Latest / Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast / Detroit Tigers Riding Deep Outfield Rotation To Wins

Transcript

Detroit Tigers Riding Deep Outfield Rotation To Wins · Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast

0:05
Speaker 1: And welcome into another episode of Tiger's Territory, part of
0:08
Speaker 1: the Foul Territory Network Detroit Tiger's Podcast. I'm Karen Steckley
0:12
Speaker 1: with me as the man whom airports hate because he's
0:15
Speaker 1: too fly.
0:17
Speaker 2: He's Cody steven Egg And how you doing.
0:19
Speaker 3: Hey, you're doing good care and that's that's a pretty
0:20
Speaker 3: good one. A couple wins for the Tigers this weekend
0:23
Speaker 3: in Toronto. I guess he can't sweep every series. I
0:26
Speaker 3: think I think we're starting to get a little bit
0:28
Speaker 3: spoiled here and that the Tigers are really good. It
0:32
Speaker 3: looks very real, and thus the bar is kind of raised.
0:36
Speaker 3: You know, I'm seeing a lot of nitpicking going on,
0:38
Speaker 3: and you know what, Hey, I think that's okay. I
0:41
Speaker 3: think that's a sign of having high standards. And the
0:45
Speaker 3: Tigers have played so well they have brought high standards
0:48
Speaker 3: back to Detroit in a way that's a little bit
0:50
Speaker 3: of a good thing.
0:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's uh.
0:55
Speaker 1: I don't want to sound mean with this, but like
0:57
Speaker 1: we're bringing into the into the some like irrationale a
1:02
Speaker 1: little bit, and that's okay, And that's okay because again,
1:06
Speaker 1: it's a it's a sign of where we're at where
1:08
Speaker 1: I'm starting to see like things I see other fan
1:11
Speaker 1: bases complaining about come from the Tigers fan base, and
1:14
Speaker 1: again those that's kind of the standard, right, So that's okay.
1:19
Speaker 1: I don't know, maybe like my generation, your generation, our
1:23
Speaker 1: generation code, he doesn't necessarily look at like the Blue
1:26
Speaker 1: Jays as quote unquote rivals. It does feel kind of weird. Obviously,
1:31
Speaker 1: I have an appreciation for history, so I understood why
1:33
Speaker 1: Major League Baseball did it this for this weekend. But
1:36
Speaker 1: I'll tell you it could have worked out any better.
1:39
Speaker 1: Three one run games up there in Toronto, including including
1:47
Speaker 1: you know one where it's just like a slight comeback
1:49
Speaker 1: fall short. Then you have the full walk off and
1:52
Speaker 1: then and then the lake go ahead and the tension
1:55
Speaker 1: there in the last ending. So like the way that
1:58
Speaker 1: this kind of series transport, it really was kind of
2:02
Speaker 1: edge of your seat, like riding on every pitch like.
2:07
Speaker 2: It was fun. It was fun to watch.
2:09
Speaker 1: And obviously the Blue Jays have enough stars and enough
2:11
Speaker 1: guys that were doing well that you were all right,
2:14
Speaker 1: all right, this guy's up, all right. I'm not really
2:16
Speaker 1: sure do we really want to see bladd again, even
2:19
Speaker 1: you know, getting little basically swinging bunch singles from Blad Junior.
2:23
Speaker 2: Like all these kind of like little fud stuff. It
2:25
Speaker 2: was a lot, It was a lot of fun.
2:26
Speaker 1: So credit it worked out perfectly for Major League Baseball
2:28
Speaker 1: that this was quote unquote rivalry week rivalry weekend. That's
2:32
Speaker 1: kind of fun to say when you're speaking fast, uh
2:35
Speaker 1: for the Tigers, And the way I look back at
2:40
Speaker 1: this series is that you had really good to like
2:45
Speaker 1: pretty freaking good starting pitching, and then your bullpen was
2:49
Speaker 1: in a lot of leverage situations, some of which came through,
2:53
Speaker 1: some of which didn't. That's also one of those things
2:55
Speaker 1: that happens. And we'll talk about the bullpen a little
2:57
Speaker 1: bit later. And and then and like just enough offense
3:00
Speaker 1: because if you look at the macro, the Tigers offense is,
3:03
Speaker 1: you know, one of the best, and then their bullpen
3:06
Speaker 1: is one of the best, and they're starting pitching one
3:08
Speaker 1: of the best.
3:09
Speaker 2: Uh.
3:10
Speaker 1: You didn't necessarily get everything firing on all cylinders here.
3:13
Speaker 1: Credits to Spencer Torkelsen for providing all the offense on Sunday.
3:18
Speaker 3: Uh.
3:19
Speaker 1: And also you got unexpected contributions and what I'm gonna
3:23
Speaker 1: talk about will spend a couple of minutes. Here, let's
3:25
Speaker 1: give a Kiel Badoo some love. Podcast favorite Akil Bado
3:30
Speaker 1: fan favorite. A Kiel bad a guy that like every
3:33
Speaker 1: single time, I'm gonna give Chris Castellani a little credit here.
3:36
Speaker 1: He put on X He's like, if you just put
3:37
Speaker 1: the top ten plays of Akil Bado's career, it's gonna
3:41
Speaker 1: look like, you know, I don't remember what he said,
3:43
Speaker 1: but like Hall of Famer, perennial All Star, you know whatever.
