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Tarik Skubal Wins Cy Young Award · Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: And welcome into another episode of Tiger Territory, part of
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: the Bowel Territory Network. I'm Karen Steckley with me as
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• 1:28
  Speaker 1: will be there. So there you go. That's my blue
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  Speaker 2: And here's the thing. Once everybody is there, it's going
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  Speaker 1: So you can you can bank that just like guys
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: be in the best shape of their lives in February
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: and uh and the and the most important election is
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: the next one, right, so we we we we got
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: all of it covered here all right. Uh, speaking of voting,
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: So we have a couple of awards to get to
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: involving your Detroit Tigers. I actually do. I want to
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: start with the one that the Tiger personnel did not
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: win because he is a friend of the podcast and
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: a recent guest. And if you missed our AJ Hinch interview,
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: you can go to said you know podcast services wherever
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: you get your podcasts and YouTube and watch slash listen
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: to us talk to AJ. We talked to him right
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: after he was announced as a finalist. He did not
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: win Manager of the Year. That was Stephen Vote in Cleveland.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: AJ actually third. So my first instinct when I saw
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: the vote was this is kind of what I predicted.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: Like a little bit we talked about it about how
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: no one really had everybody had a good case. Everybody
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: had a good case, and AJ's looks a lot better
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: with the postseason. Obviously voting happens before that, so uh,
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: one of those things that feels a little bit like uneven.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: But at the same time, it's not like Steven didn't deserve.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: It's not like you didn't deserve to be second or
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: even win it. So we we finally get the reveal. Cody,
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: you are a voter for this award, and obviously you
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: know these managers pretty well, having covered them in the vision,
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: you know, since they've been since they've been skipping, skipping
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: the Royals and the Guardians respectfully and obviously Aj, So
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: I first of all, who'd you vote for? And just
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: kind of take us through your process, because like I said,
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: there's there. There wasn't a bad choice here, which in
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: a way makes it a tough choice. So that's a
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: big responsibility you have there.
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, you guys may have noticed there was one
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: first place vote for aj Hinch and that was your boy,
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: I wrestled with this a lot. Largely I worried this
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: exact scenario. What if I'm the only one who votes
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: aj number one? Are people going to flood my many
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: social media accounts.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: Like what are you doing?
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: Why are you carrying water for this cheater? I was
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: afraid of that. Almost didn't vote for him because of it.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: And I think think leading up the final two weeks
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: of the season, I figured I would probably vote for
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: Steven vote and then the Tigers pulled off the improbable
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: and it was like, I mean, you just can't deny this.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: And the more I thought about it, this award, as
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: we've talked about, no actual statistics, no real criteria, It's like,
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: I don't think the Tigers do this without aj Hinch.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: I don't.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure I've ever seen I've watched a lot
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: of baseball. I'm not sure I've ever seen a manager
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: impact the outcome on the field day in and day
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: out the way aj Hinch did down the stretch this season.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: You know, I saw a couple of comments that like, well,
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: it's not a last two months award, it's a full
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: season award. And they won the same amount of game
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: as games as the Royals, like what are we like?
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: That is the full season. So just the more I
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: thought about it, you know, I kind of asked myself
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: if this vote were private and the world would never know,
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: who would I vote for? And I was like, I
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: would vote for aj Hinch because I watched this team
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: every single day. I just am not they could have
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: done it with anyone else making those decisions in the dugout,
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: and again, these other two guys had incredibly compelling cases. Well,
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: the thing that surprised me the most is that the
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: vote was not closer. I thought Quatraro would have a
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: tremendous chance to win the award, and I thought he
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: would be neck and neck with Stephen vote. As I said,
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: I kind of expected aj probably to finish third I
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: even though I voted him first, just because like, I
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: think that narrative was set earlier in the year that like, oh,
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: it's Q or it's vote, And I think that just
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: skews again this award where you can't just look at
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: anything that objectively tells you who should win it. Like,
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: I think that skewed some things in the minds of voters.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: It did end up somewhat surprised no one else voted
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: for AJ Hinch, But yeah, I thought it would be close.
