Latest / Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast / Tarik Skubal's WBC saga, Enmanuel De Jesus's statement outing and more

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Tarik Skubal's WBC saga, Enmanuel De Jesus's statement outing and more · Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, and welcome to another episode Territory part of the
0:15
Speaker 1: Network podcast with me as always the man who right
0:19
Speaker 1: now has more in common with than he ever has
0:23
Speaker 1: in his life.
0:25
Speaker 2: And I'm doing all right. You guys should go check
0:27
Speaker 2: out some of the old Marlin songs, the Let's Go Marlins.
0:31
Speaker 2: I think Pitbull did that.
0:32
Speaker 3: Anyway, I'm in the hallway right now at Lone Depot Park,
0:35
Speaker 3: so I apologize if there's some weird background noise. You're
0:38
Speaker 3: covering the World Baseball Classic, but we still got to
0:41
Speaker 3: do a Tiger's podcast.
0:43
Speaker 1: Well, these things kind of tie together unfortunately for us
0:48
Speaker 1: here Cody and let's let's just kind of dive right in.
0:51
Speaker 1: So like we've even talked intensively about Tark Schoogle and like,
0:57
Speaker 1: you know, he's gonna be on the World Baseball Classic team.
0:59
Speaker 1: Then it's he's gonna make one start, and then before
1:02
Speaker 1: Saturday and we'll talk about you know what, he's on
1:04
Speaker 1: the mound too. But before Saturday, there's like this little
1:07
Speaker 1: inkling of like, you know, maybe we could convince him
1:12
Speaker 1: to do another you know, maybe make another start. You know,
1:15
Speaker 1: all that kind of buzzing around with with Terrek Scouble,
1:18
Speaker 1: which again is fitting because it's Trek Schooble and so
1:23
Speaker 1: and so he goes out there and he again we'll
1:26
Speaker 1: talk about the baseball part of it in his second
1:29
Speaker 1: but he just becomes fully involved in like the aura
1:35
Speaker 1: of the World Baseball Classic. And now we have what
1:38
Speaker 1: I think could best be described as a waffling situation.
1:42
Speaker 1: So I'm sure everybody is read by now there's there's
1:46
Speaker 1: you know, Trek, I think pretty sincerely want to pitch
1:50
Speaker 1: again in the World Baseball Classic. He is also very
1:55
Speaker 1: sincerely trying to figure out if and how, So I
2:01
Speaker 1: guess that's probably the best way to go about it
2:03
Speaker 1: right here, Cody, is what do you make of the situation?
2:07
Speaker 1: Having covered him his entire major league baseball career, we've
2:11
Speaker 1: had him on the podcast, I think you have a
2:12
Speaker 1: pretty good understanding of who Trek is. Is your what
2:17
Speaker 1: is your kind of rea of the fact that he
2:20
Speaker 1: is kind of going through all the emotions right now
2:24
Speaker 1: in regards to what is like the right thing to do?
2:27
Speaker 1: Is what is the most correct thing to do to
2:31
Speaker 1: go about it?
2:33
Speaker 3: A friend that texted me Sunday morning said, You've got
2:36
Speaker 3: a saga on your hands, and I was like, we
2:40
Speaker 3: just got done with a schoogl saga. And it's kind
2:44
Speaker 3: of strange that Trek's scougle of kind of all people
2:48
Speaker 3: is suddenly caught up in all this noise, all this hoopla,
2:52
Speaker 3: all these just weird situations. Situations in some regard have
2:58
Speaker 3: not looked the best on him, And I'm not really
3:01
Speaker 3: sure how much of it is his fault, Like.
3:06
Speaker 2: He and his agent got him what he was worth
3:07
Speaker 2: in arbitration.
3:08
Speaker 3: So when there the WBC stuff, like I said, I
3:12
Speaker 3: think it would all be a lot better if at
3:15
Speaker 3: the very start they just would have come out and said, hey,
3:17
Speaker 3: he's only gonna pitch one game. It's not what they did.
3:20
Speaker 3: They waited, you know, they sold it like he was
3:22
Speaker 3: a full participant. Then shortly before the tournament, Oh, he's
3:25
Speaker 3: only gonna pitch one game. But then the video I
3:30
Speaker 3: saw of him just throwing a bullpen and Skeens is
3:32
Speaker 3: watching him and he kind of struts off the mound,
3:35
Speaker 3: and someone said to me, Oh, he's gonna want to
3:39
Speaker 3: pitch more than one game.
