Latest / Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast / Tarik Skubal, Alex Bregman & More From Winter Meetings

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Tarik Skubal, Alex Bregman & More From Winter Meetings · Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast

0:10
Speaker 1: And welcome into another episode of Tiger Territory, part of
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Speaker 1: the Foul Territory of Norrik, a Detroit Tiger's podcast. I'm
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Speaker 1: Kieren sectly with me as always, the man who had
0:18
Speaker 1: no problem getting his credential winter meetings.
0:20
Speaker 2: Now he's how you doing well?
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Speaker 3: You know, there are certain ridiculous things I just don't say,
0:27
Speaker 3: and that that kind of helps with making sure you
0:29
Speaker 3: get credential.
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Speaker 1: Well, look and thinks and you know, thank god you
0:34
Speaker 1: did get credentials because we got a lot to get
0:36
Speaker 1: to you.
0:37
Speaker 2: We're only we're only you know what.
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Speaker 4: They might pull my credential after this podcast. I don't know.
0:42
Speaker 4: We got a lot of sock pop.
0:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, so so we gotta so we gotta get it all.
0:45
Speaker 1: It's gotta be the best one we've ever done.
0:47
Speaker 4: So.
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Speaker 1: Uh, you're only a few hours removed from hearing from
0:49
Speaker 1: the Tigers brass, including of course Scott Harris, who was
0:52
Speaker 1: not present for GM meeting. So this is our first
0:54
Speaker 1: time to to hear from him and parse through his
0:57
Speaker 1: words that are carefully crafted. I'm assume, I mean, I
1:01
Speaker 1: don't know, I wasn't there. I'm assuming he was very forthright.
1:04
Speaker 1: He laid out his entire plan. He came forward about
1:09
Speaker 1: a lot of things. There was no sort of like
1:12
Speaker 1: you know, shadow elements to what he was saying and uh,
1:15
Speaker 1: and it was with a lot of emotion.
1:16
Speaker 2: So am I wrong or well?
1:19
Speaker 3: Harris is not known for transparency necessarily, but I think
1:22
Speaker 3: he was pretty transparent. It's pretty clear that they don't
1:25
Speaker 3: want to do much of anything that any of our
1:28
Speaker 3: listeners are going to find fun. There was there was
1:31
Speaker 3: really no hiding the ball about that, and he did
1:34
Speaker 3: explain it all in his his usual kind of tone.
1:38
Speaker 4: So we can start anywhere.
1:40
Speaker 3: I guess we should start with Trek Scouoble because that
1:42
Speaker 3: winter meetings, that is the bonds, that is what everyone
1:46
Speaker 3: is talking about. Everyone I see stops and as, oh,
1:49
Speaker 3: you think you're going to trade Schooble, and I can
1:54
Speaker 3: get the same answer, the same thing that's been written
1:56
Speaker 3: in a million columns, like we've talked about probably not,
1:59
Speaker 3: but you never know, you know.
2:02
Speaker 4: And Scott Harris was kind.
2:04
Speaker 3: Of asked about this a little more in the lens
2:06
Speaker 3: of like, there's a lot of noise, is any of
2:09
Speaker 3: this real? And his answer he talked about why he
2:13
Speaker 3: hasn't been talking about it. He explained his no comment,
2:18
Speaker 3: and he did, though go on to say, I've been
2:20
Speaker 3: pretty clear since I've been here. I don't believe in
2:23
Speaker 3: untouchables at any level, So anyone in our organization at
2:27
Speaker 3: any level. It's not a commentary on Terrek specifically, sort
2:32
Speaker 3: of a blanket team building approach. I think I can't
2:35
Speaker 3: do my job without listening. I can't do my job
2:38
Speaker 3: without exploring anything that may or may not have legs.
2:41
Speaker 3: Some are maybe very likely moves and some are going
2:44
Speaker 3: to be extremely unlikely, but you can't actually fully vet
2:48
Speaker 3: those opportunities unless you were willing to listen. So that's
2:51
Speaker 3: how we're doing it. That's the quote from Scott Harris.
2:55
Speaker 3: That is Scott Harris saying, this is why I haven't
2:57
Speaker 3: shut anything down because as a policy, I'm always going
3:00
Speaker 3: to listen. So this doesn't tell us anything new other
3:04
Speaker 3: than what we said. The Tigers are listening. Clearly they
3:06
Speaker 3: are willing to listen. I've gotten no sense that they
3:09
Speaker 3: are close to any sort of deal. But it was
3:14
Speaker 3: a little different than the no comment we've got from
3:16
Speaker 3: Scott Harris in the past.
3:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, like if you follow Scott enough like
3:23
Speaker 1: like like we do, and a lot of fans do
3:26
Speaker 1: like you kind of you can get a pretty good
3:29
Speaker 1: guess as to what he's going to say and how
3:31
Speaker 1: he's going to lay it out, and like he's going
3:34
Speaker 1: to use a lot of you know, I mean, he
3:36
Speaker 1: literally right there blanket terminology and he used the word,
3:39
Speaker 1: you know, blanket approach there by the way, I guess
3:42
Speaker 1: that means that Melton's not untouchable either, So I just
3:45
Speaker 1: wanted to get that out there as well.
3:47
Speaker 2: So you know.
3:48
Speaker 1: And in regards to the to the schoolble thing, it
3:52
Speaker 1: just seems like at this point, because again I got
3:55
Speaker 1: that question this weekend too, uh, it would I think
4:01
Speaker 1: there would have to be some sort of seismic shift
4:04
Speaker 1: in what everybody like and what would be chalk circumstances
4:09
Speaker 1: for this to even get off the ground, because I
4:11
Speaker 1: am under the impression, and I would love for anybody
4:15
Speaker 1: with sources to tell me I'm wrong.
4:16
Speaker 2: I am under the.
