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Detroit Tigers Infield Shuffle · Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast

0:05
Speaker 1: And welcome into another episode of Tiger Territory, part of
0:09
Speaker 1: the Foul Territory Network, a Detroit Tiger's podcast. I'm Karen
0:13
Speaker 1: Stychically with me as always as a man who is
0:15
Speaker 1: never afraid the switch positions.
0:18
Speaker 2: He is Cody Stavenhagen.
0:19
Speaker 3: How you doing. Yeah, I played my cell phone versatility.
0:25
Speaker 2: No it sounds thirty, but you know it's true. You
0:30
Speaker 2: can do it.
0:30
Speaker 1: You can do it all over there at the athletic
0:33
Speaker 1: you know, and and you're obviously very talented doing this podcast.
0:36
Speaker 2: You switch positions all the time.
0:37
Speaker 1: So, speaking of switching positions, we're gonna get to a
0:40
Speaker 1: lot of Colt Keith in today's episode, but I want
0:44
Speaker 1: to start with a little bit, uh, a little bit
0:47
Speaker 1: like some anxiety it's going on in my mind, Cody.
0:50
Speaker 1: So ever since you know, I have this nice little
0:53
Speaker 1: day off it's post Christmas, and then you know, I'm
0:56
Speaker 1: going to the gym and then boom, Labor Torres gets signed.
1:00
Speaker 1: And I know that doesn't that pails the comparison to
1:02
Speaker 1: what you experienced, but that was just my specific, you know,
1:06
Speaker 1: occurrence there with the signing and then all these other
1:09
Speaker 1: deals around Major League Baseball kind of getting announced like
1:12
Speaker 1: in the wee hours of the morning. I found myself
1:15
Speaker 1: waking up two three point fifteen, and I I'm not
1:20
Speaker 1: saying this is the healthiest thing to do, but like
1:22
Speaker 1: I go and check my phone and I'm like, all right, Nightingale,
1:25
Speaker 1: say anything passing say anything?
1:27
Speaker 2: Is he yelling at people?
1:28
Speaker 3: Go to bed?
1:29
Speaker 2: Okay?
1:30
Speaker 1: No, I guess it's all good. I think, being like,
1:33
Speaker 1: is there gonna be some news here? There's been some
1:37
Speaker 1: Bregmann scuttle butt.
1:39
Speaker 2: I think is fair to say and.
1:45
Speaker 1: Trying to pierce through like what is kind of real
1:48
Speaker 1: and what's kind of just keeping it at top of mind,
1:52
Speaker 1: I think is a fair way to say. Do you
1:55
Speaker 1: have any sort of any sort of juice on this
1:59
Speaker 1: breag situation? Because he is He's not just top of mind,
2:03
Speaker 1: I think for Tigers fans, but like, really he's the
2:05
Speaker 1: biggest domino left free agent wise in Major League Baseball,
2:10
Speaker 1: So like, you know, is there something you can give
2:13
Speaker 1: me and the people here?
2:15
Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah, I got you guys. So a couple of
2:18
Speaker 3: nights ago, my phone started really kind of blowing up
2:21
Speaker 3: because Carlos Bayerga, the former player. Now I covered baseball
2:25
Speaker 3: in some former fashion head I don't know reported is
2:28
Speaker 3: the word, but pull on Instagram that basically he was
2:31
Speaker 3: hearing Bragman would sign with the Tigers in the next
2:33
Speaker 3: few days. So of course people are kind of freaking out.
2:36
Speaker 3: I texted a few people didn't get much of anything,
2:40
Speaker 3: which almost made me think that was kind of fishy
2:42
Speaker 3: like that, you know, there weren't any just like nah.
2:45
Speaker 3: So I was certainly on edge going to sleep that night.
2:48
Speaker 3: But it's come out, you know. It was classic, this
2:52
Speaker 3: rumor comes out, gets social media in a panic. There's
2:55
Speaker 3: some other reporting in the media that I think kind
2:57
Speaker 3: of dramatizes the situation. Here's what I'm here. The Tigers
3:01
Speaker 3: remain in on Alex pregnant, but so do the Boston
3:04
Speaker 3: Red Sox, so do the Toronto Blue Jays. There are
3:06
Speaker 3: at least three teams very much in and no decision
3:09
Speaker 3: is imminent at least as of this that this weekend.
3:13
Speaker 3: That's what I was hearing. So if you're a Tigers fan,
3:16
Speaker 3: I think this is good to know that negotiations are ongoing,
3:20
Speaker 3: that you are certainly very much in the mix here.
3:22
Speaker 3: But I think it's a little bit overblown. I don't
3:25
Speaker 3: know when to expect the decision. Maybe it's a situation
3:28
Speaker 3: where things could change quickly here in the next few days.
3:31
Speaker 3: But I'm not sure the Tigers are like one the
3:33
Speaker 3: one yard line of a bregnant deal. That has just
3:36
Speaker 3: not been what I've heard, even though social media would be.
3:40
Speaker 3: You know, if you just went on that, you could
3:41
Speaker 3: come away with that impression. Don't think that's fully accurate.
3:45
Speaker 1: You know, there's like a couple of things that kind
3:49
Speaker 1: of get my mind going. Number one is I feel
3:53
Speaker 1: like it's become too repetitive. Like the talking point, which
3:57
Speaker 1: I'm not saying is inaccurate. It it most certainly is
4:01
Speaker 1: accurate as of right now. But the talking point about
4:05
Speaker 1: like the market diminishing, I know it makes sense on paper, uh,
4:10
Speaker 1: you know, for for Bregman, and then you start thinking
4:12
Speaker 1: about how that could benefit the Tigers and all that.
