Latest / Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast / Grading The Chris Paddack Trade & Guessing Tigs Next Move(s)

Transcript

Grading The Chris Paddack Trade & Guessing Tigs Next Move(s) · Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: And welcome into another episode of Tiger or the Pale
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: or a Tiger's Podcast. I'm curiously with me as always
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: as a man who is a recent investor, an American eagle.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: How you doing.
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: Oh, I'm just gonna steer clear of that one.
• 0:22
  Speaker 4: Uh.
• 0:23
  Speaker 5: It is trade season. We won't talked about that. We
• 0:27
  Speaker 5: won't talk about it. Let's talk about trades. The Tigers
• 0:29
  Speaker 5: made a trade.
• 0:30
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: We haven't talked since that.
• 0:32
  Speaker 4: Uh.
• 0:32
  Speaker 5: They traded for Chris Paddock and Randy Dobnet from the
• 0:37
  Speaker 5: Minnesota Twins here. And when this came out, I'd kind
• 0:42
  Speaker 5: of been following it all day. When when the news
• 0:44
  Speaker 5: finally broke, and before the news broke, I was like,
• 0:48
  Speaker 5: what why?
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: What is like?
• 0:52
  Speaker 5: I was like going through all his stats, I was like,
• 0:54
  Speaker 5: I just he's an innings eater. He does throw strikes,
• 0:59
  Speaker 5: but he doesn't strike anyone out. He's a fly ball pitcher.
• 1:02
  Speaker 5: They mostly tend to like ground ball pitchers. The least
• 1:04
  Speaker 5: real flyball pitcher they got skin to My ETA didn't
• 1:07
  Speaker 5: go so well, why are they getting this guy? Like
• 1:11
  Speaker 5: I was pretty prepared to pan this trade, okay, and
• 1:15
  Speaker 5: then we learn resources out for the season. It's like well,
• 1:19
  Speaker 5: makes a little more since now you do kind of
• 1:22
  Speaker 5: have to get somebody. The big reason why I've been
• 1:26
  Speaker 5: advocating they should get a starter for a while was
• 1:30
  Speaker 5: large part like depth, like injury risk. Now I was
• 1:32
  Speaker 5: advocating more for getting like a better starter than Chris Paddock.
• 1:37
  Speaker 5: So I still don't know exactly how I feel about
• 1:40
  Speaker 5: this deal. He has a four to four nine career
• 1:43
  Speaker 5: ERA four nine five ERA this year. You can go
• 1:46
  Speaker 5: look at his numbers, go look at deeper numbers the
• 1:48
  Speaker 5: ops against him.
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: It's all pretty consistent.
• 1:50
  Speaker 5: He's a back end starter who can log some innings
• 1:54
  Speaker 5: for you. I mean he's also had Tommy John twice.
• 1:57
  Speaker 5: We say he's an inning z er. He's uh, never
• 1:59
  Speaker 5: throw more than one hundred and forty innings in the season.
• 2:02
  Speaker 5: So look, I've seen a lot of different grades out there.
• 2:06
  Speaker 5: I think I'm gonna put this as a c because
• 2:09
  Speaker 5: they did need just a body, But I'm not very
• 2:13
  Speaker 5: fired up about it. Randy Dobnaks included in this deal
• 2:17
  Speaker 5: sounds like probably a way to save the Twins a
• 2:20
  Speaker 5: couple of mil. He's going to go to Toledo. He's
• 2:23
  Speaker 5: got a seven ERA and triple A. I'd be surprised
• 2:26
  Speaker 5: if we see him, but you never know what the
• 2:29
  Speaker 5: Tigers can do. Those are just my quick thoughts on
• 2:32
  Speaker 5: the trade, care and what did you think?
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, it was hard to digest in the moment
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: because there was so much information that was kind of
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: coming at different points. So had we learned rhese Olsen's
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: injury and then the trade, like you know, cause I
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: think Ken was first. That was like it's you know,
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: they're nearing agreement or you know whatever the phrasing was.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: So so you're kind of like the way you absorb
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: it is not actually how the trade went down, you
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: see what I'm saying, So like we're kind of going
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: backward from how the team was.
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: Uh.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: I I think it was like you gave it a
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: CEA and I think that's one hundred percent of fair grade.
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: I wouldn't really disagree with it.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: But it's also like a mission accomplished trade, like like
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: they had they physically had a need and they physically
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: filled the need and then you just get another arm
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: that you know, who the hell knows in your in
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: your system. So it's a, like I said, a mission
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: accomplished trade. Nothing that spectacular, and I do have a
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: coworker who's a hardcore Twins fan, so like I texted
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: him like after the trade, I was like, you know,
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: just give me your scout, like a couple of sentences
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: on each guy, and he said, Paddick has been hit
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: and miss this year. See if this sounds familiar, either
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: five to six strong or he's given up four in
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: the first I.
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: Know a guy who's done that at tirement.
• 3:49
  Speaker 5: There are I know a couple of guys who have
• 3:51
  Speaker 5: done that at tirement too.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: And and then with Dob Knack, he goes, he's been
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: awful for the past five years, signed an early extension
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: and it has been mostly in the minors since. So
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: there's your sky report from a Twins guy. It kind
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: of think it kind of lines up with our opinions.
• 4:07
  Speaker 6: Now.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: I tend to be I want Paddock to succeed because
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: he's a fellow North Texas guy, So I like you
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: North Texas guys. We got a North Texas guy on
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: our podcast as well, Cody and Austin Jackson. So it's
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: a profile that makes sense, Like it's got one or
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: two things that you're gonna be able to try to
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: bank on, which is essentially what this staff in this
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: front office do and then also not to be lost
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: in it, is that they also didn't give up anything
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: of like tremendous value.
• 4:39
  Speaker 5: Like I think that's part of it too, Kieran, I
• 4:41
  Speaker 5: mean they sent Enrique Jimenez. He was ranked as high
• 4:44
  Speaker 5: as number twelve on the Tigers prospect list by the
• 4:47
  Speaker 5: Athletic number fourteen, I believe on MLB pipeline, obviously you're
• 4:51
  Speaker 5: not giving up tremendous value that he was a guy
• 4:55
  Speaker 5: who's familiar with now. He's a little bit of a
• 4:57
  Speaker 5: lotto ticket. He's nineteen, he's very young, but he has
• 5:01
  Speaker 5: a switch hitting catcher. He's fairly well regarded. Kind of
• 5:05
  Speaker 5: profiles people are saying as like a major league backup
• 5:09
  Speaker 5: who could become a little more if things go right,
• 5:12
  Speaker 5: like for a trade like this, a warm body, fifth
• 5:16
  Speaker 5: starter and a guy you're absorbing a mill or two
• 5:19
  Speaker 5: and probably gonna pay a one million buyout too at
• 5:22
  Speaker 5: the end of the season. Rindy Domnach Real Quick does
• 5:24
  Speaker 5: have team options, very unique contract structure for like each
• 5:27
  Speaker 5: of the next three years, So I guess Tigers really.
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: Unlocked something in the next two months.
