Latest / Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast / What's at stake for Tigers pitchers in spring training and beyond
Transcript
- 0:09Speaker 1: And welcome into another episode of Tiger Territory by the
- 0:11Speaker 1: Foul Territory Network, Detroit Tiger's podcast. I'm Kieren Steckley with
- 0:14Speaker 1: me as always a man who sometimes wonders why live
- 0:17Speaker 1: BP isn't called live PP, but then he says it
- 0:22Speaker 1: out loud and figures it out. He is Cody Savinagen,
- 0:25Speaker 1: How you doing?
- 0:26Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you're right. Yeah, I'm doing all right, Kerin.
- 0:29Speaker 2: We're real close to actual baseball games. The Tigers will
- 0:32Speaker 2: begin their vaunted Great Fruit League schedule on Saturday, and
- 0:38Speaker 2: so we're here. Uh, these games aren't quite as exciting
- 0:41Speaker 2: as real meaningful games, but it kind of shows the progression.
- 0:45Speaker 2: You know, you go through a few days of just
- 0:47Speaker 2: pictures and then you're you're ready to start live BPS
- 0:50Speaker 2: and then you do that for a few days and
- 0:51Speaker 2: you're ready for the games. And then you do that
- 0:53Speaker 2: and you're ready for the real meaningful games. So that's
- 0:57Speaker 2: how spring training goes. We aren't moving.
- 0:59Speaker 1: Right, we are, and like the whole live VP thing,
- 1:06Speaker 1: like I do kind of like get a kick like
- 1:08Speaker 1: from a tongue in cheek perspective kind of do get
- 1:11Speaker 1: a kick out of like oh so and so hit
- 1:13Speaker 1: a bomb off so and so or so and so
- 1:15Speaker 1: struck out so and so because it is kind of
- 1:17Speaker 1: fun and and it's it's also in in a few
- 1:21Speaker 1: specific instances, like the only time we can kind of
- 1:25Speaker 1: see like fantasy matchups, you know, within the team or whatever.
- 1:29Speaker 1: So it's like what it what would it be like
- 1:31Speaker 1: if Trek Scooble went up against Holswape Ersinio. Well, we
- 1:34Speaker 1: have like a little bit of an example, and and
- 1:36Speaker 1: and Persinio got one on schoobl So that you know,
- 1:39Speaker 1: that's cool. You know that's a that's like a little
- 1:41Speaker 1: bit of a fan fantasy element.
- 1:44Speaker 2: Uh, going to the Hall of Fame where it's success
- 1:47Speaker 2: gone to schoolbl's.
- 1:48Speaker 3: Head Oh, I like that.
- 1:51Speaker 1: That's the real quick type that headline in here for
- 1:54Speaker 1: our YouTube watchers. But but anyway, uh, it's a little
- 1:59Speaker 1: bit of a and we'll obviously talk about the spring
- 2:01Speaker 1: training games on our next episode early next week, but
- 2:06Speaker 1: I did want to kind of go to like the
- 2:08Speaker 1: a thing that's like a little bit less action but
- 2:11Speaker 1: still kind of highly interesting. We finally did see a
- 2:14Speaker 1: regular bullpen session from one Justin Verlander. He wrote about
- 2:19Speaker 1: this in The Athletic and that my one of my impressions, Cody,
- 2:24Speaker 1: you know, from from reading everybody's accounts of this, is,
- 2:30Speaker 1: you know Verlander, all this talk about how like, you know,
- 2:34Speaker 1: attitude wise, maybe he's like kind of softened on the
- 2:37Speaker 1: edges a little bit, you know, in his mature age.
- 2:40Speaker 1: He's a father, he's married, like all these things that
- 2:44Speaker 1: may be true, and I'm not disputing it, but at
- 2:46Speaker 1: a certain point, a guy is a guy. He is
- 2:48Speaker 1: who he is, and just it seems like this bullpen
- 2:51Speaker 1: session was Verlander still to a te Verlander with his
- 2:56Speaker 1: like attention to detail and everything has to kind of
- 2:58Speaker 1: be exactly as he wants. And I mean this obviously
- 3:02Speaker 1: in a complimentary sense, but any concerns that Berlander's just
- 3:07Speaker 1: here to collect a paycheck in twenty thirty or whatever,
- 3:11Speaker 1: the guy's here to pitch as well.
