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Detroit Tigers Outfield Rescue Options · Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast

0:04
Speaker 1: Hey, Welcome into another episode of Tiger Territory, part of
0:07
Speaker 1: the Foul Territory Network, a Right Tiger's podcast, I'm here.
0:11
Speaker 1: Secley with Me is always a man whose headshot won
0:13
Speaker 1: Best Picture at the New York Times Awards. He is
0:16
Speaker 1: Cody Stephen Eggan. How you doing.
0:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know about that. I'm doing it right though.
0:21
Speaker 2: If you wanted some spring training chaos, we got it.
0:24
Speaker 2: Not pitching chaos, but roster construction chaos. Because we've always
0:29
Speaker 2: said we're an injury or two away from all these
0:32
Speaker 2: discussions that we had all off season being blown to smithereens, Well,
0:35
Speaker 2: we're here. Matt Vierling, I just got to strain in
0:38
Speaker 2: his right rotator cuff. He is not going to be
0:41
Speaker 2: ready for opening day. Not what you want to hear.
0:44
Speaker 2: And then Parker Meadows, we're not totally sure on his
0:47
Speaker 2: status either. He's dealing with a nerve issue in his
0:50
Speaker 2: upper arm his biceps. Don't really know what the deal is.
0:55
Speaker 2: He hid from the media for five days and then
0:57
Speaker 2: apologize for it because Parker is a good guy. That
1:00
Speaker 2: turns out he had to go see a specialist already
1:02
Speaker 2: just to figure out what was up. Now, Aj Hinches
1:05
Speaker 2: said like, they have to get the nerve firing again,
1:08
Speaker 2: which I guess that sounds simple, but having covered pictures
1:13
Speaker 2: with nerve issues before, nerve issues tend to be tricky,
1:16
Speaker 2: so I'm not super optimistic. Parker Metals is doing no
1:19
Speaker 2: baseball activities and opening days just about twenty five days away,
1:23
Speaker 2: So who's going to make this team? That's what we're
1:26
Speaker 2: here to talk about.
1:27
Speaker 1: Well, add to the list. We didn't really talk about
1:30
Speaker 1: it all that much, but the Akille Badou broken bone
1:33
Speaker 1: in his hand, wrist area, whatever it was, specifically Hammett, like,
1:38
Speaker 1: that's that's three guys that you at least kind of
1:42
Speaker 1: figured on some range you felt relatively comfortable, you know,
1:47
Speaker 1: throwing out there in the major leagues, and all of
1:50
Speaker 1: them gone kind of just like that. The Parker Metals thing,
1:54
Speaker 1: let's start, let's start with that Cody, because that was
1:56
Speaker 1: one that we kind of said like, well, we don't
1:59
Speaker 1: really want to go down a deep dive because we
2:01
Speaker 1: don't really know, and what do you know now it's
2:04
Speaker 1: something that's worthy of a deep dive. I don't remember
2:08
Speaker 1: if I said this on the pod. I definitely texted
2:11
Speaker 1: it to you, but I was like the language reminded
2:13
Speaker 1: me of a picture where they're trying to figure out
2:15
Speaker 1: whether it's something kind of Tommy John related, like the
2:17
Speaker 1: way they are kind of like speaking shortly and then broadly.
2:21
Speaker 1: I was like, I just don't like the vibes of this. Now.
2:24
Speaker 1: You could say inflammation better than the tear, like you know,
2:27
Speaker 1: all these things, and that's true, but it's still a
2:30
Speaker 1: big cloud over the situation right now, especially when you
2:34
Speaker 1: have things like well, we just got to wait for
2:36
Speaker 1: the nerve to start firing, Like that's not the most
2:39
Speaker 1: reassuring aspect on the planet. So it is something of
2:45
Speaker 1: more concern than I probably than we were at this
2:48
Speaker 1: time last week. And it is another guy that we
2:55
Speaker 1: have to kind of talk about the injury thing in
2:58
Speaker 1: a weird way. I feel like there's a relatively long
3:01
Speaker 1: list since we've been doing this podcast of guys that
3:04
Speaker 1: you seem like to talk about their health as a
3:07
Speaker 1: main proponent of like them being able to impact this team,
3:12
Speaker 1: but they always kind of feel like random injuries. Like
3:14
Speaker 1: there was a time we were talking about this Riley Green
3:18
Speaker 1: and it's still kind of a thing Carry Carpenter, like
3:20
Speaker 1: still kind of a thing in Parker Meadows, And I
3:24
Speaker 1: don't like the label guy's injury prone when these kind
3:27
Speaker 1: of weird things keep happening and he just made a
3:30
Speaker 1: regular throw. He just made a regular throw and he
3:33
Speaker 1: and he felt numb and then it wasn't then it
3:35
Speaker 1: felt all right, and then the next day it affected him.
3:38
Speaker 1: I mean, injuries happen, of course, so is there So
3:44
Speaker 1: I'm like going back and forth in my head, is like,
3:46
Speaker 1: is there some solace in these kind of things happening
3:49
Speaker 1: like a month before spring training even or an opening day?
3:53
Speaker 1: Or is it like like the Matt Vierling perspective, or
3:56
Speaker 1: is it like alarming that a team that has, if
4:00
Speaker 1: you believe in momentum or at least has some sort
4:02
Speaker 1: of mental belief in what they can do this season
4:05
Speaker 1: kind of getting off on the bad foot and Parker
4:08
Speaker 1: Meadows not being center field and leading off is about
4:12
Speaker 1: as off to a badfoot as this team can get,
4:14
Speaker 1: given there what fifty two and twenty six, fifty two
4:17
Speaker 1: and twenty nine, whatever it is record with him in
4:18
Speaker 1: the lineup.
4:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't think we should ask the question like
4:23
Speaker 2: could it be worse? Because it certainly could, at least
4:26
Speaker 2: for right now, Riley Green and Cary Carpenter and Derek
4:29
Speaker 2: Scougle are all healthy, but it's obviously not what you want.
4:33
Speaker 2: It is a little bit concerning. Again, we still don't
4:35
Speaker 2: know for sure. The Tigers haven't ruled Meadows out for
4:38
Speaker 2: opening Day. But just like last week, I told you guys,
4:42
Speaker 2: the vibes didn't seem great, the vibes now seem worse,
4:45
Speaker 2: and we'll figure out what this timeline ends up. Looking
4:48
Speaker 2: like you had that on top of Vier Lane. Reminds
4:50
Speaker 2: me of a conversation I had like a week or
4:53
Speaker 2: so ago, just talking about the Ale Central. All these teams, Tigers, Guardians, Royals,
4:59
Speaker 2: Twins kind of evenly matched. It's kind of hard to predict,
5:03
Speaker 2: like who's who is the best team on paper in
5:05
Speaker 2: this division. It's a hard question to answer if the
5:08
Speaker 2: Twins are healthy. Gosh, they have so much raw talent,
5:11
Speaker 2: but Buckstay and Karrea Lewis are never healthy and they
5:13
Speaker 2: have some pitching concerns. The Royals are great and they
5:17
Speaker 2: have Bobby Witt, but how much depth do they have
5:20
Speaker 2: the Tigers, there are a lot of things to like
5:22
Speaker 2: that do they have the offense? The Guardians never seem
5:25
Speaker 2: to have enough offense until they magically do. I think
5:29
Speaker 2: the winner of the AL Central might just be the
5:31
Speaker 2: team that stays healthiest throughout the course of the season.
5:34
Speaker 2: In a way, that's just dumb luck. And that's the
5:36
Speaker 2: thing about injuries. It's not always someone's fault. It's not
5:39
Speaker 2: always because a player's injury prone. This is sports. You
5:42
Speaker 2: play one hundred and sixty two, you play six seven
5:45
Speaker 2: months out of the year, these things happen. Maybe it's
5:48
Speaker 2: good to get these out of the way now, but
5:50
Speaker 2: at the same time, we don't know how long either
5:52
Speaker 2: of these injuries might linger. And not exactly what you
5:56
Speaker 2: want to be down two pretty important players and two
5:59
Speaker 2: guys who are probably going to be part of your
6:01
Speaker 2: opening day outfield. Parker obviously in center, Veerling either at
6:05
Speaker 2: right or third base. Not getting off to a great
6:09
Speaker 2: start in terms of the staying healthy realm.
6:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, And you know, Veerling, you know, spoke to the
6:16
Speaker 1: media and he said that, you know, he's looking at
6:20
Speaker 1: grass a glass half full about it with you know,
6:24
Speaker 1: with the timing and and like he said, he couldn't
6:27
Speaker 1: remember a moment. It was just kind of like soreness.
6:29
Speaker 1: How he separates soreness from something that's kind of an injury,
6:33
Speaker 1: and I think rotator cuffs kind of are pretty perfect
6:37
Speaker 1: for that kind of like understanding or misunderstanding the you know,
6:41
Speaker 1: depending on how you look at it. Uh So, in
6:45
Speaker 1: regards to the ruster though, you know, the the big deal,
6:48
Speaker 1: the big deal, who makes the team, like these were
6:53
Speaker 1: two guys that these were two regular bats, Like you know,
6:56
Speaker 1: Virling's on every day, every day starter, but these were
6:58
Speaker 1: two regular bats and you're gonna have to replace them
7:02
Speaker 1: with some infield aspects. Right, So the leader in the clubhouse,
7:09
Speaker 1: so the person who seems to benefit to me, Cody
7:12
Speaker 1: seems like Wentzel Perez. What's heel Perez is? This is
7:16
Speaker 1: not breaking news or high end analysis, mind you, but
7:19
Speaker 1: he he's a guy that he's he's got He's been
7:24
Speaker 1: getting run in center field. You've been hearing about like
7:28
Speaker 1: this opportunity. He's another one of the young Cats that
7:31
Speaker 1: got to experience the postseason run and then kind of
7:34
Speaker 1: comes in unsure of his role. And now he's got,
7:37
Speaker 1: at least temporarily like a pretty solid role moving forward.
7:41
Speaker 1: I mean, the questions on our screen right now, Wentzel
7:44
Speaker 1: Perez a lock. I would probably capitalize at el there,
7:48
Speaker 1: Cody I don't know how there's anyway what sel Perez
7:51
Speaker 1: with his switch hitting ability, with his uh with his
7:54
Speaker 1: center field ability, not making this.
7:58
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9:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean down. Let's say you're just even down
9:03
Speaker 2: one outfielder. Let's say good news comes in Parker Meadows
9:07
Speaker 2: is able to be on the opening day roster. I
9:09
Speaker 2: still think Winsle Perez is probably a lock. This is
9:11
Speaker 2: the one guy who wasn't one my last roster projection,
9:15
Speaker 2: and I like wanted to get him on there. I
9:18
Speaker 2: just like couldn't quite do it well. Now you need
9:20
Speaker 2: someone to play right field, and whencele Perez is that
9:24
Speaker 2: guy who can play right field. We know he's versatile,
9:27
Speaker 2: did some good things last year. He's a switch hitter.
9:29
Speaker 2: Now I'm going to point out and we'll talk about
9:32
Speaker 2: the effects of this later. He only had a five
9:34
Speaker 2: ninety four ops against left handed pitching last year, so
9:40
Speaker 2: right hand. He said, that's actually his natural side, but
9:42
Speaker 2: he performed better from the left side of the plate
9:45
Speaker 2: in a way. It doesn't help the fact that the
9:47
Speaker 2: Tigers are kind of too left handed. But you know,
9:51
Speaker 2: he's a serviceable defender who seems to still be getting better.
