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Did the Tigers regain their spark with a sweep of the Marlins? · Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast

0:07
Speaker 1: And welcome into another episode of Tiger Territory, part of
0:11
Speaker 1: the Foul Territory Network, the Tiger's Podcast. I'm Kieren Steckley
0:14
Speaker 1: with me as always a man who was always up
0:16
Speaker 1: to par, except when it's time to be below par.
0:20
Speaker 2: Here's Cody Savin Egg and how.
0:21
Speaker 3: You doing doing all right? I wish I could golf
0:24
Speaker 3: below a par. That'll probably never happen, but hey, the
0:28
Speaker 3: world is good. The Tigers have won three games in
0:31
Speaker 3: a row. All the doom and gloom gotta be over
0:33
Speaker 3: at least for a weekend. Right, pretty good series against
0:36
Speaker 3: the Miami Marlins, it was.
0:40
Speaker 1: And and a lot of the elements there that I
0:43
Speaker 1: do want to get into. But I am curious, Cody
0:46
Speaker 1: if we could kind of start here, you know. Obviously
0:49
Speaker 1: last time we talked it was pretty doom and some
0:52
Speaker 1: gloom and the Parker Meadows injury obviously being a part
0:55
Speaker 1: of that. And we'll get the updates there as well.
0:59
Speaker 1: But quick turnaround, gotta go back home. You got a
1:02
Speaker 1: Miami team that a lot of people nationally kind of
1:06
Speaker 1: think could be spunky, you know, so there wasn't any
1:09
Speaker 1: time any time to fret, and then they go and
1:14
Speaker 1: take care of business with the sweep here and now
1:16
Speaker 1: there're seven and nine.
1:17
Speaker 2: But vibe check.
1:17
Speaker 1: We haven't done a vibe check this season yet, Cody,
1:21
Speaker 1: vibe check if you could.
1:24
Speaker 2: Before the series.
1:26
Speaker 1: With everything that was kind of going on, and then
1:28
Speaker 1: as we record this early Sunday evening, vibe checks right,
1:31
Speaker 1: you know, you know after the series.
1:34
Speaker 3: Well, I think the good news, you know, before the
1:36
Speaker 3: first game of this series, I didn't get the since
1:39
Speaker 3: that the vibes were bad. I do think everyone was
1:44
Speaker 3: probably you know, if there was anything dictating the mood,
1:46
Speaker 3: it was the Parker Meadows injury, and it was just
1:48
Speaker 3: kind of like ah, you know, like damn, obviously not
1:52
Speaker 3: what anyone wanted in case he won't missed it. Parker Meadows,
1:55
Speaker 3: he's on the il. He has a broken arm, the
1:58
Speaker 3: radius bone in his four arm. He has a concussion.
2:01
Speaker 3: He also received five stitches in his cheek for you know,
2:05
Speaker 3: when he bit his cheek and was bleeding on the field.
2:10
Speaker 3: Sounds like he's going to be able to make your recovery,
2:12
Speaker 3: you know, but the the arm is obviously a concern.
2:14
Speaker 3: I mean, that's something that's going to keep him out
2:16
Speaker 3: a pretty prolonged period of time. We would think, we
2:18
Speaker 3: don't know the exact timeline. He's got a couple more
2:21
Speaker 3: appointments to get to. At this point, you're just hoping
2:25
Speaker 3: you get him back at some point this year. So
2:28
Speaker 3: you know, that cast a little bit of a damper
2:30
Speaker 3: on things, especially after a brutal series. I kind of
2:33
Speaker 3: think the guys were probably just ready to be home,
2:35
Speaker 3: ready to have at least slightly better weather for a
2:38
Speaker 3: couple of these games. And then after the series, after
2:42
Speaker 3: you play three honestly, three really good, clean baseball games,
2:47
Speaker 3: the mood was great. You know, it was kind of
2:48
Speaker 3: like all right, back to normal. At least maybe that's
2:51
Speaker 3: just how I felt. I don't know. I think everyone
2:53
Speaker 3: was positive, right. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, the
2:56
Speaker 3: Masters is on, like everyone seemed to be in good
2:59
Speaker 3: speed and rightfully. So. Tigers did a lot of things
3:02
Speaker 3: well in this series. I would say that opener we'll
3:05
Speaker 3: talk about more cater Montero was great. They did only
3:08
Speaker 3: score like two runs off Chris Paddock, so even that,
3:11
Speaker 3: you know, after that game, I was like, all right,
3:13
Speaker 3: you got the w but like, we might still have
3:15
Speaker 3: some issues here. They came out and hit while continuing
3:19
Speaker 3: to pitch really well. The next two games kind of
3:22
Speaker 3: makes you already forget that. The offense was a little
3:24
Speaker 3: suspect against Chris Paddock. You put up seven against Sandy
3:27
Speaker 3: al Contra, you'll take that.
3:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's funny. I you know, one of my buddies
3:34
Speaker 1: is really into got He's gotta make some sort of
3:37
Speaker 1: like gambling selection every day, so he'll be like, oh,
3:40
Speaker 1: you know, they Tigers are desperate this on Friday, I
3:42
Speaker 1: think this might be the play. And I was like, man,
3:45
Speaker 1: Paddock's on the mound, so it's either gonna be really
3:48
Speaker 1: good or really bad. And I guess it actually kind
3:50
Speaker 1: of ended up being I guess kind of in between there.
3:53
Speaker 1: But but you know, you do get the couple runs there,
3:55
Speaker 1: and you do get the win here. Here's the thing,
3:58
Speaker 1: Like the Tigers did their mojo, their swagger, you know,
4:02
Speaker 1: whatever kind of word you want to use back and
4:06
Speaker 1: it was like the team that we expected the entire time.
4:11
Speaker 1: This was the first time we got to see that
4:13
Speaker 1: for three consecutive games. And like elite starting pitching, which
4:17
Speaker 1: we'll also talk about, you have timely and volume hitting,
4:20
Speaker 1: which you know, those things don't always happen that you
4:23
Speaker 1: know in the same series usually get one or the other.
4:27
Speaker 1: But they had timely and volume hitting opportune defense. I
4:30
Speaker 1: think is a good way to kind of call what
4:33
Speaker 1: they put out there this weekend. I was and then
4:36
Speaker 1: I would say moment appropriate relief work. Like I don't
4:40
Speaker 1: think I'm gonna tell my grandkids about the bullpen from
4:42
Speaker 1: this weekend, but like moment appropriate relief work. And then
4:45
Speaker 1: if you're just into novelty things, you have the three
4:48
Speaker 1: ending save on Saturday by Drew Anderson. So that's a
4:51
Speaker 1: that's always fun little nuggets to throw in there. So
4:56
Speaker 1: like this, like remember last year, Cody, I was talking
4:59
Speaker 1: about when the team got off to this, you know,
5:01
Speaker 1: the tourd start. I was talking about, like, it's not
5:05
Speaker 1: the gritty tigs anymore. Like you you're like you're you're
5:08
Speaker 1: more talented than that. The standard is higher than that.
5:11
Speaker 1: Like it that that novelty has worn off and we
5:13
Speaker 1: never really got an opportunity to kind of see what
5:16
Speaker 1: the evolution was controlly there after.
5:18
Speaker 2: They obviously slid going into the playoffs.
5:21
Speaker 1: But this is what I mean by like that, this
5:24
Speaker 1: is not a This was not a gritty series, weekend series.
5:28
Speaker 1: This was just a a damn good baseball team going
5:31
Speaker 1: out there and playing damn good baseball, and and you know,
5:35
Speaker 1: to go to the starting pitching for a second. I
5:38
Speaker 1: think it's actually an interesting question that I'm going to
5:40
Speaker 1: post for you right now.
5:41
Speaker 2: Put you on the spot.
5:43
Speaker 1: Okayter Montero, Casey, Myce, Trek Scouble Montero six innings, seven strikeouts,
5:48
Speaker 1: two hits, zero runs, Myz five point two endings, five strikeouts.
5:53
Speaker 1: He did have six hits, and he gave up one run,
5:55
Speaker 1: and then school ball the deepest he's ever gone with
5:57
Speaker 1: a no hitter. I thought we were having a podcast today.
6:00
Speaker 1: Cody six point seven k's one run, nearly allowed two hits.
6:06
Speaker 2: What was the best pitchy before?
6:08
Speaker 3: But to the week, I see where you're going. I
6:12
Speaker 3: will say, scoobl Maybe that's I don't know, maybe if
6:15
Speaker 3: you've removed the name, I wouldn't say that. But still
6:18
Speaker 3: the aesthetic of watching Scuoble dominated is just a little different.
6:22
Speaker 3: I don't think the Marlins ever felt like they had
6:25
Speaker 3: a lot of hope. The two hits that fell against him,
6:27
Speaker 3: I mean one was sixty five miles an hour off
6:30
Speaker 3: the bat. The other I mean it's a triple. But
6:32
Speaker 3: carry Carpenter Romos got there. You could argue a different
6:35
Speaker 3: right fielder probably does get there, even though cart made
6:38
Speaker 3: a good effort on that play. So man he was,
6:41
Speaker 3: And of course after the game he's like, my changeup
6:44
Speaker 3: wasn't very good, which has become something he likes to say.
6:47
Speaker 3: Tyr Scooble was pretty good man. He was in command.
6:50
Speaker 3: But I do think it's fair to say cater Montero
6:52
Speaker 3: was a pretty close second. Other than the cater Montero maddox.
