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Detroit Tigers Southside Split · Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast

0:05
Speaker 1: And welcome into another episode of Tiger Territory, part of
0:08
Speaker 1: the Foul Territory Network. Ay Detroit Tiger's podcast. I'm Karen
0:11
Speaker 1: Steckley with me as always a man who believes there's
0:13
Speaker 1: no s an RBI. He is Cody Stavenaggan.
0:17
Speaker 2: How you doing.
0:18
Speaker 3: It's true. I'm not a big fan of the ass
0:21
Speaker 3: have to adhere to it though. It's it's an our
0:23
Speaker 3: style guide, so I do have to write that sometimes
0:25
Speaker 3: it bothers me everything.
0:27
Speaker 1: I don't know if you guys saw, but you know,
0:29
Speaker 1: it was a little fun back and forth between the
0:32
Speaker 1: John Boy Boys and Aaron Boone on their podcast talking
0:36
Speaker 1: about it, so that.
0:37
Speaker 2: Was the inspiration for that.
0:39
Speaker 1: Also, we are recording this in the midst of a
0:43
Speaker 1: Twitter meltdown. We're not going to talk about it, but
0:45
Speaker 1: the Tigers had a very exciting game that if you
0:47
Speaker 1: you probably might have missed if you want to watch
0:49
Speaker 1: it on TV, because your Twitter account was probably flooded
0:52
Speaker 1: with other stuff.
0:54
Speaker 2: And we'll leave it at that. Tigers dropping.
0:57
Speaker 3: I'm not up on this. I haven't been on Twitter now.
0:59
Speaker 3: I'm very curious. It's not undistracted.
1:02
Speaker 1: At the opposite effect, uh, the tire recorded this shortly
1:06
Speaker 1: after the Tigers dropped an extra ending game to the
1:09
Speaker 1: Chicago White Sox split a series down at the South
1:13
Speaker 1: Side before playing the North Side team and in Detroit
1:17
Speaker 1: for the weekend.
1:18
Speaker 2: We'll talk about that a little bit later. Uh.
1:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, it felt a little bit to me, Cody, like,
1:26
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna come over here and like overreact.
1:29
Speaker 2: You split a series. It's not the end of the world.
1:31
Speaker 1: But if there was a tight race at the end,
1:37
Speaker 1: am I gonna think back to an extra ending loss
1:40
Speaker 1: against the White Sox. With respect to them, they can
1:42
Speaker 1: be spunky, like they're they're they're playing hard at this
1:45
Speaker 1: point in the year.
1:45
Speaker 3: Still white socks are dad here and white socks are terrible.
1:50
Speaker 1: Come on, I'm trying to be respectful here, all right.
1:53
Speaker 1: Like they they I like their manager. They just had
1:56
Speaker 1: this momentum with this sale announcement today. That's something else
2:00
Speaker 1: that happened on Twitter.
2:01
Speaker 2: Uh.
2:02
Speaker 1: But this was a game that I feel like, you're
2:05
Speaker 1: you're gonna be able to look back on if it's
2:07
Speaker 1: like you're a game up in the last weekend and
2:09
Speaker 1: you're just like, oh man.
2:10
Speaker 2: Remember that one.
2:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, I remember that one because you had you had
2:14
Speaker 1: glabor Torres take a call at third strike, you had
2:16
Speaker 1: to fly out with Torque there at extra endy you
2:18
Speaker 1: had two on and in the extra endy and you
2:21
Speaker 1: can't get anybody home and then sack, you know, intentional walk, sack,
2:27
Speaker 1: bunt single, and all of a sudden you got yourself
2:29
Speaker 1: a loss. And again it's a split series. I'm not
2:31
Speaker 1: trying to overreact. That's a game that I feel like
2:34
Speaker 1: they're probably gonna look back and say, you know, probably
2:37
Speaker 1: should have had that one. Casey Meyes was not dealing
2:41
Speaker 1: and still the only down two runs, Like you feel
2:44
Speaker 1: like that was a game that you could have like
2:46
Speaker 1: earned yourself a gritty win.
2:50
Speaker 2: This didn't happen today.
2:51
Speaker 3: Though, Yeah, I mean it was. It was pretty laborious
2:55
Speaker 3: for Casey Mees. I went forward to two thirds innings
2:58
Speaker 3: through ninety three pitch is. It just never really had
3:01
Speaker 3: it going anyway. You know, he walked four guys and
3:04
Speaker 3: you'll live it. In the two earned runs. You almost
3:06
Speaker 3: feel good about that, but there's a little bit of
3:09
Speaker 3: a grind, so you're you're down there for a second
3:12
Speaker 3: and not a ton of opportunities. One for six with
3:16
Speaker 3: runners and scoring position, nine guys left on on base
3:20
Speaker 3: so you know, you had some chances, just didn't convert,
3:24
Speaker 3: just ton't come through with the big hit. That's gonna
3:26
Speaker 3: happen sometimes. But it was a four game series with
3:29
Speaker 3: the White Sox. You know, you know, you're not really
3:31
Speaker 3: leaving feeling good about splitting with the White Sox. Your
3:34
Speaker 3: other loss, you know, it was a bullpen game. You're
3:37
Speaker 3: almost kind of like, all right, let's just hope we
3:39
Speaker 3: can get through this one. But it really the last
3:43
Speaker 3: three games in Chicago. You know, they won kind of
3:47
Speaker 3: in some classic like gritty Tigs style Wednesday night, but
3:51
Speaker 3: the last three games against Chicago, you know, maybe not
3:55
Speaker 3: your best pitching performances, and it wasn't like the bats
3:58
Speaker 3: were just clicking on all cylinders either. This is gonna happen.
