Latest / Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast / The latest on Josue Briceño, Keider Montero and more from Tigers camp

Transcript

The latest on Josue Briceño, Keider Montero and more from Tigers camp · 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 ful Territory Network Try to Talker's podcast. I'm Kieren
0:15
Speaker 1: Seckley with me as always as a man who puts
0:17
Speaker 1: the custom in US customs. He's Kotty Stavenhagen.
0:20
Speaker 2: How you doing doing all right back in the United States?
0:23
Speaker 3: Posts it up here in Miami where I will be
0:26
Speaker 3: covering World Baseball Classic for the next week. What a
0:31
Speaker 3: fun trip in the Dominican Man, A really cool experience
0:34
Speaker 3: there was there was a lot going on logistically, kind
0:38
Speaker 3: of a nightmare from like a working perspective, But I'm
0:40
Speaker 3: definitely glad I made the trip, and I think a
0:42
Speaker 3: lot of the players who were there.
0:44
Speaker 2: Feel the same.
0:45
Speaker 1: Well, actually, I think that's a good way to start.
0:48
Speaker 1: And you know, we talked the day after the first game,
0:50
Speaker 1: which was obviously the you know, Ken McGonagall day in
0:53
Speaker 1: the in the DR. But but I guess, like metaphorically
0:58
Speaker 1: or or or literally, like if you have any souvenirs
1:00
Speaker 1: you want to show off for us? You know, like,
1:02
Speaker 1: what are you taking from from this trip? From the
1:04
Speaker 1: Tiger's trip to the DR.
1:07
Speaker 2: The only thing I brought back was some this.
1:10
Speaker 1: Is why you guys subscribed on YouTube by the way.
1:12
Speaker 2: So you see with Tody Dominican coffee. Oh, yes, that's
1:15
Speaker 2: the gifts I'll.
1:16
Speaker 3: Be bringing back home a very good coffee over there.
1:19
Speaker 3: That's the only thing I brought. Yeah, I just think,
1:23
Speaker 3: like aj Hinch said, it was kind of about the experience,
1:25
Speaker 3: the love of baseball. I can see why that's probably
1:30
Speaker 3: refreshing for players in the midst of what can be
1:33
Speaker 3: along and.
1:34
Speaker 2: Grueling spring training.
1:35
Speaker 3: You go on a trip like that, and it's not
1:38
Speaker 3: easiest for the team either from like a logistical standpoint.
1:41
Speaker 2: You got to make the travel, you kind of get
1:43
Speaker 2: out of your routine.
1:44
Speaker 3: But you go do that, and I think it just
1:46
Speaker 3: feels fun and you kind of remember why you're there
1:49
Speaker 3: and why you're playing baseball. I mean, I went and
1:52
Speaker 3: told Jake Rogers, like, we're a long way from West Texas,
1:55
Speaker 3: just me, you know, I said, in the stands for
1:57
Speaker 3: a few innings, I was like, what is life?
2:00
Speaker 2: I never really thought I'd.
2:01
Speaker 3: Be watching a professional baseball game in the Dominican Republic.
2:06
Speaker 3: And I think a lot of the players kind of
2:07
Speaker 3: felt that too, you know a lot of them. A
2:10
Speaker 3: lot of the American players had never left the country
2:13
Speaker 3: at all before Kevin McGonagall, you know, had never been
2:17
Speaker 3: on a trip like that. Even even Riley Green, Spencer
2:20
Speaker 3: htorkalsim like kind of an eye opening experience for them.
2:23
Speaker 3: I've talked about how much it meant for the Dominican
2:25
Speaker 3: born players playing in that environment, which was kind of
2:29
Speaker 3: everything you think it was gonna be like being there,
2:31
Speaker 3: I can tell you everything you hear about Dominican baseball
2:34
Speaker 3: is true. The crowd was lit, you know, like, I
2:40
Speaker 3: just think that's refreshing and in the middle of what
2:42
Speaker 3: can be kind of a weird part of the year
2:45
Speaker 3: and you get sore and you're just ready for the
2:47
Speaker 3: games to start. I think maybe that injects a little
2:50
Speaker 3: bit of energy in everyone. So that's really the main
2:52
Speaker 3: takeaway in terms of the actual baseball. I mean, it's
2:56
Speaker 3: hard to say. I don't think the games mean a
2:59
Speaker 3: ton the game, the way the games are managed. It's
3:01
Speaker 3: probably nice to see the Tigers kind of make that
3:03
Speaker 3: second one interesting a little bit against such a star
3:05
Speaker 3: studded lineup. There are specific plays we can point to.