6:56
Speaker 3: I mean, that might have been his best outing in
6:58
Speaker 3: the big leagues. He was on and he had kind
7:01
Speaker 3: of his whole arsenal going, and he was in the
7:03
Speaker 3: strike zone. Those are really the two most important things
7:06
Speaker 3: for him. It's pretty simple, but are you throwing strikes
7:08
Speaker 3: getting ahead, and you know, are you able to use
7:10
Speaker 3: multiple pitches effectively? He did all that. He knew it,
7:14
Speaker 3: he said he knew it. In the bullpen. He could
7:16
Speaker 3: tell it was going to be a good night. So
7:19
Speaker 3: definitely perhaps to cater and then in case he mies,
7:22
Speaker 3: I don't think he really had anywhere close to his
7:24
Speaker 3: best stuff. But he bobbed and weaved out of some
7:27
Speaker 3: traffic early and then was pretty good there in the
7:29
Speaker 3: late innings. Again, if that's your line score on a
7:33
Speaker 3: night you maybe don't have your a stuff, man, you
7:35
Speaker 3: will take that anytime. Kind of need to see a
7:38
Speaker 3: good start from Myz after a shaky one in Minnesota.
7:40
Speaker 3: You got that. So for a whole Like, yeah, the
7:44
Speaker 3: pitching this series, Kiaren was really good. And you know,
7:47
Speaker 3: we're gonna talk about the hitting. We're gonna talk about
7:49
Speaker 3: a cleaner brand of baseball, but it's me that's the
7:51
Speaker 3: biggest thing. This team has enough offense to be good.
7:56
Speaker 3: We've talked about it. I still think there are gonna
7:59
Speaker 3: be some droughts been They're probably going to be some
8:01
Speaker 3: really good days like we saw on Sunday. But for
8:04
Speaker 3: the Tigers to be a ninety win team, to be
8:07
Speaker 3: the best version of themselves to contend to make the
8:09
Speaker 3: World Series, I think I continue to believe they're going
8:12
Speaker 3: to have to pitch at an elite level, and they
8:14
Speaker 3: really had not done that until this series. Then you
8:18
Speaker 3: see boom, boom, boom, three strong starts, good outings from
8:21
Speaker 3: the bullpen, Drew Anderson finally settling in like you know,
8:24
Speaker 3: really ugly early and now well only one run his
8:27
Speaker 3: last six and a third innings. That could quietly be
8:30
Speaker 3: the biggest development of the weekend. He didn't really miss
8:33
Speaker 3: a lot of bats, but you know he can settle
8:35
Speaker 3: in and be useful for you that that's huge for
8:37
Speaker 3: your entire staff.
8:41
Speaker 1: I'll go with schoolbl best from the weekend, Montero most impressive,
8:47
Speaker 1: and my most reassuring. So those are my awards for
8:52
Speaker 1: the pitching this weekend. All right, we are going to
8:55
Speaker 1: take a quick break and then after that we are
8:59
Speaker 1: going to get it to injury updates in the fallouts
9:02
Speaker 1: and what seemingly will not be coming any to Detroit
9:05
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10:10
Speaker 1: Actually, what one more note Cody on the on the
10:12
Speaker 1: starting pitching I did. We saw some pretty fun baseball
10:18
Speaker 1: this weekend. That's why we're in such a good mood. Like,
10:21
Speaker 1: you know, McGonagall at shortstop, first career home Rian engratska
10:24
Speaker 1: McGonagall the home run. That Carpenter had a hobby too,
10:28
Speaker 1: Like some really impressive displays of athleticism this this weekend.
10:33
Speaker 1: But how does Moontero's attempt to avoid aj Hinch on Friday?
10:38
Speaker 1: Where does that rank on the best plays? Because I'm
10:40
Speaker 1: not gonna lie, that was pretty that's pretty sly.
10:43
Speaker 3: I respect the effort. We've seen a few guys do
10:46
Speaker 3: that before. I'm not gonna rank it that high because
10:49
Speaker 3: it's it's it's hopeless, Like you think a J. Hinch
10:51
Speaker 3: is not gonna come find you until you you're done.
10:53
Speaker 3: You think that's gonna change AJ's mind. She went to
10:56
Speaker 3: the other end of the dugout. I found it funny,
10:59
Speaker 3: Like I respect cater for one to keep going. Also,
11:03
Speaker 3: AJ like not being in a mood to joke about it.
11:05
Speaker 3: After the game. I asked him about it, and he's like, well,
11:07
Speaker 3: it's not really about if he gets one more inning.
11:09
Speaker 3: I was like, that's dude. It was just funny, come on,
11:13
Speaker 3: Like so yeah, that was That was my take on that.
11:19
Speaker 1: You know, AJ could be like could be like pretty
11:23
Speaker 1: serious at times that like I do find humorous and
11:27
Speaker 1: and and one of them was in regards to so
11:30
Speaker 1: we got to see Wenzel Perez and he, you know,
11:33
Speaker 1: he got the call up with the Parker Meadows injury.
11:35
Speaker 1: And so that means that Max Clark has not to
11:40
Speaker 1: this point gotten the call up to the big leagues
11:42
Speaker 1: to make his debut, despite the fact that I just
11:44
Speaker 1: feel like every day he's doing something, so credit to him.
11:48
Speaker 1: Every day it feels like he's making some sort of play.
11:50
Speaker 1: He seems like he's in in a good spot in
11:52
Speaker 1: Toledo right now.
11:54
Speaker 2: But AJ didn't.
11:55
Speaker 1: Really didn't really seem like he was in the mood
11:58
Speaker 1: to entertain any other move other than you're gonna call
12:02
Speaker 1: out Paris with the Parker injury.
