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Ken Rosenthal on Trade Talk Chaos · Foul Territory

0:05
Speaker 1: But let's get right to the news about the Mets.
0:07
Speaker 1: Can they pick up Gregory Soto for their bullpen? What
0:10
Speaker 1: else do you know about, not just this, but what
0:13
Speaker 1: else the Mets could be doing after this?
0:16
Speaker 2: They want more as far as the bullpen is concerned.
0:19
Speaker 2: And Will Salmon and the Athletic noted a few weeks ago,
0:22
Speaker 2: I believe it was that teams look at their young pitching,
0:25
Speaker 2: their prospect pitching pretty favorably, and they have guys that
0:30
Speaker 2: they can move. They really rebuilt their system well, so
0:33
Speaker 2: they're in good position to do not just a deal
0:35
Speaker 2: like this with Soto, but other deals for other relievers
0:39
Speaker 2: if that's what they want to do.
0:41
Speaker 3: Is the value out there for the Mets to say
0:44
Speaker 3: we want more of We talked about it earlier, more
0:46
Speaker 3: of a Dennis Santana type than say they're going to
0:50
Speaker 3: get outbid for a Emmanuel class A a bednark because
0:55
Speaker 3: they already have a closer.
0:58
Speaker 2: It's a good question, and always Eric, you know this too,
1:02
Speaker 2: with closers and late inning guys. The psychology of going
1:05
Speaker 2: from the ninth inning to the eighth inning, as certain
1:08
Speaker 2: pitchers would that you mentioned, that's always an issue. So
1:12
Speaker 2: maybe a Santana for them makes more sense. At the
1:15
Speaker 2: same time, I believe Edward Diaz has an opt out
1:18
Speaker 2: after this year, so a closer with control beyond this
1:21
Speaker 2: year would also be useful. But you have to worry
1:23
Speaker 2: about how he's going to react and not pitching the ninth,
1:27
Speaker 2: especially if he's a guy who is not signed. Now
1:29
Speaker 2: class is signed signed cheaply, so it wouldn't be as
1:33
Speaker 2: much of an issue with him. It would be more
1:35
Speaker 2: the pride factor. But I don't know the class is
1:38
Speaker 2: even getting moved.
1:40
Speaker 3: What about the other needs for them? We heard third base,
1:42
Speaker 3: We heard centerfield for the Mets, which is more of
1:46
Speaker 3: a priority because they have Vientos, because they have Tyrone Taylor.
1:50
Speaker 3: You know they have options. Is there a priority there
1:53
Speaker 3: for the Mets?
1:55
Speaker 2: It would seem to me centerfield is more the priority,
1:58
Speaker 2: and third base, as you mentioned, it's Fianto's beatty Mauricio.
2:02
Speaker 2: Now those guys are available to and possibly the Mets
2:05
Speaker 2: trade one of them to do something else, But in
2:09
Speaker 2: my view that position they can continue patching together. Is
2:13
Speaker 2: an ideal. No, but it's somewhere where you want to
2:17
Speaker 2: give some guys a little bit of time. Now you
2:18
Speaker 2: can argue if you're a Mets fan, you probably would
2:21
Speaker 2: argue those guys have all gotten their chances, let's move on.
2:24
Speaker 2: But centerfield, to me, that's something that they've been focused on,
2:28
Speaker 2: and a guy like Harrison Bader, who they had before,
2:31
Speaker 2: would make sense. Luis Robert Jr. Is someone that they've
2:34
Speaker 2: talked about, so I can see them going any number
2:37
Speaker 2: of ways on both. They could do a third baseman.
2:40
Speaker 2: I just don't see it as important as perhaps the outfielder.
2:44
Speaker 1: And lastly, on this trade, let's hit the Orioles side
2:47
Speaker 1: of the equation. Can zero surprise here. They're going to
2:51
Speaker 1: unload any player that's in this type of position right
2:54
Speaker 1: a free agent after this year, and maybe even if
2:57
Speaker 1: there's a.
2:57
Speaker 4: Year and a half of control, depending on the player.
3:01
Speaker 2: No question. And Scott, it's interesting that we're a week
3:04
Speaker 2: out here, or almost a week out and this has
3:07
Speaker 2: started for them, and it had to start. You have
3:10
Speaker 2: so many guys on expiring contracts, from effun and Chicano
3:14
Speaker 2: to now Domingez, Ryan O'Hearn and Cedric Mullens Junior. All
3:18
Speaker 2: of these guys plus more that you can't just wait
3:21
Speaker 2: until the last day and then pull the trigger. All
3:23
Speaker 2: of a sudden No, you've got to go somewhat in sequence.
3:27
Speaker 2: I can't say that they have it all planned out.
3:30
Speaker 2: We're gonna trade Mullins on Tuesday, O hear, and on Wednesday. No,
3:33
Speaker 2: But you have to get the ball rolling, and they
3:36
Speaker 2: did with this trade.
3:38
Speaker 4: All right.
3:39
Speaker 3: You wrote a great article about the Padres I just
3:41
Speaker 3: read it this morning, about the urgency of AJ Preller.
3:45
Speaker 3: He's always urgent and you even said that in your article.
3:48
Speaker 3: Can you give us a synopsis of how AJ Pereller
3:51
Speaker 3: will attack the trade deadline differently or could attack it
3:55
Speaker 3: differently than other gms do that are in different situations
3:58
Speaker 3: than he's in.
