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Detroit Tigers Toughest Roster Calls · Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast

0:06
Speaker 1: And welcome into another episode of Tiger Territory, part of
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Speaker 1: the Foul Territory Network, a Detroit Tiger's podcast.
0:12
Speaker 2: I'm Kieren's Deckley with.
0:13
Speaker 1: Me as always the man who's been watching so much
0:15
Speaker 1: c SPAN. He accidentally called Tarik Schooble Tariff Schooble, talk
0:21
Speaker 1: about bad nickname, Tony Sapnagen.
0:23
Speaker 2: How you doing.
0:25
Speaker 3: Spring training, baseball or c SPAN? I don't know, Yeah,
0:29
Speaker 3: this is this is why you subscribed all the different
0:31
Speaker 3: streaming services. You have some different options. Just when we
0:35
Speaker 3: thought spring training was getting boring, getting into the dog
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Speaker 3: days a little bit, we have some interesting developments. I
0:43
Speaker 3: think the biggest one that people are talking about. Casey
0:46
Speaker 3: Myze continues to pitch well and kinto my Aida had
0:51
Speaker 3: kind of a kin to my Aida. Outing recently gave
0:55
Speaker 3: up three homers, also punched out what five guys, including
0:59
Speaker 3: Aaron Judge twice. So it was difficult to know what
1:02
Speaker 3: to make of that outing. All the homers or at
1:05
Speaker 3: George Steinberner Field, which is not the biggest park in
1:09
Speaker 3: the world, wouldn't have been out in many other parks.
1:12
Speaker 3: So AJ Hinch's comments after the outing kind of said
1:16
Speaker 3: it was tough to evaluate, and I agree, I would
1:19
Speaker 3: say it's hard to give ma Aida too much sympathy
1:22
Speaker 3: because all three of those pitches were just terribly located.
1:25
Speaker 3: They were meatballs. The velocity was a little bit up
1:29
Speaker 3: and down. It's pretty clear that Tigers want to see
1:32
Speaker 3: him go multiple times through the order. For as much
1:35
Speaker 3: as I have said, like, I don't think the Tigers
1:38
Speaker 3: are cutting ties with him. The idea that he was
1:40
Speaker 3: entrenching himself as that number five starter might be changing
1:45
Speaker 3: a little bit, and in a way that's less because
1:47
Speaker 3: of anything Maida is doing. At the end of the day,
1:50
Speaker 3: he still has nineteen strikeouts and one walk, which is
1:54
Speaker 3: a terrific ratio. Is kind of more about how well
1:58
Speaker 3: Casey Mize is pitching. We've seen this splitter be at
2:01
Speaker 3: its very best ever, and I think the question for
2:06
Speaker 3: these final two weeks of camp, will mys pitch well
2:09
Speaker 3: enough to bump my Aida from the rotation? If so,
2:13
Speaker 3: is there a room for him in the bullpen?
2:16
Speaker 1: So if it's a question, see like sometimes these things
2:20
Speaker 1: aren't necessarily like binary like that, like, if there's a question,
2:23
Speaker 1: has he pitched well enough to bump my Aida out
2:25
Speaker 1: of the rotation? Like in a vacuum like eight innings,
2:29
Speaker 1: ten k's no runs, like and you know, you're talking
2:32
Speaker 1: about the pitch sequenceeing all that stuff, like, yes, he
2:34
Speaker 1: has pitched well enough well that ultimately matter is really
2:39
Speaker 1: what we're what we're asking here, And I think I'm
2:43
Speaker 1: just sensing it's like a gut field thing. I'm just
2:47
Speaker 1: sensing that it seems like as plausible as it's ever
2:51
Speaker 1: been for him to get that number five spot in
2:54
Speaker 1: the rotation. You're seeing graphics put out there and he
2:58
Speaker 1: and he's slided in there Jason MLB dot com or
3:01
Speaker 1: the Tigers, like he just had a roster projection where
3:04
Speaker 1: he had.
3:05
Speaker 2: Miz in the five and then my Eta in the pen.
3:09
Speaker 1: And sometimes, like if you're watching spring training and then
3:14
Speaker 1: you're looking at the numbers, you kind of go nuts
3:16
Speaker 1: trying to figure out like what's going on here? So
3:19
Speaker 1: this is me going nuts trying to figure out what's
3:22
Speaker 1: going on here, Like Miaanna is not sure on dings dude,
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Speaker 1: like in in spring training, like he has almost thirteen
3:29
Speaker 1: innings pitched, which is you know, obviously these things are
3:32
Speaker 1: close relative speaking, but like by far leads the team,
3:36
Speaker 1: which tells me that they are trying to see every
3:39
Speaker 1: little thing out of him before they kind of make
3:42
Speaker 1: this decision. This decision, you know, barn injury, God forbid,
3:46
Speaker 1: is gonna go down like all the way to the end, right,
3:48
Speaker 1: So like it almost gives me kind of what used
3:54
Speaker 1: to be the fourth preseason by game vibes in like NFL,
3:58
Speaker 1: where it's just like you're just like going going on reps, reps, reps, reps,
4:01
Speaker 1: just to see and then you have a weird game
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Speaker 1: like happened on Monday, and it's like, well, yeah, he
4:08
Speaker 1: leaves the game and it's spring training. Eer is five
4:11
Speaker 1: point six eight. It's not really anything to brag about.
4:13
Speaker 1: But at the same time, like there's enough good there
4:17
Speaker 1: that if there was no Casey miz breathing down his
4:20
Speaker 1: neck with his contract situation, everything that we've experienced with
4:24
Speaker 1: him in the old English d it's like, all right,
4:27
Speaker 1: like we could we can kind of work with this,
4:30
Speaker 1: you know, being the Miata thing.
