved kind of the mindset, the culture on
32:14
Speaker 7: the bases. He coached the infield. It's not a very
32:17
Speaker 7: good defensive infield. It's also just not a roster full
32:20
Speaker 7: of good defensive infielders. I got the sense maybe some
32:23
Speaker 7: players had, you know, Core's intensity had kind of worn
32:27
Speaker 7: thin on the players a little bit. But I was
32:29
Speaker 7: ultimately still surprised to see this happen in the middle
32:32
Speaker 7: of July, especially once the team is starting to play better.
32:36
Speaker 4: Tell us about this team that's starting to play better.
32:39
Speaker 5: Is this the team?
32:40
Speaker 4: Is this really the Tigers? Or is this the tame
32:45
Speaker 4: Tigers that were last year's first half Tigers and now
32:49
Speaker 4: they're the second half Tigers.
32:52
Speaker 7: This team has broken my brain for the better parts
32:55
Speaker 7: of three seasons now, so they're better than they were
32:59
Speaker 7: in May when they went six and twenty two. They
33:02
Speaker 7: were really injured, But like I said earlier, I wasn't
33:04
Speaker 7: just the injuries. I mean the brand of play was awful.
33:06
Speaker 7: They're better than that, and they're probably not as good
33:09
Speaker 7: as they've played since June first, Like you mentioned the offense,
33:12
Speaker 7: are they really the second best offense in the AL?
33:15
Speaker 7: Probably not. The bullpen still a pretty big concern. The
33:19
Speaker 7: rock era is fine, but go look at like win
33:22
Speaker 7: probability added, go look at I think second most blown
33:25
Speaker 7: saves in all of baseball. So it's not a perfect team.
33:29
Speaker 7: I think it's somewhere in between these two versions of
33:32
Speaker 7: the team, and that that's what really creates the question
33:34
Speaker 7: how long can they they really stay hot and make
33:37
Speaker 7: a push to get themselves back in it, because even
33:40
Speaker 7: losing a couple of series between now and the deadline,
33:43
Speaker 7: we could kind of be right back to like, well
33:45
Speaker 7: they have to sell and this season could go down
33:48
Speaker 7: as a failure. It's yeah, it's been kind of tough
33:52
Speaker 7: to wrap your brain around how up and down this
33:55
Speaker 7: like not just up and down, but like drastic swings
33:57
Speaker 7: in play dating back to the end of twenty twenty four.
34:01
Speaker 7: I don't know how you explain that.
34:03
Speaker 6: Yeah, okay, help me understand this to you. Chicago White Sox,
34:08
Speaker 6: the team that they're trailing in the division by five
34:10
Speaker 6: and a half games, does the front office, do the players,
34:15
Speaker 6: do the writers that you know follow teams in the
34:17
Speaker 6: division believe that what the Chicago White Sox are doing
34:22
Speaker 6: can be sustained in the second half.
34:25
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think that's a really interesting question. I think
34:28
Speaker 7: a lot of people in the industry have always kind
34:30
Speaker 7: of expected a little bit of the drop off from
34:32
Speaker 7: the White Sox, right, And that's not to discredit them, Man,
34:35
Speaker 7: they talk about brand of play. The difference between last
34:38
Speaker 7: year and this year is night and day. They clearly
34:40
Speaker 7: have some talent or e Communist on his way back,
34:43
Speaker 7: but today really have the depth or the overall roster
34:46
Speaker 7: quality to win the division. That always kind of felt
34:49
Speaker 7: like a stretch to me. But what's happened with the
34:52
Speaker 7: Guardians has really changed the calculus. Jose Ramirez is out,
34:55
Speaker 7: Chase the Lotter is out, and that kind of raises
34:58
Speaker 7: the question, like, okay, so who who is going to
35:01
Speaker 7: win this division? For a long time, the Tigers were
35:04
Speaker 7: so far in the rear view it was hard to
35:06
Speaker 7: even go there. But you look now five and a
35:08
Speaker 7: half out, like the pitching the way they are, Troy
35:12
Speaker 7: Melton emerging as another frontline option for them, especially if
35:16
Speaker 7: you don't believe in what the White Sox are doing,
35:17
Speaker 7: like you can't, I don't think right off the Tigers
35:20
Speaker 7: as contenders in a weak American League and an even
35:24
Speaker 7: weaker Ale Central.