3:09
Speaker 3: We talked about McGonagall last episode. Zach mcintree had a
3:12
Speaker 3: terrific over the shoulder catch turn and throw to first
3:15
Speaker 3: base for a double play. Max Clark's going through it
3:18
Speaker 3: right now. We can talk about that more if you want.
3:21
Speaker 2: I don't know.
3:21
Speaker 3: I left with a ton of like on the field takeaways,
3:24
Speaker 3: though I think it was more just about the ambiance
3:26
Speaker 3: and the experience.
3:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, and again, like some of this, like I previewed
3:32
Speaker 1: and and some of this I had like mentioned in
3:36
Speaker 1: our episode previous about you know, what McGonagall was going through.
3:40
Speaker 1: But like the ambiance and like all this stuff, it's
3:44
Speaker 1: still like spring train. It's an exhibition, all that stuff.
3:46
Speaker 1: All that stuff is true, but it's still like a
3:49
Speaker 1: good portion, like I'm looking at the lineup right now,
3:51
Speaker 1: like it's a good portion of every day or near
3:54
Speaker 1: everyday players they're going up that are up against what
3:57
Speaker 1: essentially is an all star team, right the team for
4:00
Speaker 1: the Dominican Republic. And we went over what that lineup
4:03
Speaker 1: looks like previously, and so like it's it's nice to
4:06
Speaker 1: see Colt Keith, who had kind of had a slow
4:09
Speaker 1: start to spring training go two for three and then
4:12
Speaker 1: one for three. It was, you know, it's nice to
4:13
Speaker 1: see kind of Spencer Torglsen get a base knock, Riley
4:16
Speaker 1: Green have some hard hit balls like like these are
4:20
Speaker 1: wet tel Perez, you know what, the all the emotions
4:23
Speaker 1: of it have, you know, going two for four on Tuesday,
4:26
Speaker 1: like it felt good to see the guys. Like again,
4:31
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to overrate it, but it all way
4:32
Speaker 1: kind of like rise to the occasion a little bit.
4:35
Speaker 1: And and I don't know if I got the point
4:37
Speaker 1: all the way across when we talked previously, but you
4:41
Speaker 1: could definitely tell watching these games that obviously it meant
4:46
Speaker 1: a lot to Team dr obviously, but even the Tigers
4:50
Speaker 1: like they you know, they were playing with some emotion too,
4:52
Speaker 1: like they were like in the spirit of it as well,
4:55
Speaker 1: and you don't like it's very rare, and that's what
4:58
Speaker 1: makes the WBC and then a specific opportunity. It's very
5:02
Speaker 1: rare to get instances that like really like raise your juice,
5:07
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. And because like, yes, competition
5:10
Speaker 1: is competition. These guys are high competitors.
5:12
Speaker 3: Like we know this.
5:12
Speaker 1: Austin Will would say the same thing if he was
5:14
Speaker 1: on with us right now. But you can't tell me
5:16
Speaker 1: that's not different, Like you just can't tell me that's
5:19
Speaker 1: not different. So it from from that sense, it was
5:23
Speaker 1: like a fun experience to see these guys kind of
5:27
Speaker 1: be in game mode earlier than they otherwise would be.
5:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean no doubt, you know, Aj Henes was
5:36
Speaker 2: pretty funny.
5:37
Speaker 3: Someone asked him to compare that atmosphere to Game five
5:40
Speaker 3: in Seattle, and I would say Seattle was certainly louder,
5:44
Speaker 3: given it's a much larger crowd and enclosed or partially
5:47
Speaker 3: enclosed stadium. But Aj said, well, you know, there are
5:51
Speaker 3: no instruments in Seattle, and you have a brass band
5:54
Speaker 3: playing in the dr during the game, you know, football style,
5:58
Speaker 3: so that is certainly a little bit different and that'll
6:00
Speaker 3: get your juices going.
6:02
Speaker 1: Well. Well, something that uh that I really liked reading
6:06
Speaker 1: and and you guys can go read Cody's story on
6:09
Speaker 1: the athletic that just kind of encapsulates everything from from
6:13
Speaker 1: this couple of days since in the d R. One
6:15
Speaker 1: of the things I thought was awesome in there was uh,
6:18
Speaker 1: you know, a Spanish you know, a Latin reporter asking
6:22
Speaker 1: uh aj Hinch whether Ken McGonagall is gonna be on
6:25
Speaker 1: the roster and so so the the the everything that
6:29
Speaker 1: like Detroit is focused on is now in an international curiosity.