4:32
Speaker 2: But what I'm gonna.
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Speaker 1: Tell you is, as of now, I am more comfortable
4:37
Speaker 1: with Casey Mice being that fifth thwarter. Doesn't mean it's
4:41
Speaker 1: gonna work out that way, but that's kind of where
4:43
Speaker 1: where my mind is at.
4:45
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would be really curious to know what aj
4:48
Speaker 3: Hinch thinks about the bullpen and how he would prefer
4:51
Speaker 3: to have this bullpen constructed, because in a way, I
4:53
Speaker 3: think Casey Mis's roster spot is tied a lot less
4:57
Speaker 3: to kintamay Eta and more with what's going on the bullpen,
5:00
Speaker 3: because if you have a bullpen spot open, you can
5:03
Speaker 3: feel better about pushing my ata into a long relief
5:06
Speaker 3: role and carrying myyes in the rotation. The Tigers, I
5:10
Speaker 3: don't think you're going to go with a six man
5:12
Speaker 3: rotation or anything like that. Aj Hinch is very protective,
5:16
Speaker 3: wants to keep the bullpen fresh generally, so I think
5:19
Speaker 3: my last roster prediction I had Sean Gunther and Brand
5:23
Speaker 3: Herder both on the team, and that was just before
5:26
Speaker 3: the Tigers added Andrew Chaffin or just after. Well, we
5:30
Speaker 3: have seen some Chaffin in action, and his last outing
5:33
Speaker 3: he was throwing like eighty nine. I don't know that
5:37
Speaker 3: chaf looks ready for big league action. I think there's
5:39
Speaker 3: a distinct possibility, unless he really picks it up in
5:42
Speaker 3: his next couple of outings, that he could begin the
5:44
Speaker 3: year in Toledo just to have kind of a longer
5:47
Speaker 3: safer ramp up herd or who the Tigers love and
5:51
Speaker 3: who's terrific down the stretch. My god, just hasn't been
5:54
Speaker 3: able to find the strike zone all spring. I saw
5:56
Speaker 3: it happen once, and whatever I saw it happened twice
5:59
Speaker 3: and whatever, he'll figure it out. Well, we're getting toward
6:02
Speaker 3: the back half of camp and he hasn't figured it out.
6:06
Speaker 3: His roster spots in jeopardy. Sean Gunther really good down
6:10
Speaker 3: the stretch, a little bit similar. He has not been
6:12
Speaker 3: lights out. So there's a world where you could carry
6:16
Speaker 3: only one of those three lefties and feel okay with that.
6:20
Speaker 3: I think they're gonna cary at least once they have
6:21
Speaker 3: two lefties in the bullpen, one to go along with
6:25
Speaker 3: Tyler Holton. That leaves you one bullpen spot. Brendan Hannafi
6:29
Speaker 3: has actually pitched great in camp, and no one's quite
6:32
Speaker 3: given this guy the respect he deserves. Would they option
6:35
Speaker 3: Hannafee so they could put Mida in the bullpen, Mice
6:39
Speaker 3: in the rotation, or would aj Hinch really rather have
6:43
Speaker 3: a bullpen he feels great about. You can easily option
6:46
Speaker 3: Casey Mice and when you have that rain delay or
6:49
Speaker 3: whatever Miz is the guy you call up. These I
6:51
Speaker 3: think are the questions. I know no one gets excited
6:56
Speaker 3: watching kin somebody at a pitch, but I'm telling you
6:58
Speaker 3: that Tigers aren't gonna eat the ten. So now maybe
7:03
Speaker 3: for Casey mights to have a chance, it's probably what
7:06
Speaker 3: happens with Brennan Hannafy or the lefties, or maybe there's
7:10
Speaker 3: a world that you could still option Jackson Joe about
7:12
Speaker 3: the more we see that guy, I think that's kind
7:15
Speaker 3: of crazy, tent right.
7:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is crazy because we can't have you know,
7:21
Speaker 1: no disrespect to the media and Toledo, but I need
7:23
Speaker 1: Jackson Joe quotes, you know, like like like he gave
7:26
Speaker 1: we didn't get a chance to talk about it, but
7:28
Speaker 1: it's like, yeah, i'mnna thrown my stuff, you know, try
7:30
Speaker 1: to hit it, probably not going to I need. I
7:33
Speaker 1: need that for the Detroit media selfishly, like, you know,
7:35
Speaker 1: no offense to those fine journalists in Toledo. But but
7:38
Speaker 1: but yeah, I think it's I think it's really good
7:41
Speaker 1: that you point that out, Cody, and then bring up
7:42
Speaker 1: the whole lefties things, because sometimes that gets convoluted and
7:45
Speaker 1: you and again you start going going nuts. Yourself to
7:49
Speaker 1: trying to figure out how many lefties here. I think
7:53
Speaker 1: in a way he said, like no one's feeling the
7:56
Speaker 1: feeling great about seeing my ade out there. I think
7:58
Speaker 1: I actually would feel okay if he had to come
8:01
Speaker 1: in in one of those situations where you got to
8:03
Speaker 1: eat three four endings, like out of the bullpen. I
8:06
Speaker 1: feel a lot better about that now. I feel better
8:08
Speaker 1: about him overall than I did last year. Like I
8:11
Speaker 1: think I think he.
8:12
Speaker 3: Deserves He's still having a good spring that deserves off
8:17
Speaker 3: the yard. Shouldn't flip this whole conversation too much.