4:00
Speaker 2: Well, the premise of it, Eric, as you mentioned, is
4:02
Speaker 2: that he's always in an urgent position. So when I've
4:05
Speaker 2: heard from other executives in the last couple of weeks, well,
4:08
Speaker 2: they've got to do something this year because they're gonna
4:10
Speaker 2: lose King, and they're gonna lose Cease and they lose
4:12
Speaker 2: Suarez the free agency. All of that is possible for sure,
4:16
Speaker 2: But when is AJ Preller not operated like that? And
4:20
Speaker 2: I know his contracts up next year, and you can
4:22
Speaker 2: make the case, well he might be trying to get
4:24
Speaker 2: a new contract, But again, he always operates the same way.
4:28
Speaker 2: So he's going to try to do some things now
4:31
Speaker 2: he's identified what he wants one or two bats. They
4:34
Speaker 2: also could look for bullpen help because their guys have
4:38
Speaker 2: thrown an awful lot as good as they are, and
4:41
Speaker 2: if they trade cease, which is possible, then they would
4:44
Speaker 2: need some kind of backfill in the rotation at the
4:47
Speaker 2: very least. So if you ask me what aj Preller
4:51
Speaker 2: is going to do, I have no earthly idea. If
4:54
Speaker 2: you ask me, is he going to be busy? Yes,
4:56
Speaker 2: I would expect to be busy, perhaps buying and selling,
5:00
Speaker 2: just buying. I don't know. But this is a guy who,
5:05
Speaker 2: unlike some of his peers, not all, but some, is
5:08
Speaker 2: not worried about so much what if the models look
5:11
Speaker 2: like and what the surplus value is going to be.
5:14
Speaker 2: He routinely goes for it. Now, it doesn't always work,
5:17
Speaker 2: we know that, and hasn't always worked with the free agents. Yes,
5:21
Speaker 2: of course, when you fire as constantly as he fires,
5:25
Speaker 2: you're gonna miss sometimes. It's just the nature of baseball.
5:28
Speaker 2: It's the nature in every aspect of this game, from
5:31
Speaker 2: players to front office people to media. No one is
5:35
Speaker 2: always right But what I appreciate about him, and what
5:39
Speaker 2: I believe fan should appreciate is at least this guy
5:42
Speaker 2: takes a shot. He doesn't sit there and worry and
5:44
Speaker 2: talk himself out of things. He tucks himself into things.
5:49
Speaker 3: As a Padres fan, do they have to look at
5:52
Speaker 3: it like a ledger sheet, say, okay, we get rid
5:55
Speaker 3: of cease. That's seven million dollars on this side of
5:58
Speaker 3: the ledger he could spend this, or because like you said,
6:01
Speaker 3: we don't know about the financial situation. There was a
6:04
Speaker 3: lot of drama early with the family. Is it if
6:07
Speaker 3: you're a Padres fan, can you look at it that
6:09
Speaker 3: way and say, man, if we could just drop this
6:11
Speaker 3: guy's contract, we could pick up this Or is it
6:13
Speaker 3: not going to be a dollar for dollar ledger or
6:15
Speaker 3: could it go up higher?
6:17
Speaker 2: We don't know the answer to that, And clearly they
6:21
Speaker 2: have had some different financial restrictions in recent years since
6:25
Speaker 2: the passing of Peter Seidler that they didn't before. And
6:28
Speaker 2: they're in a funny spot with the luxury tax. They're
6:31
Speaker 2: way over the first threshold, they're a little bit over
6:34
Speaker 2: the second threshold. Now do they want to get under
6:36
Speaker 2: the second threshold? I don't know that that matters so
6:39
Speaker 2: much to them. But money isn't always It's always a
6:42
Speaker 2: concern with every team, So I would imagine there's some
6:45
Speaker 2: of that coming into play here. For instance, they can't
6:48
Speaker 2: simply add twenty million dollars a payroll. Probably, but I
6:52
Speaker 2: don't know if it's exactly as you said, Eric, where
6:55
Speaker 2: if you're taking here, you've got to subtract there. I
6:58
Speaker 2: don't know exactly how it's going to work. They might
7:01
Speaker 2: they might be in a situation where they compile what
7:05
Speaker 2: they're going to do, what would they want to do,
7:07
Speaker 2: and then take it to ownership, and ownership says yeah
7:09
Speaker 2: or nay.
7:11
Speaker 1: Right, Hey, let's always remember it this time of year.
7:14
Speaker 1: The gms are working their butts off, but then everything
7:16
Speaker 1: has to get approved. They have a boss, they're the
7:19
Speaker 1: agent for the boss, which is the owner, and money
7:21
Speaker 1: is getting moved to mid season.
7:22
Speaker 4: They don't plan that way.
7:24
Speaker 1: So anyway, let's work on a team that has been
7:26
Speaker 1: difficult with budgeting the last few years for Jerry Depoto,
7:30
Speaker 1: and that's the other big deal to hit. Josh Naylor
7:32
Speaker 1: is acquired. To me, he seems like a Depoto dream.
7:35
Speaker 1: He makes contact, he's a gamer, he's got some pop.
7:38
Speaker 1: What did you think of this move for the Mariners
7:40
Speaker 1: and potentially what's next for them?
