Latest / Foul Territory / Southpaws dominate 2025 + Cody Stavenhagen assesses Tigers season

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Southpaws dominate 2025 + Cody Stavenhagen assesses Tigers season · Foul Territory

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Here we go.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Cody Stavenagan joining us right now, Tiger Territory host and
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: reporter for the Athletic covering the Detroit Tigers. So that
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: game happened over the weekend, and now we put this
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: team to bed in the twenty twenty five season. Nice
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: and simple to start, Cody, how do you evaluate twenty
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: twenty five for the Tigers?
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: I wish that were nice and simple. Scott Harris and
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: aj Hinch talk today for the post mortem press conference.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: I think Harris kind of agreed it felt like multiple
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: seasons in one. There were some big emotional swings. There
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: was a lot to like, there was a lot to
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: not like at all. I don't know how to feel
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: about it. You know, in the big picture, hey, you
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: made the playoffs, you made the alds, you still have
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: a good farm system. At the same time, at points
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: this year it felt like you were destined for something
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: a little bigger and you just didn't get there. So
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: there's something some things feel good about, and there's a
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: little hints of regret as well.
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: All Right, tough hitting question right out the gate. Do
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: they have the finances to keep Schooble or do they
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: gotta trade them with one year left.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, personally, I think that's looking at the question the
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: wrong way. I think they have the finances. There's no
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: reason to believe they don't. I'm not sure the Tigers
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: are going to run a luxury tax team anytime soon,
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: but they're still middle of the pack in payroll. Trek
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: School's a Scott Bars client. They could offer him one
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: billion dollars and Scott Boys might say, Hey, you know what,
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: Trek's gonna set a record for starting pitching. We're gonna
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: go ahead and take this free agency. See if anyone
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: wants to beat you. I think the Tigers have to
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: be aware of that fact. They are aware of that fact,
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: and so thus I do think they have to look
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: long and hard at trading trading him. Scott Harris today
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: talking about it, basically said I'm not going to comment,
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: which I think tells you that everything is on the table,
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: including the possibility of a trade.
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: All right, Cody. Part of his press conference, he talked
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: about the trade deadline. Absolutely Cratered struggled, and we're here
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: today talking about because the Tigers didn't ultimately move on
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: in the playoffs. Do you agree with what he said
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: at the trade deadline? About how they went after guys
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: and it would have taken prospects, and that guy that
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: they went after, not naming names, didn't do good. So
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: we can kind of insinuate and know who he's talking about.
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: Do you believe him, agree with him? Or was he
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: kind of skirting around the fact that there was other
• 2:28
  Speaker 4: areas that they could have made moves to help bolster
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: this team.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think some of both. I think Scott's big
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: picture view of the deadline is not at all wrong.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: Every year, there are a lot of moves that get
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: made that look great at the time, and then those
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: players don't produce, especially if we're talking about relief pitchers,
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: and in two months sample, it can be really hard
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: to get that right. At the same time, executives are
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: paid to get those difficult decisions right. Seemed like maybe
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: there's some hinting about the idea of Auhanium Suarez, who
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: obviously didn't have a good first half home against the
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Tigers in the DS, but sitting below one hundred in
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: the playoffs. I get that. I don't think the Tigers
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: should have traded Max Clark or Kevin McGonagall or even
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Troy Melton at the same time. You know, Ryan Helsley
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: didn't pitch well in the second half, David Bednar did.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: The two starters they acquired, Charlie Morton Chris Paddock were terrible.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: Meryl Kelly was was pretty good after the deadline. So
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: like his point is right, and we will never know
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: fully what deals were on the table. I think Scott's
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  Speaker 1: big point today was that the deals, the other deals
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  Speaker 1: they could have made and did not. They're still glad
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: they didn't make those moves. We don't know exactly what
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: those deals are. Part you're dealing with the market, but
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: as an executive, you're also tasked with trying to create
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: a market. I think it's hard to look at the
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: deadline and how this season ended and not wish he
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: would have done a little bit more. But that doesn't
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: mean like Scott still has a point in the way
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: he's framing it. Sometimes it is easy to overrate and
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: overvalue deadline acquisitions. One point I've been trying to force
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: for a while. The reason there was so much focus
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: on the deadline is because some other decisions went wrong
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  Speaker 1: for the Tigers this year, moves they made back in
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  Speaker 1: the offseason. Alex Cobb, John Brebia the pair that with
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  Speaker 1: some injuries and their pitching was thin, and then there
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: was a pressure to add at the deadline when you lose,
