Latest / Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast / Framber Valdez, River Ryan and the 2027 Tigers' rotation
Transcript
- 0:09Speaker 1: And welcome in to another episode of Tiger Territory, part
- 0:12Speaker 1: of the Foul Territory Network, Detroit Tigers podcast. I'm Kieran Steckley.
- 0:15Speaker 1: With me, as always, is a man who would never
- 0:17Speaker 1: bring an iced coffee to a job interview. He is
- 0:20Speaker 1: Cody Stavenhagen. How are we doing?
- 0:22Speaker 2: Doing good, and you are right. Iced coffee to a
- 0:24Speaker 2: job interview? What are we doing? Come on. Drink your
- 0:28Speaker 2: coffee hot. It's better for you.
- 0:31Speaker 1: Yeah, a little online if you guys get that. But, okay,
- 0:34Speaker 1: we are recording this... Wednesday evening after the tigers drop
- 0:38Speaker 1: a home series to the Washington nationals nine, two on Monday, three,
- 0:42Speaker 1: one on Tuesday and four, two on Wednesday. So this
- 0:46Speaker 1: is the first homestand first time kind of being around
- 0:50Speaker 1: the team for you, Cody, uh, with the, the tigers
- 0:53Speaker 1: eliminated from post-season contention, obviously a little bit of a
- 0:57Speaker 1: new thing around here, given the past couple of years, but, uh,
- 1:02Speaker 1: we haven't experienced this in a second of like kind
- 1:04Speaker 1: of AJ having to like talk about like the future,
- 1:08Speaker 1: but also like, we have like things that we want
- 1:10Speaker 1: to accomplish and we have to keep, you know, playing
- 1:12Speaker 1: our brand of baseball and 27 outs and you're like,
- 1:15Speaker 1: and all these stuff, all these young guys. So I'm
- 1:17Speaker 1: just kind of curious, what's, what's the vibe like right now, given,
- 1:21Speaker 1: given everything. And of course there's some other bigger picture
- 1:24Speaker 1: stuff that we will of course get to, but you know,
- 1:26Speaker 1: at Comerica, Oh, excuse me. Fifth, third park. to be
- 1:30Speaker 1: soon to be fifth, third park. What's the vibes?
- 1:34Speaker 2: Well, yeah, the vibes, you know, it's the end of
- 1:37Speaker 2: the season. You're eliminated. I think everyone, not everyone, a
- 1:40Speaker 2: lot of people are, you have to fight the urge
- 1:44Speaker 2: to check out, right? It's like, all right, you're not
- 1:46Speaker 2: playing for anything other than your own pride. Are you
- 1:48Speaker 2: going to check out or you're not going to check out? And,
- 1:52Speaker 2: and I think that's kind of the mission. It was interesting. I,
- 1:55Speaker 2: I asked, you know, if you go back to AJ
- 1:57Speaker 2: Hinch's first year, second year, third year as manager, He
- 2:00Speaker 2: would do this thing the day they were eliminated. He
- 2:01Speaker 2: would sit down and he would basically say, hey, this
- 2:04Speaker 2: is the day we're eliminated. This is not where you
- 2:06Speaker 2: want to be. We don't want to have to feel
- 2:08Speaker 2: like this again. And especially the first time he did that,
- 2:12Speaker 2: it was kind of a poignant thing. He made it
- 2:15Speaker 2: a big thing. And that's when you had. either younger
- 2:19Speaker 2: teams or an emerging young core. And it was kind
- 2:22Speaker 2: of to make a point. And I was curious, okay, well, you've,
- 2:24Speaker 2: you've made two playoff appearances now, or are we still
- 2:27Speaker 2: doing that? Or is it, is it the same message
- 2:30Speaker 2: or has that changed? And I don't know that the
- 2:33Speaker 2: message may have differed slightly, but he still did it.
- 2:36Speaker 2: He still made that point. And then also, I think
- 2:39Speaker 2: that's one of the things that sounds like he was
- 2:40Speaker 2: trying to hammer home is like, you still have to
- 2:43Speaker 2: play out the schedule. These are not exhibition games. and
- 2:48Speaker 2: so that's kind of what they're up against right now.
- 2:51Speaker 2: Certain guys who are obviously still trying to prove themselves,
- 2:55Speaker 2: as I've said before, that's kind of the silver lining here.
- 2:57Speaker 2: You have a lot of guys who are either trying
- 2:59Speaker 2: to prove they belong, trying to prove they have a
- 3:02Speaker 2: spot on next year's team. You have a guy like
- 3:04Speaker 2: River Ryan who's had a long journey just to get
- 3:06Speaker 2: back on a major league mound, so there's still kind
- 3:08Speaker 2: of a lot going on. But I don't think there's
- 3:11Speaker 2: any doubt that the mood dampens a little bit or
- 3:14Speaker 2: at least alters when you're mathematically eliminated.
- 3:19Speaker 1: Yeah, and I mean, look, if you just want to
- 3:22Speaker 1: look at Monday's game, that was certainly one of those,
- 3:28Speaker 1: all right, this is still fun, right? That was one
- 3:31Speaker 1: of those games where this is still fun. You don't
- 3:33Speaker 1: have to just kind of wallow in self-pity or whatever.
- 3:37Speaker 1: But then shortly thereafter, we kind of got back to
- 3:41Speaker 1: I don't want to use this expression because for the
- 3:44Speaker 1: football team, it has a negative connotation, but in a way,
- 3:46Speaker 1: kind of like the same old Tigers a little bit
- 3:49Speaker 1: of what we've experienced this season where you're getting guys
- 3:54Speaker 1: on and you're just not connecting at bats. You could
- 3:58Speaker 1: say it's like, oh, there's a lot of young players
- 4:01Speaker 1: out there right now, and that's true, but These problems
- 4:06Speaker 1: have persisted when it was mainly the vets that were
- 4:10Speaker 1: out there. The kind of games that we saw Tuesday
- 4:14Speaker 1: and Wednesday were very much reminiscent of games that we've
- 4:18Speaker 1: seen a lot this season, and that's you have a
- 4:23Speaker 1: good enough starting pitching effort, and then the offense is
- 4:28Speaker 1: able to kind of put things together a little bit,
- 4:30Speaker 1: but just not able to metaphorically and somewhat literally cross
- 4:33Speaker 1: the finish line And then you're left thinking, well, it
- 4:38Speaker 1: was just, you're just this close. You know what I mean?