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: Stephen vote ends up winning it somewhat running away, and
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: you know what, definitely well deserved first year as a manager,
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: a team that although I think, one paper, a little
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: more talent than the Tigers. I mean, you got Jose
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: Ramirez in that lineup. You know, it doesn't scare anyone
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: on paper, but they play a really tough style of baseball.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: They had some pitching issues of their own, and Vote
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: managed that extremely well down the stretch of the season.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: And he the votes are cast before the playoffs, but
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: maybe if there's any indicator of the Guardians advanced further
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: than the Tigers or the Royals.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: That's true. I mean, you get you get the end
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: results on your side there and the because I was
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: kind of anticipating, like what I would say, should AJ
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: win or even like a close second or whatever, And
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: I guess in what in a way I can still
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: kind of say those things where we were in the
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: Tiger territory like pretty like a lot. So it's hard
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: to gauge like the actual like national narrative stuff. So
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: something like this gives us at least like some idea
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: in some way. And I like that you mentioned like
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: people in your mentions, like saying, you know, bring it
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: up up the cheater stuff or whatever, because had he
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: won this, like could this been another step toward putting
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: that way behind him national narrative wise, maybe we won't know.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: You could argue the success should already do that, but
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: you know, winning an award is winning the award, So
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: I'll be curious to see any more fallout about whether
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: that is even brought in the conversation. And honestly, now
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: the Tigers are more relevant than ever, Like this is
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: something we're just gonna have to monitor moving forward about
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: like how much is that now that he's not in
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: Siberia baseball Siberia in a way, like how much that
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: kind of gets brought up or is I don't want
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: to say brought up but still attached to him, because
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: this would have been a nice way to like really
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: really look forward and not have to have that stigma.
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it does make you wonder if that influenced anyone
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: out there's vote. I will also say that I think
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: one big takeaway no one really cares about Manager of
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: the Year, Like I haven't actually got that hate onon
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: my social media. Really, I haven't heard much of anything.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: Maybe that'll change if like this video clip catches on,
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: but it's been pretty quiet. You know. There's some people
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: out there saying Hinge got snubbed, there's some people out
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: there saying Coultarro got snubbed, but no one's really getting
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: worked up about Manager of the Year.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: What about you know, I'm not Tigers relatable. Get to
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: the other one here a second, but real quick, what
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: about Rookie of the Year. So Paul Skenes and Luis
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: Gill when that and that's Pitchers, Pirates and Yankees, respectfully,
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: you also have a vote for that. We didn't tease
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: this at all because obviously not a Tiger's connection, but
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: obviously an award that is hugely important to somebody's resume.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: It's got to take it seriously, obviously, you do. Where'd
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: you kind of align on those?
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah? I can feel confident I'm not a Homer because
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: Cole Keith was nowhere near my Ale Rookie the Year ballot.
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: And I think he's a good player with the bright future,
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: but he just didn't really measure up to the other
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: candidates out there. You know, Louise Heel wins it. I
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: voted Colton Kowser number one. Again. It was a little
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: bit of a tough decision. There wasn't like a clear
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: cut favorite. He had a nice resume, but when I
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: look closer at what he did in the second half,
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: I believe his the was over four. A couple of
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: times I had watched him, I wasn't overly impressed. He
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: had some really dominant starts early on and kind of
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: tapered off again. I think there was maybe some big
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: market bias there Kowser. I mean, you could argue, like
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: White Langford's final month made him like just as productive
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: as Kowser. But you know, the war systems love Kowser.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: That's not an end all be all for my voal,
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: but it's definitely where I start. And he played a lot.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: He played a lot for a good team. He impacted
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: the game. But third, I did do something a little
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: different than most voters. I had Kate Smith from the
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: Guardians at number three, which if you watched him pitcher
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: in the postseason, I felt very validated. Every time he
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: shoved against the Tigers or the Yankees or whoever it
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: might be. He had a very big workload for a
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: relief pitcher. And again I think if he weren't a reliever,
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: if he weren't in Cleveland, he would have gotten more attention,
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: more votes. Actually, Evan Woodberry of him Live as the
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: lone person to vote Kate Smith first, which was interesting.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: I know, voted him third, not first, but I think
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: he was certainly deserving. And so yeah, that means, no,
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: why at Langford on my ballot, No Will You're a
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: brave you know, Austin Wells on my ballot. All tough decisions,
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: but I ended up feeling good with Kowser and it
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: was a close vote, but you know, I still kind
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: of think Kowser should want it.