35:26
Speaker 4: All right, so where are those upgrades at? We've talked
35:28
Speaker 4: about it now. I mean the Tigers are clearly buyers
35:30
Speaker 4: based on Cody Stavenhagen, So.
35:33
Speaker 7: I don't know where.
35:34
Speaker 5: Okay, Okay, I won't quote you on that.
35:36
Speaker 4: I don't want to. I don't want to kill my
35:37
Speaker 4: sources here, But where are those upgrades at?
35:41
Speaker 5: Where is the glaring need? You said the bullpen?
35:44
Speaker 4: But specifically that would be like, okay, this team is
35:47
Speaker 4: definitely pushing hard.
35:49
Speaker 7: Yeah, the Tigers right now thirty three percent playoff odds.
35:53
Speaker 7: So if the deadline were today, I think they're selling.
35:56
Speaker 7: But a couple of weeks from now, this could be
35:57
Speaker 7: a different conversation if they keep winning. To me, you
36:00
Speaker 7: gotta start with the bullpen that we just talked about
36:03
Speaker 7: you need another option who can miss real bats. You
36:05
Speaker 7: need another guy who can be a seventh, eighth, ninth
36:09
Speaker 7: inning option for you meet, maybe even a couple of guys. Yeah,
36:14
Speaker 7: I think you need velocity in your bullpen. Like this
36:16
Speaker 7: is twenty twenty six. The Tigers don't have anyone coming
36:19
Speaker 7: out throwing ninety nine or one hundred in this pin.
36:23
Speaker 7: Those things don't come easily at the deadline. But I
36:25
Speaker 7: would really beat the drum for finding a way to
36:28
Speaker 7: bolster the bullpen, and maybe in a more aggressive way
36:31
Speaker 7: than you did last year. I'm not sure adding a
36:34
Speaker 7: roughie hel Montero type is the answer. I think you
36:37
Speaker 7: kind of got to get an established guy. I doubt
36:39
Speaker 7: they'd be willing to part with the assets for like
36:41
Speaker 7: an enrolled as Chapman. But there's some other pretty good
36:44
Speaker 7: pitchers out there, maybe even by low On, I don't know,
36:47
Speaker 7: Brian A braw like that. Like they're just names that
36:49
Speaker 7: come to mind. That's really been this team's weak point,
36:53
Speaker 7: and that's where the upgrades would have to come.
36:56
Speaker 4: Is this an organizational thing, because this is the same
36:58
Speaker 4: issue they had last year. Didn't miss that didn't throw
37:01
Speaker 4: overly hard. Is it an organizational we don't have the
37:04
Speaker 4: money to spend or is this a organizational Now, we'd
37:08
Speaker 4: rather get the Brennan hennefe who's gonna throw the sinker,
37:11
Speaker 4: and we'll get some ground balls to our defense that
37:13
Speaker 4: clearly isn't up to par.
37:16
Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, that's a great point. Cratzy, You're not wrong.
37:19
Speaker 7: I do think it's an organizational thing. I think I
37:22
Speaker 7: don't know if it was trying to find a market
37:24
Speaker 7: inefficiency or what, but I've kind of heard some things
37:27
Speaker 7: been told their models kind of skew more toward pitch
37:31
Speaker 7: shapes and strike zone command, and some people think those
37:34
Speaker 7: models should be more sheer stuff, more sheer velocity, you know,
37:39
Speaker 7: size things like that. It does seem like the Tigers
37:42
Speaker 7: as an organization have gotten away from that and have
37:45
Speaker 7: chased breaking ball shapes and strike zoon command. And there's
37:48
Speaker 7: nothing wrong with that, But when your bullpen kind of
37:51
Speaker 7: consistently struggles to punch guys out, when you just don't
37:54
Speaker 7: really have a single guy, especially Will Vest hasn't thrown
37:58
Speaker 7: as hard over the last year plus. He's now on
38:00
Speaker 7: the back on the il. When you don't have that
38:02
Speaker 7: guy who can come in and just blow a fastball
38:04
Speaker 7: by someone. Do you do you really feel good about
38:07
Speaker 7: shutting the door against an elite offense, Like that's probably
38:10
Speaker 7: a little bit of an oversimplification, but if you look
38:13
Speaker 7: at their major league bullpen, you look at their relief
38:16
Speaker 7: options in the minor leagues, like, it seems pretty clear
38:19
Speaker 7: that they have just not been targeting those guys, and
38:22
Speaker 7: at least based on the results we've been seeing, I
38:24
Speaker 7: think that's a mistake.