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Speaker 1: Impression that there is not anything even close to being
4:20
Speaker 1: off the ground in terms of an idea, a desire
4:25
Speaker 1: to even trade for Trekschoo will much less like trade
4:28
Speaker 1: him away. And I read so many articles I think
4:32
Speaker 1: it was BOBT Nightingale. So if I get this wrong.
4:35
Speaker 1: I do apologize. I've read so many articles to try
4:37
Speaker 1: to purse through all the terminology and what people are saying.
4:40
Speaker 1: But it was like, the asking price is going to
4:42
Speaker 1: be high. We know that, but he put it so frankly,
4:47
Speaker 1: but how much are you really willing to give up
4:49
Speaker 1: for what will amount to thirty two starts plus you know,
4:52
Speaker 1: anything in the postseason? And when you put it like that,
4:57
Speaker 1: I just don't feel like there's a lot of teams
4:59
Speaker 1: that are going to feel need to do that, especially
5:02
Speaker 1: especially Cody. And this is a point that we don't
5:04
Speaker 1: always bring up, but a lot of these teams that
5:08
Speaker 1: in theory would want to or have the goal to
5:11
Speaker 1: trade for Tarrek Schoogle are probably gonna be in the
5:15
Speaker 1: Tarreork Schooble sweepstakes anyway next off season if everything goes
5:21
Speaker 1: as as expected and he becomes a free agent. So
5:24
Speaker 1: you're thinking, get can we get can we just get
5:27
Speaker 1: him without giving up anything for the price of thirty
5:30
Speaker 1: two starts plus potential postseason? And when you put it
5:33
Speaker 1: like that, again, is a Tiger's podcast. We talk about
5:35
Speaker 1: from the Tiger's point of view, and that's obviously what
5:37
Speaker 1: we're trying to do. But from the other team's point
5:40
Speaker 1: of view, I just don't even see like it. Probably
5:43
Speaker 1: it's probably even less likely from a lot of teams
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Speaker 1: that actually, like, you know, fans and commentators and journalists
5:48
Speaker 1: that cover these teams, that like, there's actually gonna be
5:51
Speaker 1: any sort of momentum, because let's be honest, dude, Like,
5:53
Speaker 1: at this point in the off season, if there was
5:56
Speaker 1: a one percent like trade complete, we would have something
6:02
Speaker 1: more than everybody saying the same line over and over
6:05
Speaker 1: and over.
6:06
Speaker 2: Again and and it's fun fodder. I understand it.
6:10
Speaker 1: I'm not like trying to be critical of the conversation
6:13
Speaker 1: piece because it is cool that, you know, a Tigers
6:15
Speaker 1: guys at the center of the baseball conversation, I will
6:17
Speaker 1: admit that. But at the same time, I'm like, as
6:20
Speaker 1: the days go by and the same verbiage is repeated,
6:23
Speaker 1: I'm just kind of taking it all like less seriously.
6:26
Speaker 2: If that makes sense from the.
6:27
Speaker 3: Other team, yeah, I think the only way it's going
6:30
Speaker 3: to happen is if there's some other movement on the market.
6:33
Speaker 3: If there's a team the Mets being a great example,
6:37
Speaker 3: that is chasing it from Ravaldez or one of the
6:40
Speaker 3: other top starters and they don't get him, and then
6:43
Speaker 3: there's nowhere.
6:44
Speaker 4: Then you can go one of three places.
6:47
Speaker 3: You can sit there and do nothing, which if you're
6:50
Speaker 3: a big market team that doesn't really fly, you can
6:53
Speaker 3: dip into the middle of the market, which as we've
6:55
Speaker 3: recently discussed, is full of snake pits and traps. Or
7:01
Speaker 3: you can trade some prospects and you can go get
7:03
Speaker 3: the best picture in the game. There's not a picture
7:05
Speaker 3: on the market that is really comparable to Terik Schoobel.
7:08
Speaker 3: There are some alternatives that will cost you money, but
7:10
Speaker 3: not prospects. If the right team misses out on evolved
7:16
Speaker 3: as a swore as would they consider turning towards Schooble
7:20
Speaker 3: with a new level of regression aggression that just to me,
7:26
Speaker 3: that's not a report, but that to me is the
7:29
Speaker 3: only thing that really makes sense for how a deal
7:32
Speaker 3: would get off the ground.
7:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, and actually, you know what, the more I think
7:37
Speaker 1: about it, another way of saying what you just said
7:41
Speaker 1: is it might take like a Aaron Boone injuring himself
7:45
Speaker 1: playing pick up basketball, a you know, Victor Martinez tearing
7:49
Speaker 1: his acl like during offseason workouts, where a team that
7:53
Speaker 1: feels like they're close and you know, something bad happens
7:56
Speaker 1: to one of their top guys or whatever, and you're
7:58
Speaker 1: and they're just like, you know what, but screw it,
8:01
Speaker 1: caution to the wind, let's just let's just kind of
8:04
Speaker 1: go for it here.
8:05
Speaker 2: That not perfect analogies.
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Speaker 1: I understand that, but that might be something that would
8:10
Speaker 1: even prompt someone to take it seriously, because again, at
8:12
Speaker 1: this point, I just don't even think other teams are
8:14
Speaker 1: taking it seriously, much less the Tigers like seriously trying
8:17
Speaker 1: to the trade for Trek Scoogle.
8:20
Speaker 2: Which.
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Speaker 1: I think it's I gotta give the unsponsored, contractually obligated
8:27
Speaker 1: trek schouble update, Cody, I know we talked around it
8:29
Speaker 1: a little bit, but Ken Rosenthal, colleague, friend of a
8:33
Speaker 1: friend of the show and fellow foul.
8:37
Speaker 2: Territory media member, appears to be.
8:40
Speaker 1: The case he's saying about the Tigers keeping Trek schooble.