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, like in terms of who do I
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: have anxiety going up against? Kowser is one for me
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: among these you know candidates, and then Smith is is too,
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: and just because you know, I'm always going to bear
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: a hit or more than a pitcher. But Smith, whenever
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: he came in, man, it's not like you could ever
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: really be confident. I think he's got a really bright future. Obviously,
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: all these guys potentially do, obviously, but Cowser from U
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: was it isn't Ey the one from Sam Houston. State,
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: if I'm going back in my draft memory, let's see
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: if I can get.
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: I am not sure. We'll have to get someone on
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: that one.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: You get someone on that one real quick. But yeah,
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: so another example too in State. You're right, damn so
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: like another yeah, shout out another example too, of like
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: it would have made more sense had he uh you know,
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: the Orioles did anything in the postseason, didn't happen. That's
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: how it goes. Doesn't diminish his season obviously, all right,
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: the big one, but also the easiest to predict. Uh
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: T Schooble is your American League Sie Young winner. And
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: like we've known this for a while. I feel like
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: I feel like it's been pretty safe for a while.
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: I even go back to when I was in Detroit,
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: Cody for NFL Draft weekend. Obviously went to several Tigers games,
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: and I tried to bet on Trek Schooble to win
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: the cy Young. By that point, the odds were like
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: not even like fun, Like it's like the return the
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: ROI just isn't good. And he entered the season, I
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: believe number two in cy Young like probability. So when
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: I look back at this season for school bl which
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: was obviously special, which was obviously legendary. The thing that
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: I'm going to remember most is the like relief and
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: elation of somebody that you believe can reach a certain
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: level and then seeing them actually reach it and then
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: really not like we talk about development being linear, like
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: the linear like or not linear, this was this was
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: kind of not linear, but only because it was at
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: the top like it was. It was kind of flat line.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: It was a plateau of the entire season really, and
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: so like the expectations being put on a team and
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: a guy and then being matched and exceeded and in
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: a time of Tigers baseball that you don't really get
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: to experience all that often. Uh, That's what I'll kind
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: of remember the most is just like the confidence he
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: can do it and then making me look like a
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: genius that he actually did it, you know what I mean,
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: And being able to like brag to my friends like
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: Schools on the Mountain, you better watch this or you know,
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: you don't got no shot today, you know. And also
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: he kind of brought back the winds, uh, you know,
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: stat a little bit for to brag about since he
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: won the Triple Crown, and it aligned with everything else
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: and even the team's record, and it starts even if
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: he didn't physically get the win. So that's what I'll remember,
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: just like Domins from start to finish, and and the
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: the not not having to brace for disappointment given the
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: high expectations placed upon him. So that that's kind of
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: what I remember. But from your perspective, you've talked to
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: him after almost all these starts, and you see him
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: almost every day like you winnes history, So like, what
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: do you kind of reflect on with school twenty twenty
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: four season.
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: It's I still almost think we like take for granted
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: how quickly he came back from surgery and was just
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: the best picture in baseball. From the first time I
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: saw a Trek schoobl throw with my own eyes, which
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: was like a leaf spring twenty twenty, I was like, Oh,
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: this this kid's real like and I believed in him
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: and his ceiling. We've gone back and forth when a
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: lot of players in our time doing this podcast, we've
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: been right about some wrong about others. He was one
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: guy I never really doubted, but still the amount of
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: improvements he made from then and even from twenty twenty
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: two to now is kind of startling. He went from
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: being a fly ball pitcher to a ground ball pitcher.