3:40
Speaker 2: Just watching that video, I was like.
3:42
Speaker 3: Really, and I would believe that, But I don't think
3:46
Speaker 3: Scott Boris is gonna be in favor of that. I'm
3:48
Speaker 3: not sure the Tigers would be in favor of that.
3:50
Speaker 3: I definitely don't think Scott Boris would be in favor
3:52
Speaker 3: of that. But here we are. He goes out on
3:54
Speaker 3: the field, the adrenaline gets going a little bit, and
3:58
Speaker 3: it was pretty funny.
3:59
Speaker 1: Man.
4:00
Speaker 3: He's talking to Ken Rosenthal in the dugout kind of
4:03
Speaker 3: drops that he's open to pitching again after the dugout
4:07
Speaker 3: after the game makes that even more clear that he
4:09
Speaker 3: is gonna have some hard conversations and see what's feasible.
4:13
Speaker 3: I don't really know where this goes next. It sure
4:15
Speaker 3: sounds like Tarrek Scoogle wants to pitch again, but it
4:20
Speaker 3: is a strange question on how the schedule is going
4:22
Speaker 3: to work. As kin is laid out. You guys can
4:25
Speaker 3: read his column on the Athletic It would be very difficult,
4:29
Speaker 3: pretty much impossible for Scoogle to pitch the w WBC
4:33
Speaker 3: Final and opening day for the Tigers. I don't think
4:37
Speaker 3: he's going to be punting on opening day in the
4:39
Speaker 3: regular season.
4:40
Speaker 2: I mean, I guess I could be wrong.
4:42
Speaker 3: He could move back and pitch the second day of
4:44
Speaker 3: the year, but the Tigers are pretty strict about that
4:47
Speaker 3: stuff and they have everyone going at a certain time
4:50
Speaker 3: for certain reasons, so it could have some trickle down effects.
4:53
Speaker 3: I mean, it would mess with from Bervalde as a schedule,
4:55
Speaker 3: even just moving him up one day. So I don't
4:59
Speaker 3: know exactly how at work. I don't want to say
5:01
Speaker 3: it's impossible that Schooble could could make some other sort
5:04
Speaker 3: of WBC appearance, but it is certainly strange and there
5:09
Speaker 3: is a lot going on right now. I don't know
5:11
Speaker 3: exactly how this is going to end. I think it
5:14
Speaker 3: would be disappointing at this point if it just ends
5:16
Speaker 3: with him going back to Lakeland and it's just kind
5:18
Speaker 3: of another strange false start. I kind of hope at
5:21
Speaker 3: this point, since he's talked about it, that he stays
5:24
Speaker 3: and finds another way to pitch for it.
5:25
Speaker 1: Timusa, Yeah, I think this is certainly doable.
5:33
Speaker 2: Now.
5:33
Speaker 1: There's a certain level of discomfort, I guess would be
5:37
Speaker 1: a way to phrase it that from from really everybody involved,
5:41
Speaker 1: like you know school ball, you know Scott Boris, the
5:44
Speaker 1: Tigers teammates. There is a certain level of discomfort when
5:47
Speaker 1: he's going out there and he's going to be He's
5:49
Speaker 1: going to be Terrek Schoubl like Terry Couple is going
5:51
Speaker 1: to be Terrek School on the Mount every single time.
5:54
Speaker 1: He doesn't do it any other way. So you know,
5:56
Speaker 1: the calendar piece of this is obviously very, very key.
6:00
Speaker 1: And you know, in regards to the opening day aspect Cody,
6:02
Speaker 1: I read a quote from Casey Maes where it's like,
6:05
Speaker 1: and of course he meant this in like a you know,
6:07
Speaker 1: the most compliment complimentary of way, but he was like, look,
6:12
Speaker 1: Terrek Schooble needs to be on the mound opening day.
6:15
Speaker 1: Baseball needs Tarrek Schooble on the mound opening day. Because
6:19
Speaker 1: I had that thought too where I was like, look
6:20
Speaker 1: if he pushes it back like you could, you know,
6:23
Speaker 1: it's not that big a deal. But then I read
6:26
Speaker 1: that quote from Casey my eyes and I was like,
6:29
Speaker 1: I can't say that you're wrong, mister Mile is about
6:32
Speaker 1: that notion there and and and you know, and I'm
6:35
Speaker 1: going back and I'm bringing the quotes from aj Hinch,
6:38
Speaker 1: who I think there's like a very but the major
6:41
Speaker 1: piece of this is obviously Terror Schooble and then you
6:44
Speaker 1: know Team USA and what's been a very exciting World
6:47
Speaker 1: Baseball Classic to this point. But a small piece of
6:50
Speaker 1: this is that aj Hinch is caught in a not
6:55
Speaker 1: great situation in terms of how he handles this, and
6:59
Speaker 1: he's handled it well, like he handles most everything very well,
7:03
Speaker 1: but like aj hints wants trek skoolball on the mounds
7:08
Speaker 1: day one and every day that he's available after that.
