Latest / Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast / A Frustrated Flaherty, Cold Bats, Melton Debut Coming

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A Frustrated Flaherty, Cold Bats, Melton Debut Coming · Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast

0:05
Speaker 1: And welcome into another episode of Tiger Territory, part of
0:09
Speaker 1: the Bouel Territory Network, a short Tiger's podcast.
0:12
Speaker 2: I'm Kieren Stickley with me as always as a stand
0:14
Speaker 2: up guy who was indifferent. He is Cody stag.
0:21
Speaker 3: Doing all right? How about stand up comedy? You know,
0:23
Speaker 3: I'm not a huge stand up comedy guy. Some people
0:25
Speaker 3: are all about it. I'm like, it really has to
0:28
Speaker 3: be the right person, the right joke for its land
0:31
Speaker 3: with me.
0:32
Speaker 2: Well, it is in the you know, in the eye
0:34
Speaker 2: of the beholder. But so you know, everybody's kind of
0:37
Speaker 2: got their different taste.
0:38
Speaker 1: What is universally considered a bad outing for the Tigers
0:43
Speaker 1: on the on the stage, if you would, in Pittsburgh
0:47
Speaker 1: was Monday night. They were recording this shortly after the
0:52
Speaker 1: Tigers lose three nothing to Paul Skins and the Pittsburgh Pirates.
0:56
Speaker 2: I'll say this, I'll say this at.
0:58
Speaker 1: The top here Cody somewhat joking and also, I don't know,
1:02
Speaker 1: maybe somewhat serious. I'm I think there's a non zero
1:06
Speaker 1: percent chance that the Players Association would accept the salary
1:10
Speaker 1: cap if in the next CBA there was a rule
1:13
Speaker 1: that you're not allowed.
1:14
Speaker 2: To face Paul Skiings.
1:18
Speaker 1: The day after a night game when you have to
1:20
Speaker 1: travel cross country. I'm just saying there's a non zero
1:22
Speaker 1: for said chance, because that is a daunting task to
1:25
Speaker 1: go up against Paul Skiings after, you know, playing Sunday
1:29
Speaker 1: night baseball in this case. And by the way, the
1:30
Speaker 1: Pirates didn't have to go anywhere.
1:31
Speaker 2: They had.
1:32
Speaker 1: This is their home stand, you know, so like, you know,
1:35
Speaker 1: well rested, same bed, the exact opposite of what the
1:38
Speaker 1: Tigers experience. I'm not making excuses, but uh, if you
1:42
Speaker 1: wanted to lend yourself to what you watched some similar
1:48
Speaker 1: like some something like that, Tigers looked a little bit tired,
1:50
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh looked a little fresher in the legs, tracking down
1:53
Speaker 1: seemingly every in between ball and and and the Tigers
1:57
Speaker 1: had least, you know, at least one that cost them
1:59
Speaker 1: more last cost him a chance to kind of beat
2:01
Speaker 1: in the game. I know it's only three nothing, but
2:03
Speaker 1: if you watched it, it just kind of felt like
2:05
Speaker 1: threes a lot, three spots a lot when Paul Skeens
2:09
Speaker 1: is on the mound. And so sometimes it's a little
2:13
Speaker 1: as simple as that.
2:16
Speaker 3: Well it's not I was in the room when Tony
2:18
Speaker 3: Clark at the All Star Game called a salary cap
2:21
Speaker 3: institutional collusion. So I don't think even I know you're joking,
2:25
Speaker 3: but I don't think that union is going for a
2:27
Speaker 3: salary cap anytime soon. Okay, And Paul Skeens is on
2:30
Speaker 3: the executive subcommittee, and I don't think he's about that.
2:34
Speaker 3: Come face me as much as you want. I've seen
2:36
Speaker 3: a lot of schemes this year. The Tigers actually scored
2:38
Speaker 3: what was it, four runs off him the first time,
2:41
Speaker 3: and it kind of felt like, all right, good luck
2:43
Speaker 3: doing that again, and you're right, three spot in the
2:46
Speaker 3: first inning. Had a little bit of a bad feeling.
2:51
Speaker 3: But even coming out of the break, the Tigers they've
2:53
Speaker 3: lost three or four. It's been a little sluggish, the
2:56
Speaker 3: bats haven't totally been there. Would have been nice for
2:59
Speaker 3: Jack Flay to continue his kind of upward trajectory instead.
3:04
Speaker 3: Probably the biggest puzzle of this season, which is Jack
3:06
Speaker 3: Flaherty got a little more complicated.
3:11
Speaker 1: More complicated at the same time just kind of like this,
3:16
Speaker 1: like the same simple stuff, you know, like that, and
3:19
Speaker 1: and that's actually probably the puzzle of Jack Flaherty is that, like, oh,
3:22
Speaker 1: it got more complicated by the fact that he just
3:25
Speaker 1: does not command the strike zone.
3:27
Speaker 2: But in his his.