3:45
Speaker 1: Like his his highs are quite high. And and we
3:50
Speaker 1: saw it very early on on Sunday. Defensively not not
3:53
Speaker 1: really high on the UH on the possibility chart of
3:58
Speaker 1: where a Kiel is gonna make several instances of high
4:02
Speaker 1: impact contributions to a win. When the first ending, Joe
4:07
Speaker 1: gets him some trouble and but dude goes to the
4:09
Speaker 1: wall leaping catch, you know, gets the ball in quick,
4:13
Speaker 1: no advancing of the runners, and then closes out the
4:16
Speaker 1: ending with a with a diving catch throw to second
4:20
Speaker 1: base for the double play, so responsible for all three
4:24
Speaker 1: outs there. You just never know what you're gonna get
4:27
Speaker 1: with this guy. He's so much fun. I'm so happy
4:29
Speaker 1: to see him, you know, a part of the major
4:31
Speaker 1: league team, especially a part of because I remember last
4:34
Speaker 1: year when he got called up for a series real
4:37
Speaker 1: quick and I don't even know I think it was
4:38
Speaker 1: in Houston. I don't think he even got in, but
4:42
Speaker 1: aj Hinch said, I want him to feel like he's
4:45
Speaker 1: still part of this. Now he's gone through some roster
4:49
Speaker 1: stuff since then. I'm not sure how much part of
4:53
Speaker 1: this he still is in general pecking order, but he
4:56
Speaker 1: was physically part of this here and that was a
4:59
Speaker 1: lot of fun. See a lot like because he was
5:01
Speaker 1: a part of some teams and that's partly why he
5:03
Speaker 1: was able to, you know, stay on the squad is
5:06
Speaker 1: that the team wasn't doing very well, so you kind
5:08
Speaker 1: of see what you have and a player like a
5:10
Speaker 1: Kiel Badoo. But now he's part of the most winning
5:14
Speaker 1: the Tigers have done in some time, and at least
5:17
Speaker 1: for a day, made hella contributions to a win to
5:21
Speaker 1: clinch a series and uh, you know, bring the record
5:24
Speaker 1: to what is now thirty one and.
5:26
Speaker 3: Sixty What do you think akil Bado's career defensive run
5:31
Speaker 3: saved total is if you had to guess, I guess
5:36
Speaker 3: minus eight plus seven. No, Kiaren, there has long been
5:42
Speaker 3: a weird disconnect between the numbers and the eye test.
5:45
Speaker 3: With the Kiel Badoo's defense, we've seen it. I mean,
5:49
Speaker 3: he's had some bad plays you in his time as
5:51
Speaker 3: a Tiger in the field. I don't think he always
5:54
Speaker 3: had a ton of confidence from aj Hinch regarding his defense.
5:59
Speaker 3: The eye test just wasn't always good. He would take
6:01
Speaker 3: some awkward routes. He has been knocked for his arm
6:06
Speaker 3: and could like struggle to hit the cutoff man. But
6:09
Speaker 3: he could make some plays man, even if it didn't
6:11
Speaker 3: always necessarily look pretty. Obviously, he's fast and can cover
6:15
Speaker 3: some ground slightly negative in center, but when he's been
6:19
Speaker 3: in the corners, especially left field, he has been a
6:23
Speaker 3: plus defender in terms of defensive run saved. Also, outs
6:27
Speaker 3: above average viives him at zero, so there's a disconnect
6:32
Speaker 3: between those two stats. And outs above average is actually
6:34
Speaker 3: more range base so one of the great mysteries of
6:38
Speaker 3: baseball to his defense. We saw the best version of
6:42
Speaker 3: it on Sunday with a couple of just electric plays
6:46
Speaker 3: that kind of reminds you like, oh, okay, Now, maybe
6:49
Speaker 3: he is a really good defender, and maybe he has
6:52
Speaker 3: improved since the last time we saw him. At the
6:54
Speaker 3: major league level. There's one thing that he will but
6:57
Speaker 3: do I know for sure is it's a guy who
7:00
Speaker 3: works very hard. So yeah, like we said, we're happy
7:03
Speaker 3: to see this guy getting his run. We'll see you
7:06
Speaker 3: know how much, how much longer it lasts. But you know,
7:09
Speaker 3: if nothing else, the reminder that the small things a
7:13
Speaker 3: Kiel can do to help a team win a baseball game.
7:16
Speaker 3: It's why I was stunned no one claimed to him,
7:19
Speaker 3: you know when he was DFA and I know there's
7:21
Speaker 3: a little bit of salary attached to his name, but
7:23
Speaker 3: I thought another team would swoop him up and no
7:26
Speaker 3: one else did.
7:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, he does it.
7:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, so obviously the Bad is going to play just
7:32
Speaker 1: like all these guys that are is going to have
7:34
Speaker 1: to play, just like all these guys. And he's he's
7:37
Speaker 1: one for six, you know, very obviously one for six,
7:40
Speaker 1: very limited action. Uh, but you know he gets a
7:43
Speaker 1: base knock. He also had a stolen base. Like it's
7:46
Speaker 1: just like a like, I just smile, a Kiel Bad
7:49
Speaker 1: doing a Keel Bado thing. So however long this ride last,
7:53
Speaker 1: like we don't know, but I wanted I.
7:56
Speaker 2: Wanted to make mention of it.
7:57
Speaker 1: Uh, when when when the going is good because it's
8:00
Speaker 1: just fun.
8:01
Speaker 2: It's just fun.