4:14
Speaker 1: It's like fair to speculate on. But you know, we're
4:19
Speaker 1: not even to the new year yet, and I'm like,
4:22
Speaker 1: is there gonna be some like random team just just
4:25
Speaker 1: kind of swoops in, Like there's certainly time for that
4:29
Speaker 1: to happen. And then it just feels like it would
4:32
Speaker 1: fit a narrative where it's like, you know, small market
4:34
Speaker 1: small market, small market, you know for him, and then
4:36
Speaker 1: all of a sudden boom just making up a team
4:39
Speaker 1: like the Arizona Diamondbacks on the same they would do it,
4:41
Speaker 1: but just like some some out of.
4:42
Speaker 3: Like yeah they just did that a couple of days ago.
4:44
Speaker 3: What you know, it's not coming on Cluban Burns. So
4:47
Speaker 3: again a reminder, do you never know these things? A
4:53
Speaker 3: lot with like what where are the New York Mets?
4:56
Speaker 3: Like where are? And I guess the Seattle Mariners don't
4:59
Speaker 3: want to spend? But in God's name are they doing?
5:02
Speaker 3: We know? I don't know if old Pal Dave Dombrowski
5:05
Speaker 3: is gonna be able to move Alec Bohm. But couldn't
5:07
Speaker 3: you see Dombrowski just jumping off the top rope and
5:10
Speaker 3: getting in on this at the last minute, not caring
5:13
Speaker 3: how much you offer. The teams we know to be
5:15
Speaker 3: in the minx Boston, Toronto, Detroit. I think is kind
5:18
Speaker 3: of an interesting compare and contrast because my gutt has
5:22
Speaker 3: kind of always told me Boston makes a lot of sense.
5:24
Speaker 3: The ballpark suits him. He can bang doubles off the
5:26
Speaker 3: Green Monster, but there would have to be a lot
5:29
Speaker 3: of roster shuffling sounds like Bregmant most likely would probably
5:32
Speaker 3: move to second base, maybe full time, if he were
5:35
Speaker 3: to be a member of the Red Sox. Scott Boris
5:38
Speaker 3: is that Alex Bregmant is open to that. But if
5:39
Speaker 3: it's like, go to Boston, change positions, go to Detroit,
5:43
Speaker 3: just do what you do, like some really interesting pros
5:46
Speaker 3: and cons. America Park not gonna sort his suit his
5:51
Speaker 3: spray chart as well as obviously Finway would. And then
5:55
Speaker 3: you have the Blue Jays, Like, if there's a team
5:58
Speaker 3: that is desperate, I don't think the Tigers want to overpay,
6:02
Speaker 3: and I don't think the Red Sox want to overpay.
6:05
Speaker 3: The Blue Jays have puzzled me. If I ran the
6:08
Speaker 3: Blue Jays, I think it'd be trading Laed Guerrero and
6:10
Speaker 3: Bobashed and just biting the bullet of a rebuild. They
6:13
Speaker 3: seem very staunch against doing that. And they've missed out
6:17
Speaker 3: on Monsto, they missed out on these other guys. Like
6:20
Speaker 3: there's a team that has incentive to just overpay, and
6:23
Speaker 3: like the taxes are in Canada are gonna make them
6:25
Speaker 3: overpay even more, Maybe it'd be the Toronto Blue Jays.
6:29
Speaker 3: Toronto is a great city. It's a big market. I
6:31
Speaker 3: don't know what Alex Bregman thinks of Toronto, but like
6:34
Speaker 3: Toronto's a pretty cool place. Not gonna be the best
6:36
Speaker 3: ballpark for him, but they've revamped that ballpark a little bit.
6:39
Speaker 3: Like So just those three teams, there's so many pros
6:42
Speaker 3: and cons kind of any way you cut it. You
6:45
Speaker 3: have the aj Hinge factor, but you also have like
6:48
Speaker 3: an Alex core A factor. Walker Bueller and Alex Bregman
6:53
Speaker 3: own a racehorse together. So like, I don't know what's
6:57
Speaker 3: gonna happen here, and I'm sure that's one reason why
7:00
Speaker 3: your decision isn't imminent. Alex Bregmant has a lot to
7:02
Speaker 3: think about. In addition to however, Scott Boris might be
7:05
Speaker 3: trying to play this market to get his client a
7:07
Speaker 3: little bit more money.
7:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, and this is my I don't know, semi annual reminder.
7:14
Speaker 1: I tend to do this around trade deadline time. I
7:17
Speaker 1: do this, you know, beginning to spring training. Like you
7:20
Speaker 1: gotta recognize these you know, anonymous sources and what they say,
7:25
Speaker 1: and then you can kind of figure out like what
7:27
Speaker 1: they're trying to do. And this is not an indictment
7:29
Speaker 1: of your fellow journalism guys over there, because this is
7:32
Speaker 1: the business. But like you have things out there that
7:36
Speaker 1: are said about the Tigers and Alex Bregman, and it's
7:39
Speaker 1: like a gap and perceived value and notable progress. Those
7:45
Speaker 1: kinds of things typically lend itself to being coming from
7:49
Speaker 1: one side, all right, So you can you can play
7:52
Speaker 1: with that in your own mind. I don't have I
7:54
Speaker 1: don't want to have to spell it out for you,
7:56
Speaker 1: but you know, just start looking in between the lines.