8:44
Speaker 1: Bob Nightingale as I said, as I said earlier, said
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Speaker 1: no one expects him to go talking about Trek Scoogle,
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Speaker 1: and then we have a local guy, We'll give him
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Speaker 1: some love. Lynn Henning tweeted out over the weekend. Any
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Speaker 1: team paying the necessary freight to Priy to Tarrek School
9:01
Speaker 1: from Detroit will be handing the Tigers a very good package.
9:06
Speaker 1: So thank everybody, Thank everybody for contributing to the discourse there.
9:11
Speaker 1: And then, last but not least, we have ourselves a
9:14
Speaker 1: TV anchor in Los Angeles kt LA, David ping A
9:20
Speaker 1: Galore ping A Lore. I'm sorry if I'm mispronouncing it,
9:23
Speaker 1: but he said that the Dodgers are looking at a
9:26
Speaker 1: Trek Schooble trade and quote the Tigers want to get
9:28
Speaker 1: rid of him and get as much for him as possible.
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Speaker 1: So that is your still to be yet still yet
9:36
Speaker 1: to be sponsored, but still very important, contractually obligated Terrek
9:40
Speaker 1: Schoogle update on Tiger territory.
9:43
Speaker 3: No one's heard any of this except some guy named
9:45
Speaker 3: David ping Alore. He's okay, sure, we can move on.
9:51
Speaker 3: I guess I think the thing that is always in
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Speaker 3: the backdrop of the school conversation is this right?
9:56
Speaker 4: Is this wrong?
9:56
Speaker 3: Or the Tiger's doing the right thing in this circumstance dance.
10:00
Speaker 3: Speaking of Ken Rosenthal, he wrote that if the Tigers
10:04
Speaker 3: are going to keep Schooble, they need to go for it.
10:06
Speaker 3: And we've kind of talked about that at length throughout
10:09
Speaker 3: this offseason.
10:10
Speaker 4: The other big revelation that we had kind of.
10:13
Speaker 3: Hinted at in recent days but is pretty clear now
10:16
Speaker 3: is that I don't think the Tigers are going for it,
10:19
Speaker 3: at least not in the traditional sense. Listening to Scott
10:22
Speaker 3: Harris talk we can break each one of these down.
10:27
Speaker 3: But they signed Drew Anderson. That deal's official, one year,
10:30
Speaker 3: seven million with a ten million dollar club option. I
10:33
Speaker 3: asked Scott if they were still starting pitching, and he
10:36
Speaker 3: said yes, and then he proceeded to say, given the
10:39
Speaker 3: makeup of our rotation, that may need to be optionable,
10:43
Speaker 3: that may need to come on minor league deals. So
10:47
Speaker 3: that doesn't seem to bode well for the idea of
10:49
Speaker 3: getting from Bravaldez to Detroit, even the Michael King idea.
10:54
Speaker 4: He's not optionable.
10:57
Speaker 3: He talked about the bullpen, and I do believe the
10:59
Speaker 3: Tigers so they're probably gonna go get at least one
11:02
Speaker 3: pretty legit reliever.
11:03
Speaker 4: But pull up the words Scott had to say on that.
11:07
Speaker 3: There are a lot of conversations happening with free agent
11:09
Speaker 3: relievers and trade targets we want to add to our pin.
11:12
Speaker 3: We think we have some pretty strong anchors in our
11:14
Speaker 3: pin right now, with guys like Will Vest and Tyler
11:16
Speaker 3: Holton and some young guys who are coming up and
11:18
Speaker 3: establishing themselves.
11:20
Speaker 4: I will also.
11:21
Speaker 3: Remind everyone major league bullpens are built in a variety
11:24
Speaker 3: of ways. Sometimes it's free agent signings, sometimes it's trades,
11:28
Speaker 3: Sometimes it's development. Sometimes it's minor league free agent signings
11:31
Speaker 3: or waiver claims. I think we've done a pretty good
11:33
Speaker 3: job here finding that performance from those other channels that
11:36
Speaker 3: aren't used as highly so does not seem to me
11:42
Speaker 3: like spending is going to be the sole way of
11:45
Speaker 3: building this bullpen.
11:47
Speaker 4: And then with itters, I asked, do.
11:49
Speaker 3: You think you need to improve this offense with external
11:52
Speaker 3: additions or you committed to the young guys you have.
11:56
Speaker 3: Scott gave a pretty long answer. Part of it was this,
11:59
Speaker 3: I think the majority of our growth as an offense
12:01
Speaker 3: is going to come from within, is going to come
12:04
Speaker 3: from that first group continuing to get better as they.
12:06
Speaker 4: Step into their prime.
12:07
Speaker 3: He's talking about Riley Green, Kerry Carpenter, since Ter Torgelsen
12:11
Speaker 3: going to come from the second group. He's talking more
12:13
Speaker 3: Dylan Tingler, Cole Keith making leaps that the first group
12:16
Speaker 3: just made it's going to come from this next wave
12:19
Speaker 3: of some of the best prospects in all of baseball
12:21
Speaker 3: really starting to make that leap into the big leagues.
12:23
Speaker 3: We're going to try to find a way to improve
12:25
Speaker 3: our offense without blocking those guys because they're too important
12:29
Speaker 3: to both our present and our future. We used to
12:31
Speaker 3: talk about them solely as our future. Now they're about
12:34
Speaker 3: to be our present and our future. The takeaway here
12:38
Speaker 3: is they're not spending on pitching, They're not really spending
12:40
Speaker 3: on bullpen, and the odds of and Alex Bregman coming
12:46
Speaker 3: to Detroit appear to be quite low at this point.
12:49
Speaker 3: I don't think they're very interested in handing out long
12:52
Speaker 3: term deals even than Katel Marte. Thing we've talked about
12:56
Speaker 3: sounds nice, but it's just probably not a fit. It
13:00
Speaker 3: seems like Harris is pretty committed to this young core.
13:02
Speaker 3: I'm not sure there are going to be major big
13:05
Speaker 3: moves ahead this offseason.