3:29
Speaker 1: Pitching metrics don't inspire much confidence, you know, coming into today,
3:34
Speaker 1: fastball run value twenty two percentile breaking ball forty one,
3:40
Speaker 1: off speed forty one. And that is not a combination
3:44
Speaker 1: that is going to get major league hitters out on
3:47
Speaker 1: on on consistent enough of a consistent enough basis when
3:53
Speaker 1: you're you're signed to be the number two guy on
3:56
Speaker 1: the staff and and the you know, the thing that
4:00
Speaker 1: actually was probably a little bit different about this outing
4:03
Speaker 1: is in that second ending, in that three spot with
4:05
Speaker 1: two wouts, you know, he he I'm not gonna make
4:08
Speaker 1: excuses for him. He did not execute. He had a
4:10
Speaker 1: non competitive walk in there, but the two run the
4:13
Speaker 1: two run single, like that positioning kind of created that
4:18
Speaker 1: situation there from a kinstry and right field that didn't
4:20
Speaker 1: expected batting average of one point fifty. So like there
4:24
Speaker 1: was and I don't know if I don't know if
4:26
Speaker 1: Jack was doing that calculation in his head, but that
4:31
Speaker 1: was also is probably outwardly frustrated as I had seen
4:35
Speaker 1: Jack Flaherty like he was waving his arms like as
4:38
Speaker 1: he was walking off the mound. He you know, he
4:41
Speaker 1: you know, Dingler trying to you know, support his guy,
4:44
Speaker 1: you know, the high five, but Jack kind of like
4:45
Speaker 1: slapped it like frustratingly. You know, I'm sure himself and
4:48
Speaker 1: at the situation, and then you know, goes into the
4:51
Speaker 1: dugout and AJ just kind of, you know, just kind
4:54
Speaker 1: of gives him a little pat like kind of reading
4:56
Speaker 1: the room where it's like kind of give this guy
4:58
Speaker 1: his space to unwined a little bit. And that was
5:02
Speaker 1: a little bit new from Jack. But that's that's proof
5:05
Speaker 1: of what we're seeing. I mean, that's exactly how a
5:07
Speaker 1: lot of people feel about his pitching. But that's proof
5:10
Speaker 1: as to like what we're seeing where he clearly doesn't
5:15
Speaker 1: he's not pitching right and he doesn't feel right either,
5:19
Speaker 1: But at the same time, he's nearly top ten in
5:21
Speaker 1: strikeout he had six strikeouts today, nearly top ten in
5:23
Speaker 1: strikeouts in all of Major League Baseball. So the complex
5:26
Speaker 1: and the simple, Jack Flaherty, that's the puzzle.
5:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, I did kind of where I've landed for a
5:33
Speaker 3: while now is just his stuff at this point is
5:36
Speaker 3: not good enough to afford him any margin for error.
5:39
Speaker 3: And you mentioned the non competitive walk, which kind of
5:42
Speaker 3: led to things blown up, which led to his inning
5:44
Speaker 3: being so short. His pitch count got up there in
5:47
Speaker 3: a hurry. If you go back over his last eight outings,
5:52
Speaker 3: he's averaging five point four walks per nine innings, which
5:55
Speaker 3: is actually a little bit uncharacteristic for him. Last year,
5:58
Speaker 3: at his best, his command was one point. He was
6:01
Speaker 3: really limiting walks. But even going back just a month,
6:05
Speaker 3: the walks have kind of quietly ticked up. So you
6:09
Speaker 3: look at some walks, you look at loud contact because
6:11
Speaker 3: he's left some balls over the middle and it doesn't
6:13
Speaker 3: quite have the stuff to get it by guys. The
6:15
Speaker 3: pirates had an average ex velocity of ninety two miles
6:18
Speaker 3: an hour. That's pretty high. He did some things well,
6:22
Speaker 3: maybe there's some battered ball luck, but then the cold
6:25
Speaker 3: strike were at with rate twenty four percent, not quite
6:28
Speaker 3: where you want it. It's not really hard to see
6:32
Speaker 3: some very basic things going wrong with flarity in this outing.
6:37
Speaker 3: And then it's like, okay, well it's been so up
6:40
Speaker 3: and down. He always talks about his mechanics, locking his mechanics,
6:44
Speaker 3: how's his body moving, And just when you think he's
6:47
Speaker 3: getting right, he has another pretty sub subpar outing, And
6:51
Speaker 3: then just when you think gets over. You know, he
6:54
Speaker 3: goes six and he looks pretty good. So I don't
6:57
Speaker 3: know exactly what to make of it or how to
6:58
Speaker 3: explain the inconsistent and see, but I think two pretty
7:02
Speaker 3: easy problems, loud contact and sneaky walks, have continued to
7:08
Speaker 3: really kind of be his achilles here.
7:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know it's.
7:15
Speaker 1: I don't want to assume things that I don't know
7:17
Speaker 1: and I don't have access to, so I'm not gonna
7:19
Speaker 1: do that. But I will say that it does not
7:22
Speaker 1: look like he's in sync. I think that's a fair
7:24
Speaker 1: way to say without kind of making assumptions about things,
7:27
Speaker 1: you know, information that I'm not privy to. In sync
7:31
Speaker 1: two starts ago, Yeah, yeah, I mean you can go
7:35
Speaker 1: you can go in and out of sync, you know,
7:36
Speaker 1: on a start and a start basis.
7:38
Speaker 2: But like like yeah, the case in point.
7:43
Speaker 1: But like, but it there's something I don't know if
7:49
Speaker 1: it's consistency of approach. I don't know if it's a
7:54
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's a game plan thing. Like
7:57
Speaker 1: there's all the answer is something that we do not know,
7:59
Speaker 1: that we do not have access to. But I can
8:01
Speaker 1: tell you that the execution, which is what we watch
8:05
Speaker 1: is not good enough and and it's and he's becoming
8:09
Speaker 1: I think it's fair to say that when he was
8:13
Speaker 1: brought in at like the floor of the Jack Flaherty
8:18
Speaker 1: experience for twenty twenty five at the time of the signing,
8:21
Speaker 1: was a relatively stable, uh expected outcome.