7:12
Speaker 1: You know, but aj Hinch is also you know, he's played,
7:16
Speaker 1: you know, for Team USA and the Olympics. He understands
7:18
Speaker 1: all this school is not the only guy uh on
7:21
Speaker 1: the Tigers that is that is performing in the World
7:23
Speaker 1: Baseball Classic. So he has to this delicate balance where
7:27
Speaker 1: he's like he has his players back, but he also
7:31
Speaker 1: has to look out for the team. And I think
7:34
Speaker 1: that is the number one thing that is driving this
7:37
Speaker 1: for Tigers fans because I think, now, Cody, we can
7:41
Speaker 1: put past the oh this was like a fake WBC
7:46
Speaker 1: appearance for school. I think we can now one hundred
7:49
Speaker 1: move past that notion. We like he is all in,
7:53
Speaker 1: like his emotions are real about it. And then with
7:56
Speaker 1: the you know, the actual baseball piece of this. I
7:58
Speaker 1: don't know, I people are gonna believe me, but I
8:01
Speaker 1: was watching the game and I got a couple friends
8:04
Speaker 1: in a group chat that are just trolling me as
8:06
Speaker 1: soon as Schoogl gives up that home run, and I
8:08
Speaker 1: just go Ka and coming. There was no way in
8:14
Speaker 1: hell that Terror School was going to do anything other
8:16
Speaker 1: than strikeout the next batter that came up. After the
8:19
Speaker 1: all that adrenaline and everything going on, and he gives
8:21
Speaker 1: up you know, doubled n home run. You understand with
8:24
Speaker 1: the review, and I was like, Kay and coming and
8:27
Speaker 1: then bam, strikeout. It's like, Wow, you know the future,
8:31
Speaker 1: don't you. I was like, look, I don't advise how
8:34
Speaker 1: to do your finances, but they're usually enhanced. Terror School
8:38
Speaker 1: in that situation is usually going to get the strikeout
8:41
Speaker 1: on the next batter. He ends up giving up only
8:44
Speaker 1: one more hit, which was an infield single. He has
8:46
Speaker 1: five strikeouts. It was brilliant, brilliant Tarrek Schoobl. So that
8:52
Speaker 1: that piece of that I don't want to get overshadowed
8:54
Speaker 1: with all the all the emotional aspects of it. All right,
8:59
Speaker 1: we're gonna be talking about that more. There's more element
9:02
Speaker 1: to this, and I don't want to skip over. The
9:04
Speaker 1: other news of the weekend is that, you know, the Tigers,
9:08
Speaker 1: there's no negotiating going on with Trek School. Well, there
9:11
Speaker 1: is negotiating, but not contractual negotiating. The negotiating the World
9:15
Speaker 1: Baseball Classic. They're not negotiating his contract. That also came
9:19
Speaker 1: out this weekend, which again one of those things not
9:23
Speaker 1: surprising if you follow this day to day, but we
9:26
Speaker 1: hadn't gotten that put out there verbatim. So I think
9:31
Speaker 1: it's worth mentioning that Tigers Trek this relationship is solely
9:37
Speaker 1: focused on the field, and that's what And that's also
9:40
Speaker 1: obviously a big cloud hanging over this World Baseball decision.
9:45
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean that's certainly part of it. I do
9:48
Speaker 3: want to be real clear, Like I agree with what
9:50
Speaker 3: Ken wrote. I don't think Trek School is a bad
9:52
Speaker 3: guy here. I don't think he should be made out
9:54
Speaker 3: to be a bad guy. I think he's caught in
9:56
Speaker 3: a weird situation, maybe sort of of his own doing.
10:01
Speaker 3: But I, like, I don't think he should be cast
10:03
Speaker 3: as a villain.
10:03
Speaker 2: I just don't.