- 4:42Speaker 1: That kind of felt like pretty, and hell, even just
- 4:45Speaker 1: the comeback on Wednesday, where the offense is dead the
- 4:48Speaker 1: entire day. And then, you know, string together some of
- 4:52Speaker 1: the bats, get a run across. Oh my God, the
- 4:55Speaker 1: winning runs at the plate. And then it's a pop-up
- 5:00Speaker 1: and we're walking at it. You know, like it felt
- 5:04Speaker 1: pretty familiar.
- 5:06Speaker 2: Yeah, there's no doubt. And I think that's weird from
- 5:09Speaker 2: my perspective, from our perspective too. It's a little harder to,
- 5:12Speaker 2: I don't want to say care, but like how much
- 5:16Speaker 2: are we going to break down that game? You know,
- 5:18Speaker 2: how much does our audience care about breaking down that game?
- 5:20Speaker 2: I think you move in, and the team is somewhat
- 5:23Speaker 2: the same way. Like it's kind of, it becomes, it
- 5:26Speaker 2: goes back to all being about the bigger picture of,
- 5:30Speaker 2: they kind of regardless of what's happening, I think.
- 5:33Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 5:33Speaker 1: I mean, that, that, that definitely hit me today where
- 5:36Speaker 1: like really up until then today being Wednesday, really up
- 5:40Speaker 1: until maybe last, I mean, last week, as long as
- 5:45Speaker 1: there was still like something like to play for, I
- 5:48Speaker 1: kept kind of being like in it, like emotionally, like
- 5:51Speaker 1: in it, like, you know, feeling like the goosebumps and
- 5:54Speaker 1: like the nerves and like all this stuff about like,
- 5:56Speaker 1: what's the anticipation, what's going to happen every pitch. I'll
- 5:58Speaker 1: be honest with you. I didn't feel that today because again, there's,
- 6:01Speaker 1: you know, way bigger fish to fry when it comes
- 6:04Speaker 1: to the future of this franchise and, and what, and, and,
- 6:07Speaker 1: and what's going to happen, the moves to be made,
- 6:09Speaker 1: et cetera, et cetera.
- 6:09Speaker 2: So, and if you're a reliever and you're on the
- 6:11Speaker 2: mound and you know, there's a speedy runner at first,
- 6:14Speaker 2: you still probably need to slide step. Like you still
- 6:16Speaker 2: have to hold the runner. And if you don't do it,
- 6:17Speaker 2: you know, you maybe look once. Yeah. Maybe look, maybe
- 6:20Speaker 2: do something to hold the runner. Like that stuff still matters.
- 6:23Speaker 2: And I'm sure that is still being talked about in
- 6:25Speaker 2: the dugout and that is being coached. But it is funny.
- 6:30Speaker 2: It just doesn't quite have the same magnitude really for
- 6:34Speaker 2: us to talk about. Although it's not an exhibition game,
- 6:38Speaker 2: it doesn't really matter for much either. And that's a difference,
- 6:43Speaker 2: I think, with the Tigers coming off two playoff appearances.
- 6:46Speaker 2: When you do that, that does become the standard. And
- 6:48Speaker 2: that's one of the reasons I've said multiple times, I'm
- 6:51Speaker 2: just not really here for the silver linings of the season. Yes,
- 6:55Speaker 2: the Tigers have some positive things going on. Whenever we
- 7:00Speaker 2: get to spring training, I wouldn't be shocked if they
- 7:02Speaker 2: are AL Central favorites again. We'll see how other teams
- 7:06Speaker 2: reconfigure their roster this winter. But in the context of
- 7:10Speaker 2: the 2026 season, I just don't want to hear a
- 7:14Speaker 2: lot of like, well, Ben Malgeri had a nice September.
- 7:17Speaker 2: He did. That's good. That's great. Ben Malgeri probably shouldn't
- 7:22Speaker 2: have been playing this much in September to begin with,
- 7:24Speaker 2: had things gone differently.
- 7:26Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 7:27Speaker 1: And once the season is officially over, we'll do a
- 7:29Speaker 1: lot of those reflective stuff and, you know, give out
- 7:31Speaker 1: grades and kind of figure out how we got here
- 7:33Speaker 1: and then figure out what the moves are to be
- 7:36Speaker 1: made moving forward. So that's definitely coming down the pipe.
- 7:40Speaker 3: All right.
- 7:41Speaker 1: We are going to get a quick break. And then afterwards,
- 7:43Speaker 1: being a big picture stuff, we finally saw River Ryan.
- 7:46Speaker 1: See what Cody's thoughts were on River Ryan's Tigers debut.
- 7:50Speaker 1: That's next. But first, a word from our sponsor.
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- 8:53Speaker 1: All right, coming back here. So obviously up until Saturday,
- 9:04Speaker 1: the biggest story of the week is a river. Ryan, the,
- 9:08Speaker 1: the prize of these Tarek school trade, making his organizational debut,
- 9:15Speaker 1: long awaited organizational debut. And, You know, I think the
- 9:19Speaker 1: length of it was about what we expect. He went
- 9:21Speaker 1: three innings, two hits, three strikeouts. He had a walk
- 9:24Speaker 1: in there. Forty three total pitches. And I'll just kind
- 9:28Speaker 1: of say, like, he looked as advertised. And so I'm
- 9:33Speaker 1: trying to, like, kind of keep it all in perspective here, Cody.
- 9:36Speaker 1: So I would say he looked as advertised. The stuff that,
- 9:39Speaker 1: you know, the fastball got up to like, what, ninety eight.