8:02
Speaker 1: But as Austin was saying, it's like a fun name
8:04
Speaker 1: to say, fun guy to watch, so like it's it
8:09
Speaker 1: makes me smile whenever he does something positive. We're gonna
8:13
Speaker 1: talk about some of the other outfield excellence that's going
8:16
Speaker 1: on in Detroit, but first a word from our sponsors.
8:20
Speaker 4: I just want to say, before Arena Club, if you
8:22
Speaker 4: were trying to very actively buy sell trade, it was
8:27
Speaker 4: very complicated and used a lot of mail that was unnecessary.
8:30
Speaker 1: I don't know I even know how to do it,
8:31
Speaker 1: but I'm glad we have Arena Club now because it's
8:33
Speaker 1: a one stop shop for everything card related.
8:35
Speaker 4: It is and right now you can get twenty percent
8:38
Speaker 4: off your first slab pack or your first card purchase
8:40
Speaker 4: by going to Arena club dot com. Slash foul, use
8:44
Speaker 4: code foul. If you're a collector, you've got to check
8:47
Speaker 4: out Arena Club. Go get after it.
8:52
Speaker 1: All right coming back here. Another element to this team's
8:57
Speaker 1: makeup cody like like it's outfield play spectacular, the Javier
9:02
Speaker 1: Bayas diving catch throw, the first get the double play,
9:05
Speaker 1: like Javier Can just missed the home home run. No,
9:09
Speaker 1: he did have a home I'm getting he had home run.
9:12
Speaker 1: That's right, he had a home run. That's one of
9:18
Speaker 1: the storylines. And we talked about mix the Tigers cool
9:20
Speaker 1: or whatever. It's hobby, it's Elmago and all that stuff.
9:24
Speaker 1: Riley Green is Riley Green putting together another Yeah, just solid,
9:29
Speaker 1: eleven home runs, nearly a war player. I think he's
9:32
Speaker 1: like one point two one point three offensive war So
9:35
Speaker 1: he's he's doing his thing. And then there's Carry Carpenter,
9:41
Speaker 1: just good old, reliable Carry Carpenter, who despite so you
9:45
Speaker 1: look at the numbers, you're like, well, all right to
9:48
Speaker 1: talk about this guy like every day, like like just
9:53
Speaker 1: he's got nine home runs, he's a he's a two
9:55
Speaker 1: ninety one hitter, twenty one ribis, he's in the eighty five.
9:58
Speaker 1: He's his Baseball's bought page is like all Red. It's
10:01
Speaker 1: like all Red. Uh, So he's leading off. You know,
10:06
Speaker 1: we talk about things that we didn't necessarily anticipate to
10:09
Speaker 1: begin in the air. We spent several times this offseason
10:11
Speaker 1: kind of loosely constructing what we thought would be like
10:15
Speaker 1: a like an ideal or a fun lineup, and I
10:20
Speaker 1: don't think we had carry Carpenter leading off as a
10:24
Speaker 1: leadoff Hitterdy, He's he's a he's a three three three
10:27
Speaker 1: hitter as a leadoff not not just as a leadoff
10:30
Speaker 1: hitter leading off games. So first at bat of the game,
10:33
Speaker 1: he's a three three three hitter. He's got a one
10:35
Speaker 1: point oh three five ops a couple home runs in there,
10:40
Speaker 1: like he like he is mashing at the top of
10:44
Speaker 1: this lineup, and of course the Javier thing connecting.
10:46
Speaker 2: I always like that.
10:47
Speaker 1: You know, he's right, he could be on base for
10:50
Speaker 1: uh for Krry Carpenter. He's a he's as in terms
10:55
Speaker 1: of how we talk about him or think about him,
10:57
Speaker 1: it's almost as mundane as a nearly three hundred hitter
10:59
Speaker 1: could be with power could.
11:01
Speaker 2: Be in in today's game. We're not talking about him.
11:05
Speaker 2: I've only does is hit.
11:06
Speaker 1: And I think that's what Dan said on the radios, like, oh,
11:09
Speaker 1: only does his hit, like like it's and hit with
11:12
Speaker 1: power and lefty smooth swing, got the Aaron Judge swing,
11:16
Speaker 1: Like he's just doing it.
11:17
Speaker 2: He's doing it all.
11:18
Speaker 1: He's doing it all at the plate at the top
11:20
Speaker 1: of the lineup, and I don't feel we're talking about
11:23
Speaker 1: him enough. So here we are trying to talk about him,
11:25
Speaker 1: Carry Carpenter, Carrie Bond's carp all these fun nicknames. The
11:31
Speaker 1: dude's just a hit machine, man hit machine.
11:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, you're not wrong. I've come to love Carry Carpenter
11:38
Speaker 3: in the leadoff spot. We've talked about it some before
11:41
Speaker 3: and the strategy behind it. You know, number one, it
11:46
Speaker 3: is a threat right off the bat. You know, it's not, oh,
11:49
Speaker 3: here's some scrappy little guy, maybe he'll get on base.
11:52
Speaker 3: It's like, oh, all right, game started. You know, be
11:55
Speaker 3: in your seat because you don't know what you're about
11:57
Speaker 3: to see, and then you can feel that decision point.
12:00
Speaker 3: That is the real reason A. J. Hinch has been
12:02
Speaker 3: leading off Kerry Carpenter. That third time around the order,
12:06
Speaker 3: you know, rolls around and you just kind of feel
12:09
Speaker 3: that tension. The Tigers bottom of the order has performed
12:13
Speaker 3: well in some games, and that lineup flips over and
12:15
Speaker 3: there's some ducks on the pond and Carry Bonds is
12:18
Speaker 3: at the plate. It's like, okay, you know, here we go.
