Latest / Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast / Takeaways from Day 1 of Tigers Spring Training

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Takeaways from Day 1 of Tigers Spring Training · Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast

0:09
Speaker 1: And welcome into another episode of Tiger Territory, part of
0:12
Speaker 1: the Palil Territory Network Detroit Tiger's Podcast. I'm Karen Steckley
0:15
Speaker 1: with me as always as a man who's quite the
0:16
Speaker 1: purveyor of freshly cut green grass. He is Cody Stavin Eggan.
0:21
Speaker 2: How you doing doing all right? Kieren? Hey? That field,
0:23
Speaker 2: that public's field at Joker Market and Stadium, it's all yellow.
0:28
Speaker 2: They got to get that grass going there is. I
0:31
Speaker 2: think it's kind of been the drought in Florida. I
0:33
Speaker 2: don't know what's up. Grounds crew. Hey, they know what
0:35
Speaker 2: they're doing, but they got some work out of them
0:37
Speaker 2: this spring.
0:39
Speaker 1: Well, I guess they're just like everybody else, right, they
0:41
Speaker 1: got a lot of work ahead of them. The Tigers
0:43
Speaker 1: obviously have a lot of work ahead of them. And
0:45
Speaker 1: today we're recording this mirror hours after the first. I
0:48
Speaker 1: guess you would say official work day in Tiger's Land.
0:53
Speaker 1: From Scott or from aj or from fromberg got to
0:56
Speaker 1: ce JV running around. I don't know where you want
1:00
Speaker 1: to start, Well, I guess we'll just do. Let's start
1:02
Speaker 1: with this. This is kind of like a staple for
1:04
Speaker 1: us here and it's and it's fun to do this
1:06
Speaker 1: after the first day, the first vibe check of twenty
1:12
Speaker 1: twenty six, day one a camp, first day of school,
1:15
Speaker 1: all those vibes. What can you tell us, Cody.
1:18
Speaker 2: It's it's it's day one of spring training. The vibes
1:21
Speaker 2: are always good, the vibes. The pessimistic view is the
1:25
Speaker 2: vibes are downhill from here. Unless you win the World Series,
1:28
Speaker 2: You're probably not going to again achieve the the all
1:32
Speaker 2: around good vibe of day one of spring training. But
1:35
Speaker 2: I will say this was as good of a day
1:37
Speaker 2: one as I remember, as I've been around, and you
1:42
Speaker 2: know what I do. Indeed think it had a lot
1:44
Speaker 2: to do with a guy named Justin Verlander. Seeing this
1:48
Speaker 2: guy back in the Tigers uniform was pretty cool. I
1:52
Speaker 2: think Justin Verlander was enjoying himself. This dude, nearing his
1:57
Speaker 2: forty third birthday, having done this a million times in
2:00
Speaker 2: his life, was smiling every time I looked at him.
2:03
Speaker 2: He went through PfP like all the other guys and
2:06
Speaker 2: all the young guys, and he was He was maybe
2:08
Speaker 2: the first person in history to do PfP with a
2:11
Speaker 2: smile on his face. I think he was enjoying being there.
2:14
Speaker 2: I think he kind of lifted everyone's spirits. Everyone was,
2:18
Speaker 2: you know, some guys who were brave enough to talk
2:20
Speaker 2: to him. We're trying to get some time in. Some
2:22
Speaker 2: guys were probably a little afraid to approach Justin Erlander.
2:26
Speaker 2: I saw Trek Scougle greet from Bravaldez with a with
2:29
Speaker 2: a big bear hug. I don't know if he had ever,
2:31
Speaker 2: you know, even interacted with him once before in his life.
2:35
Speaker 2: But yeah, everyone was certainly and enjoying themselves, feeling good
2:38
Speaker 2: about the team, and especially feeling good about their new signings.
2:42
Speaker 2: I did talk to Reese Olsen, who probably was not
2:45
Speaker 2: feeling as good, but all things considered, I think Reese
2:49
Speaker 2: is doing all right. So yeah, everyone except Rie Oulsen,
2:55
Speaker 2: really good day for them.
2:56
Speaker 1: Well, I guess, you know, like not to we'll get
3:00
Speaker 1: back to some other good vibe stuff. But you brought
3:02
Speaker 1: Reese Olsen. Might as well kind of dive in there,
3:04
Speaker 1: because that was we got a little bit of clarity,
3:07
Speaker 1: I guess, And so people that maybe are catching up.
3:11
Speaker 1: February second, he had shoulder surgery, always challenging him. You
3:15
Speaker 1: got to say those consecutively.
3:17
Speaker 2: Awesome, right, liberal repair that's easier.