- 3:13Speaker 2: Yeah, no doubt he's man. He's definitely still enjoying himself.
- 3:17Speaker 2: He's been just kind of saying hi to everyone, seems
- 3:19Speaker 2: in a cheery mood. Playing chess against Troy Melton. I
- 3:23Speaker 2: was walking in on Thursday and kind of crossing the
- 3:25Speaker 2: street right as JV's pulling up in his rain drover,
- 3:28Speaker 2: and I'm like, oh, this is my and he just
- 3:30Speaker 2: kind of waves and he's like, no, go ahead, So yeah,
- 3:33Speaker 2: he's been all smiles. And then he got on the
- 3:35Speaker 2: mound and yeah, I have never seen I've watched a
- 3:38Speaker 2: lot of spring training bullpins. I'm not sure that's something
- 3:41Speaker 2: I should brag about. I'm not sure it's been the
- 3:43Speaker 2: most productive use of time in my life, but I've
- 3:46Speaker 2: never seen one quite like this. It took JV probably
- 3:49Speaker 2: at least thirty minutes. He said he threw seventy pitches
- 3:53Speaker 2: if you count warm ups, So he's warming up in
- 3:58Speaker 2: his own bullpen like these or not. Before the bullpen,
- 4:01Speaker 2: he stepped on the mound and I guess was still
- 4:03Speaker 2: warming up in his mind, and yeah, just kind of
- 4:06Speaker 2: seeking feedback looking at the iPad or telling Dylan Dinglar
- 4:10Speaker 2: something after almost every pitch. I guess was the first
- 4:13Speaker 2: time Dingler has ever caught him. So it kind of
- 4:15Speaker 2: goes and shows what goes into catching Justin Verlander like,
- 4:18Speaker 2: you better be on the same wavelength as him. And
- 4:21Speaker 2: it wasn't a bad thing by any means, but I
- 4:23Speaker 2: think it's fair to say it's a little higher maintenance
- 4:26Speaker 2: than it is foremost pitchers. He and Dingler were working out.
- 4:30Speaker 2: You know how Justin likes to see the target. How
- 4:33Speaker 2: does he want Dingler's body aligned? They talked a little
- 4:35Speaker 2: bit about sequencing. Verlander was seeking Dingler's feedback on his pitches.
- 4:40Speaker 2: Was this cutting, was this moving? There was a lot
- 4:43Speaker 2: that went into it. He took at least two lengthy breaks,
- 4:46Speaker 2: conferred with Dingler and Chris Fetter, Ajhinch and some others.
- 4:50Speaker 2: So cater Montero was on the mound next to him
- 4:55Speaker 2: through probably twenty thirty pitches, got out of there and
- 4:57Speaker 2: called it. Good Lander was just getting started. As he
- 5:01Speaker 2: was walking off, you know, someone said, hey, that took
- 5:03Speaker 2: a while, and Verland said, oh, you mean no, what
- 5:05Speaker 2: nobody does that anymore? So I guess maybe it's more
- 5:08Speaker 2: of an older school bullpen, but this is still how
- 5:12Speaker 2: Justin Verlander does it. If you want to know, if
- 5:16Speaker 2: you want to learn something about Justin Verlander, I can
- 5:18Speaker 2: now confirm this is one meticulous person.
- 5:23Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 5:23Speaker 1: Actually, probably an underrated element to him being on this
- 5:29Speaker 1: roster with you know, obviously got veterans on there, but
- 5:32Speaker 1: nobody as veteran as him, and some of these young
- 5:34Speaker 1: guys just kind of comparing all these like little things that, like,
- 5:38Speaker 1: you know with yeah, it's all like Montero is like, yeah,
- 5:41Speaker 1: I'm good, I don't need any more work. Like they're
- 5:43Speaker 1: all striving toward the same goal. But you know, there
- 5:46Speaker 1: are like different approaches to it, especially you know whatever
- 5:49Speaker 1: two weeks in the camp. So so that's that'd be
- 5:52Speaker 1: something you know, interesting to follow throughout and behind the
- 5:55Speaker 1: scenes and and.