9:55
Speaker 2: If you have to play him in center, I don't
9:57
Speaker 2: know that you're a thousand percent comfortable with that, but
10:00
Speaker 2: he can handle it, and we probably shouldn't overlook I mean,
10:03
Speaker 2: I think a lot of us were already penciling in
10:05
Speaker 2: Jace Young. This might help you use some ink for
10:08
Speaker 2: that and write his name in pin because the idea
10:12
Speaker 2: of Vierling playing third base isn't gonna be a thing
10:14
Speaker 2: to start the year. I guess you could still do
10:16
Speaker 2: enough Banya's McKinstry platoon, but this might mean some more
10:20
Speaker 2: McKinstry in the outfield. Like I think, I think this
10:22
Speaker 2: is good for Winsle Perez and for Jase Young and
10:25
Speaker 2: their chances of making the roster. You don't want to
10:30
Speaker 2: lose Vierling, But in a way, I'm I'm like, I
10:32
Speaker 2: feel good about Winsle being on this team. That's where
10:36
Speaker 2: the Tigers you can tell they're deeper in recent years.
10:38
Speaker 2: There's like a pretty clear replacement. Now you can add
10:42
Speaker 2: to that if you want Kieran. But then where it
10:44
Speaker 2: really gets interesting is, okay, what if you're down meadows too,
10:47
Speaker 2: and then that opens up at roma possibilities.
10:50
Speaker 1: Well, I did want to add like just a little
10:52
Speaker 1: bit of context in the sense that like you say,
10:55
Speaker 1: like you know, put the numbers against left handed pitching.
10:57
Speaker 1: Obviously him, you know, from the right side of the plate.
11:00
Speaker 1: Ninety six played appearances against left handed pitching last year.
11:04
Speaker 1: So one of the one of the talking points you
11:07
Speaker 1: can make is that like, oh, wait, it's his natural side,
11:10
Speaker 1: but he's just not getting work there. Uh maybe maybe
11:15
Speaker 1: maybe he's actually just gonna be a better left handed hitter,
11:18
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, we we it's still way
11:20
Speaker 1: too early to determine that. And a couple of stats
11:24
Speaker 1: out here I'll throw out you can kind of take
11:27
Speaker 1: them for whatever worth you want. He was four outs
11:31
Speaker 1: of but average in right field last year. One defensive
11:33
Speaker 1: run saved you. What's his arm, you say, well, he
11:38
Speaker 1: was in the fifty five percent tile and armed strength.
11:42
Speaker 1: That's according to Statcast, and he's eighty five percent in
11:46
Speaker 1: range eighty five percent tile excuse me, in range. So
11:50
Speaker 1: there are specific characteristics that you like there. I mean,
11:54
Speaker 1: of course, he makes a couple of plays on Saturday
11:57
Speaker 1: that like kind of played to this narrative that he
11:59
Speaker 1: you know, he he's ready for the moment and he's
12:01
Speaker 1: still super super young. So again, we don't necessarily know
12:05
Speaker 1: exactly what kind of player he will. He will be.
12:08
Speaker 1: But that's why you That's why you hold on to
12:13
Speaker 1: and develop as much as you can the Wenzel Perezes
12:17
Speaker 1: of the world, switch hitters who you can put into
12:21
Speaker 1: a different position still young enough, and you get some
12:25
Speaker 1: attributes that contribute to winning. Right and now he's ready
12:28
Speaker 1: to get a step on up there. So I just
12:30
Speaker 1: wanted to throw out because I don't know about you.
12:32
Speaker 1: I don't necessarily look at him as a smooth defender
12:38
Speaker 1: a lot of times, but there are numbers to suggest that,
12:41
Speaker 1: like he he has the skill set to be able
12:44
Speaker 1: to handle an increase low well.
12:46
Speaker 2: He absolutely has shown an act for making the plays
12:49
Speaker 2: and I think the jumps have slowly gotten better. Again.
12:51
Speaker 2: If he has to play a lot in center, that's
12:53
Speaker 2: going to be tested more. But I'm I'm not gonna
12:57
Speaker 2: write off winstle Perez's ability. He's shown he can be
13:02
Speaker 2: a pretty good outfielder even at the plate. I am
13:05
Speaker 2: concerned about him from the right side, but the bat
13:06
Speaker 2: to ball skills are still there. I don't know if
13:09
Speaker 2: he's going to have a ton of power from the
13:10
Speaker 2: right side. There's not a ton of punch, there's not
13:13
Speaker 2: a ton of chase. So that's where kind of the
13:16
Speaker 2: usefulness of Wincel Perez, maybe even some of it that
13:19
Speaker 2: doesn't show up on paper or via war still can
13:23
Speaker 2: kind of come through. If this guy can get up there,
13:26
Speaker 2: move the ball forward. Hey, maybe you can live with that.
13:30
Speaker 2: Now I want to talk about how you would replace
13:33
Speaker 2: Parker Meadows if he's not there, because in that situation,
13:36
Speaker 2: I think Wintle Perez is probably going to play a
13:38
Speaker 2: lot of centerfield. And then you open up all these options.
13:42
Speaker 2: Could you get Torque on the roster. Could you get
13:46
Speaker 2: Tray Sweeney, Jay Young, and Zach mcintry all on the
13:48
Speaker 2: same roster, or is there another solution. A guy I
13:53
Speaker 2: am really starting to like is one Jemi Jones, and
13:56
Speaker 2: I don't like him because he HOMERD and spring training home.