- 9:42Speaker 1: You know, he's got a change-up that's 91. It's a curveball, right,
- 9:45Speaker 1: that gets down into the low to mid-80s. So, like,
- 9:51Speaker 1: obviously the dynamics, the spin, and, like, all those things are, like,
- 9:55Speaker 1: what gets you excited. I will say, one of the
- 9:58Speaker 1: things I loved, A, I loved... that you get a
- 10:00Speaker 1: swinging strikeout on your first batter. Like, all the emotions of, like,
- 10:03Speaker 1: you know, for him, it's making his return to the
- 10:05Speaker 1: major leagues. It's been a long journey. Then it's the
- 10:08Speaker 1: new team aspect of it. And, you know, all these
- 10:10Speaker 1: things kind of hanging over. Gets a strikeout in his
- 10:14Speaker 1: first batter face. And then, you know, it wasn't like
- 10:17Speaker 1: it was, like, three games. Just clean innings. And that's
- 10:22Speaker 1: actually something that I liked. He had to kind of
- 10:24Speaker 1: work himself a little bit because he gives up his
- 10:27Speaker 1: first hit, then he has a walk, and he gets
- 10:30Speaker 1: a strikeout and a lineout to get out of the innings.
- 10:32Speaker 1: That's a runner in scoring position he was able to
- 10:34Speaker 1: get out of there. And then in the third inning,
- 10:37Speaker 1: he gives up a leadoff double and nothing after that.
- 10:41Speaker 1: In fact, a strikeout right after said leadoff double. So
- 10:45Speaker 1: one of the things that impressed me was given all
- 10:50Speaker 1: the hype, emotions, all this stuff that is associated with him,
- 10:56Speaker 1: he was able to pitch, I would say, a calm,
- 11:00Speaker 1: high-end level outing, given that he was going to be
- 11:04Speaker 1: on a pitch count and wasn't going to go the
- 11:06Speaker 1: whole game and all that stuff. He showed everything he
- 11:09Speaker 1: has in the bag, and then the resolve also impressed me.
- 11:13Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree, Kieran.
- 11:14Speaker 3: It was.
- 11:16Speaker 2: Pretty encouraging. A reminder, like, I don't know. Like the Tigers,
- 11:22Speaker 2: we are going to be talking about the Tarek Skubal
- 11:24Speaker 2: trade for a very long time. And we are going
- 11:26Speaker 2: to follow all the ups and the downs of all
- 11:28Speaker 2: the three players they got back. Could they have done better? Maybe.
- 11:34Speaker 2: Did they get nothing? I wouldn't call this nothing. Zaire
- 11:38Speaker 2: Hope is pretty dang good and had a really strong
- 11:41Speaker 2: finish in Erie. River Ryan is down. can throw 98
- 11:45Speaker 2: to a hundred and he has five or six plus pitches.
- 11:47Speaker 2: That's not nothing. The whole question is really, can he
- 11:51Speaker 2: stay healthy? If River Ryan can stay healthy, I think
- 11:53Speaker 2: he's going to be a pretty good major league pitcher.
- 11:57Speaker 2: And with a little refinement has the potential to be
- 11:59Speaker 2: a great major league pitcher.
- 12:01Speaker 3: Yes.
- 12:02Speaker 2: I used the P word potential. It's dangerous. River Ryan
- 12:05Speaker 2: is the, the whole encapsulation of like the danger of
- 12:09Speaker 2: potential and falling in love with potential. He has to
- 12:11Speaker 2: go do it. And he's just never been able to
- 12:15Speaker 2: be healthy enough to go out there and do it.
- 12:18Speaker 2: And so that's one of the other things that stood out.
- 12:20Speaker 2: Just talking to him after the game seemed like, my
- 12:22Speaker 2: first impression of him, seemed like a really good dude,
- 12:25Speaker 2: a really sincere guy. He said it was freeing to
- 12:28Speaker 2: just go back out there. And it was interesting too.
- 12:30Speaker 2: He kind of talked about just being in a different organization.
- 12:34Speaker 2: You don't have to feel like you're constantly looking over
- 12:36Speaker 2: your shoulder as much as there is. plenty of quality
- 12:41Speaker 2: starting pitching in the Tigers system. A, he probably does
- 12:45Speaker 2: have some benefit being part of the return from a
- 12:47Speaker 2: marquee trade. You're going to get a little bit of runway.
- 12:49Speaker 2: But he said you're not constantly looking over your shoulder
- 12:52Speaker 2: like you are with the Dodgers where there are just
- 12:54Speaker 2: a billion guys and a lot of them highly paid
- 12:57Speaker 2: stars and some other prospects. So that maybe is a
- 13:00Speaker 2: little bit of a difference for him too. Good to
- 13:03Speaker 2: get him back in the major leagues. We're going to
- 13:05Speaker 2: see him again Sunday. Sounds like he's going to have
- 13:07Speaker 2: a normal offseason. Yeah, I think it's hard to take
- 13:13Speaker 2: too much away from three innings, but I tell you what,
- 13:15Speaker 2: next spring training we're going to get down there and
- 13:16Speaker 2: there's going to be a lot of eyeballs.
- 13:19Speaker 3: On River Ryan.
- 13:20Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 13:22Speaker 1: Looking at every little thing with him. Yeah, and I
- 13:26Speaker 1: will say this, like one of the, this was either
- 13:29Speaker 1: last week or two weeks ago or whatever, he talked
- 13:32Speaker 1: to the media and he talked about just like, kind
- 13:35Speaker 1: of the main thing he's got to focus on is
- 13:37Speaker 1: like staying healthy and just kind of hoping i don't
- 13:40Speaker 1: want to put words in his mouth so i'm like
- 13:41Speaker 1: paraphrasing just to be clear but more or less kind
- 13:44Speaker 1: of like hoping his body like holds up to so
- 13:47Speaker 1: that he can like uh you know you know maximize
- 13:50Speaker 1: his potential and some people kind of took that as
- 13:52Speaker 1: sort of a less than confident statement i thought it
- 13:57Speaker 1: was a mature way to look at it like yeah
- 14:00Speaker 1: man like like he probably.