12:23
Speaker 3: That's just been such a real thing and it's not
12:25
Speaker 3: you know, there are other quote unquote power hitters in
12:29
Speaker 3: the game that hit leadoff. Aaron Judge has done at
12:32
Speaker 3: Shoeo tani Mi Trout has done it from Nato Tatis
12:37
Speaker 3: like they like. There are others, but it's still not
12:41
Speaker 3: totally common.
12:43
Speaker 4: Uh.
12:43
Speaker 3: There's something about the way it just changes the game
12:46
Speaker 3: and the way this lineup unfolds that I've come to
12:49
Speaker 3: really like about it. Wouldn't mind leaving them there, even
12:53
Speaker 3: when you know one Parker Meadows gets back. Now. The
12:57
Speaker 3: other thing lefties. Kerry hitting one eighty eight against lefties.
13:04
Speaker 3: Early in the year, it seemed like that was going
13:06
Speaker 3: well right he had a couple homers, but he actually
13:10
Speaker 3: only has six hits in thirty two at bats against
13:13
Speaker 3: left handed pitching. For as much as everyone wants to
13:16
Speaker 3: see Carrie kind of unlock that kind of become like
13:20
Speaker 3: a guy you don't have to platoon, there's still some
13:23
Speaker 3: evidence now although he's never really got an extended run
13:27
Speaker 3: one hundred and fifty one career at bats against left
13:29
Speaker 3: handed pitching, one ninety nine career hitter, not obviously near
13:34
Speaker 3: as much power as he has when he's facing right handers.
13:37
Speaker 3: So that just hasn't quite got off the ground the
13:39
Speaker 3: way maybe we were hoping the first week or two
13:42
Speaker 3: of the season.
13:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm glad you broughtup the lefty thing. You're right,
13:46
Speaker 1: six hits against lefties, three of them for extra base,
13:49
Speaker 1: so you have the two home runs and double. But
13:52
Speaker 1: it does feel like I mean, the home runs happened
13:54
Speaker 1: very early and it's been rough since then. There is
13:58
Speaker 1: an element of like like one of the I don't
14:03
Speaker 1: want to say unfair, because it's baseball. Nothing's like quote
14:05
Speaker 1: unquote unfair. But one of the factors is that like
14:08
Speaker 1: you're facing if you're facing a lefty, if you're in
14:11
Speaker 1: you're carry carper most of the time it's gonna be
14:13
Speaker 1: like an elite lefty, and we just need as many
14:15
Speaker 1: like bats in there as possible, or some like real specialists.
14:19
Speaker 3: Face elite lefties. I don't think you.
14:21
Speaker 1: Know well, I just like, well, though, those are the
14:23
Speaker 1: matchups that are coming that have ben I guess is
14:26
Speaker 1: my larger point. So therefore, like then AJ is like
14:31
Speaker 1: less like less inclined. You gotta go matchups based specifically anyway,
14:35
Speaker 1: but like it it's a it's a really good thing
14:39
Speaker 1: overall for Carry Carpenter. So like almost it's gotten to
14:44
Speaker 1: the point where I would just go back to the
14:46
Speaker 1: AJ Hitch quote about moving hobber up in the lineup
14:49
Speaker 1: where it's like would you change anything? It's like, well
14:52
Speaker 1: with Carry Carpenter, like would you change anything? And of
14:55
Speaker 1: course if you also love Jay hen or want to
14:57
Speaker 1: see what Jay Hank can do a lot of times,
15:00
Speaker 1: that's kind of like the opportunities that he is on
15:03
Speaker 1: this team for so any lefty at bats, like bullpen
15:07
Speaker 1: at bats that he gets could potentially be at bats
15:11
Speaker 1: that justin Henry Malloyd does not get. You know, these
15:14
Speaker 1: are just like all these all these factors that go
15:16
Speaker 1: into it. I will I will put out there too.
15:23
Speaker 1: Though you brought up the Parker medals thing he's throwing
15:26
Speaker 1: to bases now it was the latest medical update. What
15:34
Speaker 1: here's a fun question. We didn't talk about this before yet.
15:36
Speaker 1: What is the bigger interrupter of a thirty one and
15:41
Speaker 1: sixteen start when Parker Medos is healthy. A guy that
15:44
Speaker 1: we like, a guy that we the friend of the podcast.
15:47
Speaker 1: Obviously we like. His talent is is something to believe in,
15:52
Speaker 1: and his impact on this team.
15:53
Speaker 2: We all understand that.
15:55
Speaker 1: But it's like Javier and center field Carpenter at leadoff,
16:01
Speaker 1: which one is the which one is the bigger disruptor?
16:04
Speaker 1: To the thought of we have to get Parker Meadows
16:07
Speaker 1: back in this position.
