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Takeaways on Kenley Jansen, Kyle Finnegan, Tarik Skubal and Justyn-Henry Malloy · Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast

0:09
Speaker 1: And welcome into another episode of Tiger Territory, part of
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Speaker 1: the Foul Territory Network, a Tiger's podcast. I'm Kirsteckley with
0:15
Speaker 1: me as always as a man who puts the wonder
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Speaker 1: in winter wonderland.
0:19
Speaker 2: He is Cody Saving and how you doing.
0:21
Speaker 3: Hey, you're doing all right. I hope everyone out there
0:23
Speaker 3: is having a nice holiday season. Can't say we have
0:26
Speaker 3: any big news to talk about, but I think we
0:28
Speaker 3: got a few interesting topics. So if you're, you know,
0:31
Speaker 3: on the way to do a Christmas gathering or on
0:33
Speaker 3: the way to see some family or whatever. Thanks to
0:36
Speaker 3: everyone out there for listening and spending some time with
0:38
Speaker 3: us here.
0:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, we appreciate everybody who subscribes on YouTube and follows
0:43
Speaker 1: us on socials and all that stuff. We you know,
0:45
Speaker 1: this is a time of gratitude. We are definitely grateful
0:48
Speaker 1: to everyone everyone out there. So all right, let's get
0:51
Speaker 1: to you know, just some some nitty gritty stuff, little
0:54
Speaker 1: update updates on the Tigers Cody of which there are few.
0:58
Speaker 2: First of all, we heard from Aley Jansen, so he is.
1:03
Speaker 1: He had his availability with you and your fellow press members,
1:06
Speaker 1: and there isn't a huge controversy where he is disconnected
1:12
Speaker 1: from the Tigers messaging.
1:13
Speaker 2: It seems like they are in lockstep with what his
1:17
Speaker 2: role will be.
1:19
Speaker 1: And by all accounts, this is just a video call
1:22
Speaker 1: in December, but by all accounts, seems like he's down
1:25
Speaker 1: for what the Tigers have planned for him.
1:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, he does. I still have a feelings he's gonna
1:30
Speaker 3: want to get his twenty four saves or whatever that
1:32
Speaker 3: might be, and I think they're gonna at least give
1:34
Speaker 3: him that opportunity right to pitch in the ninth inning
1:37
Speaker 3: a good amount of the time. The Tigers sent out
1:41
Speaker 3: a really interesting note today that was from Elias and
1:46
Speaker 3: that's that there's never been an MLB team that's had
1:49
Speaker 3: three pitchers on the opening day roster who each had
1:53
Speaker 3: twenty or more saves the previous season. Saves first became
1:57
Speaker 3: a stat in nineteen sixty nine, So the Tigers in Jansen,
2:00
Speaker 3: will Vest and Kyle Finigan all had twenty saves. Obviously
2:03
Speaker 3: not all with the Tigers, but if you want to
2:06
Speaker 3: feel good about where the Detroit bullpen is, that stands.
2:10
Speaker 3: And another note, like I knew this and I had
2:13
Speaker 3: heard this throughout the league, but I think Tigers fans
2:15
Speaker 3: are really gonna like Kenley Jansen at least in terms
2:18
Speaker 3: of his personality. He's friendly, he's upbeat, he's outgoing. That
2:22
Speaker 3: shown through even on his first video call. I started
2:25
Speaker 3: following him on Instagram. He's already been a good follow
2:28
Speaker 3: I think he's enjoying his holidays on a yacht, which yes,
2:32
Speaker 3: I'm a little bit jealous of. But yeah, I think
2:35
Speaker 3: Kiley's a really likable guy. He's obviously been there, done that.
2:37
Speaker 3: We'll see how it goes. One reason maybe he was
2:41
Speaker 3: agreeable to this arrangement in Detroit is because of the
2:44
Speaker 3: metrics that we've talked about a lot. They weren't great.
2:47
Speaker 3: I think that impacted his market a little bit. Maybe
2:49
Speaker 3: Detroit was gonna be the best money, the best situation
2:53
Speaker 3: he could end up in. So we're gonna see how
2:56
Speaker 3: this one works out, but I think it'll be fun.
2:59
Speaker 3: At least has the potential that Kenley Jansen has the
3:02
Speaker 3: potential to be a fun sign.
3:04
Speaker 2: Yeah.
3:05
Speaker 1: You know when when you when you're reacting to the
3:08
Speaker 1: news and then you like try to figure out exactly
3:12
Speaker 1: where he fits and then you hear from Scott or
3:14
Speaker 1: you know, aj and certain as this is, and it
3:17
Speaker 1: kind of gets like lost a little bit when you
3:19
Speaker 1: kind of think about it actually in practice. And what
3:21
Speaker 1: I mean by that is, you know, like AJ has
3:24
Speaker 1: got a pretty good pulse for players, and he knows
3:27
Speaker 1: like what they value, and like he is really uniquely
3:33
Speaker 1: like skilled at putting sort of like the bigger picture
3:38
Speaker 1: stuff out there when while also doing kind of the
3:41
Speaker 1: day to day, get the win, win the day thing.