13:10
Speaker 1: Look man like all that like sound like it all
13:13
Speaker 1: sounds well reasoned. Doesn't mean it's the right approach, but
13:18
Speaker 1: it is well reasoned. But there is one thing I
13:21
Speaker 1: was reading your story on the athletic There is one
13:23
Speaker 1: thing that I did kind of want to maybe talk
13:26
Speaker 1: out a little bit because again, like these are just
13:28
Speaker 1: quotes on a page, Like, you know, is there some
13:31
Speaker 1: context I'm missing here, a tone, things like that. But
13:34
Speaker 1: you know, the Kevin McGonagall thing is something that we've
13:36
Speaker 1: talked about, like like pretty seriously because they're taking it seriously.
13:41
Speaker 1: And that quote that you just read and it's on
13:43
Speaker 1: our screen if you subscribe on YouTube is also like
13:47
Speaker 1: a very serious quote. But at the same time it
13:53
Speaker 1: Scott Harris felt a little non committal about the Kevin
13:56
Speaker 1: McGonagall opening day Rosper roster aspect of uh of the
14:03
Speaker 1: process here, and I'm just gonna read the quote from
14:05
Speaker 1: your story. We don't know yet regarding whether McGonagall will
14:10
Speaker 1: be on the opening day roster. We haven't figured it out.
14:13
Speaker 1: Part of it depends on the makeup of the team,
14:15
Speaker 1: part of it depends on Kevin's preparedness to be on
14:17
Speaker 1: the opening day roster. There are a lot of factors
14:20
Speaker 1: that go into it. Could we figure it out now, Yeah, probably,
14:24
Speaker 1: but we're just focused on other stuff right now and
14:26
Speaker 1: we probably uh, and we'll probably get to that once
14:29
Speaker 1: the roster is fully baked. Okay, So my gut on
14:34
Speaker 1: this and please tell me, like where I'm off here.
14:37
Speaker 1: My gut on this is I kind of would like
14:40
Speaker 1: those things like reverse. I kind of would like a
14:43
Speaker 1: like a pretty solid idea if you are going to
14:47
Speaker 1: have Kevin McGonagall on your opening day roster, like contributing
14:52
Speaker 1: to the quote fully baked roster, because I like, again,
14:57
Speaker 1: this is not me, you know my previous comments. I
15:01
Speaker 1: am in favor of just like having them being triple
15:03
Speaker 1: A if you can feel yourself a more major league
15:06
Speaker 1: ready team that you know has a higher upside.
15:08
Speaker 2: I still believe that.
15:11
Speaker 1: But if you're not gonna do that, which is we discussed,
15:14
Speaker 1: it doesn't really seem like that is the most likely
15:17
Speaker 1: of option.
15:18
Speaker 2: I kind of would like to.
15:20
Speaker 1: I would like to believe that they have a better
15:23
Speaker 1: idea than what that quote is as to whether he's
15:25
Speaker 1: ready for the major league roster, because then then you like,
15:29
Speaker 1: it's like those two options and then you're kind of
15:31
Speaker 1: doing neither, and I don't know.
15:32
Speaker 2: If that's that's best.
15:34
Speaker 1: For you know, him, that's best for the team, best
15:36
Speaker 1: for AJ trying to figure out how he's gonna, you know,
15:39
Speaker 1: manage this roster. I feel like the McGonagall decision should be.
15:44
Speaker 1: You should have an assumed position on it going into
15:49
Speaker 1: how you handle free agency or trades or whatever, and
15:51
Speaker 1: then you can always pivot because obviously the games aren't
15:54
Speaker 1: happening yet, but you should have a pretty good idea
15:57
Speaker 1: like yeah, like we're comfortable with him stop, we're comfortable
16:01
Speaker 1: with him at third base, We're comfortable like getting DH
16:04
Speaker 1: days just to you know whatever. Like, I just feel
16:07
Speaker 1: like that part should be part of your part of
16:10
Speaker 1: your process established already, because there's not gonna be any
16:13
Speaker 1: new information that comes between the end of the Fall
16:16
Speaker 1: League and next season, really, so like you should have
16:20
Speaker 1: that pretty well established. That is actually, like I was
16:23
Speaker 1: a little kind of when I when I read that, Cody.
16:28
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was.
16:28
Speaker 3: It was one of the more interesting quotes from Scott
16:30
Speaker 3: Hares today, and it's notable. At GM meetings, it seemed
16:33
Speaker 3: like Jeff Greenberg had almost shut the door on McGonagall
16:37
Speaker 3: making the opening day roster. Scott seemed to crack that
16:40
Speaker 3: back open. But yeah, he framed it as almost seems
16:43
Speaker 3: to me like they're waiting on right like you said,
16:46
Speaker 3: the roster to be fully baked. Makes me think they
16:50
Speaker 3: maybe are looking at some other shortstop. I don't know
16:52
Speaker 3: if that's boba sh X. I just don't Nothing else
16:55
Speaker 3: seems to indicate they want that sort of commitment, but
16:58
Speaker 3: maybe our guy has some Maybe there's something else out
17:02
Speaker 3: there they could be looking at. Otherwise, the quote just
17:05
Speaker 3: seemed a little head scratching, like surely they have an
17:08
Speaker 3: idea if he is ready.
17:10
Speaker 4: And if he is ready, why wouldn't he be on
17:12
Speaker 4: the roster.