8:20
Speaker 1: That deserves to be said, you know what I mean,
8:22
Speaker 1: because because I think going in we were all kind
8:27
Speaker 1: prepared where it's like, all right, well they're just gonna
8:30
Speaker 1: have to give him the spot, you know what I mean?
8:32
Speaker 1: And then the Flairty signing happens, and you know, job
8:34
Speaker 1: was electric, and you know, really starts crunching, and and
8:38
Speaker 1: now at least I think you can at least say, all.
8:40
Speaker 2: Right, we have.
8:43
Speaker 1: At a bare minimum, we have competency, like with ma Ato,
8:47
Speaker 1: which I think a lot of people wouldn't have said
8:50
Speaker 1: that at a lot of points last season. So that's
8:53
Speaker 1: that's everything. Affects everything there to another thing there. Everything
8:58
Speaker 1: affects everything is that we are getting, you know more.
9:04
Speaker 1: I'm sensing some more momentum regarding another former one to
9:08
Speaker 1: one and that is Spencer Torkelsen, who look he's got
9:13
Speaker 1: the three home runs whatever, like you know, good forum,
9:17
Speaker 1: like I root for special Torrelsen. It seems like a
9:19
Speaker 1: good guy. He is. Like you're trying to look for
9:23
Speaker 1: things that actually are kind of real with like the swing,
9:26
Speaker 1: and he's doing this and that, and there is there
9:29
Speaker 1: is one thing wat shout out Cameron On on Tiger's
9:32
Speaker 1: Twitter who who pointed this out? I saw today and
9:36
Speaker 1: Torque is whipping at only an eight point eight percent rate,
9:40
Speaker 1: which that's a minimum of thirty spring thirty swings in
9:44
Speaker 1: spring training. A lots is there and that's comparable to
9:49
Speaker 1: Mookie Bets just for spring training. So there's something, Cody,
9:53
Speaker 1: There's something with Spencer Torklsen. There's this an idea. There's
9:55
Speaker 1: an idea, And I keep coming back to this that
9:58
Speaker 1: you put out there when you you would.
10:01
Speaker 2: I've not been a.
10:02
Speaker 1: Lakeland very long where it's like, you know, like no
10:05
Speaker 1: one's just like discounting Spencer Torkalsen like based on the
10:08
Speaker 1: people that you're talking to. I come back to that
10:10
Speaker 1: all the time because I think, like, that's so that's
10:14
Speaker 1: so important to note whenever you're trying to construct this
10:16
Speaker 1: roster in your head. The thing is, I keep trying
10:21
Speaker 1: to get myself there, and when you have a justin
10:25
Speaker 1: Henry and Malloy, who we talked about a lot last week,
10:28
Speaker 1: it's hard for me to say, you gotta pivot this
10:31
Speaker 1: way because mLOY is killing it. Molloy has a track
10:35
Speaker 1: record where he's a five hundred slug against lefties and
10:38
Speaker 1: forty eight at bats last season. I know it's a
10:40
Speaker 1: smaller sample size, but that's with like ten walks, so
10:43
Speaker 1: like he sees the player. I don't know if you've
10:45
Speaker 1: heard this about it, Jayhead, but he tends to know
10:47
Speaker 1: a strike zone. So I don't know overall about his defense,
10:52
Speaker 1: but we know Spencer has his you know, defensive history.
10:56
Speaker 1: It's just hard for me to get there with Spencer.
10:58
Speaker 1: It's hard for me to get there with Spence, even
11:00
Speaker 1: though again sort of like the MYTA thing a little bit,
11:04
Speaker 1: I think there's a world that you could feel comfortable
11:08
Speaker 1: with it, not necessarily over the option that it would
11:12
Speaker 1: play yeah, yeah.
11:14
Speaker 3: I mean this is why I was asking people early
11:16
Speaker 3: in camp, Like my kind of whole thesis was that
11:20
Speaker 3: even if Towork has an excellent camp, can you get
11:24
Speaker 3: him enough at best justify carrying him on the major
11:27
Speaker 3: league roster? And I was told multiple times yes, and
11:32
Speaker 3: still not fully. I just don't see it in a way.
11:35
Speaker 3: I see it less given the other injuries in the outfield,
11:40
Speaker 3: which is probably meaning carry Carpenter is going to have
11:42
Speaker 3: to play in the outfield more. If Kerry Carpenter is
11:45
Speaker 3: starting against a game against a right handed pitcher, you
11:49
Speaker 3: can't just slide in Tork for a late game pinchhit
11:52
Speaker 3: because spincer twurtles in can't play the outfield justin Henry
11:56
Speaker 3: mLOY can. I think it's not like Jay Hen's having
11:59
Speaker 3: a shabby camp. He doesn't have the three homers, but
12:03
Speaker 3: he's in three twentyk I look at it. I don't know,
12:07
Speaker 3: you know, the homers were cool, that's what you want
12:09
Speaker 3: to see. His one base percent in just two ninety
12:11
Speaker 3: six and then he's only walked once, but he's not whipping.
12:15
Speaker 3: So what are we actually evaluating spring training on. It's
12:20
Speaker 3: always kind of hard to say, but I don't want
12:22
Speaker 3: to get sucked too deep into the trap of overreacting
12:24
Speaker 3: to just kind of the sheer numbers. Now, twork seems
12:27
Speaker 3: to be having to go to camp. There's really not
12:29
Speaker 3: much you can knock him for, but it's gonna be
12:32
Speaker 3: an uphill battle, and we're kind of seeing that right now.