12:04
Speaker 2: Like it's like kind of like shutting down.
12:07
Speaker 1: Like I don't know, I think the Tigers know that
12:09
Speaker 1: literally everybody in the baseball world wants Max Clark up,
12:14
Speaker 1: which is nothing, no offensive wets up Paris, but everybody
12:17
Speaker 1: wants to see Max Clark.
12:18
Speaker 2: And AJ was like, no, I mean it was easy decision.
12:22
Speaker 3: Moving on, Yeah, exactly. I mean he said the nice
12:24
Speaker 3: things about Max Clark too, They he's gone down there
12:26
Speaker 3: and done a lot of the things they want to see,
12:28
Speaker 3: and he's doing something every day, and he's playing defense
12:31
Speaker 3: and running the bases. And he did say, you know,
12:33
Speaker 3: if he continues to do that, he said something to
12:36
Speaker 3: the effect of these you know, he'll factor into these
12:38
Speaker 3: decisions more and more. But yeah, he said, WINSL was
12:41
Speaker 3: the clear choice, which is no surprise here. They're not
12:45
Speaker 3: going to rush Max Clark They're certainly not going to
12:48
Speaker 3: rush him after a rough spring training and then he
12:50
Speaker 3: has a good two weeks intiledo. It's going to take
12:54
Speaker 3: a lot more than that. So if you don't like that,
12:56
Speaker 3: or you don't want to hear it, like, I don't
12:58
Speaker 3: really know what to tell you, it's it's gonna be
13:00
Speaker 3: a while. I would not expect Max Clerk up here
13:03
Speaker 3: anytime soon. I would say, even if there's another injury,
13:06
Speaker 3: which would be unfortunate, I doubt Max Clerk is gonna
13:09
Speaker 3: be the guy to get the call. I think they would,
13:11
Speaker 3: They would figure out something else before they did that.
13:16
Speaker 1: Well, what's the figuring out in center field? Because the
13:19
Speaker 1: the you know, the Parker Meadows experience is at the
13:23
Speaker 1: very least you get top not center field, and then
13:25
Speaker 1: you know you hold onto the offensive upside, particularly against
13:29
Speaker 1: right handed pitching.
13:31
Speaker 2: Now they're moved.
13:32
Speaker 1: Now it's gonna be unless there's something else that that
13:36
Speaker 1: you know, other than I it's gonna be the the
13:38
Speaker 1: hobby bias show again once again in center field.
13:40
Speaker 2: To see Matt Berling in there.
13:42
Speaker 1: I'm sure Wentz will We'll get some get some opportunities
13:45
Speaker 1: there as well.
13:47
Speaker 2: Uh Is it that simple? Is that just kind of
13:49
Speaker 2: the holding pattern that we're that we're in right.
13:51
Speaker 1: Now, Cody, is that you know, Hobby, Hobby moves the
13:55
Speaker 1: center and then and then the fall of that is
13:58
Speaker 1: that we're gonna see Kevin macgough a whole lot at shortstop. Like,
14:02
Speaker 1: what is or is there something else that that that
14:05
Speaker 1: could be in play here?
14:06
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, I think you nailed kind of what's
14:09
Speaker 3: on the table for right now. I do think it
14:11
Speaker 3: will be kind of a constant evolution for as long
14:15
Speaker 3: as Parker Meadows is out. But I would argue the
14:19
Speaker 3: line's share of playing time in center field, it's probably
14:22
Speaker 3: Hoavier bias is to lose. And as we've talked about
14:25
Speaker 3: with him at shortstop before, like some of this is
14:27
Speaker 3: probably going to depend on what he's doing at the
14:30
Speaker 3: plate all right now. Obviously in three sixteen three forty
14:33
Speaker 3: one one base percentage, he got himself a homer. If
14:36
Speaker 3: he continues to produce at anywhere near that clip, I
14:39
Speaker 3: think we're going to see him in center field close
14:41
Speaker 3: to every day, with a little bit of Matt Vierling,
14:43
Speaker 3: maybe a little bit of Wintle Parez in there. But
14:46
Speaker 3: if Hovey goes cold, I think that balance could quite
14:49
Speaker 3: quickly shift, and the trickle down effect is interesting. So far,
14:54
Speaker 3: it's been all Kevin McGonagall at shortstop, which I was interested.
14:57
Speaker 3: You know. Aj even alluded to like, we'll have to
15:00
Speaker 3: see what alignment we like most, referencing Zach McKinstry. Well,
15:05
Speaker 3: Sunday we saw McKinstry at third. McGonagall still at short
15:09
Speaker 3: I've talked about, like, I think that even the Tigers
15:11
Speaker 3: still have some reservations of what does McGonagall look like
15:15
Speaker 3: at shortstop every day? And I think that's somewhat fair.
