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Should Tigers Trade For Alec Bohm? · Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast

0:07
Speaker 1: And welcome in to another episode of Tiger Territory, a
0:12
Speaker 1: Detroit Tiger's podcast part of the Foul Territory Network. I'm
0:16
Speaker 1: here in Steckley with me as always as a man
0:18
Speaker 1: who Jake Paul wouldn't dare try to fight. He is
0:22
Speaker 1: Cody Stevenagen.
0:23
Speaker 2: How you doing. I like that. I thought we were
0:25
Speaker 2: gonna have a Jake Paul Tyson reference. What a waste
0:28
Speaker 2: of everyone's time. I'm gonna be honest, I watched it.
0:31
Speaker 2: I also want to start this episode with two public
0:33
Speaker 2: service announcements. Number One, if you are watching this on YouTube,
0:37
Speaker 2: see that little subscribe button right below the box. If
0:40
Speaker 2: you could give that a click, that would be awesome.
0:42
Speaker 2: Really helps us out because we're at the mercy of
0:44
Speaker 2: like the algorithm gods and stuff like that, but trying
0:47
Speaker 2: to grow the official subscriber base. Number two, detroiters. This
0:51
Speaker 2: might be a sensitive subject, but I think we got
0:54
Speaker 2: to stop with the Jared Goff chants at non Lions events,
0:58
Speaker 2: all right. We saw it throughout the Tigers season, almost mockingly,
1:02
Speaker 2: like when the Tigers were playing poorly, but then they're
1:05
Speaker 2: good in the playoffs and you're still like changing the
1:07
Speaker 2: name of a football player. I didn't quite get it.
1:10
Speaker 2: I guess it's like a cool rallying cry for the city.
1:13
Speaker 2: But I went to a concert this past week. Whyatt
1:15
Speaker 2: Flora is still water zone. Check it out if you haven't.
1:19
Speaker 2: Everyone's chanting Jared Goff and this poor kid is like,
1:23
Speaker 2: what is going on? He like takes out his earpiece.
1:25
Speaker 2: He's like what, And then I maybe he should be
1:29
Speaker 2: a bigger football fan. I don't know. But then he's like,
1:32
Speaker 2: you guys know my name is Wyatt right, And he
1:34
Speaker 2: was joking, but it was like a reflection of a
1:36
Speaker 2: thought I had already had. I think we just gotta
1:38
Speaker 2: start limit to Lions games.
1:41
Speaker 1: All right, We're gonna start off the pod with a
1:43
Speaker 1: slight disagreement. I'm all for it. I do think it
1:46
Speaker 1: is a symbolic of the city and the city's journey
1:51
Speaker 1: and the city, you know, on the come up for
1:54
Speaker 1: all sports teams as well. I don't think it has
1:57
Speaker 1: anything to do specifically to Jared Gary Goff at this
2:00
Speaker 1: point and the Lions at this point. I think most
2:02
Speaker 1: people who complain about it are those kinds of fans
2:05
Speaker 1: that are fans of Barrie's Detroit teams. But we're too
2:07
Speaker 1: cool to be Lions fans when they sucked. That's my opinion.
2:11
Speaker 1: So uh so, yeah, I think it's symbolic of the city.
2:15
Speaker 1: I mean, if we're gonna go down that like strict verbatim,
2:19
Speaker 1: are we gonna stop playing Journey because of the South
2:23
Speaker 1: Detroit thing?
2:24
Speaker 2: No, Anyone who has a problem with that is just
2:26
Speaker 2: like trying to sound smart.
2:28
Speaker 1: Okay, well, there you go. I I kind of look
2:30
Speaker 1: them at the same like. I think it's I think
2:32
Speaker 1: a lot of people who complain about it just don't
2:34
Speaker 1: like the Lions or bitter that like they're they're good now.
2:39
Speaker 1: They don't have to hold that over like they're fellow Michiganers.
2:42
Speaker 1: That's my opinion. So if you if you think that
2:44
Speaker 1: I'm way off, hit me up on x at kieranoniscorre
2:48
Speaker 1: sectly tell me how wrong I think.
2:50
Speaker 2: We don't disagree enough. Here you go. We could have
2:52
Speaker 2: a heated episode on the whole topic. Instead, I guess
2:56
Speaker 2: we'll talk about the Tigers.
2:57
Speaker 1: We'll talk We'll talk about the Tigers. Uh of the
3:00
Speaker 1: YouTube though, If you have not gone and listened to
3:03
Speaker 1: our interview with aj Hinch, first of all, please do
3:07
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts. Secondly, it is on YouTube
3:10
Speaker 1: as well, so you can watch us interview AJAJ gracious
3:14
Speaker 1: enough to give us thirty plus minutes of his time.
3:16
Speaker 1: I thought he was I thought he was awesome. Like
3:19
Speaker 1: you know, you talk to him all the time, Cody,
3:20
Speaker 1: so it's a little bit different for you, but for me,
3:22
Speaker 1: like that was my first time, you know, quote unquote
3:25
Speaker 1: meeting aj. But he he felt like the same. I
3:30
Speaker 1: felt like I was talking to a guy I knew.