8:26
Speaker 2: I think that's fair to say.
8:28
Speaker 1: And you know, given given the job element, given the
8:31
Speaker 1: cob element, given you know Casey Mize and you know
8:35
Speaker 1: my Ada and like all these things that we spent
8:37
Speaker 1: time talking about back in the late last year early
8:42
Speaker 1: this year, he thought, okay, well you bring in Flarity
8:45
Speaker 1: and there's a stabilizing force there.
8:48
Speaker 2: Now now he's a little bit more wildcard.
8:52
Speaker 1: And and I don't want to overreact and say I
8:54
Speaker 1: don't think he can get it right, because if he's healthy,
8:58
Speaker 1: I do believe in his ability to get it right.
9:01
Speaker 1: And it's you know, it's it's July twenty first, it's
9:04
Speaker 1: not September twenty first, so like there is.
9:06
Speaker 2: Some level of time here.
9:08
Speaker 1: But it's just hard, like immediately after watching that to
9:12
Speaker 1: feel like it's a guarantee. It's not the stabilizing force
9:15
Speaker 1: I think he was brought in to be right. Now
9:17
Speaker 1: it's a little bit more wildcard wild cards A high
9:19
Speaker 1: wildcards a lot.
9:21
Speaker 3: That's a good way to put it. It's post All
9:23
Speaker 3: Star break check. Flirty has a four point seven to
9:26
Speaker 3: seven e RA. I think that is lower than the
9:30
Speaker 3: floor I would have guessed at the time of his signing.
9:34
Speaker 3: Now we'll see where that ends up toward seasons ends.
9:39
Speaker 3: But yeah, like, in a way, I have faith that
9:42
Speaker 3: he can get it right. In a way I also
9:44
Speaker 3: come back to like, well, maybe that's okay. If you
9:48
Speaker 3: have other guys in front of him who are producing
9:51
Speaker 3: well and he's toward the back of her rotation and
9:53
Speaker 3: he's kind of the wild card, maybe that's not the
9:55
Speaker 3: worst thing. I think. Maybe the most encouraging thing I
9:58
Speaker 3: saw over the past few days was Resol going out
10:00
Speaker 3: and having himself a nice Outright. That's someone who is
10:04
Speaker 3: probably not talked about enough as being huge for the
10:07
Speaker 3: Tigers down the stretch into the postseason. Can you get
10:10
Speaker 3: the resuls and who's been one of the best pitchers
10:13
Speaker 3: in terms of VRA in baseball over the past year plus,
10:17
Speaker 3: or are you going to get the Rees whose battled injuries,
10:20
Speaker 3: had some short outings not being built up looked rusty
10:24
Speaker 3: the rece we saw in Texas was a lot closer
10:28
Speaker 3: to the version of results than you want to see
10:30
Speaker 3: going down the stretch, and in a way that could
10:33
Speaker 3: take some burden off Jack Flaherty every fifth day.
10:37
Speaker 1: Right, and then you know, we'll kind of wrap up
10:40
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11:53
Speaker 2: All right, coming back here. You know, school bol.
11:57
Speaker 1: Had himself another in it outing on national television like
12:03
Speaker 1: that's never happened before. Uh, Sunday is Sunday Night Baseball
12:06
Speaker 1: at Texas six point two eleven. K's gave up four hits,
12:10
Speaker 1: He had a walk.
12:12
Speaker 2: He is human.
12:13
Speaker 1: Uh was able to you know, win a last batter
12:17
Speaker 1: battle against Jonah him and and and he kind of
12:21
Speaker 1: let out an emotion that was kind of like a
12:23
Speaker 1: third out emotion. But then he kind of regrouped and
12:26
Speaker 1: then aj aj had. You know, it's kind of funny
12:28
Speaker 1: about that. AJ actually kind of had like, uh, there
12:31
Speaker 1: was the conversation went about ten seconds longer. Then I
12:34
Speaker 1: was like, oh, man, is he gonna like not pull
12:36
Speaker 1: him here? You know, pretty uncommon. But but no ends up.
12:40
Speaker 1: You know, Holten coming, We we end up, you know,
12:42
Speaker 1: Holten comes in, spikes of ball, thy game, Veerling uh
12:45
Speaker 1: ends up getting the winning hit and uh invest closed
12:48
Speaker 1: it down. But uh, this this the schoolbol outside the
12:52
Speaker 1: Diamond News if you will. On social media and on
12:56
Speaker 1: the broadcast was Buster only uh saying that you know,
13:00
Speaker 1: School's gonna get four hundred million. I'm paraphrasing here, Schooble's
13:04
Speaker 1: gonna get four hundred million. And the question is whether
13:07
Speaker 1: it's the Mets, the Yankees, or the Dodgers. And there's
13:11
Speaker 1: been some pushback to that regarding you know, is that
13:15
Speaker 1: the most is that the good the most good steward
13:19
Speaker 1: of the game thing to do? Uh, if you're ESPN,
13:23
Speaker 1: if you're Buster. I'm not calling out Buster specifically because
13:25
Speaker 1: he's not the only one that kind of talks like this,
13:27
Speaker 1: but he just happened to do it recently. And like
13:31
Speaker 1: the Tigers sixty wins first team to sixty wins school
13:34
Speaker 1: ball on the cusp of potentially a second straight Sye Young,
13:37
Speaker 1: something that has been done U since Roger Clemens was
13:40
Speaker 1: in Toronto in the American League.