• 5:32
  Speaker 5: They can certainly bring him back, but anyway, based on this,
• 5:37
  Speaker 5: I was kind of expecting, like, all right, they're going
• 5:40
  Speaker 5: to trade some young reliever in their system who I've
• 5:43
  Speaker 5: never even heard of, and they gave away I'm not
• 5:46
  Speaker 5: who knows if Enrique Jimenez is going to amount to anything,
• 5:50
  Speaker 5: but they gave away a decent dude. I felt a
• 5:54
  Speaker 5: little strong to me for this trade. Okay, I mean
• 6:01
  Speaker 5: the point Scott Harris did mention this catching depth in
• 6:03
  Speaker 5: their system. He's their third best catching prospect. That probably
• 6:06
  Speaker 5: does make it a little bit easier to swallow. But
• 6:09
  Speaker 5: I don't know, we know how this front office deals
• 6:11
  Speaker 5: in future value and blah blah blah. Maybe if he
• 6:14
  Speaker 5: has a good couple of years in the minors, maybe
• 6:16
  Speaker 5: he's a lot more valuable to then trade in a
• 6:19
  Speaker 5: couple of years. So the system depth plays some role
• 6:22
  Speaker 5: in it, But I don't think that means you had
• 6:24
  Speaker 5: to trade.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: Sure, But again, like any other trade, you have to
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: give something up in order to in order to get something.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: And also I do think that like the reactionary element
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: of this, like can't can't be lost, that's as big
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: a deal as anything else. This is not the trade
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: deadline move for the Tigers, So like we put that
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: into perspective, and I think that's that's the right way
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: to look at it.
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: Because Resoulson is a like.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: I want to say huge because huge with the capital
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: age would be like a Schoobol type thing.
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: But resource is.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: A pretty dang, pretty dang big, pretty dang big loss
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: for deforeseeable future. I know there's that caveat that, like
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: you know, we'll see about the postseason with him. But
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: but like shoulder strain in case you guys in here, right,
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: shoulder strain after his bullpen after his start wasn't feeling right,
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: God checked out. So like, so this trade, like in
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: the context of the trade, it had to come together
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: pretty quickly, and and it was reacting and reacting to
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: like some pretty dang devastating news. And Resolson was a
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: guy that we never really saw this year truly get
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: unlocked because of uh, because of injuries and because of
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: other things. And and that's the biggest loss, not necessarily
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: just him in general, but we never got to see
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: him at his full potential, somebody that we had been
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: like shouting from the mountaintops about, like just wait till
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: he's right. And this pitching staff looks a whole lot different,
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: even with the injuries to job, even with Alex Cobb,
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: you know, being literally a non factor. So the Ulsen
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: piece of this like it's an in a way, it
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: makes the trade like more of an l but also
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: a mission accomplished, like I said, because you're not replacing Olsen,
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: but you did have to get a body in there,
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: and you filled that knee.
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: But Olsen out is.
• 8:10
  Speaker 5: Talk about yeah Olsen without the context of the trade,
• 8:14
  Speaker 5: like what a what a blow man? This was really
• 8:16
  Speaker 5: when we talk about like who can start Game two
• 8:18
  Speaker 5: of a playoff series. I was kind of looking to
• 8:21
  Speaker 5: Reese Olsen to be that guy. I think at his
• 8:23
  Speaker 5: best he might be the tiger second best starter. If
• 8:27
  Speaker 5: he could have got hot down the stretch man, if
• 8:29
  Speaker 5: he could have started pitching like the best version of himself,
• 8:32
  Speaker 5: it could mean something. Now that's totally lost. I guess
• 8:36
  Speaker 5: the Tigers haven't fully ruled him out for the postseason yet.
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: He's getting more evaluation.
• 8:40
  Speaker 5: But it's like, really, even if he is healthy, he
• 8:43
  Speaker 5: hasn't pitched in two months, you.
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: Gonna throw him out there?
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: Him in there?
• 8:45
  Speaker 5: Yeah, probably not gonna see Rees Sulsen. He had a
• 8:50
  Speaker 5: shoulder issue last year. He's got a shoulder issue this year.
• 8:52
  Speaker 5: So we also fear like, is this going to be
• 8:54
  Speaker 5: a surgery situation. Is he gonna miss some of the
• 8:56
  Speaker 5: next season. We obviously don't know the answer to that yet,
• 8:59
  Speaker 5: but it's.
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: A pretty bad blow.
• 9:03
  Speaker 5: And then Scoyders said Parker Meadows is going on the ILU.
• 9:06
  Speaker 5: They're hoping that's shorter term a quad strain. But man,
• 9:11
  Speaker 5: another guy who was a big X factor for August
• 9:14
  Speaker 5: for September, he's heard again he's gonna have to do
• 9:17
  Speaker 5: probably another rehab assignment. He's gonna have to come back
• 9:20
  Speaker 5: start all over for the second time this year. Like,
• 9:23
  Speaker 5: those are not good things for the Tigers, but it's
• 9:27
  Speaker 5: been kind of negative here to start this podcast. They
• 9:29
  Speaker 5: won three in a row. They got their mojo back,
• 9:32
  Speaker 5: so let's keep that in perspective, but obviously not some
• 9:35
  Speaker 5: good not good news at all.
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I'll just say this right now, there are
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: things that have happened topically that we are going to
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: miss because.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: There's just so much stuff that has happened in a
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: couple days.
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: Normally, these midweek podcasts where like, all right, let's talk
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: about this for fifteen minutes, because you know two games,
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: one game has happened, not the case this time. But
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: we are less than four to eight hours away from
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: the trade deadline, and Cody has been boots on the ground.
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: So we're gonna ask Cody what he's hearing or just
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: what he's observing. But first a word from our sponsors.
• 10:10
  Speaker 6: Krats.
• 10:11
  Speaker 7: If I'm new to card collecting and I'm looking for
• 10:14
  Speaker 7: the safest, most trusted way in the game to acquire
• 10:18
  Speaker 7: cards or to buy a card, but not go through
• 10:21
  Speaker 7: a ton of work where I'm going to the shows,
• 10:24
  Speaker 7: I'm going online doing auctions. I want it all in
• 10:26
  Speaker 7: one place.
• 10:27
  Speaker 6: I'm going to Arena Club.
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: It's all in one place. You know you're getting a
• 10:31
  Speaker 4: good price, whether you're buying it or you're selling cards.
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: If you're new to it, you don't want all the
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: other crappy cards. You can get the ones that you want.
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: You can start your collection, and if you get them
• 10:42
  Speaker 4: on Arina Club, your collection will look a bouse.
• 10:45
  Speaker 7: That's right, and may I mention they also have Pokemon
• 10:49
  Speaker 7: cards and those slab packs that we talk about every week.
• 10:52
  Speaker 7: You can rip a pack for as low as twenty
• 10:54
  Speaker 7: five dollars and hit on a card that's worth tens
• 10:56
  Speaker 7: of thousands of dollars because every pack has grailed that
• 11:00
  Speaker 7: are at least twenty x the price of the pack.
• 11:03
  Speaker 7: So get involved at arenaclub dot com slash foul. Use
• 11:06
  Speaker 7: the code foul to get twenty percent off your first
• 11:08
  Speaker 7: slab pack or card purchase.
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: All right, coming back here, you know, Comerica Park was
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: kind of the epicenter of some some trade, like Major
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: League Baseball trade deadline anticipation because Gino Suarez got got
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: in a ninth inning, got hit with a fastball from
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: Will Vest and it did not look good as of
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: now you know, X ray's negative, no broken bones like
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: all that stuff. So hopefully just in general he's okay.
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: But you know, all the speculation, could you just stay
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: in Detroit? Where's he gonna go? Bla blah blah blah blah,
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: Arizona asking price and then and then the injury happens,
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: and so you're there and so like you know, you're
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: actually kind of covering Major League Baseball's biggest topic in
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: your backyard. So what can you what can you share
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: with us about this? You know, hopefully it will be
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: a good news thing, but what looked like it could
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: have been a disaster there.