10:06
Speaker 3: I did think about the aj Hinch thing as a
10:08
Speaker 3: in the World Baseball Classic, this would be a real
10:10
Speaker 3: test of aj Hinch's diplomacy because as a guy who
10:15
Speaker 3: always knows what to do and says the right thing,
10:18
Speaker 3: but kind of Sinstan to the middle ground. Sometimes would
10:23
Speaker 3: he flat out just tail Trek scoobl along with Scott
10:26
Speaker 3: Harrison and the Tigers, No, you can't do this. And
10:28
Speaker 3: then would he stand in front of the media and
10:30
Speaker 3: take a strong stans I look with that's just not
10:33
Speaker 3: gonna happen.
10:35
Speaker 2: I don't know.
10:36
Speaker 3: I kind of have a hard time seeing that, but
10:39
Speaker 3: it will certainly be a test because you could argue
10:42
Speaker 3: that's certainly what's best for the Tigers that Schooble just
10:45
Speaker 3: comes back to.
10:46
Speaker 2: Camp and life proceeds as normal.
10:49
Speaker 3: Regarding the finances the contract, Yeah, I like Trek Scoobel
10:53
Speaker 3: said out right, there hasn't been a long term offer
10:55
Speaker 3: from the Tigers and there won't be during the season.
10:58
Speaker 3: To anyone who's followed this team, right, my interview with
11:01
Speaker 3: Chrisillage read you know anything else that really isn't news.
11:06
Speaker 3: But it's just stated a little more plainly, a little
11:08
Speaker 3: more clearly from Schoogle himself. So I get why that's
11:12
Speaker 3: a talking point. I mean, it's kind of a nothing burker.
11:15
Speaker 3: I just do think if you want to put yourself
11:18
Speaker 3: in Scott Harrison's shoes or Chrysilog's.
11:20
Speaker 2: Shoes, it is interesting.
11:23
Speaker 3: When do you put your best offer on the table,
11:25
Speaker 3: or do you ever put your best offer on the table.
11:28
Speaker 3: I think I've said this before, but before the Nationals
11:30
Speaker 3: traded Juan Soto, they wrote a number down on paper
11:34
Speaker 3: and handed.
11:35
Speaker 2: It to him.
11:35
Speaker 3: They wanted him to see it and feel it, and
11:39
Speaker 3: they basically said, all right, if he says no to this,
11:42
Speaker 3: we will have to consider other alternatives. You could argue,
11:47
Speaker 3: maybe that's Eiger should do something like that with SERRIH Scoogle.
11:49
Speaker 3: Put your best offer out there, You could just as
11:52
Speaker 3: easily argue any number you give then becomes the floor
11:56
Speaker 3: for Scott Boris to use with other teams. So I
12:00
Speaker 3: don't even know what the best way to handle that
12:02
Speaker 3: one is. The more I think about it, the more
12:05
Speaker 3: Maybe you don't say a number for as long as
12:09
Speaker 3: humanly possible, and if you do want to make any
12:12
Speaker 3: bid to keep Trek Scooble, you wait until it's really
12:17
Speaker 3: time to get serious.
12:18
Speaker 2: I don't know. That's a hard situation. I also don't know.
12:22
Speaker 2: Maybe they never will.
12:23
Speaker 3: Maybe they understand like we do that they probably just
12:26
Speaker 3: won't be able to keep it.
12:30
Speaker 1: I think the best time to give a contract offer
12:34
Speaker 1: an actual number is when he is drunkenly celebrating a
12:39
Speaker 1: World Series. I think that might be the best time
12:42
Speaker 1: to put that out there. He might be the most
12:44
Speaker 1: agreeable at that point. So we'll see obviously a lot
12:49
Speaker 1: more to come of this, and we have more Tigers
12:54
Speaker 1: in the World Baseball news that we're going to get
12:56
Speaker 1: to and of course all of our World Boosetball Classic
12:58
Speaker 1: coverage is brought to you by our friends at Fox one,
13:01
Speaker 1: which is live stream all your Fox favors together in
13:04
Speaker 1: one place, including all WBC games over the next few weeks,
13:09
Speaker 1: and after that the best MLB action all season long.
13:14
Speaker 1: So Schooble might have been great, Cody, but Emol Deejesus
13:22
Speaker 1: is kind of creeping up on us a little bit
13:25
Speaker 1: in regards to how often we bring him up on
13:28
Speaker 1: this podcast. He is a talking point, riser stock rising
13:32
Speaker 1: Emmanuel DeJesus for five innings to Unrun and eight k's Cody,
13:41
Speaker 1: Now this one you got to see, you know up
13:44
Speaker 1: clost and personal Mayle DeJesus man, that guy like he's
13:51
Speaker 1: we might be underrated how much of a hot streak
13:53
Speaker 1: he's on in terms of like being on the Tigers
13:56
Speaker 1: fans radar and then put it and then sort of
13:59
Speaker 1: like the what could mean question that always percolates around
14:02
Speaker 1: this time in spring training.