13:42
Speaker 2: So like it like my question kind of to.
13:47
Speaker 1: You, Cody, who is a big j journalist, And I
13:49
Speaker 1: mean that's seriously, like, is is this is this talking
13:52
Speaker 1: point regarding school bll like right right now? Like, is
13:57
Speaker 1: that is it like a fair or foul talking point
13:59
Speaker 1: in your I'm not specific to Buster, I'm not trying
14:01
Speaker 1: to call it Buster, but is this a fair or
14:05
Speaker 1: foul part of the Tigers story this year? I guess
14:09
Speaker 1: that's the way I would ask it.
14:10
Speaker 3: Well, it's unavoidable. Is that fair or foul? I don't know.
14:15
Speaker 3: I personally am not a huge fan of endlessly speculating
14:22
Speaker 3: about things we can't possibly know the answer to which
14:24
Speaker 3: is where's Trek School going to be playing into yours?
14:26
Speaker 3: Trek school himself? Maybe he has an idea, but he
14:28
Speaker 3: doesn't know that answer, Scott Boris, maybe he has a
14:30
Speaker 3: couple thoughts. He doesn't know that answer. A lot could
14:33
Speaker 3: happen between now and then, both in terms of school,
14:36
Speaker 3: both in terms of the Tigers, both in terms of
14:38
Speaker 3: the landscape of the league. I think it is logical
14:41
Speaker 3: to think Trek Schougle is the best picture on the planet.
14:45
Speaker 3: He's in his prime, He's going to command four hundred million.
14:48
Speaker 3: Who is most likely to pay four hundred million. Let's
14:50
Speaker 3: look at the richest teams. That makes sense. So I
14:54
Speaker 3: don't know that that's like irresponsible, but also to act
14:57
Speaker 3: like this is a all or nothing, like there are
15:00
Speaker 3: no variables. Here is a little short sighting a great example.
15:05
Speaker 3: Who's the best picture of the past generation? A lot
15:09
Speaker 3: of people would say Justin Verlander. Justin Verlanders never played
15:13
Speaker 3: for the New York Yankees. Now, he did sign an
15:15
Speaker 3: extension with the Tigers, probably at you his most opportune
15:19
Speaker 3: moment in free agency, but he stayed on the Houston
15:24
Speaker 3: Astros for a little bit. He did sign a big
15:27
Speaker 3: deal short term with the Mets, as did Max Schurzer,
15:31
Speaker 3: But you know, Schurzer at his peak earnings, he signed
15:36
Speaker 3: with the Washington Nationals. That's where they were in their
15:38
Speaker 3: competitive cycle. They were willing to dole out that money.
15:41
Speaker 3: There was a time not long ago where Corey Seeger
15:44
Speaker 3: was the best short step on the planet, and he
15:46
Speaker 3: signed a big deal with the Texas Rangers. It can
15:49
Speaker 3: vary where teams are in their competitive cycles, where they
15:52
Speaker 3: are in their ownership cycles, where they are in terms
15:54
Speaker 3: of the luxury tax, who's already on payroll. There could
15:57
Speaker 3: be other teams in one and a half year's time
16:01
Speaker 3: that enter this bidding for Terrek Schobel. We haven't mentioned
16:05
Speaker 3: the Boston Red Sox, who historically like to bid on
16:08
Speaker 3: some dudes. Like there are other big market teams. We'll
16:12
Speaker 3: see what the Tigers are able to offer up. I
16:18
Speaker 3: just think it could be more teams than just the
16:20
Speaker 3: Yankees or the dog It might well be the Yankees
16:23
Speaker 3: or the Dodgers. I mean, I guess that's the place
16:25
Speaker 3: to be. But there are gonna be other teams in
16:28
Speaker 3: this mix.
16:29
Speaker 1: If if you, if you think that one of the
16:32
Speaker 1: problems with baseball is is too coastal, and then you
16:35
Speaker 1: and you frame the conversation that way, then you're kind
16:39
Speaker 1: of feeding that beast.
16:40
Speaker 2: You see what I'm saying.
16:41
Speaker 1: And and by the way, the Cubs making you know,
16:43
Speaker 1: potentially could be making a big splash, and the Marlins
16:46
Speaker 1: are kind of sniffing around making the big splash right now,
16:48
Speaker 1: not specific to School just in general. Uh, I'm sorry,
16:52
Speaker 1: not the Marlins raised the race, Okay, because I.
16:58
Speaker 3: Don't think Terrek School is going pitch for the Marlins
17:01
Speaker 3: or the Rays. Write that down since it's ESPN.
17:04
Speaker 1: As Kyle Tucker nuggets out there about who might be looking.
17:08
Speaker 3: For his well, and that's where this comes in too,
17:11
Speaker 3: like players have different priorities. The Tucker to the Race
17:14
Speaker 3: thing keeps coming up because that's hometown Tucker and maybe
17:18
Speaker 3: he's not a big fan of the cameras in the
17:19
Speaker 3: spotlight Scoople does seem a little more apt for the stage, right,
17:25
Speaker 3: But I don't know. School's about to have his second kid.
17:28
Speaker 3: Some guys want to, you know, decide they want to
17:31
Speaker 3: go play in a place they can live year round,
17:34
Speaker 3: like Arizona or California or Texas or that. I mean,
17:37
Speaker 3: there are other locations, but let's be real, Detroit's generally
17:40
Speaker 3: not one of those places. New York's generally not one
17:43
Speaker 3: of those places. Like, they're just so many variables and
17:47
Speaker 3: eighteen months out, I don't know why everyone has to
17:51
Speaker 3: assume like they know the answer.