7:43
Speaker 2: I liked it for the Mariners, and right away after
7:46
Speaker 2: the trade was made, you saw there be people basically
7:49
Speaker 2: reporting that they're not done, and they're also in the
7:53
Speaker 2: mix for Ajohano Suarez. If they got both those guys,
7:56
Speaker 2: that theoretically should fix their offense, even though where Seattle
8:00
Speaker 2: is a more difficult place to hit than Arizona. I
8:02
Speaker 2: get it all that, but Suarez would be a coup,
8:06
Speaker 2: no doubt, especially with the Yankees and Cubs and other
8:08
Speaker 2: teams interested. But I did like this move, and to
8:12
Speaker 2: Poto two because he has multiple things to do. You
8:15
Speaker 2: also might want bullpen help. Can't wait till the last
8:18
Speaker 2: day and do everything. So he got a jumpstart of
8:20
Speaker 2: the market, just as he did last year with the
8:22
Speaker 2: Rose Arena. And I am quite sure they have a
8:25
Speaker 2: lot of balls in play, a lot of balls in
8:27
Speaker 2: the air, and they're not done. They can't be done.
8:33
Speaker 3: Let's stick with the Diamondbacks here. They got rid of Naylor. Obviously,
8:36
Speaker 3: Heno Suarez is going to be maybe a bidding war,
8:40
Speaker 3: we assume, because everybody seems to need a third basement
8:42
Speaker 3: that has thirty five dingers thirty five plus. But is
8:46
Speaker 3: there is there a case where the Diamondbacks offload more
8:52
Speaker 3: players than any other team because of all their expiring contracts.
8:56
Speaker 2: Yes, And when I reported yesterday that they were going
9:00
Speaker 2: to sell, what I was told was, we don't know
9:03
Speaker 2: how far we're gonna go. So could they unload five
9:07
Speaker 2: or six guys? Yes, they could. I do not expect
9:10
Speaker 2: them to trade Gowen and Kelly. I expected to trade
9:14
Speaker 2: Gowan or Kelly. Now beyond that, and beyond Suarez, you're
9:18
Speaker 2: talking about Randall Gritchik, you're talking about Shelby Miller possibly
9:22
Speaker 2: if he gets back healthy, they can do still a
9:24
Speaker 2: number of things. I don't know that they'll go beyond
9:27
Speaker 2: the expiring contracts because they're going to want to compete
9:29
Speaker 2: next year. But they're in a situation right now. They
9:33
Speaker 2: know that this season, mostly because of injuries, is all
9:37
Speaker 2: but lost. They've got this incredibly dynamic offense, or had
9:40
Speaker 2: it with Josh Naylor involved. And could they be a
9:44
Speaker 2: team that's quite active. Yes, I expect the Orioles to
9:46
Speaker 2: make the most trades. Pittsburgh we're not sure about yet.
9:49
Speaker 2: But Arizona is going to make multiple deals as.
9:51
Speaker 3: Well, But why not both? Why not both Merrill Kelly
9:56
Speaker 3: and Zach Gallen.
10:00
Speaker 2: Eric mostly because you've got to get through the season
10:03
Speaker 2: and they're not going to have enough pitching to get
10:06
Speaker 2: through the season if they trade both. Now, could they
10:09
Speaker 2: do it? Might they get pushed enough to where they
10:11
Speaker 2: would do it, and then you figure out the rest
10:12
Speaker 2: of the season. Yes, But it's also not a group there.
10:17
Speaker 2: And this goes for the owner, Ken Kendrick, the general
10:20
Speaker 2: manager Mike Haysen, and everyone in that front office that
10:23
Speaker 2: likes to lose one hundred games. They've done that. Now
10:25
Speaker 2: They're not going to lose one hundred this year obviously,
10:27
Speaker 2: but you know what I'm saying, They don't want to
10:30
Speaker 2: just struggle through the last two months. And with Kelly,
10:35
Speaker 2: he might be in more demand right now, even though
10:37
Speaker 2: he's older than Goalon. I'm not sure how that dynamics
10:39
Speaker 2: playing out. Kelly, in my view, they would have a
10:42
Speaker 2: chance to resign. They give him a qualifying offer most likely,
10:46
Speaker 2: and then he's been a guy, granted that has accepted
10:49
Speaker 2: two below market deals to sign with Arizona, to stay
10:51
Speaker 2: with Arizona, but he's comfortable there and with the right deal,
10:56
Speaker 2: perhaps he would stay. He's going to be thirty seven
10:58
Speaker 2: next season, if I'm not mistaken, So that might be
11:01
Speaker 2: another reason too. You know this, Eric, once you trade
11:04
Speaker 2: a player becomes that much harder to get him back.
11:07
Speaker 4: It's still surprising to me.
11:08
Speaker 1: Ken if they get an offer that makes sense and
11:12
Speaker 1: that's better than what they would get for a comp
11:14
Speaker 1: pick right, and it's fifty million dollars or more, I
11:16
Speaker 1: think they'd get after the first round. If it's less,
11:18
Speaker 1: they would get it after the second round, which starts
11:21
Speaker 1: to not matter as much. Do you really think that
11:24
Speaker 1: if they get solid offers for both of them. Kelly's
11:27
Speaker 1: got a great track history in the playoffs a couple
11:29
Speaker 1: of years ago, and I think some teams probably figure
11:31
Speaker 1: they can fix Gallon, that they would deal both and
11:34
Speaker 1: maybe try and get someone else to fill the innings
11:37
Speaker 1: down the stretch, whether it's a veteran or one of
11:40
Speaker 1: the young guys that they pick up and they try out.