- 14:01Speaker 2: Wasn't confident he hasn't been able to like i'm How
- 14:05Speaker 2: could you have confidence your body is going to hold
- 14:07Speaker 2: up when it just hasn't held up, unfortunately? It had
- 14:11Speaker 2: been 772 days since he pitched in the major leagues.
- 14:13Speaker 2: He had Tommy John surgery. Then he had a hamstring
- 14:16Speaker 2: that included multiple setbacks this season.
- 14:20Speaker 1: Yeah, so that's a guy that knows the deal. I'm
- 14:24Speaker 1: not opposed to having dudes on my team that know
- 14:27Speaker 1: the deal. You know what I mean? Even just with
- 14:30Speaker 1: that reference to the different systems. He knows the deal.
- 14:33Speaker 1: He knows the deal. He knows there's a great opportunity here. Uh, and, and,
- 14:36Speaker 1: and maybe, and again, we'll see what he, what he
- 14:39Speaker 1: makes of it. And you mentioned he's going to pitch again. Uh,
- 14:43Speaker 1: that's something that I was not focused on prior to his, uh,
- 14:49Speaker 1: start on Monday because like AJ talked about it pregame
- 14:54Speaker 1: on the radio, which I assume he talked about with
- 14:57Speaker 1: you guys too, is like, you know, you want to
- 14:59Speaker 1: get them another outing in there to kind of help
- 15:01Speaker 1: the buildup going into the off season, uh, You know,
- 15:04Speaker 1: like I said, it'll be a normal offseason, but most
- 15:07Speaker 1: teams like they track this stuff in terms of what
- 15:09Speaker 1: they project for, you know, players. I'm not sure what
- 15:12Speaker 1: the Tigers system for this is. Obviously, I'm sure they
- 15:14Speaker 1: have one. But what kind they kind of project what
- 15:18Speaker 1: they project you can do or what they want you
- 15:19Speaker 1: to do the next season is somewhat relying on what
- 15:22Speaker 1: you did. the previous season, right? You know, you can't
- 15:25Speaker 1: just go from literally zero to 100.
- 15:26Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely.
- 15:27Speaker 2: Most organizations have a certain percentage of innings they like
- 15:31Speaker 2: to target as an increase that maybe is a little
- 15:33Speaker 2: different for guys coming off injury than it is, say,
- 15:37Speaker 2: a 21-year-old prospect. But I'm certain that's still a thing
- 15:43Speaker 2: for River Ryan, and part of it also is just
- 15:45Speaker 2: completing the buildup he's kind of in the midst of.
- 15:47Speaker 2: He didn't get a full workload because he wasn't built
- 15:50Speaker 2: up for a full workload. So we saw him go
- 15:53Speaker 2: We may see him hopefully go a little deeper on Sunday,
- 15:57Speaker 2: although there are some other guys there. They're trying to
- 15:59Speaker 2: get in for some work. We'll see Jack Flaherty at
- 16:02Speaker 2: some point this weekend. A little bit unclear which game.
- 16:05Speaker 2: I think we're going to see, you know, Andrew Sears again.
- 16:07Speaker 2: So I think that's part of it, too. It's like
- 16:11Speaker 2: if you can finish the year with closer to a
- 16:13Speaker 2: normal workload, that sets you up better going into your offseason.
- 16:18Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 16:18Speaker 1: So. So, yeah, if you missed it. first time you'll
- 16:21Speaker 1: get another opportunity for him. And like I said, happy
- 16:23Speaker 1: that he's healthy. And I'll also reiterate, yes, the Tommy
- 16:27Speaker 1: John is obviously in his, in his past, but like
- 16:32Speaker 1: AJ kept kind of reiterating, like throughout this process, like
- 16:35Speaker 1: it's a lower body injury. Like we feel good about
- 16:37Speaker 1: the arm, you know, like, you know, it's a, it's a,
- 16:39Speaker 1: you know, it's like, you know, hopefully you got that,
- 16:41Speaker 1: that gets right. And again, that's not to diminish, diminish
- 16:44Speaker 1: what the lower body and its importance is and pitching, obviously, but,
- 16:49Speaker 1: If everything can kind of be in sync for two outings,
- 16:53Speaker 1: not like full-fledged stretch, but two outings, again, that's a
- 16:56Speaker 1: positive thing going into that.
- 16:58Speaker 2: Speaking of arms, we still don't have an exact diagnosis
- 17:01Speaker 2: on Troy Melton. It's just listed as arm fatigue. Tigers
- 17:06Speaker 2: are basically awaiting words from doctors, some of the follow-up evaluations.
- 17:12Speaker 2: the vibes don't seem great. I think AJ used the
- 17:15Speaker 2: word concern on the radio. I, I don't want to
- 17:18Speaker 2: speak too much before we know more, but man, that
- 17:22Speaker 2: could be quite a blow as you go about projecting
- 17:26Speaker 2: next year's rotation. I guess the silver lining is it
- 17:28Speaker 2: opens up, but I don't know. I don't want to
- 17:31Speaker 2: speculate anymore, but yeah, Troy Melton vibes kind of worrisome
- 17:34Speaker 2: right now.
- 17:37Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 17:37Speaker 1: And we'll, we'll tackle that, you know, when it comes,
- 17:39Speaker 1: but again, that, that just also goes to show you like,
- 17:43Speaker 1: you know, we putting these guys out there and, and, and,
- 17:47Speaker 1: you know, you want to see this guy pitch or
- 17:49Speaker 1: you want to see this guy pitch there. And these
- 17:51Speaker 1: are not exhibitions. There is inherent risk. So like, that's a,
- 17:54Speaker 1: that's just a reminder that, you know, you have to
- 17:57Speaker 1: kind of keep that in mind. All right. Well, let's,
- 18:01Speaker 1: let's go to Tuesday starter, Cody, because I had a
- 18:07Speaker 1: little thought, like it's been, it's been, talked about enough
- 18:10Speaker 1: that I was like, we should probably address this a
- 18:12Speaker 1: little bit. And, and Drew Anderson has been in the rotation.