3:31
Speaker 1: And I mean that as a compliment, you know, to him,
3:33
Speaker 1: because the way he presents himself to the media and
3:35
Speaker 1: to fans and all that stuff. As I as I
3:40
Speaker 1: reflect on the interview, I did kind of want to
3:42
Speaker 1: highlight a couple of things, a little teasers in case
3:44
Speaker 1: somebody hadn't gotten the chance to go back. It was
3:46
Speaker 1: a end of week episode, if you would. He he
3:52
Speaker 1: talked about the Tigers being young and and you know
3:56
Speaker 1: kind of the experience that came with that. But he
3:59
Speaker 1: did admit that, you know, he kind of did feel
4:02
Speaker 1: like the team was like a little tight there in
4:04
Speaker 1: Game five of the Alds, which I would consider myself
4:08
Speaker 1: in the nine to nine percentile of reading and listening
4:11
Speaker 1: to things that aj Hinch says publicly. I don't know
4:14
Speaker 1: if I had ever heard him say that before. If
4:16
Speaker 1: he did say it, then then I apologize. But I
4:20
Speaker 1: thought that was a frank omission and also representative of
4:26
Speaker 1: where the Tigers were at, where they're currently at, and
4:29
Speaker 1: where they're trying to get to. Another example of, you know,
4:33
Speaker 1: the steps that it takes to be a perennial we'll
4:37
Speaker 1: say contender, perennial contender, and that was one of the steps,
4:40
Speaker 1: as much as it hurt at the time, and I
4:42
Speaker 1: thought I thought it was a frank assessment of what
4:45
Speaker 1: it means to be young and then like being able
4:48
Speaker 1: to take opportunities to grow. So that was one of
4:50
Speaker 1: my like bigger takeaways As you reflect on it, Cody,
4:54
Speaker 1: what was kind of something that stood out for you?
4:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think there were a few, just little tidbits,
4:59
Speaker 2: Like even the tight before Game five thing was just
5:01
Speaker 2: kind of a one off little comment. But when I
5:04
Speaker 2: heard it, my I did perk up, like, oh, like
5:07
Speaker 2: it's kind of new. It wasn't something that had been
5:09
Speaker 2: said before. We didn't necessarily go into this interview trying
5:12
Speaker 2: to like make headlines because it's the off season. We
5:15
Speaker 2: just wanted to have a frank conversation with AJ and
5:18
Speaker 2: grilling him about like what moves the front office to
5:22
Speaker 2: do much good and given it to the off season,
5:24
Speaker 2: like the top goal team stuff we didn't want to
5:27
Speaker 2: repeat too much. So, especially as someone who talks to
5:30
Speaker 2: him all the time, I enjoyed just some of the
5:32
Speaker 2: more random topics that came up, you know, ejections which
5:35
Speaker 2: I was just making a joke, and I thought he
5:37
Speaker 2: gave a really I knew this just knowing AJ, but
5:41
Speaker 2: I'd never heard him outright say like one reason he
5:44
Speaker 2: doesn't like getting ejected is he can't manage the game.
5:46
Speaker 2: You know, your job is to be the guy in
5:48
Speaker 2: the center of the dugout in the biggest moment, and
5:50
Speaker 2: you can't do that if you're getting tossed over a
5:52
Speaker 2: borderline bass strike call. I thought that was awesome. I
5:55
Speaker 2: thought toward the end his reflections on his high school
5:57
Speaker 2: football career were awesome. This dude I didn't know he
6:01
Speaker 2: had briefly like considered being part of the Stanford football team,
6:05
Speaker 2: like Bill lost one.
6:06
Speaker 1: Of him what a name drop by the way, right,
6:11
Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean that that was it was. It
6:14
Speaker 1: was fun to just kind of talk you know, really,
6:17
Speaker 1: for lack of a better term, talking ball with AJ
6:19
Speaker 1: as opposed to like, you know, decisions this, decisions that
6:23
Speaker 1: front office, like you know, blah blah blah. I thought
6:26
Speaker 1: he kind of gave us a good scope into, you know,
6:29
Speaker 1: the way he looks at the game. I thought his
6:31
Speaker 1: answer was Scott about his relationship with Scott Harris was
6:34
Speaker 1: good about, like you know, and then him saying that
6:36
Speaker 1: he was like, I don't know if he used the
6:38
Speaker 1: word thankful, but more or less like thankful that Scott
6:42
Speaker 1: like gave him the extension, so they're they're in it
6:44
Speaker 1: together as opposed to this kind of.
6:46
Speaker 2: Like Kieran, that was another interesting one too, And like
6:51
Speaker 2: you know, you'd referred to it as an arranged marriage.
6:53
Speaker 2: I don't think that's entirely the case because AJ he
6:56
Speaker 2: didn't hire Scott, but he certainly played a role in
6:59
Speaker 2: the hiring interviewing process of these general managers, Like I'm
7:02
Speaker 2: sure he could have vetoed it if it were or
7:05
Speaker 2: at least expressed disagreement if they were going to hire
7:08
Speaker 2: someone he like just didn't like. So like, I think
7:10
Speaker 2: he was one hundred percent on board. But he said
7:13
Speaker 2: he basically admitted, like the partnership with Scott reached another
7:17
Speaker 2: level after the contract extension. That was just another little
7:20
Speaker 2: thing that made me think, hmm, that's interesting.
7:23
Speaker 1: Yeah. And as as we look back at like things
7:26
Speaker 1: that led to the Tigers being on the cusp of
7:28
Speaker 1: the ALCS, like that might be almost like move number
7:34
Speaker 1: one is after the previous season, the President of Baseball Opson,
7:39
Speaker 1: the general man or to me and the manager aligne extension.
7:43
Speaker 1: Everything's good. They you know, they had all this unbrittled
7:47
Speaker 1: optimism at that presser for good reason. And then the
7:50
Speaker 1: season plays out the way it did like it does
7:52
Speaker 1: kind of like it makes sense, you know, if you
7:55
Speaker 1: put it on a timeline. Uh. And and great timing
7:59
Speaker 1: for us too, had him on the day before or
8:03
Speaker 1: to me the day after.