11:43
Speaker 2: Certainly could do that. And I can't recall the exact circumstance, Scott,
11:48
Speaker 2: but they've done this before. I believe they traded someone.
11:51
Speaker 2: Maybe it was Greanky. I think it was Granky. The
11:54
Speaker 2: year they traded in they backfilled with Mike Leak, So yes,
11:58
Speaker 2: of course they could do that. But standing is that
12:01
Speaker 2: is not their initial intention. Now, as you guys know,
12:05
Speaker 2: we're in the final days here, teams are going to
12:08
Speaker 2: push for starting pitching. So if they get pushed on both,
12:11
Speaker 2: and if they crossed the threshold that they have set
12:13
Speaker 2: for both, of course they will do the trades and
12:16
Speaker 2: worry about the rest later. But it seems that their
12:19
Speaker 2: inclination is not to do that.
12:22
Speaker 1: Okay, I've got one more, maybe ek one more at
12:24
Speaker 1: the finish line here. Mine is a general question. Have
12:27
Speaker 1: we learned anything about teams on the fences on the
12:31
Speaker 1: fence in the past twenty four to forty eight hours
12:34
Speaker 1: the Angels, perhaps it sounds like the Cardinals will be selling.
12:37
Speaker 4: Have you learned anything about teams like that.
12:40
Speaker 2: The Diamondbacks were the first domino, and certainly we learned
12:44
Speaker 2: yesterday and saw yesterday that they were going to sell.
12:48
Speaker 2: The Cardinals are certainly leaning in that direction and are
12:51
Speaker 2: expected to sell as well. Kansas City on the fence,
12:55
Speaker 2: Tampa Bay on the fence, A lot of teams still
12:58
Speaker 2: on the fence. I would expect Minnesota they're going to
13:00
Speaker 2: sell their expiring contract guys at the very least. But
13:05
Speaker 2: this weekend will be a big weekend from number of teams,
13:08
Speaker 2: and after this weekend we will similarly have some more
13:11
Speaker 2: clarity on just who's in and out. Kansas City is
13:15
Speaker 2: a fascinating one to me. They don't want to sell,
13:18
Speaker 2: They want to compete, They want to contend. They feel
13:21
Speaker 2: like they've built a good team and all this talk
13:24
Speaker 2: of logo is fine, but they're not as into it
13:28
Speaker 2: from what I understand as the rest of the world is.
13:31
Speaker 2: So that's one team to watch for sure.
13:34
Speaker 3: Ken, I have a benefit of not needing to troll
13:36
Speaker 3: you on Twitter. I can ask your questions right here.
13:40
Speaker 3: You said about the Blue Jays earlier needing a starting
13:43
Speaker 3: pitcher because of Max Sure's are getting older, and I
13:47
Speaker 3: think you had mentioned Bassett's contract is up. There is
13:51
Speaker 3: there really more of a need for starting pitching with
13:54
Speaker 3: the Jays than that relief pitching role or maybe some
13:58
Speaker 3: slug even if Santan Derek comes back.
14:03
Speaker 2: For our show's coming back first, we don't know about
14:05
Speaker 2: Santan Derek. They certainly need bullpen help because of the
14:09
Speaker 2: injuries that they've incurred in the bullpen in recent weeks.
14:12
Speaker 2: Really all season a starter. I don't know that it's
14:15
Speaker 2: a necessity, but you're talking about relying on Max Scherzer, who,
14:21
Speaker 2: let's face it, has been on the injury list quite
14:22
Speaker 2: a bit in recent years. Talking about relying on Eric Louer,
14:26
Speaker 2: who has been tremendous for them, but you don't know
14:29
Speaker 2: for sure if he's going to be able to sustain
14:31
Speaker 2: it the whole season. So you're not only getting a
14:34
Speaker 2: person in place for next year if you get that
14:36
Speaker 2: controllable starter, but you're also reinforcing what you have for
14:40
Speaker 2: this year. And I want to address some complaints from
14:43
Speaker 2: Blue Jays fans yesterday because of fair territory focusing on
14:46
Speaker 2: the Yankees' poor performance Wednesday night instead of praising the Jays.
14:51
Speaker 2: We've been praising the Jays. The Jays are doing great.
14:54
Speaker 2: We all love what the Jays are doing. The focus
14:57
Speaker 2: after four eras and three innings the other night, twelve
15:00
Speaker 2: in ten games against the Blue Jays, that was going
15:03
Speaker 2: to be the Yankees. That's how the world works, folks.
15:07
Speaker 1: Well said you want praise for the Jays. Ken literally
15:11
Speaker 1: just gave it again. There is praise for the Jay's
15:14
Speaker 1: It is on the record.
15:15
Speaker 4: Thank you.
15:16
Speaker 2: Ken.
15:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're covering this team a ton this year, not
15:18
Speaker 1: as much last year because they weren't good. So we'll
15:20
Speaker 1: talk much more about the Jays, including next week. We'll
15:22
Speaker 1: see you next week on Monday on Fair Territory. Thanks guys,
15:26
Speaker 1: thank you. That's Ken Rosenthal and there's the show promo
15:30
Speaker 1: for you, Fair Territory. Yesterday's episode is full of notes
15:34
Speaker 1: and information. We tried to get to other things because
15:37
Speaker 1: yesterday's show covered a lot from Ken's notes column and
15:39
Speaker 1: what he had been hearing, so tried to get to
15:41
Speaker 1: some other things today. But make sure you backtrack for
15:43
Speaker 1: that one and then catch Ken live. It's going to
15:46
Speaker 1: be a well attended show on Monday morning. Cody, good
15:50
Speaker 1: to see you, dude. Covering the team for the Athletic
15:53
Speaker 1: covering the Detroit Tigers and Tiger Territory for US. So, Cody,
15:59
Speaker 1: I'm going to start with this one because this has
16:01
Speaker 1: been going on since the last week of the first
16:03
Speaker 1: half of the season.
16:05
Speaker 4: Are the Tigers.
16:06
Speaker 5: Okay, Well, they're not okay right now. They've lost ten
16:11
Speaker 5: of eleven if you count the All Star break. They
16:13
Speaker 5: have one win in the past sixteen days and they
16:15
Speaker 5: haven't just been losing, They've been losing in pretty ugly fashion.
16:19
Speaker 5: Lack of hitting, bullpen has actually been bad going back
16:23
Speaker 5: to the start of June. Starting pitching has not been great.
16:27
Speaker 5: In their series in Pittsburgh, we saw probably the sloppiest
16:29
Speaker 5: play we've seen from the Tigers. So are they okay?
16:33
Speaker 5: I think that's a harder question to answer, right. How
16:36
Speaker 5: do you ever navigate the ups and downs of a
16:38
Speaker 5: major league season? How do you know when to react,
16:41
Speaker 5: when to really kind of freak out about something. I
16:45
Speaker 5: think there's a lot of evidence that suggests the Tigers
16:47
Speaker 5: are a good team, not just the way they started
16:49
Speaker 5: this season, but look at how they ended last year.
16:51
Speaker 5: Look at their run differential, which is still a pretty
16:54
Speaker 5: good predictive stat. I think they're going to be able
16:56
Speaker 5: to snap out of this. But this seems to keep
16:59
Speaker 5: happening night after night, and it does have to stop eventually,
17:03
Speaker 5: so really bad stretch of baseball for the Tigers. It's
17:07
Speaker 5: got in soon, or we could do these the tenor
17:10
Speaker 5: of these conversations could start changing.
17:14
Speaker 3: Are we starting to see a Minnesota Tigers collapse last year?
17:19
Speaker 3: I know that maybe too soon, maybe too soon, But
17:23
Speaker 3: the one thing that you said. You know, you're seeing
17:25
Speaker 3: it in a lot of like different ways. The bullpen,
17:27
Speaker 3: you know, there's different things. To me, it's the hitting.
17:30
Speaker 3: Is there a concern in Detroit about going in Granted
17:34
Speaker 3: you go into Pittsburgh they have good pitching, they have
17:38
Speaker 3: really good pitching, and they got they got shell ACKed
17:40
Speaker 3: in the box. To me, is this is this lack
17:45
Speaker 3: of hitting more of a regression to the mean because
17:49
Speaker 3: of some of these guys who had breakout years. To
17:51
Speaker 3: talk about Spencer Torkelsen was gonna go to Triple A,
17:54
Speaker 3: you talk about Zach McKinstry, everybody, you know, all these
17:57
Speaker 3: storylines that built the Tigers offense early. Now are they
18:03
Speaker 3: coming back down or is it just a blip in
18:06
Speaker 3: a radar?
18:08
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think there's definitely some level of regression. I
18:10
Speaker 5: felt as though the Tigers overachieved offensively in the first half.
18:14
Speaker 5: It's not to say they're a bad offense, but they
18:16
Speaker 5: finished the first half. Is the second best run scoring
18:19
Speaker 5: lineup in the American League. That's a pretty lofty standard.
18:24
Speaker 5: And yeah, Zach McKinstry, Hovey Bayas, some of those guys,
18:28
Speaker 5: pretty reasonable to expect regression now, Spencer Torgelsen is actually
18:31
Speaker 5: still raking, but Riley Green, who's carried this lineup, has
18:34
Speaker 5: been a slump. Kerry Carpenter, who's one of their most
18:37
Speaker 5: important hitters, is on the injured list. Some of these
18:40
Speaker 5: guys you got back from the il Matt Vierling, Parker Meadows,
18:43
Speaker 5: you were kind of expecting some contributions. They've been rusty,
18:47
Speaker 5: They've been off to very slow starts. I think that's
18:49
Speaker 5: still going to be a big deal for the Tigers
18:52
Speaker 5: in the second half. If mckinstree slumps, if Hovey Bayaz slumps,
18:57
Speaker 5: if a couple other guys, even Gla Torres, who's been fantastic,
19:01
Speaker 5: is he gonna have a three to seventy three eighty
19:04
Speaker 5: OBP the rest of the way. I don't know that's
19:06
Speaker 5: a high bar. They need the likes of Meadows, Veerling
19:10
Speaker 5: some of these other guys to step up and carry
19:12
Speaker 5: some of the load here, whereas right now it seems
19:16
Speaker 5: like almost every hitter in this order is going through
19:18
Speaker 5: a little bit of something. Towerklsen has been one of
19:21
Speaker 5: the brighter spots actually, and no one else has stepped
19:24
Speaker 5: up to carry that load. I do think it's fair
19:27
Speaker 5: to worry, how good is this offense? Is this an
19:30
Speaker 5: average offense? I think it's probably realistically more of an
19:33
Speaker 5: average offense than the elite type of offense they played
19:37
Speaker 5: like in the first half.