17:53
Speaker 1: It seems like I would maybe the best way to
17:55
Speaker 1: put it, since we're talking about contracts, is like, is
17:58
Speaker 1: there any value to talk to framing it that way?
18:02
Speaker 2: I think, and I think I would lean no.
18:06
Speaker 1: If I'm just trying to, you know, just the landscape
18:10
Speaker 1: of the game and you know, contextualize what we're watching,
18:13
Speaker 1: which is what you're doing on a game broadcast, and
18:14
Speaker 1: what you're doing when you write stories in advance of
18:18
Speaker 1: big moments and stuff like that.
18:20
Speaker 2: So like, I don't know if it.
18:21
Speaker 1: Really brings I don't know if it adds any value
18:24
Speaker 1: to the experience for the consumer, for the fan, you know,
18:27
Speaker 1: that kind of thing.
18:27
Speaker 2: And then also.
18:32
Speaker 1: Like there's also a piece to this where the Tigers
18:37
Speaker 1: for a generation were considered big spenders, right, you know,
18:40
Speaker 1: we all know the examples of that, and so we
18:44
Speaker 1: get questions all the time about like, well the Tigers
18:46
Speaker 1: have this. You know, they're a big market, you know,
18:48
Speaker 1: Detroit's a big market. They can go out and they
18:50
Speaker 1: can you know, go acquire talent, they can spend to
18:53
Speaker 1: get talent.
18:55
Speaker 2: So then we.
18:55
Speaker 1: Get that piece and then now like it's spun as
19:00
Speaker 1: if they're just automatically out of the bedding for Schooble.
19:02
Speaker 2: So those those things kind of butt heads a little bit. Narrative.
19:06
Speaker 1: Why so like, you know, for someone who thinks about it,
19:09
Speaker 1: who is in it day to day about like you know,
19:11
Speaker 1: thinking about this team and the construction in school bl
19:15
Speaker 1: and all this stuff like it, it feels like it
19:18
Speaker 1: feels disc disjoined to me, and so like, I don't
19:23
Speaker 1: I don't think it serves I don't think it serves
19:26
Speaker 1: anybody to kind of frame the discussion like that, especially
19:29
Speaker 1: when the team they sucked, if they were five hundred Cody,
19:33
Speaker 1: like I would be like, all right, well, I mean
19:35
Speaker 1: that's part of it. That that's probably something that you're
19:38
Speaker 1: gonna have to think about right now if you're Scott Harris.
19:40
Speaker 2: Right, but they are near or have the best record
19:44
Speaker 2: in baseball.
19:45
Speaker 1: I just don't know, like that that's a really that's
19:47
Speaker 1: a puny market way of looking at the Tiger situation
19:52
Speaker 1: in my opinion, which I don't think the Tigers are
19:55
Speaker 1: a puny market.
19:56
Speaker 2: So I just don't think no.
19:57
Speaker 3: I mean, I think the Tigers, if they want to
20:00
Speaker 3: our plenty capable of mustering up a competitive offer, whether
20:03
Speaker 3: that will be accepted. As I always say, I just
20:05
Speaker 3: think Scott Boris is going to take this free agency
20:08
Speaker 3: and he's gonna bit it against the Yankees and the
20:09
Speaker 3: Dodgers and whoever else might want to enter that mix.
20:12
Speaker 3: In a way, the Tigers the Mike Illich era are
20:15
Speaker 3: a great example of the fact that like things change.
20:19
Speaker 3: There was a time not that long ago where the
20:20
Speaker 3: Tigers were in on every big free agent or they
20:24
Speaker 3: were going to try to trade for some big fish.
20:27
Speaker 3: And one reason it's easy to write them off. They
20:29
Speaker 3: haven't quite operated like that in a while. And like,
20:33
Speaker 3: based on what we know about Scott Ayers, I don't
20:35
Speaker 3: know is he going to want to hand out ten
20:37
Speaker 3: years four hundred million? Is that even wise to do.
20:40
Speaker 3: That's a whole other discussion that maybe we'll spend all
20:43
Speaker 3: off season talking about. Think about where we were a
20:48
Speaker 3: year ago. Tigers sucked, They're gonna they were whispers. John
20:52
Speaker 3: Morsey reported like eighteen times like links between schoobl and
20:56
Speaker 3: the Orioles, and none of that was ever true, by
20:58
Speaker 3: the way, But like, look where the Warriors are now,
21:02
Speaker 3: and look where the Tigers are now, And let that
21:06
Speaker 3: just linger, and let's think eighteen months from now, who's
21:09
Speaker 3: gonna be winning, who's going to be looking to add payroll?
21:12
Speaker 3: That there could be someone else jumping in this mix.
21:15
Speaker 3: I bet the Tigers will be in it. I bet
21:17
Speaker 3: the Yankees will be in it. I bet the Dodgers
21:20
Speaker 3: will be in it. I bet a couple more teams,
21:22
Speaker 3: maybe some maybe some classic mystery teams.
21:27
Speaker 1: Buster Buster, U posey gonna you know, throw his hat
21:30
Speaker 1: in the ring or I should say mask in the ring.
21:33
Speaker 2: So so yeah, I mean again that the.
21:35
Speaker 1: Whole we're talking in circles in a little bit, because
21:37
Speaker 1: that's the point, is that there's.