14:00
Speaker 2: I like him because he seems to fit the tigersm
14:04
Speaker 2: This is a guy they picked up on a minor
14:06
Speaker 2: league deal, and they picked him up for a reason
14:09
Speaker 2: almost it would seem for a situation like this where
14:12
Speaker 2: they needed He's a utility guy, plays in field. He's
14:15
Speaker 2: mostly worked in outfield. During this camp he had a
14:19
Speaker 2: nine to twenty five ops and a very small sample
14:21
Speaker 2: like twenty five played appearances against lefties last year where
14:25
Speaker 2: he's playing for the New York Yankees and in TRIA
14:27
Speaker 2: eight eighty three ops against left ees. Aj Hinch has
14:30
Speaker 2: been talking up his ability to hit left handed pitching
14:33
Speaker 2: since day one of spring training. He's not on the
14:36
Speaker 2: forty man right now, but saw your giftson Long is
14:39
Speaker 2: still eligible to go to the sixty day injured list,
14:41
Speaker 2: so you don't even have to worry about opening up
14:43
Speaker 2: a spot necessarily. He is very much in this mix,
14:49
Speaker 2: kind of a dark horse candidate. But in a way,
14:51
Speaker 2: I've got a new roster projection coming out on the
14:53
Speaker 2: Athletic and I think I'm gonna put him on there.
14:55
Speaker 2: And it's not about being right or wrong. It's more
14:58
Speaker 2: just kind of showing the different options that are available.
15:02
Speaker 2: I think the alternative most people would probably point to
15:04
Speaker 2: is like, well, why not get Tork on the roster.
15:07
Speaker 2: And there's a part of me that would love to
15:08
Speaker 2: get Torque on the roster. But let's say you're facing
15:12
Speaker 2: a right handed starting pitcher. Tork's probably not gonna start,
15:15
Speaker 2: but maybe you want him on the bench, you want
15:17
Speaker 2: him to enter, uh, maybe for Kerry Carpenter later in
15:21
Speaker 2: the game. Well, can't play outfield, So that basically means
15:25
Speaker 2: Carp's gonna have to dh if you want that to
15:28
Speaker 2: be your your plan to unfold. And so then who
15:31
Speaker 2: are you playing in right field? Maybe Justin Henry Malloy. Now,
15:36
Speaker 2: I guess you could still argue Tork could make it
15:37
Speaker 2: over Jay hen but I think Jahan's ability to play
15:41
Speaker 2: the outfield play first gives him an edge. But I
15:44
Speaker 2: don't know that you're comfortable starting jayhen in. Certainly right
15:48
Speaker 2: field had only one appearance there last season. We know
15:52
Speaker 2: his fielding is an adventure. I don't think the arms
15:54
Speaker 2: great either. Maybe you could move Riley Green to right
15:57
Speaker 2: and try to hide Jahn and left. Then you're messing
16:00
Speaker 2: with a good thing with Riley. Also, if Winsle's playing center,
16:04
Speaker 2: Jahn and right, like, I don't think you're very comfortable
16:07
Speaker 2: with that. So that's all to say, it's just gonna
16:10
Speaker 2: be hard. I think to get Torque those at bats,
16:14
Speaker 2: especially on day's a right handed pitcher is starting, I'm
16:18
Speaker 2: not sure this really helps Twarte's roster case Trey Sweeney.
16:23
Speaker 2: Maybe you could construct a pretty good roster with Sweeney
16:26
Speaker 2: at short, Zach McKinstry and right, Jayce Young at third.
16:30
Speaker 2: But then you turn it over against left handed pitching,
16:32
Speaker 2: you're gonna be faced with a question, are you comfortable
16:36
Speaker 2: starting carry Carpenter against left handers. We've been talking about it.
16:39
Speaker 2: We know Carrie wants it. There's a part of me
16:42
Speaker 2: that's really interested to see, like could he handle it
16:44
Speaker 2: if you got consistent opportunities. But everything I know about
16:48
Speaker 2: the Tigers, Scott Harrison, AJ Hinch, these guys love their matchups.
16:52
Speaker 2: These guys love platoon players. They love positional versatility. A
16:57
Speaker 2: lot of boxes that Jami Jones happens. Check and I
17:01
Speaker 2: make fun of Scott and AJ for this, but they
17:03
Speaker 2: could brag about how smart they are and oh yeah,
17:06
Speaker 2: we discovered Jami Jones and we knew, you know, his
17:10
Speaker 2: optionality could benefit the construction of this roster. It just
17:14
Speaker 2: sounds like the most Tigers thing ever. And you watch
17:17
Speaker 2: Tami Jones this spring and it's kind of a fun player.
17:21
Speaker 1: Yeah. So Jones right field, left field, second base, third base.
17:27
Speaker 1: Those are positions that he played for the New York
17:30
Speaker 1: Yankees last season. Now, some of those might be for
17:32
Speaker 1: an ending in or two or whatever. It's not like
17:33
Speaker 1: obviously all starts. But the Yankees felt comfortable enough putting
17:36
Speaker 1: him in those situations. So there's your versatility that you're
17:39
Speaker 1: looking for there, and in his career in triple A,
17:44
Speaker 1: so that's every time he's been in triple A throughout
17:45
Speaker 1: his professional careers. Two for the eight hitter, three seventy
17:49
Speaker 1: eight on base eight twenty one ops. This guy's got
17:54
Speaker 1: a track record of being all right, like you know
17:56
Speaker 1: what I mean, like like for what we're talking about here,
17:58
Speaker 1: and guys that you feel well give you an opportunity
18:01
Speaker 1: to there's a track record there. He's also, I mean,
18:03
Speaker 1: he's not a pup, like he knows he knows how
18:05
Speaker 1: to play. He's been around the game a little bit
18:07
Speaker 1: as well. That's that's something I'm sure appeals to the
18:10
Speaker 1: Harrises and the Hinches of the world. And if you're
18:14
Speaker 1: looking at options like you're gonna be hard pressed to
18:18
Speaker 1: kind of look at something that you like better than that, right,
18:23
Speaker 1: And so I kind of like that move. I kind
18:27
Speaker 1: of feel like that might be the move, especially if
18:29
Speaker 1: it's as simple as putting somebody on the sixty day, right,
18:33
Speaker 1: because the because the any all these like the thing
18:36
Speaker 1: is with these injuries is that you're looking like, oh, well,
18:38
Speaker 1: what about this person, what about that person in addition
18:41
Speaker 1: to some of them may not just be major league ready.