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: For a little time.
• 12:04
  Speaker 5: I mean I went down there postgame expecting like, I
• 12:07
  Speaker 5: don't know if Gino will talk because I think something's broken,
• 12:10
  Speaker 5: and expecting the DBAX to be like either bad news
• 12:13
  Speaker 5: or like, look, we don't know yet, but like wing wink,
• 12:17
  Speaker 5: it's his bad news. That's why they said, hey, he
• 12:21
  Speaker 5: got X rays their negative. Suarez comes in. He pokes
• 12:24
  Speaker 5: a reporter with his bad finger. He says, really painful.
• 12:28
  Speaker 5: He holds it up for everyone to see it was.
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: It was swollen.
• 12:31
  Speaker 5: I'm sure he had already been pumped through full of
• 12:33
  Speaker 5: like every anti inflament story known to man.
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: But it didn't look good.
• 12:40
  Speaker 5: But it didn't look like as bad as maybe you
• 12:42
  Speaker 5: would think. Like he said his nail turned to blue
• 12:45
  Speaker 5: after it got hit, that nail wasn't blue anymore. From
• 12:47
  Speaker 5: what I could tell, he was optimistic, but he was
• 12:50
  Speaker 5: gonna get further evaluation.
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: No, I'm still a little skeptical. Come back the next morning.
• 12:55
  Speaker 5: At least according to Squerez and the team, c CT
• 12:58
  Speaker 5: scan negative MRI negative. He didn't play Tuesday. I think
• 13:03
  Speaker 5: they're hoping to get him in Wednesday. Sounds like he's
• 13:05
  Speaker 5: gonna be good to go now. You could argue like
• 13:09
  Speaker 5: there's a lot of incentive for the Diamondbacks to like, hey, Gino,
• 13:13
  Speaker 5: you're good to go, right.
• 13:14
  Speaker 6: Right, But.
• 13:16
  Speaker 5: Just from looking at the finger, from seeing how he's acting.
• 13:19
  Speaker 5: I was watching him during the game Tuesday. He was
• 13:21
  Speaker 5: just joking around with old pal Eduardo Rodriguez in the dugout.
• 13:25
  Speaker 5: He was like moving his fingers atop the dugout padding.
• 13:30
  Speaker 5: Is this throwing arm, you know, gripping the bat's a
• 13:32
  Speaker 5: little different than just moving your finger around.
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: But I get the sense I think he's gonna be okay.
• 13:38
  Speaker 5: I don't know that it's really gonna affect his market
• 13:41
  Speaker 5: unless there's something we don't know about. Like I guess
• 13:43
  Speaker 5: it gives buying teams a little more reason to be like, hmm,
• 13:47
  Speaker 5: really my casing, you really want that guy? What about
• 13:50
  Speaker 5: this finger? But at the end of the day, I
• 13:52
  Speaker 5: don't know. I think whoever gets Geno Suarez is whoever
• 13:55
  Speaker 5: is willing to get uncomfortable making an offer for Geno Suarez.
• 13:59
  Speaker 5: He is a rental hitter. You know. The Signbacks are
• 14:02
  Speaker 5: said to be having an astronomical price tag. Right now,
• 14:06
  Speaker 5: I bet that'll come down. How much is he really like,
• 14:09
  Speaker 5: that's one thing I that's just in a vacuum. If
• 14:12
  Speaker 5: the Tigers were to trade for him, which I'm still
• 14:15
  Speaker 5: not really counting on by any means, although that seems
• 14:18
  Speaker 5: like they're maybe in the room still, like what is
• 14:22
  Speaker 5: the asking price? What are you what are you comfortable with?
• 14:25
  Speaker 5: Would you trade Winsel Perez and someone else for him?
• 14:28
  Speaker 5: Because that's actually kind of appealing. I don't know that
• 14:30
  Speaker 5: you want to lose Winsil Perez, but it's not one
• 14:33
  Speaker 5: of your famous prospects. You throw in someone else, it's
• 14:37
  Speaker 5: a major league ready player. Could that be appealing?
• 14:41
  Speaker 6: You know?
• 14:41
  Speaker 5: I start I think if I were to put together
• 14:43
  Speaker 5: an offer, that's something I would look long and hard
• 14:45
  Speaker 5: at because otherwise you're I don't know if the Tigers
• 14:48
  Speaker 5: even want to trade Max Anderson, but I think it's
• 14:50
  Speaker 5: going to take a prospect of that caliber, uh, probably
• 14:54
  Speaker 5: in something else to get it done. Are the Tigers
• 14:57
  Speaker 5: comfortable doing that? That's been the big question entire time,
• 15:03
  Speaker 5: less than forty eight hours ago. I guess we'll have
• 15:05
  Speaker 5: an answer.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: Well, I'll with the the went Cell piece, specifically, the
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: general principle of including went Cell and a trade that,
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: in theory can put you over the top in one
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: to two categories, like I am comfortable with that in general.
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: Specifically to the Tigers.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: Right now, you just put Parker Metal's on the il
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: and carry Carpenter has a hamstring that is, you know,
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: probably going to be part of his season, you know,
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: moving forward, even today like he was, I wouldn't say
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: he was running one hundred percent today. And then Riley
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: Green is always you know, that's that part always lingers
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: and Matt Verlan like is equally capable of getting hurt too,
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: not to mention the fact that his bat has not
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: got going.
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: So like you say all that, and it's like, are.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: We really getting rid of a major league proven like
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: better than a death piece, not quite an everyday starter
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: type guy for a rental? Then it becomes a little
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: bit harder for me to to put the chips in
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: the table for that. So I just wanted to get
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: that out there. But the principle of it, I am
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: comfortable with a wentzel being a piece, because again, you
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: gotta give up what you like in order to get
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: something you like to h But you guess all on.
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: That I was going to change the topic you got
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: you got.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: I was just gonna say that in general, this trade
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: deadline uncomfortable, you know, get uncomfortable and then astronomical asking prices. Uh,
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: that's probably the theme of the trade deadline for all
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: teams that are trying to be buyers right now. I
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: mean the uh, the David Bednar piece of it. Like,
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: I just feel like every single team that's either a
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: real contender or a fringe contender has been connected to
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: him at this point.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: And what does that mean? Yeah, I mean because the
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: price is going up.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: So I just I just think that I just I
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: just think that's that's the theme of the trade deadline.
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: So how comfortable are you with being uncomfortable and dealing
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: with astronomical last right?
• 17:01
  Speaker 5: Based on our read on the Tigers, I don't know
• 17:03
  Speaker 5: that they're that comfortable getting uncomfortable. We're about to get
• 17:07
  Speaker 5: more definitive answers. The one name I have heard a
• 17:10
  Speaker 5: little more tangibly, Katie wlu The Athletic reported the Tigers
• 17:14
  Speaker 5: being in on Ryan Helsley. This is kind of the
• 17:17
  Speaker 5: guy I think maybe they should go get. But he
• 17:19
  Speaker 5: is a rental reliever. There are a handful of teams
• 17:23
  Speaker 5: vying for him. He's probably a legit closer. This is
• 17:26
  Speaker 5: not your project reliever, This is not your versatile middle reliever.
• 17:31
  Speaker 5: What he actually pitched the ninth every day. If aj
• 17:33
  Speaker 5: hinchres manager, who knows. But Man, I like the idea
• 17:37
  Speaker 5: of the Tigers going and getting one dude in the bullpit.