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: when you fall short in the Alds when your bullpen
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: was pretty thin. I don't think you can say, hey,
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: we got everything right. But if he believes that, you know,
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  Speaker 1: he's glad they didn't make these other hypothetical trades, then
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: I do believe him on that.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, on that note, do you believe they're kicking themselves
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  Speaker 3: over not kind of outbidding the Red Sox to get
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  Speaker 3: Alex Bregman because that would have obviously solved a lot
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: of issues.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's a fair question. And when we
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: talk about payroll, that is worth bringing up. There was
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: so much made like the Tigers did make a competitive
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: offer to Alex Bregman, they were willing to go six years,
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: which in the winner, none of us, myself included, thought
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  Speaker 1: they were. And then it kind of begs the question, well,
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: if you were willing to goes six years, why didn't
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: this deal get done? You know, why not kick up
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: the AAV a little bit more if you're if you're
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: already in that territory. We'll see if Alex Bregman opts out.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: I think it'll be fascinating if he does, because he
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: again checks pretty much every box the Tigers need. But
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: he's another year older, another year of his prime or
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: close to his prime is gone. So are you going
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: to be willing to go five or six years again?
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: It's even riskier than it was last time around. If
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: they didn't want to do it, I would kind of understand. Uh,
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: which gets back to like the way to avoid all
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: this would have been to get the deal done last winter.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: Coldy, I want to go back to the postseason. Let's rewind.
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: So the season ends weirdly, but they make it into
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: the playoffs, partially because the Astros crumbled down the stretch.
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: The Guardians were flying high, Tigers weren't, weren't and the
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: Tigers beat them. Cool, okay, made to DS. Now they
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: take the Mariners to a fifth game and they fall.
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  Speaker 2: So let's go to that point. What did you learn
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: about the Tigers in that series and how can they
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: fix it going into the next season. Are there more
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: holes in the lineup than we think? Is there too
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: much platooning and scheming going on?
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: Or do you go okay?
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: I mean they took a team that might make it
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  Speaker 2: to the World Series, to a fifth game here and
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: a fifteenth inning.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean they played better. They regained parts of
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: their identity in October. They also had a lot of
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: flaws show up. To your point, the lineup I think
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: has some holes in it. I think that is the
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: biggest and most difficult question for the Tigers this winter.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: Because you have this core of homegrown position players. You're
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: going to bring back everyone except Glaber Torres. Well, Glaber Torres,
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: although he struggled down the stretch. Turns out he was
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: playing through a hernia. Was your best consistent quality at bat?
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: Was one of your best bat to ball on base guys.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: You have some good hitters Riley Green, Spencer Torkelsen, Carrie Carpenter, others.
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  Speaker 1: We have a lot of swing and miss, some chase tendencies.
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  Speaker 1: Asked Scott Harris about that today. He talked about, Hey,
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: we're going to do some batpathwork. We're on approach like
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: that's all good. I think that can only help you
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: so much. Now they have drafted and developed differently under Harris.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: Some of the guys rising through the system, like Kevin McGonagall,
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: have better bat to ball, contact oriented profiles that bodes
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: well for their future. But I'm not sure there's one
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  Speaker 1: big fix coming in twenty twenty six. And unless you're
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: willing to move on from young players who you still
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: feel pretty good about, it's hard to know exactly how
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: you were going to reshape this lineup. I think the
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: Tigers are weighing these same questions, and that's why there's
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: some hard decisions ahead. But that's what stood out. That's
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: why they lost the DS. They pitched pretty well, they
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: struck out too much. They didn't have good quality at
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: bats with runners on base. Those of us who had
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: watched the Tigers all year saw that for all of September,
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: really for the bulk of the second half, and it
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: was heightened. I think when you're facing elite pitching like
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: that was a line players started using, well, we're facing
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: the best pitching in the world, and you were, and
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: it's not easy to hit Luis Castillo or whoever else
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: it might be. But that's the challenge, and that's the
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: challenge of winning in the playoffs, and the Tigers in
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: their lineup didn't quite have enough. That's part of why
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: they platooned so much. I think if you handed Aj
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: Hinch the lineup he had in Houston and said which
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: one would you like? He would take? You were down
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: Alvarez and Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker and all of
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: those guys who you don't necessarily have to platoon as much.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: That's why there's not one easy solution. But overall they
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: need a little bit more in the lineup.