7:58
Speaker 1: As the great Caln Calvert says, things get out for
8:01
Speaker 1: a reason because people want them out. So always keep
8:05
Speaker 1: that in mind with with stuff like.
8:06
Speaker 3: This, and there's a gap in value, like no s
8:13
Speaker 3: there's a gap in value. If there wasn't a gap
8:15
Speaker 3: in value, you'd be signed by by somebody's It makes
8:22
Speaker 3: a lot of sense for the Detroit Tigers. We have
8:24
Speaker 3: a lot of other topics to get to one thing.
8:27
Speaker 3: I keep throwing around in my mind though, it's just
8:28
Speaker 3: like what if they don't get Bredman, what is the
8:31
Speaker 3: next move? We talked about like alternatives at their base
8:35
Speaker 3: and infield, and we never even mentioned the name clabor tourists,
8:38
Speaker 3: so we are very wrong. I keep coming back to
8:40
Speaker 3: a name I did throw out Randall Gertschick. He's an outfielder.
8:43
Speaker 3: I almost think that may be a better pivot for
8:46
Speaker 3: the Tigers than trying to unless you're able to trade
8:49
Speaker 3: for an infielder. But at third base, I think that'd
8:52
Speaker 3: be tough. If you sign an outfielder Gritschick more than
8:54
Speaker 3: a nine hundred ops against lefties, you accept that you're
8:58
Speaker 3: gonna be playing mostly mostly Matt Vierling maybe Jase Young
9:01
Speaker 3: at third base, but you could strengthen the outfield and
9:04
Speaker 3: then I still really like Hasong Kim. If he's not
9:06
Speaker 3: gonna play until late May early June, like, yeah, maybe
9:10
Speaker 3: there's not a clear spot for him, but by then,
9:12
Speaker 3: let's be real, someone's probably gonna be injured. You strengthen
9:15
Speaker 3: your team that way. I think that may be like
9:18
Speaker 3: an alternative option for Tigers.
9:21
Speaker 2: Any love for Paul the Young.
9:25
Speaker 3: I like Paul Deyong like as a player, but I'm
9:28
Speaker 3: not sure how much he fits Detroit. I'm not sure
9:31
Speaker 3: how much exactly he really boosts your lineup.
9:35
Speaker 1: So I have like a little versatility there, like you know,
9:38
Speaker 1: he like he did hit twenty four home runs last year,
9:41
Speaker 1: For whatever it's worth. I haven't fully betted this, but
9:46
Speaker 1: I was also kind of looking for like kind of
9:49
Speaker 1: fallout candidates, and that's one that kind of came to
9:52
Speaker 1: mind that would fit the contractually, the type of situation Tigers.
9:57
Speaker 3: Just a quick glance. He was a reversed splits last year,
10:01
Speaker 3: so he's better against right handed pitching. And I'm gonna
10:04
Speaker 3: continue to be a stickler battle on base percentage, like
10:07
Speaker 3: he's just never been an obp guy, even with his power.
10:10
Speaker 3: Last year he was ninety seven ops plus two seventy
10:14
Speaker 3: six one base percent age, Like, I don't think that
10:17
Speaker 3: fits the profile the Tigers need.
10:20
Speaker 1: Well, obviously a guy that does fit the profile, because
10:23
Speaker 1: they just signed him, Glabor Torres. We actually heard from him,
10:28
Speaker 1: you know, yesterday, two days ago, depending on when you're
10:30
Speaker 1: listening to this podcast, Cody, I did love the beard.
10:36
Speaker 1: I know it's the off season anyway, but I still
10:39
Speaker 1: chuckle at the facial hair and hair dress code, if
10:44
Speaker 1: you would, of the New York Yankees. And so I
10:47
Speaker 1: think we're gonna get, We're gonna get really mountain man
10:50
Speaker 1: style Glabor Torres with the Tigers, finally able to express
10:55
Speaker 1: himself facial hair wise. So anyway, I thought that was
10:59
Speaker 1: kind of funny, always like making fun of that because
11:01
Speaker 1: it's really antiquated and kind of stupid.
11:03
Speaker 3: Anyway, my my younger brother has really long hair and
11:06
Speaker 3: he like really needs a haircut, and so I told
11:08
Speaker 3: him over Christmas, like, I don't know, man, Like, what
11:10
Speaker 3: are you gonna do If the New York Yankees come going, yeah,
11:15
Speaker 3: he's he's so good, they'd make an exception for him.
11:19
Speaker 1: Gonna have not Chaffin's gonna have to figure that one
11:22
Speaker 1: out too.
11:24
Speaker 3: I don't think Andrew Chaffin's gonna play in New York City.
11:28
Speaker 3: That man hates New York.
11:30
Speaker 1: There you go, maybe maybe driving the price. But anyway,
11:33
Speaker 1: we were here from Torres.
11:36
Speaker 2: He he he hit just like Scott in his zoom
11:40
Speaker 2: like what. He kind of hit all the.
11:42
Speaker 1: All the right messages. You know, he said he wanted
11:44
Speaker 1: one year the whole time. I mean, as soon as
11:47
Speaker 1: Scott heard that for the first time, he must have
11:49
Speaker 1: been just like jumping for joy.
11:51
Speaker 3: Uh.
11:51
Speaker 1: And you know, he wants to prove himself. He obviously
11:53
Speaker 1: very much believes in himself if he's putting out there
11:56
Speaker 1: that he wants to sign one hundred million dollar contract eventually.
