Latest / Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast / Thoughts on Spencer Torkelson's walk-off, Casey Mize's strong start and more

Transcript

Thoughts on Spencer Torkelson's walk-off, Casey Mize's strong start and more · Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: And welcome in to another episode of Tiger Territory, part
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: of the Foul Territory Network. Troy Tiger's podcast. I'm Karen
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Steckley with me as always a man who would be
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: a better pitcher and a better GM than Kevin Costner.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: I don't know about better picture. You know, Kevin Costner
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: did most of the pitching in the For Love of
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: the Game filming. He actually threw like so many pitches
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: he was exhausted and apparently like vomited or something. So
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: I actually have mad respect for Kevin Costner the athlete, Yeah,
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: but the personnel.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Guy not so much.
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: Not sure on that one. I think I could.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: I mean, he's probably really old school, right, like, he
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: probably hates analytics, so I think I get best him
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: as an executive.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Well, i'll tell you what. Yeah, we're recording this a
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: couple hours after the Tigers va A Spencer Torklsen walk
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: off home run took the series from the Milwaukee Brewers,
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: And obviously we're gonna talk a good amount about Torque here, Cody.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: But I did kind of want to just start with
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: like an overarching, an overarching point to connect to our
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: last episode, so we don't have to do the whole
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: vibe check thing. But I just did want to make
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: a note that I don't know if there could have
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: been two different type of clubhouses that you came directly
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: from to record this podcast than what we witnessed on
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: Tuesday to what we witnessed here on Thursday, the vibes
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: must have been completely different.
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: And obviously Spencer.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: Torkl said, and Jamai Jones and you know a couple
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: other guys the heroes of the week.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: Start me if you've ever heard me say this before,
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: but baseball is a funny sport. It doesn't always make
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: a lot of sense. We've spent a lot of minutes
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: talking about the Tigers sloppy play and kind of a
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: disappointing start to the season, and the first game of
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: that series, Man Shirt, that was one of their low points.
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: And then they come back and they win.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: Two pretty exciting, pretty good, pretty well played games against
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: a really good, really annoying Milwaukee Brewers team.
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: You look up Keeran.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: The Tigers have won ten of their past thirteen, and
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: I think these past two days maybe the best ball
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: they've they've played all year, because it comes against a
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: team that just makes you earn absolutely everything. They had
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: to fight back to win the series finale, and they
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: did it. So I think this club deserves some props.
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: It hasn't always been pretty, it hasn't always been easy.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: The fact it's not easy to win a series against
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: the Brewers, I think it kind of makes this series
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: like hard earned. And you gotta tip your cap to
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: the team a little bit.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I mean, and they had to hold off,
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: you know, on Wednesday, and what was obviously a dicey
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: situation there with Jensen on the mound too, so you know,
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: they're it's not like it was a cruise of a
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: victory either, you know what I mean. So definitely a
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: well earned series. I mean, I know Milwaukee's not one
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: hundred percent, uh, but that's a quality baseball team playing
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: quality baseball. And and and you took two out of three.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: And also you responded from like you epitomize the whole
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: like you know, crinkle it up, throw it away cliche
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: of just having the worst, you know, one of the
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: worst games of the season to respond to win too straight.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: Definitely deserve a lot of credit there, and and and
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: and just you know specific that's just kind of like
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: how I felt watching this series, Uh, more so than
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: you obviously it's still young in the year, but more so,
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: uh this week than any time this season. I thought,
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: you know, man, this would be one hell of a
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: playoff series. Now in this case, it would have to
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: be obviously the world series, you know what I mean.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: But like, but like, just like seeing these teams play
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: in a playoff series would just be awesome because in
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: their own in their own way, Cody, like, it's all
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: about making the other team uncomfortable. It's all like, you know,
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: with speed and pressure if you're Milwaukee, and just like
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: doing things that you know, teams just aren't necessarily accustomed
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: to having, you know, to play against, you know what
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: I mean, Like that that's their style right now. And
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: then obviously we know how the Tigers like to do
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: it whole roster, you know, matchups. We even saw an
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: opener in this you know, you know with Milwaukee, So
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: like it's just this would be like the ultimate like
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: no Gibs series, Like it would just be like like
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: neither team would just like give an inch, Like it
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: would be fascinating and obviously it would be a lot
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: of fun to watch if it was the World series. Uh,
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: maybe the TV executives went like a very much, but
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: I'll tell you baseball people would love it. So that
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: was my impression. It's just like just like a fun
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: group of guys and coaches and the two managers to
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: watch like just try to, you know, outduel each other
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: on the chessboard.