• 8:36
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• 9:37
  Speaker 4: I can't and maybe this is a cop out, but
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: you just said you can't really get rid of some
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: of the guys that you have because they're so young.
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: Can't we say some of this learning process is because
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: they're so young, or do you feel like the way
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: that they're used, Nobody in this lineup that's platooned is
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: gonna be able to make that like major leap and
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: jump that they need to make, which they know which
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: players normally make at this point in their career. I
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: know they're all different ages, but I'm saying that at
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: this point in their career, you get to that two
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: three years in the big leagues, that's when you start
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: to really hit your prime. So they aren't they just
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: primed for a progression and not a regression.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: I think that's the hope. I think the argument against
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: that look no further than Riley Green, who's a great
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: young hitter, a really talented player, he hit thirty six
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: home runs. This year, he achieved like his ultimate power
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: ceiling and Riley Green's first three years, his walker rates
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: went up, his strikeout rates went down. That changed in
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: a big way this year and he struck out more
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: than two hundred times. Was that because he was chasing
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: too much power? I don't know. The chase rate was
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: also through the roof, so it wasn't just the swing
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: and missing in the zone he was chasing. He was
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: selecting bad pitches. So that's kind of always like the fallacy,
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: or at least the risk in player development and betting
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: on young hitters is it's not always linear. It's not
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: always this perfect regression. And then sometimes the profiles of
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: players who swing and miss, although they can make incremental gains,
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: if this is still someone who's prone to chasing or
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: prone to whipping, can you really expect that to have
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: a drastic change. I'm not sure. I don't think the
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: Tigers should have abandoned Rightley Green by any means, or
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: really any of their young hitters, But I think that's
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: just what makes it hard if that If that makes
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: any sense.
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, Cody, a lot to discuss, a lot to digest,
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: here over the offseason. But now the Tigers have time,
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: and I will say it was a fun rollercoaster ride
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: where krats. Let's bring crats on. Actually for the closing line,
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: what did you say about the Tigers last night on
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: our postgame show when we were talking about the Blue
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: Jays and the Mariners.
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: Maybe the Tigers they would have never scored, like we
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: would still be playing, we'd be in like inning thirty
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: six just because they weren't willing to They weren't willing
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: they got they get six guys on the leadoff innings,
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: they weren't willing to move them over. They weren't willing
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: to do things in the game that said, you know what,
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: I just don't got it. And I go back to
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: like mayat bats, there were sometimes where there's a dude
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: on the mound, there's a runner on third and one out,
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: and I'm like, good chance, I probably am not getting
• 12:21
  Speaker 4: a hit against this guy. And I'm the most falsely
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: confident person in myself in the world. I'm like, maybe
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: I need to put a bunt down. Like they just
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: seemed like there was things that were indicative to the
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: fact that the Tigers were not going to score a
• 12:35
  Speaker 4: run in that game. No matter who the Mariners threw
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: out there, they might have brought Randy Johnson and each
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: Row back to pitch.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: You're kind of right, Cratsy, like it did feel like
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: that at a time. So again, does these guys getting
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: a year older change that or does there have to
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: be a bigger shift and either approach or personnel.
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: I think it changes it. I think it changes it
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: because you get you get smarter. Cap He would agree
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: with me. You might not get physically better. Dylan Dayler
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: is not going to throw the ball harder or hit
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: it farther as he gets older, but you get smarter,
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: and you're like, I am sick and tired of swinging
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: at the slider down in a way, And then I'm
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: sick and tired of watching the eight other guys swing
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: at the slider down in a way. Besides Kerry Carpenter,
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: he can hit a slider, but everyone else is like,
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: this has got to be the fastball. No, not the fastball.