19:39
Speaker 3: Okay, let's get the rumors and needs. The trade deadline
19:42
Speaker 3: is coming up, and no better time to struggle and say, well,
19:46
Speaker 3: wait a minute, I didn't notice this. I didn't notice
19:48
Speaker 3: we had this problem, and now we need to fill it.
19:50
Speaker 3: Where do you see and where do you hear that
19:53
Speaker 3: the moves are going to come for the Tigers in
19:56
Speaker 3: the next few days.
19:58
Speaker 5: Yeah, I know, we just talked about the offense. My
20:01
Speaker 5: sense right now after a couple of conversations, not a
20:03
Speaker 5: lot of upgrades being going on there. I know people
20:05
Speaker 5: like to mention them in connection with Iohanio Suarez. The
20:09
Speaker 5: fit makes sense one paper, I'm told the Tigers are
20:12
Speaker 5: not closing the door. But not closing the door seems
20:15
Speaker 5: a lot different than what the Mariners are saying, which
20:18
Speaker 5: is that it's their top priority. Now, there's always a
20:20
Speaker 5: little bit of posturing at the trade deadline, but I
20:23
Speaker 5: don't get the sense the Tigers want to get in
20:25
Speaker 5: a bidding war or ship any major prospects at this deadline.
20:28
Speaker 5: They're not going to trade any of their top one
20:30
Speaker 5: hundred type guys. Max Clerk's going nowhere, Kevin mcgonagall's going nowhere.
20:35
Speaker 5: Even if you get into that mid tier of prospects. Look,
20:38
Speaker 5: the Tigers are one of these modern front offices that
20:40
Speaker 5: really likes to hoard their talent, that kind of covets
20:44
Speaker 5: their prospects. I just don't see a big splash. Could
20:47
Speaker 5: they find another hitter, platoon type bats upgrade. Maybe? My
20:53
Speaker 5: sense is that their early efforts at the on the
20:56
Speaker 5: trade market center around center on their relief market. This
21:00
Speaker 5: team clearly needs bullpen help. Since the start of June,
21:02
Speaker 5: their bullpen era is over five. They have the worst
21:06
Speaker 5: swing and miss rate from the bullpen in the entire
21:09
Speaker 5: American League. Now again, are they gonna go get Ryan Helsley?
21:13
Speaker 5: Are they gonna go get Emmanuel class A? I'm not sure.
21:16
Speaker 5: I think Hellsley might be on their radar, don't. I'm
21:18
Speaker 5: not expecting an in division trade for Duran or class A.
21:23
Speaker 5: This is also the Tigers. They like to be creative.
21:25
Speaker 5: They always seem to have something up their sleeve that
21:29
Speaker 5: no one else is thinking about. I wouldn't be shocked
21:31
Speaker 5: if they identify a couple lesser names to bring in
21:34
Speaker 5: to come help this bullpen. They're already talking about the
21:37
Speaker 5: internal guys. They have some pitchers in TRIPAA they think
21:40
Speaker 5: can help them. They're banking on internal improvements and a
21:43
Speaker 5: couple of the right editions they hope that can fortify
21:46
Speaker 5: a bullpen that desperately needs help.
21:50
Speaker 3: Can that bullpen add a certain type of picture so
21:53
Speaker 3: when fans look at it and they go, we we
21:56
Speaker 3: get tons of swing and miss out of the bullpen.
21:58
Speaker 3: To me, you don't even You're not even like barking
22:01
Speaker 3: down the door of Johan Duran. You're not even looking
22:04
Speaker 3: at guys that don't have a k per nine, you know,
22:07
Speaker 3: over nine or ten. Is there a certain type of
22:11
Speaker 3: pitcher that matches like the Mets. The Mets just needed
22:14
Speaker 3: another lefty they got Greg Risoto. Is there something that
22:17
Speaker 3: matches for that bullpen that would couple well with the
22:20
Speaker 3: Tommy Kinleys of the world.
22:22
Speaker 5: Yeah, one hundred percent. I think you just nailed it.
22:24
Speaker 2: Eric.
22:24
Speaker 5: It's got to be someone who misses bats. At least
22:27
Speaker 5: in my opinion, you can't have the worst swinging miss
22:30
Speaker 5: rate in the American League from your bullpen. And you know,
22:32
Speaker 5: there's a correlation between generating swinging miss and winning in
22:36
Speaker 5: the playoffs. So maybe that's not the top end type
22:39
Speaker 5: closer guy. But there are other pitchers out there who
22:42
Speaker 5: miss a lot of bats. Read Detmer's is one name
22:45
Speaker 5: who comes to mind. Like you can keep going down
22:47
Speaker 5: the list. I think you're right. It needs to be
22:49
Speaker 5: someone who can punch nine ten eleven guys per nine innings.
22:53
Speaker 5: But keep in mind, the Tigers also really value pitchers
22:56
Speaker 5: who limit walks. Now, finding a guy who can do
22:58
Speaker 5: both one of the harder things to do out there.