6:34
Speaker 1: You know what I mean, which which I which I
6:36
Speaker 1: think is great and uh and and I don't want
6:39
Speaker 1: to spoil how AJ handled it, but uh, obviously you
6:42
Speaker 1: can if you want. It's your story. But it was
6:44
Speaker 1: a nice little moment and a reminder that like, you know,
6:47
Speaker 1: like Ken McGonagall, like he was kind of Detroit's pet
6:52
Speaker 1: for a little bit, like the fan bases pet, Like
6:54
Speaker 1: look what he's doing the miners and then he shoots
6:56
Speaker 1: up the boars and it's kind of like, you know,
6:58
Speaker 1: anyone who follows Mind League Baseball is hearing about him. Now,
7:02
Speaker 1: if you don't know about Kevin McGonagall, it's gonna be
7:04
Speaker 1: you problem because it's it's in different languages now.
7:08
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I mean even the people who weren't on
7:10
Speaker 3: the hype train maybe weren't that aware of what he
7:13
Speaker 3: was doing in spring training. I think that homer Off
7:15
Speaker 3: Savarino made the rounds enough on social media where he
7:19
Speaker 3: people nationally and yes internationally, are now a little more
7:22
Speaker 3: locked in on who this kid is. For the record,
7:26
Speaker 3: still really hard to get to read on exactly what
7:28
Speaker 3: the Tigers are thinking, maybe if you want to go
7:31
Speaker 3: by their actions. The fact he's in lead off, playing
7:34
Speaker 3: shortstop every day, I mean, maybe that tells you something.
7:38
Speaker 3: We could talk about this ad nauseum. Having him skip
7:41
Speaker 3: Triple A would still be on Tigers. Like, it's interesting
7:47
Speaker 3: reading some of the stuff that comes out Dan Senborski
7:50
Speaker 3: saying the projection system, say put this kid on the
7:52
Speaker 3: roster if you're trying to win, you know all the
7:57
Speaker 3: different service time and PPI consideration. Remember, it's not necessarily
8:01
Speaker 3: a lock that the Tigers would get an extra year
8:04
Speaker 3: of service time if they hilt him down, because if
8:06
Speaker 3: he comes up in May or June and wins Rookie
8:11
Speaker 3: of the Year, he gets a full year of service time.
8:15
Speaker 3: And if the Tigers don't have him on the opening
8:17
Speaker 3: day roster or within the time frame required for him
8:21
Speaker 3: to normally gain a full year of service time, they
8:24
Speaker 3: would not receive the draft pick compensation for having him
8:28
Speaker 3: win Rookie of the Year. It happened with Paul Skins
8:30
Speaker 3: and the Pirates a couple of years ago. It's happened
8:31
Speaker 3: in a couple different instances, so there's a lot of steak.
8:36
Speaker 3: It's really complicated. There are a lot of different scenarios.
8:40
Speaker 3: I still know what's going to happen here, but it
8:42
Speaker 3: was really interesting the most interesting I learned was talking
8:45
Speaker 3: to McGonagall, who still just cool as a cucumber, saying
8:49
Speaker 3: he's standing on the line with aj Hinch before the
8:51
Speaker 3: first game, and mcgonagall's a little bit and off. You know,
8:54
Speaker 3: these are the dudes he watched growing up. It's Juan Soto,
8:57
Speaker 3: Fernando Tattis, Voladi, Junior, Any Machado, Julio Rodriguez.
9:02
Speaker 2: We could keep going.
9:03
Speaker 3: It's a stacked team, and so aj and all his
9:07
Speaker 3: genius kind of starts going down the line and just
9:11
Speaker 3: tells Kevin something. Each of them are like bad at
9:14
Speaker 3: you know, this is his weakness, this is the pitch
9:16
Speaker 3: he's not good against. This is you know, just kind
9:19
Speaker 3: of trying to humanize him, because part of this for
9:22
Speaker 3: young players, you have to realize these aren't your idols anymore.
9:26
Speaker 2: You are you know, these are your peers.
9:28
Speaker 3: You are one of them. If you want to be great,
9:30
Speaker 3: you are. Maybe they're equal. So so I think that's
9:35
Speaker 3: a really smart move by AJ Hinch. I think that
9:37
Speaker 3: stuck with Kevin a little bit. He was still a
9:39
Speaker 3: little in awe of getting a hug from Carlos Santana
9:43
Speaker 3: and Machado telling him, oh my gosh poppy after that homer,
9:47
Speaker 3: But I do think he probably walked away from that
9:49
Speaker 3: being a little bit more like, oh yeah, like I
9:52
Speaker 3: I do belong on the same field as these guys,
9:54
Speaker 3: like they are humans and they do. I think Kevin
9:57
Speaker 3: was watching for some of those tendencies that AJ pointed
10:00
Speaker 3: out during the game.