8:05
Speaker 2: Uh.
8:06
Speaker 1: He was named a finalist for the al Manager of
8:10
Speaker 1: the Year award. One that like you have to keep
8:15
Speaker 1: in mind, the Tigers were more cute story at the
8:19
Speaker 1: time these votes were cast than oh, we're looking at
8:24
Speaker 1: you know, national conversation. We're looking at them as potentially,
8:27
Speaker 1: you know, one of the you know, contenders teams that
8:30
Speaker 1: can kick down the door in the American League essentially,
8:33
Speaker 1: So like again, it makes sense now, but at the time,
8:37
Speaker 1: it was like, all right, what are the Tigers really
8:39
Speaker 1: going to go down the Houston a team that's been
8:41
Speaker 1: to the CS like seven consecutive years or whatever and
8:45
Speaker 1: and beat them, Like course not, but they did. They
8:48
Speaker 1: did in two games. So yeah, I keep that in
8:50
Speaker 1: mind with these votes. This is a vote that you have, Cody.
8:55
Speaker 1: Obviously we can't talk specifics until the results are announced,
9:00
Speaker 1: but I think it might be good to kind of
9:03
Speaker 1: like look at aj and and Stephen vote and uh
9:08
Speaker 1: and Matt Quantrero and just that's what was it, Quro Patrro. Sorry, Uh,
9:17
Speaker 1: it's all into the same division, by the way, So
9:19
Speaker 1: that's that's that's pretty fun for the al Central or
9:22
Speaker 1: disastrous if you're a white Sox fan. But anyway, uh
9:26
Speaker 1: so you just kind of break down this vote for us,
9:28
Speaker 1: if you would a little bit.
9:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a really difficult decision, especially Manager of the Year,
9:34
Speaker 2: kind of this nebulous award where there's no real set
9:37
Speaker 2: criteria for so when you have you know, generally we
9:41
Speaker 2: all know this kind of often goes to like whose
9:44
Speaker 2: team exceeded expectations the most, Well, you had three of
9:47
Speaker 2: them all in the Ale Central that greatly exceeded expectations.
9:51
Speaker 2: Vote in his first year's manager, wins the division, the
9:54
Speaker 2: Royals with a historic turnaround, and the Tigers with a
9:57
Speaker 2: historic final two months run to the postseason. So it's
10:02
Speaker 2: not like you can go on fangrabs and like sort
10:04
Speaker 2: by war and like sort it out that way. You
10:07
Speaker 2: and and and I'll be honest, it's a little hard
10:09
Speaker 2: I especially because they're in the same division. I've seen
10:12
Speaker 2: all these teams a lot, but you don't watch them
10:15
Speaker 2: every day. So I thought all these guys were equally deserving.
10:19
Speaker 2: I really tried to think, okay, like who, based on
10:22
Speaker 2: what we know, like, really managed their team the best.
10:26
Speaker 2: And that's a difficult question too, because the Royal you know,
10:29
Speaker 2: like Vote definitely got creative. He had it didn't get
10:32
Speaker 2: as much pub and wasn't quite to the extreme of
10:35
Speaker 2: the Tigers, but had to get very creative with his pitching.
10:38
Speaker 2: They do some interesting in game things as well, like Q.
10:42
Speaker 2: It is a hard name to get out of your mouth.
10:44
Speaker 2: A lot of people in baseball just call him Q,
10:45
Speaker 2: so we'll go with that. You know, the Royals like
10:48
Speaker 2: a roster that wasn't expected to be much and although
10:52
Speaker 2: that pitching staff ended up being legit played greater to
10:55
Speaker 2: the sum of its parts. And we all know you
10:58
Speaker 2: know about the story of the Tigers, So I don't
11:00
Speaker 2: want to swing the gambling lines too much here. I'll
11:03
Speaker 2: just say it was a really difficult decision, and at
11:06
Speaker 2: the same time, I wonder if AJ faces a little
11:08
Speaker 2: bit of an uphill battle, just because the kind of
11:10
Speaker 2: as you alluded to, like, the national narrative was kind
11:14
Speaker 2: of set around vote and around Quatraro and AJ kind
11:18
Speaker 2: of entered the picture like late, and I think a
11:21
Speaker 2: lot of people nationally who might be voting on this
11:23
Speaker 2: award didn't really take the Tigers seriously until, like they
11:27
Speaker 2: beat the Astros in the playoffs. So I'll be super
11:31
Speaker 2: curious to see how this shakes out. I think all
11:35
Speaker 2: three are very deserving finalists, and in a normal year,
11:38
Speaker 2: any of these three might be like a runaway winner. Yeah, well, we.
11:43
Speaker 1: Will react to that after the results are are announced,
11:48
Speaker 1: and then we can get Cody to reveal his vote.
11:51
Speaker 1: So let's go to sort of the underneath surface a
11:57
Speaker 1: little bit of the Tigers organization. Hosse Hosway Persino. I'm
12:02
Speaker 1: had a hard time the names today.
12:03
Speaker 2: Jose you did pretty good on that one.
12:05
Speaker 1: Okay, triple crown that was already and then just last
12:09
Speaker 1: night announced that he is the MVP of the Arizona
12:13
Speaker 1: Fall League. Not any surprise to anyone who is on
12:16
Speaker 1: ex formally known as Twitter and has the Tigers algorithm,
12:20
Speaker 1: because I'm not sure there's an hour that's gone by
12:23
Speaker 1: I haven't seen some sort of highlight from Hosua and
12:26
Speaker 1: U and he has become sort of the I would say,
12:33
Speaker 1: like the apple in the eye of those that really
12:35
Speaker 1: follow like farm systems for the Tiger, for Tigers fans.