- 18:17Speaker 1: He's now, he made his 11th start, uh, of the
- 18:21Speaker 1: season on Tuesday. And I, he seems pretty like, well,
- 18:28Speaker 1: being a team guy and all this stuff. So take
- 18:30Speaker 1: it away with that. He seems pretty like honest about like,
- 18:34Speaker 1: he prefers the starting rotation schedule essentially, uh, his ability
- 18:39Speaker 1: to kind of go deeper into games and then be
- 18:43Speaker 1: able to fine tune his arsenal and work on things
- 18:47Speaker 1: more in between starts with bullpens and such, as opposed
- 18:51Speaker 1: to just kind of having to go out there on
- 18:54Speaker 1: basically any day. So like credit to him for, you know,
- 18:58Speaker 1: for the majority of the season. And, you know, honestly
- 19:00Speaker 1: had the season gone according to plan, he, this would
- 19:03Speaker 1: still be the case being kind of that, you know,
- 19:06Speaker 1: Swiss Army knife for A.J. Hinch out of the bullpen there.
- 19:10Speaker 1: But the numbers back up like how he feels. So,
- 19:16Speaker 1: like I said, he's made 11 starts this year. Opponent's
- 19:19Speaker 1: batting average is 2-1-2 with a 6-6-9 OPS and an
- 19:24Speaker 1: OPS plus of like 88. As a reliever, that bumps
- 19:30Speaker 1: up to 2-51 and 7-53 OPS.
- 19:30Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 19:35Speaker 1: With the OPS plus of like one time.
- 19:38Speaker 3: All right.
- 19:38Speaker 1: So if you just, if you're just like an ERA person,
- 19:41Speaker 1: it's a two six one ERA as a starter, as
- 19:44Speaker 1: compared to a 4.63 ERA as a reliever. And that's,
- 19:50Speaker 1: essentially a 50-50 split. Basically 52 innings as a starter
- 19:55Speaker 1: and just over 56 innings as a reliever. So I
- 20:00Speaker 1: bring all that up to say this. There's a $ 10
- 20:04Speaker 1: million decision to be made about Drew Anderson. And part
- 20:07Speaker 1: of the calculus of that decision is going to be
- 20:11Speaker 1: if we bring him back and we're paying him $ 10 million,
- 20:14Speaker 1: are we going to be using him in a way that,
- 20:20Speaker 1: based on the only time that we've had him in
- 20:22Speaker 1: the organization, best utilizes his skills?
- 20:26Speaker 3: Right.
- 20:27Speaker 1: And I think that's something that we will be discussing
- 20:32Speaker 1: more as the offseason shapes up. I wanted to bring
- 20:34Speaker 1: it up now because those numbers are not Those are
- 20:38Speaker 1: pretty stark differences.
- 20:39Speaker 2: Yeah, it's really interesting. I continue to think Drew Anderson's
- 20:46Speaker 2: option is going to get picked up. He's only strengthened
- 20:48Speaker 2: that case. A 2-6-1 ERA in 11 starts is basically
- 20:53Speaker 2: worth $ 10 million in itself. I think you're right. If
- 20:57Speaker 2: you're going to pay this guy, even though in the
- 20:59Speaker 2: grand scheme $ 10 million isn't a lot, you want to
- 21:01Speaker 2: maximize his value. But do you really have enough... confidence
- 21:06Speaker 2: to like pencil him in as one of your top
- 21:08Speaker 2: five next year i don't know that's where the versatility
- 21:12Speaker 2: doesn't hurt you know he can do both you you
- 21:15Speaker 2: would probably like or you would he is probably better
- 21:20Speaker 2: as a starter it just seems like the arsenal plays
- 21:22Speaker 2: as you mentioned he seems more comfortable that's where the
- 21:26Speaker 2: melton thing is consequential in a lot of ways kieran
- 21:29Speaker 2: if a spot opens up i mean i think they're
- 21:30Speaker 2: going to add probably two at minimum guys from the
- 21:34Speaker 2: outside but The guys who were fringe despite having very
- 21:38Speaker 2: good years, Drew Anderson, Cater Montero, probably feel a little
- 21:42Speaker 2: bit less fringe if a spot were to be open.
- 21:47Speaker 2: We've talked a lot about Reese Olsen. I still think
- 21:49Speaker 2: he could be a really good pitcher. It's worth noting
- 21:51Speaker 2: his shoulder, that labrum injury, isn't as a sure thing
- 21:57Speaker 2: of a comeback. Tommy John is so prevalent now in
- 22:00Speaker 2: the return to level of play. has become really high.
- 22:04Speaker 2: And my understanding, it's not necessarily the case for the shoulders.
- 22:08Speaker 2: There's maybe a little more uncertainty around where Reese Olsen
- 22:11Speaker 2: is at next spring. So I think those two things
- 22:14Speaker 2: are just all the more reason to pick up Drew
- 22:17Speaker 2: Anderson's option. And if you need him as a starter,
- 22:20Speaker 2: he's there and he can do it. He's going to
- 22:22Speaker 2: have to come and probably earn that job, and we'll
- 22:25Speaker 2: see what kind of outside competition he faces. But the
- 22:28Speaker 2: guy's just made a really strong case for himself, and
- 22:30Speaker 2: it's been good to see him finish the season pitching
- 22:32Speaker 2: so well.
- 22:34Speaker 1: Yeah. I would, I would say that he has definitely
- 22:38Speaker 1: earned the 10 million. I mean, he's a 1.4 war guy.
- 22:42Speaker 1: What are you, what are you, what are you getting,
- 22:46Speaker 1: what are you getting production and versatility wise on the
- 22:49Speaker 1: market that doesn't, that, that costs you 10 million.
