Latest / Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast / Tarik Skubal, the case for Justin Verlander and more spring storylines

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Tarik Skubal, the case for Justin Verlander and more spring storylines · Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast

0:10
Speaker 1: And welcome into another episode of Tiger Territory, part of
0:13
Speaker 1: the Foul Territory. Now we're going to a trot Tiger's podcast.
0:15
Speaker 1: I'm Kieren Steckley with me as always as a man
0:17
Speaker 1: who was quite chill. That doesn't mean he wants to
0:20
Speaker 1: be cold the whole damn time. He is. Cody Stavenhagen,
0:23
Speaker 1: how are we doing?
0:24
Speaker 2: Tired of being cold? Let's get some warm weather, Let's
0:27
Speaker 2: get some sunshine. We are almost there.
0:30
Speaker 3: Let's go. Let's get there.
0:32
Speaker 1: Yep, and we got some hot takes that we're gonna
0:34
Speaker 1: go through, not necessarily from us, maybe a couple in
0:38
Speaker 1: there as well.
0:39
Speaker 3: Look, it takes like just warm and well reasoned.
0:41
Speaker 1: Here, warm enough to get you through a winter. I
0:45
Speaker 1: think is maybe the slogan of the show. So let's
0:48
Speaker 1: let's get into it. Cody, we finally got to see
0:51
Speaker 1: Tarrek School will except and hold his second consecutive Cy
0:55
Speaker 1: Young Trophy. We talked with School and he was on
0:57
Speaker 1: the show last year about the awkwardness of the time line,
1:00
Speaker 1: and it is kind of funny, but it doesn't take
1:03
Speaker 1: away from just you know, the specialness of the moment.
1:06
Speaker 1: And I'll say this in the category of things that
1:11
Speaker 1: you feel in the moment but aren't necessarily a big
1:14
Speaker 1: deal long term. It was cool to just kind of
1:19
Speaker 1: have this man like represent your franchise and you didn't
1:22
Speaker 1: have to worry about trade speculation and asking prices both
1:28
Speaker 1: in the trade and in like contractual asking prices and
1:32
Speaker 1: agents and you know what's gonna happen next year. It
1:35
Speaker 1: was like, you don't get to do that very often
1:38
Speaker 1: in an offseason, but you could just kind of be
1:40
Speaker 1: in the moment and be appreciative of what you're watching,
1:43
Speaker 1: and then from the band's perspective, be appreciative that this
1:47
Speaker 1: man represents your franchise. So that was really cool. Trek
1:53
Speaker 1: hits it out of the park every single time he
1:55
Speaker 1: does one of these things. Better was great. It's nice
1:58
Speaker 1: to see aj Hinch in a suit with no hat.
2:01
Speaker 1: So so yeah, overall, a really nice moment And if
2:04
Speaker 1: you guys missed it, you can go to the Foul
2:06
Speaker 1: Territory YouTube show and watch the entire award show in
2:09
Speaker 1: its entirety. Obviously just said that twice, but you know,
2:12
Speaker 1: really cool that we are able to broadcast this as
2:15
Speaker 1: a part of the Foul Territory Network and really cool
2:17
Speaker 1: of ark to you know, to be there and watch
2:20
Speaker 1: him accept like you know, the historical moment and a
2:23
Speaker 1: second consecutive sell you on award.
2:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, Chris Petter's introduction was really good. We don't get
2:28
Speaker 2: to see or hear much of him, but he can
2:31
Speaker 2: handle himself pretty well on on camera in front of
2:34
Speaker 2: a room as well.
2:35
Speaker 3: And then scooble. Look, there's been the drama, there's been
2:39
Speaker 3: the awkwardness this offseason. But to your point, a nice
2:43
Speaker 3: small reminder.
2:44
Speaker 2: Again that Tigers fans are pretty lucky to have this
2:47
Speaker 2: guy around for however long he is going to be around.
2:50
Speaker 2: They kind of lucked into his presence in the organization,
2:53
Speaker 2: taking him in the ninth round, and he has become
2:56
Speaker 2: the best, you know, the best thing to happen to
2:58
Speaker 2: the Tigers in a while.
3:00
Speaker 3: And in case you missed the speech, here is a
3:02
Speaker 3: small clip.
3:03
Speaker 4: Thank you and good evening. First off, I'd like to
3:06
Speaker 4: express what an incredible privilege it is to share the
3:08
Speaker 4: stage with the caliber of players up here tonight. I'm
3:11
Speaker 4: humbled to be a part of this group. I know
3:13
Speaker 4: the greatness from everyone up here is part of what
3:15
Speaker 4: pushes me to be the best version of myself every
3:17
Speaker 4: time I take them out, I want to thank the
3:19
Speaker 4: Baseball Writers for selecting me as the winner of this
3:22
Speaker 4: prestigious award. It's an honor be back here, and it's
3:25
Speaker 4: something I'll never take for granted. After last year's dinner,
3:29
Speaker 4: I told AJ the same time next year, but I
3:32
Speaker 4: didn't really know it would become a reality. Skip for
3:35
Speaker 4: the sake of superstition and a three peat, let's go
3:38
Speaker 4: ahead and keep the same plan for a year from now.
3:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, pretty cool, Pretty cool moment, and again kind of recognizing,
3:48
Speaker 1: you know, reading the room very well and having like,
3:52
Speaker 1: I don't know if there's a way to like humbly
3:55
Speaker 1: say I'd like to win the cy Young a third
3:57
Speaker 1: consecutive year, but that was like a humble way of
4:00
Speaker 1: and like, hey, I just you know, I want to
4:01
Speaker 1: keep it when when the cy Young a third consecutive season,
4:05
Speaker 1: and again like Tarek's gonna do what Tarek's gonna do,
4:09
Speaker 1: and we're not gonna necessarily talk about all that right now.
4:12
Speaker 1: But it also made me think, like, man, you're right, Cody.
4:16
Speaker 1: The Tigers did kind of find themselves in the in
4:20
Speaker 1: the school Bowl business, like you know, a little bit
4:22
Speaker 1: of luck, little bit of uh, you know, scouting and
4:24
Speaker 1: all that stuff. We all understand a lot of things
4:26
Speaker 1: can contributed to it. Uh. The school bol is fortunate too,
4:30
Speaker 1: and thus the Tiger Tigers fans are as well to
4:32
Speaker 1: have a J. Hinch, to have Chris Fetter. Uh. And
4:36
Speaker 1: it's a perfect blend of circumstances that have kind of
4:38
Speaker 1: led us to, uh, to this moment. So how much
4:41
Speaker 1: will that be worth from school ball in Boris' perspective?