- 5:57Speaker 2: All that anyone looking to attend or tune into the
- 5:59Speaker 2: Great League Games. I don't think Erlander will throw probably
- 6:03Speaker 2: until early March. Looks like that it's going to be
- 6:05Speaker 2: a plan for it.
- 6:07Speaker 3: Well he doesn't need to. He's throwing seventy pitch.
- 6:10Speaker 2: Well, he's plenty built up. I mean, doesn't seem to
- 6:13Speaker 2: be an issue.
- 6:17Speaker 3: We uh, we had talked about.
- 6:20Speaker 1: We had teased this last episode Cody about you know this,
- 6:24Speaker 1: I don't know what better ways say it, but the
- 6:26Speaker 1: sudden resignation of Tony Clark from the head of the
- 6:30Speaker 1: Players Association, and obviously Trek schoubl And and other guys
- 6:35Speaker 1: on the team are involved in the Players Union to
- 6:39Speaker 1: varying degrees, and obviously we're not breaking any news here
- 6:43Speaker 1: about what's going on, you know, blah blah blah, there's
- 6:45Speaker 1: plenty of stuff out there for everybody to read, including
- 6:48Speaker 1: from our our foul territory colleague and athletic colleague, Ken Rosenthal.
- 6:53Speaker 1: But school Ball being on the executive committee, what did
- 7:00Speaker 1: he kind of did he shed any light on this
- 7:02Speaker 1: or what he was is the message from sort of
- 7:05Speaker 1: like the prominent members of the Tigers. It seems like
- 7:08Speaker 1: the players as a whole just you know, broad landscape.
- 7:11Speaker 1: They they seem to say like, look, you know, you know,
- 7:14Speaker 1: they're steering clear of like talking specifically about any sort
- 7:17Speaker 1: of misdeeds, but they do feel confident that their approach
- 7:21Speaker 1: and their message and their plan will still be you know,
- 7:24Speaker 1: held moving forward. So is that what school Boy's kind
- 7:27Speaker 1: of indicated to.
- 7:29Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that was definitely his main point. I
- 7:31Speaker 2: think that's probably the talking point the union has maybe
- 7:35Speaker 2: instructed players to try to get across. And by the way,
- 7:39Speaker 2: anyone wondering if success has actually gone to Trek School's head,
- 7:43Speaker 2: I can tell you he's been the same guy I've had.
- 7:45Speaker 2: I've talked to him almost every every day and had
- 7:47Speaker 2: to bug him on this union stuff, which I don't
- 7:51Speaker 2: think you know, he was. It just puts him in
- 7:53Speaker 2: an awkward position to talk about, because clearly they're trying
- 7:56Speaker 2: to keep a lot of their business in house. But
- 7:59Speaker 2: we have to sit there now ask him questions about
- 8:01Speaker 2: all this going on. The handle it fine. He handled
- 8:03Speaker 2: it like a pro. He's probably a little less forthcoming
- 8:06Speaker 2: on that than I've ever seen him on like any
- 8:08Speaker 2: other subject, but I think that was his main message.
- 8:13Speaker 2: They think they are still strong. Bruce Meyer, of course,
- 8:15Speaker 2: did part of his arbitration argument. Scott Borers enlisted Bruce
- 8:19Speaker 2: Meyer to do that, So you would think that means
- 8:22Speaker 2: Trek Scuble is going to have success or a positive
- 8:26Speaker 2: relationship or at least familiarity with Bruce Meyer. As I
- 8:31Speaker 2: kind of step back, like you know, I've never been
- 8:35Speaker 2: in a union league negotiation. It's hard to know exactly
- 8:38Speaker 2: what goes on. People want to know what this means
- 8:41Speaker 2: for the union. Does this increase the chance of a
- 8:43Speaker 2: lockout or missing games? And I don't really know. I
- 8:47Speaker 2: don't think Tony Clark's resignation is a good thing, especially
- 8:51Speaker 2: given this timing. But it's not like losing one person
- 8:56Speaker 2: significantly alters whatever they're going to prioritize or whatever they
- 9:00Speaker 2: might already have planned. I kind of likened it too well, Like,
- 9:03Speaker 2: imagine if you had a manager of a really talented
- 9:08Speaker 2: team step away for some reason. Not to put this
- 9:12Speaker 2: out there, but like if for some reason, hypothetically Dave
- 9:15Speaker 2: Roberts had to resign tomorrow, would the Dodgers be hopeless. No,
- 9:20Speaker 2: they'd still have a pretty good team. They'd still be
- 9:22Speaker 2: in pretty good shape. It just might create some extra wrinkles,
- 9:25Speaker 2: some extra challenges. It's gonna be more workload on somebody else.