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: He basically he didn't have a great change up and
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: he started throwing a splitter. Now he has maybe the
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: best change up of any starting pitcher in the league.
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: He went from being a little erratic, not very pitch
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: efficient to the single best strike thrower in the American
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: League sixty eight point seven percent first pitch strikes. I think,
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: like that's nuts. Like I think how quickly he made
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: that jump is still kind of astounding to think about.
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: And yeah, the level. Look you look at the history
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: of cy Young seasons. It wasn't the most dominant ever,
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: but it certainly felt like it at times. You know,
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: he just carved hitters and had his ors looking uncomfortable
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: every single start, like I have rarely seen before. I mean,
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: I think the most impressive pitching performance I've really seen
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: with my own eyes was Jake Arieta at the start
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: of the sixteen season. He was setting records for how
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: good he had been from fifteen into sixteen, and I
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: would put Schoogle at pretty close number two in terms
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: of ability to just carve. Wrote another story about Trek
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: that's up on the athletic I hope you guys will
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: check it out. Kind of do his teammates about his
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: cy young season and kind of just their view of Schooble.
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: I think the things that stand out is just kind
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: of the respect they have for him, his toughness, his routine,
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: his work ethic. Those are things you hear a lot about.
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: But you know, I think maybe the most interesting thing
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: I learned is, Yeah, I just kind of asked a
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: couple of guys, like, what's he like on the start day?
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: Because you hear these tales of Ferlander and Clayton Kershaw
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: and all these other guys just being like, you don't
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: come within thirty feet that guy, don't look at him,
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: don't talk to them. You can't you can't do it.
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: These aces are these outfa males are so locked in
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: and intense, And turns out Scoopl's not really like that
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: like they say. He's you know, he's approachable, he's funny,
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: he's normal. On a start day, he has his routines,
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: you know, his crossword puzzle and his fruit snacks, and
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: like he's very diligent about each step of the work.
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: But Bobirski was basically like, you know, it probably doesn't
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: really do any good to exhaust yourself before the game
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: even starts. So that's kind of any way to just
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: get some insight into the Schoobel mentality. And obviously we
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: all know once he steps on the mountains he's as
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: competitive as they come up. Just to hear that he's
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: like not this other worldly person on the day of
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: a start I thought was really interesting and maybe even
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: serves him well.
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and obviously pales in comparison to the cy Young,
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: but the fact that he was an All Star this
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: year and kind of like represented the team along with
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: Riley Green obviously like you know, at the Midsummer Class
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: at a time when the you know, it's not like
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: vibes were great with the franchise, you know what I mean?
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: So uh, like that will also like come to mind,
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: especially me specifically, because the game happened in my backyard
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: right over in Arlington, so like it it feels if
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: like we we talked about we talked about tor if
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: we talk about it from a disappointment angle, right, and
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: and Riley Green like we're still like anticipating a ceiling
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: for him. And obviously these are different cases, but I'm
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: just talking about, like all these top prospects that you
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: were banking on, here's one that like h hit, hit hit,
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: you know what I mean, say young and a guy
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: that you want to in theory when not gonna talk
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: about extensions right now, but in theory you want sort
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: of like being the face of your franchise for several
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: years to come. So I also, again, I know this
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: has nothing to the voting, but in terms of how
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: I'll remember this season, the postseason is definitely part of it. Right,
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: So I actually went back and looked at Verlander's first
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: several starts in the postseason for the Tigers, and it's
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: not in apples to apples because obviously he was twenty
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: three years old and a rookie in the two thousand
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: and six run and then in twenty eleven he had
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: established himself and he was, you know, age twenty eight season,
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: so that's a little bit easier. But then again, it
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: wasn't his first postseason, not apples and apples. I understand that,
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: but I thought was interesting. So obviously, Scoop bl I
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: just I just broke down earned runs and walks, like
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: just a simple little look at it. I didn't want
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: to go like too deep schoobl zero zero zero zero