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, I mean I thought, I thought Thursday's game was
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: one of the most you know, entertaining games from a
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: baseball standpoint, from its strategic standpoint, that I've seen so
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: far this year, especially Tigers games specifically, you had the managers,
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: you know, trading pinch hits a little bit. You had
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: even Burt Smith Kieran went out to pitch the ninth
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: inning of a tie game. I was like, what is
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: AJ doing? Kyle Finnigan is very available, Will Vest should
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: be able to pitch like what like? And he didn't
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: finish the ending. It almost did cost them. But I'm
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: sure there was some aj element of strategy that I
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: that I wasn't a saying, or maybe just the fact
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: Burt Smith throws ninety seven. He actually looked pretty good
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: when he was in the strike zone. I'm not sure
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: it's a good thing that Burch Smith is like your
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: heart is throwing reliever. But we'll save that for the
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: next time the bullpen blows a game. Right now, we're
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: in positive mode.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know, both teams executed like you know,
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: either timely hits obviously with Jamai Jones quite timely. You know,
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: doesn't really get much more timely than specially Torglsen.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: Wait, so, are you're saying Jami Jones has a role
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: You're saying pinchhitting works sometimes.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: It seems to me we're on a little bit of
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: a pinch hitting or just Jamai Jones usage streak here, Cody.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you've noticed now, but the uh,
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: the Jamai Jones is exactly who we thought he was
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: would be the uh the expression there, and you know,
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: obviously I love I love the emotion from him too,
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: Like coming out that felt more than just tying the
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: game in the eighth inning. That felt like, especially you know,
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: a couple of days ago, having a home run robbed
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: in a you know, relatively similar place at the ballpark,
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: that felt like a pretty cathartic experience for Jamai Jones,
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: running rounding the bases and then going into the dugout
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: for the high fives and the and the sunflower seats.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: So yeah, that's again, that's That's the point here is
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: that both managers kind of executed exactly how they want
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: their teams to just always be putting pressure on the
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: other team and making them uncomfortable and and it made
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: for a great ball, It made for great entertainment. And
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: the Tigers, you know, these are games that they could
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: have lost, obviously, but they didn't. They actual acute enough
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: in the moments to win and earned it too. It
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: wasn't just a you know, got some hits here and
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: they just kind of cruise like this. This was a
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: series that you had to be paying attention to every
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: single pitch because there was something that could break every
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: single of every single play.
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: I don't like bunting under the vast majority of circumstances,
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: but when you're facing Cherk's schoobl and you just want
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: to lay some bunts down with really speedy hitters and
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: at least watching the Brewers do it, man, I'm sort
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: of all for it. You put the ball in play.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: As aj Hit said, it's not just that they were bunning,
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: and so they were like all perfectly placed bunts. I mean,
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: that was the definition of applying pressure, especially in an
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: era where, let's face it, most of these guys haven't
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: fielded a lot of bunts since they've been in professional baseball.
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: You know, probably you would have to go back to
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: high school to like really feel that. And oh yeah,
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: this happens to be probably the fastest team in baseball
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: that is doing that. So I strategically, I don't know.
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: I think if you're facing Trek schooble.
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: Man, I'm kind of all for it.
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: And one of the Jami Jones think here, and it
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: made me think of what you had said last episode,
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: Like to actually get the benefit of pinch hitting, to
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: actually get the statistical edge, you.
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: Have to do it every time. It makes sense.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: You can't just waiver, you can't just get based totally
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: on feel. You have to have a plan and stick
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: to it. I asked aj after the game, and I
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: don't know if I phrased this well, maybe it came
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: off stupid, but I was trying to ask, like, we
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: know you're not going to waver from the plan, but
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: does it matter for Jemi psychologically to come through in
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: a big.
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: Moment like that? And Aga was kind of like, well,
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: like not.
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: Really, because he knows that that we trust him, he
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: knows that we are going to do this. He knows
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: he doesn't have to be perfect. If he succeeds three
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: out of ten times the baseball cliche like that is great.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: You know, I still think if you're in that situation,
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: maybe you've come up in den a few pinch. That's
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: got to feel really good the one you do come through,
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: all right, But that's kind of a great point, Like
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: they have done this so much that hopefully Jami Jones
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: or whoever doesn't go up there thinking, oh I have
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: to hit a home run. Oh I have to come up,
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: I have to come through here, because if they are
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: going to get another chance, they were going to let
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: this play out, there's going to be a big enough
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: sample that's actually reflective of something. And that's like that's
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: how the Tigers operate.
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: It's funny before the uh, before the game, I'm watching
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: the broadcast and they show Jami like on the bench
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: kind of lean back. He still got his like pull
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: over on, you know, like just kind of looked like
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: he was just chilling. You know, if I'm being honest,
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: and I remember thinking, I was like, I wonder when
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: he starts to lock in, you know what I mean,
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: because he knows that, like, if the situation calls for it,
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: AJ will not hesitate, but he doesn't have to necessarily
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: be that mind twenty minutes before the game.