12:39
Speaker 1: Uh Loronzo definitely qualifies as that Max Clark is in
12:44
Speaker 1: that conversation McGonagall is in that conversation, but Rasigio was
12:48
Speaker 1: one that we were kind of waiting to see a
12:50
Speaker 1: little bit from. He was hurt this year and then
12:52
Speaker 1: if this is a representative of what he can do
12:56
Speaker 1: when he starts to put it together, it's very exciting.
13:00
Speaker 1: And also, if you're looking for some international assignees to
13:03
Speaker 1: work out, here's your kind of in the system leader
13:07
Speaker 1: in the clubhouse. I know there are some guys that
13:09
Speaker 1: have gotten up to the majors, but you know, in
13:11
Speaker 1: terms of in the depths of the system. Here's your guy,
13:14
Speaker 1: so great for him. I don't have a lot of analysis.
13:16
Speaker 1: I'm not breaking these things down, but I think it's
13:19
Speaker 1: it's a it's another case of if you believe in
13:22
Speaker 1: this sort of thing, organizational momentum. So the team makes
13:25
Speaker 1: it almost to the ALCS aj Hinch is a OMNI
13:29
Speaker 1: for Manager of the Year or finalists, I just say.
13:32
Speaker 1: And then post Way is a AFL MVP. So like
13:37
Speaker 1: you know, good forum. I think it's actually sort of
13:40
Speaker 1: like a great example of what Baseball America put out,
13:43
Speaker 1: which is that the Tigers based on whatever metric they use,
13:46
Speaker 1: I think it's hit plus. I'm not gonna pretend to
13:49
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna be able. I'm not gonna pretend to
13:50
Speaker 1: be able to break everything down for you guys. That's
13:52
Speaker 1: their work that will want you to go read their stuff.
13:55
Speaker 1: But it's a metric they use for you know, measuring
13:58
Speaker 1: hitting development across all farm systems. And they had the
14:02
Speaker 1: Tigers as the best of twenty twenty four in this
14:06
Speaker 1: in this particular area. So things coming up Detroit, Cody
14:11
Speaker 1: for this team in this organization. And again, these are
14:14
Speaker 1: the kinds of things that Scott Harris, you Yon, you
14:17
Speaker 1: being the you, the general you you yawn at when
14:20
Speaker 1: he talks about the organization and you know, you know resources,
14:25
Speaker 1: these are the kinds of things that he is looking towards.
14:28
Speaker 1: So not something that we can like break down in death,
14:31
Speaker 1: but obviously a good thing for the organization.
14:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think, like this topic is still so dangerous.
14:38
Speaker 2: Prospects aren't necessarily my specialty for this exact reason, Like
14:41
Speaker 2: you just don't know right at the same time, you
14:45
Speaker 2: look at all the evidence of good things happening on
14:47
Speaker 2: the Tigers farm system, and you can't deny that, you know, Prisino,
14:52
Speaker 2: this is a guy who's been on people's radar for
14:54
Speaker 2: a while. I remember in spring training it was well,
14:57
Speaker 2: it was aj Hen. She was like, have you guys
14:59
Speaker 2: seen Persona. I was like, oh, like he can hit
15:03
Speaker 2: or no. He's like, have you physically seen him? I
15:06
Speaker 2: was like no. And then that was a couple of
15:08
Speaker 2: days before the prospect game. He's like, just look at
15:12
Speaker 2: like this guy's built like a Greek god, you know,
15:15
Speaker 2: and he is. And I was like, oh, I see.
15:19
Speaker 2: And then he stung a couple of balls that day
15:21
Speaker 2: and I was like, oh, okay, and he ended up
15:24
Speaker 2: being kind of one of the talks of camp obviously
15:27
Speaker 2: when he was healthy, went on to have a pretty
15:29
Speaker 2: solid season and really took off here in the Arizona
15:32
Speaker 2: Fall League. Seems like maybe even though he's young for
15:34
Speaker 2: that that, you know, facing some pitchers with more experience,
15:37
Speaker 2: it wasn't like the greatest pitching in the Arizona Fall League.
15:41
Speaker 2: So let's keep that in mind. The hit plus thing
15:44
Speaker 2: is really interesting because even though there were some very
15:46
Speaker 2: positive developments obviously Mcgonagaul Toronzo, some others, you know, I
15:51
Speaker 2: think most people, myself included, still view the Tigers as
15:55
Speaker 2: being better at developing pitching than they are hitting like
15:59
Speaker 2: and you know, it's gonna take some time to get
16:01
Speaker 2: more proof of that to come up through the system.
16:04
Speaker 2: But one thing I've said for years is like, you
16:07
Speaker 2: just need someone to pop. You need that random person
16:09
Speaker 2: to pop on the hitting side, maybe an international guy,
16:13
Speaker 2: which they haven't had basically ever. And I don't know
16:18
Speaker 2: if this means Persinio is gonna become a superstar, but
16:21
Speaker 2: he's starting to look like that type of international prospect
16:24
Speaker 2: who wasn't that highly heralded, who might be popping a
16:27
Speaker 2: little bit and that's something that the best teams just
16:29
Speaker 2: tend to have, and the Tigers are long over due four,
16:33
Speaker 2: so gonna be super interested to see what's next in
16:37
Speaker 2: host wait Persinio's future.
16:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think he was eight hundred thousand was
16:43
Speaker 1: the price that the memory serves, So that was I
16:48
Speaker 1: believe that was the year that it was still like
16:50
Speaker 1: sort of like the spread it out mantra of the
16:53
Speaker 1: front office. And I will say this just in general,
16:56
Speaker 1: like there's it's been a while, probably not in the
17:02
Speaker 1: social Definitely not on the social media era that the
17:05
Speaker 1: Tigers have had as an organization, have had a team
17:08
Speaker 1: worth watching in the majors and several really interesting intriguing
17:15
Speaker 1: like what if prospects in the uh you know, in
17:19
Speaker 1: the miners. Definitely not in the social media era because
17:21
Speaker 1: they've been top heavy one way or the other pretty
17:25
Speaker 1: much since, uh since we started being on it.
17:28
Speaker 2: I think that's an interesting thing too, is like we're
17:29
Speaker 2: starting to see this talent spread out over multiple levels,
17:32
Speaker 2: where for a while it was like, oh, tour Green
17:35
Speaker 2: and Dingler are all at Erie, Like that's awesome, Oh
17:37
Speaker 2: Mys and Fayeto and Manning and schoobl are all at Erie.
17:42
Speaker 2: And now it's like, well, you're gonna have Max Clark
17:44
Speaker 2: and McGonagall and double A. You're gonna have you know,
17:47
Speaker 2: some of these maybe Loronzo Arsenio and hy A West
17:50
Speaker 2: Michigan you still have. You're gonna have the guys coming up.
17:54
Speaker 2: Bryce Rayner probably playing in Lakeland obviously, you know, maybe
18:00
Speaker 2: don't quite have that guy knocking on the door in Toledo,
18:03
Speaker 2: although I guess Jackson job could maybe fit that bill.
18:05
Speaker 2: So I think that's a little bit of a difference
18:08
Speaker 2: than maybe what we've seen with the top heavy systems
18:11
Speaker 2: in years past.
18:12
Speaker 1: That's a good point. It is pretty one could say
18:16
Speaker 1: they have optionality. All right, we're moving on. Uh, speaking
18:22
Speaker 1: of optionality, there was there was some news this week
18:28
Speaker 1: that didn't directly impact the Tigers, but it was enough
18:34
Speaker 1: to get that get us going a little bit. And
18:37
Speaker 1: that is the Philadelphia Phillies, a team that considers themselves
18:41
Speaker 1: would you call it World Series or bus? Would you
18:43
Speaker 1: call it the Philly in their own mind? Right, let's
18:47
Speaker 1: make show went out of line there, world Series or Bus?
18:50
Speaker 1: And they have themselves a I'm guessing a desire to
18:55
Speaker 1: sign Alex Bregman. The problem is they have a third basement.
18:59
Speaker 1: His name is is Alec Boom. Did I get it right?
19:03
Speaker 2: Nailed it all right?
19:04
Speaker 1: Boom? So, Alec plays third base. He was an All
19:08
Speaker 1: Star this year. But Jeff Passon puts in his like
19:11
Speaker 1: offseason notes column, Slash News Tidbits, and then Buster Only
19:17
Speaker 1: separately reports that like they're looking to slash likely will
19:23
Speaker 1: trade Alec Boom. So I got to do some research.
19:28
Speaker 1: I have several stats and things that we can go into.
19:32
Speaker 1: But your initial reaction because I sent this to you
19:35
Speaker 1: right away, obviously we know the Tigers have a need
19:37
Speaker 1: to upgrade at the coroner Coroners is a guy who
19:42
Speaker 1: is a third baseman. He has played some first base,
19:45
Speaker 1: didn't really play last year because obviously you can't play
19:48
Speaker 1: Bryce Harper anywhere but first base with the with the
19:51
Speaker 1: Tommy John or at least he didn't want to, whichever
19:53
Speaker 1: one you want to believe. He is twenty eight, so
19:56
Speaker 1: there's the age thing. He's got two years of team
19:59
Speaker 1: control coming up. So uh, those are just kind of
20:02
Speaker 1: like the very basic stuff there. But when you when
20:06
Speaker 1: because you're trying to train yourself, like Scott Harris right now,
20:09
Speaker 1: when you see like a name come up is this
20:14
Speaker 1: a potential match?