3:43
Speaker 2: And what I'm getting.
3:44
Speaker 1: At is, I do believe AJ would look at it
3:48
Speaker 1: as a net positive for you know, one of one
3:51
Speaker 1: of his players and then the team as a whole,
3:53
Speaker 1: maybe even the fan base, you know, all that stuff.
3:55
Speaker 1: For Jansen to get to the five hundred saint mark,
4:00
Speaker 1: Like I do think that will be something that is
4:02
Speaker 1: a part of his calculus, even though like his reputation is,
4:06
Speaker 1: you know, matchups, matchups, matchups, matchups. You see what I'm saying,
4:09
Speaker 1: Like we've now obviously the teams weren't as good, but
4:12
Speaker 1: you saw that shine through in the latter years of
4:15
Speaker 1: Miguel Cabrera with some of the hit met you know,
4:18
Speaker 1: the hit of Milestone Pursuits and then even the way
4:22
Speaker 1: he handled Cabrera's last game. So again, I know those
4:25
Speaker 1: teams weren't like you know, actively trying to win a
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Speaker 1: World Series. But the point remains that Aj is really
4:30
Speaker 1: good at that stuff. So like if you're if you're,
4:34
Speaker 1: if you're, if you're Janson or his representatives. I do
4:37
Speaker 1: think that was kind of that will kind of that
4:39
Speaker 1: played in the tigers favor as to like when they're
4:41
Speaker 1: surveying the landscape. In addition to also obviously being like
4:45
Speaker 1: a team that figures to be, you know, winning some games.
4:49
Speaker 3: That in itself is a reminder that Aj Hinch's realasset
4:51
Speaker 3: for the Tigers and more more ways than one, he's
4:54
Speaker 3: a terrific end game manager. He's also a terrific ambassador,
4:57
Speaker 3: a terrific salesman. Song like ocean front property in Arizona.
5:03
Speaker 3: I think Aj could do good as a real estate
5:05
Speaker 3: agent out there because he just has a way of
5:07
Speaker 3: like charming and convincing you to buy into whatever he's
5:10
Speaker 3: talking about. And I've heard that from people around the league,
5:15
Speaker 3: like they get in the room with AJ players or
5:17
Speaker 3: agents and they leave that room being like, all right,
5:20
Speaker 3: you know, I'm in on this, And when they're meeting
5:23
Speaker 3: with the front office sometimes that's not always the case,
5:26
Speaker 3: but you know, you bring in AJ in the room
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Speaker 3: and and the man's good at what he does, there's
5:30
Speaker 3: no doubt about it.
5:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, well that's a that's a that's a funny dynamic.
5:36
Speaker 2: Maybe like a.
5:39
Speaker 1: It's not like good cock back cop, but like, you know,
5:41
Speaker 1: like that, it is a pretty interesting mesh to the Tiger.
5:44
Speaker 1: The two heads of the Tigers operation kind of do
5:47
Speaker 1: have those reputations that you know, at times can be
5:50
Speaker 1: a little bit on the opposite.
5:53
Speaker 3: And fairness probably helps. Aj doesn't have to say, hey,
5:55
Speaker 3: you're not worth this much money. You know, he's just
5:58
Speaker 3: getting sales. The front office has to be the bad
6:02
Speaker 3: cop a little bit in terms of hammering out the
6:04
Speaker 3: details of a contract. Yeah.
6:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's like, yeah, it's like Parks and rec with
6:10
Speaker 1: Ben Wyatt and uh and Chris Traeger, so uh yeah,
6:13
Speaker 1: you have the soft side and that's the nature of
6:15
Speaker 1: their job. So again and then a way they're both
6:17
Speaker 1: doing it to the to the you know, to the
6:20
Speaker 1: fullest extent, with the same idea in mind. Can't work
6:23
Speaker 1: on Bregmant though, apparently. So anyway, moving on, Uh, we
6:29
Speaker 1: also heard from Finnigan and that move is official. Now
6:32
Speaker 1: it's been over a week, so we were kind of uh,
6:35
Speaker 1: you know, from a from report to h official, So
6:39
Speaker 1: I got to get get that dotted in, and we
6:43
Speaker 1: heard from Finnigan and again kind of what we would expect,
6:45
Speaker 1: but like Flaherty, like Torres, this is a guy who
6:51
Speaker 1: had opportunities and obviously more freedom than than those other
6:55
Speaker 1: two and decided that this was again the better situation
6:58
Speaker 1: for you know, Dollar lined up with opportunity, a guy
7:01
Speaker 1: you know, was a career national essentially and the ability
7:05
Speaker 1: to pitch in the postseason and be with this organization
7:09
Speaker 1: felt like the right fit for him.