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: Yo, you know what I mean?
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: Andy A Banyas, what Andy I Banyas.
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: Would have been the whole time? Baby?
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there you go. But JAMAI like, you know, whatever
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: that process is that I am now curious about it.
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: It's working.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: So we're gonna We're gonna get to the torque piece
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: of this, because obviously that's a heavy element to what
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: the Tigers experience. But first I gotta tell you about
• 10:17
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• 10:26
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• 12:02
  Speaker 3: SEEKI all right, So.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: In the spirit of transparency. I don't know if people
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: will believe me, but in the spirit of transparency. Before
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: Wednesday's game, I was trying to think of like some
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: content ideas, and I was like, you know, I think
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: we should kind of do like a like a Torque watch,
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: because everybody's thinking of talking about Torq, like, you know,
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: he's kind of getting microanalyzed, you know, to death really,
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: and so I was like, why don't we kind of
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: lean into that and just kind of focused on a
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: moment and at bat and then he hits the go
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: ahead home run on Wednesday, and I was like, all right, well,
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: maybe we'll do that at bat and scratch that Thursday
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: he hits the walk off So so this is uh,
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: what I'm calling Torque watch twenty twenty six, and we're
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: starting off on about as a positive note as we could.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: And one of the things that I really liked about
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: this at bat, Cody, that that that Torque had was,
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: you know, he takes a pitch sinker, you know, sinking
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: fastball hundred miles in an hour for a strike. Then
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: they tried to just get him to chase sliders and
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: particularly like low and outside sliders.
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: And if.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: If spitcher Torgelsen's at his worst, and he did it
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: in this game. He is chasing those pitches like he
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: he is off balance, and he he doesn't. He hasn't
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: had like the Jamai or not the Jamai. The the
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: glaber just kind of flicked the bat, move on, next pitch,
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: go thing. That's not really his bag right now. And
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: so like if he's if he's extending himself in some
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: ways extending the zone like he's usually in trouble, those
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: at bats typically don't go well for him. But he
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: didn't do that. He worked himself into a three to
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: one count, and what do you know, he got sinking fastball.
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: He didn't sink that much middle nine nine miles an hour,
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: turned on it and we're going home winners if you're
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: the Tigers. So that's that to me, Like, it's not
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: just that he hit, Like if he would have just
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: had a single, I would have felt the same way
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: because of the way the bat went, but the fact
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: that he connected on a home run that you know,
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: you know, a couple of monkeys off his back with
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: this series with the power stuff and you know, some
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: things kind of bouncing his way, but also earning the
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: bouncing of his place. So that's why I was actually
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: really impressed with the bat, even outside of just the
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: result of it being a walk off home run in
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: you know, a relatively pressure situation.
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, it's said Spencer Torgelsen's more than capable of
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: just running into four home runs and we don't have
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: to talk about his struggles anymore. He's got two of
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: the four. I put the question is he fixed now?
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: And I obviously say that tongue in cheek, like really
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: good swings by tork. I was surprised the stat Inside
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: Edge put out that Torque ranks thirteenth among all hitters
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: in slugging against ninety five plus since the start of
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: the twenty twenty five season. That's actually pretty important, think
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: back to twenty twenty four, was really struggling against velocity.
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: I think I looked up as slugging percentage was like
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: three eleven or something is bad. Since twenty twenty five,
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: the slight stance adjustments that change to his batpath, he's
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: been able to be on time for fastballs more often
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: than not. The two pitches he hit out one was
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: ninety five, one was ninety nine. That's huge if you
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: want a reason for skeptism. They were both sinkers that
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: kind of broke into his batpath a little bit. Obviously,
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: bad pitches, mistake pitches that caught too much of the plate,
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: But like we talked about fouling off or missing too
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: many middle middle pitches, he didn't miss these. He crushed them.
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: That's what he's supposed to do. His timing was there,
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: So I think timing is everything with Torkulsin. I think
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: it's a good sign, whether it's velocity or not, just
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: to see him crushing mistakes, timing things up, letting that
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: natural power play. Like, there's probably a little more to
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: see to be like, has he really broken out of
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: this slump or whatever. But even in Wednesday's game, he
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: had the one hundred and six mile an hour line
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: out before the home run. So certainly some steps in
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: the right direction for Torq. Good to see and good
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: to see the whole lineup hit for a little more power.