14:04
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think he's just emerged as kind of a
14:06
Speaker 3: real wild card in the Tigers roster. Hunt his eight
14:09
Speaker 3: strikeouts eight team Venezuela record in the World Baseball Classic.
14:13
Speaker 3: You know, I had said early on first couple of
14:15
Speaker 3: times I saw him throw live vps, like, I really
14:17
Speaker 3: wasn't all that impressed. I wasn't sure what it was
14:20
Speaker 3: the Tigers saw. And I think maybe now I'm starting
14:23
Speaker 3: to understand it. I think maybe he's not a pitcher
14:25
Speaker 3: who's going to shine in a live BP setting because
14:29
Speaker 3: none of his stuff jumps off the charts, even against
14:33
Speaker 3: Team Israel. You look at his pitch grades. The only
14:35
Speaker 3: one that kind of jumps is the four seam fastball,
14:39
Speaker 3: which is a pitch he kind of had to revamp,
14:41
Speaker 3: but he is getting more induced vertical break. Better carry
14:44
Speaker 3: on that fastball now. But the change up, which has
14:47
Speaker 3: kind of been a calling card, has a blow average grade.
14:50
Speaker 3: The cutter averages, the sinker averages, Now, those those pitches
14:54
Speaker 3: move a lot horizontally. One's going one way, the other's
14:59
Speaker 3: going sixteen in is the other way, and so watching
15:01
Speaker 3: him face Team Israel, which we should note not really
15:04
Speaker 3: a star studded lineup, I think his stuff just.
15:09
Speaker 2: Tunnels together really well.
15:11
Speaker 3: He's looking on statcast as release point data, a lot
15:14
Speaker 3: of that's coming out of almost the same slot every
15:17
Speaker 3: single time.
15:19
Speaker 2: Some of the swings were just awkward.
15:20
Speaker 3: Makes me think there must be something deceptive about either
15:24
Speaker 3: his delivery or just the way he uses his pitch mix.
15:28
Speaker 3: So we'll see what that looks like in a major
15:30
Speaker 3: league regular season against the New York Yankees or something
15:34
Speaker 3: like that. But starting to get a better idea of
15:38
Speaker 3: what it is the Tigers like, I think his stuff
15:40
Speaker 3: plays off. His individual pitches play off each other really well.
15:46
Speaker 3: And then the question kind of becomes, well could he
15:49
Speaker 3: make this team? I mean, the Zegers just option Drew Summers,
15:52
Speaker 3: a lefty that Bobrisky's not going to be on this
15:55
Speaker 3: team as a right yet thought they'd go with a
15:57
Speaker 3: third lefty and Drew Summers, and they still could, but
16:00
Speaker 3: right now he is he is optioned to Haysius that
16:04
Speaker 3: was being built up and worked as a starter. So
16:07
Speaker 3: kind of like the cater Montero discussion, are they going
16:09
Speaker 3: to keep him as a starter in case they need
16:11
Speaker 3: that depth, or would they carry him in a lefty
16:14
Speaker 3: long relief.
16:16
Speaker 2: Slash specialist role.
16:17
Speaker 3: I don't know the answer to that, but I think
16:20
Speaker 3: based on the way he looked in his last spring
16:22
Speaker 3: training outing, and based on the way he just pitched
16:24
Speaker 3: against Team Israel, you have to wonder if he's a
16:27
Speaker 3: real candidate suddenly to make this team.
16:33
Speaker 1: Obviously I'm not in a male de expert. I had
16:36
Speaker 1: like a base level knowledge of his career, but it's
16:39
Speaker 1: still kind of strung. When I was looking this up
16:41
Speaker 1: and in preparation for this podcast, only six point one
16:46
Speaker 1: innings of Age league ball for Tojesius, like like, like again,
16:50
Speaker 1: you know overseas all that stuff. I understand that, but
16:52
Speaker 1: it was still like striking. I was like Jesus, yeah,
16:55
Speaker 1: in that since twenty twenty three has pitched in the
16:58
Speaker 1: May League, So uh, fascinating element to this. I I
17:03
Speaker 1: do think there is some real momentum with what you
17:08
Speaker 1: can do that you know, you lay it out there
17:10
Speaker 1: with the with the starter conversation, and that's obviously as
17:16
Speaker 1: part as much a heavy piece of this as anything else.