4:02
Speaker 3: But like, I guess it's it's hard to talk about
4:05
Speaker 3: the Tigers right now because they're so good, you know,
4:08
Speaker 3: but we're also like rational, so we're not gonna be like, oh,
4:10
Speaker 3: you split series with the White Sox, you suck. This
4:12
Speaker 3: is unacceptable. We're not gonna do that. But it's also like, really,
4:16
Speaker 3: really you couldn't take three or four from the White Sox.
4:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, here's the thing for you throw like it mirrored
4:25
Speaker 1: the That's why I said DJA boo or earlier, like
4:28
Speaker 1: it kind of mirrored the Kansas City experience a little bit.
4:32
Speaker 2: I know they won that series, but.
4:34
Speaker 1: Like, did you feel like outside like the majority of
4:37
Speaker 1: the series they were playing their best baseball?
4:39
Speaker 2: No, I wouldn't say that.
4:41
Speaker 1: And then certainly, outside of game one of this series,
4:44
Speaker 1: do you feel like they were playing like best team
4:46
Speaker 1: in baseball baseball?
4:48
Speaker 2: No, I wouldn't say that.
4:50
Speaker 1: And that happens over the course of hundred sixty two games,
4:53
Speaker 1: Like we all understand these things, but it's not the
4:55
Speaker 1: most wasn't the most esthetically pleasing baseball to watch? I mean,
5:00
Speaker 1: you're a couple of inches away from dropping that game
5:02
Speaker 1: Wednesday probably, and and and therefore, like this becomes like
5:06
Speaker 1: a three to one, you know, the other way, So
5:10
Speaker 1: like then maybe maybe we'd have to have some some
5:13
Speaker 1: larger emotional outbursts. We'll save that for another time perhaps,
5:18
Speaker 1: But in regards to the game today, like there were
5:22
Speaker 1: another there was some other like kind of sluggishness that
5:28
Speaker 1: that that that just kind of pops out of the
5:30
Speaker 1: screen for me, all right, like and and and I
5:33
Speaker 1: don't even mean this as a criticism as much as
5:36
Speaker 1: an observation. Like an example, Carry Carpenter, you know, hits
5:40
Speaker 1: that ball that it gets misplayed at second base. He's
5:43
Speaker 1: obviously not hustling because he's preserving his hamstring, like we
5:46
Speaker 1: all understand that. But it but it plays into the
5:50
Speaker 1: overall octave uh, octave of the the sluggish sluggish just
5:56
Speaker 1: there a little little tongue tied there for a second, uh,
6:00
Speaker 1: and then the opposite. It feels like maybe there are
6:02
Speaker 1: some guys who have fresh legs, Parker Meadows. One of
6:06
Speaker 1: them makes another diving catch today, so you know, that
6:09
Speaker 1: was fun to see. Wentzel Perez gets on and then
6:13
Speaker 1: tries to go first to third on a single that
6:16
Speaker 1: he had no business actually like going to third on
6:21
Speaker 1: that play, like he it was too close to guarantee
6:24
Speaker 1: that was going to drop. And then he even stopped
6:26
Speaker 1: at second base and he was out by mile. This
6:29
Speaker 1: is not me go over here doing the playing the
6:32
Speaker 1: result stuff with the aggressive baseball, but that is any
6:35
Speaker 1: but he it felt like was trying to do a
6:37
Speaker 1: little spark action right there, probably seeing what's going on
6:41
Speaker 1: around the team. And obviously his legs are fresher than
6:44
Speaker 1: the majority of the guys on the squad, and he
6:46
Speaker 1: does have the home run later and you know, provides
6:49
Speaker 1: that spark as well, but at the same time.
6:52
Speaker 4: Like.
6:53
Speaker 1: It did, it felt like that might have been the
6:55
Speaker 1: result of what we had seen over the course of
6:58
Speaker 1: the week. And now White Sox in the rear view.
7:01
Speaker 1: You gotta look at the Cubs. It's just a lot
7:03
Speaker 1: of kind of moving parts here. Not panicky, not over
7:06
Speaker 1: the like yeah, but version of themselves right now.
7:11
Speaker 3: The series, I think we've squeezed all the juice out
7:15
Speaker 3: of that we can. Right the series was what it was.
7:18
Speaker 3: You leave it with kind of a meth feeling about it,
7:21
Speaker 3: But we did have some bigger picture, kind of important
7:24
Speaker 3: things happen right the return to Parker Meadows. We've talked
7:26
Speaker 3: about that someone our last episode, Uh, Sawyer Gibson Long
7:31
Speaker 3: back in the big leagues. Col Keith is a third
7:33
Speaker 3: basement again, at least partially. So I think all three
7:37
Speaker 3: of those things are some important developments. We saw right
7:40
Speaker 3: away what Parker can bring to the team. Sawyer Gibson Long,
7:44
Speaker 3: you know, I also talked about like I like him.
7:46
Speaker 3: I think he's going to be a good picture is
7:48
Speaker 3: just like it feels like a lot is on his plate,
7:52
Speaker 3: maybe a little sooner than you would hope, maybe as
7:55
Speaker 3: a result of a couple other guys being on in
7:57
Speaker 3: the injured list. And that's kind of what it felt like.
8:00
Speaker 3: His first outing. He got right out there on the
8:04
Speaker 3: mound and punched out Mike Talkman and threw a nasty changeup.