21:38
Speaker 2: No way to do that.
21:39
Speaker 3: We have now gone back to the original point of
21:41
Speaker 3: like speculating on things about.
21:44
Speaker 2: Whether it's a good use of time.
21:45
Speaker 1: So we kind of fed into it while trying to like,
21:48
Speaker 1: you know, articulate some thoughts.
21:49
Speaker 2: On it, and and there you go.
21:52
Speaker 1: We're gonna take a quick break, and then we're going
21:55
Speaker 1: to talk about probably the coolest news of the day
21:58
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23:02
Speaker 1: All right, coming back here, Cody, Uh, A little bit
23:05
Speaker 1: of a little bit of flowers for you, because you know,
23:09
Speaker 1: when you didn't put in a physical call, but you've
23:11
Speaker 1: been on this guy, you know, longer than this season.
23:14
Speaker 1: But we've been kind of you know we've been focused
23:16
Speaker 1: on him this season.
23:17
Speaker 2: Troy.
23:17
Speaker 1: The meteoric rise of Troy Melton will at least for
23:22
Speaker 1: a time peak with a major league debut on Wednesday.
23:27
Speaker 2: It's not a it's not like a.
23:30
Speaker 1: Roster structure official yet, but but Troy melon will be
23:35
Speaker 1: starting Wednesday afternoon for the Tigers.
23:38
Speaker 2: And this is a guy that, uh.
23:41
Speaker 1: If you fall, if you follow the farm system, well
23:44
Speaker 1: there's been a name that you've been reading about for
23:46
Speaker 1: a long time. He started out in Erie this year
23:49
Speaker 1: and then.
23:49
Speaker 2: In Triple A.
23:50
Speaker 1: He's just been making dudes look silly and a little
23:54
Speaker 1: bit more than thirty six and he's got two seven
23:56
Speaker 1: to two ERA, he's got fifty six k's. He throws hard,
24:00
Speaker 1: he attacks hitters. I'm not going to pretend to have
24:02
Speaker 1: a whole scouting report on him, Cody, but this is
24:04
Speaker 1: this is your guy, So I'm just gonna kind of
24:06
Speaker 1: leave the floor to you. You know, why have you
24:10
Speaker 1: been on Troy Melton as long as you have?
24:12
Speaker 2: And and and then.
24:14
Speaker 1: Also maybe what's the opportunity here, what's the opportunity for
24:17
Speaker 1: Troy Melton when as he gets called up to the
24:21
Speaker 1: major leagues.
24:23
Speaker 3: Yeah, I've been on Melton for a while for a
24:25
Speaker 3: pretty simple reason. His stuff is really good. It's he's
24:30
Speaker 3: kind of been an example of like, Okay, are we
24:32
Speaker 3: scouting stuff or are we scouting results. His numbers last
24:37
Speaker 3: year in terms of e RA A you know, an
24:40
Speaker 3: eerie I think I think it was above five, but
24:42
Speaker 3: it was an upper nineties fastball with terrific vertical movement,
24:46
Speaker 3: with a good slider to boot. This offseason, he goes in,
24:49
Speaker 3: he's working on some stuff. He's adding a cutter to
24:53
Speaker 3: the arsenal, he's fine tuning everything. If you know one
24:57
Speaker 3: of those guys, he didn't actually struggle with walks last
24:59
Speaker 3: year either. I mean he had a five to one
25:01
Speaker 3: oh and in one hundred innings despite ten strikeouts per
25:05
Speaker 3: nine innings two point seven walks, which isn't bad. He
25:08
Speaker 3: was a little prone to giving up home runs. But
25:10
Speaker 3: he comes out this year and it's it's just these
25:12
Speaker 3: little tweaks here and there, right, and then Okay, he
25:16
Speaker 3: has an outlier ver fastball that's gonna play. He has
25:20
Speaker 3: a legit secondary pitch, and he's able to use his
25:23
Speaker 3: arsenal a little better. He comes out in earie, he's
25:26
Speaker 3: pitching well. He gets bumped up to Toledo, he pitches
25:29
Speaker 3: even better. He's averaged twelve point one case per nine
25:33
Speaker 3: in the minors this year. Karen, He's only it seems
25:38
Speaker 3: like he's starting to be in the strike zone more.
25:40
Speaker 3: It seems like he knows how to command his entire arsenal.
25:44
Speaker 3: Seems like this is a guy who's been trending to Detroit.
25:47
Speaker 3: I wondered if they were gonna move him to the bullpen.
25:50
Speaker 3: He made a relief appearance in Toledo just to so
25:53
Speaker 3: it was like, is this the way to get him
25:56
Speaker 3: to Detroit. No, he's gonna make a start man. He's
25:59
Speaker 3: debuting as as a starter, and it seems like he
26:01
Speaker 3: has a varied enough arsenal that he could certainly remain
26:05
Speaker 3: a starter if it works out that way. What's the
26:08
Speaker 3: runway here? The opportunity? I think it's hard. Ton't talking
26:13
Speaker 3: about unknowns, like the trade deadline is coming up, so
26:16
Speaker 3: I don't know. I don't think one or two good
26:20
Speaker 3: outings or bad outings is gonna make or break Like
26:22
Speaker 3: Troy Melton, I don't know, maybef he really comes out
26:25
Speaker 3: in shoves like you can shut down. Well, I need
26:29
Speaker 3: another starter. We got Troy Melton. And there's one of
26:31
Speaker 3: the things I talk about, like internal improvements are gonna
26:34
Speaker 3: be part of this. Melton's gonna get a shot, whether
26:37
Speaker 3: it's a starter, whether it's maybe in more of a
26:39
Speaker 3: swing min role maybe, whether it's something else. Their openings,
26:43
Speaker 3: their jobs open on this pitching staff. There are gonna
26:46
Speaker 3: be some outside editions coming in in a couple of weeks,
26:49
Speaker 3: less than a couple of weeks. Get getting here quick.