4:45
Speaker 1: Who knows? But still still a really cool moment. And
4:49
Speaker 1: and I'll say this, Cody, you know, like I I
4:51
Speaker 1: look at I look at things and historical markers and
4:56
Speaker 1: try to imagine like what they mean. It's so early
5:00
Speaker 1: in Schoobl's career still, so I don't I promise I
5:03
Speaker 1: don't think about this very often. But if the dude
5:08
Speaker 1: wins a third consecutive cy young, like all of a sudden,
5:14
Speaker 1: we're in like rarefied rarefied rarefied air. And assuming you
5:20
Speaker 1: can not have an injury shortened like career, like that's
5:23
Speaker 1: almost a certainty you're gonna be in the Hall of Fame.
5:26
Speaker 1: We just got done talking about the Hall of Fame
5:28
Speaker 1: last week, and uh, and and so like it kind
5:31
Speaker 1: of hit me. I was like, man, like, you know,
5:33
Speaker 1: he's he's plus three eighty, like he's the leader in
5:36
Speaker 1: the clubhouse for you know, odds on winning the cy
5:39
Speaker 1: Young It's obviously very hard, not necessarily like something I
5:44
Speaker 1: would necessarily predict. But you also can't necessarily like metaphorically
5:49
Speaker 1: against it either because it is Trek Schooble, and I
5:52
Speaker 1: would put him uh uh like in like truly truly
5:56
Speaker 1: elite historical status.
5:59
Speaker 3: Uh yeah.
5:59
Speaker 2: I believe Randy Johnson and Greg and Maddox are the
6:02
Speaker 2: only ones who have won three in a row. Is
6:04
Speaker 2: that correct?
6:05
Speaker 3: I mean.
6:07
Speaker 2: That ain't easy, and a very small few group who
6:10
Speaker 2: have won three ever includes Sandy Kofax, Tom Seaver, Jim Palmer,
6:15
Speaker 2: Pedro Martinez, Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer, Steve Carlton, Maddox, Johnson,
6:21
Speaker 2: and Clemens pretty rarefied air indeed, And that is what
6:25
Speaker 2: is at stake for Trek Scoobel, and it is look,
6:30
Speaker 2: I don't know if he can do it because it's
6:32
Speaker 2: such a rare feat. I think Trek scoogle is probably
6:35
Speaker 2: going to have a very good season because he is
6:37
Speaker 2: a really good pitcher. He is a complete pitcher. The
6:40
Speaker 2: reason it just hasn't happened a lot in history is
6:43
Speaker 2: there are other guys who tend to mount challenges. Could
6:47
Speaker 2: Garrett Crochet give him a run, Could Under Brown give
6:49
Speaker 2: him a run? Those guys gave him a pretty hard
6:52
Speaker 2: push last year he was better, I think just because
6:56
Speaker 2: of how difficult to feat it is. I would almost say,
6:59
Speaker 2: look Scoobel might have a to two eer again. Might
7:03
Speaker 2: just be someone else's turn to win the cy young
7:06
Speaker 2: But everything about Schoobol's game, his arsenal, his commands, his stuff,
7:10
Speaker 2: provided he is healthy, I think he's going to be
7:12
Speaker 2: in this conversation once again in twenty twenty six.
7:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think I think like there's a very
7:25
Speaker 1: real world where he is like a better pitcher and
7:28
Speaker 1: has better numbers. But you said it's somebody else's turn,
7:31
Speaker 1: somebody else maybe maybe he's on a more marquee team,
7:34
Speaker 1: maybe is on a team that does better. And those
7:37
Speaker 1: kind of things get into voters' minds naturally, So we'll
7:40
Speaker 1: see still a special moment, and congratulations to Terrek and
7:44
Speaker 1: his family, of course, and something that we kind of
7:48
Speaker 1: speculated on before that will not come to fruition. Cody
7:53
Speaker 1: as we thought, Oh could School will be the cover
7:56
Speaker 1: athlete of MLB the Show twenty six and as of
8:01
Speaker 1: this afternoon, a little bit of a cryptic statement that
8:04
Speaker 1: the developers of the game put out They're not gonna
8:07
Speaker 1: have a new quote unquote cover athlete, so that's their
8:11
Speaker 1: teas skiable School has ever been on the cover of
8:14
Speaker 1: the show, so therefore he would seemingly be out of
8:18
Speaker 1: the running there. So yeah, if you had dreams of
8:21
Speaker 1: buying the video game with a Tiger on the cover,
8:24
Speaker 1: at least not it will not be tear School this year,
8:26
Speaker 1: per this report. And maybe it's a maybe it's a misdirect,
8:29
Speaker 1: but what.
8:30
Speaker 2: Are we gonna have like a collage like a I
8:34
Speaker 2: don't know what it's gonna be. I don't know if
8:37
Speaker 2: that's the most marketable teas, Like everyone wants to know
8:39
Speaker 2: who the comfort athlete is.
8:40
Speaker 3: Sorry, we don't have one. But it was phrase like
8:43
Speaker 3: cryptically enough where I'm like, wait, what's going on? And
8:46
Speaker 3: now I will be awaiting.
8:48
Speaker 2: The next announcement from Sony Studios there.
8:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll have to to stay tuned. All right, let's
8:57
Speaker 1: get to Yeah, we talked about the president of the Tigers,
9:02
Speaker 1: and now we're getting to some stuff about the future,
9:05
Speaker 1: and some of this does bleed into the president and
9:08
Speaker 1: we're getting like updates of prospect lists and all that stuff.
9:11
Speaker 1: And we got your guy, your colleague, Keith Law has
9:17
Speaker 1: put out his top one hundred prospects list and it's
9:22
Speaker 1: pretty chalk. We'll get to a little, you know, some
9:24
Speaker 1: other stuff that he wrote. Some of it. I'm not
9:27
Speaker 1: gonna lie like a little surprised, but you know, you
9:30
Speaker 1: have McGonagall, Clark, Rayner, Rassinio. That's that's pretty pretty uniform.
9:35
Speaker 1: Most top one hundred lists are gonna have those guys
9:38
Speaker 1: in there, and McGonagall number two, Clark number five, Rayner seventeen,
9:44
Speaker 1: Versinio fifty nine. But one little aspect that's different is
9:49
Speaker 1: our guy, Max Anderson in front of the show, comes
9:53
Speaker 1: in at number ninety one, So that was a little
9:57
Speaker 1: bit of a wrinkle. So five tigers in Keith Law's
10:01
Speaker 1: top one hundred, including two Cody two in the top five.
10:07
Speaker 1: You know, pretty cool there, and some nitty gritty stuff
10:11
Speaker 1: that we'll get to in a second. But your reaction
10:14
Speaker 1: to Max Anderson kind of creeping up and getting just
10:18
Speaker 1: under the top one hundred threshold.
10:20
Speaker 2: Not surprised at all, had a great year on the farm,
10:22
Speaker 2: killed it in the Arizona Fall League. Is impressed and
10:25
Speaker 2: opened a lot of eyes with his bat. I think
10:29
Speaker 2: he's deserving of being a top one hundred prospect. We'll
10:31
Speaker 2: see exactly what type of player he tends to be.