10:01
Speaker 2: So I think that was definitely a cool story.
10:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, and like I'm glad you mentioned like the leadoff
10:09
Speaker 1: and the short stop thing. And by the way, like
10:11
Speaker 1: he is human. He did go hitless in the second game,
10:13
Speaker 1: but did did get a walk because you know, the
10:19
Speaker 1: whole actions thing I think is at least worth just
10:22
Speaker 1: like mentioning it's not like a huge discussion point, but
10:25
Speaker 1: from AJ kind of making him do the introduction like
10:29
Speaker 1: very early in camp, to including him on this roster, batting,
10:33
Speaker 1: lead up, playing shortstop, getting a lot of short stuff,
10:35
Speaker 1: having him, you know.
10:37
Speaker 2: Do.
10:38
Speaker 1: Just so happens. His rotation in drills is with the
10:41
Speaker 1: you know, it's pointed that it's with the Glabors and
10:44
Speaker 1: the hobbies of the world, like the lead up to
10:49
Speaker 1: it is one that made that if he does make
10:52
Speaker 1: this team, in addition to obviously his production, it's gonna
10:55
Speaker 1: make a lot of sense. So like so like this
10:57
Speaker 1: week was just like another example of that. So I
11:00
Speaker 1: just kind of wanted to put that out there as
11:02
Speaker 1: like a reminder, like this process is in play should
11:07
Speaker 1: they choose to go that direction.
11:10
Speaker 2: All right, let's get to.
11:11
Speaker 1: Some some some more newsy ones. You included this in
11:16
Speaker 1: your story and it's since been reported elsewhere, Cody, but
11:20
Speaker 1: not so not so great news for jos Way Rastinio.
11:23
Speaker 1: Uh he and I want to get the wording right
11:26
Speaker 1: on this. My understanding that he has had surgery on
11:31
Speaker 1: his wrist, and we're still waiting more information in terms of,
11:34
Speaker 1: you know, what a timetable could be and and and
11:37
Speaker 1: all that stuff. But either way, obviously like a setback
11:40
Speaker 1: for you know, one of your more hyped prospects.
11:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure.
11:44
Speaker 3: This is one of those weird ones where I can't
11:46
Speaker 3: quite divulge everything I know just based on uh, you know,
11:49
Speaker 3: where it came from and the people who told me.
11:52
Speaker 3: But Rasinio's had surgery, So that's that's not great. I
11:55
Speaker 3: would expect an update probably Friday morning. Maybe we'll get
11:58
Speaker 3: a little more on what the timetable looks like. Unfortunate
12:03
Speaker 3: for him, well, you know, again, we'll see how much
12:06
Speaker 3: time he ends up missing, but if it were to
12:09
Speaker 3: be a significant amount of time, that kind of factors
12:12
Speaker 3: into for why you just can't always bank on prospects
12:18
Speaker 3: just because you know, an injury to a prospect can
12:20
Speaker 3: push back their developmental timeline in some cases significantly. So yeah,
12:26
Speaker 3: it's it's certainly an unfortunate event there for host wait versino.
12:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it goes into this can go in a
12:34
Speaker 1: million directions and and sort of like not necessarily fair
12:40
Speaker 1: to talk about it now, but like you know, this
12:43
Speaker 1: is this is part of what happens in the development arc.
12:45
Speaker 1: Sometimes you have setbacks. And and he's only twenty one.
12:49
Speaker 1: I have his birthday in front of me. I could
12:51
Speaker 1: look it up here in a second. But like we know,
12:55
Speaker 1: the bat profiles as a real force and obviously you
13:00
Speaker 1: can catch. That makes you like that much more valuable
13:03
Speaker 1: of an asset for your organization just in general. But
13:07
Speaker 1: by the way, he turns, uh, he'll turn twenty two
13:10
Speaker 1: in September, so a young young twenty one. I'm not
13:16
Speaker 1: sure like I need him to continue to go through
13:18
Speaker 1: the catching regimen just in general, Like the if the
13:22
Speaker 1: bat is gonna get him to the bigs and the
13:24
Speaker 1: bat is is real. I think you're deep enough at
13:29
Speaker 1: catcher that you don't necessarily, you know, as an organization,
13:32
Speaker 1: you don't look at your forty man, you don't necessarily
13:34
Speaker 1: have to like play this out to its fullest extent,
13:38
Speaker 1: in my opinion, if you're that big of a believer
13:40
Speaker 1: in the bat profile. But that's just kind of where
13:42
Speaker 1: I've gotten. I don't know if I'm like wrong here.
13:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, I guess there's there's no harm in taking it
13:49
Speaker 3: as far as it can go, right, especially if you're
13:52
Speaker 3: just gonna move him to first base. DH It's I mean,
13:54
Speaker 3: first base is certainly a much harder position than people
13:57
Speaker 3: give it credit for, but he still plays some time
13:59
Speaker 3: at first I don't know that you're necessarily losing anything
14:02
Speaker 3: by trying it, but I would just I mean, this
14:06
Speaker 3: is a big boy, and in a good way, like
14:08
Speaker 3: he's you know, he's kind of chiseled, but he's huge.
14:12
Speaker 2: He's already you know, I don't think he moves gracefully.
14:17
Speaker 3: And if that's what he looks like at twenty one,
14:19
Speaker 3: was he going to look like even at twenty four,
14:21
Speaker 3: twenty five? I'm pretty skeptical about his future behind the plate.
14:25
Speaker 3: But maybe there's value there if he can play even
14:27
Speaker 3: part time for a couple of years or be basically
14:32
Speaker 3: an emergency catcher.
14:34
Speaker 2: We know how a J. Hinshoes this roster. So again,
14:37
Speaker 2: I don't.
14:37
Speaker 3: Necessarily fault the team for trying it, but I think
14:40
Speaker 3: this guy's a first baseman DH in the long run
14:42
Speaker 3: for sure.
14:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, I just don't want it to get like you're right,
14:46
Speaker 1: like take it to like its natural like end is
14:50
Speaker 1: obviously the right move, but I just don't it's certainly
14:54
Speaker 1: conceivable that it could get in the way of him
14:57
Speaker 1: being a productive or like relied upon major leaguer if
15:02
Speaker 1: the bats already there, you see what I'm saying. And
15:04
Speaker 1: so so that's just that's just the thought that I have.
15:07
Speaker 1: And and speaking of you know, you know this profile,
15:11
Speaker 1: this kind of raises like what the Tigers kind of need,
15:16
Speaker 1: like long term and short term from like a guy
15:18
Speaker 1: like Tyron Loronzo, who was on this trip and prominently
15:22
Speaker 1: featured as a as a native Dominican. Uh, you know,
15:27
Speaker 1: really cool moment for him to get to play against
15:29
Speaker 1: the the you know, the Dominican national team I'm sure
15:31
Speaker 1: obviously in his home country and all that stuff. But uh,
15:35
Speaker 1: if you want to talk about bodies, he looks different.
15:38
Speaker 1: We talked about it a little bit, but he like
15:40
Speaker 1: thirty lost thirty five pounds, like he's unrecognizable, uh, you
15:45
Speaker 1: know at times out there, Cody, and if he can
15:48
Speaker 1: get if he can get the back going, he can develop.
15:51
Speaker 1: Like I'm more comfortable with trying to get him through
15:54
Speaker 1: the longest extent the leash possible with the catching than Brassinio.
15:59
Speaker 1: And now it's it's a great opportunity for him as
16:02
Speaker 1: well to try to bounce back after what was, you know,
16:05
Speaker 1: just a little bit of a downer of a twenty
16:08
Speaker 1: twenty five.
16:10
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's interesting how him and Brasannio compare behind the plate.
16:13
Speaker 3: I think Personnio is probably a better receiver. That's certainly
16:15
Speaker 3: where Loronzo still does not always look the most natural.
16:20
Speaker 3: But Loronzo kind of has a big plus in his arm,
16:23
Speaker 3: like probably a legitimate plus arm, where I don't think
16:25
Speaker 3: anything about Personio behind the plate is plus. He has
16:29
Speaker 3: the arm of a legit catcher, and it certainly helps
16:33
Speaker 3: that he lost thirty five pounds. We'll see if he
16:35
Speaker 3: can keep that weight off and stay in good shape
16:38
Speaker 3: as he gets older and he matures, But it's certainly
16:41
Speaker 3: a big year for Loronzo. He has to reassert himself
16:44
Speaker 3: at the plate a little bit. Having a good enough
16:46
Speaker 3: spring right now. I think just the fact that he
16:48
Speaker 3: looks good and is getting time is helpful. There's a
16:51
Speaker 3: little bit of a hitch in his swing man that
16:53
Speaker 3: I worry about and worry about how that's going to
16:56
Speaker 3: play against upper level pitching. So one of the reasons
16:59
Speaker 3: I just say it's a big year for him. He
17:01
Speaker 3: can always make swing adjustments. We'll see how much he
17:04
Speaker 3: can continue to improve. I do think he's better today,
17:08
Speaker 3: probably than the day he got in the Tigers organization,
17:10
Speaker 3: but probably still has a long way to go.
17:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, let's go to another piece of news
17:19
Speaker 1: that that came out, and that's the Tigers making a
17:22
Speaker 1: decision on cater Montero. They're gonna option him. He's obviously,
17:30
Speaker 1: you know, at the WBC right now, and and I
17:34
Speaker 1: guess to their credit, they eliminate a little bit of
17:36
Speaker 1: a speculation minutes that we would be spending on this
17:39
Speaker 1: podcast and Colin Menches you guys would be using about
17:42
Speaker 1: what to do with him, and we've already kind of
17:44
Speaker 1: done that conversation, but like my initial reaction, So I'm
17:50
Speaker 1: just gonna tell you my initial reaction when I saw
17:52
Speaker 1: the news and and and and read some of the reason,
17:55
Speaker 1: I was like, this seems a little selfish, and this
17:59
Speaker 1: seems little smart. And obviously those I don't mean, I
18:02
Speaker 1: don't mean those in negative ways. But it's like, like,
18:05
Speaker 1: it's you want to maintain you obviously believe in this guy.
18:09
Speaker 1: You want to maintain his his stretched out noss. I
18:12
Speaker 1: know that's not a real word, but we want to
18:13
Speaker 1: maintain his stretched outness as as much as possible. But man,
18:19
Speaker 1: he could still be an asset for you as a
18:22
Speaker 1: as an arm in the bullpen the entire major league season.
18:25
Speaker 1: So they're being smart. It's it's a smart decision, but
18:28
Speaker 1: it's also I think a selfish one because you're trying
18:31
Speaker 1: to use use him to the maximum value, and unfortunately
18:34
Speaker 1: from him, from his perspective, that means more time spent
18:38
Speaker 1: in TLEDO.
18:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think there's a lot at play here. One
18:44
Speaker 3: I think that the decision to have him be a starter.
18:49
Speaker 3: Wonder how much Troy Melton's status plays into that. Even
18:52
Speaker 3: if we end up learning good news on Troy Melton,
18:54
Speaker 3: the fact he's shut down from throwing makes you think
18:56
Speaker 3: he's probably not gonna be ready to pitch. Let's say
18:59
Speaker 3: there's a a rain delay and the Tigers need a
19:01
Speaker 3: six starter the first week of the season.
19:04
Speaker 2: That guy's not going to be Chrey Melton.
19:05
Speaker 3: So I wonder if that plays into the cater Montero
19:08
Speaker 3: decision a little bit, or if it even God forbid,
19:12
Speaker 3: foreshadows worst news coming with Melton.
19:14
Speaker 2: We'll see.
19:14
Speaker 3: Stay tuned again on that one. I think that might
19:18
Speaker 3: be part of what's at play. I think everything aj
19:20
Speaker 3: Hinch said on this topic makes sense. He's going to
19:23
Speaker 3: go fifty to sixty pitches in the WBC. Tigers decide
19:28
Speaker 3: he's going to be a starter. That means he's going
19:31
Speaker 3: to start in Toledo. So that means they're just going
19:36
Speaker 3: to go ahead and option him now because they tell
19:39
Speaker 3: players once they make a decision. That in a lot
19:42
Speaker 3: of ways makes sense, and a lot of ways we're
19:44
Speaker 3: used to the Tigers taking things down to the wire,
19:47
Speaker 3: making decisions at the last possible minute. For me, you
19:52
Speaker 3: know you're one injury away, justin Verlander's forty three. What
19:55
Speaker 3: if you know he pulls a muscle, What if someone
19:57
Speaker 3: else hearts their arm. What if something happened, cater Montero
20:01
Speaker 3: is probably coming right back to the major leagues, you
20:03
Speaker 3: would think.
20:04
Speaker 2: So that's a little different.
20:06
Speaker 3: But then again, the Tigers haven't had a set rotation
20:11
Speaker 3: before in spring training in aj Hinch's time as manager. Now,
20:17
Speaker 3: this was also interesting from Mike Smith, the former Tiger's
20:20
Speaker 3: front office employee, who kind of theorized there could be
20:23
Speaker 3: some service time considerations at play here, because if cater
20:28
Speaker 3: Montero were to pitch for Team Venezuela and the World
20:30
Speaker 3: Baseball Classic and then get injured there, he's going on
20:35
Speaker 3: the major league injured list, that would mean service time.