• 17:41
  Speaker 5: If you do that and then get another nice pitcher
• 17:44
  Speaker 5: that you can think you can help out improve a
• 17:46
  Speaker 5: little bit, I think that's a successful trade deadline for
• 17:49
  Speaker 5: the Tigers. Realistically. I don't know that you know people
• 17:52
  Speaker 5: are going to be going crazy in the streets, but
• 17:55
  Speaker 5: I think, like you talked about with Paddock, you check
• 17:58
  Speaker 5: your needs. But Helsley a rental reliever. With a competitive market,
• 18:05
  Speaker 5: you probably have to be prepared to make a trade
• 18:07
  Speaker 5: that you were going to lose in terms of wins
• 18:10
  Speaker 5: above replacement. Is what happened when the Cubs Scott Harris
• 18:14
  Speaker 5: was part of this front office Gott Chapman in twenty sixteen.
• 18:17
  Speaker 5: Labor Tourez was part of that trade. I meant, done
• 18:20
  Speaker 5: the math, but they lost that trade in terms of
• 18:22
  Speaker 5: war astronomically. They also raised a banner.
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: Helsley.
• 18:28
  Speaker 5: I think is that type of situation for the Tigers.
• 18:30
  Speaker 5: Are they willing to be uncomfortable. Bednar has an additional
• 18:35
  Speaker 5: year of control, which I actually think is super appealing,
• 18:38
  Speaker 5: also makes him even more expensive. We can look around
• 18:42
  Speaker 5: the league. All these Rockies relievers Jake Burr, Seth Halverson
• 18:46
  Speaker 5: are appealing. The Marlins Anthony Benders a name I would
• 18:49
  Speaker 5: pay some attention to. They have a couple guys in
• 18:53
  Speaker 5: their bullpen that are interesting.
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: Like we could keep going.
• 18:57
  Speaker 5: I still have a feeling I bet the Tigers are
• 18:59
  Speaker 5: going to get someone that we're just not even thinking about, which,
• 19:03
  Speaker 5: for a second I thought, is what Chris Paddock was.
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: I have another question? Yeah, got any thoughts on that?
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: Or should I should I go back on my rand
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: about starters.
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: Well, I was just gonna ask you real quick.
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: You know, if there was an over under on additions
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: to the major league roster via trade at one and
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: a half one and a half over, Okay.
• 19:25
  Speaker 5: I think they get two relievers. I mean I think
• 19:27
  Speaker 5: they have to if they get to if they don't
• 19:29
  Speaker 5: get two relievers here, and I think this trade deadline's failure. Okay,
• 19:33
  Speaker 5: so you and a half two and a half is
• 19:35
  Speaker 5: where I would how much betting I want to talk here?
• 19:40
  Speaker 5: Given recent events and this isn't even the Draft Kings
• 19:43
  Speaker 5: episode for us, but that's probably where i'd set the
• 19:46
  Speaker 5: line because I still don't know about position player. I
• 19:48
  Speaker 5: just don't know what they're gonna do. I think that's
• 19:50
  Speaker 5: probably a fifty to fifty type deal.
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: Starter.
• 19:55
  Speaker 5: Again, they got Chris Paddock, given I don't know what
• 19:59
  Speaker 5: we saw from Casey Eyes for a second, everyone seemed
• 20:01
  Speaker 5: concerned about his knee. Miis and Hinge both said the
• 20:04
  Speaker 5: knee's not an issue, but it's like, man, I don't know,
• 20:09
  Speaker 5: how good do you feel about this rotation, especially minus
• 20:12
  Speaker 5: rees Olsen. If there's a Diamondbacks player that Tigers should
• 20:15
  Speaker 5: be linked to, I wonder if it should be Meryl Kelly.
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: Karen there from what I.
• 20:20
  Speaker 5: Can tell, has been no noise about that at all,
• 20:23
  Speaker 5: And again there's gonna be a lot of people going
• 20:25
  Speaker 5: first starter. Meryl Kelly has been basically a three war
• 20:30
  Speaker 5: pitcher three of the past four years. He's like pretty
• 20:33
  Speaker 5: good and he's pitched in the postseason. He has a
• 20:36
  Speaker 5: three two two ERA this year. He uh strikes out
• 20:41
  Speaker 5: not it's on the guys, but eight point four to
• 20:43
  Speaker 5: six k per nine. He's a little bit crafty. I
• 20:48
  Speaker 5: think he's one of the better pitchers available if you're
• 20:51
  Speaker 5: not gonna go for one of the really controllable guys.
• 20:54
  Speaker 5: The more I think about, I'm pretty interested in Merrill Kelly,
• 20:57
  Speaker 5: but again, from what I can tell, doesn't seem like
• 21:01
  Speaker 5: the Tigers have that much intent to go get a
• 21:03
  Speaker 5: real starting pitcher.
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: Well, I get Mary Kelly when you got Alex Cobb
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: at home.
• 21:11
  Speaker 5: Unfortunately, I think that's part of the thinking. Jose Rakidi
• 21:15
  Speaker 5: is probably more likely to actually pitch major league innings,
• 21:20
  Speaker 5: and I don't know that's a guy fresh off Tommy
• 21:22
  Speaker 5: john So that's my thought.
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: I'll stop talking about it.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: No, I mean, I just I haven't given the starter
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: market all that much cognitive energy because I just don't
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: really feel like that fits what I anticipate them going after.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: And honestly, it's you know, it's harder. It's hard to
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: find a place for a starter like now, and it's
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: also hard to find a place for a position player,
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: you know, from from what we're what we see, or
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: at least somebody that you know these names are flowing
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: out there or whatever. So uh, I don't know, it's
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: gonna be somebody we're not thinking of. It's gonna be
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: it's gonna be something that you're gonna look at. But like, okay,
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: yeah that makes some sense, uh in their mind. It's
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: it's probably not gonna be spore as as as fun
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: and cute as of an idea as that is, especially
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: with him being in town and the homecoming aspect of it.
• 22:09
  Speaker 6: But h I.
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: Anticipate moves that are gonna be their mo O in
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: a way.
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: I respect that.
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: But it's nice. B plus Trades BP plus trade.
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there you go.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: All right, we're gonna take a quick break, but afterward
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about the right way to talk about
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: Riley Green.
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: But first, a word.
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: From our sponsors.
• 22:32
  Speaker 7: Do you have the best VPN in the game? Are
• 22:35
  Speaker 7: you saving enough on your VPN? You gotta check out
• 22:37
  Speaker 7: surf shark dot com slash vowel or use the code
• 22:40
  Speaker 7: f o U L at checkout on the site to
• 22:42
  Speaker 7: get four extra months of surf Shark VPN. There's a
• 22:46
  Speaker 7: risk free thirty day money back guarantee at surf shark
• 22:50
  Speaker 7: dot com slash fowl krats. If you're on the go
• 22:53
  Speaker 7: a lot, you gotta check out surf Shark.
• 22:57
  Speaker 6: It's a no brainer.
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: I'm at the beach so I should know some thing
• 23:00
  Speaker 4: about a surf shark.
• 23:02
  Speaker 6: Just saying get it done thirty days.
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: That's right.
• 23:08
  Speaker 7: Secure your digital life with surf Shark VPN. You can
• 23:11
  Speaker 7: hit the link below for four extra months of surf Shark,
• 23:14
  Speaker 7: either on the podcast page or on the YouTube channel.