12:36
Speaker 3: I almost think his most likely path to the roster
12:38
Speaker 3: is if the Tigers could somehow carry both he and Jayhin,
12:43
Speaker 3: which would probably mean optioning someone like Jase Young, and
12:47
Speaker 3: then Zach McKinstry's playing a lot of third and then
12:50
Speaker 3: you're gonna have to live with more Jhin in the outfield.
12:53
Speaker 3: But then you could easily just DH Torque. I'm not
12:56
Speaker 3: sure that's your ideal roster construction, that that might be
13:00
Speaker 3: one other factor to consider. Same goes for that's the
13:04
Speaker 3: way you can get Trey Sweeney on the roster, and
13:06
Speaker 3: I think there could be some momentum there as well.
13:09
Speaker 3: So in a way, we're halfway through camp, more than
13:11
Speaker 3: halfway through camp, and almost feel like I have less
13:14
Speaker 3: clarity than maybe a couple of weeks now, no.
13:18
Speaker 1: For sure, And again just to kind of throw out
13:20
Speaker 1: just the numbers for Jay Hen, just because like he
13:25
Speaker 1: is he's got a eight twenty nine ops, you know
13:30
Speaker 1: what I mean is on basis for sixty nine, what
13:32
Speaker 1: do you say the tortola is to ninety six? You know,
13:37
Speaker 1: and like you look at he's like tied or amongst
13:41
Speaker 1: the top and hits and like all these things that
13:43
Speaker 1: like again, for whatever it's worth, but he brings defensive versatility,
13:47
Speaker 1: He has a better plate approach, and quite frankly, he's
13:52
Speaker 1: he feels like a more untapped resource the special torgles
13:57
Speaker 1: in at this point. But again I keep looking for
14:00
Speaker 1: to bring him because I was like, well, what if
14:03
Speaker 1: what if Colt Keith is like having a really tough
14:05
Speaker 1: time at first base, and you just and especially against
14:10
Speaker 1: a lefty, which we like. It's not like Colt's gonna
14:12
Speaker 1: sit every lefty game like a cart, but like against
14:15
Speaker 1: a lefty, you kind of like find you a spot
14:18
Speaker 1: that you put in Tork and his defensive problems aside,
14:22
Speaker 1: at least you have somewhat of a seasoned first baseman
14:25
Speaker 1: as opposed to whenever cold Like really the past couple
14:29
Speaker 1: of years they haven't really had a season first baseman
14:31
Speaker 1: other than their regular starter. So Tork and then you know,
14:34
Speaker 1: this year, like but Jay hen and he's obviously not
14:36
Speaker 1: gonna be seasoned. So it was like, is there that
14:38
Speaker 1: element there? And again I just it's like the scientific
14:42
Speaker 1: method with Torque with me, where it's like I have
14:45
Speaker 1: a theory and then I kind of go through all
14:46
Speaker 1: the steps and I'm like, I don't know if I can.
14:49
Speaker 1: I just can't reach the conclusion that I thought I
14:53
Speaker 1: might be able to every time. And and that's why
14:58
Speaker 1: I always advocated I mean you did too, like at
15:00
Speaker 1: least trying them.
15:02
Speaker 2: I mean I joked about it on X like put
15:03
Speaker 2: him in center field.
15:05
Speaker 1: But obviously I don't do that well, at least trying.
15:08
Speaker 3: But yeah, right, if you wanted him, if you seriously
15:11
Speaker 3: wanted him to be on the roster, I think there
15:13
Speaker 3: should have been an experiment to be like, is this
15:15
Speaker 3: guy halfway serviceable in left field? Now? Again I was
15:18
Speaker 3: told the answer, but without even trying it was no,
15:21
Speaker 3: which kind of goes against the ethos we used to hear.
15:26
Speaker 3: Until you see it, I know, I come back to
15:29
Speaker 3: the same place. I would like to get Torque on
15:31
Speaker 3: this roster. It's just very hard. And again, as we
15:34
Speaker 3: start talking about alternate roster constructions, it's even like can
15:39
Speaker 3: you that question I've had for a while. Can you
15:41
Speaker 3: carry jayse Young, Zach McKinstry, Trey Sweeney, three guys who
15:46
Speaker 3: can play in field and all hit left handed. It's
15:48
Speaker 3: kind of tough. A lot of the roster projections have
15:52
Speaker 3: had Sweeney on the outs. There's a world where you
15:55
Speaker 3: can carry him, but man, you're gonna be really left handed.
15:58
Speaker 3: I kind of want Tray sween in there so that
16:00
Speaker 3: you're not going just Hobby Bias and Zach McKinstry at shortstop.
16:05
Speaker 3: Sweeney has a chance to be a plus defender. It's
16:09
Speaker 3: it's hard to get there, and that's definitely not happening
16:11
Speaker 3: if Tork and jahin or on the roster. And that's
16:13
Speaker 3: why I come back to Jayce Young, who somewhat quietly
16:17
Speaker 3: had been struggling. He did connect for a homer. There's
16:22
Speaker 3: no stat cast out of to day. I'm not even
16:24
Speaker 3: sure what the pitch was, but he did homer and
16:27
Speaker 3: he kind of needed it. Again, I don't think we
16:29
Speaker 3: should overreact to whatever his batting average is in spring training.