26:51
Speaker 3: But I think Troy Melton has a chance to lock
26:55
Speaker 3: some innings the major leagues this year.
26:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think that's a bit way to
27:00
Speaker 1: put it. It's like sometimes sometimes you gotta give credit
27:06
Speaker 1: to to a j fat you know, the staff in
27:08
Speaker 1: the front office as well, for just like just like
27:13
Speaker 1: create a situation that makes the cliche real. And in
27:17
Speaker 1: this case, it would be that we don't have a
27:21
Speaker 1: set plan for Troy Melton. We're just gonna let him,
27:24
Speaker 1: you know, let him do his thing, and then we'll
27:26
Speaker 1: be able to figure it out because because the opportunities
27:31
Speaker 1: are there, there is there is there is not a uh,
27:35
Speaker 1: there's not an ironclad five here going on right now.
27:38
Speaker 1: Cody for the for the Tigers, and and and so
27:43
Speaker 1: like it's a situation that will work itself out again
27:45
Speaker 1: another pun.
27:47
Speaker 2: Uh, but like you know, or.
27:49
Speaker 1: A cliche I should say, like it's a situation that
27:50
Speaker 1: will work itself out. But he but like if like
27:53
Speaker 1: he's gonna have every opportunity to earn his way into
27:57
Speaker 1: regular big league I mean, he could be the new
28:01
Speaker 1: Montero with like the opener and then you know, and
28:04
Speaker 1: then he gets the bolt roll or whatever. Like this
28:07
Speaker 1: is like it's all on the table for Troy Melton
28:09
Speaker 1: and and with stuff and results the blending of the
28:12
Speaker 1: two things that you just talked about. Uh, it's hard
28:15
Speaker 1: not to get get excited. I mean, we we love
28:17
Speaker 1: major league debuts here, but it's hard not to get
28:19
Speaker 1: excited about what what kind of you know, this could
28:24
Speaker 1: provide the uh the pitching staff that it's probably, as
28:28
Speaker 1: you know you look at it today, is in need
28:30
Speaker 1: of a non schooble sort of energy boost, I would say,
28:35
Speaker 1: and and and I'm very eager to I'm very eager
28:39
Speaker 1: to see what, uh what what Troy has in the store.
28:42
Speaker 1: And well we're well you will react to that, uh
28:44
Speaker 1: that start on Wednesday into you know, Thursday's episode will
28:49
Speaker 1: uh we'll have a reaction to Troy Melton's major league
28:52
Speaker 1: debut and excited to talk to you Cody about that
28:55
Speaker 1: when it happens. Uh, all right, let's let's wrap up here,
29:00
Speaker 1: Cody with a little two things. One great audition for
29:04
Speaker 1: Cabrian Hayes for the Tigers to trade for him. Had
29:07
Speaker 1: a couple of hits, had some really nice defensive place
29:11
Speaker 1: So hey, credit where credit talking about opportunity credit where
29:14
Speaker 1: credit is due? Man, Uh, we know our Cabrian Hayes takes.
29:18
Speaker 1: But but yeah, so I had the chuckle when he
29:21
Speaker 1: had a couple of bases today. But you know, speaking
29:23
Speaker 1: of right handed at bats, in field infielder at bats,
29:28
Speaker 1: you know the Jamai Jones thing I think is worth
29:32
Speaker 1: talking about right now. It's it's a roll Cody that like,
29:39
Speaker 1: partially it's a little unfair. And this is the same
29:41
Speaker 1: for Andy and Banya is right, like it's a little
29:44
Speaker 1: unfair because the opportunities are typically big in leverage but
29:51
Speaker 1: limited in rhythm. So like you know when you're pitch
29:55
Speaker 1: heating against a lefty and when and and that's why
29:57
Speaker 1: it's so great when you're successful and you can become
30:00
Speaker 1: a folk hero like Andy was last year and Jami
30:04
Speaker 1: you know, certainly had his time in the in the
30:06
Speaker 1: spotlight with that this, you know earlier this year. But
30:11
Speaker 1: you know, some of his offensive output because of like
30:13
Speaker 1: I said, the kind of lack of rhythm thing is
30:17
Speaker 1: it's definitely decreased. And so the question becomes how long
30:23
Speaker 1: is that runway for Jamai Jones. For the record, Andy
30:29
Speaker 1: Abanyez is doing well against left handed pitching and you know,
30:32
Speaker 1: somewhat limited at bats, thirty seven at bats, it's three
30:35
Speaker 1: point fifty one. He's got a home run, two doubles,
30:38
Speaker 1: He's got a four seventy eight on base against lefties
30:42
Speaker 1: in Toledo this year, just you know, for the record there.
30:46
Speaker 1: But you know, Jami Jones has had his moments. I
30:50
Speaker 1: think he's been a positive influence in that clubhouse. Seems
30:53
Speaker 1: like the guys really like him.
30:55
Speaker 2: But we're also kind.
30:56
Speaker 1: Of talking about limited opportunities and big opportunities, and if
30:59
Speaker 1: he we're string together some zero's in that role, it
31:03
Speaker 1: kind of magnifies it, you know what I mean.