16:09
Speaker 3: I think I think, I think that's a great discussion,
16:14
Speaker 3: And my answer would be Hovey in center field. Like
16:17
Speaker 3: for as amazing as he's been, I don't think he's
16:19
Speaker 3: better than Parker Meadows, and I think you gotta put
16:23
Speaker 3: Parker in the center. But I do wonder could there
16:27
Speaker 3: be a little platooning there. Could Parker lose out on
16:30
Speaker 3: some left handed at bats because he was still getting
16:33
Speaker 3: those down the stretch last year. Because he's an elite
16:36
Speaker 3: center fielder. Whatever will bat you eighth or ninth, and
16:40
Speaker 3: if you don't hit against lefties, that's okay. Maybe he
16:43
Speaker 3: just doesn't play those days, you know anymore. As much
16:48
Speaker 3: as I like carrying the lead off, hey, you're replace
16:50
Speaker 3: him with Parker Meadows, a dynamic hitter who has speed
16:53
Speaker 3: if if you wanted to, that's the other thing you
16:55
Speaker 3: don't have to. You know, you can bat Parker nine,
16:58
Speaker 3: You can bat Parker second, can bat Parker anywhere in
17:02
Speaker 3: the field. You know, there's there's in theory only going
17:05
Speaker 3: to be one place to put this guy. And then
17:08
Speaker 3: what does that mean for Hobby bias? What does that
17:10
Speaker 3: mean for the way hobby has seemingly been energized in
17:13
Speaker 3: center field. This team is playing so well, and I've
17:17
Speaker 3: said all along that the fact they still have reinforcements
17:20
Speaker 3: coming makes me optimistic. But now I'm almost like, you know,
17:25
Speaker 3: it's like the moving hobby up in the order thing. Sure,
17:28
Speaker 3: you want to mess with a good thing. I mean
17:31
Speaker 3: not saying, oh, keep Veerling in metal in dribble a forever,
17:34
Speaker 3: but it is like, you know, what if they're a
17:37
Speaker 3: little rusty, what if they start out slow, It doesn't
17:40
Speaker 3: alter the usage of some other guys. Vierling is going
17:43
Speaker 3: to really alter the lineup construction. And suddenly you gotta
17:47
Speaker 3: fight a little harder to get bias and the chinistry
17:49
Speaker 3: all in there. These are the classic good problems to have.
17:54
Speaker 3: But yeah, you talk about disruptors in the middle of
17:57
Speaker 3: a great run. Oddly enough to face some disruption in
18:01
Speaker 3: terms of getting two very good players back on.
18:03
Speaker 1: Your team, Yeah, I mean, bias is one point seven
18:08
Speaker 1: war that's zero point six. Defensively, Yeah, playing playing center field,
18:14
Speaker 1: some shortstop and some third base, Like, that's that's not nothing,
18:17
Speaker 1: man like that that that is not that is not nothing.
18:20
Speaker 1: And at this point you have to have him in
18:24
Speaker 1: the lineup, like you just have like you got you
18:27
Speaker 1: got to figure out ways. So like good good problems
18:32
Speaker 1: for sure, but one that you could literally because I
18:35
Speaker 1: could talk myself into like, look, I I you put
18:38
Speaker 1: Carrie number two. I would love to have that speed
18:41
Speaker 1: element with with some extra base power in there from
18:44
Speaker 1: from Parker Metals and just kind of the wild card
18:47
Speaker 1: at any time he could he could stretch something into
18:50
Speaker 1: another into another bag or just kind of like find
18:53
Speaker 1: his way on base with his with his legs. But
18:57
Speaker 1: like that's the point you could talk yourself into either one.
18:59
Speaker 1: And I'm not sure or what would be leader in
19:01
Speaker 1: the clubhouse.
19:01
Speaker 2: So uh, just.
19:05
Speaker 1: Unbelievable that we're coming here. But we talked about Torque
19:07
Speaker 1: at the very beginning, the bias play, the bad plays,
19:11
Speaker 1: and it's like you just want a series in Toronto
19:14
Speaker 1: that was rates or thin margin wise, like literally could
19:18
Speaker 1: not get any closer. And we're and we're talking about
19:21
Speaker 1: these guys like contributing to the thirty one and sixteen record.
19:25
Speaker 2: I love this game.
19:26
Speaker 3: No one's talking about Winsel Perez, who's coming. I had
19:31
Speaker 3: He's probably going to get option to triple A at
19:33
Speaker 3: the conclusion, of a rehab assignment unless there's another injury,
19:36
Speaker 3: I would think, And it's no knock on him, it's
19:39
Speaker 3: just like it's it's hard to find room for that
19:41
Speaker 3: on the roster right now, especially with Hobby playing outfield. Yeah.
19:44
Speaker 1: Absolutely, And we'll finish this outfield segment about some one
19:50
Speaker 1: of the driving forces for this team faces of this
19:53
Speaker 1: team afterward from our sponsors ft FAM.
19:57
Speaker 2: Let's talk about the h o f app.
19:59
Speaker 4: If you're into parlays but sometimes you're missing the mark
20:02
Speaker 4: more than you would like to, Can I introduce you
20:05
Speaker 4: to some serious analytics on an app that is easy
20:09
Speaker 4: to read and comprehend. And I'm sitting next to a
20:12
Speaker 4: man who knows how to place a parlay.
20:14
Speaker 5: Yeah, and the biggest thing is breaking down a parlay.
20:17
Speaker 5: With this Hall of Fame app, there's the situations that
20:20
Speaker 5: you'll be you'll find easier to do. It's very helpful
20:23
Speaker 5: and understanding. And if you like, you know, gambling, sometimes
20:27
Speaker 5: this is really good to know. So get on there,
20:29
Speaker 5: Get on that Hall of Fame app and check it out.
20:31
Speaker 4: Yeah, this is info that will help you. Okay, with
20:33
Speaker 4: a four point nine rating in the App Store and
20:35
Speaker 4: over six thousand and five star reviews. Safe to say
20:38
Speaker 4: that HOF has already helped a lot of people that smarter.