• 23:17
  Speaker 7: Don't let online threats catch you off guard. This has
• 23:20
  Speaker 7: been your tech update. You want to keep your data
• 23:22
  Speaker 7: safe and make sure you check out surf Shark today.
• 23:26
  Speaker 7: It's a thirty day money back guarantee. You can secure
• 23:29
  Speaker 7: your digital world right now?
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: All right, coming back here.
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: You know Riley Green back to back All Star starter
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: this year in the All Star Game. Seeing this guy
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: grow up as a member of the Tigers organization and
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: some of the discourse about him, Cody, I just feel
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: like is just there is no grasp of reality sometimes
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: the way people talk about him. Like we've talked about
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: the ebbs and flows, the rye, the roller coaster with him,
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: and like, you know, the strikeouts, like that's all established.
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: But he has a game like today, surprisingly the first
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: three extra base hit game of his career. I mean
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: that was actually kind of shocking, shocking to me. Uh
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: and and look he had been down a little bit.
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: I think that was his first one plus extra base
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: hit game since or first actually extra base period since
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: like mid July. So like he like, yes, he had,
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: he had been down, but damn it, when it's high,
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: it's high.
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: And I think at this point.
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: You just have to kind of accept the realm of
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: what Riley Green is and pencil him in there and
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: be like, we're I'm going to war with this guy
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: at the plate and the way and this is even
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: not even talking about the good luck mustache, all right,
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: but just like that, there's there's some willingness that they
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: doesn't they don't calculate that in war, you know, going
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: undefeated after getting getting a nice trooper stash there. But
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: you know, people some time call him like Victor Reyes.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: It's like always anticipating that he's hurt, and it's just like,
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: I don't know, I just feel like that's that's too
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: out there for me. So I'm trying to ask you,
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: what's the right way to talk about Riley Green.
• 25:13
  Speaker 5: We should be talking about him like one of the
• 25:14
  Speaker 5: best hitters in the American League, Karen. He's fourth in
• 25:18
  Speaker 5: home runs behind Aaron Judge, cal Raley and Junior Cameron
• 25:22
  Speaker 5: aro is twenty six holdners. He's the best hitter on
• 25:25
  Speaker 5: your team. He's not a perfect player. Obviously we should
• 25:29
  Speaker 5: keep that in mind because there's the other camp that
• 25:31
  Speaker 5: seems to want to give him some massive extension, which
• 25:35
  Speaker 5: I wouldn't do either. I think you, like, to your point,
• 25:38
  Speaker 5: you accept this guy for what he is. I've been like,
• 25:42
  Speaker 5: I don't care about the strikeouts. The thirty two percent
• 25:45
  Speaker 5: strikeout rates a little extreme. Can we like trim that
• 25:48
  Speaker 5: at least to like twenty eight or something, you know,
• 25:50
  Speaker 5: and realistically I think that should be something like Riley
• 25:54
  Speaker 5: Green should have in mind. But I'm okay with the
• 25:57
  Speaker 5: big swing and the steep swing and some strikeouts. The
• 26:00
  Speaker 5: three four strikeout games, those aren't pretty to look at
• 26:03
  Speaker 5: the droughts, man, they've been pretty big. But sometimes with
• 26:08
  Speaker 5: power hitters you have to live with that a little bit.
• 26:11
  Speaker 5: There was a time earlier in Aaron Judge's career where
• 26:14
  Speaker 5: that was a little bit of his profile and can
• 26:17
  Speaker 5: be annoying.
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: I think it can be frustrating.
• 26:20
  Speaker 5: It's interesting with Green because this wasn't totally his profile
• 26:24
  Speaker 5: coming up as a prospect, Like I mean, I remember
• 26:27
  Speaker 5: early on being like, hey, he does have a little
• 26:29
  Speaker 5: more swing and miss than people realize. But there was
• 26:32
  Speaker 5: always the question, like how much power does he actually have? Well,
• 26:35
  Speaker 5: now he's arrived as a full fledged power hitter who
• 26:38
  Speaker 5: strikes out as much as anyone in baseball. That's not
• 26:42
  Speaker 5: what I would have pegged him as when he was
• 26:44
  Speaker 5: in like double A. So that's something that's kind of evolved.
• 26:51
  Speaker 5: I don't know, Like when he strikes out four times
• 26:53
  Speaker 5: in a game, I guess it's fair to complain about that,
• 26:56
  Speaker 5: but you have to realize this is still an extremely
• 27:00
  Speaker 5: good and extremely valuable hitter to your team.
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: So I want to correct the record on something. First
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: extra base hit since the Saturday against Texas in the
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: first series, a post All Star game that was obviously
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: a home run relative garbage time, if we're being honest.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: But yes, and also like you know, take him for
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: what he is. Keep in mind he's not twenty five
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: yet and so and so like part of that is,
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: like I'm sure he that was an adjustment he made
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: coming into the years, like I'm gonna take more chances,
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: and you know, this is going to be part of
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: my profile this year. He is not a finished product,
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: like like for this year. Yeah, it's not the greatest
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: thing to look at, however, Like I'm just not in
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: the business of like biting the hand that feeds me
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: in terms of in terms of like what kind of
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: makes this Tigers offense go so so like I just
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: there's such a range of outcomes with him. It's actually
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: relatively it's it's pretty unique for someone of his caliber.
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: So I just wanted to kind of.
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: If you're up there.
• 28:03
  Speaker 5: Poo pooing Riley Green and you also want Geno Suarez
• 28:07
  Speaker 5: than at this because it's pretty much the same hitting profile.
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: There you go, there, you go.
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: All right, just a couple of things to tie on
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: on this, you know, storylines. We didn't really get to
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: Andy and Bonnees is back. Cool to see Andy gets
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: like get really back instantly, instant offense, instant coffee India,
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: Bonyez has been has been this week. Troy Meltain looked
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: really good. I don't want to not mention Troy Melton
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: talk about starters. You know, he's a rookie, Like there's
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: gonna be some volatility there, but you know, attack the
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: strike talk about attacking the strike zone. Probably a little
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: bit too much, but you know, seven seven innings zero runs,
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: five k zero walks. That's obviously, uh, that's obviously really
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: really great. So I don't want to go without mentioning
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: those guys because again, it was that was part of
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: the Resulsen and the trade. It's like Andy's here and
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: Chriyler's here, and we see Krylers. There's a lot going
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: on early early in the week, Sony.
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: Any thoughts on Troy Melton that you've seen him in person.
• 29:07
  Speaker 3: I did meet him, talk to him briefly.
• 29:09
  Speaker 5: See seems like a good dude, good personality.
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: I like his stuff a lot. I've been saying that
• 29:16
  Speaker 3: for a while.
• 29:17
  Speaker 5: I'm actually trying to think, when is the last time
• 29:19
  Speaker 5: I liked the Tiger's pitching prospect this much? Not a
• 29:25
  Speaker 5: ton of names are coming to mind there. I think
• 29:27
  Speaker 5: I like him more than cater Montero and saw your
• 29:32
  Speaker 5: Gibson long and well, yeah, yes, and you have to
• 29:38
  Speaker 5: go back maybe to miz in Schooble like for me
• 29:41
  Speaker 5: to really have a name, like I liked Reesulson, but
• 29:44
  Speaker 5: there were some real questions about his fastball when he
• 29:47
  Speaker 5: was coming up. I really liked bow brisky, but kind
• 29:51
  Speaker 5: of always thought maybe he had a little more of
• 29:53
  Speaker 5: a reliever profile, and he's developed into a very different
• 29:57
  Speaker 5: picture than he was even a few years ago.