11:59
Speaker 1: So I uh, and and and he did kind of say, like,
12:04
Speaker 1: you know, I was impressed with the playoff run and
12:06
Speaker 1: the young team and they seem like a family, you know,
12:08
Speaker 1: all that all that stuff. But your takeaway from here
12:11
Speaker 1: and from Torres for the first time and yeah, and
12:14
Speaker 1: how how they kind of like, you know, you're in
12:17
Speaker 1: that clubhouse every day during the season, Like how is
12:19
Speaker 1: he gonna fit?
12:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, as much as like those are kind of cliche
12:23
Speaker 3: things we can make fun of, Like my takeaway from
12:26
Speaker 3: Glaver was very much like, no, this is a dude
12:28
Speaker 3: who wants to be here, which I think is a
12:31
Speaker 3: positive take. Talked about wanting to be part of a
12:33
Speaker 3: younger team, talked about watching them from afar, talked about
12:36
Speaker 3: wanting the one year deal and the opportunity, and you know,
12:40
Speaker 3: he passed up why I think you mentioned like Anaheim
12:42
Speaker 3: and Washington, Like, I think Detroit's definitely a better situation
12:45
Speaker 3: than those two teams. I like what the Nationals are building,
12:49
Speaker 3: but like for Glabor and not having to move positions, Yeah,
12:53
Speaker 3: this guy wants to be a Detroit Tiger, which isn't
12:55
Speaker 3: always the easiest thing to get on the open market.
12:58
Speaker 3: So I think way that's kind of exciting. It seems
13:02
Speaker 3: like someone who's willing to be invested. We talked a
13:04
Speaker 3: couple of days ago, like has obvious incentive to have
13:07
Speaker 3: a big year, because yeah, he is trying to get
13:09
Speaker 3: a bigger payday next year, but like he's coming here
13:12
Speaker 3: kind of with a purpose, with a mission, and with
13:15
Speaker 3: a lot of reasons to be invested. And I think
13:18
Speaker 3: it's hard not to respect that.
13:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, if you wanted to believe in the
13:27
Speaker 1: message that the team is put out there since Harris
13:30
Speaker 1: took over, is that Like Harris came in wanting the
13:35
Speaker 1: Tigers to be like a destination, not like the destination
13:40
Speaker 1: like the Yankees would be or the Dodgers would be,
13:42
Speaker 1: although you know, you start winning, that kind of stuff
13:45
Speaker 1: will happen more naturally. But he wanted it to be
13:47
Speaker 1: a player improvement factory destination and improvement maybe not like
13:54
Speaker 1: the greatest word for Torres, Like obviously he you know,
13:57
Speaker 1: he wants to get better blah blah blah, but he
13:59
Speaker 1: he's not like a reclamation project. He's just trying to
14:02
Speaker 1: reaffirm like his status in Major League Baseball, and you
14:05
Speaker 1: can get talented guys. You know, I don't like using
14:09
Speaker 1: the term like former All Star. That was like it
14:11
Speaker 1: was like wrong Garden higher managing the Tigers. It was
14:14
Speaker 1: like that long ago feels like forever ago. Uh So,
14:17
Speaker 1: like you know, but you know former also are he
14:20
Speaker 1: wants you want to get guys that are still in theory,
14:24
Speaker 1: in their physical prime, that have something to prove. And
14:27
Speaker 1: then Scott Harris says it, and then Glabor Torres says it,
14:30
Speaker 1: and then the fact that he basically found the situation
14:34
Speaker 1: that most ideally suited him. It's not it wasn't just
14:37
Speaker 1: a money grab because sometimes he's one year deals are
14:40
Speaker 1: like all right, well I'm not going to get any
14:41
Speaker 1: in the multiple multiple years. I'm just going to take
14:44
Speaker 1: the highest bidder. Maybe the Tigers were the highest bidder,
14:46
Speaker 1: maybe they weren't.
14:46
Speaker 3: I have no idea, but like he.
14:50
Speaker 1: Was not as worried about that if you're trying to
14:52
Speaker 1: get the hundred million dollar contract later on. So uh so,
14:55
Speaker 1: credit to everybody, you know, having having the uh the unified,
14:59
Speaker 1: the unif message. I wish that we could get Colt
15:06
Speaker 1: Keith on a zoom and and get like some of
15:09
Speaker 1: his like honest like assessments of.
15:14
Speaker 2: This situation, because I think.
15:18
Speaker 1: This is a little bit more peculiar than people kind
15:24
Speaker 1: of realize, like lost in the sauce of like the
15:26
Speaker 1: excited excitedness of getting a glabor Torres or if you're
15:32
Speaker 1: you know, kind of cynical about Torque, like no longer
15:34
Speaker 1: having to worry about him and your lineup every day.
15:38
Speaker 1: Is like, this is an odd development generally speaking, in
15:44
Speaker 1: the scope of Colt Keith, because he is drafted, like,
15:48
Speaker 1: you know, he's a prep guy, he's a third baseman drafted,
15:51
Speaker 1: you know, he does a little bit of both, but
15:53
Speaker 1: he really full time commits to second base when he's
15:56
Speaker 1: going to be a big leaguer, and with the understood
16:01
Speaker 1: struggles that came with that, although I think we all
16:03
Speaker 1: agree like he looked better as the season went on,
16:08
Speaker 1: he's also still very young and you're moving positions already,
16:13
Speaker 1: and you're moving him to a less valuable defensive position
16:20
Speaker 1: less than a year after you signed him to this huge, huge,
16:24
Speaker 1: but long multi year contract extension that like part of
16:30
Speaker 1: the bank of the value was you're gonna get a
16:34
Speaker 1: position player up the middle who has the potential to
16:38
Speaker 1: rake at this price, you see what I'm saying. And
16:41
Speaker 1: now all that changes perspection when he goes to first base,
16:47
Speaker 1: and then Scott Harris saying, well, for the twenty twenty
16:49
Speaker 1: five Tigers, it's best for him to be a first baseman.