17:14
Speaker 3: But Harris also said that he thinks McGonagall has gotten
17:17
Speaker 3: a bad rap in the large the media at large
17:21
Speaker 3: for his shortstop ability, so still seems to be a
17:25
Speaker 3: lot of faith in him playing shortstop. I asked, like,
17:29
Speaker 3: is it an open question who is going to get
17:31
Speaker 3: the line's share of reps at shortstop? And both Scott
17:34
Speaker 3: Harris and aj Hinch pretty much said yes. Aj Hinch
17:37
Speaker 3: talked about he would really like Hobby to still move
17:39
Speaker 3: around and play some other positions. They think that's the
17:42
Speaker 3: best use for him. So I did leave there wondering, like,
17:47
Speaker 3: is there something else going on at shortstop that if
17:50
Speaker 3: it's a yes, McGonagall starts at a triple A and
17:52
Speaker 3: if it's a no, he starts in the big leagues,
17:55
Speaker 3: Like I don't know, I think you were fair to
17:57
Speaker 3: point out here and that that was a little bit
17:58
Speaker 3: of a strange quote. And even though as close as
18:01
Speaker 3: we're gonna get to like a departure from the Tigers
18:03
Speaker 3: normal mode of operations, what more is there to be
18:06
Speaker 3: seen to know if he is ready? If he's you
18:09
Speaker 3: know what do they say, like players tell you when
18:11
Speaker 3: they're ready.
18:14
Speaker 4: So either he's told you he's ready or he hasn't.
18:17
Speaker 3: Like what you know, how much gray area is there really,
18:19
Speaker 3: especially at the prospect of its caliber.
18:21
Speaker 1: And we also know it's not like he's going to
18:24
Speaker 1: play his way onto the opening roster like with spring training,
18:27
Speaker 1: like like the spring training will be a part of it,
18:29
Speaker 1: but he's not gonna like play his way onto.
18:31
Speaker 3: The He might have to show some certain things will
18:34
Speaker 3: help if he has a good spring, but his spring
18:36
Speaker 3: training counting stats are not going to be what makes
18:40
Speaker 3: this decision.
18:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, right, And so again like there might like they
18:46
Speaker 1: sign a Kim, they sign a Bashad you know or whoever.
18:50
Speaker 1: And then that quote makes more sense, you see what
18:53
Speaker 1: I'm saying, Like that act like on the on the
18:55
Speaker 1: back end, you kind of feel like, okay, this actually aligns.
18:58
Speaker 2: They kind of knew this was their plan, they don't
18:59
Speaker 2: want their hand whatever.
19:01
Speaker 1: But as of but as of now, it makes me think, like, well,
19:05
Speaker 1: I would I kind of wish you had an idea
19:08
Speaker 1: as to what you wanted a twenty twenty six Kevin
19:11
Speaker 1: McGonagall season to look like, because that quote gives zero
19:15
Speaker 1: indication that they have that projection like actually out there,
19:19
Speaker 1: like that would make more sense for like Max Clark
19:21
Speaker 1: in my opinion, who I think everyone would agree is
19:23
Speaker 1: you know, further behind McGonagall in terms of like chances
19:27
Speaker 1: to make the opening day roster and thinks of that nature.
19:30
Speaker 1: So yeah, I just wanted to point that out. Uh,
19:34
Speaker 1: let's circle back here for a second. Cody the the
19:38
Speaker 1: Drew Anderson signing, I believe was the announced or reported
19:43
Speaker 1: on Friday nights and made official on Monday, And it's
19:49
Speaker 1: a I'm sure you already said this, but I'll just
19:51
Speaker 1: repeat it. It's a it's a two year deal, but
19:53
Speaker 1: it's a team option for the second For the second season,
19:56
Speaker 1: it's seven million year one the team option season is
20:00
Speaker 1: ten million. Is a guy who you know was obviously
20:03
Speaker 1: had an unorthodox route to getting a total of seventeen
20:07
Speaker 1: million dollar contract in his major league career. Spent the
20:10
Speaker 1: past two years in Korea. The the Tigers are obviously
20:14
Speaker 1: familiar with him, had him spring training a couple of
20:16
Speaker 1: years ago.
20:17
Speaker 2: Uh So, it's interesting.
20:21
Speaker 1: Because he is a you know, a native player that
20:23
Speaker 1: went overseas and is coming back. But he also has
20:26
Speaker 1: a six career sixty nine year a plus so and
20:30
Speaker 1: now and now he's gonna change Carrion change. That's the thing, man,
20:36
Speaker 1: because like we're talking about starting pitching and need to
20:38
Speaker 1: add they and maybe like up a tier level of
20:43
Speaker 1: like like salary for a starting pitcher. And they signed
20:45
Speaker 1: a guy the older guaranteeing him is seven million dollars
20:48
Speaker 1: and he's gonna quote go into spring training compete as
20:51
Speaker 1: a as a starter. So I'm not really sure like
20:54
Speaker 1: what the read here is. Uh it seems to me
20:57
Speaker 1: that this is a seven million dollars or we'll see
21:01
Speaker 1: what happens, because I don't know. There's nothing in the
21:03
Speaker 1: track record that makes me think he's gonna be making
21:06
Speaker 1: ten million dollars in the year twenty twenty seven.
21:08
Speaker 2: So that's just my pig.
21:10
Speaker 3: I think it's certainly fair to be skeptical of this signing,
21:12
Speaker 3: but I'm also gonna say why I don't hate it.
21:16
Speaker 4: I almost like it.
21:16
Speaker 3: It's because what we talked about, they missed one healthy
21:19
Speaker 3: Healthy would have solved so many problems.
21:21
Speaker 4: For them, But they missed on healthy. So what else
21:23
Speaker 4: were they gonna do?
21:23
Speaker 3: Was there another creative move up their sleeve, or were
21:26
Speaker 3: they gonna pay Zach Eflin or something, you know, fifteen million.
21:32
Speaker 3: This is basically saying we're not gonna do the middle
21:34
Speaker 3: of the market thing. We're not gonna get stuck in
21:36
Speaker 3: paying a premium for a mediocre starter. We're gonna pay
21:40
Speaker 3: less for someone we think has some upside and hope
21:43
Speaker 3: and hope it hits. And given that they already have
21:46
Speaker 3: five starters, we all know they're gonna need more, and
21:49
Speaker 3: probably a lot more than that throughout the course of
21:50
Speaker 3: the season. But given that it's not like this pressing need,
21:54
Speaker 3: I don't hate it.