8:07
Speaker 3: Is like, oh, this is what the Tigers had been
8:10
Speaker 3: raving about. But then, you know, flash forward a couple
8:13
Speaker 3: of innings, it was like, well, it kind of looks
8:16
Speaker 3: like a guy who hasn't pitched in almost two years.
8:18
Speaker 3: That was really my only grand takeaway. You know, the
8:23
Speaker 3: stuff plus was still pretty good. You can tell he
8:26
Speaker 3: has three to four solid major league offerings. There's a
8:30
Speaker 3: lot to like, but it just didn't feel refined. It
8:33
Speaker 3: felt like a guy coming straight off Tommy John, which
8:36
Speaker 3: I guess is what I feared. But the good news
8:38
Speaker 3: is if that's the baseline, you know, maybe it'll be
8:41
Speaker 3: a little bit choppy for a second, but eventually it's
8:44
Speaker 3: gonna smooth out. And I think kind of the question
8:47
Speaker 3: is like how long is that going to take?
8:50
Speaker 2: Sure? Unanswerable?
8:52
Speaker 1: Uh, one of the I agree, I didn't have like
8:55
Speaker 1: anything over arching. Probably I thought he handled the rain
8:59
Speaker 1: delay element pretty well, considering like you know, your your
9:02
Speaker 1: first game, by the way, that was only like what
9:04
Speaker 1: his fifth major league start of his career. Oh, so,
9:08
Speaker 1: like you know, we talk about just being like young
9:10
Speaker 1: in so many ways. Uh, I thought, I thought, like
9:15
Speaker 1: all that kind of stuff he handled well. And then he,
9:16
Speaker 1: like you said, pitch like a guy that was still
9:19
Speaker 1: pretty fresh off Tommy John surgery. And would he be
9:22
Speaker 1: here had it not been for some other stuff? And
9:24
Speaker 1: then you know, coming off a bullpen day, obviously when
9:29
Speaker 1: you only go three point two, you got to use
9:31
Speaker 1: some arms there.
9:32
Speaker 2: And then like.
9:34
Speaker 1: That's kind of if you're gonna say something good about
9:36
Speaker 1: Casey miz that's where it helps a lot, because he
9:39
Speaker 1: went longer, deeper into that game.
9:42
Speaker 5: Uh.
9:42
Speaker 2: Then it really looks like.
9:44
Speaker 1: Quite frankly, he was gonna be able to the first
9:46
Speaker 1: couple of innings, say, I almost say save bullpen arms,
9:49
Speaker 1: but like you know, preserved a little bit there considering
9:53
Speaker 1: what it could have been. And uh and I did
9:56
Speaker 1: have one thing to say about Casey Misaca reminded me
9:58
Speaker 1: of beginning years of this podcast, where may you like
10:03
Speaker 1: him and Manny would have these outings where you're just
10:05
Speaker 1: like you just tell you're just off, you're just off
10:08
Speaker 1: a beat, and then you try to figure out a way.
10:11
Speaker 1: And I'm not going to sit here and brag about
10:13
Speaker 1: his outing, but he figured out a way to go,
10:15
Speaker 1: like I said, longer, deeper into the game.
10:18
Speaker 3: It felt like a last year Casey Mii's outing for sure.
10:21
Speaker 1: And not representative of like what his like his baseball
10:25
Speaker 1: card stats are to this point. Well, we will get
10:29
Speaker 1: to some of the other storylines, bigger picture stuff as
10:32
Speaker 1: Cody laid out there.
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11:41
Speaker 1: All right, coming back here, Let's talk about that Colt
11:44
Speaker 1: Keith their base thing for a second, because that's one
11:49
Speaker 1: of those like it happened so quickly, and of course
11:52
Speaker 1: it's it gets like kind of put out there before.
11:55
Speaker 2: A day game.
11:55
Speaker 1: And you know, Aj in his utmost wisdom is not
12:00
Speaker 1: just gonna throw something out there without somewhat of a
12:02
Speaker 1: plan to make it happen.
12:05
Speaker 2: In some way.
12:05
Speaker 1: You know, it wasn't gonna linger on everybody's minds for
12:08
Speaker 1: for all that long, and and cold Keith gets in there.
12:14
Speaker 1: All I heard for the past several years was that
12:18
Speaker 1: you know, his shoulder, his arm is like I don't
12:22
Speaker 1: want to say a problem, but something that they were
12:24
Speaker 1: conscious of overall with like how they were gonna use
12:27
Speaker 1: him in the field, because we had talked about, you know,
12:29
Speaker 1: could could you get him a spot in the in
12:32
Speaker 1: a corner somewhere potentially or whatever this is over the
12:35
Speaker 1: over the past couple of years, we had this conversation,
12:37
Speaker 1: and that's why, like, if you're gonna sign a labor Torres,
12:40
Speaker 1: the only option for cold Keith in the field as
12:43
Speaker 1: off at the time was first base. Now, I guess
12:47
Speaker 1: you could say he his usage has expanded a little bit.
12:52
Speaker 1: If he's gonna be able to play some spot third,
12:54
Speaker 1: there continues to be a revolving door of possibilities this season, Cody,
12:59
Speaker 1: But well, how did you how did you kind of
13:02
Speaker 1: take that given all you've heard for years about cold
13:05
Speaker 1: Keith and then what you've seen, you know, spring training,
13:09
Speaker 1: you know before before game drills, and and just the
13:12
Speaker 1: way people talk about it now all of a sudden, Now,
13:15
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, this is like a possibility something
13:18
Speaker 1: that if we're going if I could say one thing
13:20
Speaker 1: semi critical, really, if this is a possibility now there's
13:24
Speaker 1: no reason it couldn't have been a possibility almost at
13:27
Speaker 1: any other time.