20:37
Speaker 3: That would also mean a little more money. So maybe
20:40
Speaker 3: this is just the way of kind of some minor,
20:43
Speaker 3: a minor way of the Tigers protecting themselves in Montero's
20:46
Speaker 3: service time a little bit. Again, I doubt that's like
20:49
Speaker 3: a huge motivating factor, but a good front office.
20:52
Speaker 2: Does have to consider all areas of the equation.
20:58
Speaker 3: But that also makes me think, like, well, they didn't
21:00
Speaker 3: do that with how you Lee who did get hurt
21:04
Speaker 3: is coming off the Chinese type AI roster with an
21:07
Speaker 3: oblique strain, and if you're gonna do that with Montero.
21:10
Speaker 3: Why not option everybody who has options available right now
21:15
Speaker 3: for a similar reason. So I'm not you know, I
21:19
Speaker 3: think everything said makes sense, and I think that that
21:24
Speaker 3: just goes to say, there are a lot of factors
21:26
Speaker 3: into why the Tigers ultimately option to cater Montero.
21:30
Speaker 2: It surprised me. I guess it makes sense, and again.
21:34
Speaker 3: The option doesn't really mean a lot because you can
21:38
Speaker 3: always bring him back, particularly if you're replacing an injured player.
21:45
Speaker 2: So yeah, that's what's going on with cater Montero.
21:49
Speaker 1: This is where I would remind everybody because it is
21:56
Speaker 1: actually impressive when you go and you look back at
21:58
Speaker 1: it is that he has pitched eight point one postseason endings.
22:05
Speaker 1: And that's obviously you know, the past two seasons, he's
22:09
Speaker 1: giving up a total of two hits, he has two
22:11
Speaker 1: walks trying to get the k's here, and he has
22:15
Speaker 1: given up zero earned runs. So like, this is a
22:20
Speaker 1: guy who has postseason experience that you've trusted over the
22:24
Speaker 1: course of multiple years. He's obviously a valuable member of
22:28
Speaker 1: your team. It just it feels like I want more
22:33
Speaker 1: from that. I want them to use him more because
22:35
Speaker 1: obviously they trust him. But at the same time, this
22:38
Speaker 1: is also a reminder that I'm reminding myself live here.
22:42
Speaker 2: Opening day roster.
22:44
Speaker 1: It's not June's roster, centralized roster, it's not October's roster.
22:49
Speaker 1: So you know, we hype it up or whatever. It's
22:51
Speaker 1: probably overall the smart thing, but you know, it's a
22:54
Speaker 1: guy like you would like to see just kind of
22:56
Speaker 1: like break with the team because he's been good.
22:59
Speaker 2: That's fact, you know, a j hinches.
23:01
Speaker 3: The Tigers tell guys when they make a decision, so
23:03
Speaker 3: they're not hiding their plans. But again, plans could change
23:07
Speaker 3: with one injury and instead cater Montero's gonna be probably
23:11
Speaker 3: heart broke in here for a week or two. He
23:13
Speaker 3: has ridden the Toledo to Detroit shuttle the past two years,
23:17
Speaker 3: and they've asked a lot out of them in doing
23:19
Speaker 3: that and hasn't always been easy up for a day
23:21
Speaker 3: and then boom back to Toledo, Bud that you know,
23:25
Speaker 3: they've done that with him a lot. He said he
23:28
Speaker 3: just wanted to be in on the major league roster,
23:31
Speaker 3: whether that was starter or bullpen. But I think the
23:38
Speaker 3: starter thing makes total sense. He has to be a
23:40
Speaker 3: starter this year, especially given the uncertainty with Troy Milton.
23:46
Speaker 1: Yeah all right, let's uh, let's go to uh Tigers
23:50
Speaker 1: and the Pirates spring breakout match up. We have an
23:54
Speaker 1: announcement of the roster pool for the Tigers includes obviously
24:01
Speaker 1: a lot of the names that you know and are
24:02
Speaker 1: familiar with, and it is it is kind of like
24:05
Speaker 1: I get it, like it it's you know, should be
24:07
Speaker 1: the case, but it's kind of funny to see like
24:10
Speaker 1: like McGonagall on here where it's like, in my mind
24:13
Speaker 1: he's graduated from this, but he has debewed in the
24:16
Speaker 1: Major League, so it's like, okay, yeah, you got and
24:18
Speaker 1: you know, this obviously is a nice promotional deal, so
24:21
Speaker 1: obviously it's good for him to be on there. Max
24:23
Speaker 1: Clark obviously, and you guys can see the roster if
24:25
Speaker 1: you're watching on on YouTube. Jordan Yost is the one
24:31
Speaker 1: I'll be curious to see, Pacheco, a lot of these
24:33
Speaker 1: names that were familiar with, Peyton Graham, Max Anderson, trade cruise,
24:38
Speaker 1: so yeah, you know, but one name that's omitted here,
24:41
Speaker 1: Cody is one that I think Tigers fans are eager
24:46
Speaker 1: to see what happens this year after a disappointing because
24:48
Speaker 1: of injury season last year, and uh, and that's Bryce Rayner.