- 22:53Speaker 2: That's another one of these conversations. And there are a
- 22:56Speaker 2: lot of them out there, right. With Spencer Torkelson and
- 22:59Speaker 2: Zach McKinstry and others like if you get rid of
- 23:02Speaker 2: that guy all you were trying to do is bring
- 23:05Speaker 2: in another version of that guy it's one reason some
- 23:07Speaker 2: of these conversations are hard I think especially with the
- 23:10Speaker 2: position playing side when you you feel like you need
- 23:13Speaker 2: to add a little more juice but you're always you're
- 23:18Speaker 2: always looking for pitching you're always looking for versatile pitchers
- 23:21Speaker 2: you have a guy who can do it who is
- 23:23Speaker 2: cost controllable Even if he has to come out of
- 23:26Speaker 2: the pen, at least he has a little better idea
- 23:28Speaker 2: of what that entails and what type of routine he needs.
- 23:32Speaker 2: Maybe he has a little more comfort coming back in
- 23:34Speaker 2: his second year. I'm just seeing pluses all the way
- 23:39Speaker 2: around for Drew Anderson right now.
- 23:42Speaker 1: What's going to happen is the options are going to
- 23:44Speaker 1: be picked up and there's going to be two or
- 23:46Speaker 1: three additions in some fashion to the starting rotation pool.
- 23:52Speaker 1: We're going to have to do this thing where he...
- 23:54Speaker 1: is stretched out as a starter. And then at about March.
- 24:00Speaker 2: 7th, let's call it like April 7th or May 7th
- 24:04Speaker 2: this year, given the impending lockout.
- 24:06Speaker 3: Yes.
- 24:07Speaker 2: Hope that it's that early, right?
- 24:09Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah.
- 24:10Speaker 1: And then we're going to be like, we're just going
- 24:11Speaker 1: to move them to the bullpen. We want them to
- 24:12Speaker 1: focus there as we get closer to the season. And
- 24:15Speaker 1: that's a hundred percent what's going to happen. And, and again,
- 24:18Speaker 1: like that's, he is a valuable asset to the team.
- 24:20Speaker 1: He has proved that this year. So want to give
- 24:23Speaker 1: him credit for that. But, be thinking a bit that
- 24:25Speaker 1: way guys, when, when it comes to like the off season,
- 24:28Speaker 1: what they do with the starting rotation. All right, let's,
- 24:32Speaker 1: let's do today's starter Cody. Cause now we have a,
- 24:38Speaker 1: we have a completed season for Fromber Valdez time as
- 24:44Speaker 1: a Detroit tiger remind everybody he is under contract for
- 24:48Speaker 1: just one more year guaranteed. He has a player option
- 24:51Speaker 1: after next season. So, We'll obviously get to that when
- 24:56Speaker 1: we get to that. But the final line, if you
- 24:59Speaker 1: care about win-loss, 10-12, a 4-0-3 ERA. He started 31 games.
- 25:04Speaker 1: He had 135 strikeouts. Pitched 174 innings on the year.
- 25:10Speaker 1: So the Fromber experience, Cody. I'll just kind of say
- 25:17Speaker 1: it from my perspective. I am definitely a guy who
- 25:20Speaker 1: values reliability. He made 31 starts this year, every fifth day.
- 25:25Speaker 1: picks up the ball and he goes, he obviously did
- 25:28Speaker 1: not have a, anything resembling a career season. He had
- 25:33Speaker 1: a couple implosions that, uh, you know, that are going
- 25:37Speaker 1: to be sort of like, uh, unfortunately going to be
- 25:41Speaker 1: something that guys, guys remember, but in Chicago where he
- 25:44Speaker 1: couldn't get out of the first inning, obviously, you know,
- 25:46Speaker 1: the alleged intentional hitting of a, of a batter and
- 25:51Speaker 1: the results that came from that, uh, Uh, so like
- 25:54Speaker 1: those things will be remembered, but I do want to
- 25:56Speaker 1: also remember that he is somebody who, you know, he,
- 26:00Speaker 1: he finished the season strong 3.12 ERA in his last
- 26:03Speaker 1: 10 appearances. Uh, I don't, people are going to be
- 26:08Speaker 1: disappointed because he's sort of the face of this season
- 26:12Speaker 1: being like the hype that it came up. Oh, got
- 26:14Speaker 1: from her about this. And so, you know, we're really
- 26:16Speaker 1: going for it. Uh, so I would grade a C plus,
- 26:20Speaker 1: like it's not like it, it's not, excellent but it's
- 26:24Speaker 1: not a failure either he pitched too well he was
- 26:27Speaker 1: too reliable for it to be a failure but it
- 26:29Speaker 1: ended up being like a little bit of a letdown
- 26:32Speaker 1: just like the season as a whole was a letdown
- 26:35Speaker 1: i don't know is that is that like.
- 26:36Speaker 2: Fair i think that's spot on i think that's probably
- 26:39Speaker 2: exactly how i would grade it i thought aj hinge
- 26:42Speaker 2: put it well in his post game wednesday he said
- 26:45Speaker 2: never really felt like he was in control but it
- 26:48Speaker 2: never really felt like he was lost either um Kind
- 26:51Speaker 2: of spot on. He was just okay. And given he's
- 26:55Speaker 2: making 37, 38 million and entered the season with so
- 26:59Speaker 2: much hype, it's disappointing. It was one of the worst
- 27:02Speaker 2: seasons of his career. The worst season really he's had
- 27:06Speaker 2: since he's established himself as being a dude. He didn't
- 27:08Speaker 2: meet expectations. But there is something to be said for
- 27:12Speaker 2: posting 31 times and taking down a bunch of innings.
- 27:16Speaker 3: The longer.
- 27:17Speaker 2: I swear, guys, I'm just becoming more old school the
- 27:19Speaker 2: longer I cover this sport. It's like, I don't know.
- 27:22Speaker 2: You can have all the metrics you want. Every staff
- 27:24Speaker 2: kind of needs a dude or two who can just
- 27:27Speaker 2: go out there and start 31 times. Now, he's kind
- 27:30Speaker 2: of getting paid to be a co-ace with Tarek Skubal.