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: Hey, last one for you, Cody. I know they just
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: officially made a J. Hinch's contract extension a thing, so
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: I think we originally found out about it maybe a
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: month ago. I'm assuming they love him and want him
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: there for a long period of time.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, this is actually the second contract extension he's got
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: in a couple of years, which is which is interesting.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: They have not released the exact terms of the deal.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: It was believed his first Tiger's contract went through twenty
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: twenty five, but he was extended in twenty twenty three
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: for unknown length of years, and you just got another extension.
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: Maybe fair to assume that's going to have a handsome
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: raise for AJ. Don't know how long he's under contract now,
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: but sounds like it's going to be a long time.
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: AJ is a great manager, a tremendous tactician. Maybe it
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: wasn't perfect when the lights were on and every decision
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: is scrutinized a little more in the playoffs, but he's
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: well regarded for a reason, and I think it's a
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: good thing he's going to be sticking around in Detroit
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: for a while. The interesting aspect there is it does
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: seem like Craig Councils, where a managers are starting to
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: get longer contracts, a little more power and control. But
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: it's still rare to see managers with these long term deals,
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: maybe under contract longer than their executives, and you do
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: kind of wonder what does that look like five six
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: years down the line, what does that look like if
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: something goes wrong? But aj Hinch has been a big
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: part of the Tigers, you know, emerging from a rebuilding
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: a postseason team, and it's a positive sign that they've
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: taken proactive steps to lock them up.
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: Cody, great Stuff. Really enjoyed your coverage, both of course
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: writing wise with The Athletic and on Tiger Territory, listening
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: to many of your episodes with Kieren Steckley and Austin
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: Jackson on some select episodes as well. Rest up, but
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: we'll still be listening to Tiger Territory in the offseason.
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: Thanks man, it sounds good. Thanks guys, appreciate it.
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: And then we wanted to get to this article for
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: a while, Year of the South pot inside the surge
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: of MLB's dominant and historic left handed pitching. It's in
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: The Athletic, written by Stephen Nes, but of course it
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: applies here in the postseason, as five of the top
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: seven starting pitching eras in baseball this year belonged to
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: left handed starters. How many starts do left handed pitchers
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: make up in baseball. We're down to about a quarter
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: of starts the er discrepancy this year. As we're looking
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: at some of the top starters in the sport, and
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: how many any of them are left handed? Three seven
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: to three ERA for lefties four to three to zero
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: for raise. It's the greatest differential since ERA became an
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: official stat in nineteen thirteen. And it's not even close
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: how much of a difference it is by adjusted era.
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: It's the most dominant left handed season in the modern era.
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: You're looking at other year comparisons and they're from like
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: way back. Some of the years you're looking at us like,
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: oh the next closest, like nineteen twenty four. It's that crazy,
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: And they went over reasons. But let's start there, KP.
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: Why is left handed pitching getting more scarce but more dominant.
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: I don't have the answer to that, but I do
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: want to flip this table right now because as a
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: right handed platoon hitter, who is the person who gets
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: short changed the most.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: In this game?
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: You need quality right handed hitters to face these guys.
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: I know ninety percent of the pitchers are right handed
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: and they're not going to play. But as you showed
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: those steps. All five of those guys that were on
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: those that leaderboard started playoff games, and if you're trying
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: to win playoff games, pay right handed plute tune hitters
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: more money. That's it.
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: Nice, nice, Not where I thought we were going, but
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: I'll take it. I'll take it. We got holding on
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: that one for a while.
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: I've been holding on that one for a while because
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: it is the job. It's the job because you don't
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: play a majority of the time. But if you're facing
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: the best pitching is coming from the left side, you
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: need to be able to counter those guys, because god knows,
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: lefties aren't facing lefties. So you got to throw on
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: a guy like me off the bench who's expected to
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: play once a month or once every couple of days,
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: once a week. But usually you're getting the best pitchers
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: in the game. You're getting the Blake snows to Christopher Sanchez,
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: the trek scoobles that, the abbots of the world, and
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: you want me to go on and hit them, and
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: I'm the least paid guy on your bench. Start valuing
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: the right handed platoon bat a little bit more because
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: we're seeing this flux of left handed pitching being dominating
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: so you need to be able to counter that.
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: Mike drop.
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: Kratzy follow that.