20:42
Speaker 4: For a limited time only, FT listeners can get a
20:45
Speaker 4: seven day free trial and fifty percent off their first
20:48
Speaker 4: month when they use code foul at check out, Download
20:51
Speaker 4: the HOF app on iOS or Android, Enter code foul
20:55
Speaker 4: and you're all set.
21:00
Speaker 1: Coming back here. The the Riley Green piece of this cody. Uh,
21:06
Speaker 1: he's Riley Green. He's the all Star. He's, like I said,
21:09
Speaker 1: one of the one of the faces of this team.
21:13
Speaker 1: For the stats out there just kind of put it.
21:15
Speaker 1: He's got a point nine war two seventy five bad.
21:18
Speaker 1: He's got a ops plus of one thirty six with
21:21
Speaker 1: the eleven home runs and the stolen base, which that's
21:25
Speaker 1: talk about what goes into a stolen base here in
21:27
Speaker 1: a second, but in playing some you know, talk about
21:31
Speaker 1: highlight plays makes it makes uh still does the Riley
21:34
Speaker 1: Green highlight plays and he you know, they got him
21:37
Speaker 1: in left field for a reason.
21:38
Speaker 2: They like his glove there.
21:40
Speaker 1: Uh, it still feels like we have more that we
21:44
Speaker 1: can get out out of Riley Green. And so like
21:47
Speaker 1: I want to I want to like phrase that the
21:49
Speaker 1: most correctly is that like you're getting some pretty dang
21:53
Speaker 1: good contributions from uh from Riley Green, the person that
21:57
Speaker 1: you rely on in all facets of the game. But
22:01
Speaker 1: it still feels like there's more to his game this year.
22:06
Speaker 1: So like, I don't know how. I'm not saying he's
22:10
Speaker 1: holding back or anything. I'm just saying I still think
22:12
Speaker 1: there's something more in there for Riley which is weird
22:15
Speaker 1: to say about a guy who's done nothing but hit
22:18
Speaker 1: two eighty with eleven home runs so far.
22:21
Speaker 3: I think we have seen more in the last seven
22:24
Speaker 3: to ten days. Last seven days, he's hitting three eighty
22:26
Speaker 3: five with two bombs. He's really been on one. I
22:31
Speaker 3: think he's hit the hot streak that we spent some
22:34
Speaker 3: time waiting for. I was never concerned about Riley Green.
22:38
Speaker 3: He had to get his timing down, he had to
22:41
Speaker 3: keep his head locked on the ball. Seems like pretty
22:43
Speaker 3: simple solutions from what I could tell. He has done that,
22:47
Speaker 3: and he has carried this team in a couple of
22:51
Speaker 3: games this season. Rley Green, all the offensive metrics are there,
22:56
Speaker 3: he'd still like him to chase and with a little
22:58
Speaker 3: bit less the walker it is down so far this year.
23:01
Speaker 3: One low key, big thing that helped him achieve All
23:05
Speaker 3: Star status. Last season, he walked eleven percent of the time.
23:09
Speaker 3: This year, the walker rate is down to six point
23:11
Speaker 3: eight a little bit, but you know that's considering he
23:14
Speaker 3: had a pretty rough start or a very large rough
23:18
Speaker 3: patch earlier in the season. You know, wouldn't be surprised
23:21
Speaker 3: if those numbers start coming up as Riley regained some confidence,
23:25
Speaker 3: starts really clicking at the plate. You know, we talked
23:29
Speaker 3: about how good Carrie Carpenter has been and Hobby Bias
23:32
Speaker 3: and you know, the war leader. Watching Riley Green just
23:36
Speaker 3: this weekend was like, this guy's the best player in
23:39
Speaker 3: your team. This guy keeps it up for another month,
23:42
Speaker 3: He's going to be an All Star again. I still
23:46
Speaker 3: think there's a world where he's getting some MVP, you know,
23:49
Speaker 3: top ten, top five votes. A little worried at how
23:54
Speaker 3: his sprint speed has gone down, a little worried about
23:57
Speaker 3: how his defensive metrics have declar line so far this year,
24:01
Speaker 3: because you do you watch them move and it's like, eh,
24:04
Speaker 3: look like you're hurting man. But then you watch him
24:07
Speaker 3: swing and you're like, well, all right, we're not gonna
24:10
Speaker 3: worry too much because this kid's a hitter. There's not
24:13
Speaker 3: much more to it than that.
24:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, pure essence hitter.
24:18
Speaker 1: He's got a he's got bat speed in the eighty
24:20
Speaker 1: six percent tile, his barrel rate ninety one percent tile.
24:26
Speaker 1: Weirdly enough, only eleven percentile squared up.
24:28
Speaker 2: I love these pages.
24:29
Speaker 1: It's like, how do we even quite like what are
24:33
Speaker 1: we supposed to make.
24:33
Speaker 2: Of all of this stuff?
24:35
Speaker 1: Forty percent tile spree, I'm just saying. On that Little
24:37
Speaker 1: League home run, it did not look like forty percent
24:40
Speaker 1: tile speed.
24:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, like some jets he can turn on.
24:45
Speaker 2: That's what I mean.
24:46
Speaker 1: And then that's what I mean, like about like there's
24:49
Speaker 1: more in there, is that like if this is some
24:52
Speaker 1: sort of it's a long season preservation body element that
24:56
Speaker 1: doesn't necessarily look like he's running everything out out like heart,
25:00
Speaker 1: you know, hardcore. That's okay, Like I understand, I understand that,
25:06
Speaker 1: but like that element I still believe can't play a part.