7:11
Speaker 3: Yeah, and there's a third year mutual option that hadn't
7:14
Speaker 3: previously been reported, so that's that's kind of a long
7:18
Speaker 3: commitment to a thirty four year older reliever. Now. Granted,
7:21
Speaker 3: mutual options rarely get exercise because normally one party or
7:24
Speaker 3: other has incentive to move on. But that's also in
7:28
Speaker 3: the contract. So there's a chance Kyle Finnikin could be
7:31
Speaker 3: here for three more years if all goes well. I'm
7:33
Speaker 3: very interested to see basically how good Finnegan is going
7:37
Speaker 3: to be next year. He's been solid throughout his career.
7:41
Speaker 3: Obviously he's pitching big spots. He was really good for
7:43
Speaker 3: the first eighteen innings or whatever, not as good. When
7:46
Speaker 3: he got back off the IL, a loud earned runs
7:48
Speaker 3: in three playoff games. I kind of asked him, you know,
7:50
Speaker 3: if he learned from either of those experiences, and you
7:54
Speaker 3: know what he thought his pitch usage might look like
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Speaker 3: next season. He talked about the adjustments he made with
8:00
Speaker 3: the splitter, throwing it more often, and he said something
8:02
Speaker 3: I was curious about. He said, sometimes the league adjusts
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Speaker 3: to your adjustment, and I think that happened for him
8:08
Speaker 3: when he got back off the IL. When he was
8:10
Speaker 3: in the playoffs, he was almost so splitter dependent that
8:14
Speaker 3: that pitch started getting hit because batters knew it was coming.
8:17
Speaker 3: He talked about maybe wanted to use a little more slider,
8:19
Speaker 3: wanting to continue to improve his fastball, have a little
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Speaker 3: more vert on the fastball to disguise it and pair
8:25
Speaker 3: it better with the splitter. So we're going to see.
8:28
Speaker 3: But I think that's the big question. Can he miss
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Speaker 3: bats at the rate he did his first several outings
8:34
Speaker 3: with the Tigers. Because for as much as he said, hey,
8:37
Speaker 3: three guys coming off twenty saves, you could feel pretty
8:39
Speaker 3: good about the Tigers bullpen. One of their glaring pressing
8:43
Speaker 3: overt needs was getting more swing and miss from their bullpen,
8:48
Speaker 3: and I think it's fair to question how much have
8:50
Speaker 3: they actually done that. They're getting Kyle Finn again and
8:53
Speaker 3: hoping he misses bats like he did in a small
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Speaker 3: sample that was far and away the best of his
8:59
Speaker 3: career because he used this splitter more than forty percent
9:02
Speaker 3: of the time, and then once hitters started adjusting, he
9:04
Speaker 3: was no longer quite successful. And Kenley Jansen, who missus
9:08
Speaker 3: bats at what's his person style? I think, you know,
9:10
Speaker 3: in the fifties league, percentile wise, not a terrific misser
9:15
Speaker 3: of bats here toward the tail end of his career.
9:19
Speaker 3: So I think this could be an interesting combo Finnegan
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Speaker 3: vest Jansen. I'm a little worried though that the two
9:25
Speaker 3: guys you've signed in the bullpen, you know, you didn't
9:28
Speaker 3: bring in the sir Anthony do Mingez or someone who's
9:31
Speaker 3: been ten plus k per nine year after year. You
9:34
Speaker 3: don't quite have that. It's gonna be up to Finnegan
9:37
Speaker 3: to continue to miss bats at a really high rate
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Speaker 3: like he did in his first small stint with the Tigers.
9:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, whatever that internal plan for him, I'll be you know,
9:49
Speaker 1: again with data points of how he takes your coaching.
9:52
Speaker 1: And then also like going into next season and you know,
9:55
Speaker 1: being in the I know it doesn't necessarily matter anymore,
9:57
Speaker 1: but consistently seeing like American League hitting and and and
10:00
Speaker 1: all that stuff, like I'll be curious to see, like
10:02
Speaker 1: the game plan is gonna be the thing. And that's
10:05
Speaker 1: actually not really much to say other than the statement,
10:08
Speaker 1: but like the season planning is gonna dictate whether they
10:12
Speaker 1: could get mispats more so than the actual personnel, because
10:16
Speaker 1: the personnel is largely the same. So like now you
10:19
Speaker 1: have a whole off season to try to get get
10:21
Speaker 1: get in the lab and figure that out.
10:23
Speaker 2: Same thing with the hitting.
10:24
Speaker 1: Obviously, that's really that that's really what the season will
10:27
Speaker 1: be defined by. We don't know what's going on, so
10:29
Speaker 1: we can't really analyze it, criticize the critique it, you know,
10:32
Speaker 1: second guess of Monday morning quarterback it. But that is
10:35
Speaker 1: the reality situation, I guess is it safe to say
10:40
Speaker 1: that Finn Again, I know it's not that simple, but
10:43
Speaker 1: like you know, in terms of just over simplistically putting it,
10:47
Speaker 1: he's the seventh ending guy and like best be the
10:50
Speaker 1: eighth inning guy and Janson be the ninth ending guy,
10:53
Speaker 1: like like like basically is he third like in that tier?
10:57
Speaker 2: Is that like a safe way to look at it.