- 9:31Speaker 2: That's so that's kind of how I feel about it
- 9:32Speaker 2: at this point.
- 9:35Speaker 1: Yeah, I would tend to agree with that. I mean,
- 9:38Speaker 1: it's hard to call that net positive just whenever there's
- 9:40Speaker 1: organ organizational structures at this point, but overall, it is
- 9:45Speaker 1: early enough that in theory, everything should kind of move
- 9:49Speaker 1: basically as planned as they go through negotiations. All right,
- 9:54Speaker 1: let's uh, let's go to the number one news item
- 9:57Speaker 1: of the day, Cody. We have the long away alternate
- 10:02Speaker 1: uniform reveal from the Detroit Tigers, and we had obviously
- 10:06Speaker 1: gotten a glimpse of this from fanatics. The orange uniform
- 10:10Speaker 1: was part of the trailer and MLB the show, so
- 10:13Speaker 1: obviously we kind of saw a little bit.
- 10:16Speaker 3: Of this coming.
- 10:16Speaker 1: But now we have tangible official results here, and we
- 10:21Speaker 1: have the graphic up on our YouTube page special Turtlesen
- 10:25Speaker 1: and Carrie Carpenters serving as models. You guys have probably
- 10:29Speaker 1: all seen it by now. Not going to break down
- 10:31Speaker 1: every little thing. I'm just gonna kind of give like
- 10:32Speaker 1: a broad like impression and say that I like them,
- 10:38Speaker 1: like the because this is different from a conceptual standpoint
- 10:44Speaker 1: than the City Connects. Where the City Connects, you're just
- 10:46Speaker 1: trying you're creating something you know from scratch, basically, and
- 10:49Speaker 1: you're trying to incorporate all these elements, whereas these uniforms
- 10:53Speaker 1: are meant to look like Detroit Tigers uniforms, whereas the
- 10:57Speaker 1: City Connects are supposed to be kind of like this
- 10:59Speaker 1: whole different thing, and these look like Detroit Tiger's uniforms.
- 11:02Speaker 1: I like the patch. It's probably my favorite piece of
- 11:05Speaker 1: the uniform. And I thought, like, you know, the the
- 11:09Speaker 1: mission of honoring the past while you know, doing something
- 11:13Speaker 1: like a little bit more new.
- 11:14Speaker 3: I thought they nailed that.
- 11:16Speaker 1: It's not like it's not anything that I would say, like,
- 11:20Speaker 1: you know, they knocked it out of the park.
- 11:22Speaker 3: I don't think you needed to knock it out of
- 11:24Speaker 3: the Park.
- 11:24Speaker 1: I think you just needed it a good, solid, good
- 11:26Speaker 1: looking uniform that's just different enough to feel fresh and
- 11:29Speaker 1: I while also having elements that the fans are gonna love.
- 11:32Speaker 3: And I think they did a good job with that.
- 11:35Speaker 2: Yeah, and I did see him in person on Thursday.
- 11:37Speaker 2: They look pretty similar to the pictures. I thought the
- 11:39Speaker 2: orange looked actually a little bit lighter in person. But yeah,
- 11:44Speaker 2: they look nice. I don't have a huge strong take
- 11:46Speaker 2: on these. I am fine with them. Again, they didn't
- 11:49Speaker 2: overdo it, they didn't try to get too cute. I
- 11:51Speaker 2: do think that's important. I like the subtle nods to history,
- 11:57Speaker 2: and they are always going to be. Some people who
- 12:00Speaker 2: don't want these think the Tigers should never change anything right,
- 12:03Speaker 2: and look, I think it's important that Tigers are charter
- 12:06Speaker 2: members of the American League. I think it's very important
- 12:08Speaker 2: to honor the organization's history. I also think it's a
- 12:12Speaker 2: little bit of a myth that like well, the Tigers
- 12:15Speaker 2: should only wear like The Tigers have had a lot
- 12:17Speaker 2: of different jersey variations throughout their history and different logos.