25:10
Speaker 1: And you know, hopefully if that's the idea, come October
25:15
Speaker 1: is something that can be unleashed a little bit more.
25:18
Speaker 3: Uh.
25:19
Speaker 1: The MVP thing is interesting because that's something that like
25:23
Speaker 1: I got my die try before the season about like
25:26
Speaker 1: where his odds were and we hadn't really kind of
25:29
Speaker 1: come back to that yet. But if you're on one
25:32
Speaker 1: of the best teams and you are the best, you know,
25:36
Speaker 1: the best hitter on this team, which I think we
25:38
Speaker 1: all would anticipate he'd be in that conversation if not
25:43
Speaker 1: firmly that guy by the end of the year, that
25:45
Speaker 1: is an MVP votes type season, you know what I mean, Like,
25:50
Speaker 1: that's what we're looking at right now. So uh so
25:53
Speaker 1: I'm glad you kind of put that out there because
25:55
Speaker 1: I don't think that's like the next level of thinking
25:58
Speaker 1: that we have to start looking at this team. Uh
26:01
Speaker 1: if they continue to win win at this rate, all right, well,
26:08
Speaker 1: I'm not really concerned about Riley Green. We talked earlier
26:12
Speaker 1: about like the concerns the fans, the fan base, you know,
26:17
Speaker 1: riding on every pitch and every decision. There were times
26:21
Speaker 1: obviously you lose in a walk off and you and
26:23
Speaker 1: you had the starting pitching that you had this weekend.
26:26
Speaker 1: There are times where the bullpen was kind of getting
26:28
Speaker 1: the ire of the fans of the fans on on
26:32
Speaker 1: social media, and that's okay because that's like the high
26:35
Speaker 1: profile thing. The bottom line is, you also only scored
26:37
Speaker 1: one run on Saturday, and you know, you really only
26:40
Speaker 1: maned to score three runs on UH on Sunday.
26:44
Speaker 2: So like that's that's part of it. We all understand that.
26:46
Speaker 1: But it does kind of let your mind wander to
26:51
Speaker 1: this code, is there a need in the bullpen? Because
26:57
Speaker 1: I could throw out a lot I could throw out
26:59
Speaker 1: a lot of of you know, e ras and whips
27:02
Speaker 1: and strikeouts and you know all these things about what
27:05
Speaker 1: the bullpen does. It does in comparison to you know,
27:08
Speaker 1: bullpens around Major League Baseball. That's not really what we're
27:12
Speaker 1: here for. We're here for is there a need in
27:15
Speaker 1: this bullpen? That come Like we're starting to get to
27:19
Speaker 1: the point that, like there's an argument to be made
27:23
Speaker 1: if you want to get ahead of a market a
27:25
Speaker 1: little bit, you have some names in your roll of
27:29
Speaker 1: decks that you're that you would consider going to, like
27:33
Speaker 1: Sky Harris could be proactive.
27:34
Speaker 2: There could be a moment here.
27:35
Speaker 1: I'm just saying, so, like, you know, how do you
27:38
Speaker 1: how do you assess the bullpen's strengths are lack thereof
27:43
Speaker 1: in certain areas?
27:44
Speaker 3: Yeah, this is what I was talking about with the
27:46
Speaker 3: nitpicking a little bit. Tigers have the fourth best bullpen
27:48
Speaker 3: era in baseball, but they lose the game Saturday, and
27:52
Speaker 3: it was kind of like, oh my gosh, this bullpen
27:54
Speaker 3: is two weak. They don't have enough, they can't miss bats.
27:58
Speaker 3: And that last criticism has has been I think valid.
28:01
Speaker 3: For a while. The Tigers did not induce a lot
28:04
Speaker 3: of swinging myths, particularly out of the bullpen. Last season.
28:07
Speaker 3: I thought it was a little bit of a problem.
28:10
Speaker 3: They just kept bringing in guys who got out, so
28:14
Speaker 3: they made it work. And then this offseason Scott Harris
28:17
Speaker 3: was pretty open about the fact he wanted to add
28:19
Speaker 3: swinging miss to the bullpen. That's why they got Tommy Kinley,
28:23
Speaker 3: who you know, hasn't always been perfect for the most part,
28:26
Speaker 3: has been pretty reliable and has been as advertised. He's
28:30
Speaker 3: actually missing bats lower than some of his career norms.
28:33
Speaker 3: It's almost like maybe people have caught on that he's
28:36
Speaker 3: just gonna throw change ups every time. I don't know,
28:38
Speaker 3: but he's been good. He's been solid for you. They
28:42
Speaker 3: also brought in John Brebia think, and he has a
28:45
Speaker 3: fastball that misses a lot of bats. Brebia has a
28:49
Speaker 3: two point seventy seven ERA and it almost sometimes feels
28:53
Speaker 3: higher than that. I don't think Brebia has quite been
28:55
Speaker 3: unlocked the way the Tigers were hoping the fastball, says
28:59
Speaker 3: Colin Carr. Even just like his average VELO has been down,
29:03
Speaker 3: you know, his strikeout rate is down from last year.
29:06
Speaker 3: His whiff rate is down from last year. The Tigers
29:10
Speaker 3: as a whole in their bullpen rank seventeenth in strikeout rate.
29:15
Speaker 3: I think he would like to see that be higher.