10:35
Speaker 2: Keith Law was very optimistic about his bat, but did
10:38
Speaker 2: add something I've had people tell me.
10:41
Speaker 3: It was like, don't know what his position is.
10:43
Speaker 2: Basically, you know, don't really know if he can field,
10:45
Speaker 2: but he can hit to justify enough wherever he can't
10:48
Speaker 2: be well.
10:49
Speaker 3: Like, I think that's the question with Max Anderson.
10:51
Speaker 2: Does the bat play enough to justify below average to
10:56
Speaker 2: worst defense at positions there are going to have to
10:58
Speaker 2: be some power there.
10:59
Speaker 3: But Max Anderson has done a lot well.
11:02
Speaker 2: I think he absolutely deserves to be in the top
11:04
Speaker 2: one hundred list. And the most interesting line in there
11:07
Speaker 2: was people have been telling Keith a lot Max Anderston should.
11:10
Speaker 3: Be a catcher I want. I didn't see that one coming.
11:15
Speaker 2: I don't think it'll actually happen, as Keith noted, but
11:18
Speaker 2: just the mere suggestion was enough to like raise an eyebrow.
11:21
Speaker 2: The Tigers already have a bunch of catchers who might
11:24
Speaker 2: not actually be catchers. Maybe they should just try Max
11:26
Speaker 2: Anderson behind behind the plate with.
11:28
Speaker 3: The heck.
11:30
Speaker 1: Man. That would be that would be nuts. If he
11:33
Speaker 1: just shows up on catchers and Pitcher's Day in Lakeland,
11:37
Speaker 1: that would be funny. I would almost do that just
11:39
Speaker 1: for the just the entertainment aspect of and be like, yeah,
11:42
Speaker 1: he's just gonna play a second or third. Which I
11:44
Speaker 1: will say this, Keith says that you know, like, well,
11:48
Speaker 1: all the concerns about Max's defense, and you guys can
11:51
Speaker 1: go look at our interview that we did with him
11:54
Speaker 1: earlier this offseason and he talks about the things that
11:56
Speaker 1: he's tried to improve on there. But Keith said, like, look,
12:00
Speaker 1: he isn't better than a forty five at either spot
12:02
Speaker 1: obviously on the on the on the scale. If his
12:06
Speaker 1: bat is as advertised, I feel like you can live
12:09
Speaker 1: with forty five.
12:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, forty five in the bats sixty I mean that's
12:14
Speaker 2: that's probably cool.
12:15
Speaker 3: Keith.
12:15
Speaker 1: You know, yeah, like that almost made me think like,
12:20
Speaker 1: maybe is the defensive stuff a little bit overblown because
12:22
Speaker 1: if you were saying, like, is he like a you know,
12:24
Speaker 1: like a thirty five or thirty you know, and then
12:26
Speaker 1: it's like, who, man, you know, we'll get a little nervous.
12:29
Speaker 2: I think it just means the bat has to be
12:31
Speaker 2: fifty five sixty because you can't have forty five field
12:34
Speaker 2: and forty five to fifty hit. That's a that's a
12:37
Speaker 2: bench player, you know, maybe not even a bench player
12:40
Speaker 2: on a contending team. But if the bat's if the
12:44
Speaker 2: bat is real, then you can live with forty five.
12:46
Speaker 3: That's how I feel it.
12:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's fair. So let's get to some some
12:51
Speaker 1: stuff that Keith put put in his little ride ups
12:54
Speaker 1: on these guys and and uh, you know mcgonagall's number two.
12:57
Speaker 1: He had been number one, uh at mid point point
13:00
Speaker 1: last year and basically just Connor Griffin just kind of
13:05
Speaker 1: surpassed him. You know, Keith makes note that then it's
13:09
Speaker 1: not anything that mcgonag'gull didn't do or whatever, but he
13:13
Speaker 1: puts in a quite a historical comparison, you know, well,
13:18
Speaker 1: whether he will be at short or not, you know,
13:21
Speaker 1: you know, he says, people say he could play shortstop,
13:24
Speaker 1: he'll probably end up moving to second base when there's
13:26
Speaker 1: a clear elite glove at shortstop, is what Keith says.
13:29
Speaker 1: And it's like, you know what if he's at second base,
13:31
Speaker 1: he's Rogers Hornsby quote that'll play Yeah what, Keith, Yeah,
13:38
Speaker 1: I mean I think if he's Rogers Hornsby, then he
13:42
Speaker 1: should probably start the season at the major league level
13:44
Speaker 1: because he'll probably win Rookie of the Year and you
13:46
Speaker 1: get the first round pick.
13:48
Speaker 2: Seven time batting champion, three p fifty eight career hitter,
13:52
Speaker 2: greater than one thousand career ops, one of the best
13:56
Speaker 2: players of all time.
13:58
Speaker 3: He's not the number one prospectier.
14:01
Speaker 2: I think he may have just been like saying that
14:03
Speaker 2: this the playing style is similar to that of Rogers
14:07
Speaker 2: Hornsby way back in the day. They've been saying he's
14:10
Speaker 2: going to be Rogers Warnsby. But the mere suggestion is
14:13
Speaker 2: enough to uh A, get me to laugh and be like, well,
14:17
Speaker 2: all right, let's yeah, let's see this. Let's get this
14:20
Speaker 2: in the major leagues as soon as possible.
14:23
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, And we'll talk about him a little bit
14:25
Speaker 1: more in a second. But you know, Max Clark coming
14:28
Speaker 1: at number five. I don't have every list in front
14:31
Speaker 1: of me, but I would probably say among the reputable,
14:36
Speaker 1: you know, people in this space, having Clark at number
14:39
Speaker 1: five in all of baseball is probably the highest. If
14:44
Speaker 1: you know, I don't think anyone's had him, has.
14:46
Speaker 3: Him four Ye, we'll see.
14:48
Speaker 2: I don't think all the lists are out yet, but
14:51
Speaker 2: you know he's high on all the lists because all
14:53
Speaker 2: these guys will say we tend to look at upside
14:55
Speaker 2: and consider that, and Clark boast considerable upside. And yeah,
14:59
Speaker 2: if you actually Keith's blurb, it was I think the
15:02
Speaker 2: most glowing thing I've ever read about Max Clerk.
15:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, he so we talked about the center field aspect.
15:08
Speaker 1: He calls him a true center fielder. And if you're
15:10
Speaker 1: watching on YouTube, you can you can see this, uh
15:13
Speaker 1: see this riot. I think the what I came away
15:17
Speaker 1: impressed by that Keith Law is impressed by if you
15:21
Speaker 1: followed me here, is that the adjustments and athletic profile,
15:27
Speaker 1: like essentially the physical and the mental aspect of the
15:30
Speaker 1: game is is what has separates Max Clark from a
15:33
Speaker 1: lot of other prospects. And it's like he's shown an
15:36
Speaker 1: ability to like have this flaw and then work on it,
15:41
Speaker 1: like really quickly, and by the second half of the
15:43
Speaker 1: season it's no longer a concern like whether it's power,
15:46
Speaker 1: whether it's played approach, whether it's fully utilizing his body,
15:51
Speaker 1: his speed. Uh, it seems like the makeup of Max
15:56
Speaker 1: Clark as well, combined with the physical tools, which obviously
16:00
Speaker 1: you don't get drafted third overall without having potentially elite
16:04
Speaker 1: physical tools, is kind of what puts him this high
16:08
Speaker 1: on the list. Cody, and it's raving a review as
16:11
Speaker 1: I've read about Max in a wild because it just
16:14
Speaker 1: seems like maybe it's a subject of his draft position.