17:19
Speaker 1: But at the same time, how many of your quote
17:24
Speaker 1: unquote better pictures. Are you gonna old in the starter reserve?
17:30
Speaker 1: Is there a limit you know that you can do
17:31
Speaker 1: that when uh, when some other pieces might not guess
17:34
Speaker 1: confident in with with with your bullpen guys. So we'll
17:38
Speaker 1: see definitely some who's profile risen. And and it's been
17:44
Speaker 1: justly uh from the World Baseball Classic to the World
17:47
Speaker 1: Series to the World up to car and with Fox
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Speaker 1: Fall you get all live trout today offers are changed.
17:56
Speaker 1: Download Fox one in the World base Life now through
18:01
Speaker 1: March seventeenth. Go to Fox one for complete terms and conditions.
18:07
Speaker 1: Box one stream now all right man Pitcher Heavy podcast
18:15
Speaker 1: at this point. But we also saw since last week
18:18
Speaker 1: talked justin Verlander make his I guess you would say
18:23
Speaker 1: return to the Tigers like it's a spring training game.
18:26
Speaker 1: It's the first time we got to see him with
18:28
Speaker 1: you know, other players and balls, strike numpires and fans
18:31
Speaker 1: and in all that stuff wearing the Tigers uniform. Uh,
18:35
Speaker 1: don't necessarily want to focus on everything with you know,
18:38
Speaker 1: with with with the stats and the blows and all
18:41
Speaker 1: that stuff. He did have four strikeouts, he had two walks.
18:45
Speaker 1: It is just fun to see him a back in
18:48
Speaker 1: Detroit and then be kind of embracing everything. I'll just
18:53
Speaker 1: say this. In years past on the podcast, I've said,
18:58
Speaker 1: you know, I just don't necessarily feel like Verlander feels
19:03
Speaker 1: about the times as Tigers fans feel about I just
19:06
Speaker 1: didn't get that watching interviews, seeing his uh dinner and
19:11
Speaker 1: all that stuff. And maybe that was me. Maybe I
19:13
Speaker 1: just so I give enough credit to just how he
19:17
Speaker 1: carries himself generally, but this was he you know, the
19:22
Speaker 1: way he right back out there and what was It's
19:26
Speaker 1: very clear to me that this is special, like for
19:32
Speaker 1: but it was just like it was just an example
19:34
Speaker 1: that we had gotten the chance to see yet just
19:37
Speaker 1: how special Verlander views this situation. And I think it
19:42
Speaker 1: also plays into how special this season could be. So
19:46
Speaker 1: not like a lot of breaking down stuff, but it
19:48
Speaker 1: was nice to see sort of like how you and
19:51
Speaker 1: the fans view Rander, it's matched and what is making
19:57
Speaker 1: could be very special season.
20:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's just interesting to hear his words right saying
20:04
Speaker 3: earlier in my career, I just kind of tried to
20:06
Speaker 3: shut out those moments. I was so locked in on
20:10
Speaker 3: what I had to do or what it took to
20:11
Speaker 3: be great, and now he's stepping back, allowing himself to
20:17
Speaker 3: soak things in, to look up at the crowd, to
20:19
Speaker 3: acknowledge the atmosphere, the environment. Probably a little bit of
20:22
Speaker 3: a lesson we could all learn from, right and the
20:25
Speaker 3: fast pace of busy modern life. I'm here trying to
20:28
Speaker 3: do a podcast at another baseball game, and my job
20:32
Speaker 3: is still better than a lot of the jobs out there, man,
20:35
Speaker 3: and so maybe we should all just deep breath, relax,
20:39
Speaker 3: you know, find something to enjoy. So I've enjoyed hearing
20:43
Speaker 3: that perspective from Justin Verlander as far as on the mound,
20:48
Speaker 3: like this guy's down.
20:49
Speaker 2: In a million times.
20:50
Speaker 3: I think he's clearly taking kind of a slow build
20:53
Speaker 3: to get ready for the regular season. So I'm not
20:57
Speaker 3: yet putting too much stake into what he looks like
20:59
Speaker 3: on mound. We'll see where he's at once we get
21:02
Speaker 3: closer to actual meaningful.