3:21
Speaker 1: Oh wait, I don't know if that is here, but
3:24
Speaker 1: but yeah, so essentially, and I'm gonna qualify this and
3:28
Speaker 1: then you correct me if I'm missing any details here, Cody. Essentially,
3:32
Speaker 1: he re injured his shoulder in October. I believe it
3:36
Speaker 1: was after the season was over, and then you go
3:41
Speaker 1: to see specialists and doctors and they kind of tell you, like,
3:45
Speaker 1: you know, we could try to rehab, this, might have
3:48
Speaker 1: to have surgery. But the bottom line was that it
3:51
Speaker 1: had he had the surgery, then he still would have
3:54
Speaker 1: been missing the twenty twenty sixth season. So the thought was,
3:58
Speaker 1: might as well try the rehab to see if you
4:00
Speaker 1: can pitch in twenty twenty six knowing that surgery was
4:05
Speaker 1: always sort of at the end of the road and
4:07
Speaker 1: it wasn't going to affect anything long term. I guess
4:10
Speaker 1: is that kind of a good Yeah.
4:12
Speaker 2: I think that's well said, because from the outside, it's
4:15
Speaker 2: definitely easy to say, wait, why didn't he just have
4:18
Speaker 2: surgery right away? Is this going to cost him time?
4:21
Speaker 2: According to res Olsen, know the timeline of that surgery
4:25
Speaker 2: is one where it is long enough he was going
4:28
Speaker 2: to miss twenty twenty six if he had it in
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Speaker 2: October or if he had it in February, but also
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Speaker 2: short enough I guess I haven't fully done the math
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Speaker 2: defect check this, but short enough that twenty twenty seven
4:41
Speaker 2: should still be a go for him, even though he
4:44
Speaker 2: had the surgery in February, so it's not really affecting
4:46
Speaker 2: his timeline in terms of actual major league games. They
4:50
Speaker 2: gave it a go. He was throwing I think out
4:52
Speaker 2: two one hundred and twenty feet and started feeling something
4:55
Speaker 2: again and they had to do the surgery. So unfortunate,
5:00
Speaker 2: but you know, I think it was one of those
5:03
Speaker 2: things that was just bound to happen.
5:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I mean, I hate to kind of lisit
5:10
Speaker 1: this like memory, but it did kind of remind me
5:13
Speaker 1: of the Casey Maize situation from a couple of years ago,
5:17
Speaker 1: where aj Hinch had kind of said like, look like
5:20
Speaker 1: we don't you just can't really know what's underneath until
5:24
Speaker 1: you go, when you know, under the knife, and but
5:27
Speaker 1: you always want to avoid going under the knife, right,
5:30
Speaker 1: So that kind of reminded me of that, and you know,
5:32
Speaker 1: it's an unfortunate reality. And of course he's still young
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Speaker 1: enough and has a promising enough future. As we talked
5:38
Speaker 1: about previously, that like you know, going for you know,
5:42
Speaker 1: the possibility of playing twenty twenty six is great, but
5:45
Speaker 1: the long term, uh, you know, you want best what's
5:48
Speaker 1: best for him for the long term, especially given you
5:51
Speaker 1: know all these other pitching here right.
5:53
Speaker 2: Real quick, if we want to get away from day
5:54
Speaker 2: one to spring training, it's not actually great for your
5:57
Speaker 2: twenty twenty seven outlook. Even though Reeselsen is going to
5:59
Speaker 2: be healthy. I think there's one reason from Bravaldez getting
6:02
Speaker 2: the opt out after year two instead of year one
6:05
Speaker 2: was really important. We know Scoobale, Myze, Flarity, now Verlander
6:08
Speaker 2: are all going to be free agents. But not only
6:12
Speaker 2: is Jackson job returning, but kind of a question mark
6:14
Speaker 2: Reesulsen will be a question mark instead of you feel
6:18
Speaker 2: pretty good if you get a full season of results
6:21
Speaker 2: in and then you've gotten rolling in twenty twenty seven,
6:23
Speaker 2: that twenty twenty seven rotation is going to be Valdez
6:28
Speaker 2: and a lot of question marks. We'll see if Troy
6:30
Speaker 2: Melton has a good year and if he's healthy this year,
6:32
Speaker 2: but otherwise certainly a lot up in the air. So
6:35
Speaker 2: that is one of the the more unfortunate things about
6:38
Speaker 2: rees losing this whole season.
6:41
Speaker 1: Well, also on the injury report, but in the more
6:44
Speaker 1: realm of good news was Dylan Dingler had an elbow
6:49
Speaker 1: procedure that apparently. Again it's funny how we always got
6:54
Speaker 1: to talk about injuries where it's like surgery, last resort, terrible,
6:57
Speaker 1: and I know pitchers in different understand that, but it's like,
7:00
Speaker 1: all right, at a surgery, no big deal. I'll miss
7:02
Speaker 1: some time, but no big deal. And so you had
7:04
Speaker 1: like the kind of the two day one. It can't
7:07
Speaker 1: you got kind of the two realms of of arm surgeries.
7:10
Speaker 1: I guess you could say. But but like I said,
7:13
Speaker 1: Dylan Dingler elbow procedure, I guess it's something he's dealt
7:17
Speaker 1: with before. It doesn't really see that didn't seem like
7:19
Speaker 1: anybody was overly worried, I want to say overly worried
7:22
Speaker 1: about it. Didn't seem like anybody was worried about it.