16:17
Speaker 1: Maybe it's just the nature of kind of micro analyzing
16:20
Speaker 1: every little thing that these you know, eighteen nineteen twenty
16:24
Speaker 1: now twenty one year olds do as they figure out
16:26
Speaker 1: how to play this game at the highest level, you
16:31
Speaker 1: kind of forget, like, okay, macro perspective. Here, here's a
16:34
Speaker 1: guy that you know, the upside is damn near limitless
16:39
Speaker 1: if you look at overall what he could bring to
16:42
Speaker 1: the table. It's a little bit of a reminder of there.
16:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think interesting how Keith's review of Clark is
16:49
Speaker 2: almost like it's leaning into the best version of Max Clark.
16:53
Speaker 2: And I don't think I've ever really heard anyone doubt
16:56
Speaker 2: Max Clark or people around the Tigers doubt Max Clark.
16:59
Speaker 3: But I think you and locally like.
17:02
Speaker 2: Especially with the rise of McGonagall, Like, there have been
17:05
Speaker 2: kind of more questions in Max Clark's game, like.
17:07
Speaker 3: Just what if the bat is a grade below expected?
17:10
Speaker 3: What if the field is a grade below expected?
17:12
Speaker 2: I think that's the biggest thing, Like, obviously, this kid's
17:15
Speaker 2: a good athlete. Obviously you can cover some ground, and
17:17
Speaker 2: he has a good feel for the game. But the
17:19
Speaker 2: bar to be a plus center fielder in the major leagues,
17:22
Speaker 2: as I often say, is just so high, and sometimes
17:26
Speaker 2: I wonder if that may be what is the determining
17:28
Speaker 2: factor for Clark? Are you a legit plus center fielder
17:32
Speaker 2: in the major leagues? Can you can you cover ground
17:34
Speaker 2: like Parker Meadows can? Because for Meadows, the question is
17:38
Speaker 2: the bat. For Clark, it's like, if you can do
17:41
Speaker 2: that in the field, that gives you a lot of
17:44
Speaker 2: leeway at the plate. But I'm pointing out the adjustments
17:47
Speaker 2: I think pretty fascinating. Clark had a fifty percent ground
17:49
Speaker 2: ball rate in April, cut it to thirty six percent
17:53
Speaker 2: in the second half. That's the type of adjustment you're
17:55
Speaker 2: looking for. So it's that those sort of things get
17:58
Speaker 2: tougher as you're seeing tougher pitching, as pitchers learn more
18:02
Speaker 2: about you. So not a finished product, but kind of
18:06
Speaker 2: a reminder like oh yeah, like hey, maybe this guy's
18:09
Speaker 2: not white Langford or whatever, Like this guy was a
18:11
Speaker 2: high draft pick for a reason, and there's still a
18:15
Speaker 2: ton of potential. There may be a world where we
18:18
Speaker 2: get to see some of it this year too. I
18:20
Speaker 2: mentioned Parker Meadows, like, if Meadows has things one lock
18:23
Speaker 2: in center, I think the Tigers will take their time
18:25
Speaker 2: with Max Clark. But if Meadows doesn't, if Meadows doesn't hit,
18:29
Speaker 2: even though you have Winsled, even though you have Veer Lane,
18:31
Speaker 2: you have some other options.
18:33
Speaker 3: Like there is a non zero chance that we see
18:38
Speaker 3: a lot of Max Clark if he ends up being
18:40
Speaker 3: the guy best suited to lockdown center field this year.
18:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
18:46
Speaker 2: Although the same like PPI like promotion incentive stuff that
18:49
Speaker 2: applies to McGonagall applies to Clark.
18:51
Speaker 3: So maybe that ruins any fun, But I don't know.
18:54
Speaker 3: I wouldn't rull it out. I wouldn't rull it out.
18:58
Speaker 1: Well. Bryce rain Or some who was a lot of
19:00
Speaker 1: fun to watch last year before he got hurt. Don't
19:04
Speaker 1: think he's going to make his major league debut this year.
19:09
Speaker 1: But Rainer is an interesting one. There where he like,
19:15
Speaker 1: he got off to a great start, then he got hurt.
19:18
Speaker 1: You just had that surgery, Like, hopefully this is not
19:22
Speaker 1: anything that kind of lingers with him a little bit
19:25
Speaker 1: of a reminder that he's old for his class. He's
19:28
Speaker 1: twenty Clark is twenty one, like, so we'll have to
19:33
Speaker 1: see how Rayner, like, you know, where his path kind
19:37
Speaker 1: of leads this year. But he looked everything as advertised
19:41
Speaker 1: before he got hurt, which Keith Law makes note of.
19:44
Speaker 1: And then this is the line here that I wanted
19:46
Speaker 1: to share. The injury was lousy to put it mildly,
19:52
Speaker 1: but at a minimum, he being Rayner showed us the
19:55
Speaker 1: Tigers might have crushed yet another first round pick. You
19:58
Speaker 1: love to hear it, You love to hear it.
20:00
Speaker 2: Cody crushed left handed Honus Wagner, Come on, left hand Wagner.
20:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a well. Honess couldn't play center field like
20:10
Speaker 1: Rayner might be able to. So that's that's different. So
20:12
Speaker 1: he's better better than a Wagner there. And then just
20:16
Speaker 1: to kind of round it up, since we talked about
20:18
Speaker 1: everybody else on here, Rassinio, like I said, number fifty
20:22
Speaker 1: nine nothing, I didn't think anything like out of the
20:28
Speaker 1: out of the ordinary with this report, We're gonna see
20:31
Speaker 1: where he ends up defensively, uh you know, he he,
20:36
Speaker 1: I would say Keith is a little bit on the
20:39
Speaker 1: doubtful side that Rassino will be a regular catcher, but
20:44
Speaker 1: you know, well, we'll obviously have to see. But it's
20:47
Speaker 1: a little bit unlike the other guys that we talked about,
20:50
Speaker 1: he hit a little bit of a I want to
20:53
Speaker 1: say ceiling. I guess once he got the promotion, and
20:57
Speaker 1: so he'll have to adjust and he'll probably be behind
21:00
Speaker 1: Clark and for.
21:01
Speaker 2: Sure, and and being a catcher is a big part
21:03
Speaker 2: of that is going to take longer regardless.