16:53
Speaker 1: We don't know about twenty twenty six and beyond, which
16:56
Speaker 1: is fair, and that goes along with Scott Harris's like, oh,
16:59
Speaker 1: I don't leaven multi year plans or whatever. I understand that, however,
17:06
Speaker 1: it's not that common for below average defenders to go
17:11
Speaker 1: to first base and then go back to like something
17:16
Speaker 1: like in up the middle position. It just I don't
17:19
Speaker 1: really feel like it happens all that often, especially at
17:21
Speaker 1: this age. So that's a lot of words there, Cody,
17:25
Speaker 1: But like, are you thinking about this in that way too?
17:28
Speaker 1: Am I the only one that's kind of thinking?
17:30
Speaker 2: Ye know, this first base thing, first of all, there's
17:32
Speaker 2: okay's even.
17:33
Speaker 1: Gonna be good there, you know, like like like this
17:36
Speaker 1: first base thing has like it's not being talked enough about,
17:40
Speaker 1: and the fact he's excited for it.
17:41
Speaker 3: I don't really care, Like, yeah, no, I think it
17:46
Speaker 3: is one of those things everyone just kind of takes
17:48
Speaker 3: for grand and like, oh, Colt's going to first everything's great.
17:51
Speaker 3: And I even said, I said, you know, a way
17:52
Speaker 3: you upgrade two positions at once with the Glabor signing,
17:55
Speaker 3: but that's not necessarily a slam dung number one. Yeah,
17:59
Speaker 3: do we know if Keith's going to be any good
18:01
Speaker 3: defensively at first I think in theory I guess he
18:04
Speaker 3: would move okay for a first baseman, at least better
18:07
Speaker 3: than he would as a second baseman. And like he showed,
18:09
Speaker 3: it's a little more range than maybe he gets credit
18:12
Speaker 3: for it. It was really the plays at the base
18:14
Speaker 3: and the double play turns and the arm that looked
18:17
Speaker 3: a little clunky at second base in the ladder half
18:20
Speaker 3: of the year. But I don't know. Footwork's a big
18:24
Speaker 3: part of life at first base. I've never viewed cold.
18:26
Speaker 3: It's just like the most nimble on his feet. I
18:30
Speaker 3: think the glove work is pretty good. Like, I don't
18:33
Speaker 3: know how will he be at scooping throws from Javi
18:35
Speaker 3: Baya's which was like kind of the redeeming quality for
18:38
Speaker 3: Spencer Sworkles and I have no idea that's going to
18:40
Speaker 3: be something we haven't really seen from Colt before. I
18:44
Speaker 3: think he certainly has the capability to be an average,
18:47
Speaker 3: if not slightly above average, defensive first baseman, But I
18:51
Speaker 3: want to see him there before I kind of make
18:53
Speaker 3: any declaration as to what he's actually in practice going
18:56
Speaker 3: to be. And then the bat. Yeah, it creates a
18:59
Speaker 3: higher thresh for his bat. I'm definitely a believe in
19:03
Speaker 3: Colt Keith at the plate, So it showed some really
19:05
Speaker 3: nice things this rookie year, especially from late May one.
19:09
Speaker 3: But first base, I don't know one thing. I definitely thought.
19:13
Speaker 3: There's a story by my colleagues at the Athletic stephen
19:16
Speaker 3: Nesbit and Chad Jennings recently that kind of blew my mind.
19:19
Speaker 3: It's called where have all the power hitting first Basement Gone?
19:22
Speaker 3: Last year, slugging percentage from first base was four oh seven.
19:25
Speaker 3: It was the lowest since nineteen eighty four. There were
19:29
Speaker 3: more shortstops with thirty home runs than there were first
19:33
Speaker 3: basemen with thirty home runs. So in a way, Colt
19:36
Speaker 3: Keith going to first and any potential questions over like
19:39
Speaker 3: how much power is he going to hit with fits
19:42
Speaker 3: kind of a trend that's happening across the league right now.
19:45
Speaker 3: First is becoming a little bit more of a platoon position.
19:48
Speaker 3: First baseman don't necessarily have the offensive profile that they
19:52
Speaker 3: did in the steroid era. Or whatever it may be.
19:56
Speaker 3: So although there's a concern like can Colt hit thirty,
20:00
Speaker 3: the homer is what you think you need at first
20:02
Speaker 3: like he maybe fits in with the league wide picture
20:04
Speaker 3: at first base better than you might think on first glance.
20:10
Speaker 1: Brings me to a random comp that I made, a
20:13
Speaker 1: guy that I've mentioned a couple times on this podcast
20:16
Speaker 1: as somebody I would have liked the Tigers to maybe pursue,
20:20
Speaker 1: especially at the price point, and.
20:21
Speaker 2: That's Nathaniel Low.
20:23
Speaker 1: All right, So Nathaniel Low, he's obviously World Series champions,
20:27
Speaker 1: got a silver slugger and a gold glove to his name.