18:43
Speaker 1: Is the forty man element of this so that that's
18:46
Speaker 1: that's the biggest deal there somebody who is on the
18:50
Speaker 1: forty man somebody who like you would think would be
18:55
Speaker 1: primed for an opportunity for for like, to replace Man
19:00
Speaker 1: year Lane. Somebody who's like, you know, a right handed
19:02
Speaker 1: hitter and has like offense, you know, defensive versatility to
19:08
Speaker 1: play infield and outfield. One of them at like an
19:10
Speaker 1: elite level. Ryan Kreidler, Like Ryan Kreiler. One of my
19:15
Speaker 1: first thoughts when with the Matt ver Lan injury news
19:18
Speaker 1: was if not now, then when for for Ryan Kreidler,
19:22
Speaker 1: for like an opportunity because he's a he's kind of
19:25
Speaker 1: been this like everybody loves Ryan Kreidler, and I don't
19:29
Speaker 1: want to dismiss that. We talked in years past about
19:31
Speaker 1: him being sort of like the leader among the young
19:33
Speaker 1: guys and uh and he's he has been great, you know,
19:37
Speaker 1: respectable and great to the media over the years. And
19:39
Speaker 1: everyone loves about loves the glove, raves about the glove,
19:42
Speaker 1: wants him to get healthy. The problem is the hitting
19:46
Speaker 1: track record just really, isn't there same thing? Triple A
19:49
Speaker 1: career two thirty four, three fifty four on base seven
19:54
Speaker 1: to eighty one, ohps. Like that's triple A as triple
19:58
Speaker 1: A and we're getting talking points out about the difference
20:00
Speaker 1: between the majors and Triple A is more stark than
20:03
Speaker 1: it's been in a long time. So I would like
20:07
Speaker 1: to see Ryan Kreidler get a run here, if you
20:09
Speaker 1: know it's in spring training, but like it does kind
20:12
Speaker 1: of feel like if not now, then when for Ryan Kreidler.
20:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think it's a fair question. I
20:17
Speaker 2: think Kreidler's chances would be better if it were an
20:20
Speaker 2: infielder who were hurt a short stop maybe, But with
20:26
Speaker 2: it being an outfielder, I think you just feel better
20:28
Speaker 2: about Jones at the plate.
20:30
Speaker 1: Now.
20:30
Speaker 2: Kreidler has worked in center field, and that's kind of interesting.
20:35
Speaker 2: If he ends up being your best defensive center fielder,
20:37
Speaker 2: how would you feel about that? But if really, I
20:41
Speaker 2: think what you're looking at is someone who's mostly only
20:44
Speaker 2: going to play against left handed pitching, and if you're
20:47
Speaker 2: just trying to get I don't know, a seven twenty ops,
20:51
Speaker 2: do you feel better about Jami Jones or Ryan Kreidler.
20:54
Speaker 2: I'm picking Jami Jones. And then the other question, do
20:56
Speaker 2: you feel better about Jami Jones or Kerry Carpenter posting
21:00
Speaker 2: a seven to twenty ops against left handed pitching. That's
21:04
Speaker 2: a little bit hard to say, but there's ample reason
21:08
Speaker 2: to believe Jones could end up being just as effective,
21:10
Speaker 2: if not more than Karp against lefties. There are probably
21:13
Speaker 2: a lot of people out there who are like, just
21:15
Speaker 2: play Karp, you know, and you don't have to convince
21:19
Speaker 2: me very hard on that. In a way, that's almost
21:21
Speaker 2: what I would want to see maybe if I were
21:23
Speaker 2: running the team. I'm just telling you the way these
21:25
Speaker 2: guys think, it would almost be a departure in thought
21:30
Speaker 2: for the Tigers to actually do that, especially when there's
21:34
Speaker 2: a somewhat capable option already in their system. The other
21:38
Speaker 2: thing to consider is this right for some Scott Harris
21:41
Speaker 2: waiver claim or waiver trade a la Zac McKinstry a
21:45
Speaker 2: couple of years ago. And I think we should not
21:48
Speaker 2: rule that out by any means, especially if you get
21:51
Speaker 2: someone who is a good defender in center field, a
21:53
Speaker 2: right handed bat. Not impossible that someone new enters this
21:58
Speaker 2: mix by the end of camp or by the first
22:01
Speaker 2: couple of days of this season. But again, are you
22:04
Speaker 2: really going to get anyone who's any better than what
22:08
Speaker 2: you have in Jami Jones, a guy who's played in
22:10
Speaker 2: the big leagues a little bit, who has a couple
22:12
Speaker 2: of interesting tools. I'm not so sure. Bigger picture trades
22:16
Speaker 2: we haven't talked about in a while. I'm kind of
22:18
Speaker 2: surprised no one's like clambered more for the Tigers to
22:22
Speaker 2: inquire on Taylor Ward from the Angels, guy who can
22:25
Speaker 2: play a little bit of right field and has some
22:27
Speaker 2: thump and can really hit left handed pitching. I have
22:31
Speaker 2: no idea, you know, I've not heard anything at all
22:33
Speaker 2: about like that being in the works. That's just totally spitballing.