16:34
Speaker 3: Cold Keith's not having a very good spring Cole Keith
16:36
Speaker 3: andn't getting options to Toledo, So like, let's keep all
16:39
Speaker 3: these things in perspective, But that's one will. Maybe the
16:44
Speaker 3: Tigers just aren't seeing him get going enough. You want
16:46
Speaker 3: to trace Sweeney on the roster or a Torque on
16:48
Speaker 3: the roster. Putting Jayce Young and Toledo to start the
16:51
Speaker 3: season is not totally out of the question. I think
16:54
Speaker 3: right now, just my gut, I would argue against that
16:57
Speaker 3: because your whole ethos is supposed to be about giving
17:00
Speaker 3: opportunities to young players. Although the Tigers have always seen
17:04
Speaker 3: somewhat loose lukewarmone. Jase Sky can hit man and you
17:09
Speaker 3: need offense, and this is a bat I want to
17:13
Speaker 3: see developed. This is a bat. I don't think it's
17:16
Speaker 3: going to get a whole lot better from going to Twedo.
17:18
Speaker 3: Maybe you could improved some at third, but I don't
17:20
Speaker 3: see the bat developing a lot in the minor leagues.
17:23
Speaker 3: But that might be something to just at least keep
17:26
Speaker 3: in mind here that you know he's Jase is probably
17:29
Speaker 3: not one hundred percent lock to break with this team.
17:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, I I have in my mind just not really
17:39
Speaker 1: given in a lot of thought that he wouldn't go west.
17:43
Speaker 1: But when you look at it again, spring training numbers,
17:45
Speaker 1: we all have the asterisks in my mind when we
17:47
Speaker 1: talk about this. But he came into today with a
17:50
Speaker 1: one fifty eight average. You know, his only extra base
17:53
Speaker 1: was a couple of doubles, So he had that home
17:55
Speaker 1: run today. You know, good on him. I agree with
17:59
Speaker 1: you one hundred percent. Like at this time last year,
18:01
Speaker 1: obviously we knew Colt was gonna make the team. But
18:04
Speaker 1: at this time last year, you and I were pretty
18:06
Speaker 1: adamant that the bat. No questions about the bat, and
18:10
Speaker 1: it took some time. So like, so that's all baked
18:13
Speaker 1: in with the Chase discussion too, But we felt very
18:16
Speaker 1: strongly about the cult bat. I don't feel very strongly
18:19
Speaker 1: about the young bat, but I feel pretty good about it.
18:22
Speaker 1: And I agree with you that it seems to be
18:26
Speaker 1: what this what this organization is about. And again some
18:30
Speaker 1: of it to me is like there's there's nobody breathing
18:34
Speaker 1: down his neck. Really, you know, you have options that
18:36
Speaker 1: you can put put put there. But in my opinion,
18:40
Speaker 1: if you were gonna be a stickler in the mud,
18:42
Speaker 1: not to bring up the name that kind of defined
18:44
Speaker 1: our offseason, if you're gonna be a stickler in the
18:47
Speaker 1: mud about certain contract terms and options and blah, blah
18:52
Speaker 1: blah with Alex Bregman, which is what's been reported then
18:57
Speaker 1: to like the way you justify it in the room
19:01
Speaker 1: is that like, look, we really obviously want pregnant, but
19:03
Speaker 1: if he's not gonna take this, like we have some
19:06
Speaker 1: level of comfort rolling with Jase as are expected third
19:11
Speaker 1: basement because blah blah blahlah blah. So there's even though
19:14
Speaker 1: it's not the most ringing endorsement on the planet because
19:17
Speaker 1: you know, you kind of seign buddy take his job,
19:19
Speaker 1: it is somewhat of like, all right, well we're good
19:21
Speaker 1: with this, Like we're at least good with this, like
19:23
Speaker 1: we could do this, and and to me, like it's
19:29
Speaker 1: there's enough upside there. And also the defense is still
19:32
Speaker 1: something I can't figure out the bat at. The upside
19:34
Speaker 1: I believe in the defense is one of the things
19:36
Speaker 1: everybody keeps telling me. And then I keep getting these
19:38
Speaker 1: projections that he's gonna be some decent defender and I
19:41
Speaker 1: haven't watched it up because obviously not all of them
19:43
Speaker 1: are on TV like to really kind of give a
19:46
Speaker 1: scout myself, but he's the guys, the guy is a
19:50
Speaker 1: bonafide gamer. I think he could probably figure out how
19:53
Speaker 1: to be somewhat decent at third base, Like I don't know.
19:56
Speaker 3: It's gonna be minus defense right now, but maybe improve
20:00
Speaker 3: a little bit.
20:02
Speaker 1: Sure, And but but again, his whole career, or at
20:06
Speaker 1: least as a prospect, has been the bat's good enough
20:09
Speaker 1: to justify the defense, and we and I still believe
20:13
Speaker 1: that basically is what I what I keep coming back to.
20:16
Speaker 1: But if you if it, if he is a victim
20:22
Speaker 1: of circumstance here, which I feel like this entire episode
20:25
Speaker 1: has kind of been talking about people somewhat victims of circumstance,
20:28
Speaker 1: somewhat victims of them not necessarily performing up to up
20:32
Speaker 1: to the standard, But he's gonna be a victim of
20:34
Speaker 1: circumstance here, Like it's gonna be a short one because
20:39
Speaker 1: you're the only bat that you added was Glabor Torres.
20:44
Speaker 1: So like, if you send Jace Young down, how many
20:48
Speaker 1: high upside bats do you have in a lineup? You
20:51
Speaker 1: just sent one down, So whatever number you have right now,
20:54
Speaker 1: you just minus one. So like that's that's that's hard
20:58
Speaker 1: for me to wrap my head around too.
21:03
Speaker 3: The Sun glabored to were as they moved Spencer turtles
21:05
Speaker 3: and off at first base, which was you know, I
21:07
Speaker 3: said a million times, would be pretty irresponsible if your
21:10
Speaker 3: goal is to win the division and you're going to
21:11
Speaker 3: begin the year with to Work as your first baseman.