20:30
Speaker 1: Pretty nice, left handed, a little bit more, a little
20:34
Speaker 1: bit more lean than Keith, I think, but like basically
20:37
Speaker 1: kind of you're in your similar physical profile. I just
20:42
Speaker 1: want to read something because I went into this kind
20:44
Speaker 1: of being worried about Cold Keith for the reasons that
20:46
Speaker 1: I just stated. But then I was like, all right,
20:48
Speaker 1: let's see what kind of numbers I can dig up.
20:50
Speaker 3: Went in there.
20:52
Speaker 1: The numbers will tell me how I feel about this.
20:55
Speaker 1: Fan Grafts has a projection for Cold Keith two sixty
20:59
Speaker 1: four batting average, fifteen home runs, sixty one RBI with
21:03
Speaker 1: a forward like nineteen slug Okay, okay, that's that's.
21:07
Speaker 3: Better than the league average at first base last night.
21:09
Speaker 1: That puts him also add a nice you know second
21:12
Speaker 1: year you know progression, right, Nathaniel Lowe last season to
21:18
Speaker 1: sixty five batting average, sixteen home runs, sixty nine ribis
21:24
Speaker 1: with a just over four hundred slugging percentage. That equates
21:29
Speaker 1: with his defense, which, as I've said, is actually not
21:33
Speaker 1: sound as good as you think it is. That he
21:35
Speaker 1: was worth two point seven war last year. You could
21:38
Speaker 1: project Colt Keith to get two plus war if you
21:41
Speaker 1: can get two point seven war out of cold Keith
21:43
Speaker 1: at first base in year two of his big league
21:46
Speaker 1: career with this switch, I kind of think you liked that.
21:50
Speaker 1: I kind of think you liked that a lot, Cody,
21:52
Speaker 1: And that line is perfectly what you said about what
21:54
Speaker 1: the numbers are at first base are now.
21:56
Speaker 3: Mm, that's a really interesting point. Another stat from that story,
22:00
Speaker 3: seven of the fifteen worst offensive seasons in the history
22:05
Speaker 3: of first base have happened within the last nine years.
22:09
Speaker 3: So this thing's kind of been trickling down for a while.
22:11
Speaker 3: And that's the reason why a player like Nathaniel Lowe
22:13
Speaker 3: can be a really attractive first basement despite hitting whatever
22:17
Speaker 3: it was, sixteen home runs or something last year.
22:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, I will say this if you want to go
22:24
Speaker 1: and look at how this could potentially affect Colt Keith's contract.
22:29
Speaker 1: Remember there's a lot of incentives in there, and he
22:33
Speaker 1: gets I believe, like two point fifty. He's like three
22:36
Speaker 1: million if he wins VP.
22:38
Speaker 2: I think we can put that one to bed a
22:41
Speaker 2: little bit.
22:43
Speaker 1: By the way, he's gonna make three point eight million
22:45
Speaker 1: dollars this year, he's three point eight and he jumps
22:47
Speaker 1: up to over four twenty twenty six. So just keep
22:51
Speaker 1: that in mind in terms of how the configuration salary
22:53
Speaker 1: wise and everything with the infield. But if he gets
22:57
Speaker 1: MVP wins, he gets three million dollars in incentives Silver Slugger,
23:01
Speaker 1: two fifty All Star Starter, one hundred K All Star Reserve,
23:06
Speaker 1: fifty K. Now, that doesn't kick in until the next decade,
23:09
Speaker 1: that's how the contract is structured, but he can earn
23:12
Speaker 1: money on the way. Basically, I will say this, it's
23:16
Speaker 1: probably gonna be harder to win Silver Slugger at first base.
23:20
Speaker 1: When Nathaniel Low did it a couple of years ago,
23:21
Speaker 1: he had twenty seven home runs, just a little perspective.
23:24
Speaker 1: He also have Vla Guerrero in the American League. I
23:26
Speaker 1: don't know if you've ever heard of him. All Star
23:30
Speaker 1: starter again, it gonna be kind of hard at first base,
23:32
Speaker 1: All Star reserve. It's gonna be harder at first and second.
23:36
Speaker 1: All this stuff, so like for wherever that's worth, incentives
23:40
Speaker 1: become in theory a little bit more difficult for cold
23:44
Speaker 1: Keith reach. At least we'll keep it for twenty twenty five.
23:46
Speaker 1: And see, now, if you believe in the bat that much,
23:50
Speaker 1: and he just has this huge sophomore surge, maybe he
23:53
Speaker 1: gets to that, but just the theory of it, like
23:57
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a little bit more difficult. Although I
24:00
Speaker 1: will say, and double check my notes here real quick,
24:04
Speaker 1: you do have one less first baseman from the All
24:07
Speaker 1: Star team last year in the American League, right because
24:10
Speaker 1: Josh Naylor is no longer in the American League.
24:13
Speaker 2: So maybe there's a spot open.
24:15
Speaker 3: I don't know.
24:16
Speaker 1: But all that stuff in theory would have been more
24:19
Speaker 1: like suitable at second or easy to achieve, easier to
24:22
Speaker 1: achieve at second base than first base. And so again
24:27
Speaker 1: I was thinking all that stuff, and now I looked
24:28
Speaker 1: at Nathaniel Lowe's numbers and I was like, Okay, if
24:31
Speaker 1: you can get yourself Nathaniel Lowe, who last year was
24:33
Speaker 1: negative point six defensive war, I think you can work
24:37
Speaker 1: with that. I think, I mean, that's literally a world
24:40
Speaker 1: series winning level production. I know they win the World
24:42
Speaker 1: Series last year, but you see, I'm saying it's all
24:44
Speaker 1: relatively same numbers. That's world series winning level production that
24:49
Speaker 1: you could get out of Colt Keith.