- 27:35Speaker 2: Next year, he's probably going to be your opening day starter.
- 27:38Speaker 2: You want more than just posting. But if you think
- 27:42Speaker 2: of it in your mind, I don't know. That's still
- 27:45Speaker 2: not a bad investment. this guy's going to pitch for you.
- 27:48Speaker 2: And as much as it doesn't really look like a
- 27:51Speaker 2: good deal, it's such a short term that as long
- 27:54Speaker 2: as he's going out there and posting and being okay,
- 27:57Speaker 2: it's really not that bad. You could do a lot worse.
- 28:00Speaker 2: You could spend 15 on Alex Cobb or 13 on
- 28:02Speaker 2: Justin Verlander and they give you nothing. And then I
- 28:06Speaker 2: think it's meaningful that he's finished the season strong. 3.12
- 28:09Speaker 2: ERA in his last 10 starts. A lot more like himself.
- 28:13Speaker 2: made some subtle adjustments with where he's standing on the rubber,
- 28:17Speaker 2: started having more success with his curveball, locating the sinker
- 28:20Speaker 2: a little bit better, mixing in the four seam, which
- 28:23Speaker 2: like the Stuff Plus models grayed out as just a
- 28:25Speaker 2: hilariously bad pitch, like 89 or something like that. But
- 28:29Speaker 2: I think you add it to his arsenal and it's
- 28:31Speaker 2: had like bits of success with it. Worth remembering with
- 28:37Speaker 2: a lot of these conversations that September, it's not quite
- 28:40Speaker 2: as bad as the days of like massive September call-ups.
- 28:43Speaker 2: But it's still a weird time to evaluate. The Tigers
- 28:46Speaker 2: are the poster for it. They're starting six rookies every day,
- 28:49Speaker 2: and they've scaled back Cater, and they're kind of doing
- 28:52Speaker 2: some different things just to get guys in the game.
- 28:55Speaker 2: And there are other teams doing that too. So whether
- 28:58Speaker 2: it's the position players or even a pitcher, maybe take
- 29:01Speaker 2: September results a little bit with a grain of salt.
- 29:05Speaker 2: But I think it's important. Fromber hasn't had that blow-up outing.
- 29:08Speaker 2: He's been reliable. The command, to me, has looked a
- 29:11Speaker 2: lot sharper. these last seven to 10 outings. And so
- 29:16Speaker 2: he can at least finish his year on somewhat of
- 29:18Speaker 2: a positive note. Weird because in some way he, he
- 29:22Speaker 2: could kind of be the face of this disappointing year.
- 29:24Speaker 2: And yet, I don't know. I still feel pretty good
- 29:27Speaker 2: about Frambois Valdez being part of next year's rotation. You
- 29:30Speaker 2: just hope he can get back to, to kind of
- 29:33Speaker 2: the level he was at prior.
- 29:34Speaker 3: To this season. Yeah.
- 29:37Speaker 1: Retired the first 11 batters of a Wednesday season. game. And,
- 29:41Speaker 1: you know, you start thinking it wouldn't have been perfect
- 29:44Speaker 1: if like Fromber would have thrown a no hitter in
- 29:46Speaker 1: the last week of the year when the team's like eliminated.
- 29:50Speaker 1: That would have been. That would have been something.
- 29:52Speaker 2: But yeah, I agree with you.
- 29:53Speaker 1: Like there's like he obviously given everything that went wrong
- 29:58Speaker 1: this season, he was not one of the people that
- 29:59Speaker 1: held you back. So so like I think that's a
- 30:04Speaker 1: weird thing to say, given his contract. I know people
- 30:06Speaker 1: are going to bring that up and that's fair. But
- 30:09Speaker 1: at the same time, this guy went out there, like
- 30:11Speaker 1: I said, pitched every fifth day, was not, you know.
- 30:14Speaker 1: was somebody that you could rely on in a season
- 30:16Speaker 1: where there just wasn't a lot that you could rely on.
- 30:20Speaker 1: And so like, if you just kind of scale it
- 30:22Speaker 1: to everything that we saw this year, like it's going
- 30:24Speaker 1: to give you a more positive opinion. And then there
- 30:26Speaker 1: is that you can bank on moving forward into 2027.
- 30:29Speaker 1: So we'll definitely get the fromber experience next year. All right.
- 30:36Speaker 1: Real quick. So we're going to do an episode that
- 30:38Speaker 1: publishes Friday. We're going to talk basically all Justin Verlander.
- 30:42Speaker 1: So that's why we haven't gotten to it right now,
- 30:45Speaker 1: But I did want to get in this, Cody, because
- 30:47Speaker 1: it was like the news, the topical news of the
- 30:50Speaker 1: day is official. Comerica Park will next season and beyond
- 30:55Speaker 1: be hereby known as Fifth Third Park. There was a
- 31:02Speaker 1: press conference and I guess you would call it a ceremony.
- 31:06Speaker 2: Oh, it was a ceremony.
- 31:08Speaker 3: All right.
- 31:10Speaker 2: My opinion of this is.
- 31:14Speaker 1: We really didn't need the mystery about it. Like, obviously
- 31:17Speaker 1: they were just going to change it to fifth, third park.
- 31:20Speaker 2: Uh, they had the billboard like covered up, but as
- 31:23Speaker 2: they were taking it out there, the like cloth like
- 31:25Speaker 2: came off. And so we all saw it up in
- 31:28Speaker 2: the press box. That's so that's how well that was done.