11:01
Speaker 3: I can hear aj Hinch in my head right now saying, well,
11:04
Speaker 3: you just never know. We kind of read and react
11:06
Speaker 3: based on game situation and what pocketive hitters are up
11:10
Speaker 3: and and all those things that we've heard a million times.
11:12
Speaker 3: I think that would be the line from the manager.
11:15
Speaker 3: I guess in an ideal world, probably it rolls out
11:18
Speaker 3: that way more often than not. But there's if there's
11:20
Speaker 3: a pocketive hitters who struggle against the splitter or something,
11:26
Speaker 3: and you know, Finnegan might get those guys regardless of
11:29
Speaker 3: the inning. There's a pocketive hitters who really struggle against Vello,
11:33
Speaker 3: will vest Is probably gonna be the guy in that spot.
11:36
Speaker 3: That's gonna be one of the fun things to watch
11:38
Speaker 3: about the Tigers to see kind of what order they
11:40
Speaker 3: go about getting those final nine outs throughout the season
11:43
Speaker 3: this year.
11:45
Speaker 1: I will say this, if this was a basketball team,
11:47
Speaker 1: we would be saying, there's only one ball, right, you know,
11:51
Speaker 1: like and you have those you know, those guys in
11:53
Speaker 1: the back.
11:53
Speaker 2: End, there's only there's only one guy, only one guy can.
11:56
Speaker 1: Pitch at at at you know, the save opportunity or whatever,
12:00
Speaker 1: if they care about those numbers or if multiple problem.
12:05
Speaker 3: We brought this up previously. For as much as the
12:08
Speaker 3: Tigers have been great about getting buy in, like these
12:11
Speaker 3: guys are getting older, these guys are in their arbitration years.
12:14
Speaker 3: There is money at stake. If I'm will Ves agent
12:18
Speaker 3: or maybe will Vest himself, I'm a little upset right now,
12:22
Speaker 3: like you brought in this thirty eight year old guy
12:25
Speaker 3: to maybe get more saves than me. Dude, I have
12:27
Speaker 3: better metrics than him. I throw ninety eight, like I've
12:31
Speaker 3: done everything you've asked to me. Saves equal money. I
12:36
Speaker 3: kind of want those ups And the Tigers have not
12:40
Speaker 3: had a lot of conflicts, at least nothing that's ever
12:43
Speaker 3: really entered the public sphere in terms of roles, in
12:45
Speaker 3: terms of things like that. But as these guys get older,
12:48
Speaker 3: as there's more money on the line, I do worry
12:52
Speaker 3: that could eventually become an issue. And that's not to
12:55
Speaker 3: say will Ves or anyone else isn't like a team player,
12:59
Speaker 3: but the way that Tigers are constructed, the way they
13:01
Speaker 3: manage the team offensively, pitching wise, bullpen like I'm not
13:06
Speaker 3: sure they can do that forever without some issue eventually arising.
13:12
Speaker 1: That's true, and again like if it's a lot easier
13:16
Speaker 1: to be like, yes, sir, I'll do whatever it takes
13:18
Speaker 1: to win.
13:19
Speaker 2: When you're less than two years of service time.
13:22
Speaker 3: I'm trying to stick in the big leagues. Yeah, it's different.
13:24
Speaker 3: It's different. I've heard I've heard it from people like you.
13:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's human nature. All right, Well, let's get to our.
13:33
Speaker 1: Unsponsored yet contractually obligated trek Schoogle update. Very very busy
13:39
Speaker 1: man this weekend, Cody, if I'll try to keep track
13:42
Speaker 1: of everything, and maybe I missed something. He was at
13:45
Speaker 1: the Michigan State Oakland basketball game, he was at a
13:48
Speaker 1: Detroit Red Wing hockey game, he was at a Detroit
13:51
Speaker 1: Pistons basketball game, and he was at the Detroit.
13:55
Speaker 2: Lions football game.
13:57
Speaker 1: So was this him embracing the city and saying like, Hey,
14:03
Speaker 1: this is me, the city is me, cities within me.
14:07
Speaker 1: Or was this kind of like his senior year lap.
14:12
Speaker 3: You know, big news. I have a big announcement, Karen.
14:15
Speaker 3: Everyone get on the edge of their seats. I don't
14:18
Speaker 3: think this meant anything. I think Scoobol did kind of
14:21
Speaker 3: a similar tour last year. Right he was at a
14:23
Speaker 3: Michigan State game. I think he went to a Pistons
14:26
Speaker 3: game and threw the shirts in the crowd, like I
14:28
Speaker 3: think anotherything. The Tigers are really lucky to have Trek
14:32
Speaker 3: scoople like this is a guy who has conducted himself
14:36
Speaker 3: in a first class manner. He's been a good representative
14:41
Speaker 3: in the community. He's been a leader on and off
14:44
Speaker 3: the field. He wanted to come back and I assume
14:47
Speaker 3: do this little tour. I don't really know how it
14:48
Speaker 3: all came together, but he clearly had it planned out,
14:52
Speaker 3: timed it out quite well, got to see and do
14:54
Speaker 3: a lot of stuff. I think Trek surely part of
14:58
Speaker 3: him knows the narratives that are out there right now.