21:08
Speaker 1: But the the but again, like the upside here, like
21:11
Speaker 1: that's the thing about all these guys and and maybe
21:14
Speaker 1: like Max Anderson to like a slightly lesser degree, but
21:18
Speaker 1: like huge upside across the board with these guys that
21:22
Speaker 1: that that the Tigers have and and not on accident
21:24
Speaker 1: with the you know, as we've talked about the kind
21:26
Speaker 1: of profiles that they are attracted to and try to
21:31
Speaker 1: get in the organization and develop. So overall, a great
21:35
Speaker 1: sign for the organization that you know that you have
21:39
Speaker 1: you know, uh, kN Griffey Jr. And Uh and Rogers
21:43
Speaker 1: Hornsby and and Honus Wagner. You know, at worst cal
21:48
Speaker 1: Ripken Jr. Uh in you in your organization that you
21:52
Speaker 1: can just kind of wait and see what they what
21:54
Speaker 1: they what?
21:55
Speaker 3: They pretty good start to building a roster there.
21:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. So let's transition here, Cody to what I
22:05
Speaker 1: would say is related, like there are certain things here
22:09
Speaker 1: that we talked about already that we're gonna be pummeled
22:13
Speaker 1: with information and speculation and just kind of like in
22:16
Speaker 1: our minds trying to figure out what is meaningful what
22:19
Speaker 1: isn't meaningful. And I'll tell you this, this was this
22:22
Speaker 1: idea was inspired by reading your mailbag on the Athletic,
22:27
Speaker 1: which obviously, if we're a subscriber to the Athletic, you
22:29
Speaker 1: can go read that mailbag. But someone brought up the
22:32
Speaker 1: possibility just like every year that he's available, is like,
22:35
Speaker 1: should you bring Justin Berlander back? Would he want to
22:40
Speaker 1: come back? And that kind of speculation. And you had
22:42
Speaker 1: mentioned that had this been done in previous versions of
22:46
Speaker 1: the Tigers, it might have been more of a side
22:49
Speaker 1: show with like you know, Berlander coming back, as opposed
22:52
Speaker 1: to kind of the main thing being the main thing,
22:54
Speaker 1: which is obviously developing these young players and you know,
22:57
Speaker 1: trying to ascend as an organization. One could argue that
23:02
Speaker 1: now is a time that both things fit. Justin Verlander
23:08
Speaker 1: comes into that pitching staff. Yes, he's Justin Verlander, but
23:12
Speaker 1: he's not I don't want he's not the alpha, right,
23:16
Speaker 1: it's the guy just went to cy Young's all right
23:19
Speaker 1: and then, and so he can kind of he doesn't
23:22
Speaker 1: take up all the oxygen in the room, I would
23:24
Speaker 1: think if he does come back. And also the Tigers
23:27
Speaker 1: have a need for someone who is on the more
23:30
Speaker 1: steady and reliable side, even if they are old. Then
23:35
Speaker 1: you know then what they've gone previously from some short
23:39
Speaker 1: term free agent pitching acquisition. So there's not any reporting here,
23:46
Speaker 1: but it does feel like, for the first time since
23:49
Speaker 1: he was traded, a reunion actually makes a lot of sense.
23:53
Speaker 1: So I think that is worth saying.
23:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is kind of the quietest off season regarding
23:58
Speaker 2: a Verlander reunion and along time in terms of just
24:01
Speaker 2: like the fan base, maybe people will finally let go
24:04
Speaker 2: of the past and accepted this isn't gonna happen, which
24:06
Speaker 2: for a period of years I was like, Okay, it's
24:09
Speaker 2: time to get over the X guys like Verlander's great franchise. Great,
24:12
Speaker 2: they'll probably put a statue of him one day. Really like,
24:16
Speaker 2: for a long period of time, he was going to
24:18
Speaker 2: command a huge contract and wasn't worth paying an aging
24:22
Speaker 2: picture that type of money. With where the Tigers were
24:24
Speaker 2: at in their cycle, I thought the answer was a
24:26
Speaker 2: clear note.
24:27
Speaker 3: And then even.
24:27
Speaker 2: Last seasons like the sideshow thing, I think played a
24:31
Speaker 2: role in why the Tigers expressed little to no interest
24:34
Speaker 2: in Justin Verlander last winter. But another year's gone by,
24:38
Speaker 2: You've made another playoff appearance. This young team is starting
24:42
Speaker 2: to grow up a little bit. You are reportedly what
24:46
Speaker 2: I can confirm this, You are like shopping around for
24:49
Speaker 2: like pictures in the mid tier market Chris Bassett, Lucas Gialito,
24:55
Speaker 2: Nick Martinez. That tier of guy is about the same
24:59
Speaker 2: tier ago as Justin Verlander. Salary wise, I would think
25:03
Speaker 2: a guy you can get for probably about fifteen million
25:05
Speaker 2: dollars Justin Verlander. That's what he got last year. He's
25:09
Speaker 2: not coming off a great season. His overall numbers were
25:13
Speaker 2: not really good. He was battling through injury.
25:16
Speaker 3: Look at his last thirteen starts here and Justin Verlander,
25:21
Speaker 3: is this even right?
25:22
Speaker 2: I think he exactly better than this. I think I
25:24
Speaker 2: put the wrong thing up on the screen. Justin Verlander
25:28
Speaker 2: was really good, and so there is still something in
25:33
Speaker 2: there three three nine, And is this is where I
25:37
Speaker 2: messed it up? I'll fix this for you. Justin Verlander
25:41
Speaker 2: in his final thirteen starts at a two point six
25:44
Speaker 2: oh er, struck out seventy guys in seventy two innings.
25:48
Speaker 2: He walked only twenty four guys. For what it's worth,
25:51
Speaker 2: the FIP was a little higher three point three six.
25:54
Speaker 2: But there were any doubt like does this dude have
25:57
Speaker 2: something in the tank at during his entering his age
26:01
Speaker 2: forty three season, while like seems like he's got something
26:05
Speaker 2: still in the tank. I would take Verlander's upside at
26:08
Speaker 2: forty three, probably before Chris Bassett or Lucas Chilito. Now,
26:14
Speaker 2: again I'm not reporting anything. I'm not sure this is
26:17
Speaker 2: a discussion. Again, maybe for some of the reasons we've outlined. Also,
26:21
Speaker 2: we know there's gonna be competition in spring training. We
26:24
Speaker 2: know the Tigers like their flexibility. It might be possible
26:27
Speaker 2: they prefer someone who might be open to go into
26:30
Speaker 2: the pen for a little bit at any point in
26:32
Speaker 2: the year if that is what best fits the roster.
26:35
Speaker 3: I'm not sure Verlander would be that guy.
26:38
Speaker 2: But I just think the argument for it, the case
26:40
Speaker 2: for it actually makes more sense than it has anytime
26:45
Speaker 2: since Verlander has left Detroit and we saw what happened
26:48
Speaker 2: to that team in the second half.