13:28
Speaker 3: So yeah, I think that's a fair question. I mean,
13:32
Speaker 3: we've heard a lot like he heard his shoulder right,
13:34
Speaker 3: he's just not really capable of making that throw anymore.
13:37
Speaker 3: Maybe it's not a good fit for him post shoulder injury.
13:40
Speaker 3: That's kind of what the narrative was. Well, Colt said,
13:43
Speaker 3: you know, a couple of years of rehaving that shoulder injury,
13:45
Speaker 3: it's in a better place now, Cool said it. I
13:48
Speaker 3: believe it in a way like I I have, Like
13:53
Speaker 3: I stood pretty close up to infield drills like cold.
13:55
Speaker 3: Keith does a pretty good arm when he wants to, Like,
13:58
Speaker 3: I think he has a better arm than JC. Although
14:00
Speaker 3: I haven't seen him throw from third in a while.
14:03
Speaker 3: I've seen him both throw from second, and tell you
14:05
Speaker 3: which one just has more zip on an eye test wise,
14:07
Speaker 3: it's called Keith. So in a way, I don't think
14:10
Speaker 3: he's incapable of playing third. But in a way, he
14:12
Speaker 3: was never a very good third baseman to begin with,
14:14
Speaker 3: and then they moved him to second, and he wasn't
14:16
Speaker 3: a very good second baseman, but he was getting better.
14:19
Speaker 3: And then he moved to first, and he's not been
14:20
Speaker 3: a very good first baseman, and now you're gonna move
14:23
Speaker 3: back to third, and that seems to open the door
14:25
Speaker 3: to maybe move Jays Young back to second, which is
14:27
Speaker 3: his better position. It's kind of like this is this
14:29
Speaker 3: big circle and I don't know how to feel about it.
14:35
Speaker 3: Like in the early days of the aj Hinch era,
14:37
Speaker 3: before anyone was paying an attention to him, I wasn't
14:40
Speaker 3: a big fan of the whole versatility thing because I
14:42
Speaker 3: just feel like that's asking a lot of players, especially
14:46
Speaker 3: young players, developing players. It's something else to focus on,
14:49
Speaker 3: it's something else to worry about. It's not necessarily that
14:52
Speaker 3: easy from the player perspective. I think in Nick Castiano's
14:56
Speaker 3: complaining about how much he was jerked around early in
14:59
Speaker 3: his career, and guess he was. You know, is that
15:03
Speaker 3: fully explain why he's not a good defensive outfielder. Probably not,
15:06
Speaker 3: But is there something to it. I'm inclined to think
15:09
Speaker 3: maybe so. Cole Keith, you're you know, he's been jerked
15:14
Speaker 3: around position wise, But that's also this team's mo is
15:16
Speaker 3: you're gonna have to play multiple positions. They've kind of
15:19
Speaker 3: turned this into a thing and proven it can work
15:22
Speaker 3: to the point that you don't want to knock it
15:24
Speaker 3: too much. I just think it's strange. You know, another
15:28
Speaker 3: option would have been Glaber tour is going to play
15:30
Speaker 3: third base. It is great because what this does is
15:33
Speaker 3: it solves the dilemma of how are you getting cold
15:35
Speaker 3: Labor carry Tor all in the same lineup, especially now
15:39
Speaker 3: that you have one soul in Parker and more guys
15:41
Speaker 3: capable of playing the outfield. It's solved that. So I
15:43
Speaker 3: like it from that perspective. Labor, I don't know. I
15:47
Speaker 3: tend to think wherever he goes, it would still benefit
15:50
Speaker 3: him to have third base in his toolbag. But sounds
15:52
Speaker 3: like the Tigers don't think Labor tour As would be
15:55
Speaker 3: a good defensive third basement. I think the arm in
15:58
Speaker 3: particular they don't think would really play at third base
16:01
Speaker 3: still makes me want it was to be worse than
16:03
Speaker 3: Colt Keith. I don't know. So I don't know if
16:06
Speaker 3: I laid out any compelling case or thought one way
16:09
Speaker 3: or to the other. It's kind of this big, complicated
16:12
Speaker 3: wheel of discussion, and you know, you write that on
16:15
Speaker 3: the whiteboard and it actually looks pretty good. I guess
16:19
Speaker 3: I just hope Colt Keith is not going to be
16:21
Speaker 3: thrown off by how many different things have been asked
16:25
Speaker 3: of him, you know, this early in his career.
16:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a good way to put it.
16:30
Speaker 1: Like, yeah, because I was explaining recently to somebody about
16:35
Speaker 1: just like the positional like the basically the right side
16:38
Speaker 1: of the field dilemma that you want to all those
16:41
Speaker 1: bats in the lineup and you know you have more guys,
16:44
Speaker 1: so you got to use the dhpot and ylah blah
16:46
Speaker 1: blah blah, like you just explained, and then you know,
16:49
Speaker 1: potential solution just happens like a day later right after
16:51
Speaker 1: I'm talking about what It was still something that, again,
16:55
Speaker 1: like I said in theory, could have been done almost
16:58
Speaker 1: any time.
16:58
Speaker 2: Obviously we're gonna do that spring training.
17:00
Speaker 1: Didn't know, you know, Torque was maybe maybe him taking
17:03
Speaker 1: to a corner infield spot made them think like, okay,
17:06
Speaker 1: that's something more comfortable, you know, like I'm stinking out
17:10
Speaker 1: loud here.