15:19
Speaker 3: But I think it was really encouraging to go see
15:21
Speaker 3: him make a tough play in the hole in the
15:23
Speaker 3: in the second game of that series. That was kind
15:25
Speaker 3: of the one ball, Like I just had not seen
15:28
Speaker 3: him make that play at game speed, not even be
15:30
Speaker 3: tested to make that play at game speed. He got tested,
15:34
Speaker 3: he did it. The throw isn't going to grade out
15:36
Speaker 3: great on stat cast. It was in the air a
15:38
Speaker 3: long time, he had a slow runner, but hey, he
15:40
Speaker 3: got the ball there. That's a tough play. He had
15:43
Speaker 3: the range to get it to fire off to get
15:45
Speaker 3: the ball there. So, you know, does that fully answer
15:49
Speaker 3: the question of like, how does the range play in
15:51
Speaker 3: the hole? How does the arm play in the hole? Like,
15:53
Speaker 3: maybe not, except I don't know it kind of does.
15:56
Speaker 3: I'm still waiting to see the play that Kevin McGonagall
15:59
Speaker 3: just can't make. We haven't seen much of that. There
16:02
Speaker 3: was a pop fly over his head, you know, could
16:04
Speaker 3: Riley Green have got there? I don't know. Riley lost
16:06
Speaker 3: that ball. For the record, Kevin did have a throwing error,
16:12
Speaker 3: which I was kind of ruined to the point I'm
16:14
Speaker 3: about to make. But we had been talking, like when
16:17
Speaker 3: Roger was on, we talked, you know, it was some
16:19
Speaker 3: scouts have graded mcgonagall's arm a forty five, so league average.
16:24
Speaker 3: I was like, well, is it a forty five or
16:25
Speaker 3: could it be a fifty? And I think we'll see
16:28
Speaker 3: when there gets a little bigger sample, like what it
16:30
Speaker 3: grades out at one stat cast. I think it's gonna
16:34
Speaker 3: be averaged, if not slightly below average, probably probably like
16:37
Speaker 3: forty five. But I think the fact he has such
16:39
Speaker 3: a quick transfer, and other than that throwing error, like
16:44
Speaker 3: this dude just hits the first basement in the chest
16:46
Speaker 3: every time like that that er was like the first
16:48
Speaker 3: even in warm ups, just the first, like non perfect throw.
16:52
Speaker 3: I think I've ever seen him make. So you combine
16:55
Speaker 3: the quick hands and the accuracy of the arm, and
16:58
Speaker 3: I think it could certainly play a little more or
17:00
Speaker 3: like a fifty.
17:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I would throw in baseball IQ elements and
17:07
Speaker 1: you know, you know, all the all that stuff that
17:10
Speaker 1: we talked about in spring training with like getting better
17:12
Speaker 1: at you know, pre pitch movements and you know, we're
17:15
Speaker 1: getting his feet you know, in the right spots and
17:16
Speaker 1: all that stuff like that could make up that could
17:19
Speaker 1: make an average arm look slightly above average. So that
17:23
Speaker 1: would that would be something that I would say, like
17:26
Speaker 1: rules in his favor and again for this year, I'm
17:30
Speaker 1: projecting that to be okay, and then we figure out
17:32
Speaker 1: everything else in the rest of his Hall of Fame career.
17:35
Speaker 2: Uh So.
17:37
Speaker 1: I did want to I did want to ask you
17:39
Speaker 1: this too. If we go back to center field for
17:41
Speaker 1: a second, Cody, how are you on, uh, how are
17:45
Speaker 1: you with with the with the hobby fly ball receiving?
17:51
Speaker 1: Because sometimes it is pretty casual, it is pretty casual.
17:55
Speaker 1: I I sometimes it doesn't necessarily look like it. Again,
17:59
Speaker 1: I'm saying this kind of tongue cheek. Sometimes it doesn't
18:01
Speaker 1: necessarily make it seem like it was the best route,
18:05
Speaker 1: you know, as a as I'm watching, but he makes
18:08
Speaker 1: him pretty comfortable.
18:09
Speaker 2: I don't know, I don't know.
18:10
Speaker 3: Do you do you get any it's not how don't
18:13
Speaker 3: show it to your little leaguers, you know, don't like
18:15
Speaker 3: your kids catch fla balls like that. But I think
18:19
Speaker 3: that's hobby being hobby. As long as he makes plays,
18:21
Speaker 3: he he kind of gets to do what he wants.
18:24
Speaker 1: You know, it's there might not be a if it's
18:29
Speaker 1: Green and left, Hobby and center and Wentzel and right.
18:34
Speaker 1: That might be the most diverse catching style of any
18:37
Speaker 1: outfield in Major League Baseball because you have Hobby with
18:40
Speaker 1: the you know, it's all casual right, you know, right down,
18:43
Speaker 1: you know, kind of catches at the shoulder. Green does
18:46
Speaker 1: the two hands, right, He does the two hands most
18:48
Speaker 1: of the time. And then Wentzel loves loves he there
18:54
Speaker 1: could be no one within a mile of him. He
18:56
Speaker 1: loves to put his right hand out towards center is
19:01
Speaker 1: anywhere near him, and then and then he and then
19:04
Speaker 1: he makes the catch one handed, so.
19:06
Speaker 3: Learned from experience. After he's ring into a few guys,
19:09
Speaker 3: nothing wrong with that.