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: I mean three homers in the Thursday game, Tigers were
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: ranked I think twenty third and team home runs with
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: only nineteen entering play. That's bound to correct. It's Detroit
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: once things get warmer, the Baltons to fly a little
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: bit more. The fact that Riley Green only has two homers,
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: the fact that Spencer Torkelsen only has two homers slow
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: starts in the power department. Col Keith hasn't homered yet,
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: but there's a little more power to come with this lineup,
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: and we're starting to see some of it.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think that's also an element of like
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: what I was referring to with these two particular teams.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: It's like the Tigers when they're right, have at most
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: spots in the lineup pop threats, not necessarily pop, but
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: pop threats. And I know this is partially a reflection
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: of how he's hit so far this year, but you
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: could have if there's a game that you can have
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: Spencer torkleson batting seventh or wherever he is, Like, that's
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: that's one of those things that could turn out to
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: be somewhat of a luxury. Uh and in certain ways,
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: you know, so like you's not that many You're not
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: going up against many teams that have a thirty home
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: run guy that on a particular day about seventh in
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: the order.
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: Like it's just it's not the mazing.
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: I did laugh when AJ said, like, you know, Tork's
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: faced doubt and questions, but never from the team, never
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: from us. You know, it's like, well, like you are
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: hitting him seven, you're not doubting him the same way
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: fans are. But like it it's not like you're just
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: pinciling him in that clean up every day, like there's
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: some level of like he's not playing that well here.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and and and and also like I thought, I
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: thought it was good to have him back, like at
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: first base, because we talked about sort of like the
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: lack of I would say, clean options in the field
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: at first base. I mean this week, this week he
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: had not sure.
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: Makes that double play or even that that scoop on
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: the bias throw that's fair.
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: And then then also like he you know, they had
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: to play like a lot of team defense, and he
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: was like in the right spot and you know, making
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: the smart cut off, you know, you know what I mean,
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: Like all those like little things that he just that
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: comes with having played this position for a long time.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: Not like col Keith can't do that. It's just you know,
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: Torque hasn't been feel for he's been doing.
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: Itsen is every bit as confounding in the field as
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: he is at the place. He can do some things
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: your average first baseman cannot do. I think he is
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: more athletic than your average first baseman. He's made mistakes
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: with his arm in the past, but think he has
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: a better arm, more capable of making plays with his
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: arm than your average first baseman. A really good Scooper,
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: We've known that for a long time.
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: Still great.
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: I think this year is grading out negatively, or at
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: least was entering play Thursday. I think a couple he
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: probably got dinged on a couple of plays early in
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: the year where the picture wasn't covering first. But so
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: let's can still struggle to go to his back. Canned
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: a little bit every now and then, just has the
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: clumsy play where he misses a ball. But even the
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: final ball and Wednesday night's game, you know, had some
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: weird spin on it off the bat, I was like, oh,
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: it's to going to get this. Like he makes the play.
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: It's not always pretty. He has not grated it out
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: well throughout the course of his career. But in some
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: ways he can be quite an asset defensively.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: Maybe it's just like towards like one of the ultimate
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: like upside dudes, where it's just like, like the upside
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: of his defense is, you know, could could save you
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: some runs, can get you some outs. And then obviously
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: the upside of his offense is the natural power that
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: he has. The problem is that the advanced metrics maybe
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: we could just say maybe just will never love him
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: because they don't take into account upside. But like in
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: terms of like configuring a team and configuring a lineup,
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: upside is a part of it. And like it's not
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: even like we're waiting to see it. We have seen it.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: It's just that, you know, sometimes the lows can be
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: a little bit fron straighting, but the upside is really good.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: The upside is really good, and uh, and it's just
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: a reminder of just like how funky this this Uh
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: this game can be.
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: All right, let's.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: Go to h You want to do Miser Schooble first, Cody,
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: I'll give you the choice here.
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: Let's let's go Scoobale and then mys just Scooble pitch today.
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: It's on It's on my mind. I'm sure it's on
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: people's minds.
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: Okay, well this is this is back to back starts,
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: Cody for Schooble, that we we have some like I
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: don't want to say head scratching, but you leave the
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: you leave the outing not feeling as good as you
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: did for a good portion of it. He had a
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: perfect game, no hitter into the fourth inning.
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: I believed, uh, kind of thought he was gonna do
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: it this time. Man, kind of thought. Had those vibes
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: there for a.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: Second and and uh and then you know, works works
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: out of some trouble and and then you know he
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: comes out for the seventh and and he can't record
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: it out and they're just kind of you know, they're
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: just as I said at the beginning of last podcast,
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: they were Brewers maxing him there at the end, uh
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: to get him out of the game.
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: And and his in.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: His final line, especially when Holton, you know comes in
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: and you know, run scores. His final line isn't pretty.
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: He go, he gets credit for six endings pitch. He
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: gives up seven hits four runs. That's uh, tied for
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: the most that he's given up in an outing this year,
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: the other one being that Minnesota series a couple of
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: weeks ago. So so yeah, I mean kind of in
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: a way like a low light highlight game for Tarrek Schooble.