21:14
Speaker 3: But there was a world where they could have signed
21:16
Speaker 3: a third baseman and not a second basement. And if
21:19
Speaker 3: they have all this faith in Twork and there is
21:21
Speaker 3: a real path for him to the roster, he could
21:23
Speaker 3: have been your first basement. So I don't know, we
21:26
Speaker 3: can always relitigate the things. Maybe Alavila was right, Karen,
21:29
Speaker 3: Maybe Spencer turtles in a third base is the solution
21:32
Speaker 3: to all of this, right.
21:33
Speaker 1: It's the only thing we haven't tried, right, the only
21:37
Speaker 1: only thing that doesn't exist right now. You know, by
21:41
Speaker 1: the way, there's I mean it's people have joked about it.
21:44
Speaker 1: People get angry when you joke about it. There's a
21:47
Speaker 1: world where this is kind of like an Alivilla smile season.
21:50
Speaker 1: Just say it, Just say that's all. That's all, just
21:53
Speaker 1: so that's a little smile that that exists. All right,
21:58
Speaker 1: Let's uh, let's move to the who's gonna be in
22:01
Speaker 1: on these decisions? And that would be one aj hinch.
22:05
Speaker 1: So one of the things, Cody that defined the first
22:08
Speaker 1: year that we did this podcast, was the contract looming
22:14
Speaker 1: over aj Hinch and whether he had an opt out
22:17
Speaker 1: in there, and then aj aj remember all that stuff.
22:21
Speaker 1: Aj doesn't want to talk about it, you know, out
22:24
Speaker 1: of respect to basically his profession, and you know, kind
22:27
Speaker 1: of lingered linger linga leaguer, and then it kind of eventually,
22:31
Speaker 1: I think, got leaked that there wasn't one, and then
22:33
Speaker 1: blah bla blah. He's got an extension now, so all
22:34
Speaker 1: that's new point. But Dave Roberts just guy himself a
22:39
Speaker 1: new contract extension. He's signed through twenty twenty nine. It's
22:43
Speaker 1: a cool reported about eight million dollars per year. It's
22:47
Speaker 1: pretty nice. Pretty much what in the World series has
22:51
Speaker 1: its benefits. So Dave Roberts gets himself a nice new
22:54
Speaker 1: contract in because it's Los Angeles and it's the Dodgers,
22:57
Speaker 1: it leaks, the terms leak. We still know any thing
23:00
Speaker 1: about aj Hinch's contract because the Tigers are the Dodgers
23:02
Speaker 1: and the choice not Los Angeles. So I did get it.
23:06
Speaker 1: Did give me thinking just a little bit, Cody that
23:09
Speaker 1: you know, I have a lot of respect for Dave Roberts.
23:13
Speaker 1: The success speaks for itself, like don't have to go
23:16
Speaker 1: too deep there. He obviously has a difficult job. It's
23:21
Speaker 1: a lost scrutiny, like I said in Los Angeles. And
23:23
Speaker 1: then once you start signing all the players and then
23:26
Speaker 1: you don't win the World Series every year everyone comes
23:28
Speaker 1: for your butt, like Dodgers fans not necessarily the most
23:33
Speaker 1: kind to him over the years. But I also hold
23:36
Speaker 1: aj hinch in like really really really high at cored
23:39
Speaker 1: so with the trash can banging World series and Roberts
23:45
Speaker 1: and to us credit unapologetic nature when it comes to
23:50
Speaker 1: talking about or at least wanting to talk about it
23:52
Speaker 1: in years past, Like these two are kind of linked
23:55
Speaker 1: for a long time. But it'll be interesting to see
24:00
Speaker 1: who history remembers as the better manager, because Roberts is
24:06
Speaker 1: racking up a lot of wins right now. Aj took
24:09
Speaker 1: on a rebuilding project that you know, obviously is not
24:13
Speaker 1: finished yet obviously, So what do you think? What do
24:18
Speaker 1: you think about about like these two guys that it's
24:21
Speaker 1: it's it's very rare to have two clearly elite level
24:27
Speaker 1: managers links so linked together so well and doing like
24:32
Speaker 1: a completely different type of job.
24:34
Speaker 2: Whereas Dodger just signed everybody and aj Hitch obviously.
24:38
Speaker 1: Started out in the ground floor with the Tigers, and
24:40
Speaker 1: he's done it twice now ground floor.
24:42
Speaker 3: So yeah, I mean, I think you laid out the
24:45
Speaker 3: parallels pretty well right there. I guess if the questions
24:48
Speaker 3: like who's better, I would say that's really hard to
24:51
Speaker 3: answer because they manage in such different situations worth considering
24:55
Speaker 3: this time of year ago, Dave Roberts was I don't
24:57
Speaker 3: know hot seas is the right word, but he was
25:02
Speaker 3: kind of on the Nazi, you know, And you know,
25:05
Speaker 3: when you manage in the postseason every year, in a way,
25:08
Speaker 3: you expose yourself to more criticism. Doc's been under fire
25:11
Speaker 3: for pitching decisions in the playoffs, but AJ once pulled
25:15
Speaker 3: Zach Grinkey to early in Game seven in the World Series,
25:17
Speaker 3: So you know, sometimes these things work out, sometimes they don't.