26:50
Speaker 3: Maybe they could use a little edge.
26:52
Speaker 2: Maybe they could use someone who's a little bit who's
26:55
Speaker 2: a little bit of a star. Maybe And Verlander, for
26:58
Speaker 2: all it's worth, like has soft throughout the years. I
27:01
Speaker 2: think is know him for being better with his teammates
27:03
Speaker 2: than he was back in the day. He's gonna have
27:05
Speaker 2: some wisdom to share, whether he's the prototypical teacher or not.
27:10
Speaker 2: Like people are gonna learn from learn some things from
27:13
Speaker 2: Justin Verlander being in that room every day, and if
27:16
Speaker 2: his edge is a little different than your current clubhouse personality,
27:19
Speaker 2: maybe that's a good thing.
27:23
Speaker 3: Yeah.
27:23
Speaker 1: I don't have I don't really have anything profound the ad.
27:27
Speaker 1: It just it just makes the most sense and it
27:30
Speaker 1: actually could be like you don't often get like good homecomings,
27:35
Speaker 1: like usually it's like guy at the end with nothing
27:37
Speaker 1: or the team has nothing true to you think of
27:41
Speaker 1: like you know, like like Ben Wallace Chauncey Billups coming
27:44
Speaker 1: back to the Pistons and it's like, yeah, it was
27:46
Speaker 1: nice and it was cool, but you know, there wasn't
27:50
Speaker 1: really anything meaningful there other than the emotional nostalgic element
27:54
Speaker 1: here in this case, it could have a lot of
27:57
Speaker 1: meaning and impact. So it actually it actually to me
28:02
Speaker 1: makes a lot of sense. Let's let's get to let's
28:06
Speaker 1: get to like what will be so that would be
28:10
Speaker 1: like a theoretical side show in the spring. Cody I
28:14
Speaker 1: I jotted down like some things that could like actually
28:17
Speaker 1: be side shows, And we don't have to spend a
28:22
Speaker 1: great deal amount of time on this first one because
28:25
Speaker 1: we have already spent a considerable amount of time on it.
28:29
Speaker 1: And that's Tarik Schooble and the contract of the trade
28:31
Speaker 1: and how's he you know, what's his attitude? Like how
28:34
Speaker 1: does he feel about management and ownership and like all
28:37
Speaker 1: this stuff, all the things that he is going to
28:39
Speaker 1: get asked here and about like what uh three weeks
28:43
Speaker 1: uh and and all these things. That's gonna be the
28:47
Speaker 1: number one side show of spring training from from the
28:50
Speaker 1: Jump is just Tarrek Schooble and contracts and trades and
28:55
Speaker 1: and and feelings and this and that, and it's not
28:57
Speaker 1: just gonna be he's gonna have to answer it. You guys,
29:00
Speaker 1: they're gonna ask a j You guys are gonna ask Scott.
29:03
Speaker 1: You guys are probably gonna ask you know, other ballplayers,
29:06
Speaker 1: like how do you manage it? So that's gonna be
29:09
Speaker 1: definitely a talking point, and we will discuss it when
29:12
Speaker 1: when those quotes become official. But that's gonna be a
29:15
Speaker 1: big talking point. So you have to spend a whole
29:17
Speaker 1: lot of time on it. But you just know, sideshow, Yeah,
29:20
Speaker 1: we'll spring. It's a big thing.
29:21
Speaker 2: And I think every year with every team, you have
29:25
Speaker 2: weird spring training storylines that emerge, like, you know, is
29:29
Speaker 2: someone gonna unseat Jake Rogers for the backup catcher. We'll
29:32
Speaker 2: probably spend like three random days in spring talking about
29:35
Speaker 2: that and it will never matter again. But there are
29:37
Speaker 2: certain storylines that carry more weight, that are more outsized
29:41
Speaker 2: than the others. Scruple is the biggest one because it's
29:43
Speaker 2: gonna be one of the biggest national storylines, and Tigers
29:47
Speaker 2: and national storylines haven't gone hand in hand a lot
29:52
Speaker 2: in recent years. This one already is and is going
29:56
Speaker 2: to and it's going to be, in a lot of
29:57
Speaker 2: ways a huge distraction. I don't know if it'll affect
30:01
Speaker 2: anything on the field, but just the the attention it's drawing.
30:04
Speaker 3: I'm not I don't think it's Eric Scougle's faults. I don't.
30:09
Speaker 2: Maybe the team could have handled certain things better, but
30:11
Speaker 2: I'm not sure it's the team's fault. It's just the
30:13
Speaker 2: reality of the situation. This one's a big one. It
30:16
Speaker 2: is the definition of a side show. It's going to
30:18
Speaker 2: be that in spring, it might be that all year.
30:21
Speaker 2: There are some others that we're going to use the
30:23
Speaker 2: term side show. It's not necessarily a negative. It's just
30:26
Speaker 2: a reflection of like some storylines. Man, everyone's gonna be
30:29
Speaker 2: talking about it. Players are gonna be thinking about it.
30:31
Speaker 2: Executives are going to be thinking about it. These are
30:34
Speaker 2: the things that are really going to dominate conversation for
30:37
Speaker 2: for you know, most of February in March.
30:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, especially when this kind of stuff it, you know,
30:46
Speaker 1: when there's not anything necessarily that real, like you get
30:49
Speaker 1: let you just kind of your mind goes to these
30:51
Speaker 1: other things that's like maybe they could be real and well,
30:54
Speaker 1: like you know, so you're you're not You're not so sure.
30:57
Speaker 1: H here's a warm take. I was looking at Riley Green,
31:04
Speaker 1: and you know, everyone knows like his body, like he
31:07
Speaker 1: just didn't look that right last season. But he was
31:15
Speaker 1: a Silver slugger and he started the All Star Game
31:17
Speaker 1: and he hit thirty six home runs and you know,
31:20
Speaker 1: his ops was this and and all these things, and
31:23
Speaker 1: he got me thinking. I was like, you know, Riley Green,
31:26
Speaker 1: the side show is gonna be Riley Green. At what
31:27
Speaker 1: he did to his body, how is he you know,
31:29
Speaker 1: can he get back some some at you know, twenty
31:32
Speaker 1: at the ripe age of twenty four years old. Can
31:34
Speaker 1: he get back to some speed and you know some
31:36
Speaker 1: maybe agility stuff? But is Riley Green like the most
31:43
Speaker 1: like has the Does he have the lowest approval rating
31:46
Speaker 1: of any back to back All Star and reigning Silver
31:50
Speaker 1: slugger in Major League Baseball? Because I just don't feel
31:53
Speaker 1: like the enthusiasm for Riley Everyone talks about what's wrong
31:56
Speaker 1: with Riley Green, and it's not like it's invalid. There's
32:00
Speaker 1: that's a lot right with Riley Green too, and I
32:02
Speaker 1: feel like we kind of overlooked that.
32:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, it'd be a great time to use like one
32:06
Speaker 2: of the political analogies that we sometimes veer into, and
32:09
Speaker 2: I guess I'll just stay away from it because I
32:11
Speaker 2: mean for obvious reasons, but like, yeah, Lewis approval rating
32:15
Speaker 2: is really interesting, like through no, I'll do it.
32:18
Speaker 3: I'll do this. Throughout history, right, presidential approval.
32:22
Speaker 2: Ratings have not always matched with like what's actually happening
32:26
Speaker 2: in the country.
32:27
Speaker 3: It's kind of funny how that works.
32:28
Speaker 2: And so Riley Green great example, doing a lot of
32:31
Speaker 2: things right man, just at thirty six Homers.
32:33
Speaker 3: But look, we all watched it, man, he was rough
32:37
Speaker 3: down the stretch. He kind of melted. We saw the interviews.
32:41
Speaker 2: It didn't seem like he had answers, and the pressure
32:44
Speaker 2: like eight at him a little bit. And then there's
32:47
Speaker 2: the obvious physical concerns, just the way he moves, the
32:50
Speaker 2: way his speed has declined precipitously in only two years
32:53
Speaker 2: at age twenty four, I think is concerning.
32:56
Speaker 3: There's an injury history.
32:58
Speaker 2: Although I always want to say shout out to him
33:00
Speaker 2: for staying on the field last year, for as much
33:02
Speaker 2: as things weren't great, for as much as he did
33:04
Speaker 2: not look comfortable at times, he did stay on the field.
33:07
Speaker 2: But you talk about most interesting day one to spring
33:11
Speaker 2: going over to Eric Scoople's locker, and that recorder is
33:15
Speaker 2: going to be filled up. And I think Riley Green's
33:17
Speaker 2: number two, because it's it's not a bad thing. It's
33:20
Speaker 2: just like we haven't really heard from Riley, you know,
33:22
Speaker 2: since since the final game. Actually we didn't hear from
33:26
Speaker 2: him on the fund game. We haven't heard from Riley,
33:28
Speaker 2: you know since the Alds. So what was his off season? Like,
33:31
Speaker 2: what were his priorities? How did now that he's had
33:34
Speaker 2: time to reflect and decompress, is he going to alter
33:37
Speaker 2: the swing? Does he want to hit thirty six home runs?
33:40
Speaker 2: Does he now care about the strikeouts? What was his
33:43
Speaker 2: off season regimen? Like, I think it's going to be
33:45
Speaker 2: a little less like oh I didn't eat Chick fil
33:47
Speaker 2: A and more like no, seriously, like how are you
33:50
Speaker 2: physically and what are you doing? And are you worried
33:54
Speaker 2: about your speed decline or are you accepting that as
33:57
Speaker 2: like that's who you are now? I think it's it's
34:00
Speaker 2: gonna be so fascinating just to get his actual thoughts
34:03
Speaker 2: and some insights on how he spent his offseason. Obviously
34:06
Speaker 2: a hugely important question because it is this time of
34:11
Speaker 2: year ago, we were talking could Riley Green be an
34:13
Speaker 2: MVP vote getner, you know, and he put did some
34:16
Speaker 2: things last year that had him close to that, and
34:18
Speaker 2: he did some things last year where we're also not
34:21
Speaker 2: really talking about him in the same vein anymore. If
34:24
Speaker 2: you tap back into the Riley Green, who you think
34:26
Speaker 2: can be a four or five plus war player who
34:29
Speaker 2: can be one of the best all round hitters in
34:31
Speaker 2: the American League, Or are we gonna have to move
34:34
Speaker 2: on from that and accept like, hey, this guy's good,
34:36
Speaker 2: but he's a pretty flawed player. This is gonna be
34:39
Speaker 2: a little bit of a prove it year and approve
34:41
Speaker 2: it spring for Riley in that regard.
34:47
Speaker 1: You're not wrong, but it just still seems like a
34:49
Speaker 1: weird thing to say.
34:51
Speaker 3: It is.
34:52
Speaker 1: It is like that, and that's why it's a side show.
34:55
Speaker 1: And and I'll also say, like, you know, you could
35:00
Speaker 1: separate these guys or you could combine them. We've always
35:03
Speaker 1: kind of combined them, but they're in different circumstances. Ken
35:06
Speaker 1: mcgonagal and Max Clark and Major League Camp are going
35:10
Speaker 1: to be straight up side shows because everybody, like everyone's
35:15
Speaker 1: gonna want to know Cam mcgonagal make this team coming
35:19
Speaker 1: out of spring training. And we know, like you know,
35:21
Speaker 1: the prospect incentive there No one's talking about that when
35:26
Speaker 1: it comes to Max Clark, but I guess at the
35:29
Speaker 1: same time, like there is a path where that could happen,
35:34
Speaker 1: just if you know, maybe some injuries and you know,
35:36
Speaker 1: you're just thinking, like you know, maybe he is ready,
35:39
Speaker 1: like that could happen. He's a top five prospect, top
35:42
Speaker 1: six prospect whatever in baseball, and you know Max Clark
35:47
Speaker 1: is going to be putting on a show. I mean
35:49
Speaker 1: that's what he does. Like we like, he is a
35:53
Speaker 1: hyper aware brand, and I mean this as a compliment.
35:57
Speaker 1: That's who he is. So you know, his first major
35:59
Speaker 1: league camp, he's gonna be the Flair's gonna be there
36:03
Speaker 1: the like he's gonna he's probably gonna be like diving
36:06
Speaker 1: in the outfield more than what aj Hinch would be
36:08
Speaker 1: comfortable him doing. Like he's probably gonna, you know, he's
36:11
Speaker 1: probably showcase the speed, maybe go for a couple of
36:14
Speaker 1: home runs more than uh the necessary for like actual
36:18
Speaker 1: kind of spring development. But that's gonna be a side show.
36:21
Speaker 1: Ken McGonagall, will you make the team Max Clark Man? This,
36:26
Speaker 1: I mean he is a show like he is a show.
36:28
Speaker 3: So the definition of the show.
36:30
Speaker 2: And we've already been talking for multiple years, how will
36:33
Speaker 2: the Max Clark Show play in a major league clubhouse?
36:38
Speaker 2: Like our veteran guys going to eventually start turning up
36:41
Speaker 2: their noses at this or is it gonna be embraced?
36:46
Speaker 3: I think so far the organization has all been like
36:48
Speaker 3: on board and positive about Max and the way he
36:50
Speaker 3: brands himself and the way he carries himself. And again,
36:53
Speaker 3: like a J.
36:54
Speaker 2: Hinch last year was great talking about like, hey, you
36:56
Speaker 2: see all this, the tats, the whatever. She was one
36:59
Speaker 2: of the biggest baseball rats in the organization and that
37:02
Speaker 2: is very true and important to remember about Max Clark.