• 30:00
  Speaker 3: Like, I'm pretty high on Troy Melton.
• 30:02
  Speaker 5: I don't know exactly what he is is probably like
• 30:06
  Speaker 5: number four starter or power reliever, but I think he
• 30:11
  Speaker 5: could be very good, maybe in either of those roles,
• 30:14
  Speaker 5: depending on on where he comes up.
• 30:17
  Speaker 3: I'm just pretty high on him.
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think he's definitely an asset for
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: the rest of the season. We're you know, either as
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: like you know, back end starter or just like a reliever.
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: You rely on it, you know.
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: In situations like today, to be honest, you know where
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: you know the starter doesn't have. It's something we've seen
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: a decent amount recently. So very excited about the kid,
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: like to see like to see that what we saw
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: the back half of his first start, like immediately went
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: into his second start because I think that was exactly
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: what the talent level like dictated, and so happy to
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: see him do well. Anything else before we get out
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: of here, we have we have something else that coming
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: up that we recorded earlier, but anything else Cody before
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: we know.
• 30:59
  Speaker 3: Let's let's get to Austin.
• 31:01
  Speaker 5: I know we're a little bit past draft season, But
• 31:03
  Speaker 5: we got a few minutes with Austin Jackson sharing some
• 31:07
  Speaker 5: stories about when he was drafted, his decision to sign
• 31:10
  Speaker 5: with the Yankees instead of going to Georgia Tech. What
• 31:13
  Speaker 5: do you do when you're eighteen and now you have
• 31:15
  Speaker 5: a bunch of money? Like It's actually a really interesting conversation,
• 31:19
  Speaker 5: So I hope you guys will stick around and listen
• 31:21
  Speaker 5: to AJAX for a little bit.
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: Yep, and he pulled a move I'm not sure many
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: eighteen year olds would have been able to pull at
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: that time. So that's your teaser right there. So that's
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: coming up immediately after this. But Cody and I will
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: talk to you guys again Thursday after the trade deadline.
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: We'll have a whole bunch of thoughts and reactions, pretty
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: instant reactions, so be on the lookout. It's not gonna
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: go down Friday morning. We're gonna put that up Thursday
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: night as soon as we're done recording, so you'll get
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: our raw, instant thoughts. So I hope you guys will
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: tune into that, so be sure to follow us on
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: xport me no his Twitter at coly Staved hanging on
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: mat Keran on his course dectly pot page at Tiger Territory, Underscore, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Apple, Spotify.
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: You guys know what to do.
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: We appreciate all of you. So for coach David Agen,
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: I'm Kieran Steckley. Everybody have a great day.
• 32:07
  Speaker 6: All right.
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: So we've done a lot of you know, trade deadline
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: stuff and you know, all Star game stuff, and like,
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: we have not talked to Austin since the MLB draft happened.
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: It is it feels like a like a lifetime ago
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: a little bit, and so we wanted to have Austin
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: on to just kind of reflect on what his draft
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: experience was. So Austin was drafted in the eighth round,
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty nine overall pick. I understand you
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: had options, Austin obviously drafted by the Yankees, So I
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: just kind of wanted to hear your draft day or
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: day's story. What made you kind of choose to go
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: the professional baseball route as opposed to as opposed to
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: college or baseball in general.
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: So take it away, sir.
• 32:51
  Speaker 8: Yeah, So you know I remember those those draft days
• 32:55
  Speaker 8: because I got drafted in you know, the eighth round,
• 32:57
  Speaker 8: so you know it too.
• 32:59
  Speaker 6: It was more than than one day.
• 33:00
  Speaker 8: But I remember those days very vividly, man, because I
• 33:05
  Speaker 8: you know, I did have options, and there was you
• 33:07
  Speaker 8: know a lot of thought and a lot of you know,
• 33:11
  Speaker 8: talking to friends and family and not only that, you know,
• 33:14
  Speaker 8: around the time, I was taking you know, college visits
• 33:17
  Speaker 8: and you know, really just went my options out and
• 33:20
  Speaker 8: I was able to talk to some dual sport athletes
• 33:24
  Speaker 8: at at Georgia Tech and at Illinois, where I had
• 33:28
  Speaker 8: kind of you know, got my my last two colleges
• 33:32
  Speaker 8: down to and you know, they were like, dude, this
• 33:35
  Speaker 8: is it's hard.
• 33:36
  Speaker 6: You know, it's hard.
• 33:37
  Speaker 8: It's it's it's tough to you know, balance uh, these
• 33:41
  Speaker 8: two sports and in school and just everything.
• 33:45
  Speaker 4: It was.
• 33:46
  Speaker 8: It was it was a tough balancing act. So I
• 33:49
  Speaker 8: took that in consideration when when I made my decision.
• 33:53
  Speaker 8: And I don't know if I you know, I don't
• 33:54
  Speaker 8: know if I said it here, you know earlier in
• 33:57
  Speaker 8: some podcasts we did. But I actually went to sign
• 34:01
  Speaker 8: down in Tampa, Florida with the Yankees.
• 34:05
  Speaker 6: And I backed off.
• 34:07
  Speaker 8: You know, I was right there at the table, I
• 34:08
  Speaker 8: had the pen in my hand, literally pin on paper,
• 34:13
  Speaker 8: and stopped stopped right then and was like, nah, man,
• 34:18
  Speaker 8: like I'm I'm making the wrong decision, like I need
• 34:20
  Speaker 8: more time, and I you know, they were great.
• 34:23
  Speaker 6: I was great.
• 34:23
  Speaker 8: They were gracious enough to give me that time that
• 34:26
  Speaker 8: I needed. But I literally was about to sign pin on,
• 34:29
  Speaker 8: you know, on on paper, and I just I style,
• 34:32
  Speaker 8: I was like, nah man, you know, I'm I'm I
• 34:36
  Speaker 8: need more time. And so, you know, I I was
• 34:40
  Speaker 8: able to go back home and think about it a
• 34:43
  Speaker 8: little bit and realize that, you know, the opportunities that
• 34:45
  Speaker 8: I had with with getting my foot in the door
• 34:47
  Speaker 8: professionally with the Yankees. So you know, I'm you know,
• 34:51
  Speaker 8: very quickly called them back probably two days later, like yeah,
• 34:55
  Speaker 8: I'm ready.
• 34:56
  Speaker 6: They was like all right, cool. But you know, the
• 34:58
  Speaker 6: whole draft process was was it was pretty interesting.
• 35:02
  Speaker 8: Because you know, I was hearing a lot about which
• 35:04
  Speaker 8: round I would go, you know, each and every round,
• 35:07
  Speaker 8: you know, playing phone tag with my agent at the
• 35:09
  Speaker 8: time of like you know, hey, they're they're gonna call you,
• 35:14
  Speaker 8: you know, right, you know this next pit and it
• 35:16
  Speaker 8: not happening.
• 35:17
  Speaker 6: You know, It's just kind of like a mind game.
• 35:19
  Speaker 6: And I would imagine, you know, guys.
• 35:21
  Speaker 8: Are probably going through that and it's tough, you know,
• 35:23
  Speaker 8: when you're an eighteen year old, you know, trying to
• 35:25
  Speaker 8: figure out your next step in life. You know, you know,
• 35:28
  Speaker 8: making a decision you know, to go professional and something
• 35:33
  Speaker 8: that you've been doing your whole life. It's tough, man,
• 35:36
  Speaker 8: It's tough. But it's also it was tough for me
• 35:38
  Speaker 8: because I had the option of going and playing college
• 35:41
  Speaker 8: basketball D one you know, scholarship.