7:24
Speaker 2: At them. Yeah, Dinglar and aj hinch Pull seemed pretty
7:27
Speaker 2: chill about that whole thing. I guess it was an arthroscopy,
7:30
Speaker 2: which is more of cleaning stuff up than it is.
7:33
Speaker 2: You know, you're not replacing a ligament or anything that's
7:35
Speaker 2: gonna cost you a great amount of time. I would
7:38
Speaker 2: still say for a throwing catcher as young as Dingler
7:40
Speaker 2: to have already had this done twice, that maybe he
7:43
Speaker 2: worries me a little bit for like one day, will
7:45
Speaker 2: you know, a more serious procedure have to happen. But
7:48
Speaker 2: for now I think all is good. He's like not
7:51
Speaker 2: going to be maybe catching as many bullpins or certainly
7:55
Speaker 2: throwing as many balls back to pitchers early on in camp.
7:59
Speaker 2: Maybe his like full ramp up will be a little
8:02
Speaker 2: bit delayed, but at least according to what Dingler and
8:05
Speaker 2: others said, he'll be all go for opening Day, and
8:08
Speaker 2: I think this will hardly affect him even in spring training.
8:14
Speaker 1: All right, well, that is a certainly good news. So
8:16
Speaker 1: kind of back to like the camp vibes here for
8:19
Speaker 1: a second, Cody, I like, sometimes, like a lot of times,
8:22
Speaker 1: the way my brain works is I'm always kind of
8:24
Speaker 1: trying to find like greater meanings in the story, right,
8:28
Speaker 1: and and I'm sure as a writer you do that
8:31
Speaker 1: as well. And like to me, given everything that we
8:35
Speaker 1: talked about with this team over the over the offseason,
8:38
Speaker 1: and then the moves that they made in a flurry
8:40
Speaker 1: over the past couple of weeks, combined with the moves
8:43
Speaker 1: that didn't get made with the offense. And I know
8:45
Speaker 1: Scott Harris addressed that today with you guys in the media.
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Speaker 1: Like every year, pictures and catchers literally every year, pictures
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Speaker 1: and catchers report first. But damn it if it didn't
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Speaker 1: seem very fitting that pictures and catchers are leading the charge,
9:02
Speaker 1: you know, into spring training for this specific squad. Because again,
9:06
Speaker 1: the Verlander piece, the Kenley Jansen piece, like I know,
9:09
Speaker 1: Finnegan like was a trade dead like acquisition, but now
9:12
Speaker 1: spring training you know, Kyle Finnigan uh not to met
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Speaker 1: you know Fromburh And of course like school Bol is
9:18
Speaker 1: the head of the snake anyway, you know what I mean,
9:21
Speaker 1: Like it just and Dingler gold glove promising player, blah
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Speaker 1: blah blah. It just felt very fitting that it's like,
9:27
Speaker 1: like if you want to get excited about the Tigers,
9:30
Speaker 1: which is what spring training is kind of for emotionally,
9:33
Speaker 1: it's like damn JV school Ball doing his thing, uh
9:37
Speaker 1: from Jansen, like like all these things like it kind
9:41
Speaker 1: of it meshed really well. I don't know if that
9:44
Speaker 1: makes sense, but it just mesh very well that this
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Speaker 1: is a team that's gonna be led by the brains
9:49
Speaker 1: and the physical physical ability of the pitching staff and
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Speaker 1: the coaching staff and the catchers, and they're the ones
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Speaker 1: kind of leading the charge. It just meshed very well.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's better than and if they signed some big
10:01
Speaker 2: header who lives in Arizona or like the Dominican or
10:04
Speaker 2: somewhere and just isn't at camp yet.
10:06
Speaker 1: Right.
10:06
Speaker 2: It makes the first day of camp a little more
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Speaker 2: fun when when all your big guns are there and
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Speaker 2: participating on day one, you were you were not wrong
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Speaker 2: about that.
10:15
Speaker 1: So let's let's get to like, you know, fromber it's
10:20
Speaker 1: all like official. We talked about the talked about the
10:23
Speaker 1: contract details on yesterday's episode, but now he had his
10:27
Speaker 1: formal news conference and and you guys got to talk
10:31
Speaker 1: with him and Scott about like how this kind of
10:34
Speaker 1: got brought to got brought together. So how would you
10:38
Speaker 1: kind of characterize your first impressions of of the you know,
10:42
Speaker 1: the most expensive acquisition the Tigers have made in a while.
10:47
Speaker 2: Well, I'll just say what I kind of committed myself
10:49
Speaker 2: to doing today was learning as much as I could
10:52
Speaker 2: about from ber Valdez. I'll have a story up on
10:55
Speaker 2: the Athletic at Thursday morning that's going to go into
10:59
Speaker 2: a little bit of his ground in his path to
11:01
Speaker 2: the Tigers, and the thing that stood out to me
11:04
Speaker 2: was like timing, you know, Timing kind of led Valdez
11:07
Speaker 2: and the Tigers together. Timing good and bad, has influenced
11:11
Speaker 2: a lot of things and from ber Valdez his life.