24:52
Speaker 1: We haven't we haven't talked about Bryce Rayner yet in
24:55
Speaker 1: the year twenty twenty six, so hopefully we get some
24:58
Speaker 1: sort of update relatively soon, hopefully he's healthy. But this
25:01
Speaker 1: would yeah, this was I think he did well in
25:03
Speaker 1: this last year. I've been nice to see him again
25:06
Speaker 1: kind of get up for a big and potentially kind
25:09
Speaker 1: of pivotally pivotal year for his development.
25:12
Speaker 3: Yeah, again, I would expect an update on that Friday
25:16
Speaker 3: morning or at least at some point soon. A rainer
25:19
Speaker 3: head shoulder surgery last summer, so I was assuming the
25:21
Speaker 3: fact he's not on this roster means he's just not
25:23
Speaker 3: ready to go at full game speed. But then again,
25:26
Speaker 3: Hoswai Rosinio was on this roster and just at surgery,
25:30
Speaker 3: so they still could have, you know, gave him a
25:31
Speaker 3: uniform and put him in the dugout and put his
25:33
Speaker 3: name on the roster. So not completely sure what's up
25:37
Speaker 3: with that, but it sounds to me like a bummer
25:39
Speaker 3: that that we will not get to see Bryce Rayner
25:42
Speaker 3: in action. Certainly a guy to keep a huge eye
25:46
Speaker 3: on on the farm. If he does what a lot
25:48
Speaker 3: of people think he can do. He could really rock
25:50
Speaker 3: it up the prospect rankings and be a top ten
25:53
Speaker 3: prospect this time next year. There's also kind of some
25:56
Speaker 3: swinging misconcerns with him, so we'll see how that plays.
26:00
Speaker 3: He's able to get a full season at at full health.
26:06
Speaker 3: Drew Summers is on this too, who's already pitched in
26:08
Speaker 3: the major leagues, but he you know, he's only briefly pitched.
26:11
Speaker 3: Dylan Smith. They are still technically rookies, so they get
26:15
Speaker 3: to be in the spring breakout game.
26:18
Speaker 1: Also Valencia, a Time Madden type man who's pitched in
26:23
Speaker 1: the postseason.
26:24
Speaker 2: By the way, it does feel like a rookie anymore.
26:28
Speaker 2: He technically is.
26:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, and Valencia listed as an infield they're not a catcher.
26:32
Speaker 1: Just for for what that is worth.
26:37
Speaker 3: We will get a look at Jordan Yost, Michael Levedo
26:40
Speaker 3: to two draft picks Tiger's top two draft picks last year.
26:44
Speaker 3: I think I'm most excited to get and Chris Rodriguez,
26:47
Speaker 3: who a lot of people love. Also, some scouts tell
26:51
Speaker 3: you there could be a lot of swinging miss there.
26:53
Speaker 3: It's been my first time getting to see him in
26:55
Speaker 3: person in any former fashion. So Chris Rodriguez definitely definitely
27:00
Speaker 3: gonna be fun to see him.
27:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, looking forward to and we'll obviously talk about it
27:04
Speaker 1: after it happens. Once again, that'll be a Friday, March
27:09
Speaker 1: twenty So all right, Cody, anything else before we jet
27:12
Speaker 1: out of here?
27:13
Speaker 2: No, I think that covers it for now.
27:14
Speaker 3: Stay tuned.
27:15
Speaker 2: We'll have WBC action going on.
27:17
Speaker 3: We'll still have action going on at Tiger's camp and
27:21
Speaker 3: opening day not too far away.
27:25
Speaker 1: Absolutely so at Cody steven Haagen, at Heren Underscore, Stecicely,
27:28
Speaker 1: at Tiger Territory Underscore, YouTube, Apple, Spotify, We're ready to
27:32
Speaker 1: get your podcast. We appreciate lu as we gear up
27:35
Speaker 1: berylin towards opening day. So for Cody Stavenhagen, I'm Kieren Steckley, everybody,
27:40
Speaker 1: have great day,