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: first two postseason starts, and then obviously he gives up
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: the five runs in the decisive Game five, where you know,
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: basically the dam just broke on the on the team
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: in general, and you know, that's that's postseason Baseball's that's
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: why you love it. One walk in that game as well,
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: so Verlander, because I don't know how many people like
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: remember this, there was a time where you were kind
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: of uneasy about him in the postseason. And so in
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: two thousand and six, again rookie year, he's twenty three
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: years old. These are his starts, earned runs to walks
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: three and four, four and one, six and two, three
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: and four. Now let's go to twenty eleven, his MVP
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: sy Young season four and three, three and two, four
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: and three, and then the next year is when he
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: had that dominant performance against the Athletics, and then like
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: the tide, like the narrative really shifts then. But that's
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: also part of the schoobl story for me, is that
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: he had this explosive, dominating regular season and then carry
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: it over into the postseason when the eyes are obviously
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: more on you, the pressure is amped. I was at
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: that game in Houston, like that was that was a
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: you guys are a cute story. We respect schoobl but
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: we still expect to win this and not really be
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: challenged all that much. That's the situation that somebody lesser
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: could have imploded. And even the first game he pitched
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: in Cleveland against Cleveland as well. So that's part of
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: the story for me, and especially comparing to how Verlander
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: started because he's now in the Erlander class obviously, like
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: that gives you an idea of how dominant he.
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: Was this year.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, So we will go on to the last award
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: that has been divvied out recently, and it's very local.
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: It is.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: One that obviously people like Cody care about more, but
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: I think it is still interesting for the fans. Matt
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: Vierling wins the Detroit Chapter BBWAA Good Guy Award, Professionalism Award.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: You can describe this better now, but basically, who is
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: a good guy around and dealing with the media, which
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: you guys are there, Like I said, for a game
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: after the game most every day, like if people get
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: tired of each other, it'd be the most natural thing
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: on the planet, right, So take us through this vote
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: and what made Matt such a deserving candidate.
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, this is the I believe it's the dan Ewall Award.
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: He was a former Tigers pr director back in the day.
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: This award has not been given out for many years.
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: It was kind of brought back and resurrected this season.
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: So kudos to Matt Vieling for not the inaugural award,
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: but in a way, like the first of this generation,
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: certainly another tough decision. When I sat down and thought
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: about it, we were told to submit two names, and
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: I was like, well, one good thing about covering this team,
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: there's no real like assholes, Like almost everyone is pretty
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: good to deal with. A couple guys that weren't weren't
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: there at the end of the season. So but like,
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: I could have written a lot of names for this one.
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: I thought about Derek's school and all the attention he
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: got and just how he still handled it and was accessible.
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: And Riley Green and Tork, who we've talked about and
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: had to criticize at times, and you know, all those
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: guys had cases. But I think the two that really
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: stood out where Matt Vierling and Jake Rogers in terms
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: of being friendly being quoteable, being able to just have
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: kind of a side conversation off the record with and
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: generally being consistently available. You're right, it gets hard. I
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: try to be cognizant of this, you know. With the players,
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: it gets hard when the media is coming to you
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: every single day. Like I try to kind of space
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: it out most of the time, especially like before a
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: game and on a team with a lot of young players, Vierling,
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: who is still young himself, kind of had to assume
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: more of a veteran role both with his teammates and
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: with the media. He was the guy after games good
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: and bad, usually standing there in front of the cameras,
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: in front of the microphones, answering the questions, and he
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: was he was a professional in times good and bad,
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: whether it was June or whether it was September. You know,
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: I think he's done a lot for the culture of
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: this clubhouse and kind of ads grown into a leadership role,
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: even if you know he may not view himself that way.
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: So yeah, definitely congratulations to Matt Vierling and Jake Rodgers
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: finished second and was a very deserving candidate as well.