29:18
Speaker 3: The batting average in balls and play against the bullpen
29:21
Speaker 3: is only two fifty five, so there's a little worry
29:24
Speaker 3: of some regression there. But keep in mind this pitch
29:27
Speaker 3: modeling stuff. Man. I think the Tigers, I think there's
29:30
Speaker 3: a little more science to it. They get more ground
29:33
Speaker 3: balls than any bullpen in baseball, a lot of sinker guys.
29:38
Speaker 3: But Tyler Holton, you know, just go look at his
29:41
Speaker 3: metrics hasn't been quite what he was last year. A
29:44
Speaker 3: little bit of a worry there to try to get
29:48
Speaker 3: him dialed back in. This all to say, the Tigers
29:51
Speaker 3: bullpen is still really good. But if you're going to
29:54
Speaker 3: add something at the deadline or yeah, why not be
29:57
Speaker 3: proactive a little bit before the deadline. I do. I
30:00
Speaker 3: think the bullpen makes sense. I almost think you should
30:03
Speaker 3: go big or go home. I think you should go
30:05
Speaker 3: for Ryan Helsley, you know, and if you have to
30:07
Speaker 3: wait until the deadline, fine, but go get the best man.
30:10
Speaker 3: Go get an absolute flamethrower. You know, I like Halverson
30:14
Speaker 3: from Colorado. That's an interesting piece. Does feel like a
30:17
Speaker 3: little bit more of a Scott Harris move trading with
30:20
Speaker 3: the Rockies. Maybe it's not gonna cost you as much
30:22
Speaker 3: capital as a Hellsley, but I would be in favor
30:26
Speaker 3: of just going and getting the best. You talk about
30:29
Speaker 3: what the bullpen lacks, it's an absolute fearsome dude to
30:34
Speaker 3: close out games. Or knowing aj Hinch, you still use
30:37
Speaker 3: him in the seventh or the eighth in a big spot.
30:41
Speaker 3: I think that's what I would be in favor of.
30:44
Speaker 3: I think regardless, a bullpen addition is probably looking like
30:48
Speaker 3: the most likely thing at the trade deadline for the Tigers.
30:51
Speaker 3: You know, I'd talked in a mail bag a couple
30:53
Speaker 3: of weeks ago about like, oh, keep an eye on
30:55
Speaker 3: Boba Schet and look, I don't hate that. We'll see
30:58
Speaker 3: how Hovey Baia is this performed by the end of July,
31:01
Speaker 3: how Trey Sweeney is performing by the end of July. Realistically,
31:06
Speaker 3: I'm not sure the Tigers are going to go bake
31:08
Speaker 3: a big offensive splash just doesn't really seem in the sky.
31:12
Speaker 3: Harris m O. I could see platoon bat, right handed
31:16
Speaker 3: guy off the bench. Maybe how's Andy Abania is doing?
31:19
Speaker 3: Do you think about upgrading there? And the Jahn component.
31:24
Speaker 3: I could see right handed platoon bat and a hard
31:27
Speaker 3: throwing reliever who misses bats as two things you need
31:30
Speaker 3: to upgrade on this team. Because we're suddenly talking about
31:34
Speaker 3: the Tigers not just how do you keep winning? How
31:37
Speaker 3: do you win the division? We're talking about what puts
31:39
Speaker 3: you over the edge, how do you go win the
31:41
Speaker 3: World Series? Well? Having another power pitcher in the bullpen.
31:46
Speaker 3: I think it's fair to request that as a way
31:49
Speaker 3: this front office could go make a move in the
31:52
Speaker 3: coming months.
31:55
Speaker 1: I remind everybody that one of the things that Scott
31:58
Speaker 1: Harris claims to be a bet out is I don't
32:01
Speaker 1: believe in a one year plan, a two year plan,
32:04
Speaker 1: a three year plan. Windows You never know how long
32:09
Speaker 1: they're going to be open or shut. And and this
32:13
Speaker 1: is a team right now, and we'll see what they
32:15
Speaker 1: look like when they're fully healthy, and there will be
32:17
Speaker 1: some some valleys. We all acknowledge this this team right
32:21
Speaker 1: now that has a chance to be do something pretty
32:24
Speaker 1: pretty significant. So I wouldn't hold back all that much,
32:30
Speaker 1: you know, like you said, go big or good.
32:33
Speaker 3: But this is the Tigers. They might just think, you know,
32:36
Speaker 3: they can bring up somebody they optimize in the next
32:39
Speaker 3: month from Triple A and it'll be just as good,
32:43
Speaker 3: and they might be right.
32:47
Speaker 1: We try, we try, we try, and then the more
32:50
Speaker 1: we learn, the more we know that we don't know anything.
32:54
Speaker 1: All right, A lot of fun here on Monday morning,
32:57
Speaker 1: had some travel stuff, so we wanted to get this
32:58
Speaker 1: out as soon as possible here on Monday. I appreciate
33:02
Speaker 1: you guys sticking with us. A lot of fun talking
33:04
Speaker 1: about the Tigers, a lot of fun watching Rivalry weekend
33:08
Speaker 1: as well, and well, thank everybody for following, liking, subscribing, Apple, Spotify, YouTube,
33:14
Speaker 1: Instagram x formally known as Twitter. At Cody saban Haagen,
33:17
Speaker 1: I'm at Caan on his course Deckley and pop page
33:20
Speaker 1: is at tire Territory Underscore. So for Cody stave Inhagen,
33:23
Speaker 1: I'm Kirch Stickley or we have great day.