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: But at the same time, we have a pattern here
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: six six, seven, four point two, six point two six,
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: six endings pitch for Trek Schooble. We got a question
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: from one of our listeners, Trent, about his inability to
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: to go deep into games. So I just kind of
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: wanted to set all that up to see what kind
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: of direction you wanted to go in regards to what
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: we're witnessing from the back to backsty young winner.
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, once again, I kind of have some conflicting thoughts here.
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: Let's start with his performance on Thursday. I thought he's
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: really good. He was he was good, man. This stuff
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: was was great. He was cruising there for a while.
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: The first run that was you know, surrendered, was like
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: a ball that lands in the outfield, Riley Green doesn't
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: play it quite well. Dude gets a double, then the
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: ball squeaks through the infield, run scored. And then in
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: the seventh, like it's not going to reflect well on
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: him since we're having this topic about Scooble going three
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: times through the order, but it was just paper cuts,
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: you know, like what could he really have done differently?
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: I don't know.
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: There's the Blake Perkins at bat. He gets him down
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: oh two, and he just he just can't put him away.
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: He throws a change up that is out of the
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: zone that I bet he would have liked to land
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: in the zone. And then Perkins, you know, gets a
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: hit and gets Then Scoobl's out of the game and
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: he's clearly frustrated. He's tossing the cooler around, you know.
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: But then after the game, Trek was pretty positive, so
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: he thought his stuff was really good. Thought he pitched well,
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: kind of chucked the four runs up to that's just baseball.
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: I don't think he's wrong, So I think Trek was
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: good in the seventh. I do think there is some
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: discussion though, just looking at the numbers, how's Trek doing
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: third time around the.
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: Order this year?
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: Well, this is before Thursday's game. Before he did not
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: record an out in the seventh inning of Thursday's game,
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: opponents had a one thousand plus ops against Trek Scuble
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: third time through the order. I asked Rek about this
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: after his start, and he said, well, what's the sample,
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: so sixth starts, like my track record should speak for itself.
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: He honestly wasn't concerned about it, which almost surprises me.
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: Like Trek Scouble has high standards for himself. I halfway
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: expected him to say, I have to find ways to,
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: you know, be different third time around the order or
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: something like that. He I wouldn't say he was defensive
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: at all, but he just kind of brushed it aside
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: as like a small sample. But in six starts that
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: is a small sample. He just hasn't been good third
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: time through the order. Go back to last year, the
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: opponent's ops did tick up third time through the order,
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: went from four oh eight to five point fifty four
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: to six thirty eight. So six thirty eight with the
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: third time through the order penalty not terrible, But there
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: is some sort of a pattern that hitters, either adjusted
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: or Schooble just wasn't as good as games went on.
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: That's been more pronounced third time through this year. I
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: do think that's there's probably some element small sample, like
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: tered school is really good.
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: I don't know.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: The bigger issue is this notion that people like to
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: throw out that he just can't go deep in games.
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: You point to the alds, Oh, you know, he was
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: done after however whatever it was eighty nine ninety pitches,
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: like and I don't know that I agree with that
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: as much because I think this is just baseball in
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty six. I think Trek Schouble probably could have
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: punched the side in that seventh inning. He probably still
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: wasn't coming out for the eighth because it's twenty twenty six.
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: Because aj Hinch is his manager. He's never gonna go
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: far beyond one hundred pitches. Almost no one in baseball
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: goes more than one hundred pitches. The other graphic I
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: wanted to put up in here for someone who, like
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: people who think Trek Scuobel needs to go deeper into games,
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: and this was a talking point times last year. There
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: were three pitchers who threw more innings than he did
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: last year. One of them, Logan Webb, had two more
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: starts Garrett Crochet and Christopher Sanchez were the only pitchers
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: who threw more innings than Trek's scooble. So I think
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: the criticism is a little bit unfair. It's just more
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: of a reflection of like this modern age and for
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: whatever reason, a lot of people still think pitchers need
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: to go one hundred and twenty pitches and that's just
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: not the reality. That's not how it's going to be.
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: If Terret continues to get beat third time through the order,
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: we're gonna keep talking about it. Maybe he does have
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: to adjust something. But the overall criticism that like he's
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: not worth getting paid because he doesn't go deep in games,
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: I don't totally agree with.