• 35:43
  Speaker 6: So that was tough for me.
• 35:44
  Speaker 8: Man.
• 35:45
  Speaker 6: It was tough to give up something I worked so
• 35:47
  Speaker 6: hard for.
• 35:48
  Speaker 8: And I would imagine you know, guys that went through that,
• 35:51
  Speaker 8: Guys that played you know, other sports, to play multi sports,
• 35:54
  Speaker 8: that have the opportunity to go play in college, but
• 35:57
  Speaker 8: also have the opportunity to go get there a career
• 36:01
  Speaker 8: started in baseball. It's a tough decision, but those are
• 36:04
  Speaker 8: decisions that you make with your family. Man.
• 36:06
  Speaker 6: You you you you you pray about it.
• 36:08
  Speaker 8: You know, you spend a lot of time with them
• 36:10
  Speaker 8: talking about like, you know, you know your situation and
• 36:14
  Speaker 8: you know, not everybody is which fortunate it's me to have,
• 36:19
  Speaker 8: you know, pretty much everything that I needed, and I
• 36:22
  Speaker 8: was you know, well equipped going into that to where
• 36:26
  Speaker 8: whatever decision I made, you know, my family was super
• 36:30
  Speaker 8: supportive of it, and that's what you need. You need
• 36:32
  Speaker 8: that support system. But it was it's a very tough decision,
• 36:36
  Speaker 8: and it's scary.
• 36:37
  Speaker 6: Man. It's scary because it's something you've been doing your
• 36:39
  Speaker 6: whole life.
• 36:40
  Speaker 8: But you've been you've been consumed in a world where, uh,
• 36:44
  Speaker 8: you know, everything is taken care of.
• 36:45
  Speaker 6: For you know, your draws is getting washed and all this.
• 36:48
  Speaker 8: You know, your your meals is on the table each
• 36:50
  Speaker 8: and every day, and you you know, you're going from
• 36:53
  Speaker 8: that thinking that, oh, okay, I'm about to go get
• 36:55
  Speaker 8: taken care of and it's like now you've got to
• 36:57
  Speaker 8: go to minor league baseball. You know, you eat ham
• 37:01
  Speaker 8: sandwiches and some watermelon slices. You like it still, you
• 37:06
  Speaker 8: still like making player the n I l get you
• 37:12
  Speaker 8: paid a little bit. It was it was a great experience,
• 37:17
  Speaker 8: like in the sense of, like you know, I think it, uh,
• 37:21
  Speaker 8: I built a lot of character through that process because
• 37:23
  Speaker 8: you know, I was having to make grown up decisions
• 37:26
  Speaker 8: at eighteen years old, you know, because this was my life.
• 37:29
  Speaker 8: This is what you know, I just you know, the
• 37:31
  Speaker 8: next step and what I've decided to do. And I
• 37:34
  Speaker 8: knew that, you know, I had a family. I wanted
• 37:35
  Speaker 8: to be able to, you know, take care of my family,
• 37:37
  Speaker 8: take care of my parents, you know that have raised me.
• 37:40
  Speaker 8: And like I said, watch my draws and put food
• 37:43
  Speaker 8: on my table. I wanted to be able to do that.
• 37:44
  Speaker 8: So I took all of that into consideration with the
• 37:47
  Speaker 8: decision I made of like, you know what, I can
• 37:49
  Speaker 8: get my career started, and you know in baseball with
• 37:53
  Speaker 8: the with the New York Yankees, you know, with something
• 37:55
  Speaker 8: that I always dreamed about, you know what I mean,
• 37:57
  Speaker 8: and not necessarily go the the route of college and
• 38:02
  Speaker 8: trying to play two sports at a high level. And
• 38:06
  Speaker 8: not only that, but the coaches made it very clear
• 38:09
  Speaker 8: that school was the number one priority.
• 38:11
  Speaker 6: So I'm like, do I really want to go study again?
• 38:15
  Speaker 8: Like I rather be studying how to hit a slider
• 38:17
  Speaker 8: as opposed to studying for an exam. I'm gonna go
• 38:20
  Speaker 8: do it. But I was again, I was fortunate enough
• 38:22
  Speaker 8: to have that option, and it was It's a process
• 38:25
  Speaker 8: that I think that you know, guys really need to
• 38:27
  Speaker 8: take a step back and not just think about the
• 38:30
  Speaker 8: fame and the glory of like, oh man, I'm gonna
• 38:32
  Speaker 8: go be you.
• 38:33
  Speaker 6: Know, the next Mike Child. It's like there's a process
• 38:37
  Speaker 6: that you go through.
• 38:39
  Speaker 8: Unless you're one of those top guys to getting drafted
• 38:42
  Speaker 8: in the first round, you're probably gonna have to go
• 38:45
  Speaker 8: through a process which is needed for an eighteen year
• 38:48
  Speaker 8: old coming out of high school. That process was very
• 38:52
  Speaker 8: much needed. I needed to mature as a person physically.
• 38:55
  Speaker 8: I needed to mature. I needed to just see more baseball,
• 38:58
  Speaker 8: you know, and what it's gonna be at that level,
• 39:00
  Speaker 8: playing against guys overseas. Coming in from the Dominican Sling
• 39:04
  Speaker 8: in ninety eight, my first see ninety eight.
• 39:07
  Speaker 6: But I need to see that, you know.
• 39:09
  Speaker 8: I needed to see that to grow as a as
• 39:11
  Speaker 8: a baseball player. I needed to see the different cultures.
• 39:14
  Speaker 8: And you know, I was very fortunate to be able
• 39:17
  Speaker 8: to do that and get my career started with the
• 39:19
  Speaker 8: with the Yankees. You know, they that organization is top
• 39:22
  Speaker 8: notch and they really take care of you know, their
• 39:25
  Speaker 8: their organization from the top to the bottom. You know,
• 39:28
  Speaker 8: it's really you know, prestigious organization to get into. And
• 39:33
  Speaker 8: I was fortunate to that and I learned a lot,
• 39:36
  Speaker 8: you know, coming up through them, and you know, I
• 39:39
  Speaker 8: thank them really for you know, taking a chance on
• 39:41
  Speaker 8: me as a basketball player, and you know, trusting that,
• 39:45
  Speaker 8: you know that, Hey, I made that decision, I'm gonna
• 39:47
  Speaker 8: come through it.
• 39:47
  Speaker 6: I'm gonna give it my all. So it was great
• 39:51
  Speaker 6: the story.
• 39:51
  Speaker 5: Sorry, I have two questions off that, Austin, and then
• 39:54
  Speaker 5: we'll call it good.
• 39:55
  Speaker 6: One.
• 39:55
  Speaker 5: I mean, you mentioned the Yankees. Did the Yankee mystique
• 39:58
  Speaker 5: play any role in your decision to sign?
• 40:01
  Speaker 6: So?
• 40:02
  Speaker 5: Look, you're eighteen. Any major League Baseball organization, that's a
• 40:05
  Speaker 5: huge deal. When you're staring at that paper and it
• 40:08
  Speaker 5: has that n Y on it, I think that's different
• 40:11
  Speaker 5: than if it were the Rockies or anyone else, just
• 40:14
  Speaker 5: with less history and less aura.
• 40:17
  Speaker 3: Man.