25:22
Speaker 3: Had Aj not been fired for his role in the
25:25
Speaker 3: cheating scandal in Houston, he would probably be on the
25:28
Speaker 3: path to Cooper's town. He would have likely overseen that dynasty,
25:32
Speaker 3: maybe even done more with a couple of those teams,
25:35
Speaker 3: But that's not what happened. Instead, he had to go
25:37
Speaker 3: to Detroit. His career record kind of took a hit,
25:40
Speaker 3: even if it could be on the upswing, still a
25:42
Speaker 3: young guy, quite possibly a lot of managerial career left
25:47
Speaker 3: for both of them right now, though Dave Roberts probably
25:51
Speaker 3: doesn't get enough credit for being sixth all time in
25:54
Speaker 3: managerial win percentage six to eighteen career win percentage actually
26:00
Speaker 3: pretty remarkable obviously as a postseason track record. Now he
26:03
Speaker 3: has a couple of World Series titles. Just as it stands,
26:09
Speaker 3: right now, Dave Roberts may go down as one of
26:12
Speaker 3: the best managers ever because he's been the manager of
26:15
Speaker 3: the Los Angeles Dodgers through one of the most successful
26:19
Speaker 3: eras in the history of a very swarry franchise. Five
26:24
Speaker 3: years from now, the Tigers are perennial contenders. AJ gets
26:27
Speaker 3: another World Series. You know, we can we can start
26:29
Speaker 3: this discussion all over again. Who would I want managing
26:33
Speaker 3: Game seven of the World Series? Now, that's a fun one,
26:36
Speaker 3: whatever team it might be. I might lean AJ Hinch.
26:39
Speaker 3: But the the body of work for Dave Roberts pre
26:41
Speaker 3: undeniable right now.
26:45
Speaker 1: Forever LinkedIn time and a big, big sliding doors moment
26:50
Speaker 1: that that year, and and and it's subsequent fallout. All right,
26:56
Speaker 1: let's uh, let's wrap up with this Cody, So you
26:59
Speaker 1: you tease it last time we talked, and now it's
27:02
Speaker 1: out and this episode publishes Wednesday morning, so that gives
27:06
Speaker 1: you basically two days, but not quite Thursday, at five o'clock,
27:10
Speaker 1: the Tigers fans survey on the Athletic closes, So if
27:15
Speaker 1: you want your voice heard, you need to go to
27:18
Speaker 1: the Athletic go to the Tiger's page, and it's one
27:20
Speaker 1: of the first up there right now. So I'm just
27:22
Speaker 1: gonna kind of go through it if you don't mind
27:23
Speaker 1: Cody spoilers, and I'll and i'll, I'll just kind of
27:26
Speaker 1: give my answer. Its just it's kind of like you
27:28
Speaker 1: have an MVP vote and then just kind of talk
27:29
Speaker 1: about MVP.
27:31
Speaker 2: Some people do that. I don't. You don't do that,
27:33
Speaker 2: but I don't have a vote, so I can do that.
27:34
Speaker 1: So first question, how would you rate Scott Harris as
27:38
Speaker 1: president of Baseball Operations? These are poor to excellent scales
27:43
Speaker 1: for everybody. I'm gonna go very good. You can't go
27:45
Speaker 1: excellent without without winning something. I think everything that Scott
27:50
Speaker 1: does is purposeful of this kind of repeating what I
27:52
Speaker 1: said last year, but like he did get to the
27:55
Speaker 1: postseason in his second year, as president of Baseball Operations,
27:58
Speaker 1: and there's a lot of stuff behind the scenes that
28:01
Speaker 1: you have to figure are gonna be in the Tiger's
28:03
Speaker 1: favorite room. Forward, speaking of a J Hinch, how would
28:07
Speaker 1: you rate aj Hinch? I'm going I am going excellent
28:09
Speaker 1: with aj Hinch because I've seen because with managers, there's enough.
28:14
Speaker 1: It's all in front of you, so there's enough that
28:16
Speaker 1: you can see where and he obviously talks every day.
28:18
Speaker 2: I'm like, Scott Harris, it's his job, you know.
28:20
Speaker 1: So like so like I see what he's doing, I
28:23
Speaker 1: see him like explain it. I'm like, like, yes, I
28:27
Speaker 1: think he's as good as you get in baseball right
28:29
Speaker 1: now as a manager. So uh, I mean, if there's
28:33
Speaker 1: a reason to root for the Tigers just from a
28:35
Speaker 1: pure baseball perspective, it's like you want aj Hinch managing
28:38
Speaker 1: a good team.
28:39
Speaker 2: I think that's good for baseball.
28:42
Speaker 1: How would you rate Chris Ilich as team chairman CEO.
28:45
Speaker 1: I'm not an anti Chris guy. Very good seems a
28:50
Speaker 1: little strong. If there was something between average and very good,
28:53
Speaker 1: I probably do that. But I'm gonna lean average because
28:56
Speaker 1: there's nothing spectacular that's going on. But I do I
29:00
Speaker 1: do see that, you know, you know, investing in the
29:02
Speaker 1: team as they like to say, not necessarily payroll, but
29:06
Speaker 1: all this other stuff. He's definitely not negative. He's not
29:10
Speaker 1: that negative as an owner, like right now, based on
29:13
Speaker 1: everything that he's allowed.
29:14
Speaker 2: Scott Harrison a j N stud.
29:15
Speaker 1: And by the way he got you know, he's part
29:17
Speaker 1: of the team that got both of these guys, particularly
29:19
Speaker 1: aj Hinch to to come on.
29:20
Speaker 2: So he deserves credit.
29:22
Speaker 1: But like if he signed Bregman, maybe I'll give you
29:25
Speaker 1: a very good but and that's not his fault, but
29:27
Speaker 1: didn't happen.