31:05
Speaker 2: So I just gotta yeah.
31:06
Speaker 3: So it's hard like again, Yeah, you look at the
31:09
Speaker 3: overall numbers, which is still a small sample. It's kind
31:12
Speaker 3: of skewed in a way by a couple of big homers,
31:15
Speaker 3: but they're pretty good. And then it's like, okay, well
31:18
Speaker 3: he's in a what is it one for twenty two
31:22
Speaker 3: for twenty three spell and it feels a little magnified.
31:26
Speaker 3: But this is something aj Hinch has been talking about
31:29
Speaker 3: all year, dating back to when jayhen was on the roster, Like,
31:32
Speaker 3: this is the hardest role in the team. You were
31:34
Speaker 3: a platoon bat. You were going to enter to face
31:37
Speaker 3: the other team's best reliever. Good luck, hope you connect
31:41
Speaker 3: every now and then. Is kind of what it comes
31:42
Speaker 3: down to. And in a way, Jami Jones has done
31:44
Speaker 3: this job quite well. In a way, you go through
31:47
Speaker 3: a little drought and it feels a little bit magnified,
31:52
Speaker 3: so to zoom out, like, okay, when we think trade deadline,
31:55
Speaker 3: this is kind of the one position player spot that
32:00
Speaker 3: seems up for the taking. They could go get another
32:04
Speaker 3: right handed bat, would they do you Henio Suarez, who
32:08
Speaker 3: you have to pretty much pencil in in that lineup
32:11
Speaker 3: every day. A little bit on Tigers, like or would
32:14
Speaker 3: you rather roll with? You could have Jamai, you could
32:17
Speaker 3: have Jahn, you could have Andy or I've thought for
32:21
Speaker 3: a long time. Maybe the answer is just a kind
32:24
Speaker 3: of an upgrade or like I'm more proven, Jamai. Enough people,
32:28
Speaker 3: I don't think we're talking about a Modrazario of the Nationals.
32:31
Speaker 3: This is a guy who has an eight forty one
32:35
Speaker 3: ops against left handed pitching this year. He plays short,
32:38
Speaker 3: he plays second, he plays outfield, he plays third. He's
32:41
Speaker 3: played short most of his career started moving to play
32:44
Speaker 3: more third would seem to make a lot of sense.
32:47
Speaker 3: But even then, I don't know, you're kind of pinning
32:49
Speaker 3: yourself to one guy. Whether right now, what would you
32:52
Speaker 3: just ride the hot hand Andy Jahan Jamai the rest
32:55
Speaker 3: of the season? Is that? Is that responsible?
32:58
Speaker 5: Is that not?
32:59
Speaker 3: I'm gonna be honest. I don't know how I feel
33:01
Speaker 3: about this one. I go I changed my mind on
33:04
Speaker 3: it a lot.
33:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think that's fair, and I think
33:08
Speaker 2: it's all.
33:08
Speaker 1: I'm glad you brought up another name now, because I
33:11
Speaker 1: do believe that most likely the right handed bat addition
33:16
Speaker 1: will be somebody that.
33:17
Speaker 2: We're you know, no one's like really talking about.
33:19
Speaker 1: It's not gonna be like the headliner, uh, you know,
33:23
Speaker 1: Tier one, Tier two, probably not like you know, sort
33:26
Speaker 1: of like trade deadline guys.
33:30
Speaker 3: Though, are like, I don't know, add a little pop
33:35
Speaker 3: to this order. I don't know.
33:38
Speaker 2: That's yeah, well extend school. No, I'm just kidding. We're
33:41
Speaker 2: not going back to that.
33:42
Speaker 1: But like, but yeah, I mean that, But that's but
33:45
Speaker 1: that's all part of it.
33:46
Speaker 2: Is it the system?
33:47
Speaker 1: Or do you just go get yourself sort of like
33:49
Speaker 1: an outlier team fit with the uh, with the idea
33:54
Speaker 1: of like it's worth it to kind of go against
33:57
Speaker 1: the grain of your normal motive operation given the stakes
34:01
Speaker 1: of the season. So it's a fascinating piece. We're gonna
34:04
Speaker 1: talk a lot of trade deadline over over the next
34:07
Speaker 1: like what ten ten days, Cody. Uh, So we're we're
34:10
Speaker 1: gonna have plenty of plenty of times and through some
34:13
Speaker 1: names and throw some trades and and and and and
34:17
Speaker 1: see you know what you guys think we'll have We'll
34:19
Speaker 1: have a mail bag episode here pretty soon about that.
34:22
Speaker 1: I'm sure that will be one of the big talking points.
34:25
Speaker 1: And uh and yeah, it's gonna be a lot of fun.
34:27
Speaker 1: It's a different trade deadline than we've ever experienced. I'm
34:29
Speaker 1: I'm you know, doing this podcast, so I'm looking forward
34:32
Speaker 1: to to the anticipation and then you know how how
34:36
Speaker 1: it plays out. You can follow us on x formally
34:38
Speaker 1: known as Twitter at Cody staved Hagen, I'm at Heeran
34:41
Speaker 1: Underscore Steckley Pop page at Tiger Territory Underscore, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Apple, Spotify,
34:47
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcast. You guys know what to do.
34:49
Speaker 1: We appreciate all of you, so for Cody Stavenhagen, I'm
34:52
Speaker 1: Kieran Steckley. Everybody, have a great day.