21:05
Speaker 1: Games, whether it's Schoogle with Team USA or just ver
21:13
Speaker 1: Land pitching in a in a spring training game. Maybe
21:18
Speaker 1: the lesson is, you know, no one ever looks back
21:22
Speaker 1: and says, you know what. I wish I would appreciated
21:24
Speaker 1: that less so appreciate everything you got going on. We
21:31
Speaker 1: have a lot of fun in this we have we
21:33
Speaker 1: have another topic that that we got to get to it. Unfortunately,
21:36
Speaker 1: it's not a fun one, a vital one, and that's
21:42
Speaker 1: the Parker Metals conversation. And that's and that's kind of
21:45
Speaker 1: how I want to phrase it. It's not We're not
21:47
Speaker 1: going to come down one way or another Parker Metos
21:51
Speaker 1: aspect right now, but I did think it's a good
21:55
Speaker 1: time to just kind of introduce the conversation. So Parker
21:58
Speaker 1: Meadows is I wanted too at bats. I believe it's
22:02
Speaker 1: at bats, So I'm sorry if I get that wrong,
22:05
Speaker 1: But he think bating nine to one, Cody like, it's
22:11
Speaker 1: I mean, it's yeah, it's spring training, but it's not good.
22:15
Speaker 1: It's not good, and it's persistent enough that I think
22:21
Speaker 1: we have to at least introduce the idea of when
22:26
Speaker 1: do we get any sort of deadline with and does
22:31
Speaker 1: that happen short term or a lot in the scope
22:35
Speaker 1: of the twenty twenty season in that long term long term?
22:38
Speaker 1: But does it have a short term or long term
22:41
Speaker 1: because a lot of the arguments that will people say,
22:44
Speaker 1: I think there's logic there with like not only on
22:48
Speaker 1: the team is like, look, this is a team that
22:51
Speaker 1: had the chance to be a winner. You can't waste games,
22:53
Speaker 1: you can't waste at bats. He's one of your best.
22:55
Speaker 1: I'm out there. The same could be said in spirit
22:59
Speaker 1: with part Meadows, where I can't waste games, you can't
23:02
Speaker 1: waste that bass. And if he is unable to find
23:06
Speaker 1: himself a little bit at the plate, it's a glaring
23:10
Speaker 1: hole in the lineup that I'm starting to get to
23:16
Speaker 1: the point that defense and feet can't save. So I
23:21
Speaker 1: just want to introduce some conversation. I'm not sure where
23:23
Speaker 1: you fall on that.
23:27
Speaker 3: I want to say it's a little premature to be
23:29
Speaker 3: having the should Parker Meadows get optioned conversation, but I
23:33
Speaker 3: certainly understand the spirit of it, especially with Kevin McGonagall
23:38
Speaker 3: knocking so loudly on the door. Unless mcgonagall's cat like,
23:42
Speaker 3: unless they really want to carry McGonagall, I don't think
23:44
Speaker 3: they're going.
23:44
Speaker 2: To option Parker Meadows for anybody else.
23:47
Speaker 3: I do think we'll still hear some version of you know,
23:50
Speaker 3: the floor is still so high, even just with his
23:53
Speaker 3: defense and with his base running, and.
23:54
Speaker 2: There is some degree of truth to that.
23:56
Speaker 3: Parker Metals is really good in center field, and that
23:59
Speaker 3: is not an easy thing to replace. Although, man, you
24:02
Speaker 3: feel a lot better about it this year, knowing what
24:04
Speaker 3: hobby bias can do for you in center field versus
24:07
Speaker 3: last year when you opened with Ryan Kreidler as your
24:10
Speaker 3: center fielder, which I'll never get over. Yeah, I don't
24:18
Speaker 3: think they're gonna option him just to option them, but
24:20
Speaker 3: I do worry. I haven't seen all the at bats
24:23
Speaker 3: since I've been here at the WBC, but my observation
24:26
Speaker 3: early in spring looked real good in the cage.
24:29
Speaker 2: Swing looked shorter.
24:30
Speaker 3: Simpler got in there against live pitching, and you know,
24:34
Speaker 3: seemed like he just kind of would revert to the
24:35
Speaker 3: old habits. It would get a little loopy. He can
24:38
Speaker 3: get beat by v lo up, he can get beat
24:40
Speaker 3: by spin down. He's been streaky his whole career, which
24:44
Speaker 3: maybe is why I want to wait just a little bit,
24:47
Speaker 3: because maybe he's about to get hot and.
24:49
Speaker 2: Then we're all going to feel a little bit better.