24:51
Speaker 3: So the other thing that's kind of taken for granted
24:53
Speaker 3: and all this, like I mentioned it, but it is
24:56
Speaker 3: kind of wild that the Tigers moved Colt Keith and
24:59
Speaker 3: signed and literally a worst defender at second base in
25:02
Speaker 3: Glaber Torres. So that is one of the trickle down effects.
25:06
Speaker 3: How worried should we be about the Tigers infield defense
25:10
Speaker 3: Cole We don't really know. At first. I think he
25:14
Speaker 3: could probably be average. I don't know that I would
25:18
Speaker 3: be super confident in anything more than that.
25:20
Speaker 2: Never played for a space as a professional.
25:21
Speaker 3: By the way, uh, Glabor Torres is bad year in
25:26
Speaker 3: and year out at second base. Hovey Bias Tray Sweeney.
25:30
Speaker 3: You can even feel pretty good about that. I mean,
25:32
Speaker 3: we'll see how it all shakes out. But you can
25:34
Speaker 3: feel pretty good about that, and then we don't really
25:37
Speaker 3: know who is going to be your third baseman. I
25:39
Speaker 3: guess there's another reminder. Wouldn't it be nice if you
25:42
Speaker 3: could add a gold glove infielder to the mix. But
25:46
Speaker 3: if you miss out on Bregman and you're playing Vierling,
25:48
Speaker 3: who's a better outfielder than he has a third baseman,
25:51
Speaker 3: and jayse Young, who the Tigers don't seem to have
25:54
Speaker 3: a ton of confidence in his glove at third, you're
25:57
Speaker 3: looking at an infield defense that is not very good,
26:00
Speaker 3: and you just signed a picture in Alex Cobb that
26:03
Speaker 3: you loved in part because of a super high ground
26:06
Speaker 3: ball rate. So I do wonder what went into the
26:09
Speaker 3: calculus there, what made the Tigers willing to take one
26:13
Speaker 3: another poor infielder in Glaber Torres. There's been a concern
26:16
Speaker 3: mounting for a few years. In a way, maybe it's
26:19
Speaker 3: alleviated with Colt moving to first, but I think it's
26:23
Speaker 3: still fair until we know for sure what's going to
26:26
Speaker 3: happen at third. To be pretty concerned about the Detroit
26:29
Speaker 3: Tigers infield.
26:30
Speaker 1: Defense right now, based on defensive war last year and Again,
26:36
Speaker 1: we don't know exactly how good col Keep would be
26:38
Speaker 1: at first, but based on defensive war last year, you're
26:41
Speaker 1: looking at below average basically across the board. Because Mayas
26:47
Speaker 1: was actually negative defensive war and Sweeney was positive.
26:53
Speaker 2: It was point four. Now obviously smaller sable size.
26:55
Speaker 1: We all get that er Lan overall defensively was two
26:58
Speaker 1: point eight defense excuse me, point three two point three
27:02
Speaker 1: defensive war. I want to make sure that correct point
27:04
Speaker 1: three defensive war. You would wager that the majority of
27:07
Speaker 1: that value came in the outfield.
27:09
Speaker 2: That fair to say.
27:10
Speaker 1: So, like we'll say he's a defensive war negative at
27:13
Speaker 1: their base Young. Everybody knows how everybody feels about Young.
27:17
Speaker 1: He was negative point six war. So like you're looking
27:20
Speaker 1: at below average defensive war everywhere across the infield. I'm
27:24
Speaker 1: not including Catcher or Pitcher Forever's war, but like the
27:27
Speaker 1: infield spots. Uh So, Like that's a concern. That is
27:34
Speaker 1: a concern. Now if you bring in Bregmant all of
27:36
Speaker 1: a sudden, like that solves a lot of cases. But
27:41
Speaker 1: we're gonna have plenty of time. We talked about Bregmant
27:42
Speaker 1: a lot. I just have to mention this about Jase
27:45
Speaker 1: Young because you like, he's a butcher in the field.
27:49
Speaker 1: Everybody talks he's a he's a bad defender. Sometimes people
27:52
Speaker 1: even say he's a terrible defender. Like I that is
27:57
Speaker 1: his reputation. I'm looking at fangrafts for Jase Young right now, Cody,
28:03
Speaker 1: and they project his defensive war for next year to
28:08
Speaker 1: be like in the one point three to one point
28:10
Speaker 1: four range, which seems kind of high given the way
28:16
Speaker 1: people talk about him.
28:18
Speaker 2: So I don't know what that means. I don't know
28:20
Speaker 2: what that means.
28:20
Speaker 1: I don't know how they're projecting into all that stuff.