29:29
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't think you get very good for putting
29:32
Speaker 3: a roof over the turf field. I also just wrote
29:35
Speaker 3: a Paul Skiing story. She can read on the athletic
29:37
Speaker 3: Chris so kind of a lot better than Bob nottting,
29:39
Speaker 3: so it could be worse. There you go.
29:42
Speaker 1: There's that's what we call T's right there. On a
29:45
Speaker 1: scale of one to five, how committed is the Tigers owner?
29:49
Speaker 1: Is Tiger's ownership to winning? That's not one not very
29:55
Speaker 1: committed and five extremely committed. I'm a again, I give
30:00
Speaker 1: that a three point five, Like you know, like I
30:03
Speaker 1: do think that like how comny are they the winning
30:06
Speaker 1: They did go top dollar for Alex Bregmant, right, so
30:10
Speaker 1: like you didn't get him, but he did. But that
30:12
Speaker 1: that's commitment, right, So I would say, you know, I
30:15
Speaker 1: talk myself into I'm gonna give it a four. You're
30:17
Speaker 1: not like doing the massive contracts in Los Angeles, but
30:21
Speaker 1: committed to winning. That seems pretty committed to me. They
30:24
Speaker 1: they played the market really well with Jack Flaherty. I
30:29
Speaker 1: am on record as saying I think Scott Harris would
30:31
Speaker 1: operate this way if he was a big mark quote
30:35
Speaker 1: unquote big market president of baseball OPS. I think it's
30:38
Speaker 1: just how he likes to do things. Uh So, but
30:41
Speaker 1: we were I think we were all a level a
30:43
Speaker 1: relative level of surprise when the contract offer got reported
30:47
Speaker 1: that they gave Alex Bregmant. So like, that's commitment, you know,
30:51
Speaker 1: So take that word at the face value.
30:53
Speaker 2: That is commitment.
30:54
Speaker 1: Who's your Tiger? I'm shouting, uh, Riley Green. I can't
30:59
Speaker 1: wait to see the answers on this and how many
31:02
Speaker 1: of them might be protest answers based on who's available here.
31:04
Speaker 1: But Riley Green, I think because position player, I think
31:09
Speaker 1: there's a lot there's a lot more for him, like
31:12
Speaker 1: we terror schools here and like I'm sure he can
31:16
Speaker 1: get better or whatever, but he just wanted to triple
31:18
Speaker 1: crown to sign Young. That's pretty high to a ceiling.
31:23
Speaker 1: You know. I still think there's a lot more for
31:25
Speaker 1: Riley Green to do, So I go with Riley there.
31:27
Speaker 1: How would you grade the off season at standard A
31:32
Speaker 1: to F? I would give it, like we talked about
31:36
Speaker 1: this before the B minus a C plus range.
31:38
Speaker 2: You did?
31:39
Speaker 1: You did, like bring in Flaherty Torres. I think is
31:43
Speaker 1: gonna be good, but he's but the flaws are obviously there.
31:46
Speaker 1: You didn't land Bregman, so if he made me choose,
31:48
Speaker 1: I go see, but it's a C plus and and
31:52
Speaker 1: D minus. And did you want the Tigers to sign
31:56
Speaker 1: Alex Bregman? I would have done yes, but only the
32:02
Speaker 1: short term deal. I would have just done the Red
32:04
Speaker 1: Sox thing. And just like I would have flooded every
32:06
Speaker 1: single dollar for for that. And I haven't struggled scrolling
32:11
Speaker 1: this on the mobile. But you guys get the gist.
32:14
Speaker 1: You guys can go and and you guys can go
32:17
Speaker 1: take this survey, and you know, have your voice heard,
32:20
Speaker 1: you know about the Tigers and the athletic and then
32:23
Speaker 1: we'll talk about the results too. That's why I say
32:25
Speaker 1: I can't wait to see who who's your tiger or
32:28
Speaker 1: whatever think there might be.
32:30
Speaker 2: If you're a.
32:30
Speaker 1: Family member of one of these players, I highly recommend
32:32
Speaker 1: go take the survey and and vote. So very interesting,
32:37
Speaker 1: very I'm glad you do this every year, Cody, and
32:39
Speaker 1: not just because I remember taking data journalism classes with
32:42
Speaker 1: you back. All right, anything else before we get out?
32:46
Speaker 3: Did I leave someone notable off? Who's your tiger? What's
32:48
Speaker 3: the what's the thing.
32:50
Speaker 1: That's that's for people to that's for people to go
32:52
Speaker 1: in there and figure out themselves. That's that's a tease,
32:55
Speaker 1: and I want them to take the survey. So youn't
32:58
Speaker 1: leave anybody off. It's just a long list, is what
33:00
Speaker 1: I'm saying. So anyway, anything else before we get out
33:04
Speaker 1: of here.
33:05
Speaker 3: I just don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. And you
33:07
Speaker 3: can still write in others. So no, no, that's all
33:10
Speaker 3: I got. I hope you guys will take the survey
33:12
Speaker 3: and we will we will discuss the results soon.
33:15
Speaker 1: All right, Well, I want to thank everybody for listening, subscribing, Apple, Spotify, YouTube, Instagram,
33:20
Speaker 1: You guys know the deal. You can follow us on
33:22
Speaker 1: x formally known as Twitter.
33:23
Speaker 2: At Cody Stepenhagen.
33:24
Speaker 1: I'm at Kieran on the score Stectley pop page is
33:26
Speaker 1: at Tiger Territory Underscore. So for Cody Stepenhagen, I am
33:31
Speaker 1: Kieran Steckley. Everybody, have a great day.