23:00
Speaker 5: I think they're gonna want a high swing and misrate
23:02
Speaker 5: without sacrificing a ton of free passes. That's the type
23:06
Speaker 5: of profile I'm looking for.
23:09
Speaker 3: Right here, right here, Cody, For everybody listening, money is
23:13
Speaker 3: their payroll flexibility for the Tiger's front office to get
23:19
Speaker 3: these needs done, whether it's whether it's that big, big
23:22
Speaker 3: arm or like you said, kind of middle tier arms,
23:26
Speaker 3: like a Red Detmers type of thing. Do they have
23:28
Speaker 3: the cash to do it? Because again, there's a team
23:30
Speaker 3: that offered Alex Bregman. I forget how many hundred million.
23:35
Speaker 5: Like, yeah, I think I don't think money should be
23:39
Speaker 5: a real concern for the Tigers. They're not close to
23:41
Speaker 5: the luxury tax. They were clearly willing to spend a
23:44
Speaker 5: little more this past offseason. Again, I don't know that
23:47
Speaker 5: they're going to be going after anyone with a huge
23:50
Speaker 5: salary to begin with. That's I think that has a
23:53
Speaker 5: lot more to do with not willing, not being willing
23:55
Speaker 5: to give up their farm system than it does spending money.
23:59
Speaker 5: I don't think cash should be any object for the
24:01
Speaker 5: Tigers at this point.
24:03
Speaker 3: Now going into the postseason. Last year they had Trek
24:06
Speaker 3: Scoubel and that's about it. Is there a need to
24:12
Speaker 3: maybe four to five starting pitching spot to just get
24:16
Speaker 3: the rest of the starting pitchers healthy and ready to
24:20
Speaker 3: go for the postseason. I get it. You're gonna have Flaherty,
24:23
Speaker 3: You're gonna have Reeslsen, You're gonna have Terrek Scooble. I'm
24:25
Speaker 3: not talking about somebody bumping out that that main line,
24:29
Speaker 3: but maybe that fourth or fifth starter to fill some
24:32
Speaker 3: of this role until the postseason.
24:35
Speaker 5: Yeah, the Tigers seem to like what they have internally
24:38
Speaker 5: for the fourth guy, the fifth guy, cater Montero's actually
24:43
Speaker 5: been okay for them this year. Saw your Gibson Longs
24:46
Speaker 5: hurt right now, but they expect him to come back.
24:49
Speaker 5: They signed was A Erkidi, which is a name a
24:51
Speaker 5: lot of people haven't heard in a while. This offseason,
24:54
Speaker 5: he's rehabbing from surgery. They think he's gonna come back
24:56
Speaker 5: and pitch in August September and be able to start
25:00
Speaker 5: games for them. They just called up Troy Melton, who's
25:02
Speaker 5: a really interesting young guy. Can throw a hundred, gets
25:05
Speaker 5: a ton of swing and miss. He could start, He
25:07
Speaker 5: could move to the pin if need be later in
25:10
Speaker 5: the year. I think that's their plan for the fourth
25:13
Speaker 5: fifth spots. My personal question, like is they're married and
25:17
Speaker 5: going and getting a real guy, like a guy who
25:19
Speaker 5: can start game two of a playoff series. I seem
25:22
Speaker 5: to want that more than a lot of people, and
25:25
Speaker 5: I understand a starters are expensive. Be in the playoffs,
25:29
Speaker 5: you could argue starting pitching matters less than ever. The
25:31
Speaker 5: Tigers beat the Astros in the playoffs and took the
25:34
Speaker 5: Guardians to five last year based on mixing and matching,
25:38
Speaker 5: based on pitching chaos. You can do that in the postseason.
25:40
Speaker 5: But I'd feel a little bit better having a guy
25:43
Speaker 5: you can really count on, maybe a Merrill Kelly type.
25:46
Speaker 5: I'm told the Tigers don't really love Sandy al Contra
25:49
Speaker 5: or Zach Gallon, but there's some other pretty quality pitchers
25:52
Speaker 5: out there as much as Resoulcing Casey, Maiz Jack Flaherty.
25:55
Speaker 5: Those are all very capable pitchers, but both have been
25:59
Speaker 5: All of them have been a little bit up and down.
26:01
Speaker 5: I don't know that you're trotting any of them out
26:03
Speaker 5: there for Game two of the playoffs in Yankee Stadium
26:07
Speaker 5: and thinking, Okay, these guys can go seven scoreless. Maybe
26:11
Speaker 5: you're not feeling that way with a Merrill Kelly type either.
26:14
Speaker 5: But I personally think there's some rooms upgrade the rotation,
26:17
Speaker 5: but I'm told the Tigers don't necessarily.
26:19
Speaker 4: View that as a real priority.
26:21
Speaker 1: What is the style of Scott Harris now? Getting to
26:24
Speaker 1: know him the last few years he's running the front
26:27
Speaker 1: office for the Tigers. He has done a really nice
26:30
Speaker 1: job the last few years. His team at a magical
26:32
Speaker 1: run last year, they're great up into the last couple
26:35
Speaker 1: weeks this year. What is his style as far as
26:39
Speaker 1: making moves? Yeah, pragmatic is always the word that seems
26:43
Speaker 1: to come up around Scott Harris very much. I think
26:46
Speaker 1: a reflection of like the modern executive.