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: So yeah, to the credit of the people that keep
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: pointing this out, including you know, Trent who felt the
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: need to ask the question on X you can follow
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: us at Tiger Territory, Underscore at Cody Steven Hagen, I
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: am at here, and unders course Decley. It's obviously a thing.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: The numbers say that it's a thing about like how
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: he is performing at the back half of his or
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: not back half the back portion of his starts, Like
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: we can we can acknowledge that the numbers say it,
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: you know, and even Tarrek saying like you know, small
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: sample size is acknowledging that it's like not up to
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: his standard, you know, in his own way. Uh. But
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: it's also like it's also by design in a way obviously,
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: you know, in the seventh inning, AJ would love to
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: you know, get those three outs or get the one
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: more out, you know, not have a couple of ducks
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: on the pond and and all that stuff to have
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: to bring in a holton or whatever. But this is
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: the design of the team, This is the design of
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: the organization to sell the sport is played. As you
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: pointed out several times there, Cody, I just like if
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: you want, like like it's is it something where he's
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: not or he can't. I think if Tarrek school was
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: tasked on a daily on a not daily basis, but
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: like a start by start basis of going approaching the
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: eighth inning, like I think terror Schooble could do it
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: because I have that much confidence in his ability and
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: his preparation and all that stuff. I just don't think
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: he's being asked to do so, and nor do the
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: Tigers want him to do that, nor I'm sure Boris
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: Code doesn't want him to do that either, uh, And
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: so like I I like, it's you're just like asking
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: him to do something that his employer's not asking him
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: to do. It is really kind of like how how
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: I put it? And and like and I do believe
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: like that bag is in there, but like, do you
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: want Spencer Torgolsen going near eight innings and one hundred
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: and three hundred and seven pitches on April twenty third,
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: Like is that is? Like is that what you want?
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: Like very easy to call a j Hinch irresponsible if
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: that were happening.
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: And also you have an expensive bullpen, an expensive like
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: and and high usage or at least like not high usage,
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: That's not the word I'm looking for, but like high leverage.
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: You have a plethora of options for high leverage. That's
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: what I was trying to say.
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: And I had the bat Smith in the ninth thing
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: of its hide game. He barely got away with it that.
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: Too, that's a different yeah, But like you know, if
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: you have a Finn again, if you have a Gensen
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: just in general, not specific to today's game, but if
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: you have a fin again, a Jensen best it's Jansen.
• 29:01
  Speaker 3: Stop saying Jensen.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you're right, I get yeah, I get the valves confused.
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: All right, thank you for calling me on that, ken
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: Lee Jansen.
• 29:11
  Speaker 3: There we go.
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: Uh, well, you have those guys, it'd be irresponsible to
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: not use them as in as many high leverage situations
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: as possible to get you to those later endings as well.
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: So that's that that that'd be my main point there
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: is that, Like we can clamor for it, but we're
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: we're just kind of speaking into a wall because it's
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: just not how things work anymore, especially with you know,
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: someone that you're going to be relying on more so
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: hopefully in September, October, November, uh than you know.
• 29:41
  Speaker 3: Late April. Yeah, last thing.
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: Just to further drive from that point, if if anyone
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: out there is saying, like Trek Scougle doesn't want to
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: go deep in games because he cares more about Scott
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: Boris and getting paid, Like I think that's just actually
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: not true, given only three pitchers in the game through
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: more innings than he did last year, Like that's just
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: not real. If we want to discuss like his ability
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: to navigate orders three times through like I do think
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: it's fair to raise that discussion. Why is he not
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: pitching well deeper into.
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: Games right now?
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: That that's a fair talking point, and maybe it is
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: a small sample. Let's give this a few more starts
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: and certainly something to keep an eye.
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we will certainly be following up with that. Every
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: school will start. It's one of the more fascinating aspects
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: to the game right now. All right, let's let's go
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: to You know, it's funny we talked a lot about
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: about Torque and another former number one overall pick of
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: the Tigers is all you know, had a great week
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: and has been performing well, you know here for an
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: extended stretch, and we might be seeing the best casey
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: Mins we've ever seen. Now, sometimes I'm guilty of this.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: Sometimes I forget how good he was pre kind of
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: litany of injuries that he experience over the past couple
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: of years. Uh so you whatever, you harke him back to, like,
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: you know, twenty was it twenty twenty one?
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: First? Like you know it, Like.
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: I forget that sometimes it's just been so long. But
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: but man, when he is dialed in and that's splitter,
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: like I just you know, especially Torkal sit heading home runs.
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: That's like what he was drafted for. Right I'm looking
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: at the stats on the on the split for Casey Mice.
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: As I pull it up here, you know, he's throwing
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: that split finger only twenty pitches less than the four
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: seam fastball Cody. He's using it a lot, and the
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: batting average is one fourteen with an expected batting average
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: of one twenty nine off the split finger. So like
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: it's lethal right now. Uh, And so like this version
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: of Casey Mice, I don't know if it's the best,
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: So maybe we'll take away the B word there, but
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: it does feel like the most complete that that that
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: we've from him in his Tigers tenure.
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: I think most complete is a really good way to
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: frame it. As I had pointed out, never before in
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: his career, even with some good stretches in twenty twenty one,
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: had he had a three start span where he allowed
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: two refewer earned runs. Basically, he just hadn't been that
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: consistent before. He had not been dominant for multiple starts
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: in a row like he has these past three outings,
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: and for four of his first five starts of the
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: year he's been lights out. Now there's some similarities between
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: Casey Meyes and Spencer Forklsen where it's just like the
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: more research you do kind of the less things makes sense.