17:11
Speaker 2: Like the The.
17:12
Speaker 1: Other piece of it, though, is like, so like if
17:15
Speaker 1: you're gonna do something like this, like who or what?
17:18
Speaker 2: Is that an indictment of that?
17:21
Speaker 1: I you know kind of got me thinking like it
17:24
Speaker 1: it's I guess maybe it's an indictment that you know,
17:27
Speaker 1: whatever Jase is doing in Triple A, they you know,
17:30
Speaker 1: don't see him as like some sort of immediate solution,
17:33
Speaker 1: you know, could you know, should something arise, because like
17:38
Speaker 1: you know, Dan talked about on the radio, we're we're
17:41
Speaker 1: at a point right now watching this Tigers team where
17:45
Speaker 1: there's some roster squeezing gonna be going on here.
17:48
Speaker 3: You know, like I think it's linked to Trey Sweeney.
17:52
Speaker 1: So like, yeah, we get I guess we could kind of,
17:55
Speaker 1: you know, kind of transition it there because I mean
17:58
Speaker 1: that was the that was the pinch hit today, right
18:01
Speaker 1: uh or yeah, so like the like Sweeney has been fighting,
18:06
Speaker 1: it is a nice way to put it.
18:07
Speaker 2: At the plate.
18:08
Speaker 1: He had a good little stretch right when we were
18:10
Speaker 1: talking about it, and then since then he's been really cool.
18:14
Speaker 1: And I don't I don't know what the obvious answer is.
18:20
Speaker 1: You have Hobby Hobby Bayas in your back pocket for
18:23
Speaker 1: a multiple reasons. But he was also a guy that
18:25
Speaker 1: you can play at third and in a lot of
18:27
Speaker 1: situations and kind of know what you're getting there.
18:30
Speaker 2: Uh.
18:31
Speaker 1: Now, all of a sudden, there's with this roster squeeze,
18:34
Speaker 1: there's a little bit more wildcard element to the lineup
18:38
Speaker 1: every day, which is funny because then we begin the
18:40
Speaker 1: week talking about, oh yeah, here's the usual lineup. It
18:42
Speaker 1: looks so good, and now you gottas and and Hobby
18:47
Speaker 1: back at shortstop. I don't know, potentially somewhat of an
18:51
Speaker 1: everyday guy. Potentially, I don't know, Like.
18:54
Speaker 3: I mean, he's gonna have to hit too, though he's
18:57
Speaker 3: he's cooled the way off. But Keith has been playing
19:00
Speaker 3: much better baseball, kind of like we talked about before,
19:03
Speaker 3: like quietly, probably not get enough credit for how well
19:07
Speaker 3: he has been hitting it over the past month or so.
19:10
Speaker 3: This game is going to continue to eb and flow.
19:12
Speaker 3: Last time we started to worry about Tray Sweeney, he
19:15
Speaker 3: had a really hot stretch. I still think that's a
19:18
Speaker 3: fair concern, and I do think this is probably somewhat
19:20
Speaker 3: linked to Tray Sweeney. You can get him out of
19:24
Speaker 3: the lineup. You can play Hobby or mckinstrey at third. Okay,
19:27
Speaker 3: who's going to play third? Like this right now does
19:30
Speaker 3: get your best players all in the game at the
19:33
Speaker 3: same time. So again, on the whiteboard, you have to
19:37
Speaker 3: like it for that reason. Maybe the bigger concern though,
19:40
Speaker 3: Kieran is Trey Sweeney. They kind of got to get
19:42
Speaker 3: this guy going again. The Tigers are a better team
19:46
Speaker 3: when he can be in there at short time. He
19:48
Speaker 3: hasn't grayed out particularly well defensively either, which is certainly
19:51
Speaker 3: worth noting. Again when you start talking what could happen
19:54
Speaker 3: at the trade deadline, there are gonna be a few factors,
19:58
Speaker 3: but I think will influence how aggressive the Tigers are
20:01
Speaker 3: and pursuing a bat and whether or not you really
20:04
Speaker 3: trust Trace Weening to be your short step most days
20:06
Speaker 3: is going to be a big part of that.
20:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know, speaking of the whiteboard stuff, we
20:11
Speaker 1: don't have to spend a whole lot of time on
20:13
Speaker 1: it because I think we did a good rundown. But
20:15
Speaker 1: the abanas piece of it is also something that too.
20:19
Speaker 1: It's continuing to linger. You can go back and watch
20:23
Speaker 1: how I broke it down and said, it's not like
20:25
Speaker 1: that many options right now. You have to go outside
20:28
Speaker 1: the organization, most likely not saying that something that can't
20:33
Speaker 1: happen or shouldn't happen, whatever. It just doesn't really feel
20:35
Speaker 1: like a June early June move, you know what I mean,
20:39
Speaker 1: Like you know.
20:40
Speaker 3: You're right, but yeah, last time to talk, it was like,
20:43
Speaker 3: well he stills a seven forty one ops against lefties.
20:46
Speaker 3: He's you know it's not indie bonds, but that's pretty good.
20:51
Speaker 3: The opbs against Lefti's down to six eighty, which is
20:53
Speaker 3: no longer. You know what you can upgrade from that.
20:58
Speaker 3: I don't know if you haven't a media internal upgrade
21:01
Speaker 3: other than maybe Jahn who doesn't have the position versasility.
21:04
Speaker 3: But that's all to say. The Abimias thing does remain
21:07
Speaker 3: a conversation.