20:17
Speaker 2: I think it is, and that doesn't mean anything's inevitable,
20:19
Speaker 2: and I'm not reporting anything, but one of those things
20:22
Speaker 2: that comes out and you're like interesting, and there will
20:25
Speaker 2: probably be multiple teams interested in Boom. But he fits
20:28
Speaker 2: the bill of a right handed third baseman, someone who
20:30
Speaker 2: could help the Detroit Tigers improve. I think the number
20:35
Speaker 2: one thing I like about Boom is, you know, very
20:39
Speaker 2: low whiff rates, very low k rates, doesn't walk a
20:42
Speaker 2: ton a ton, but has an act for putting the
20:44
Speaker 2: ball in play. Obviously, he's coming off the best year
20:47
Speaker 2: of his career. Not a perfect player, Like the numbers
20:51
Speaker 2: kind of vary on him at third base. He grated
20:53
Speaker 2: out terribly in years past, and it's closer to league
20:56
Speaker 2: average this past year. So like are some definitely some
21:01
Speaker 2: of the things that sticks out. He hit lefties very
21:03
Speaker 2: well this past season. I think the question that comes like, Okay,
21:06
Speaker 2: what do the Phillies want? And I don't think it's
21:10
Speaker 2: nothing that the Tigers under the Scott Harris regime have
21:13
Speaker 2: a history of trading with Dave Dombrowski in the Phillies. Scott,
21:16
Speaker 2: although it seems like he did okay at this past
21:18
Speaker 2: year's trade deadline doesn't have a reputation for being like
21:21
Speaker 2: the easiest executive to trade with. One guy he hasn't
21:25
Speaker 2: had problem completing deals with is Dave Dombrowski. So could
21:29
Speaker 2: that help there be a match? And if so, what
21:32
Speaker 2: are the phillies? Like what is a fair return? This
21:34
Speaker 2: is a guy coming off a three and a half
21:36
Speaker 2: win season, but he doesn't really have that track record,
21:39
Speaker 2: Like I don't think he should command the pure value
21:43
Speaker 2: of like a perennial three to four win player. So
21:46
Speaker 2: you start looking at it's like, okay, well, like who
21:48
Speaker 2: makes sense? They probably need some pitching, right, Like would
21:52
Speaker 2: they want Casey Mize? Like I don't know. I mean
21:55
Speaker 2: David Chad's in that system. Let's keep that in mind too,
21:58
Speaker 2: but that's not enough for bone Okay, throwing, who's a
22:01
Speaker 2: tradable prospect Jace Young? They don't really need Jace Young?
22:05
Speaker 2: Also young in mind, Like that starts to seem like
22:08
Speaker 2: too much, so like a pitcher who can help their
22:14
Speaker 2: pin and like a lower level I don't know, I
22:17
Speaker 2: struggle like finding that deal that makes total sense.
22:22
Speaker 1: So I actually one of my one of the things
22:27
Speaker 1: I don't try to do a lot is sort of
22:30
Speaker 1: like make trades out of thin air because it's especially
22:34
Speaker 1: from like they're wrong. Well they're always wrong, but from
22:37
Speaker 1: my perspective, like if you're a Tigers fan you're looking
22:39
Speaker 1: to see what you could trade for Alec, it's like
22:43
Speaker 1: you're gonna give guys you don't like, you know what
22:45
Speaker 1: I mean, Like that's how that's how it's gonna be.
22:48
Speaker 1: And then you're not gonna want to put somebody in
22:50
Speaker 1: there that you probably would need to put in there
22:52
Speaker 1: in order to make the deal happen, Like could Matt
22:56
Speaker 1: Man like Matt manny like it. Just like I'm just
22:58
Speaker 1: like throwing names out the Jace Young thing. I agree
23:01
Speaker 1: with you. I don't think they see a huge need.
23:03
Speaker 1: In fact, I would probably argue like trading for Alec
23:07
Speaker 1: almost gives you Jace Young like like insurance for his
23:13
Speaker 1: timeline basically, like I think. And by the way, that
23:17
Speaker 1: could be a nice that could be a nice combination
23:21
Speaker 1: in some way of options that have not say they'd
23:23
Speaker 1: be like you know, spending time or anything. But you
23:25
Speaker 1: see what I'm saying, You don't have to rush Young up.
23:27
Speaker 1: Whereas right now you know the Jerry still out on
23:30
Speaker 1: whether he's like majorly ready or whatever. So so that's
23:34
Speaker 1: that's that's like the exercise. I try not to dive
23:37
Speaker 1: too much into but I do try to see if
23:41
Speaker 1: I can interpret like the actions and why things are
23:44
Speaker 1: out so and in case of Alec, it seems pretty clear,
23:48
Speaker 1: like they keep they keep saying like the Phillies need
23:52
Speaker 1: to shake it up, like you know that that the
23:55
Speaker 1: results have not you know that hasn't been good enough
23:57
Speaker 1: for whatever the owner's eyes. This is a spot that
24:00
Speaker 1: they could easily upgrade via free agency, so if they
24:04
Speaker 1: but they just have to create the spot for like
24:07
Speaker 1: again potentially like a bragmant type or whatever. And that
24:11
Speaker 1: makes Alec in a way somewhat disposable. So, but he
24:19
Speaker 1: was an all star blood, he was a three war player,
24:22
Speaker 1: and so there's a little bit of a tug of
24:24
Speaker 1: war narrative wise to try to figure out is this
24:28
Speaker 1: a cell high because he was an all star or
24:34
Speaker 1: But at the same time, it's like, but you clearly
24:35
Speaker 1: want to get rid of him, like you clearly do
24:38
Speaker 1: not like you feel like you're a better opportunity to
24:41
Speaker 1: do X than have him in the lineup, So you
24:44
Speaker 1: can't be selling that high on him. You see what
24:47
Speaker 1: I'm saying, Like, I don't think this is a traditional
24:49
Speaker 1: cell high from like a first time All star and
24:51
Speaker 1: you know to like I said, two years of team
24:54
Speaker 1: controlled debts. Those are intriguing things. I like I said,
24:59
Speaker 1: I wrote down some stat here. I'll kind of go off,
25:02
Speaker 1: so in case people don't necessarily understand, like what kind
25:04
Speaker 1: of flair he is, here's something that can that can help,
25:08
Speaker 1: you know, shape a picture a little bit. So he
25:10
Speaker 1: had a forty five point eight percent hard hit rate
25:13
Speaker 1: that was forty first in Major League baseball. A little perspective,
25:18
Speaker 1: Riley Green is forty seven point one. The league average
25:21
Speaker 1: is thirty nine, so he's an above average hard hit guy.
25:24
Speaker 1: Pole percentage twenty one point nine pole percentage. That's way down.