24:51
Speaker 3: But if you had to take someone off the roster
24:53
Speaker 3: for Kevin McGonagall right now, I would probably lean Parker
24:58
Speaker 3: Meadows Onncel Pais might be that conversation too, but he
25:03
Speaker 3: is a switch hitter.
25:04
Speaker 2: You know. There are some other factors to consider.
25:06
Speaker 3: There meadows defensive value versus Winsel Perez and kind of
25:11
Speaker 3: what he's done in the regular season the past two years,
25:13
Speaker 3: which one do you value more of? That in itself
25:16
Speaker 3: is a little bit of an interesting debate. We'll see
25:19
Speaker 3: if it is up mattering.
25:23
Speaker 1: There is one player that's making this either more complicated
25:26
Speaker 1: or simpler, and that depends on your perspective, and we'll
25:31
Speaker 1: talk about him. But first you gotta pay some bills.
25:34
Speaker 1: A word from our sponsors.
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26:41
Speaker 1: All right, coming back here, so you mentioned the hobby
26:45
Speaker 1: bias thing, Cody and I do want to go back
26:49
Speaker 1: to a year ago, like who were your center fielders,
26:52
Speaker 1: Like at this time in a year ago, who do
26:54
Speaker 1: you think you had your options were? And I can
26:59
Speaker 1: tell you that bull starter hobby and I would say
27:07
Speaker 1: dual Wenzel Perez and Matt Vierling is a lot better
27:13
Speaker 1: than any combination that led to right ridlers starting at
27:16
Speaker 1: center field on opening day. Matt Vierling continues to rate Cody.
27:20
Speaker 1: He is now a near five hundred hitter in spring train.
27:26
Speaker 1: He showed some power the other day if there was
27:33
Speaker 1: there was anything to bring the spears and be like, huh,
27:39
Speaker 1: can we still kind of athletically have some parker in
27:43
Speaker 1: the field and in the lineup Matt Vierling, And to
27:48
Speaker 1: me this is as much as kind of complicating the
27:52
Speaker 1: Parker metals as anything is, because you do have somebody
27:56
Speaker 1: that you at this like trust more than you have
28:00
Speaker 1: other guys previously in instant field, any outfield. And I
28:05
Speaker 1: think as adas Parker has been that good, Matt has
28:10
Speaker 1: been trying to align those right mats been impressing to me, Man, Yeah.
28:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, we've talked about before.
28:18
Speaker 3: I don't know that there's a ton here to say,
28:20
Speaker 3: but wouldn't it be nice if the Tigers could get
28:23
Speaker 3: that three war version of Matt Veerling this year, regardless
28:27
Speaker 3: of what happens with Meadows or anyone else. That in
28:29
Speaker 3: itself feels like quite the boost.
28:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, it would be a boost. And again like the
28:38
Speaker 1: we we're going to do this exercise about how you
28:40
Speaker 1: get mcgonaga' on the roster, will do that. That's an
28:42
Speaker 1: episode coming up later. Things are getting tired in camp.
28:47
Speaker 1: Things are getting tighter in terms of waiting for guys
28:51
Speaker 1: to show what they can do or the improvements they
28:53
Speaker 1: may or may not have made. And guy who checks
28:57
Speaker 1: the list of like being back and good and alleviating
29:00
Speaker 1: a lot of concerns Matt Vereling's at the top of
29:03
Speaker 1: that list, and like I said, Parker Meadows, it's at
29:05
Speaker 1: least something that I think we need to have on
29:07
Speaker 1: our radar, and that's I wanted to bring it up
29:09
Speaker 1: because we all know what he can do, but we
29:12
Speaker 1: all we also know like what what the lineup looks
29:16
Speaker 1: like when he is just you know, not having his
29:19
Speaker 1: footing at the plate. So we shall see you guys
29:22
Speaker 1: can follow us on expro Ma known Twitter at Cody
29:24
Speaker 1: Stavenhagen at heer on Toscore is defintely at Tiger Territory, Underscore, YouTube, Apple, Spotify.
29:30
Speaker 1: We appreciate everybody, thank you for putting up with us
29:33
Speaker 1: as we try to make this work with Cody doing
29:35
Speaker 1: double duty. Appreciate everything he does as always, so thank
29:38
Speaker 1: you everybody and listens to you to enjoy the world
29:40
Speaker 1: based classic and enjoy all the finer things in life
29:43
Speaker 1: as well. So for Cody stave Inhagen, I'm Kieren Stickley. Everybody,
29:46
Speaker 1: have great time,