22:36
Speaker 2: I'm surprised there's not more of like a push for
22:39
Speaker 2: that among the fans, right because that could be an
22:43
Speaker 2: interesting move, But again, that means given up assets. That
22:46
Speaker 2: means like that's a bigger move that is probably like
22:50
Speaker 2: unlikely to happen at this point.
22:53
Speaker 1: I see your Taylor Ward and I raise you a
22:56
Speaker 1: Derek Hill. Is that a raise Hill? But I'm not
23:01
Speaker 1: emotionally it's a it's a raise for your boy. It's
23:04
Speaker 1: a raise for your boy, by the way, Derek Hill quietly, Yeah,
23:08
Speaker 1: not that bad, not that bad last.
23:10
Speaker 2: Year, not that bad, like forty or something.
23:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, like what seventeen years even you know the defense
23:17
Speaker 1: numbers he could uh, and you know, no drop off.
23:22
Speaker 1: I don't want to say no drop off. Maybe better defense,
23:25
Speaker 1: maybe a defensive upgrade, maybe as great as Parker is.
23:28
Speaker 2: Maybe great out well. But he sure looks good, so
23:31
Speaker 2: he passes the eye test. In my opinion, it's probably
23:34
Speaker 2: not gonna happen. I don't think the Tigers want to
23:37
Speaker 2: reunite with Derek Hill, but in my heart, that's a
23:39
Speaker 2: great option.
23:40
Speaker 1: This is a pro Derek Hill podcast, just just in
23:43
Speaker 1: the record for everybody. Uh. But all these scenarios that
23:49
Speaker 1: we run by, I don't I haven't heard you talk
23:51
Speaker 1: about Riley Green in center, So are we were? Are
23:55
Speaker 1: we moving on from that? Because I know they didn't
23:58
Speaker 1: want to give him like those I don't say opportunities,
24:03
Speaker 1: but it wasn't part of the spring training plan. But
24:06
Speaker 1: at a certain point, you're I mean, your top two
24:08
Speaker 1: center fielders, Parker and Matt are injured and maybe not
24:14
Speaker 1: gonna be good to start the season. So then do
24:16
Speaker 1: you have like does it make Is there a scenario
24:19
Speaker 1: where you just get you just have to play Riley
24:20
Speaker 1: Green and center?
24:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, no one is. You're right, Like that hasn't been
24:25
Speaker 2: talked about a ton. The early word from camp is that, like,
24:28
Speaker 2: the Tigers don't want to do that, but just because
24:30
Speaker 2: they don't want to doesn't mean they won't have to.
24:33
Speaker 2: They kind of had to last year after Parker got
24:35
Speaker 2: demoted and they had to play Riley more than they wanted.
24:39
Speaker 2: They didn't d HM. They played him in center, ended
24:42
Speaker 2: up being fatigued and straining a hammy. I think they
24:47
Speaker 2: really want to keep him healthy, but at the same time, like,
24:51
Speaker 2: if that's the best construction for your team, there's there's
24:54
Speaker 2: a real argument to do it, or even, like I said,
24:57
Speaker 2: having him play right field so you can play Jay
25:01
Speaker 2: hen More and left. In theory, that's not really that hard.
25:06
Speaker 2: Rightley doesn't have the greatest arm either, but I think
25:09
Speaker 2: you know, he's going to be more comfortable, especially and
25:11
Speaker 2: a lot of that's going to depend on the ballpark,
25:13
Speaker 2: et cetera, et cetera. But right now I'm getting the
25:16
Speaker 2: sense the Tigers just want to keep him in left
25:18
Speaker 2: and not mess with a good thing. I will be
25:20
Speaker 2: curious to see if that evolves based on performance or
25:23
Speaker 2: once we see more winsule and center, how these other
25:27
Speaker 2: factors shake out.
25:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it. You can. You can plan all
25:31
Speaker 1: you want. You definitely didn't plan on one throw from
25:34
Speaker 1: Parker and you know, some labor injury from from Beerling,
25:38
Speaker 1: you know, derailing you a couple of weeks before the
25:41
Speaker 1: season starts. So I don't know. At a certain point,
25:43
Speaker 1: just almost feel like you kind of have to. But
25:46
Speaker 1: if they if they try their damn this to not
25:48
Speaker 1: like I get that too, But you're running out of
25:51
Speaker 1: options pretty quick, is basically the main point there. Uh.
25:56
Speaker 1: You mentioned Jahan a couple of times. How we feel
25:58
Speaker 1: in you know, comfortability with Jay Hann in his place
26:02
Speaker 1: on this roster because I'll tell you just watching him
26:06
Speaker 1: and again I have his numbers in front of me.
26:08
Speaker 1: I don't particularly care what his numbers are, but he
26:11
Speaker 1: looks relatively comfortable. He looks pretty comfortable at first base,
26:15
Speaker 1: and he does kind of he is carrying himself like
26:20
Speaker 1: a guy who deserves to be a part of this team.
26:24
Speaker 1: And I'll even throw in, what's something that happened today?
26:27
Speaker 1: Like he's a young guy. Obviously, Still he gets caught
26:30
Speaker 1: in whether it was a cross sign whatever, he's trying
26:34
Speaker 1: to steal second base when there's a runner on second base.
26:36
Speaker 1: I don't know exactly what happened there. It's obviously it's
26:38
Speaker 1: a Pirates broadcast. They're not really going too deep into it.