- 31:31Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 31:31Speaker 1: Uh, I'm sure people didn't like, I mean, I was
- 31:34Speaker 1: seven at the time or yeah, six or seven at
- 31:37Speaker 1: the time. So, I'm sure people didn't like the new
- 31:39Speaker 1: Paul park in, in, in downtown Detroit being called Comerica
- 31:43Speaker 1: park at that time. And it kind of grew into
- 31:45Speaker 1: something that just kind of sounded nice. I'm not sure
- 31:48Speaker 1: if this will be, uh, these, these names change. I
- 31:52Speaker 1: don't like them like on the surface, but I'm not
- 31:55Speaker 1: offended by them. Like, yeah, if it could be, if
- 31:57Speaker 1: everything could be tiger stadium and Yankee stadium and Wrigley
- 31:59Speaker 1: field and Fenway park and Dodger stadium forever, nothing would
- 32:03Speaker 1: make me happier, but that's just not really, you know,
- 32:07Speaker 1: It's not the world we live in. I remember down
- 32:09Speaker 1: here when the ballpark in Arlington became Globe Life Field. And,
- 32:12Speaker 1: you know, it just doesn't sound great. But now you
- 32:14Speaker 1: just say, hey, I'm going to Globe Life tonight. And,
- 32:16Speaker 1: you know, it just kind of becomes part of your vernacular.
- 32:19Speaker 1: So I'm sure the same will be said about this.
- 32:23Speaker 1: So that's my opinion.
- 32:25Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's the right way to look at it.
- 32:29Speaker 2: To be clear, that was one of the goofier press
- 32:30Speaker 2: conferences I've ever seen. There were way too many people
- 32:33Speaker 2: speaking at that thing, and it probably could have been
- 32:36Speaker 2: an email. I guess you're trying to do right by
- 32:39Speaker 2: your corporate sponsor or whatever, but you got to know
- 32:42Speaker 2: no one's going to respond well to this, and it
- 32:44Speaker 2: was just so grossly overdone. As far as the name itself, yeah, look,
- 32:50Speaker 2: it's 2026. We live in the world where stadiums get
- 32:53Speaker 2: corporate sponsors. It's also worth noting that You're transferring from
- 32:57Speaker 2: the name of one bank to another. People grew to
- 33:00Speaker 2: love Comerica Park because it became familiar as the name,
- 33:03Speaker 2: but that was a conglomerate that paid $ 66 million for
- 33:07Speaker 2: the naming rights. So Fifth Third and Comerica merged, and
- 33:10Speaker 2: Fifth Third as such is simply taking over the naming
- 33:14Speaker 2: rights to the stadium. Doesn't roll off the tongue. Seems
- 33:16Speaker 2: a little awkward. I'm sure we'll get used to it.
- 33:19Speaker 2: People oddly transitioned from calling Minute Maid Park Dyken Park,
- 33:24Speaker 2: like quicker than i expected so i'm sure the same
- 33:27Speaker 2: will happen and then my other thing is like what
- 33:30Speaker 2: else did you really want him to name it tiger
- 33:32Speaker 2: stadium at fifth third park or whatever was probably the
- 33:35Speaker 2: thing i've heard the most personally i'm there are a
- 33:38Speaker 2: lot of things like i kind of like you know
- 33:40Speaker 2: i'm not from detroit i didn't grow up a tigers
- 33:42Speaker 2: fan one thing i do feel like i'm a tiger
- 33:44Speaker 2: stadium guy and i never saw that thing as a
- 33:47Speaker 2: standing structure I don't think they should get to call
- 33:51Speaker 2: this place Tiger Stadium because if they wanted to play
- 33:54Speaker 2: at Tiger Stadium, they shouldn't have used state funds to
- 33:58Speaker 2: move to a new ballpark and desert and eventually tear
- 34:01Speaker 2: down Tiger Stadium. You could have stayed at Tiger Stadium.
- 34:04Speaker 2: So I don't think they should get to use that
- 34:07Speaker 2: moniker for this park. And then I can't really think
- 34:10Speaker 2: of anything else that would be a whole lot better.
- 34:13Speaker 2: So is what it is.
- 34:14Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah.
- 34:15Speaker 1: No, that's fair. Don't want to.
- 34:17Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 34:18Speaker 1: That place over there, that place had the history. They, like,
- 34:21Speaker 1: earned the moniker Tiger Stadium and, like, the reverence with it. Comerica,
- 34:27Speaker 1: I always enjoy going to Comerica. Comerica's had its moments, too,
- 34:30Speaker 1: in Tiger's lore. And then from here on out, we'll
- 34:34Speaker 1: have to say, like, remember that game at Fifth Third
- 34:37Speaker 1: Park when Max Clark had a.
- 34:40Speaker 2: When Ben Malgeri, wearing number 53, just went off the
- 34:44Speaker 2: day Fifth Third Park was announced. That was hilarious.
- 34:47Speaker 1: Yeah, how can you not be romantic about baseball, right?
- 34:51Speaker 1: So yeah, we'll talk Justin Verlander on Friday's episode and
- 34:55Speaker 1: just kind of reflect on everything that's going on there.
- 34:58Speaker 1: So that's why we have not talked about it here.
- 35:00Speaker 1: So I want to just kind of talk about the
- 35:02Speaker 1: games and some of the bigger picture aspects of that.
- 35:04Speaker 1: But we will get to Justin Verlander, so I wanted
- 35:06Speaker 1: to assure everybody. Anything else, Cody, before we jet out
- 35:10Speaker 1: of here?
- 35:12Speaker 2: We got all offseason to talk about a whole bunch
- 35:14Speaker 2: of other topics. So, no, I am good for now. And, yeah,
- 35:17Speaker 2: it's going to be a fun weekend at, as Justin
- 35:19Speaker 2: Verlander himself said, Comerica slash Fifth Third Park.
- 35:24Speaker 1: Way to close out Comerica. Have Justin Verlander start one
- 35:27Speaker 1: of the last games. Hey, not bad. Not bad, everybody.
- 35:30Speaker 1: Not bad job all around with River Ryan in there, too.
- 35:32Speaker 1: All right, you guys can follow us up at Cody Stabenhagen.
- 35:36Speaker 1: I am at Kieran underscore Steckley. Pod pages at TigerTerritory
- 35:39Speaker 1: underscore YouTube, Apple, Spotify. Subscribe, like, review. You guys know
- 35:43Speaker 1: what to do. We appreciate all of you. So for
- 35:44Speaker 1: Cody Stabenhagen, I'm Kieran Steckley. Everybody have a great day.