21:11
Speaker 1: Well, I I feel like that was that was fun,
21:14
Speaker 1: but a little little little gloomy, little gloomy. I don't
21:16
Speaker 1: want to be that gloomy because you know this is
21:18
Speaker 1: still a forty something went team. But I do have
21:23
Speaker 1: a fun topic to kind of wrap up our our
21:26
Speaker 1: our our week, Cody.
21:27
Speaker 2: But first word from our.
21:29
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21:33
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21:36
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21:39
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21:43
Speaker 5: people want to discuss, what we want, what everyone wants
21:46
Speaker 5: to hear us talk about on foul Territory.
21:48
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21:50
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21:57
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22:00
Speaker 4: hosts and the FT faan.
22:04
Speaker 2: All right, coming back here.
22:05
Speaker 1: You know, I do want to give some credit to
22:09
Speaker 1: the New York Yankees for a second, because they are,
22:12
Speaker 1: you know, still one of the best teams in baseball
22:14
Speaker 1: certainly the American League, and no gia Carlo Stanton, which
22:18
Speaker 1: I'm sure that's polarizing for a lot of people, but
22:20
Speaker 1: still he's out. And then the Garrett Cole thing out,
22:23
Speaker 1: they lose Wan So too, and free agency, I know,
22:26
Speaker 1: you know, allowed them to get some pieces, but Paul
22:28
Speaker 1: Goldschmith's doing well, Max Reid obviously awesome. So I want
22:32
Speaker 1: to give them credit, but you know, they are missed
22:34
Speaker 1: at a couple guys from last year's squad as well
22:37
Speaker 1: that are greatly benefiting the Detroit Tigers, and that's Tommy Ainley,
22:42
Speaker 1: who apparently could play some first base in a pinch,
22:46
Speaker 1: and Glabor Torres, who here's something fun slavor Torres, and
22:53
Speaker 1: you know, I wish he might have done something at
22:55
Speaker 1: the plate there and extras.
22:56
Speaker 2: But regardless, he is still like a really great at bat.
22:59
Speaker 1: He's a guy that when something like foolish happens, it's
23:05
Speaker 1: like surprising. And I love Dan being like, well, it's
23:07
Speaker 1: unusual for Labor Torres to x because it's true, like
23:10
Speaker 1: that's what That's what I'm thinking as well, because that's
23:13
Speaker 1: how much confidence you have in him being at the play.
23:15
Speaker 1: I love his reflexes there, I love his eye. And again,
23:18
Speaker 1: I blast at bat, notwithstanding one point four War, and
23:24
Speaker 1: that's obviously heavy on the hitting and fielding. I do believe,
23:28
Speaker 1: despite the metrics, has surpassed my expectations to this point.
23:32
Speaker 1: Had a nice had a nice sliding uh sliding play today,
23:36
Speaker 1: So I want to give him credit for that. But
23:38
Speaker 1: Tommy Kinley Cody one point one War right now, and
23:45
Speaker 1: and and and and he is. He is on the
23:48
Speaker 1: very very very very very short list of guys that
23:52
Speaker 1: AJ has trust in, and the most high leverage of
23:56
Speaker 1: situations obviously will best be in the other one. But
23:59
Speaker 1: I think it's like they were signed at different points
24:02
Speaker 1: in the free in the off season. Period, But I
24:07
Speaker 1: could tuck myself into both in terms of who is
24:10
Speaker 1: the more valuable addition to this point.
24:13
Speaker 2: So I don't know.
24:15
Speaker 1: I guess I always ask you who's been the more
24:17
Speaker 1: valuable addition to this point Between these.
24:19
Speaker 3: Two, well, they both have been valuable, and they've both
24:23
Speaker 3: been pretty close to the best case scenario you could
24:26
Speaker 3: have asked when you signed them. So they both deserve
24:28
Speaker 3: a lot of credit. Scott Harris in the front office
24:31
Speaker 3: to deserve a lot of credit for identifying these guys
24:33
Speaker 3: as fits. My answer would still be g Labor. Maybe
24:37
Speaker 3: I'm just biased for the hitter, but Labor has a
24:40
Speaker 3: three seventy nine on base percentage, Karen. Something the Tigers
24:43
Speaker 3: lacked was a guy who could have a three seventy
24:46
Speaker 3: nine one base percentage. Even Riley Green, Spencer Torgelsen, and
24:50
Speaker 3: Kerry Carpenter at their best just aren't really that type
24:52
Speaker 3: of guy. Labor, I guess, career wise, haven't quite been that.
24:56
Speaker 3: But he's been a very reliable on based bat That's
24:59
Speaker 3: why they and he's he's right now doing getting on
25:03
Speaker 3: base as well as he has at any point in
25:06
Speaker 3: his entire career. We've talked about the leadership aspect something
25:09
Speaker 3: else that was kind of an obvious. Voyd was just
25:12
Speaker 3: a stable, veteran presence. He's brought that. He's not a
25:17
Speaker 3: perfect player, but I have been pleasantly surprised with how
25:21
Speaker 3: this team looks and feels with him on it. And
25:25
Speaker 3: the best version of this Tigers team had to have
25:28
Speaker 3: an above average offense to make the playoffs, let alone
25:30
Speaker 3: be the best team in baseball. They had to get above,
25:35
Speaker 3: you know, kind of kind of just league average offense,
25:37
Speaker 3: and they've done that, and Glabor Tours is a big
25:40
Speaker 3: reason why they've done that. Having a right handed bat
25:44
Speaker 3: to exist kind of in between Riley Green or Kerry
25:47
Speaker 3: Carpenter or anywhere in the top of that order. I
25:49
Speaker 3: think Alter is the calculus for opposing managers every single day.