28:23
Speaker 1: Like I'm just telling you what the number is saying
28:26
Speaker 1: in front of me right now. Because if you could
28:28
Speaker 1: get one point three one point four defensive war at
28:31
Speaker 1: Jace Young, yeah, maybe you don't really need Alex Bragman
28:34
Speaker 1: if you really believe in his bat, you know what
28:36
Speaker 1: I mean, and Young's bat. So that's just that's just
28:39
Speaker 1: an odd thing. But I will say also, offensive war
28:43
Speaker 1: though for this infield is pretty top notch because you're
28:48
Speaker 1: gonna get two out of Keith, you're gonna get three
28:50
Speaker 1: out of Torres. This is just based on last year's numbers,
28:53
Speaker 1: you know, you're you're a positive for Sweeney, You're a
28:56
Speaker 1: slight positive for young Vier. Laying is a two point
28:59
Speaker 1: eight offensive war, guy, I know that's you know, positionally
29:03
Speaker 1: blah blah blah. You understand that. Uh so you know
29:06
Speaker 1: bias obviously negative. We don't really know about bias. You
29:09
Speaker 1: put Bregmann in this infield, all of a sudden, you
29:11
Speaker 1: have like a ten offensive war infield. I went and
29:15
Speaker 1: look at the Yankees lineup. It's not a ten offensive
29:18
Speaker 1: war infield. Maybe that'll change with some moves, but like,
29:23
Speaker 1: but all of a sudden, you might have one of
29:25
Speaker 1: the better offensive infields in the in the American League,
29:28
Speaker 1: which seems like something you might be able to work with.
29:32
Speaker 2: And we talk about all the time.
29:33
Speaker 3: About especially considering your bigger strength is probably the outfield.
29:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, but then you could wager, like, is this a
29:42
Speaker 1: sign of like a slight pivot for the team where
29:44
Speaker 1: it's like back when you had nobody that you could
29:47
Speaker 1: that could hit, you had to be really really sound,
29:50
Speaker 1: maybe even aggressive, maybe too aggressive on the base pass.
29:53
Speaker 1: You had to be really fundamental defensively. Now, if you
29:59
Speaker 1: can get more bats, you kind of like the trade
30:02
Speaker 1: off is happening before our eyes like that. The argument
30:05
Speaker 1: I'm just saying is out there to be grabbed if
30:08
Speaker 1: anybody wants to take it. And then I'll I'll just
30:10
Speaker 1: add one more thing, Cody too.
30:13
Speaker 2: The most pressure.
30:16
Speaker 1: Of somebody who wears Detroit Tiger's uniform, in my opinion
30:20
Speaker 1: as of right now, is Joey Korra, because you gotta
30:25
Speaker 1: get Cole Keith going at first base. You gotta, you know,
30:29
Speaker 1: you gotta improve Labor Torres because that's you know, for
30:31
Speaker 1: the reason that he's coming here. And then you gotta
30:33
Speaker 1: get Jayce Young going maybe you know, depending on what
30:37
Speaker 1: other signings happen. And then you you still got to
30:40
Speaker 1: coach up Tray Swiney. He's young enough to be coached up.
30:42
Speaker 1: And then you gotta squeeze whatever juice you can get
30:45
Speaker 1: out of hobby or bias. So a lot of pressure
30:48
Speaker 1: on old uh old Joey Cora just saying.
30:51
Speaker 3: So that's why he makes the big bucks. Yeah, maybe
30:54
Speaker 3: we'll be talking less about his third base decisions and
30:57
Speaker 3: more about what No, probably not, We're still gonna say all.
31:00
Speaker 1: I wish we actually if there was something that we
31:03
Speaker 1: could point to as easy as a third base end
31:06
Speaker 1: for like coaching infield.
31:08
Speaker 2: I can't believe Joey had him backhand that. I can't
31:12
Speaker 2: believe it.
31:13
Speaker 3: Yeah, all Joey's fault. If someone plays themselves into it
31:16
Speaker 3: that hot, yeah, I.
31:18
Speaker 1: Think that'd be pretty irritating. But but the makeup of
31:21
Speaker 1: this team is still very much in flux. But I
31:25
Speaker 1: do right down offensive war. It does make me think,
31:28
Speaker 1: all right, maybe there's gonna maybe Cody's gonna have a
31:31
Speaker 1: little bit more excitement when he's at America on a
31:33
Speaker 1: day to day basis than what he's had the majority
31:35
Speaker 1: of his time coming of Tigers.
31:38
Speaker 3: Oh, we will see, still some unanswered questions ahead, and
31:42
Speaker 3: slowly gaining some information, gaining a better picture of what
31:45
Speaker 3: next your team is going to look like. But man,
31:49
Speaker 3: we're less than two months away from spring training and
31:51
Speaker 3: still a lot to sort out.
31:53
Speaker 1: Still a lot to sort out, but a lot a
31:56
Speaker 1: lot to grab onto. So thank you the torres in
31:59
Speaker 1: the top for giving giving us some juice on this pod,
32:03
Speaker 1: and thank you everybody for listening.
32:06
Speaker 2: You know this is a holiday week, it's still.
32:08
Speaker 1: A holiday week, and and so like I want to
32:11
Speaker 1: thank everybody for making us part of your day. You
32:14
Speaker 1: can listen to us on Apple, Spotify, wherever you get
32:16
Speaker 1: your podcasts, be sure to subscribe to us on YouTube.
32:19
Speaker 1: We're slowly, slowly climbing that a little bit. And uh,
32:22
Speaker 1: the more subscribers we get, the better the oggs like us.
32:25
Speaker 1: That's what the kids are calling it now, the ogs
32:28
Speaker 1: and uh and we can spread the spread our message
32:31
Speaker 1: uh far and wide about the Detroit Tiger. So I
32:35
Speaker 1: want to thank everybody for listening and subscribing and falling
32:38
Speaker 1: along with us as we head into a new year.
32:42
Speaker 1: So for Cody Stapenhagen, I'm Keer Steckley. Everybody have a
32:48
Speaker 1: great week.