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: There's just the eye test.
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: Man.
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: I think Casey Meyes has been phenomenal. I mean, I
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: just think he's been really good, and it's like, Okay,
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: what are the metrics sakes. He's really good in the
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: first half last year, all the metrics said he was
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: kind of bound to regress, and then he did well
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: this year. There's evidence to believe he's still outperforming. His
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: metrics says he's two five to one. His XCRA is
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: three point one eight. Now if his regular era were
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: three point one eight, it still feel pretty good about that.
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: But you know, stuff plus the pitch modeling that I
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: look at a lot, it actually hates him right now.
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: His stuff plus overall is eighty nine. I talked about
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: Drew Anderson's ninety two being bad, that the models think
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: Casey Mis's stuff is worse than Drew Anderson's at this point.
• 33:24
  Speaker 3: So I don't know.
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: You can say those models are stupid, but go sort
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: them by who's the best. It's Trek Scougle, Paul Skiins,
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: Garrett Crochet. Like there is some level of them being
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: right a lot. But I wonder if what's not showing
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: up in the models is the completeness of his arsenal.
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: There have been so many Casey Mize starts here and
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: whereas like fastball command okay, splitter slider just not even usable,
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: or like slider pretty good, splitter got hit five thousand
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: feet and then he spiked it three times, they just
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: stop using it like this. So far this season is
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: the most I feel like Casey's had at least three
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: pitches throwing the sinker, really four pitches going pretty much
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: every time. They have all been competitive. The simple fact
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: that one fourteen average against the split, one eight two
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: average against the slider, I think that's pretty big. He's
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: had multiple secondaries going consistently, maybe for the first time ever,
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: certainly better than ever. And he's missing bats too. That's
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: one reason that the metrics did not like him a
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: lot last year. He just wasn't striking guys out. There
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: are too many balls in play right now. A strikeout
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: percentage just twenty seven point four. That's easily the best
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: of his career. Before the best of his career was
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: last season twenty two point two. So he's up five
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: percentage points. Even over that, if he continues to strike
• 34:50
  Speaker 2: out and get a little more chase like miss bats
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: at this rate, that is huge for him. That's really
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: the other thing. He's never quite done at the level
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: you wanted to see. So some things to keep an
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: eye on. Some of the metrics still don't love them,
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: but the consistency of the stuff and just the fact
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: kitators are chasing and whiffing a little more entering the season,
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: that's the number one thing I wanted to see from
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: Casey Mice. The number one thing, like is Casey is
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: going to get paid in free agency, Like he's gonna
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: have to strike out more dudes for other teams and
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: their models to like him. So far, he's doing that,
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: So I'm really impressed, even if maybe there's still a
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: few questions to answer.
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: To your point, seventy six percentile in k percentage so
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: far for Casey Mice, so like, that's you know, you
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: can't ask for much more than that. His off speed
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: run values in the ninety seven percent tile like, he's
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: not like a perfect picture. You look at his Sabbat page,
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: there's definitely things that you lowers.
• 35:50
  Speaker 3: Down a little bit. That's probably part of it.
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So, like you know, I feel like we're kind
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: of right in the safe in a safe space here
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: regarding what we're seeing from Casey. But the question then
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: becomes like, look, there is a team that wants to
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: make the playoffs, right, you could have a three game series.
• 36:10
  Speaker 3: Is he.
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: In that starting rotation?
• 36:13
  Speaker 3: Basically?
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: Is he the third guy right now pecking order? Or
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: is Jack Flaherty's high variants you know, still too enticing
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: if you were kind of, you know, bringing this out
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: because obviously schoolble from Bird is one two. But who's
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: number three here?
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: Well, luckily the Tigers won't have to make that decision
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: for a long time. But who's been their third best pitcher?
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: It's been Casey Mies. I'm not sure it's it's close.
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: I mean maybe, I mean cater Monttero's actually been pretty
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: good too, but no, it's it's.
• 36:45
  Speaker 3: Casey Mice I left.
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: You know, Jack Flaherty has a three point four to
• 36:49
  Speaker 2: seven e r A because swarn Is Thera was like
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: six his last start. He didn't give up an earned run.
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: His runs were unearned because of his own an error.
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: So even though he didn't make it out of the
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: fourth inning, because era improved, so even e R and
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: small samples not always not always reliable. But yeah, just
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: look at the R right now. Flairty's doing fine, oh man.