25:53
Speaker 3: Kinley's been really good, and when the bullpen has kind
25:56
Speaker 3: of been leaking oil lately, it's really important to have
25:59
Speaker 3: it like that. But I think ultimately you could probably
26:04
Speaker 3: find another reliever to pitch really well. The Tigers happened
26:07
Speaker 3: to be kind of mastered of finding other random relievers
26:11
Speaker 3: to come in and pitch really well. I just feel
26:13
Speaker 3: like Glabor has been more rare, more valuable, harder to
26:20
Speaker 3: replace or replicate what he has brought to this team
26:23
Speaker 3: in Kinley. But that's not to disparage Kingley at all,
26:25
Speaker 3: because he's been awesome.
26:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I'm always gonna go toward the hitter
26:32
Speaker 1: as well, but at the same time, like as thin
26:37
Speaker 1: or less reliable than you would have anticipated coming into
26:40
Speaker 1: this year with some of the bullpen pieces, because again,
26:42
Speaker 1: when he was signed, you thought Foley was going to
26:44
Speaker 1: be in the mix for late any leverage, and he's
26:47
Speaker 1: become I guess, I guess you said they're close to
26:52
Speaker 1: best case scenario, but Kinley's best case scenario has become
26:57
Speaker 1: more valuable than what you signed him for.
27:01
Speaker 2: You see, you see what I'm.
27:02
Speaker 1: Saying, Like the scale has moved a little bit in
27:06
Speaker 1: his favor on that. And one of the things I
27:08
Speaker 1: like is that they were both remarkably kind of just
27:13
Speaker 1: kind of simple ballplayers. It's like, all right, yeah, Torres
27:16
Speaker 1: gets on base, yes, and you know, works in at
27:19
Speaker 1: bat well again, like because we're saying it but today,
27:21
Speaker 1: but it's true.
27:22
Speaker 2: And then Gaylee like all right, there's.
27:25
Speaker 1: About eight change ups to every fastball and.
27:29
Speaker 2: And that's it. That's pretty much it. That's pretty much it.
27:32
Speaker 2: For their games.
27:33
Speaker 1: But it's so effective, it's so valuable that like they
27:38
Speaker 1: they both deserve kind of being hoisted up there as
27:42
Speaker 1: like this team is nowhere close to where they're at
27:47
Speaker 1: right now without both of them, and so like it.
27:50
Speaker 1: So the Torres thing was shocking Canley. It's like, all right,
27:56
Speaker 1: here's another believer. Like we'll see that that that stuff
27:58
Speaker 1: kind of happens every year, but it's still kind of
28:01
Speaker 1: a it's still a credit, like you said to the
28:06
Speaker 1: front office for me, I will identify correctly. These are
28:09
Speaker 1: the kind of guys that fit very well with what
28:12
Speaker 1: we're trying to do. So, uh, if you're if you're
28:15
Speaker 1: feeling Scott Harris as you know, some top executive and
28:19
Speaker 1: you're making arguments with their buddies, these are two moves
28:22
Speaker 1: that ought to, you know, be near the top.
28:24
Speaker 2: For for this specific season.
28:25
Speaker 1: So uh just wanted to give them their flowers a
28:29
Speaker 1: little bit, real quick, little some trans transaction stuff that
28:34
Speaker 1: happened in the minor leagues. We don't do a whole
28:36
Speaker 1: lot of minor league stuff, but Troy Melton, someone that
28:39
Speaker 1: we've kind of sparsely mentioned on this podcast gets uh
28:43
Speaker 1: gets up from erie to Toledo and then Kenny Sura,
28:47
Speaker 1: who is most known as the hard throwing knuckleballer, goes
28:51
Speaker 1: from West Michigan to Erie. So if you're looking for
28:55
Speaker 1: names that might be coming up sometime, it might be
28:57
Speaker 1: kicking down the door. Obviously Melton is on that list,
29:00
Speaker 1: and who knows, who knows who knows here.
29:05
Speaker 3: Melton was one of my picks to click before the year.
29:08
Speaker 3: He's kind of lived up to it. His stuff is
29:10
Speaker 3: pretty nasty, a lot of v lo, a lot of
29:12
Speaker 3: riote on that fastball. Got some secondary offerings that are
29:16
Speaker 3: pretty nasty too. So he's going up to Triple A,
29:20
Speaker 3: and especially given the state of the Tigers pitching, I
29:23
Speaker 3: think he's knocking on the door. I think we get
29:25
Speaker 3: I mean, we saw how quickly the Tigers bumped Down
29:28
Speaker 3: Smith up to the big leagues. Troy Melton could be
29:31
Speaker 3: right there. I think the question is like, is he
29:33
Speaker 3: going to start pitching full on in relief anytime soon?
29:37
Speaker 3: Will he remain a starter? We know the Tigers don't
29:39
Speaker 3: like to switch guys just for the sake of switching him,
29:42
Speaker 3: but there's going to be I don't know. I say
29:45
Speaker 3: there's more of a need in the bullpen. Maybe there's
29:46
Speaker 3: a need for him to start. I don't know. I
29:48
Speaker 3: think Trey Milton is going to be in the big leagues,
29:51
Speaker 3: maybe as soon as July, assuming this stuff continues to play,
29:54
Speaker 3: because it's big league stuff. It's electric. From what I hear,
29:57
Speaker 3: the organization really likes him. Can he herwa the viral knuckleballer?