• 40:17
  Speaker 8: Heck, yeah, I'm not gonna lie to you, Like I'm
• 40:19
  Speaker 8: just being honest. Like, you know, I've watched him growing up.
• 40:23
  Speaker 8: I watched Derek Jeters. You know, I watched Williams' center field.
• 40:27
  Speaker 8: I wanted to be there, Like I envisioned myself there.
• 40:29
  Speaker 8: Like that sounds, you know, kind of corny, but noah,
• 40:32
  Speaker 8: Like that's that's that's how you know I was When
• 40:35
  Speaker 8: I was younger, I always envisioned myself somewhere, And you know,
• 40:38
  Speaker 8: watching Derek Jeter, seeing that, you know he was you
• 40:41
  Speaker 8: know a minority in the game, and seeing you know,
• 40:43
  Speaker 8: how New York embraced him and seeing that you know,
• 40:46
  Speaker 8: he was, you know, just himself on this different on
• 40:51
  Speaker 8: a New York stage. You know, he wasn't this big,
• 40:53
  Speaker 8: flashy guy, and I kind of felt like, you know,
• 40:56
  Speaker 8: obviously with two different players, but I kind of felt
• 40:58
  Speaker 8: like I could relate to him.
• 41:00
  Speaker 6: So I was like, man, I can get there and
• 41:02
  Speaker 6: I can do that. You know, I can get there
• 41:04
  Speaker 6: and be myself.
• 41:06
  Speaker 8: You know, nobody's gonna think that, oh you need to
• 41:08
  Speaker 8: be you know, this this superstar, even though he was,
• 41:12
  Speaker 8: but I just felt like he did it in such
• 41:14
  Speaker 8: a way that made it fun for me to be like, oh,
• 41:18
  Speaker 8: I can go be myself and people are accept me.
• 41:21
  Speaker 8: Well that, you know, thinking about it at that age
• 41:25
  Speaker 8: and then really experience it is a completely completely different thing.
• 41:29
  Speaker 8: But I really think that New York had a big
• 41:33
  Speaker 8: play in my decision and you know, deciding to go
• 41:37
  Speaker 8: pro ball, because like I said, I envisioned myself being
• 41:40
  Speaker 8: on that New York stage.
• 41:42
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 41:42
  Speaker 5: And then number two, look, I know you were in
• 41:45
  Speaker 5: a first round pick, you didn't get a bank vault,
• 41:47
  Speaker 5: but and then that says you got eight hundred thousand
• 41:50
  Speaker 5: dollars a pretty nice signing bonus when you were eighteen, Like,
• 41:55
  Speaker 5: how did the money factor in? How do you even
• 41:58
  Speaker 5: comprehend that amount of money? How that your decision? And
• 42:03
  Speaker 5: then when when you when you start getting some money,
• 42:05
  Speaker 5: like what did you do? How did you make sure
• 42:07
  Speaker 5: you're managing that? Because I remember you in eighteen and
• 42:11
  Speaker 5: fifty bucks seemed like a huge amount of money.
• 42:14
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean the money definitely played into it.
• 42:17
  Speaker 8: Like again, like I was saying earlier, you know, you
• 42:20
  Speaker 8: think about your family, and you think about how they've
• 42:23
  Speaker 8: taken care of you your whole.
• 42:24
  Speaker 6: Life, and you know you want to get back now.
• 42:27
  Speaker 8: The way that they constructed the contract was I think
• 42:31
  Speaker 8: I got too big and like installments at different times,
• 42:36
  Speaker 8: which you know, actually, I'm sorry.
• 42:39
  Speaker 6: It wasn't too big installments.
• 42:40
  Speaker 8: They were big installments, but it was it was they
• 42:43
  Speaker 8: were kind of spread out, which was probably the best
• 42:45
  Speaker 8: thing for me as an eight year old, because if
• 42:48
  Speaker 8: they just hear me I got a I'd have just
• 42:50
  Speaker 8: been like, yeah, that's gone.
• 42:52
  Speaker 6: I already got Lamborghini. I already got me a house
• 42:55
  Speaker 6: over here, and you know in Holland Park. You know
• 42:58
  Speaker 6: that's that's gone, I'm out here at working, you know,
• 43:01
  Speaker 6: for nothing.
• 43:02
  Speaker 8: But the way they constructed it, it was actually good
• 43:05
  Speaker 8: for me because I was able to get chunks of
• 43:07
  Speaker 8: that and at that time, you know, which is so
• 43:10
  Speaker 8: huge for athletes, especially young athletes, to be able to
• 43:15
  Speaker 8: know how to manage that money, because at that time
• 43:17
  Speaker 8: I did it. You know, I didn't know how to
• 43:19
  Speaker 8: manage that money. I was get that money and I
• 43:21
  Speaker 8: was like, again, I wanted to take care of my family.
• 43:23
  Speaker 8: Got me a car, you know, I got me an
• 43:26
  Speaker 8: apartment in downtown Dallas, you know, like a high rise.
• 43:29
  Speaker 6: You know, like those are the things that you think about,
• 43:32
  Speaker 6: that you dream about. Oh, like this is what it's about.
• 43:35
  Speaker 8: You know. It's about the flashiness, it's about the nice
• 43:38
  Speaker 8: car and things like that, and you realize, like this
• 43:41
  Speaker 8: is just a small part of it. So that eight
• 43:44
  Speaker 8: hundred thousand that I got, like, I was very grateful
• 43:46
  Speaker 8: for that, but also I realized that, like I had
• 43:49
  Speaker 8: so much more work to do.
• 43:51
  Speaker 6: I had so much more work to do. There was
• 43:53
  Speaker 6: so much more money to be made than that. So
• 43:56
  Speaker 6: it didn't just that's a good little you know, a
• 43:58
  Speaker 6: little kick off, Like it kicked me off.
• 44:01
  Speaker 8: But once I got in and I played with guys
• 44:03
  Speaker 8: that that I felt were just as talented or more
• 44:08
  Speaker 8: talented than me, and seeing what they got and what,
• 44:11
  Speaker 8: you know, where they went the draft and seeing that
• 44:13
  Speaker 8: they weren't making money like that in the minor leagues.
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean.
• 44:16
  Speaker 8: So it helps you keep things in perspective of like, yo,
• 44:20
  Speaker 8: you know you you you work to get this, but
• 44:24
  Speaker 8: you got to keep working. Like these guys are here,
• 44:27
  Speaker 8: they're not making very much money, so they're they're a
• 44:29
  Speaker 8: little bit different, hungry, you know, they're they're hungry is different.
• 44:32
  Speaker 8: They want to get to where you're at. So it
• 44:36
  Speaker 8: helped me keep things in perspective and kept you know,
• 44:38
  Speaker 8: kept that that motor running. But the money, definitely it
• 44:43
  Speaker 8: played a huge part, not gonna lie about it played
• 44:46
  Speaker 8: a huge part because I knew that with that money,
• 44:48
  Speaker 8: that's that's life changing money for a lot of people,
• 44:51
  Speaker 8: and it helped me and my family.
• 44:53
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 44:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, very cool.
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: Appreciate Austin sharing that personal story with us. I can
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: only imagine like eighteen years old, about to make the
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: big decision and having the maturity you know, you're eighteen,
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: but having maturity to step away and I need to
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: make sure I'm making the correct decisions. So you may
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: have been eighteen, you may have said you would have
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: blown all your money, but I think, yeah, I think
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: you're a little bit more level headed than then.
• 45:16
  Speaker 2: You led us to believe there so appreciate you telling
• 45:18
  Speaker 2: the story.