38:26
Speaker 4: I wanted to also rebut something that he said they
38:29
Speaker 4: have the asset to get Eraaldist Chapman. Eraaldis Chapman isn't
38:33
Speaker 4: breaking the bank. Eraaldis Chapman got Cole Reagan's from the
38:37
Speaker 4: Royals when he went to Texas. Cole Reagan's was like
38:41
Speaker 4: a five and a half ERA type of twenty four
38:44
Speaker 4: year old pitcher that pitched for the Royals at twenty
38:46
Speaker 4: five years old for the first time. So I get
38:49
Speaker 4: it he became Cole Reagan's. I think he's top five
38:52
Speaker 4: in cy Young voting, but I don't think it's that
38:55
Speaker 4: large as you're not getting rid of Max Clark for
38:57
Speaker 4: Eraaldist Chapman.
38:59
Speaker 7: Yeah, we didn't say they don't have the assets, so
39:01
Speaker 7: I don't think they'll be willing to part with the assets.
39:04
Speaker 7: Look at last year when they were one of the
39:05
Speaker 7: best teams in baseball and all they did was play
39:08
Speaker 7: around the fringes. They got Kyle Finnegan, who was a
39:11
Speaker 7: pretty nice edition, but even that was going cheaper than
39:14
Speaker 7: Joan Duran, Mason Miller, David Bedna, a lot of other
39:19
Speaker 7: legit closers who were moved at that deadline.
39:24
Speaker 6: Yeah, sorry, sorry, tell the world that doesn't watch a
39:32
Speaker 6: ton of Detroit Tiger's playing. Riley Green is just an
39:35
Speaker 6: incredible player. Like tell us, tell us a little bit
39:38
Speaker 6: more about what you get to watch him do every
39:40
Speaker 6: single night.
39:42
Speaker 7: Yeah, he can hit. Man, He's just a gifted hitter.
39:45
Speaker 7: There is no doubt about that. He's one of those guys.
39:48
Speaker 7: He has a pretty swing, a high finish. He's just
39:52
Speaker 7: really raw talented in the batter's box. And then the
39:54
Speaker 7: biggest thing is he's answered a lot of the major
39:57
Speaker 7: questions about his game coming into the year, Like he
40:00
Speaker 7: had set such a high standard for himself by making
40:03
Speaker 7: two All Star games that he was now kind of
40:05
Speaker 7: under the microscope. Well, okay, like he's not that athletic.
40:08
Speaker 7: He doesn't seem to be aging that well and he's
40:09
Speaker 7: only twenty five. Well, here he is. He's only missed
40:11
Speaker 7: one game this season. Yeah, he doesn't run that well.
40:15
Speaker 7: His play in the field has declined a little bit,
40:17
Speaker 7: but he plays the game hard. He's not afraid to
40:19
Speaker 7: lay out even if it looks like it hurts. And
40:21
Speaker 7: more importantly, he's really controlling the strike zone in a
40:24
Speaker 7: much better way this season, struck out over two hundred times.
40:28
Speaker 7: Last year, that chase was a big problem. Riley seems
40:31
Speaker 7: to have found a much better middle ground. The powers
40:33
Speaker 7: ticked up a little bit lately. He may not hit
40:35
Speaker 7: thirty six homers this year, but look at that ops
40:38
Speaker 7: eight to fifty. That's the best of his career. He's
40:40
Speaker 7: hitting for average, he's hitting for a little bit of power,
40:43
Speaker 7: and he's not chasing. He's not having near the amount
40:46
Speaker 7: of empty at bats he had. This is a player
40:48
Speaker 7: who we just talked about. He is still only twenty five.
40:51
Speaker 7: He is still maturing and kind of rounding into a
40:53
Speaker 7: more polished version of what's always been a super talented guy.
40:57
Speaker 1: And a hell of a country singer too. Cody, I
41:00
Speaker 1: tell you what, just kidding. Great to be with you
41:03
Speaker 1: as always, always appreciate the insight and the work. Make
41:06
Speaker 1: sure you check out Cody's writing, of course, on the Athletic,
41:09
Speaker 1: but you can certainly see him on Tiger's territory. We'll
41:13
Speaker 1: be back right after this