30:03
Speaker 3: I don't think. I think all of us saw the video,
30:05
Speaker 3: and I don't think any of us knew what to expect.
30:07
Speaker 3: He's like, all right, that's sick. Is this like he
30:10
Speaker 3: actually get hitters out?
30:11
Speaker 4: Is he like?
30:12
Speaker 3: Is he actually gonna pitch like in games? Like, where
30:15
Speaker 3: do you he's twenty six, twenty seven? Where do you
30:17
Speaker 3: start him? Well, Hya West, Michigan. Granted he's facing a
30:21
Speaker 3: lot of hitlers younger than him, but he had a
30:24
Speaker 3: two seven five ERA and ten starts. That's some pretty
30:27
Speaker 3: nice outings. He's got a little more to polish up,
30:30
Speaker 3: but seems well deserving of a bump up to double A.
30:34
Speaker 3: And then you start thinking about it, Karen, he doesn't
30:37
Speaker 3: just throw a knuckleball. He throws ninety four. Not many
30:40
Speaker 3: knuckleballers who also can come at you with ninety four.
30:44
Speaker 3: I was actually out in West Michigan a little bit
30:46
Speaker 3: this week. Talk to a couple of the guys. We'll
30:48
Speaker 3: have some stuff eventually on Serwa. Obviously a fascinating story
30:53
Speaker 3: and yeah, like the reviews are just good. It's interesting.
30:59
Speaker 3: You know, you don't want to proclaim anything, but he
31:02
Speaker 3: might have a little more of a future than I
31:05
Speaker 3: think a lot of people would have initially guessed. Just
31:07
Speaker 3: the day the Tigers signed some kid who had a
31:09
Speaker 3: cool YouTube video.
31:12
Speaker 2: Again, maybe the number one lesson.
31:16
Speaker 1: That everyone should kind of go back to all the
31:19
Speaker 1: time is that it's not really anything done that doesn't
31:23
Speaker 1: have a pretty sizable plan behind it.
31:26
Speaker 2: So like, maybe maybe a.
31:28
Speaker 1: Lot of this stuff might be more by design than
31:31
Speaker 1: we realize in the moment. So fascinating to see what
31:34
Speaker 1: happens there. I agree with you on on Troy. Really
31:39
Speaker 1: curious to see how long they kind of you know,
31:42
Speaker 1: how many times you want to throw in triple A,
31:44
Speaker 1: you know what I mean.
31:44
Speaker 2: So so I agree.
31:49
Speaker 1: I think it could be a guy that we see
31:51
Speaker 1: with the old debut patch here, maybe sooner rather than later.
31:56
Speaker 2: All right, Chicago series.
31:58
Speaker 1: They don't want to preview preview the series, but I
32:02
Speaker 1: just want to say that I am looking forward to
32:04
Speaker 1: seeing like a little bit more juice because you're at home,
32:08
Speaker 1: you're playing one of the best teams in baseball.
32:12
Speaker 2: I would say.
32:14
Speaker 1: Historical historical rivalry in a way, and probably people don't
32:17
Speaker 1: look at that way, but look at the history of baseball.
32:19
Speaker 1: These teams have been in the World Series decent amount
32:22
Speaker 1: of time, all right, So I like that element. The
32:24
Speaker 1: whole Midwest Chicago Detroit rivalry is.
32:27
Speaker 2: Is a thing anyway. I hope it's.
32:29
Speaker 1: I hope there's a lot of juice in the ballpark
32:31
Speaker 1: this weekend. And of course, you know, no better way
32:33
Speaker 1: to kick it off than with the school ol day.
32:35
Speaker 1: So I'll be well, we'll be we will be reporting
32:38
Speaker 1: back what kind of environment was over at ca America
32:41
Speaker 1: Park because I'll be very curious to see what happens there.
32:44
Speaker 2: So anything else, Cody before we jet out.
32:47
Speaker 3: No, I think it should be a fun weekend, like
32:49
Speaker 3: you said, chance for really good crowds. I think kind
32:51
Speaker 3: of the first true like summery weekend. You know, three days,
32:55
Speaker 3: you're gonna have temperatures mid seventies, forecast books fly clear,
33:01
Speaker 3: like maybe some good weather, some good vibes. You're gonna
33:04
Speaker 3: have a Schooble Day mixed in there, which doesn't hurt.
33:07
Speaker 3: I'm looking forward to seeing a little Pete Crow Armstrong,
33:09
Speaker 3: not a guy that I've seen in person since he
33:12
Speaker 3: became PCA. You know, he has been one of the
33:17
Speaker 3: more electric players in baseball so far this season, so
33:19
Speaker 3: I'm excited to see what he's gonna do, see how
33:23
Speaker 3: the Tigers will plan to attack him.
33:25
Speaker 1: All right, yeap, looking for a nice little bounce back,
33:28
Speaker 1: and you got the Cubs in town, so see if
33:32
Speaker 1: they can win two more games against the Chicago team. Differences,
33:35
Speaker 1: this is a three game series.
33:37
Speaker 2: All right.
33:37
Speaker 1: You can follow us on x Fomina, on Twitter at
33:39
Speaker 1: Cody Stavenhagen, I'm at Kieran Underscore Stecley pot page at
33:42
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33:47
Speaker 1: your podcasts like rate, subscribe, review, all that good stuff.
33:50
Speaker 1: You guys know what to do and we appreciate all
33:53
Speaker 1: of you. So for Cody daven Hagen, I'm Kieran Steckley. Everybody,
33:56
Speaker 1: have a great day.