15:00
Speaker 3: He's been clear in saying he wants to be in Detroit,
15:05
Speaker 3: so I think he's like, Hey, I'm going to show
15:07
Speaker 3: the city I still care, I still want to be here.
15:09
Speaker 3: I think he's going to be a good teammate as
15:10
Speaker 3: much as he possibly can, whatever the rest of this
15:13
Speaker 3: year may hold. But it's not like he was in
15:17
Speaker 3: town hold up, you know, in a board room with
15:20
Speaker 3: the front office, like hammering out an extension. Jeff Greenberg,
15:24
Speaker 3: in fact, was asked if we should read anything into
15:27
Speaker 3: this and basically said, no, Trek was just enjoying a
15:30
Speaker 3: fine sports weekend in Detroit, and I believe Scott Harris
15:34
Speaker 3: was not even in town at least not for all
15:37
Speaker 3: of this weekend. So I'm not sure we should read
15:41
Speaker 3: anything into it beyond that. I do think we should
15:43
Speaker 3: give Trek credit for even entering our contract year with
15:45
Speaker 3: a lot of rumors being willing to come spend some
15:49
Speaker 3: time in the city and see the other sports teams.
15:51
Speaker 3: But it doesn't really mean anything, I don't think so.
15:55
Speaker 1: I mean, I wouldn't turn down the opportunity for field
15:58
Speaker 1: and floor level passes and seats.
16:02
Speaker 2: I mean, that's it seems pretty right.
16:04
Speaker 3: Such people are gonna ask you to do that stuff,
16:06
Speaker 3: We're you gonna say no, you know.
16:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, talk about bad br That would actually be
16:11
Speaker 1: the way where it's like school decline invitations.
16:14
Speaker 3: To Now that we might be reading into a little.
16:17
Speaker 2: More, yeah, but it looks like he had a good time,
16:20
Speaker 2: you know.
16:20
Speaker 1: And again he's he is one of the faces of
16:24
Speaker 1: the city in the in the sporting sense, and in
16:26
Speaker 1: the general sense.
16:27
Speaker 2: He is one of the faces of the city.
16:28
Speaker 1: So it's always it's always fun to see those guys
16:31
Speaker 1: you know, enjoy the other, you know, the other sports.
16:34
Speaker 2: Uh in Detroit. I always enjoy it. So look like
16:37
Speaker 2: I had a good time.
16:37
Speaker 1: So that is you're unsponsored yet contractually obligated. Terrek Schoogl update.
16:46
Speaker 1: All right, Cody, let's get to the back half of
16:50
Speaker 1: that Kyle Finnegan move. So in order to make the
16:54
Speaker 1: signing official, the Tigers had to make a forty man
16:58
Speaker 1: uh transaction, and they ended up electing to designate for
17:04
Speaker 1: assignment Justin Henry molloy. Uh, it's a tough one. This
17:11
Speaker 1: is a tough one for me to swallow. Obviously, I
17:13
Speaker 1: don't know Justin, but he always seemed like a cool guy.
17:15
Speaker 1: I was there in Texas for his first career home run, so,
17:20
Speaker 1: like you know, I always always remember that, and just
17:25
Speaker 1: like I said, seemed like a real likable guy and
17:27
Speaker 1: one of the dudes, like one of the first dudes
17:29
Speaker 1: that like, if you follow this team and you listen
17:32
Speaker 1: to the words of the front office when they first
17:34
Speaker 1: came in, it's like this is the it was like
17:38
Speaker 1: the first guy you were rooting for in this new
17:42
Speaker 1: era because he fit all these things, and he did
17:44
Speaker 1: all these things well as a as a player, profile,
17:47
Speaker 1: as a prospect, and he did have some moments in
17:50
Speaker 1: the majors, but kind of seemed like an odd man
17:54
Speaker 1: out type deal. So what's what's what's what's your make?
17:57
Speaker 1: What's your make? Your read of this move?
18:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's kind of unfortunately. I love Jahan as
18:03
Speaker 3: a guy. He's great to talk to, a great personality.
18:06
Speaker 3: I wasn't all that shocked because going down the list
18:09
Speaker 3: of the next guys who were going to be DFA,
18:13
Speaker 3: it was roster space is getting tight, which in a
18:16
Speaker 3: lot of ways is a sign of this organization's growth.
18:20
Speaker 3: I thought, could it be Jace Young? Would they move
18:22
Speaker 3: on from him? Would they move on from jah In?