21:55
Speaker 4: No.
21:56
Speaker 3: I would kind of like to just see him sign
21:57
Speaker 3: Michael King or Ranger Suarez. So that's the other thing,
22:01
Speaker 3: Like you could just sign a high end starter that's
22:03
Speaker 3: also win in the middle market, but that's beside the point.
22:06
Speaker 3: They're not going to do that. It doesn't seem like
22:08
Speaker 3: so this is like the next best thing. I think.
22:11
Speaker 3: I think I would rather have this than paying two
22:15
Speaker 3: thirty million for some guy who's just going to give
22:19
Speaker 3: you a four or five era Drew Anderson. I don't
22:21
Speaker 3: know if this is going to work out or not,
22:23
Speaker 3: but it's ultimately even though seven mil it's not nothing,
22:27
Speaker 3: it's ultimately kind of low risk. And although they would
22:31
Speaker 3: like him to be a starter, he does have some
22:33
Speaker 3: relief experience. He could always go that route at some
22:36
Speaker 3: point in the year if need be. So look, it's
22:39
Speaker 3: nothing to get excited about, but it is what it is.
22:44
Speaker 4: I see the rationale behind it.
22:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean death taxes and sky Harris signing pitchers
22:52
Speaker 1: to one year deals with team options for a second year.
22:55
Speaker 2: So yeah.
22:56
Speaker 3: At least one league source referred to Drew Anderson as
22:59
Speaker 3: a steal, So there's some people like them.
23:04
Speaker 2: There you go, there you go. Uh.
23:07
Speaker 1: Let let's get to the Bregmant piece of this too,
23:11
Speaker 1: Cody I and this this isn't necessarily even like specific
23:15
Speaker 1: to the Tigers. The combination of top end like free
23:22
Speaker 1: agent available like this this this offseason, and kind of
23:26
Speaker 1: murkiness as to what and who is involved in his
23:29
Speaker 1: market is actually kind of impressive. Like we're getting like
23:33
Speaker 1: a lot of momentum and kind of news on like Schwarzer.
23:36
Speaker 1: You know, we're getting a lot of momentum and kind
23:38
Speaker 1: of like news on on Kyle Tucker, even Bashet, you know,
23:42
Speaker 1: to a certain extent.
23:43
Speaker 2: But the Bregmant thing you're getting like.
23:46
Speaker 1: You're getting like little reports that you know, teams aren't
23:49
Speaker 1: gonna just get into the sweep stakes. They might have
23:51
Speaker 1: to circumstantially get into the sweepstakes after the market kind
23:55
Speaker 1: of settles a little bit.
23:56
Speaker 2: It's very odd, Cody, It's very odd. I mean, I
23:58
Speaker 2: don't know if you have anything to add there.
24:00
Speaker 1: But I just feel like it's it's worth noting that
24:03
Speaker 1: It's not like you're not getting reports of like teams
24:06
Speaker 1: are lying up to try and get Alex Bregman. It's
24:08
Speaker 1: just like these teams are interested or hiving talks or whatever.
24:12
Speaker 1: It's kind of the extensible.
24:13
Speaker 3: It's not a ton different from where Bregman's market was
24:16
Speaker 3: at last offseason, though it just took a while for
24:18
Speaker 3: things to pick up for him and for some of
24:22
Speaker 3: the topping guys in this case. I think everyone's waiting
24:25
Speaker 3: to see what the Red Sox are going to do.
24:27
Speaker 3: I think they kind of have first DIBs, and if
24:29
Speaker 3: they don't get him, then what happens. That's when you
24:32
Speaker 3: hear these other teams connected to him, the Cubs whoever. Yeah,
24:36
Speaker 3: the consensus right now is that there's the chances of
24:41
Speaker 3: him going to Detroit just aren't high. And just to
24:46
Speaker 3: protect sourcing, I'm not gonna be able to say quite
24:48
Speaker 3: everything I know, but I just say, like, I think
24:50
Speaker 3: maybe we should be.
24:52
Speaker 4: Taking our minds off Alex Bregman.
24:54
Speaker 3: Just don't think it's going to happen, at least certainly
24:57
Speaker 3: not on a long term deal. The floor falls through
25:01
Speaker 3: somehow and you can get him on the deal he
25:03
Speaker 3: signed last year. Maybe, but I wouldn't count on that happening.
25:07
Speaker 3: And it just doesn't seem like this was meant to be.
25:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I mean still gonna be thrown around in
25:15
Speaker 1: there a lot, we know that for sure. Until he
25:17
Speaker 1: signed somewhere, the Tigers will still be like in contention
25:20
Speaker 1: or whatever, So the news updates will not go away
25:24
Speaker 1: with that.
25:25
Speaker 4: Well, I wouldn't put too much stake into him though,
25:27
Speaker 4: I just wouldn't.
25:29
Speaker 1: Let's wrap up here. Probably the best news of the day,
25:34
Speaker 1: Day one of Winter meetings, as we got a Jackson
25:36
Speaker 1: Job update and Jackson Job. I'll just read from your
25:41
Speaker 1: story again, Cody. He had Tommy John in June obviously
25:45
Speaker 1: June to twenty five, and he's expected to pitch at
25:48
Speaker 1: some point in twenty twenty six. Obviously, you know, have
25:51
Speaker 1: to have good rehab for that. Scott Harris said, it's
25:54
Speaker 1: hard to folk forecast an actual date, but we expect
25:57
Speaker 1: him to boost our roster in the second half. It's
26:01
Speaker 1: nice to have a boost of a rotation typically at
26:03
Speaker 1: a time we need to fill out starters. So I
26:05
Speaker 1: think another I think I also saw he said, like,
26:09
Speaker 1: what was it a competitive in September or whatever, competition
26:13
Speaker 1: mode or something like that, So it seems like they
26:16
Speaker 1: are going it.