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and two guys that you always even take away
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: like the the stuff in the clubhouse. Two guys, and
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: they're not the only ones, obviously, but two guys that
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: you could see that just in the way that they
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: interact on the field, right, Like you like, it's not
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: a surprise that they would handle that that way. And
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: and you know, Vierly is an interesting case study. We'll
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: have plenty of time to talk about it this offseason,
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: but you know, the the last remnants of the Gregoris
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: Soto deal, and that's this is a guy that was
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: batting third in your lineup and deciding playoff games, right, So,
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: like you could probably say that it's not ideal, but
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: he was and he was trusted for a variety of reasons,
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: and being the spokesperson for the team is definitely something
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: that is part of the overall picture. So that's why
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: I wanted to point it out because I think it
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: speaks to so many other things. So sure, all right,
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: let's get to some of the nitty gritty stuff we
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: had ourselves this week. Cody A forty man deadline. Rule
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: five protection deadline And by way, that's gonna be in
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: my backyard too, and you're gonna be here, so that's
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: gonna be that's the rule five draft.
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: Right, that's gonna be sure nothing gets the Rule five draft. Baby,
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna.
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: Be live tweeting it from from the hotel in Dallas.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: Uh So, the Tigers opted to protect three pictures. That's
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: Chase Lee, Tyler Matheson, and Tyler Owens. Now, if you
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: don't necessarily follow the miners all that well, but you
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: remember like a couple of those names from the summer.
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: That would be because Chase Lee came over from the
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: Rangers and the Andrew Schafin deal, and Tyler Owens came
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: over from the Rangers in the person Kelly deal. I
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: had to make sure I got those right which deal
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: was which there? And Matheson was a fourth round pick
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: a couple of years ago as well. So those are
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: three pictures. Those are three probably relief pictures. I'm just
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: gonna I'm just gonna go by Baseball reference real quick.
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: Matthis is listed as a pitcher. The other two are
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: listed as relief pitchers. Right, that's so, But it's not
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: on the surface. I'm not going to try to give
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: scatter reports to these guys. On the surface, it doesn't
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: surprise me that they would opt to protect three arms
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: that they and some way recently have shown a likeness
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: for so.
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, not at all. Lee and Owens I definitely expected
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: to be protected. Guys they obviously liked because they traded
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: for him, Guys who are now upper level prospects and
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: could be knocking on the door of the big league's
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: next season. Both do some things I love. I love
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: this line about Chase Lee from Jason Beck of thenlbe
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: dot com. A reliever named Chase is going to grab attention,
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: and he struck out more than twelve batters per nine
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: innings over his minor league career. He's got a little
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: bit of a side arm delivery and cut his walk
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: rate recently. Owens, you know he was a later round pick,
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: thirteenth round, but he he's up to his fastball. He
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: has a well rounded arsenal. He was pretty good for
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: Eerie coming out of the bullpen. Now I think Madison
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: is the interesting one. Tyler Madison. I remember when he
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: was drafted, the Tigers liked him a lot, but he
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: had surgery on his arm. He's not healthy right now,
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: so why would you protect a player who's not healthy?
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: Somewhat interesting raises an eyebrow a little bit, but that's
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: a sign that Tigers like him and really don't want
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: to lose him. You could almost like, why would another
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: team draft a player who's not healthy. I don't know,
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: Like that almost could allow an opposing club to stash
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: a guy like that in their organization until he is healthy,
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: So I can kind of see it. Surprised me, but
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: I can see the logic there. In terms of guys
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: who were not protected, Justice Big B is probably the
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: biggest name. He was obviously on the rise kind of
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: this time last year, but really struggled in Triple A,
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: especially being a hitter who's probably a minus outfielder and
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: maybe in first Like I don't think the Tigers are
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: going to be overly worried about losing him, and also
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: a guy who's, you know, he's just struggled in Triple A,
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: like he's going to have to have a big year
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: to get himself kind of back on the radar, I
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: think Joseph Montalvo was the most interesting one. Another guy
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: who came over from the Rangers at the trade deadline
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: and I think probably has the highest ceiling of all
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: those pitchers they acquired around that time. A little curious
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: why they didn't protect him, but he's twenty two, he
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: hasn't pitched above high A. Seems like a little bit
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: of a gamble that no other team will view him
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: as major league ready. Lyle Lockhart an interesting one. I
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: wouldn't be spread. There's some teams that are going to
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: be scouting why Lockhart hard? He was in triple A.