11:13
Speaker 2: This guy actually came from a pretty poor up bringing
11:17
Speaker 2: in the Dominican Republic. He was selling peanuts and impanadas
11:23
Speaker 2: to help his family make ends meet. He slept on
11:26
Speaker 2: a mattress with four siblings. Grew into a talented pitcher,
11:30
Speaker 2: but he did not sign as a fifteen sixteen year old.
11:34
Speaker 2: Like most big international prospects, had some nibbles from teams.
11:39
Speaker 2: They did medicals, they were concerns over his arm health
11:42
Speaker 2: when he was a teenager, so he did not sign
11:46
Speaker 2: until he's twenty one years old. The Houston Astros gave
11:48
Speaker 2: him ten thousand dollars. That's it. That's like, in a way,
11:52
Speaker 2: a well known part of his story, but I don't
11:53
Speaker 2: think the one that has really been appreciated by Tigers
11:57
Speaker 2: fans so far. This guy was the ultimate underdog. But
12:01
Speaker 2: it was that delayed timing that led him to the
12:04
Speaker 2: Astros organization at a time where they were ahead of
12:06
Speaker 2: the curve, and that led him to doing a lot
12:09
Speaker 2: of good things. That led him to developing a relationship
12:12
Speaker 2: with aj Hinch. Now look where we are twenty nineteen
12:15
Speaker 2: from Bravaldez was talented but had proven nothing in the
12:18
Speaker 2: big leagues. Was still trying to find his footing. Aj
12:22
Speaker 2: Hinch served to your suspension, went to the rebuilding Tigers.
12:25
Speaker 2: Took him a while to get things off the ground.
12:27
Speaker 2: Ron Bravaldez emerged as one of the best pitchers in
12:31
Speaker 2: the league, but his market was just diminished. He had
12:34
Speaker 2: the controversy with his catcher, I forgot he called out
12:37
Speaker 2: his staff for the coaching staff for their defensive positioning
12:42
Speaker 2: after a game in July. There were some things that
12:44
Speaker 2: caused real pause from teams. In addition to the fact
12:47
Speaker 2: he's thirty two and he actually did not have a
12:49
Speaker 2: good final ten starts last season as ra was over six.
12:54
Speaker 2: So I think all these factors lead to him becoming
12:57
Speaker 2: available on a three year deal and the Tigers strike
13:00
Speaker 2: at the right time. Here he is. They clearly feel confident,
13:03
Speaker 2: They're not worried about decline because they signed him, they
13:05
Speaker 2: paid them, They're pairing them with a manager he knows
13:08
Speaker 2: and has some confidence and how Fromber's gonna handle himself
13:11
Speaker 2: in the clubhouse. We've talked Jake Rogers, a catcher he
13:14
Speaker 2: knows who said great things about Fromber today and I
13:17
Speaker 2: think has a pretty good rapport with from their time
13:19
Speaker 2: in the minor leagues. So a lot of factors kind
13:22
Speaker 2: of coalesced for this to happen. I don't know that
13:25
Speaker 2: we gained a ton of insight and do the exact timing,
13:29
Speaker 2: but to hear it from Fromber's camp, they were always
13:32
Speaker 2: content waiting in this market because there weren't a lot
13:35
Speaker 2: of other top tier pitchers out there. Now, it didn't
13:38
Speaker 2: work out that they got seven years, one hundred and
13:41
Speaker 2: ninety eight million or whatever, but Fromber on an annual basis,
13:44
Speaker 2: is still getting paid like an elite guy. And I
13:48
Speaker 2: don't know, I mean what, there are not many situations
13:51
Speaker 2: you would rather be in. You add in the JV
13:53
Speaker 2: factor again, like everyone is all smiles today, and even
13:59
Speaker 2: if it's the ideal contract he wanted, I think he's
14:02
Speaker 2: landed in a place where where he has a chance
14:04
Speaker 2: to be pretty happy.
14:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I guess, like you know, we're recording this
14:10
Speaker 1: as I said, Wednesday evening, so we haven't heard from
14:13
Speaker 1: JV y you guys will hear from him on Thursday.