18:25
Speaker 3: I think the other major candidates would be on the
18:27
Speaker 3: pitching side, Drew Summers, Bailey Horn, maybe Time Madden, something
18:33
Speaker 3: like that. But I think it's a sign that the
18:36
Speaker 3: Tigers no pitching is at a premium. Their depth really
18:39
Speaker 3: got tested towards the tail end of last year. They
18:41
Speaker 3: want to keep arms for as long as possible. Summers
18:46
Speaker 3: and Horn they're lefties. Man, they could be competing for
18:48
Speaker 3: roster spots summers as young would be claimed in a heartbeat,
18:54
Speaker 3: even I think you'd lose time Madden. I think they'll
18:56
Speaker 3: probably lose jah In because he still has a very
18:59
Speaker 3: intriguing profile as someone who gets on base, as someone who,
19:02
Speaker 3: in theory, should have some pop in the bat. And
19:08
Speaker 3: so some ways it's a reflection, like a little bit
19:10
Speaker 3: of a cautionary tale. It wasn't all that long ago.
19:13
Speaker 3: Jayhen was supposed to be part of the wave that
19:15
Speaker 3: was going to reshape the offensive identity of the Tigers.
19:18
Speaker 3: Scott Harris use that term, I think multiple times, reshaping
19:21
Speaker 3: the offensive identity the day he traded Joejamenez for Justin
19:25
Speaker 3: Henry mLOY and Jake Higginbotham. Jake Higginbotham never never reached
19:30
Speaker 3: the major leagues with the Tigers. Jayhin could just never
19:34
Speaker 3: quite stick. And if you recall, they really toubted that
19:38
Speaker 3: he could stick at third base. They tried hard to
19:40
Speaker 3: make that work. Didn't happen, moved to the outfield full time.
19:45
Speaker 3: They didn't blame him out there. That's the reason. And
19:48
Speaker 3: I sometimes still wonder if that was right, because guess what,
19:52
Speaker 3: you're several years into this and last year, especially toward
19:55
Speaker 3: the tail end of last season. You needed, I don't know,
19:58
Speaker 3: guys who could get on base. You needed a better
20:02
Speaker 3: offensive identity, Guys who didn't chase and justin Harry malloy
20:05
Speaker 3: did not get a lot of at bats, especially in
20:09
Speaker 3: crunch time. Part of it's because the you know, he
20:13
Speaker 3: became basically a DH only the Tigers weren't gonna trust
20:16
Speaker 3: him in the field. But I worry, you know, look
20:19
Speaker 3: at these next waves of guys coming up. Max Anderson
20:22
Speaker 3: really really interesting prospect, probably a little higher touted than
20:26
Speaker 3: Jay hd ever was. But one scout told me a
20:28
Speaker 3: Max Anderson, he can hit, he cannot field. We've seen
20:32
Speaker 3: this with Colt Keith, like he's worked his butt off
20:36
Speaker 3: at multiple positions, but does he really have a position, Like,
20:39
Speaker 3: I don't know. I think Kevin McGonagall will have a position,
20:43
Speaker 3: but it might not be shortstop. I think Max Clark
20:45
Speaker 3: is really talented, but is he the plus center fielder
20:48
Speaker 3: that everyone just kind of assumes he is. I don't know.
20:51
Speaker 3: That's a really high bar to clear. So when we
20:54
Speaker 3: talk about all the level of risk the Tigers are
20:57
Speaker 3: putting on this next wave of prospects, even though all
21:00
Speaker 3: those guys I just mentioned and probably higher in the
21:03
Speaker 3: rankings than Jayhen, ever, was like, this is why sometimes
21:07
Speaker 3: things don't always pan out. Jayhen was one of the
21:10
Speaker 3: dudes not that long ago, and now he's getting dfaid.
21:14
Speaker 3: Also wouldn't be surprised if he goes to like the
21:15
Speaker 3: Guardians or the Brewers and just like hits thirty homers
21:19
Speaker 3: with a three sixty o bp pix shit. But I
21:22
Speaker 3: also get why they moved on. There just wasn't really
21:25
Speaker 3: a role for him as the team is currently constructed.
21:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, it's unfortunate because I I said for
21:35
Speaker 1: really the past year that if you he his skill
21:41
Speaker 1: set is one that has to be playing pretty regularly,
21:44
Speaker 1: like maybe not every day, but like pretty damn close
21:47
Speaker 1: to be every day in order to really get the
21:49
Speaker 1: most out of what he does best. I don't like
21:52
Speaker 1: he's not I never looked at him as a like
21:55
Speaker 1: pinch hitting machine like and Andy A. Banhes was like
21:58
Speaker 1: like Jamai Jones became It felt like this was an
22:02
Speaker 1: everyday best usage player. The problem is, as you said
22:06
Speaker 1: laid out, with all that defense, there just wasn't really
22:08
Speaker 1: any place to put them, or at least like they didn't.
22:12
Speaker 1: They never decided to give him a run, I guess
22:14
Speaker 1: is the better way to put they never decided to
22:15
Speaker 1: give him a run. I mean you look at so
22:18
Speaker 1: I know, bad and average whatever, but he was a
22:20
Speaker 1: two zho nine three to eleven on base for three
22:24
Speaker 1: forty six slug in one hundred and twenty three games
22:28
Speaker 1: as a major leaguer. But you look at triple A
22:30
Speaker 1: two eighty six, four to twenty four, four seventy eight,
22:33
Speaker 1: so like this was like there's definitely more to him
22:39
Speaker 1: than what we got to see in the Tigers uniform.