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: But good for Casey for putting it together. I mean,
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: it's uh, there were stories. Uh that was one of
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: the stories in spring training, and you included this in
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: your article that's on the athletic. Is that like it
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: is kind of like weird. That's like, you know, going
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: into the contract year and you know, still not really
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: knowing exactly who he is, and you know what that
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: market would even be, and like all these things that
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: we're gonna have plenty of time to talk about, but
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: you know, this is his life, and so like that
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: could easily be a distraction by all accounts, you know,
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: from the outside looking in, it seems like Casey's Casey,
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: Like he's uh, he's a guy that hasn't throughout his career,
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: hasn't really let the gravity of the situation kind of
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: weigh him down in ways that easily could given when
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: he came to this organization and given you know, the
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: adversity that he's faced, Like he's probably maybe in some
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: ways he's the most free he's been, but regardless of
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: what it is, it's it's it's working for him.
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: On the mound, someone had tweet I put out something
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: about Casey and someone responded like, oh man, the schoobl
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: replacement is already in house. It's like a got some
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: bad news. He's a free agent.
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: Too, And and if we're being honest, likely to probably
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: sign a contract before Trek Schoubl, so like.
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: In like probably more likely to to re sign with
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: the Tigers than Trek school. I don't know if that'll
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: happen either, but I'm like that, I mean, there could
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: there could easily be a world where.
• 38:46
  Speaker 3: I don't know.
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: That's that's getting way ahead of ourselves, but kind of
• 38:50
  Speaker 2: interesting to think about.
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, time to talk about and you know, these are
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: things that are going on and you know, in the
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: front offices of America Park and and all that stuff,
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: because they got to consider or everything, you know, short
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: and long term. So no, no sense is you kind
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: of dipping your toe in it. But we don't have
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: to spend a whole lot of time on it real quick, Cody.
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: As we kind of wrap up here, seems like we
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: also some long away to good news regarding Justin Ferlander
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: or good ish. I don't know, how would you kind
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: of classify what we know now?
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks for bringing that up. We almost forgot about it.
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: Better news than it's been. His last bullpen session went well.
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: Talking to Verlander, he seemed to be in pretty good spirits.
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: He's clearly frustrated that the ile stint has dragged on
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: this long. He said, the doctors told him like, this
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: is something you could pitch through, but it like could
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: alter your mechanics. Obviously that's not really what anyone wants.
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: So it sounds like that that bullpen last week that
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: didn't go so hot, his mechanics, Maybe we're a little
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: out of whack. This recent one, the mechanics were where
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: he wanted me to be, So that indicates he's not
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: compensating for the injury when he's pitching. But still hard
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: to know how much longer he's going to miss. I
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: think he's going to do at least one more bullpen session.
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: And then, even as vry Lender said, you know, the
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: longer you miss, the longer their return to play is.
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: So is it just one sim game or is it
• 40:16
  Speaker 2: a sim game in reab outing or is it too
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: reab outings like there's a lot we don't quite know.
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: It sounds like there are still a few more bingemarks
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: or tests that he would like to see him pass.
• 40:27
  Speaker 2: A lot of uncertainty. But after a week where this
• 40:30
  Speaker 2: was not good, it seems it seems like it's trending
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: in a better direction, at least after his most recentble
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: Pin session.
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think there's there's an element of like
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: talk about it a little bit more frankly, so people
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: don't like get overly like upset, like you know, some
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: of these some of these some of the some of
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: the speculation with Erlander was not doing anybody any good
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: and probably including him, you know, with the way that
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: everything's kind of gone since since he returned. So hopefully
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: once we get to these steps, we get a little
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: bit more like understanding of just like the process that
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: went into it, because I think I think I think
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: people can handle that. I don't think they have to
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: be as secretive about it. But that's that's that's that's
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: like me complaining about.
• 41:18
  Speaker 3: School, like giving up on that battle.
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's like that's just not the way the game
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: is playing. So let's just be taken in out too.
• 41:25
  Speaker 3: I'm gonna leave you guys with this.
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: We were talking to Verlander and there's this whatever new
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: car insurance commercial commercial Matt Vierling is on and Verlander
• 41:33
  Speaker 2: sees it.
• 41:34
  Speaker 3: He's like, Oh, that's that's hilarious. I'm gonna go. I
• 41:36
  Speaker 3: talked to him about it.
• 41:37
  Speaker 2: Someone asked, Justin, was the favorite commercial you werever on?
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: He talks about the MLB two K commercial where he
• 41:42
  Speaker 2: met Kate Upton. I remember that commercial, but I went
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: back and way. That commercial is more ridiculous than you
• 41:48
  Speaker 2: would even remember. It's on YouTube. Go look it up.
• 41:51
  Speaker 3: You will laugh.
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: And while you're on YouTube, be sure to check that
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: you are subscribed to our channel here at Tiger Terror too,
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: as well as on Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts.
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: Go to Tiger Territory shop dot com for all your
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: merch needs as well. So for Cody Staveenhagen, I'm Kieren Steckley. Everybody,
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: have great day,