14:17
Speaker 1: But I sometimes you think, like how much does it
14:21
Speaker 1: really matter with these guys, Like they just go to
14:23
Speaker 1: the highest bidder, you know, do they just like you know,
14:26
Speaker 1: like we we as fans sometimes over romanticize, like how
14:32
Speaker 1: much a winning brand might play into like some of
14:35
Speaker 1: these personnel decisions, right because like, look, you gotta make
14:38
Speaker 1: as much money as you can. You start out at
14:40
Speaker 1: ten k. I'm not gonna criticize you for taking for
14:43
Speaker 1: taking the highest dollar amount, you know what I mean,
14:45
Speaker 1: That's okay. But the Jansen's been very vocal. He was
14:51
Speaker 1: on the Foul Territory Show saying like it almost came
14:53
Speaker 1: last year. You know, I want to, you know, help
14:56
Speaker 1: win a world series, like I imagine JV is gonna
15:00
Speaker 1: say very much the same thing from birth, you know,
15:02
Speaker 1: timing lines up to it does. Like these things, I
15:05
Speaker 1: just can't help but feel like maybe there actually is
15:10
Speaker 1: something different here. There actually is something different because everything
15:13
Speaker 1: timeline wise is working toward that. And again, whether it's
15:18
Speaker 1: something that matters in the long run or not, but
15:22
Speaker 1: in the moment, I feel like it does. And one
15:24
Speaker 1: of them is the fact that the whole start in
15:27
Speaker 1: rotation was at the was at the news conference and
15:31
Speaker 1: they took a photograph together. We had I'm sure you
15:33
Speaker 1: guys have seen it on social media. If you haven't,
15:35
Speaker 1: it's we have it up right now on our on
15:37
Speaker 1: our YouTube. This photograph Cody struck me in several ways.
15:44
Speaker 1: And the way I would characterize it is this might
15:48
Speaker 1: be the most on brand photograph in the history of
15:53
Speaker 1: the Tigers organization. So I'm gonna go I'm gonna go
15:57
Speaker 1: right to left here justin Verlander in his full you know,
16:01
Speaker 1: uniform get up obviously, you know, wearing a hoodie instead
16:03
Speaker 1: of jersey full uniform get up looks more like a
16:06
Speaker 1: pitching coach because he's forty about the third forty four
16:09
Speaker 1: years old, but he you know, he is older.
16:11
Speaker 2: Than the Detroit Tigers pitching coach.
16:14
Speaker 1: Yes, uh, you know Tark schoobl if you if you
16:17
Speaker 1: follow Terrek on you know his workouts on social media.
16:21
Speaker 1: You know he loves the shorts, he loves the no sleeves,
16:24
Speaker 1: which you know he is wearing sleeves, but it's a
16:26
Speaker 1: no sleeve hoodie. And he loves the headband so that's
16:29
Speaker 1: like on brand, you know as well from her it's
16:31
Speaker 1: his day. He's got the nice clothes on, but with
16:33
Speaker 1: you know, with the jersey and the hat. And then
16:35
Speaker 1: Casey Mayes looks like he's just rolling out of his
16:38
Speaker 1: nine thirty you know, accounting class at Auburn. And and
16:42
Speaker 1: uh and Jack Flaerty looks like he is wearing something
16:46
Speaker 1: that as a SoCal guy, he could literally wear every
16:51
Speaker 1: single day out of the year. Right, So like I.
16:55
Speaker 2: Default, Jack Flarity facial expression.
16:58
Speaker 1: Yes, with the facial expressionaly like this, this this picture
17:02
Speaker 1: is perfect. Bro, I can't get over it. Like, you know,
17:06
Speaker 1: everyone wants to compare it to you know, the Grip photograph,
17:09
Speaker 1: but it is obviously a little bit different. But man,
17:12
Speaker 1: that's not the most on brand photograph. And and I
17:15
Speaker 1: I will say it is a little cool that all
17:17
Speaker 1: of them were there for the the news.
17:19
Speaker 2: No, it's good, it's good they show up. One of
17:21
Speaker 2: my favorite details from watching Erlander today. Man, most of
17:25
Speaker 2: these guys are out in their spikes or maybe if
17:27
Speaker 2: they're not throwing pins or something, they're wearing you know,
17:29
Speaker 2: some nikes. JV is rocking the Black Brooks like running
17:34
Speaker 2: shoes with like the extra cushioning. It just looks like
17:37
Speaker 2: something you wear when you reach a certain age.
17:43
Speaker 1: That's good. That's a that's a good point. And you know,
17:46
Speaker 1: and again like it's it's day some certain things are
17:49
Speaker 1: proetic poetic, I should say it's day one of spring training.
17:53
Speaker 1: That you know, it's it's a coincides with the from
17:55
Speaker 1: It didn't have to, but it coincides with the Fromberg
17:58
Speaker 1: news conference and then all of them they for the
18:00
Speaker 1: photograph and with respect to the bullpen guys and aj Ininch,
18:05
Speaker 1: it's kind of like, bam, that's that's what's gonna determine
18:09
Speaker 1: your mood for the next six to seven, six seven,
18:12
Speaker 1: eight months. Uh, if you're if you're if you're a
18:15
Speaker 1: Tigers fan. So that was that was quite fitting, I
18:18
Speaker 1: guess before we move on from pitchers in general, we
18:20
Speaker 1: did see Jackson job and just from you know, photographs
18:24
Speaker 1: that you know, the team shared a reporter share. Seems
18:27
Speaker 1: like a guy in good spirits and in the in
18:29
Speaker 1: the medical update, you know, throwing up to ninety feet
18:32
Speaker 1: three times a week, I believe is what it was. So, uh,
18:36
Speaker 1: you know, obviously nothing to report there, but it was
18:38
Speaker 1: kind of nice to see, yeah, not catch to ninety
18:40
Speaker 1: feet three times this week, so I'll obviously change throughout
18:45
Speaker 1: throughout camp. But uh been nice to see Jackson Job
18:49
Speaker 1: there and and you know, spend a minute since his surgery.