26:17
Speaker 2: So we didn't know this.
26:18
Speaker 1: It seems like they're going in with the anticipation we
26:21
Speaker 1: are going to get some sort of contribution from Jackson
26:25
Speaker 1: Job in the twenty twenty six season. So that's worth
26:27
Speaker 1: noting because that was something that a lot of people
26:30
Speaker 1: had kind of pushed off to twenty seven.
26:32
Speaker 4: So yeah, yeah, I do think that's somewhat noteworthy.
26:35
Speaker 3: Just the schedule would always his reab would suggest he
26:39
Speaker 3: maybe could be back by September, and just given a
26:44
Speaker 3: young player of his stature, which you want to be
26:47
Speaker 3: more cautious and just say, hey, we're gonna pump.
26:48
Speaker 4: This doesn't sound like it now.
26:50
Speaker 3: Jackson Jove returning at any point in the second half
26:53
Speaker 3: is still going to be contingent on his rehab going well.
26:56
Speaker 3: His timeline's pretty close with Wow name blanking Astro.
27:02
Speaker 4: Starter was a.
27:03
Speaker 3: Rachidy, was a Rakiedy who they signed and who actually
27:07
Speaker 3: had a setback barely made it back toward the mid
27:09
Speaker 3: part of September. Without that setback, he probably could have
27:12
Speaker 3: been available Clisson.
27:13
Speaker 4: To start a September.
27:15
Speaker 3: So that's probably the timeline I would consider for Job,
27:18
Speaker 3: but every rehabs a little bit different. It's good to
27:21
Speaker 3: know that the Tigers seriously believe he can help next
27:24
Speaker 3: year's team. And yeah, wouldn't it be nice if they're
27:26
Speaker 3: in it and maybe they're down a starter or something
27:29
Speaker 3: and then we're just gonna casually get back Jackson Job
27:32
Speaker 3: and some of the nastiest stuff in the game. That
27:35
Speaker 3: could be a lot of fun, although also interesting because
27:38
Speaker 3: Job has still proven pretty much nothing yet despite all
27:42
Speaker 3: the hype around.
27:43
Speaker 4: Him, and you know the little we saw of him
27:47
Speaker 4: last season.
27:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, and That's another thing too, like sometimes we forget
27:52
Speaker 1: like just how little major league experience he has because
27:56
Speaker 1: of you know, because of that injury, and you know.
27:59
Speaker 2: There's gonna be you know.
28:03
Speaker 1: Now, I don't want to make it sound like I'm
28:04
Speaker 1: holding water for anybody, carrying water for anybody, but like
28:07
Speaker 1: you're the reality of the situation when you look at
28:09
Speaker 1: this roster is there if things go well, it's gonna
28:13
Speaker 1: be because you got more contributions in twenty six and
28:16
Speaker 1: twenty set in twenty six then twenty five from even
28:19
Speaker 1: like a Jackson Joe, even if at the end there
28:21
Speaker 1: of like a Parker Metals and Matt Veerley, you know,
28:24
Speaker 1: some of these guys that, like you, you kind of
28:26
Speaker 1: had to play without. Uh So that's how they're looking
28:31
Speaker 1: at it. That's all I'm saying. I'm not saying it's
28:33
Speaker 1: how I would do it, but that's how they're looking
28:35
Speaker 1: at it.
28:35
Speaker 3: Yeah, let me read off another quote, because what have
28:37
Speaker 3: we talked about a lot? They're there, they stand to
28:40
Speaker 3: lose Scuball flairty mize. So Jason Back asked Scott Harris, basically,
28:45
Speaker 3: do you have to plan for beyond twenty twenty six?
28:48
Speaker 3: There's basically a way of saying, do you need a
28:49
Speaker 3: picture on a multi year deal. Scott Harris said, for
28:52
Speaker 3: a variety of reasons, we're pretty focused on twenty six
28:55
Speaker 3: right now.
28:56
Speaker 4: There's a ton of uncertainty coming after the season.
28:58
Speaker 3: In a variety of ways, we're pretty focused on twenty
29:02
Speaker 3: six right now. If there's an opportunity for us to
29:04
Speaker 3: get better in twenty six, we're going to take it.
29:07
Speaker 3: If in addition to the opportunity to get better in
29:10
Speaker 3: twenty six, we're going to get better in twenty seven,
29:13
Speaker 3: twenty eight, twenty nine, we're obviously going to look into
29:15
Speaker 3: that too. But we have a good team right now
29:17
Speaker 3: and we have a great opportunity to take another step
29:19
Speaker 3: forward in a young group, and we're trying to find
29:21
Speaker 3: ways to add to that. So further evidence they don't
29:24
Speaker 3: really seem interested on spending big on a starter. And
29:28
Speaker 3: another one to question is this right man, because assuming
29:32
Speaker 3: you lose scooball one way or another, you're going to
29:34
Speaker 3: we're going to be at winter meetings next year and
29:36
Speaker 3: like they're going to have a pretty dire need for
29:39
Speaker 3: some real pitching. They'll have Djuob, who still be unproven.
29:42
Speaker 3: We'll see how the year goes for Troy Melton. Maybe
29:45
Speaker 3: that could be great, maybe not. You will have results
29:47
Speaker 3: in hope he stays healthy. I mean, you'll have your
29:50
Speaker 3: other guys, so your gibs along, Jake Miller, et cetera.
29:53
Speaker 3: But you are going to have an incredibly unproven rotation
29:57
Speaker 3: and a need for multiple multiple starters.
30:00
Speaker 2: In a quick way. Man, When you when you read
30:02
Speaker 2: it out loud like that, it's like.
30:04
Speaker 4: That, I'm surprised.
30:07
Speaker 3: I mean, I get again, he's like foreshadowing labor uncertainty,
30:10
Speaker 3: which I guess could play a role in not wanting
30:13
Speaker 3: to spend on pitchers in their.