22:42
Speaker 1: And part of me is like I just don't know,
22:45
Speaker 1: like how comfortable I am like moving on from somebody
22:49
Speaker 1: that you know can help you if if you gave
22:51
Speaker 1: him every day at bets, like like.
22:54
Speaker 3: A three base percentage last year, it's only one hundred
22:57
Speaker 3: and twenty seven played appearances and the power didn't show up,
23:00
Speaker 3: which was important in all this. You had three forty
23:03
Speaker 3: six OVP Pretty good.
23:06
Speaker 1: I just feel like there's like good organizations can find
23:09
Speaker 1: a usage for a way to get the most out
23:12
Speaker 1: of Justin Henry mLOY And I understand, like you gotta
23:18
Speaker 1: have as many arms as possible, but it's like I
23:20
Speaker 1: don't know, dude, Like like how long are we gonna
23:25
Speaker 1: do the Ti Madden thing? Like how long are we
23:28
Speaker 1: gonna do it? With some of these guys like they,
23:31
Speaker 1: you know, Dylan Smith. I don't want to say like
23:33
Speaker 1: this person should have been cut, but I'm just looking
23:36
Speaker 1: at how they like how I interpret the team view
23:39
Speaker 1: some of these players. Dylan Smith was here and gone
23:43
Speaker 1: really fast last year, Cody, like, like, I just feel
23:47
Speaker 1: like you could you should be able to find more
23:50
Speaker 1: pitching in generally, in general than a guy that has
23:54
Speaker 1: the skill set of Justin Henry mulloy. So it's like
23:56
Speaker 1: I get it. I can't say I like it. I
23:58
Speaker 1: can't say I like it. And then like, do you
24:00
Speaker 1: have a plan for Chase Young?
24:02
Speaker 2: Like do you have?
24:04
Speaker 3: I'm not sure he'll make it to spring training, which
24:08
Speaker 3: is strange to say, and I don't like speculating about
24:11
Speaker 3: that stuff. But he's still got to be on the
24:13
Speaker 3: shopping block. That's that's the reality.
24:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, And like I don't know there was more of
24:19
Speaker 1: like this showed me something, and I guess may maybe
24:23
Speaker 1: this is an example of like stakes being raised and
24:25
Speaker 1: not really having the time or whatever.
24:27
Speaker 2: But uh, you know, like.
24:31
Speaker 1: At this time last year or whenever he was added
24:34
Speaker 1: to the organization. And was there ever a world where
24:38
Speaker 1: you thought, like Jamai Jones was gonna like essentially take
24:41
Speaker 1: two guys jobs.
24:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a great point.
24:46
Speaker 1: You know, it's kind of wild. It's kind of wild,
24:48
Speaker 1: like this guy took two guys jobs and by the
24:51
Speaker 1: way earned it, like not by accident now, but but yeah,
24:56
Speaker 1: it just.
24:58
Speaker 3: We probably haven't talked enough abou about that, like Jami Jones,
25:01
Speaker 3: how good he was and and h for anyone who
25:04
Speaker 3: thinks like the Tigers need more another right handed bat,
25:07
Speaker 3: they at this point reviewing Jami Jones as like a
25:10
Speaker 3: right handed Carrie Carpenter or his ops against lefties was
25:14
Speaker 3: well over what nine hundred? Right? But again, is he
25:18
Speaker 3: going to repeat that? Like, I think there's certainly a
25:22
Speaker 3: level of risk in what you were going to get
25:25
Speaker 3: from Jami Jones next year.
25:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I would also I would also add that,
25:33
Speaker 1: like the football analogy would be like, you know, you
25:36
Speaker 1: have this receiver who's six y three and yeah, and
25:40
Speaker 1: you know and runs in the low four fours, and
25:43
Speaker 1: it's like, can you figure late round draft pick, can
25:46
Speaker 1: you figure out a way to try to see if
25:48
Speaker 1: you can get something out of this stuff? That you
25:49
Speaker 1: can't necessarily teach uh and and and that.
25:53
Speaker 2: And that's my feeling on the Maloy situation because like
25:57
Speaker 2: if you.
25:59
Speaker 1: Bicycle stands, don't ever really give him like an extended
26:03
Speaker 1: run in the major leagues. And this is the kind
26:07
Speaker 1: of guy that you want to kind of reshape the
26:10
Speaker 1: off the identity offense. Like Scott Harris said, like.
26:14
Speaker 2: Is there a failure here?
26:15
Speaker 1: Like, is there is there some measure of failure associated
26:19
Speaker 1: with the fact that you couldn't we know, you couldn't
26:22
Speaker 1: get the most out of Justin Henry mLOY and it's
26:25
Speaker 1: fairly easy to see him catching on somewhere.
26:28
Speaker 2: Is there a failure here?