18:52
Speaker 1: I'm sure he's you know, feeling good, but nice to
18:55
Speaker 1: see him out there and you know he's He's gonna
18:57
Speaker 1: be that reminder this whole year. It's like, what's it
19:00
Speaker 1: gonna be? Is here we gonna see Jackson Job or
19:02
Speaker 1: what's he gonna be? You know, in day one we
19:05
Speaker 1: get that as well, those feelings.
19:06
Speaker 2: Come up, Yeah, Jackson Job is alive and well I
19:09
Speaker 2: can confirm he's throwing. I saw it with my own eyes.
19:13
Speaker 2: Not a ton else to report on, you know, one
19:16
Speaker 2: the injury report, nothing major. You have Tyler Owens recovering
19:19
Speaker 2: from a surgery, Troy Watson recovering from an elbow Arthur Scopi,
19:25
Speaker 2: Bailey Horn, you know, also had the left elbow. Arthur
19:29
Speaker 2: SCOPI saw your Gibson long A left a bleak strain.
19:32
Speaker 2: I don't think we know a ton about that. But
19:35
Speaker 2: the big thing is there were no real surprises. The
19:38
Speaker 2: Dingler name. When you see that leading the injury report,
19:41
Speaker 2: that's a that's an easy way to be like, is
19:44
Speaker 2: this season gonna turn out to be cursed? But it
19:47
Speaker 2: seems like good news on Dingler. No one else big
19:49
Speaker 2: has popped up on there, so it could be worse.
19:52
Speaker 2: Look at what has happened at other camps across the league.
19:54
Speaker 2: Jackson Holiday, handmate bone, Corbyn Carroll handmate bone. Tigers have
19:58
Speaker 2: avoided that plague at least for one day of spring training.
20:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, and speaking of like, you know, some of those
20:05
Speaker 1: guys have been in the news for like World Baseball
20:09
Speaker 1: Classic stuff, and obviously the Tigers will be represented in
20:11
Speaker 1: the World Baseball Classic. And and with with Corby Carroll,
20:16
Speaker 1: you know, talk about weird stuff like you see him
20:18
Speaker 1: a clip of him like before, you know, just like
20:20
Speaker 1: throwing balls against the wall and then it's like he's
20:22
Speaker 1: got a broken hand. He's gonna miss, you know how
20:24
Speaker 1: our time, including the World Baseball Classic. There's a handful
20:29
Speaker 1: of names out there that could that could replace him.
20:33
Speaker 1: Riley Green is one that will linger obviously for Tigers fans.
20:38
Speaker 1: Do we have any indication on how real that is?
20:43
Speaker 1: Like what's He's been kind of thrown out there a
20:45
Speaker 1: little bit, but not a lot of follow up stuff,
20:47
Speaker 1: and you know, and then I guess the perspective on
20:51
Speaker 1: whether it would be a good thing or how what
20:54
Speaker 1: level of anxiety would be associated with Riley Green participating
20:58
Speaker 1: in the World Baseball Classic.
21:00
Speaker 2: I don't know, but that I think that has to
21:01
Speaker 2: be part of the calculus and probably part of the
21:04
Speaker 2: reason he didn't play fourteen Puerto Rico, which he was
21:06
Speaker 2: eligible to play for, Like, just do you want him
21:11
Speaker 2: going through that when staying on the field is already challenged,
21:14
Speaker 2: when being his best version and staying healthy is something
21:16
Speaker 2: he is dead said on, Like playing for your country
21:19
Speaker 2: is it can be a great honor, but there are
21:22
Speaker 2: other players who have opted not to do it for
21:25
Speaker 2: those very reasons. So look, I think he's expressed some
21:28
Speaker 2: interest in Team USA, but when we talk to Riley
21:31
Speaker 2: maybe we will get a little bit of a better
21:34
Speaker 2: read on how serious that actually is. I believe will
21:38
Speaker 2: Vest is also part of the designated pitcher pool, so
21:41
Speaker 2: it is not impossible that we could see will Vest
21:45
Speaker 2: the designated pitcher pool is they can be called up
21:49
Speaker 2: after pool play based on you know, if you need
21:53
Speaker 2: to replace other arms on your team.
21:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, so you know, one of those things to stay
21:58
Speaker 1: tuned for but it is kind of been so I
22:00
Speaker 1: thought it was worth bringing up a little bit because
22:04
Speaker 1: there are some considerations there. But obviously it would be
22:07
Speaker 1: really cool to see like Riley Green like representing Team USA.