30:15
Speaker 4: Thirties or whatever. But that one surprises me. I think.
30:19
Speaker 3: I think it would take some foresight and some planning
30:21
Speaker 3: to make sure you have reliable pitching options so you're
30:25
Speaker 3: not you're not in that hard spot next year.
30:28
Speaker 1: I'd be cool if that meant the offense got a
30:30
Speaker 1: whole lot better in twenty six. Uh you know, you know,
30:33
Speaker 1: like again, if you're really focused on twenty twenty six,
30:36
Speaker 1: I kind of.
30:37
Speaker 3: If you're focused on twenty twenty six, you could like
30:40
Speaker 3: sign players so all their words say they're not focused
30:43
Speaker 3: on twenty twenty six, except that answer.
30:46
Speaker 4: I'd like to say some of that's unbelievable, but it's it's.
30:49
Speaker 3: Not one thing about the Tigers there at least I
30:52
Speaker 3: guess this example being a little inconsistent, but they're pretty
30:56
Speaker 3: damn consistent, and they're thinking they're not changing their ways
31:00
Speaker 3: right now. They are looking toward the next wave of prospects,
31:03
Speaker 3: and let me tell you, Scott Harris has a lot
31:06
Speaker 3: writing on that.
31:08
Speaker 4: We'll see what happens this year. They're still going to
31:10
Speaker 4: have a good team.
31:11
Speaker 3: The fact the ale central no one's doing much of
31:13
Speaker 3: anything that probably only enables the Tigers to not feel
31:18
Speaker 3: like they have to do a lot and they can
31:20
Speaker 3: still make the playoffs and have a good shot. But
31:24
Speaker 3: there's going to be a lot writing on this next
31:26
Speaker 3: wave of prospects that seems like Harris is is maybe
31:29
Speaker 3: forgoing the chance to add to a really good team
31:32
Speaker 3: right now in the moment.
31:36
Speaker 1: The next wave of prospects, and specific to what you
31:39
Speaker 1: know they can control. They being in the front office,
31:42
Speaker 1: you're you know, projection models and in science divisions, you know,
31:48
Speaker 1: player development stuff. A lot writing on that, because in
31:52
Speaker 1: addition to just helping these prospects hit, which is far
31:55
Speaker 1: from a guarantee, just in general blanket statement there, Scott. Uh,
32:00
Speaker 1: you you also need to you need some development into
32:05
Speaker 1: you know, of the major league ready guys, the prime
32:07
Speaker 1: guys as we talked about earlier, and you need some
32:09
Speaker 1: assurances that they can actually have a sustainable, uh you know,
32:14
Speaker 1: offensive production base, which you would like to think they have.
32:20
Speaker 1: But high strikeout, Riley Green, not long track record, Spencer Torkleson, Uh,
32:28
Speaker 1: platoon carry Carpenter.
32:31
Speaker 3: It gets exactly on talking about those guys entering their primes.
32:37
Speaker 3: Riley Green, although he had thirty six home runs, had
32:39
Speaker 3: a worse year than he did a year ago, and
32:41
Speaker 3: we all know the concerns about his body. Spencer Torgelson
32:45
Speaker 3: spotty track record, like Dylan Dingler could be really good,
32:49
Speaker 3: cold Keith seems to be ascending. But yeah, like, what
32:51
Speaker 3: is what is the prime for any of those guys?
32:54
Speaker 4: Do we really know? And not that long ago, Riley.
32:57
Speaker 3: Green and Spencer Torglesen were two of the best hit
33:00
Speaker 3: prospects in all of baseball.
33:02
Speaker 4: What if Kevin McGonagall gets.
33:03
Speaker 3: Up here and he's great, but he suffers a couple
33:06
Speaker 3: of injuries and he starts moving around like Riley Green
33:08
Speaker 3: and he he has to move to first base, and
33:11
Speaker 3: what if you know, one of these other guys is
33:14
Speaker 3: just a little more like torglesin he has to get
33:16
Speaker 3: sent down a couple of times, like we just went
33:18
Speaker 3: through that. With this wave of players, the profile I
33:21
Speaker 3: will give Scott Harris this, they've built a better profile
33:24
Speaker 3: with the prospects coming up the system, a lot of
33:26
Speaker 3: bats ball, a lot of contact, good bye to ball data.
33:31
Speaker 3: Maybe they're a little safer in that way, but it
33:34
Speaker 3: is still risky in a way. You want to call
33:37
Speaker 3: Scott Harris risk averse. It is in some ways a
33:40
Speaker 3: risk to bet as much as he has when the
33:43
Speaker 3: next wave of guys coming up. And in the meantime,
33:46
Speaker 3: we all just get to kind of hang out this
33:48
Speaker 3: winter because I don't think there's going to be a luck.
33:51
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what, man that you know they say
33:54
Speaker 1: life comes at you fast. You think you have a
33:56
Speaker 1: perennial playoff team, and the the trapdoor can come on
34:01
Speaker 1: you fast too. I mean, I actually hope that doesn't happen.
34:04
Speaker 1: But we've seen this over and over and over again.
34:07
Speaker 1: That's one of the references that Ken made in his
34:09
Speaker 1: column too. Nothing's guaranteed, Nothing is guaranteed except for death
34:13
Speaker 1: taxes and pitching contracts with a team option for the
34:18
Speaker 1: second year.
34:18
Speaker 2: All right.
34:19
Speaker 1: You can follow us on expirmly known as Twitter at
34:22
Speaker 1: Cody staven Haagen, I'm at Kieran Underscore sectly pod page
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34:46
Speaker 1: Thank you for everybody who has followed along so far
34:48
Speaker 1: and continues to follow along. We'll be back for a
34:50
Speaker 1: Winter Meetings wrap up later in the week, So for
34:52
Speaker 1: Cody Stavenhagen, I'm curious seklely Ever, have a great day.