19:12
Speaker 1: It's a it's a it's a pretty uh pretty diverse
19:15
Speaker 1: skill set. So I don't know about other people notice
19:18
Speaker 1: that or appreciate it, but but I do.
19:22
Speaker 2: All right, speaking of Riley.
19:26
Speaker 1: I, I I kind of want to just kind of
19:30
Speaker 1: hold us accountable a little bit, Cody, because, like, because
19:34
Speaker 1: Riley Green, you had to defend him to the to
19:39
Speaker 1: the fan base and you know, an athletic mail bag,
19:42
Speaker 1: and you know, some of the numbers weren't necessarily all that, like,
19:46
Speaker 1: you know, nothing to really brag about. But this on
19:49
Speaker 1: bass streak is something that maybe which is you know,
19:53
Speaker 1: it's still going, so we'll see what it ends up being.
19:56
Speaker 1: But this on base streak that he has opened the
19:59
Speaker 1: season with is why weren't we just kind of like
20:02
Speaker 1: keeping that in the back of our heads whenever we
20:04
Speaker 1: were like kind of assessing, you know, different things with
20:07
Speaker 1: this offense and be like, well, look, Riley's been on
20:09
Speaker 1: base every day, like there's something here right now. And
20:12
Speaker 1: then and then if you look at his you know,
20:14
Speaker 1: he got the first home run of the season. You know,
20:16
Speaker 1: if you look at his baseball sabont page, which is
20:18
Speaker 1: obviously very small sample size, but he's got a way
20:24
Speaker 1: better based on ball you know, percentile and K percentile
20:27
Speaker 1: than what we experienced last year. And if you're just
20:31
Speaker 1: like looking for certain things to kind of be like,
20:34
Speaker 1: is there what is the next iteration of Riley Green?
20:39
Speaker 2: This is.
20:41
Speaker 1: Something that we could have been pointing to the entire
20:44
Speaker 1: time and we did not, so so I think he
20:47
Speaker 1: deserves some flowers from us from that perspective. And then
20:50
Speaker 1: obviously coming off this weekend, you know, he's one of
20:54
Speaker 1: the one of the big headliners for the Tigers being back.
20:58
Speaker 1: Is Riley Green looking like Riley Green?
21:03
Speaker 3: Yeah? For sure. Riley's been on base in all sixteen
21:07
Speaker 3: games this year. He's the first Tiger to do that
21:10
Speaker 3: since Brandon je in two thousand and nine, and got
21:13
Speaker 3: on base in the team's first twenty four games. Yeah,
21:17
Speaker 3: it wasn't a great start for Riley, but I'm glad
21:20
Speaker 3: you brought this up because Riley did have probably as
21:22
Speaker 3: good of a weekend as anybody. Got his first homer.
21:25
Speaker 3: It was a bomb second game of that series. I mean,
21:29
Speaker 3: he goes, he goes for two for three, a walk
21:33
Speaker 3: for RBI, two runs scored, got himself a steal that
21:36
Speaker 3: was like a vintage Riley Green at his best type game.
21:40
Speaker 3: And then you look up after one good series, He's
21:43
Speaker 3: hitting two fifty three, forty eight on base, walks, her
21:47
Speaker 3: up k's her down ops only seven to fifteen right now.
21:50
Speaker 3: But Riley Green's gonna get his homers. You know, he's
21:53
Speaker 3: gonna slog. I'm not worried about that part of it
21:55
Speaker 3: at all. So just a few good games this early
21:58
Speaker 3: in the season can really change the narrative there. Look,
22:01
Speaker 3: he's still had some empty games and some bad at bats,
22:04
Speaker 3: but again, yeah, to your point, like the fact that
22:07
Speaker 3: he had a slow start and still found a way
22:10
Speaker 3: to get on base every game, that kind of tracks
22:13
Speaker 3: with what I like to see. Like right now, people
22:16
Speaker 3: are like, well, Glaber Torres is not pulling the ball
22:18
Speaker 3: at all, and he's not slugging or hitting it hard,
22:21
Speaker 3: but he's still taking his walks, he's still getting on base.
22:24
Speaker 3: I view that as like, Okay, he's kind of in
22:27
Speaker 3: a lull right now, and he's finding ways to be
22:30
Speaker 3: a positive contributor once he gets hot, Like, those numbers
22:34
Speaker 3: are really gonna look good in a way. Maybe that's
22:36
Speaker 3: a little bit of what we're seeing with Riley Green
22:39
Speaker 3: despite all the criticism he's faced early in the year. Yeah,
22:42
Speaker 3: I would just say to nice to see Riley have
22:44
Speaker 3: a really good weekend all the way around.
22:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm just looking at some of his abondstuff. Nine
22:52
Speaker 1: percentile batspeed. Again, everybody knows small, stable size, all that stuff.