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: Oh, I'm just like, that is one hundred percent right
• 18:01
  Speaker 4: if and I think the biggest key was if you
• 18:04
  Speaker 4: want to win in the playoffs, because all of a
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: sudden in the playoffs, you're like, well, well we'll stack
• 18:10
  Speaker 4: our We'll stack our lineup with a bunch of writings,
• 18:12
  Speaker 4: and these writings are like, all right, well, I've got
• 18:16
  Speaker 4: thirty seven days in the big leagues. I've got a
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: year and a half in the big leagues. You have
• 18:20
  Speaker 4: to you have to be able to have that veteran
• 18:23
  Speaker 4: guy that it's okay if he doesn't play for a
• 18:26
  Speaker 4: little while. Justin Turner, we just talked about it was
• 18:29
  Speaker 4: so how did do Sharma like you have to give
• 18:34
  Speaker 4: You have to give these guys there's value in that,
• 18:37
  Speaker 4: And teams are like, no, actually, there's no value in it,
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: and we're not going to pay for it, And they
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: get bounced out out before the playoffs even start.
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: Usually, how much of it has to do with the
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: exposure and that being a continued limitation with their being
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: less left handed pitching, and also the way that the
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: attack plan goes these days, you know this boring. In
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: the article talks about how the plan used to be
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: more about four seamers away and breakers, and there's good
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: quotes in here too from some notable big leaguers. Let's
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: say i'll pick out Alex Bregman. Early on in his career,
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: he said, lefty is attacked with fastballs and change ups away.
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: Now they're coming up and in really good four seam
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: fastballs in. So it's lefties getting better against lefties, which
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: is already a problem. It's left handed pitchers getting better
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: against right handed hitters. Is that what you're seeing KP
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: to solve? Why it's such a problem for bats to
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: be able to solve left handed pitching, and why it's
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: becoming such a hot commodity.
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: Again, they're evolving, like you said, I mean you weren't
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: seeing also the high velocity from the lefties. It was
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: maybe one guy you would see through really hard. But
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: now they've just learned how to do different stuff. Like
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: Bregman said, it used to be kind of this fastball way,
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: change up off attack. Now you have guys that just
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: constantly shove cutters in. They'll throw the four team up
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: and in, then they'll throw the change of away you know,
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: they've gotten better at using all four quadrants of the plate.
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: It used to be kind of predictable. You were gonna
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: get a fastball change up guy, where you would get
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: a fastball slider guy. Now most of these guys have
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: all four pitches, so it makes it really hard to
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: cover an entire part of the plate.
• 20:17
  Speaker 4: Yeah, the lefties, the lefties were I mean, think about
• 20:21
  Speaker 4: when I first got caught up to the big leies.
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: On our team. We had Zach Duke, Paul Mahome, and
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: I remember Carlos Lee was playing for the Astros who
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: were still in the National League, and he was like,
• 20:34
  Speaker 4: he was like, hey, where is all the He said,
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: where is all the guys who throw eighty six? He said,
• 20:41
  Speaker 4: Now everybody throws hard and his teammate goes, he goes,
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: wait till he play the Pirates. They got a bunch
• 20:47
  Speaker 4: of guys that throw slow, like those lefties used to
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: get opportunities to come up. And I'm not saying those
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: guys weren't good. It was just that they don't have
• 20:55
  Speaker 4: the stuff that guys have now. Before it was like
• 20:59
  Speaker 4: left hand, let me say, can you pitch yep, you
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: have a pulseals So you can pitch now it's like
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: you're left handed, it's cool. But if you don't throw
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: ninety five, like, sorry, we can't really use you.
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: Last legs thirty seconds here. I know AJ wanted to
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: talk about this too, but he's not here today. He
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: talked about left he's thrown BP or anything else that
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: can try to counter this and get you prepared. Is
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: there way to prepare better for this?
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: I mean that's a good start. Left handed BP thrower
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: wouldn't hurt. Okay, also pay right handed hitters a little
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: bit more of the platoon guys. That would help.
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: Okay, there you go. Well, anyone else have thoughts let
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: us know. But really good article and it's pretty long,
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: but it was fascinating. I got through it in a
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: few minutes. You could compete the rolic could numbers in
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: there if you want to check it out. Good job,
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: Bye Steven Nesbit.