25:28
Speaker 1: It's like one to twenty three among qualified batters. That's
25:32
Speaker 1: essentially Matt Berlan who is twenty three point four. League
25:36
Speaker 1: average is thirty by the way, thirty and change when
25:40
Speaker 1: probability added. At the plate, this is just offense. He's
25:43
Speaker 1: one point four, which is fifty second in baseball. Parker
25:47
Speaker 1: Meadows is one point one and seventy. So I'm giving
25:50
Speaker 1: these comparisons.
25:51
Speaker 2: I think that's a good step that we need to
25:52
Speaker 2: start using more too. When probability added.
25:55
Speaker 1: No, I agree walk percentage he touched on it. He
25:58
Speaker 1: doesn't walk a ton six point six percent. That's pretty low,
26:01
Speaker 1: but that's basically cold Keith cold. Keith was six point five.
26:05
Speaker 1: League average is eight point two percent walk, right, So
26:08
Speaker 1: that's that batting average on balls and play. Batted three
26:11
Speaker 1: h four batting average on balls and play, which is
26:15
Speaker 1: basically cold Keith who three h six batting average on
26:19
Speaker 1: balls and play. The league average is two ninety one.
26:22
Speaker 1: So those guys are slightly above average obviously. And defensively, uh,
26:28
Speaker 1: there's a million ways you can kind of go about
26:30
Speaker 1: this by just kind of pick two. He's zero defensive
26:34
Speaker 1: run saved above average is on Baseball Reference in case
26:38
Speaker 1: anybody's curious. But he was plus three fielding runs above average,
26:44
Speaker 1: So there you go. There's a little and andya Banyez
26:47
Speaker 1: was two. That's specific the third base obviously, so there's
26:50
Speaker 1: a little bit of a picture. So he hits the
26:53
Speaker 1: ball similarly a little bit less than Riley Green hard.
26:57
Speaker 1: He pulls it about the same as Matt Bierlean. He
27:00
Speaker 1: is he adds wins at almost the same rate as
27:03
Speaker 1: Parker Meadows or Parker's a little bit below. He walks
27:06
Speaker 1: about the same as Cult Keith his battering average on
27:08
Speaker 1: balls and plays about the same as Colt Keith and
27:10
Speaker 1: Matt Meerly by the way, three h three, and he
27:13
Speaker 1: is depending on what metric you use, an average a
27:17
Speaker 1: tick above a tick below average fielder, which, by the way,
27:21
Speaker 1: has some first base capability. So if you're looking for
27:23
Speaker 1: some what are we going to do about torque insurance
27:27
Speaker 1: is a guy who can't play first base, so and
27:31
Speaker 1: he has pedigree too. He was a third overall pick
27:33
Speaker 1: I believe, so, like if that matters to people, that
27:36
Speaker 1: that's part of his profile as well.
27:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, and we should probably know what there have been
27:40
Speaker 2: how we want to phrase it, like reported character concern
27:43
Speaker 2: I don't know if I think concerns like maturity concerns,
27:47
Speaker 2: which I don't want to speculate on too much. I
27:50
Speaker 2: don't know the guy, I haven't met. The guy maybe
27:52
Speaker 2: worth taking into consideration. Scott Harrisons kind of talked about
27:56
Speaker 2: you don't really want to mess up what's a really
27:57
Speaker 2: good team chemistry right now. But he'd becoming to a
28:01
Speaker 2: much easier market to play in. I think a lot
28:03
Speaker 2: of that stems from his like back and forth with
28:05
Speaker 2: Phillies fans a couple of years ago, somebody he knows
28:08
Speaker 2: and Matt Vierling. I have no idea if they're like
28:10
Speaker 2: boys or not. Maybe like maybe they're the opposite. I
28:13
Speaker 2: have no idea, but maybe that could help a familiar face,
28:18
Speaker 2: just like I don't think that that would be like
28:21
Speaker 2: a deal breaker. I don't think unless you know there's
28:24
Speaker 2: more out there than we are really aware of.
28:26
Speaker 1: Or maybe it's just the price.
28:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, But I do want to compare Boem to another
28:32
Speaker 2: third baseman who's popped up in kind of trade rumors recently,
28:36
Speaker 2: and that is Jake Berger of the Miami Marlins. And
28:40
Speaker 2: I think this makes me like Alec Boehm more because
28:44
Speaker 2: Burger I get why he's his name is out there.
28:47
Speaker 2: He plays for an organization that is just probably mostly
28:50
Speaker 2: focused on cutting payroll. That's not going to be very
28:53
Speaker 2: hard to deal with. They're probably not going to ask
28:56
Speaker 2: a lot. And I believe he only has one remaining
28:59
Speaker 2: year of team control, so a lot of incentive to
29:04
Speaker 2: is that right? I don't think that's right. He doesn't
29:06
Speaker 2: actually have that much service time. That is false. He's
29:08
Speaker 2: not a free agent until twenty twenty nine. I wasn't
29:11
Speaker 2: at the wrong thing my bed. You've led me astray.
29:14
Speaker 2: That's all right, okay, so scratch that. I still think
29:17
Speaker 2: it'd be possible to deal that makes him more attractive
29:19
Speaker 2: than Tigers could have him for longer. There's some things
29:22
Speaker 2: I really don't like about him, though. Like Bom, he
29:24
Speaker 2: doesn't walk a lot five point four percent walk rate.