37:06
Speaker 2: But we're gonna get a little deep, a little closer
37:08
Speaker 2: look in spring and maybe deeper into the year at
37:11
Speaker 2: like what Max Clark in a major league clubhouse actually
37:14
Speaker 2: looks like? I think because of the way he carries himself,
37:17
Speaker 2: like there is just gonna be a high bar for
37:19
Speaker 2: his performance and that's okay, and he just he has
37:22
Speaker 2: a chance to meet that bar. But yeah, uh, Max Clark,
37:26
Speaker 2: you know, that's that's someone we're gonna be talking to
37:28
Speaker 2: a lot. That's someone we are going to be watching
37:31
Speaker 2: a lot. In a way, McGonagall has lessened the hype
37:34
Speaker 2: and the pressure for Max Clark because he's become this
37:37
Speaker 2: whole other thing and probably has a better roster case
37:40
Speaker 2: just because he's an infielder and all of that. So
37:43
Speaker 2: maybe that's good man.
37:44
Speaker 3: Maybe the yin and yang of Max Clark is good,
37:47
Speaker 3: is great because Clark's gonna draw the more, like just
37:51
Speaker 3: more the lightning rod. But McGonagall by being more the
37:54
Speaker 3: quiet one and just playing Max cors played really well too.
37:58
Speaker 3: But by becoming the player he is, it's taken some
38:01
Speaker 3: of the attention off Max Clark and that's probably best
38:03
Speaker 3: for everybody, you know, in a good way.
38:06
Speaker 1: Yeah. Plus you have the bromance factor. We love romances.
38:10
Speaker 3: Romance, odd couple, you know.
38:12
Speaker 1: That's that's gonna be a that's gonna be a side
38:14
Speaker 1: show for for sure. And then also like the juggling
38:19
Speaker 1: of the of the three quote unquote closers, you know
38:24
Speaker 1: will definitely.
38:24
Speaker 2: I can't wait for answer. Do you think he's been
38:28
Speaker 2: practicing it in front of the mirror. He is ready
38:31
Speaker 2: for this one. He sees it coming. It's on a
38:33
Speaker 2: t He's gonna oh, it's gonna be read.
38:36
Speaker 1: He might interrupt the question. He might just he might.
38:38
Speaker 2: Just might he might just ask himself that, yeah, all right,
38:42
Speaker 2: I know you guys are gonna ask me about the
38:43
Speaker 2: closer I got this.
38:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, so that'll that that will be one because again
38:48
Speaker 1: the moment this will bleed obviously more into the season.
38:51
Speaker 1: But the moment one of them Finigan Canley or or
38:54
Speaker 1: vest like is ineffective, I'll just say or blows a save,
38:59
Speaker 1: it's gonna be like, all right, well, why didn't you
39:01
Speaker 1: go with one of the other two? You know it's
39:03
Speaker 1: gonna be the greatest one.
39:05
Speaker 3: I'll probably ask that question.
39:09
Speaker 1: And then also like how how that dynamic is and like, well,
39:12
Speaker 1: these guys actually be Ego lists, and like all these
39:16
Speaker 1: things will be like a side show. And then again
39:18
Speaker 1: we've talked about this uh at at length of the
39:22
Speaker 1: last couple of weeks. It's just like what do you
39:24
Speaker 1: do with number five? And that could be the Burlander thing,
39:27
Speaker 1: that could be like down the line, the Surezer thing
39:32
Speaker 1: or the Melton and Anderson show and kind of figure
39:36
Speaker 1: it out. So like micro analyzing all those little things
39:40
Speaker 1: are definitely gonna be something that we spend have a
39:44
Speaker 1: heightened awareness that will probably outdo like how actually important
39:49
Speaker 1: the things that we're seeing are. So those are those
39:52
Speaker 1: kind of round up the side shows.
39:53
Speaker 2: For me, it is kind of amazing that we're not
39:56
Speaker 2: really talking about Hobby Baias anymore. The guy who and
40:00
Speaker 2: ways good and bad has been kind of a side
40:02
Speaker 2: show throughout his career.
40:04
Speaker 3: He did some good things. He struggled mightily at times
40:08
Speaker 3: last year, but he did did kind of enough and
40:10
Speaker 3: that the team's overall performance improved enough where everyone in
40:14
Speaker 3: this spring is just kind of like, h Hobby will
40:16
Speaker 3: be there, he'll probably park the Lambeau on the curb
40:19
Speaker 3: and whatever, but everyone like it's there's going to be
40:22
Speaker 3: so much less focus on Hobby probably than ever, and
40:28
Speaker 3: which is actually wild in a way. Maybe it still
40:31
Speaker 3: should be a more important storyline, like is this guy
40:33
Speaker 3: your everyday shortstop? That's a big question for this team
40:36
Speaker 3: right now, But because of these other things have emerged,
40:40
Speaker 3: like Hobby, Like I think it's gonna be a chill
40:43
Speaker 3: spring for Abby.
40:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's just kind of again, kind of funny to
40:48
Speaker 1: say that out loud, but it was a hard cent true.
40:50
Speaker 1: So so just to recap the side shows that we're
40:54
Speaker 1: gonna that we anticipate kind of dominating the uh, the
40:59
Speaker 1: the the headlines and spring training throughout early or later
41:03
Speaker 1: school ball and everything surrounding school ball. McGonagall roster case.
41:08
Speaker 1: Clark is a show, Riley Green, what's up with his body?
41:12
Speaker 1: Is he?
41:14
Speaker 3: Like?
41:15
Speaker 1: What kind of is this a vital spring for the
41:17
Speaker 1: back to back All Star and raining silver Slugger?
41:20
Speaker 3: Uh?
41:21
Speaker 1: And then the closers and what's gonna be? What's what
41:23
Speaker 1: are you gonna do? How are you gonna handle the
41:25
Speaker 1: number five stars? So I put it all out there.
41:28
Speaker 1: I'm like, man, can't wait for spring. We're close, Cody,
41:31
Speaker 1: We're close now getting really close.
41:33
Speaker 2: This episode's kind of got me fired off actually just
41:36
Speaker 2: thinking of some of the stories, some of the questions.
41:38
Speaker 2: I'm starting to feel it, starting to feel that it.
41:42
Speaker 1: I am definitely fired up to be able to talk
41:44
Speaker 1: about this with you as it happens. And I am
41:47
Speaker 1: fired up for everybody who has listened to us about
41:50
Speaker 1: the off season and follows us on X formally known
41:52
Speaker 1: as Twitter at Cody stave Inhagen, I'm at here an
41:54
Speaker 1: underscore Steckley pot page at Tiger Territory Underscore. If you
41:57
Speaker 1: have not already. Please go to our YouTube and subscribe
42:00
Speaker 1: at Tiger Territory and then go to Tiger Territory Shop
42:03
Speaker 1: dot com for your Tiger Territory merch needs. So for
42:07
Speaker 1: coach Stavenhagen, I'm cious secretly. Everybody, have a great day.