26:30
Speaker 3: I think one of the big lessons is you you
26:32
Speaker 3: got to get players who can play in the field,
26:36
Speaker 3: because that ultimately contributed to Jay Hen's time with the
26:39
Speaker 3: Tigers likely coming to an end. No one's claimed him yet,
26:42
Speaker 3: but likely it's contributed to Jase Young never breaking through
26:48
Speaker 3: in the major leagues. It's still a fear with Colt
26:51
Speaker 3: Keith a little bit. It's still a fear with Max Anderson,
26:55
Speaker 3: and there are more guys of that ilk that Tigers
26:58
Speaker 3: are doing a better job again. McDonald Clark, Bryce Rayner.
27:01
Speaker 3: Those guys are going to have positions and play in
27:03
Speaker 3: the field. But there's been how long ago was it, Cole, Keith,
27:07
Speaker 3: Chase Young, Jayhen That was the way the guys, none
27:10
Speaker 3: of them at a position, and now two of them
27:13
Speaker 3: seemed one of them they've moved on from. Another one
27:16
Speaker 3: they're pretty damn close to moving on from. And another
27:19
Speaker 3: one has to really has to prove he can play
27:22
Speaker 3: third base this year to ever fully maximize his value.
27:26
Speaker 3: So that's that's probably the lesson.
27:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, less than eight million about like, you know,
27:35
Speaker 1: all these projections and you try to do this, you
27:37
Speaker 1: try to do that, and ultimately, like you know, it
27:40
Speaker 1: just doesn't kind of work out here. So let's see
27:44
Speaker 1: hopefully lands on his feet. I don't know if we
27:46
Speaker 1: ever you know, talked about a kil but do getting
27:48
Speaker 1: a major league deal. I can't remember if we did
27:50
Speaker 1: it not, but good for a keel if we missed it, sorry,
27:53
Speaker 1: you know, good for a keel.
27:54
Speaker 3: Uh.
27:55
Speaker 1: And you know, there's these guys because I was going
27:58
Speaker 1: through some of the guys that you kind of figured
27:59
Speaker 1: we're gonna of maybe potentially shape like the team over
28:03
Speaker 1: the next couple of years. You know, at the time
28:05
Speaker 1: of thinking, and it's like, you know, the Matt Manning's,
28:07
Speaker 1: the a Kiel badues, you.
28:10
Speaker 2: Know, guys like that. This one hurt.
28:13
Speaker 1: This one got me more than those other ones, you know,
28:18
Speaker 1: you know what I mean.
28:18
Speaker 2: And even though like the end result is the same.
28:21
Speaker 1: So I don't know, I just I my fear is
28:24
Speaker 1: that he catches on pretty pretty good somewhere and it's like,
28:28
Speaker 1: what you couldn't find use for this guy?
28:30
Speaker 3: Let's see, I mean, it's it's just the proof, Like
28:32
Speaker 3: it's why didn't Muna taker Murakami signed with the Chicago
28:36
Speaker 3: White Sox. He doesn't have a position, He has really
28:39
Speaker 3: good power, he seems to have a decent eye. He
28:43
Speaker 3: whiffs at a crazy rate, including in the zone, which
28:46
Speaker 3: was also a problem with Jay Hen was in zone
28:48
Speaker 3: with Like, Murakami is incredibly famous, incredibly talented, and he
28:53
Speaker 3: signed a two year deal with Chicago White Sox because
28:55
Speaker 3: they were just too many red flags. Unrelated but I
29:02
Speaker 3: was a little surprised that Kiel got a major league deal,
29:04
Speaker 3: But the Brewers got what perfect fit for him, right,
29:08
Speaker 3: They're just gonna yeah, I'll be really interested to see
29:12
Speaker 3: how that one works out, see if he can ever
29:14
Speaker 3: find some consistency in his swing. So I feel like
29:17
Speaker 3: we saw a Keel have like eight different versions of
29:20
Speaker 3: his swing and about one of them was the good version,
29:23
Speaker 3: and it would just never stick for very long. If
29:26
Speaker 3: he can get a little bit comfortable in the batter's
29:28
Speaker 3: box and you can use his speed like he could,
29:30
Speaker 3: he could be really fun on that team. So if
29:34
Speaker 3: a Kilbido and Jahn lead the Brewers to another division title,
29:38
Speaker 3: we will have content all summer.
29:40
Speaker 1: Long, no doubt about that, No doubt about that. All right,
29:46
Speaker 1: go to anything else before we.
29:47
Speaker 2: Get out of here.
29:49
Speaker 3: I think that covers it for now. Thanks for hanging
29:51
Speaker 3: with us again. Merry Christmas, Happy holidays to everyone out there.
29:56
Speaker 1: Yep, and we will have an episode that drops on
29:58
Speaker 1: the twenty six So if you're if you're having to
30:01
Speaker 1: go back into the office like I will be, we
30:03
Speaker 1: will have some content for you, hopefully make that day
30:07
Speaker 1: a little bit better. You can follow us on x
30:08
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Speaker 1: merch on behalf of Cody Stavenhangen. I'm Karen Steckley. Everybody,
30:20
Speaker 1: have a great day.