29:27
Speaker 2: Unlike Bom, he strikes out quite a bit twenty five
29:30
Speaker 2: point nine, and he whiffs a lot. He just does
29:33
Speaker 2: not put the ball in play near as much as
29:35
Speaker 2: Alec Boom. Now, there is more of a power ceiling
29:38
Speaker 2: this guy. At thirty four homers two years ago, twenty
29:41
Speaker 2: nine this past year. That's enough to certainly be intriguing.
29:47
Speaker 2: But at least last season, he's a right handed hitter
29:49
Speaker 2: who did not actually hit lefties very well six seventy
29:52
Speaker 2: eight ops against left handed pitching. He was actually better
29:56
Speaker 2: against righties. So I don't think the Tigers would like that.
30:00
Speaker 2: I think we're starting like I think there's still too
30:02
Speaker 2: much swing and miss in this Tigers order, even under
30:05
Speaker 2: the dominate the strike zone mantra and with the game
30:08
Speaker 2: seemingly shifting back to a little bit more contact. We're
30:12
Speaker 2: in it like Tigers need to improve their team speed
30:15
Speaker 2: and put the ball in play more like Berger just
30:17
Speaker 2: does not help you with that mission, and a bit
30:21
Speaker 2: like Bom, it's kind of tough to know what to
30:23
Speaker 2: make of him. Defensively, He's graded out negative and both
30:27
Speaker 2: out above average and defensive runs safe for each of
30:30
Speaker 2: the past three years. I don't think he's atrocious, but
30:33
Speaker 2: based on these numbers, he is at least below average.
30:38
Speaker 2: So like, the idea of adding the power bat is
30:41
Speaker 2: naturally intriguing, but the rest, especially in comparison with Bom,
30:46
Speaker 2: I actually don't like Jake Berger very much as a
30:48
Speaker 2: fit for the Tigers.
30:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I still do value like intangible stuff, And
30:56
Speaker 1: I now Boom at at two He's got two fourteen
31:01
Speaker 1: career postseason hitter so it's not like he has like
31:04
Speaker 1: this great experience of success or whatever. But he has
31:07
Speaker 1: been a part of teams that have obviously been perennial
31:09
Speaker 1: playoff teams and made it to the World Series. So,
31:12
Speaker 1: like I, if you're a Tigers team that's trying to
31:16
Speaker 1: get over the next step, there is a world where
31:19
Speaker 1: adding a player like Boom like helps you sort of
31:23
Speaker 1: mature as a team, which you know we're talking about
31:25
Speaker 1: his maturity, but mature as a team and be able
31:27
Speaker 1: to find guys that have had success and go and
31:30
Speaker 1: been a part of like you know, starting you know,
31:33
Speaker 1: in the World Series or whatever like been been a
31:35
Speaker 1: part of teams that have reached a certain task.
31:38
Speaker 2: You know what I mean.
31:38
Speaker 1: Like, if there's maturity issues there that I guess, then
31:41
Speaker 1: he gates it a little bit. But that's alleged. I'm
31:43
Speaker 1: not saying one way or another. But he is a
31:45
Speaker 1: guy that comes from a good organization.
31:48
Speaker 2: Ops Kieran, What if there were a third baseman out
31:50
Speaker 2: there who has a track record of offensive success, postseason
31:55
Speaker 2: success and he's played gold glove defense with that be
32:00
Speaker 2: a good fit for the Tigers.
32:01
Speaker 1: You think would he possibly have played for the Tigers?
32:04
Speaker 2: Manager? I think he I think maybe so maybe so
32:08
Speaker 2: sound talking about Alex Pregnant people, he's gonna be he's
32:11
Speaker 2: going to be expensive. But all these other names we're
32:13
Speaker 2: gonna mention are flawed in one way or another. Alex Pregnant,
32:17
Speaker 2: he may not be perfect, he may not be great
32:19
Speaker 2: in five or six years. But if you're looking for
32:22
Speaker 2: the perfect fit, I think it's out there.
32:24
Speaker 1: That's another thing too. The perfect fit, especially in the
32:26
Speaker 1: trade market, is pretty relative because there's always a reason
32:30
Speaker 1: somebody is trading somebody. Yeah, you know, like there's there's
32:36
Speaker 1: you know, whether it's to do with them or their organization.
32:39
Speaker 1: But but like Wan Soto would never be traded if
32:42
Speaker 1: he was on like a perennial good team with deep buckets, right,
32:46
Speaker 1: Like that's that that's a back then he's not traded
32:49
Speaker 1: because of his ability. Uh So anyway, all right, that
32:53
Speaker 1: was fun little discussions there as we get near Thanksgiving,
32:57
Speaker 1: anything else, Cody before we get out of.
32:58
Speaker 2: Here, No, I think that we'll cover it. We'll see
33:01
Speaker 2: you guys again later this week.
33:02
Speaker 1: Like I said, I want to ask an ask reminder.
33:06
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33:18
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Speaker 1: ground here and we appreciate all the kind words and
33:24
Speaker 1: support that we have received. And if you haven't listened
33:26
Speaker 1: to AJHNTRE yet, go back and listen or watch on YouTube.
33:29
Speaker 1: It was a lot of fun and we'll have We're
33:32
Speaker 1: working on more interviews with guys that we find either
33:35
Speaker 1: important or interesting or both. So there you go. That's
33:38
Speaker 1: kind of our criteria for people to come on the show.
33:41
Speaker 1: So I said, follow Cody on Twitter at Cody Stavenhagen.
33:45
Speaker 1: I am at Kieran Underscore. Steclely pod page is Tiger
33:48
Speaker 1: Territory Underscore. So for Cody Stavenhagen, I'm Kieran Steckley. Everybody,
33:53
Speaker 1: have great week.