22:12
Speaker 1: All right, let's let's get to the administrative I guess
22:17
Speaker 1: part of the day. Cody mentioned it a couple of
22:19
Speaker 1: times here, but we heard from Scott Harris, We've heard
22:22
Speaker 1: from aj Hinch, but aj Hinch, to his credit, is
22:25
Speaker 1: kind of you know, he's done the rounds, including this show,
22:28
Speaker 1: which if you haven't gone and watched or listen to,
22:30
Speaker 1: that is very entertaining. But we heard from Scott Harris
22:32
Speaker 1: and he shed I would say, like a little bit
22:37
Speaker 1: of light into kind of how this team came together,
22:41
Speaker 1: specifically with the late pitching additions and kind of the theme.
22:47
Speaker 1: I guess if we're gonna overarc it that, you know,
22:50
Speaker 1: some of the most interesting stuff is just kind of
22:53
Speaker 1: the Chris Illich piece of this, And I don't know
22:56
Speaker 1: like how to best quantify it. I guess I could
22:59
Speaker 1: quantify it with the of money that the team is, uh,
23:03
Speaker 1: that the team is added in salary and if you
23:06
Speaker 1: want to, uh, if you want to just even go
23:09
Speaker 1: back with just like you know, Finnegan and and Torres.
23:12
Speaker 1: I know it's you know, it's qualifying offer, but that
23:14
Speaker 1: had to be part of the conversation initially, right, So
23:17
Speaker 1: uh so it seems like Scott Harris is like almost
23:23
Speaker 1: saying like, see, uh, this is not what he said,
23:26
Speaker 1: but I would imagine this is probably what he was thinking.
23:29
Speaker 1: See see, I told you that the payroll stuff would
23:33
Speaker 1: not necessarily be an issue the whole time. And and
23:36
Speaker 1: now here you go, Chris Ilich, no problem, you know,
23:41
Speaker 1: like being all you know, not all in, but you
23:43
Speaker 1: know what I mean, like being willing to put literally
23:46
Speaker 1: put pen to paper in getting this team in a
23:49
Speaker 1: position to to make a run and and and you know,
23:52
Speaker 1: do some special things. So that that stuck out to me.
23:55
Speaker 1: Anything to stick out to uh, to you about hearing
23:58
Speaker 1: from Scotty h.
23:59
Speaker 2: I think that Chris Olich part of it was probably
24:02
Speaker 2: the most interesting, or at least the most topical look
24:04
Speaker 2: in the history of this podcast and probably the other
24:06
Speaker 2: Tigers podcast. It's been very easy to mock and make
24:10
Speaker 2: fun of the well CI gives us all the support
24:13
Speaker 2: we need. Lines even today, Scott Harris mention multiple times,
24:18
Speaker 2: you know you guys don't understand how competitive Chrisilich is,
24:21
Speaker 2: and it kind of sounded like he was probably brief
24:23
Speaker 2: to like be sure to mention that Chris Silich is
24:26
Speaker 2: really competitive. But it's harder to make fun of now
24:29
Speaker 2: because the Tigers are going to inter the season right
24:32
Speaker 2: up against the luxury tax and they made some big,
24:34
Speaker 2: serious signings. Chris Olich proved for once that he's willing
24:39
Speaker 2: to spend on this team and that maybe he is competitive.
24:42
Speaker 2: Scott Harris said, you know, when I make that call,
24:44
Speaker 2: I think he was referring to fromber that you know,
24:46
Speaker 2: Chris was more excited than I was, And like, is
24:49
Speaker 2: that true or is that just something you say to
24:51
Speaker 2: make your boss look good? Who knows. But again, harder
24:55
Speaker 2: to make all the usual jokes because there is now
24:57
Speaker 2: some real evidence behind all these things that we have
25:00
Speaker 2: heard for for years. So you know what I'm gonna
25:04
Speaker 2: stop joking about it go to on Chris Ilich for
25:06
Speaker 2: investing in this team and making some big moves. Yeah,
25:11
Speaker 2: that's the you know, that is what owners should do,
25:13
Speaker 2: and that is what Chris Ilitch has done.
25:17
Speaker 1: You know, Scott would never like say this stuff publicly
25:20
Speaker 1: because he wouldn't view it as any sort of you know,
25:24
Speaker 1: nothing to gain out of it, and I understand that
25:26
Speaker 1: I'm not even criticizing that part of it, but like
25:28
Speaker 1: the process of which, you know, I would love a
25:32
Speaker 1: detailed account of how everything was going down with the
25:34
Speaker 1: arbitration and then the fromber negotiations and when you make
25:37
Speaker 1: that call and what do you is say and like,
25:40
Speaker 1: you know, could the argument be made that maybe, Scott,
25:43
Speaker 1: you should be a little bit more excited at the
25:44
Speaker 1: prospect of getting probbers to the organization, but well.
25:48
Speaker 2: I was gonna say, it would have been nice to
25:50
Speaker 2: get a little more detail and how some of this
25:52
Speaker 2: went down. Scott was not overly forthcoming. Was not the
25:55
Speaker 2: most enthralling media session I've been a part of, but uh,
25:59
Speaker 2: sometimes that's just how it goes. It was early in
26:01
Speaker 2: the morning, so I'll give them fast.
26:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, that is true, and an overcast day, so it
26:06
Speaker 1: starts to I guess it's easier to be energized when
26:10
Speaker 1: you're at the top of the food chain there. He
26:11
Speaker 1: did also talk about the offense though, and that's like,
26:15
Speaker 1: you know, obviously something that they chose based on the market,
26:20
Speaker 1: based on their own understanding of the players or self
26:22
Speaker 1: scout their metrics all that stuff to not make meaningful
26:27
Speaker 1: additions to the to the lineup, and no lineup is perfect.
26:32
Speaker 1: They're obviously, like you know, flaws and we don't necessarily
26:36
Speaker 1: have to break them down right now. But as you
26:40
Speaker 1: have pointed out, as Aj has pointed out, like there
26:45
Speaker 1: is a little bit of a how micro or macro
26:49
Speaker 1: are you with the with the state of the Tigers offense,
26:52
Speaker 1: because there are a lot of people there are significant
26:55
Speaker 1: pieces that you have to like. And again we all
26:58
Speaker 1: know what the holes are, but there is there are
27:02
Speaker 1: several numbers out there that could say, like, hey, the
27:05
Speaker 1: panic over the offense going into the off season was
27:11
Speaker 1: more recency biased than what we saw through one hundred
27:15
Speaker 1: and sixty two game sample. Plus you know, Scott Harris
27:19
Speaker 1: made the point to mention this, plus there could be
27:23
Speaker 1: some decent reinforcements on the way, obviously referring to McGonagall, Clark,
27:29
Speaker 1: Anderson Lee, like you know crop of guys.
27:32
Speaker 2: So yeah, I look the Tiger's offense. I've tried to
27:38
Speaker 2: point this out, like they were eleventh and run scoring.
27:40
Speaker 2: Though they were really bad the last two months before
27:42
Speaker 2: the whole they were good. They were better than the pitching.
27:44
Speaker 2: That's why the Tiger's investing in pitching. That's why pitching
27:47
Speaker 2: is probably this team's best path to victory. I don't
27:50
Speaker 2: and given how young that lineup was, logic might imply, well,
27:54
Speaker 2: they should be even better. Now if you've listened this podcast,
27:57
Speaker 2: I don't know that I'm like sold on that. I
27:59
Speaker 2: think it's possible, but we've also seen what the bad
28:03
Speaker 2: version of a very similar offense looks like. Like, these
28:07
Speaker 2: are some players with some flaws and can be prone
28:10
Speaker 2: to swing and miss and prone to chase and prone
28:12
Speaker 2: to strikeout. So with all that said, like, Scott's not wrong,
28:17
Speaker 2: but I am tired of the time. I'm very quickly
28:19
Speaker 2: tired of the talking point like, well, last year's team
28:21
Speaker 2: scored more runs than any Tigers team since twenty fourteen.
28:26
Speaker 2: This is true. So the last eleven Tigers teams, eight
28:32
Speaker 2: of those teams sucked. Man, So let's stop using that
28:36
Speaker 2: as the baseline comparison.
28:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's like, you know, it's not that
28:44
Speaker 1: big of a brat, Like it's like.
28:47
Speaker 2: It's not Is it a sign of organizational progress and growth? Yes?
28:51
Speaker 2: It is. Should you be comparing yourself to the top
28:55
Speaker 2: five teams in the league instead of the twenty nineteen Tigers.
28:58
Speaker 2: I think so.
29:01
Speaker 1: That's true, and again we'll have plenty of time to
29:03
Speaker 1: talk about this. Who's going to be improvement, what's real,
29:06
Speaker 1: what's not. I think there's some some very interesting aspects
29:10
Speaker 1: to the run production that in ways of which that
29:13
Speaker 1: will come, but that may be for another time.
29:17
Speaker 2: Cody anyway, Inning has declared Kevin McGonagall a better hitter
29:22
Speaker 2: at this stage in his career than Alan Trammel or
29:25
Speaker 2: Lou Whitaker. We'll see if that prediction comes true. But
29:29
Speaker 2: it was said that boldly in a media sessions.
29:33
Speaker 1: That is uh, that is putting your flag down. I'll
29:38
Speaker 1: say that your flag down and uh. And I you know,
29:43
Speaker 1: my understanding of Lynn have you never met him, is
29:45
Speaker 1: that he would take that statement seriously. So we'll see.
29:49
Speaker 2: If he's been around, he knows he has the perspective.
29:52
Speaker 2: He saw those guys in person. I didn't. So if
29:55
Speaker 2: he's right, then hey, now you want to talk about
29:58
Speaker 2: organizational progress. You got your next Hall of Famer.
30:01
Speaker 1: That'd be something that would be something we'll always remember
30:05
Speaker 1: this podcast when we talked about it. All right, you
30:09
Speaker 1: can follow us on X formally known as Twitter at
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30:25
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30:30
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30:34
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