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: He was had to be a candidate to get a
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: look at some point in August or September. It didn't happen.
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: But a guy who's really improved in his time throughout
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: the system kind of a borderline candidate to be protected.
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: But ultimately I see why they wouldn't, But I'm curious
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: if anyone might give him a look in the rule
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: of five drafts.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so just a tier bow on it. Lee is
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: twenty six, Madison is twenty five, and Owens is twenty four,
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: so they're somewhat older.
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: That kind of tells you.
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and a lot of them are recent birthdays too,
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: so they're on obviously the younger end of that age.
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, I think maybe the interesting the Tigers had
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: to kick three guys off the roster to prodact these guys,
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: so Brendan White no longer on the forty man. At
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: least Leonard no longer on the forty man and Ricky
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: Vanasco no longer on the forty man. I think Leonard
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: is the most surprising or interesting at least of those.
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: I was a little surprised. I figured, you know, trade
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: traded four at the deadline two years ago, did some
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: really nice things, hits the ball really hard. You think
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: the Tigers, you know, still like him, could use some
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: infield bats in their system. But ultimately, I'm not surprised
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: he was let go, if that makes any sense, because
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: he's not a great defender. He's not really a shortstop.
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: And you look closer at his hitting numbers, and there
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: are some big concerns. A thirty six point one percent
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: chase rate that is rough a thirty one point three
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: percent WITH rate, for just some comparison's sake, Javier Baiez
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: with at a thirty point two percent with. So you're
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: talking hobby level chase hobby level with if not, we're
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: struck out twenty six percent of the time. Does not
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: play hobby level defense. Still, I think some upside in
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: the bat, but walked only six percent of the time,
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: Like there's some major plate discipline and contact issues, and
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: that's why we never saw him in the big leagues
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: this year, in addition to the defense component, and why
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: he was ultimately removed from the forty man roster. So
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: a saying for riders is you have to be able
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: to kill your darlings. Sometimes you got to kill off
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: the spring training darlings. As a fan, he was one
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: of those not too long ago. A little bit of
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: a reminder that spring training is often cool's gold.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: And uh, you just never know what a season's gonna entail.
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: I mean, there was if you said Hobby got hurt
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: and missed, you know, however many games he missed, you're
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: probably thinking, all right, we got a pretty good idea
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: about Leonard right now. They didn't even didn't even enter
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: into the realm of possibility. So well, it'll be interesting
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: to see what happens with those guys and then how
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: the Rule five draft goes. UH will have plenty of
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: time to talk about at the time. I'm sure Uh
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: Scott Harris and and the and the brass there already
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: have an idea of some some guys they might want
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: to look at, and UH, and we will react to
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: it when that comes. Just in about a month in
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: about a month, so you know, not too far away. Uh,
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: anything else, Cody before we jet out of here.
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: No, that's all I got.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: Award in Stars studded podcast today. A lot of fun.
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: It's cool to talk about the Tigers in this capacity.
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: It's just another example of the steps that this franchise
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: has taken. And uh, you know where your Tigers at
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: with Pride Google is a cy Young winner. Aj Hnch
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: was a finalist for Manager of the Year very well
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: could have won that award. So be sure, as we
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: said at the beginning, be sure to be following us
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: on the social media's and Cody at Blue Sky and
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: YouTube subscribe and Notification Bell, so you know exactly when
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: that goes up. We're going to try to grow that
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: have that hummin by the time spring training rolls around.
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: And of course wherever you get your podcast, you can
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: follow Cody on x if you're still on there at
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: Cody Stapenhagen, I am at Kieran Underscore Steclee. The pot
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: page is at Tiger Territory Underscore. So four Cody Stapenhagen,
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: I'm Kieren Steckley. Everybody, have a great day.