22:57
Speaker 1: Barrel percentage, a two percent tile expected slow, eighty eight
23:00
Speaker 1: percent tile like all like the stuff that you want
23:05
Speaker 1: to see other than some of the counting numbers. Early
23:08
Speaker 1: and beginning in the season, we're all kind of there,
23:11
Speaker 1: and this weekend was one of those, like, all right now,
23:14
Speaker 1: it feels like we're somewhat back to normal. And when
23:17
Speaker 1: you go through a four and uh four and ninth start,
23:21
Speaker 1: a four game losing a four game sweep of of
23:24
Speaker 1: a division opponent, uh, these are the these are the
23:27
Speaker 1: nice reminders that you that you low key kind of needed,
23:31
Speaker 1: because again, we could have been having a much different discussion.
23:34
Speaker 5: Yeah.
23:34
Speaker 3: I mean, even even Spencer Torkleson, who has not really
23:38
Speaker 3: broken out yet but is having good at bats, has
23:41
Speaker 3: drawn a lot. Spencer Treglsen has a three seventy three
23:45
Speaker 3: on base percentage. Like you know what, I'm not going
23:48
Speaker 3: to complain too much about that. He's walked eleven times
23:51
Speaker 3: in fifteen games. This tort dude's got easy power. He's
23:56
Speaker 3: going to run in some homers. If you can have
24:00
Speaker 3: good at bats in the meantime until you really get going, man,
24:04
Speaker 3: you could do a lot worse. Now, again, there have
24:06
Speaker 3: been some bad at bats mixed in, and in Minnesota
24:09
Speaker 3: we saw some bad at bats, and in Arizona we
24:11
Speaker 3: saw some bad at bats. But we are quickly reminded, like,
24:15
Speaker 3: it's not always as bad as it feels in the moment.
24:19
Speaker 3: Maybe a reminder off this weekend, it's maybe not always
24:21
Speaker 3: as good as it feels in the moment either. But
24:24
Speaker 3: the Tigers are pretty good. And what did we talk
24:27
Speaker 3: about the most, like, see this team play a good
24:30
Speaker 3: brand of Baseball's I think that's all you really want
24:33
Speaker 3: this early in the year. And sure enough, that's kind
24:35
Speaker 3: of what aj Hinch was talking about the most Sunday.
24:38
Speaker 3: He was glad his team came out, ran the bases,
24:41
Speaker 3: strung at bats together, pitched well, those are the things
24:44
Speaker 3: that should be in this team's DNA. It was absolutely
24:48
Speaker 3: concerning how little of that we saw through the first
24:51
Speaker 3: thirteen games. But hey, it's still there. It's probably gonna
24:55
Speaker 3: be all right.
24:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, I just realized I was going through kind
25:02
Speaker 1: of our rundown here, Cody. I don't think we talked
25:04
Speaker 1: about Justin Berlander. We got a little bit of a
25:08
Speaker 1: little bit of update on his timeline, which I guess
25:13
Speaker 1: all we know for sure is that it will not
25:14
Speaker 1: be just the you know, fifteen days or whatever on
25:18
Speaker 1: the il stand. So what can you share with us
25:21
Speaker 1: about how the Tigers are approaching this? Obviously you know
25:24
Speaker 1: this is related to Montero and what they're getting out
25:27
Speaker 1: of him, But what's the blaze on JB?
25:31
Speaker 3: Yeah, he threw a hintincy bullpen session I believe Saturday.
25:36
Speaker 3: Talked to him Sunday morning, said he bounced back pretty well.
25:39
Speaker 3: He hadn't yet met with the training staff and everyone
25:42
Speaker 3: to determine the next steps. From talking to a J. Hinch,
25:46
Speaker 3: They're gonna have JD do one more bullpen and then
25:49
Speaker 3: kind of decide what's next. Aj did say they think
25:51
Speaker 3: he'll need an outing, So whether that means a full
25:54
Speaker 3: and rehab start or maybe just have him do a
25:56
Speaker 3: sim game is to be determined. So it sounds like
26:00
Speaker 3: you know that in itself is probably ten to fifteen
26:05
Speaker 3: more days until we see Verlander back in the majors.
26:09
Speaker 3: I wonder, like I don't I mean, the Tigers are
26:11
Speaker 3: never going to rush anyone's process, but I do wonder
26:14
Speaker 3: if having Cater Montero allows them to be a little
26:18
Speaker 3: more cautious, take things a little more slowly with Justin Verlander.
26:22
Speaker 3: They may in a way they might want to see
26:24
Speaker 3: what a couple more Montero outings look like, and if
26:27
Speaker 3: he's good, does that alter your calculus in some other way.
26:31
Speaker 3: I don't really think they're kicking Casey Mayes or Jack
26:34
Speaker 3: Flaherty out of the rotation, but Montero has been good
26:38
Speaker 3: enough to at least make some of those questions pop up,
26:44
Speaker 3: allow you the luxury of taking your time with Verlander.
26:49
Speaker 3: I don't think we can say anything like conclusive, but hey,
26:52
Speaker 3: if Montero continues to shove, I don't know, some of
26:54
Speaker 3: these decisions could certainly get more difficult. So the takeaway there,
26:59
Speaker 3: We're gonna see some more Cater. It's gonna be a
27:01
Speaker 3: little bit longer, but right now, all signs are really
27:04
Speaker 3: good for Verlander coming back in a reasonable amount of time.
27:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, and uh, you know, Cater is the ultimate Like
27:13
Speaker 1: for me, even when I'm just like thinking about talking
27:16
Speaker 1: about Cater, Uh, I was like, man, I'm good I
27:20
Speaker 1: just think both sides out of my mouth. It's like,
27:21
Speaker 1: he's just so talented. I just really like, why not
27:24
Speaker 1: just keep him in the bigs and just kind of
27:26
Speaker 1: figure it out. But then it's like, well, you had
27:28
Speaker 1: to storry pitching injury, and then you got him to
27:30
Speaker 1: come up and fill that void and fill it pretty day.
27:32
Speaker 2: Well, so it's like that's why.
27:33
Speaker 1: Unfortunately you just go back and forth and uh, you know,
27:37
Speaker 1: in a way I don't wanna say it sucks, but
27:39
Speaker 1: like it's unfortunate that he kind of is gonna be
27:42
Speaker 1: like the yo yo guy or whatever for the for
27:44
Speaker 1: the rotation, but that's where he's valuable, and he's.
27:49
Speaker 3: Really fair to him, except like that's why they've tried
27:53
Speaker 3: to clean Hey, like you are part of the team,
27:55
Speaker 3: you are valuable. Unfortunately you're at the guy who has
27:58
Speaker 3: to make the drive down to to a lot and
28:01
Speaker 3: you're not making as much money as these other guys
28:03
Speaker 3: who we can't really move from their rotation. But uh,
28:07
Speaker 3: that is that is the reality. And if Cater continues
28:10
Speaker 3: to pitch, well, there's still a very good chance we
28:13
Speaker 3: see a lot of him this summer, because unfortunate reality,
28:17
Speaker 3: someone else will probably get hurt at some point in time, got.
28:23
Speaker 1: Any got any thoughts on Grant Holman being uh being claimed?
28:28
Speaker 4: Uh?
28:28
Speaker 1: I guess probably the most relevant piece of it is
28:33
Speaker 1: that it was it was corresponding with I don't want
28:36
Speaker 1: to say most relevant, but like in terms of something
28:38
Speaker 1: that we were anticipating may or may not happen. Tray
28:41
Speaker 1: Sweeney goes to the sixty day I l and to
28:44
Speaker 1: make room for Grant Holman, a claim another guy that
28:47
Speaker 1: the Tigers. I assume they just identified something. They're like,
28:50
Speaker 1: let's see if we can kind of make make us
28:52
Speaker 1: make some work here.
28:54
Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure, I don't know exactly what what went
28:57
Speaker 3: into it, but Tray Sweeney, you know, and counter basically
29:00
Speaker 3: a setback in his throwing program. I assume that led
29:04
Speaker 3: the Tigers to be like, all right, this guy can
29:06
Speaker 3: go on the sixty and so if you have a
29:08
Speaker 3: forty man spot to use, why not use it? Holman
29:13
Speaker 3: like a lot of the guys they've acquired short big
29:15
Speaker 3: league example, not a lot of success in the big leagues,
29:20
Speaker 3: but fastball that averages ninety four splitter slider. You know,
29:24
Speaker 3: we know they like splitter guys here, so they must
29:27
Speaker 3: like something about the profile it's a chance to get
29:30
Speaker 3: another arm into your system. I don't know that it
29:34
Speaker 3: moves the needle a ton beyond that, but I guess
29:38
Speaker 3: you know, good roster management. If you're able to take
29:40
Speaker 3: a chance on the guy, why not do it?
29:44
Speaker 2: Yeah?
29:45
Speaker 1: Absolutely, all right. As we wrap up here, want to
29:48
Speaker 1: send our condolences to the family of Phil Gardner, you know,
29:53
Speaker 1: one of the the first managers. I remember, you know,
29:57
Speaker 1: it's around my age, Like remember him being in the
30:00
Speaker 1: manager I couldn't tell you much about it, but like
30:02
Speaker 1: I remember, I remember him being there and uh so
30:05
Speaker 1: tough break.
30:06
Speaker 2: Cancer sucks. I don't have much else to say.
30:08
Speaker 1: But uh but yeah, uh what condolence is to his family?
30:11
Speaker 1: And I thought the Tigers did a good job and
30:13
Speaker 1: aj you know, making the connection there.
30:15
Speaker 2: I thought that was.
30:16
Speaker 1: All right, Cody, anything else before we jet out of here.
30:22
Speaker 3: No, I think I think we're good.
30:25
Speaker 1: All right, Well, we will talk to you guys later
30:29
Speaker 1: in the week. You can follow us on ex firmly
30:31
Speaker 1: known as Twitter at Cody stave Inhagen at Kieran on
30:33
Speaker 1: his score stclely at Tiger Territory, Underscore.
30:35
Speaker 2: Apple, Spotify YouTube. You guys know what to do.
30:38
Speaker 1: We appreciate all of you so for Cody Stamenhagen, I'm
30:40
Speaker 1: Keer Steckley. Everybody have right there,