26:40
Speaker 1: But like he's in a rundown. He doesn't look panicked,
26:43
Speaker 1: he doesn't look like emotional, you know whatever. Like he
26:48
Speaker 1: just looks like, all right, well I'm here now, I'm
26:50
Speaker 1: gonna do what i have to in order to make
26:52
Speaker 1: sure that runner gets a third. Runner gets the third,
26:54
Speaker 1: he ends up running out of the baseline. It's fine,
26:56
Speaker 1: but it's like little things like that is what I'm
26:57
Speaker 1: looking at. And he does seem he does seem like
27:02
Speaker 1: I belong here, at least from the field. I don't
27:05
Speaker 1: know how he was in the clubhouse and stuff when
27:07
Speaker 1: you were interacting with him, but I get the more
27:10
Speaker 1: and more vibes of I just it's gonna be hard
27:13
Speaker 1: for me not to want him going west.
27:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I tend to agree with you. Yeah,
27:19
Speaker 2: I mean, there have been a couple of little mistakes
27:21
Speaker 2: in spring training games, and as AJ has said, a
27:23
Speaker 2: million times like that. We want those mistakes to happen. Now,
27:26
Speaker 2: It's okay, we're not expecting perfection. I do still view
27:30
Speaker 2: it kind of as Tork in Malloy fighting for the
27:33
Speaker 2: same roster spot. If I had to rank it right now,
27:37
Speaker 2: I would have Jayhen head of Tork for reasons already
27:40
Speaker 2: laid out. He can play more positions in a way,
27:42
Speaker 2: you feel better about the bat. We know the plate
27:45
Speaker 2: discipline is there. There's lots to like about Jayhen. Hard
27:49
Speaker 2: not to forget how good I know it was a
27:51
Speaker 2: very small sample, but hard not to forget how good
27:52
Speaker 2: he was for the Tigers in the postseason. Yeah, I'm
27:56
Speaker 2: I'm liking some Jay in right now.
28:00
Speaker 1: Yeah. And you know something that was also beautiful to
28:04
Speaker 1: see was Tyrone Lorenzo smashing the ball over the right
28:11
Speaker 1: center fence. I mean, he's gonna be because he's so young,
28:15
Speaker 1: he's so far away, like he's gonna be one of
28:18
Speaker 1: the uh, like the prettiest girl at the dance type
28:22
Speaker 1: prospects for a while because his swing is just like
28:25
Speaker 1: it is awesome to see when he connects. And then
28:28
Speaker 1: you know, the the catching stuff. If he doesn't work
28:32
Speaker 1: out as a catcher, I think it's pretty clear to
28:34
Speaker 1: pretty clear to say it's not gonna be a lack
28:37
Speaker 1: of work ethic or anything like that. So, like you
28:39
Speaker 1: you wrote about him this week, you talked with him,
28:41
Speaker 1: and it's not that you're your first time talking with him.
28:44
Speaker 1: But it seems like everybody loves Tyrone. Everybody loves Tyrone.
28:48
Speaker 2: He's definitely made a good impression, and I think his
28:51
Speaker 2: fit in and not seemed overwhelmed in this camp, especially
28:54
Speaker 2: behind the plate, like he has a lot to clean up.
28:56
Speaker 2: Perceiving wise. We know he has a great arm, but
28:59
Speaker 2: his rate of throwing out base runners is not very
29:03
Speaker 2: goods like fourteen or fifteen percent last year. But the
29:06
Speaker 2: Tigers seem to like him behind the plate, like they
29:08
Speaker 2: don't seem all that worried about it. They're like, he
29:10
Speaker 2: has the tools, we just got to coach him up
29:12
Speaker 2: a little bit, and he's responded well to coaching, being
29:16
Speaker 2: a quick learner, all that stuff. I'm actually a little
29:19
Speaker 2: bit I don't want to stay worried, but watching him
29:22
Speaker 2: at the plate, I don't like his swing as much
29:24
Speaker 2: as I thought. He's got a big leg kick, the
29:27
Speaker 2: hands seem to kind of trail the legs. He connected
29:30
Speaker 2: on one Sunday and was great to see because I
29:33
Speaker 2: hadn't really seen him connect against live pitching. I guess
29:36
Speaker 2: he got a hold of Jack Flaherty pretty good in
29:38
Speaker 2: live VP, even though he's under it. But I wonder
29:41
Speaker 2: if it's a thing where he's gonna have to cut
29:42
Speaker 2: down that leg kick eventually when he starts facing high
29:44
Speaker 2: end velocity, high end spin. Every single day. I've just
29:48
Speaker 2: seen him get beat and look late more than I
29:52
Speaker 2: would have thought. So again, it's early spring. Doesn't really
29:55
Speaker 2: mean anything but just eye test. I actually don't love
29:58
Speaker 2: the swing.
30:00
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, that's part of maturing too, and we
30:02
Speaker 1: we've and honestly, if that becomes like a thing, most
30:07
Speaker 1: of the time, that stuff happens at the major league level.
30:09
Speaker 1: So one, he's gonna get extra time in the minors
30:11
Speaker 1: because he's a catcher, at least for now, he's a catcher,
30:14
Speaker 1: and so maybe it's one of those things that they
30:16
Speaker 1: can kind of get into him early. But when he connects,
30:18
Speaker 1: it is really pretty as anyone who watched Fall League
30:21
Speaker 1: video can tell you. All Right, we didn't talk like
30:27
Speaker 1: any pitching today, Cody, but we will. We'll we'll mention
30:30
Speaker 1: a little bit, we'll get we'll get some more pitching
30:35
Speaker 1: later in the week. There's just so many scenarios and
30:37
Speaker 1: I don't even know if we went through all the
30:38
Speaker 1: ones that were in my head. But regardless of that,
30:42
Speaker 1: Jackson Joe had himself a pitching ninja day on Sunday.