26:48
Speaker 4: Right.
26:49
Speaker 5: He's young, he's polished, he likes his prospects, he believes
26:54
Speaker 5: in calculated risk, finding value on the margins, not necessarily
26:59
Speaker 5: a guy who's going to go chase stars, chase big names.
27:01
Speaker 5: They did go after Bregman harder than a lot of
27:04
Speaker 5: people myself included, thought they would this offseason based on
27:07
Speaker 5: other history. But I don't think Scott Harris is the
27:11
Speaker 5: type of GM who actually sees not that he doesn't
27:15
Speaker 5: see value in the trade deadline, but it's easy for
27:18
Speaker 5: us in the media, for other teams out there to
27:20
Speaker 5: maybe overrate what you can do at the trade deadline.
27:23
Speaker 5: At the end of the day, you're getting I think
27:25
Speaker 5: this is how the Tigers, for an office, views it.
27:26
Speaker 5: You're getting rentals. You were trading parts of your future
27:30
Speaker 5: for rental type players who may or may not perform
27:34
Speaker 5: in a two month window for you, and then in
27:36
Speaker 5: the volatility of the postseason. So yeah, when you think
27:39
Speaker 5: Scott Harris, when you think the Tigers, there's very much
27:41
Speaker 5: a big brain organization. Now they operate a little more
27:45
Speaker 5: like the Rays or maybe the Astros of old. The
27:47
Speaker 5: Astros of old did make some aggressive moves at the deadline,
27:50
Speaker 5: But I don't think that swashbuckling, aggressive style at all
27:54
Speaker 5: describes the Tigers Cody one.
27:56
Speaker 4: More for you.
27:57
Speaker 1: Do you think that the lack of competition right now
28:01
Speaker 1: in the division affects things at all for this team?
28:04
Speaker 1: You know, gives a little bit of complacency to the
28:08
Speaker 1: front office and really ownership who controls all of the
28:10
Speaker 1: decision makings. Or do you think they're very aware that
28:13
Speaker 1: they could do damage in the playoffs? The American League
28:17
Speaker 1: in general has not been as strong in my mind
28:20
Speaker 1: as it usually is for this season and last season.
28:23
Speaker 5: Now, yeah, I think you may be onto something there.
28:26
Speaker 5: Right this is not an American league with a superpower.
28:30
Speaker 5: The Tigers have been playing very bad baseball as of late.
28:33
Speaker 5: But who's going to beat them in the playoffs? I mean,
28:37
Speaker 5: there's certainly teams who could, but I don't know that
28:39
Speaker 5: there's anyone. The Tigers are necessarily fearing right now, and
28:43
Speaker 5: they've lost ten of eleven and they still lead the
28:45
Speaker 5: ale Central by eight games now. They were up by
28:48
Speaker 5: fifteen games not all that long ago. Suddenly the Guardians
28:52
Speaker 5: are just close enough to be within shouting distance again.
28:55
Speaker 5: But I think maybe that plays a role. I do
28:57
Speaker 5: wonder would the calculus be any different if the Tigers
29:00
Speaker 5: were only up by one or two games in their division.
29:03
Speaker 5: There's a real thought that maybe there's more value in
29:06
Speaker 5: acquiring players to get you to the playoffs, because once
29:10
Speaker 5: you're in the playoffs, anything can happen. The Tigers, it
29:13
Speaker 5: would take a pretty historic collapse at this point to
29:15
Speaker 5: miss the postseason. I think they still feel good about
29:18
Speaker 5: the core group they have stacking up against anyone else
29:23
Speaker 5: in the American League. So a little bit of an
29:25
Speaker 5: interesting discussion there. I don't think i'd call it complacency,
29:29
Speaker 5: but I don't think that you know, when you look
29:31
Speaker 5: and you're up eight games in the standings, that's definitely
29:33
Speaker 5: not making anyone more urgent in that front office.
29:36
Speaker 4: Yeah, I like this team. I hope they get aggressive.
29:39
Speaker 1: You've built up the prospect capital, You've got your time
29:42
Speaker 1: to strike.
29:43
Speaker 4: This is the year for it. You've got prime Scooples, Scott.
29:46
Speaker 5: You could be good for the next twenty million years,
29:48
Speaker 5: assuming all these prospects are exactly what you think you're
29:51
Speaker 5: going to be, which is always had happen.
29:53
Speaker 4: That never happens. It really doesn't.
29:56
Speaker 1: It's probably the biggest mistake that front offices make is
29:58
Speaker 1: that they think they're going to be good for longer
30:01
Speaker 1: and the window closes sooner, and you always hear it
30:03
Speaker 1: from former execs, But Cody, this was great, dude.
30:05
Speaker 4: Great combo with you.
30:07
Speaker 1: Tiger Territory is the show that you got to be
30:09
Speaker 1: locked in on with Kieran and Cody. They are dialed
30:12
Speaker 1: on anything that happens, including rumors, plus Austin Jackson for
30:15
Speaker 1: select shows. There's the pretty promo. Cody, thanks for the time, dude.
30:19
Speaker 1: We'll catch us soon. Hopefully we'll talk when the Tigers
30:22
Speaker 1: swing a deal.
30:23
Speaker 5: All right, sounds good, Thanks Scott,