30:47
Speaker 1: He had he had all the he had the whole
30:50
Speaker 1: arsenal on display for everyone to ooh in awe. He
30:52
Speaker 1: ends up with three innings. I just pulled up the stats.
30:56
Speaker 1: Three innings, pitched, two hits, one earned run which was
31:00
Speaker 1: the home run to fellow draft mate Henry Davis, and
31:04
Speaker 1: three strikeouts. And the strikeouts were filthy all the way around.
31:09
Speaker 1: Even even when he missed his spot, he was able
31:11
Speaker 1: to get away with it, which maybe maybe something to
31:13
Speaker 1: remember if he, uh, maybe he gives up a couple
31:16
Speaker 1: in a regular season outing and then the home run
31:19
Speaker 1: was a hanger as well. So Jackson Joe, he's doing
31:23
Speaker 1: He's doing everything he can to keep that momentum behind
31:27
Speaker 1: his back. He is he looks the part, he looks
31:31
Speaker 1: a part of a of a picture that the fan
31:33
Speaker 1: base can get really excited about a recent first round pick,
31:36
Speaker 1: ready to kind of like put his imprint on the team.
31:39
Speaker 1: Looks good.
31:39
Speaker 2: Yeah. The first inning in particular was filthy. The changeup
31:43
Speaker 2: was really good. He beat Andrew McCutcheon with an elevated fastball.
31:48
Speaker 2: And again we're looking closely at the curve ball while
31:51
Speaker 2: stat cast was registering it as sweepers all day, throw
31:55
Speaker 2: a sweeper, so you know, go figure on that one.
31:58
Speaker 2: It did look a little bit more horizontal than it
32:02
Speaker 2: had the first couple of times I had seen it.
32:04
Speaker 2: Regardless of the pitch, was really effective, spotted it for strikes,
32:07
Speaker 2: also missed a couple of bats with it. Pretty good stuff.
32:11
Speaker 2: It was an improvement over his outing against the Orioles
32:13
Speaker 2: in Sarasota. It was more the high end stuff that
32:16
Speaker 2: we saw in that live VP that everyone was raving about. Yeah,
32:20
Speaker 2: you watch this kid, and he has to do it
32:23
Speaker 2: a little more consistently. He did still give up the
32:25
Speaker 2: home run ball, but it's pretty special stuff. He looks
32:28
Speaker 2: like a guy who again should be on this roster.
32:32
Speaker 2: Just go watch the first inning if you have any
32:34
Speaker 2: doubts about that.
32:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I do. I do like his pitch accuracy
32:39
Speaker 1: as well, Like it seems like he's going to the zone,
32:42
Speaker 1: which is you could.
32:44
Speaker 2: See the aggressiveness today, really attacking. I think the stuff
32:47
Speaker 2: was just tunneling really well. Like I think that you know,
32:50
Speaker 2: the change up, the elevated fastball, dropping in the curveball.
32:54
Speaker 2: I'm sure that it's just impossible to detect as a hitter.
32:58
Speaker 2: We don't talk about his change up enough. It was
33:00
Speaker 2: it was nasty. He got a couple really awkward swings
33:03
Speaker 2: on that. Yeah, those are coming out of the same
33:06
Speaker 2: arm slot and moving in a million different directions at
33:08
Speaker 2: at you know, a very high speed. I would not
33:12
Speaker 2: want to face them, would not want to.
33:14
Speaker 1: I would say, I respect your take. I just want
33:21
Speaker 1: to see what it's like, to see what it's like
33:22
Speaker 1: so I can better understand how hitters suck, you know,
33:26
Speaker 1: against Jackson Job and Ark Schole. I just want to
33:29
Speaker 1: see what it's like, you know, bird's eye view. Uh
33:33
Speaker 1: all right, Cody, Uh A lot there. Don't even feel
33:37
Speaker 1: like we scratch the surface on all these like scenarios
33:39
Speaker 1: that that could play out. It's just a we'll we'll
33:42
Speaker 1: probably get a better idea based on usage. And I
33:46
Speaker 1: was and that's another thing too. I kept going back
33:48
Speaker 1: on like trying to feel like how some of these
33:51
Speaker 1: guys that could be a part of this conversation, like
33:53
Speaker 1: how were they used in the past, and that will
33:55
Speaker 1: give us somewhat of an idea of how the organization
33:58
Speaker 1: views them. So I think when that's a good way
34:01
Speaker 1: to go about like how like how do they what
34:04
Speaker 1: about this guy? Like when you're asking that question yourself,
34:06
Speaker 1: go see how he's been used and now give you
34:09
Speaker 1: an idea to be able to maybe better predict what
34:11
Speaker 1: the team will do. So just a little, just a
34:13
Speaker 1: little thought, nugget there, anything else before we get out
34:16
Speaker 1: of here.
34:17
Speaker 2: Uh No, that's that's all I got for now. We
34:19
Speaker 2: will be back real soon and enjoying doing this three
34:22
Speaker 2: times a week. There's no shortage of stuff to talk about.
34:26
Speaker 2: If you're still confused on the roster battlet's go check
34:28
Speaker 2: out the roster Prediction. I think it's a little bit
34:30
Speaker 2: easier to explain the matchups and the platooning and the
34:34
Speaker 2: different scenarios in print than it is just spitball into
34:37
Speaker 2: it all here on the podcast. So hope you'll check
34:39
Speaker 2: that out on the Athletic.
34:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely should subscribe to Athletics. Subscribe to us, Apple, Spotify, YouTube, Instagram,
34:45
Speaker 1: wherever you're on social media. Wherever you listen to your podcast,
34:48
Speaker 1: we are there and we appreciate all the support we receive.
34:51
Speaker 1: So for Cody staven Hagen, I am here. Sectly, everybody,
34:54
Speaker 1: have great day.