- 12:21Speaker 2: The d itself has changed numerous times. Used to have
- 12:25Speaker 2: a tiger that looked cracked out as one of your
- 12:28Speaker 2: logos like there has been change throughout the history of
- 12:32Speaker 2: this franchise, so it gets a little bit overstated, even
- 12:36Speaker 2: though that before City Connects, the tigersould only warn non
- 12:40Speaker 2: white jersey at home one time, and that was in
- 12:43Speaker 2: nineteen ninety five. But clearly those days are in the past.
- 12:47Speaker 2: Is twenty twenty six, things change. Every team except the
- 12:50Speaker 2: Yankees has an alternate uniform now, so I think that's fine. Again,
- 12:55Speaker 2: these aren't ridiculous. These fit with the team's existing color scheme.
- 12:58Speaker 2: You keep the old English d you keep the script Detroit.
- 13:03Speaker 2: The Tigers wanted to get across that. They worked, did
- 13:05Speaker 2: some focus groups with fans, talked to players, and felt
- 13:09Speaker 2: that this is what people wanted. Obviously it's not going
- 13:11Speaker 2: to be one hundred percent, but the organization felt the
- 13:14Speaker 2: majority of people wanted this. I'll be curious to see
- 13:18Speaker 2: what it looks like like when they're on the field.
- 13:20Speaker 2: I was reading an old Jason Beck's story about those
- 13:23Speaker 2: ninety five blues and then that Alan Trammell talked about
- 13:26Speaker 2: the orange batting practice jerseys they used to wear, and
- 13:30Speaker 2: he said, we all looked at like pumpkins. So as
- 13:33Speaker 2: we see these orange jerseys more, will the Tigers look
- 13:36Speaker 2: like pumpkins or will people fall in love with them?
- 13:39Speaker 2: I think that's something to monitor, But I think these
- 13:43Speaker 2: will do well. I think a lot of people will
- 13:45Speaker 2: buy them. Right now, they seem to look pretty nice
- 13:47Speaker 2: to me.
- 13:48Speaker 1: Yeah, And I also like that they did like a
- 13:51Speaker 1: special hat for him too, because again, like part of
- 13:53Speaker 1: the part of the element of these alternate uniforms is
- 13:57Speaker 1: to get you to feel like you're doing something fresher,
- 14:01Speaker 1: to get you to feel like you're like in something
- 14:04Speaker 1: new and kind of like trick your mind that way,
- 14:07Speaker 1: and the hat is is obviously an iconic part of
- 14:09Speaker 1: any baseball uniform. And I thought, again, you know, it
- 14:12Speaker 1: matches up well and didn't try too hard. Just at
- 14:14Speaker 1: a little orange and we're all good and we can
- 14:17Speaker 1: move on.
- 14:17Speaker 3: So I'm excited to.
- 14:18Speaker 1: See them and uh, you know, on TV, in person, whatever.
- 14:23Speaker 1: But I, like I said, I think they look like
- 14:25Speaker 1: Tiger's uniforms. Now, if you asked me what, like, if
- 14:28Speaker 1: I was a part of the focus group, that would
- 14:29Speaker 1: have been my number one thing, It's like, do they
- 14:31Speaker 1: look like Tiger's uniforms?
- 14:33Speaker 3: And I would say that these obviously do.
- 14:36Speaker 2: I do think it makes the City Connects look worse.
- 14:38Speaker 2: And I always thought the City Connects were fine, like
- 14:40Speaker 2: middle of the pack as far as CE Connects go.
- 14:44Speaker 2: Seeing these it's like, oh yeah, these are these are
- 14:46Speaker 2: a lot better than the City Connects.
- 14:49Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean worse.
- 14:51Speaker 1: Like I understand where you're coming from. The way I
- 14:52Speaker 1: would probably phrase it is like more cartoonish, you know
- 14:57Speaker 1: what I mean. Yeah, yeah, So, and like it's okay,
- 15:03Speaker 1: it's okay.
- 15:04Speaker 3: They don't have to. They didn't have to.
- 15:07Speaker 1: They don't have to like make you redefine your fandom
- 15:10Speaker 1: for for the team. It's just like it's just something
- 15:12Speaker 1: a little bit different. That's the world we live in,
- 15:14Speaker 1: and and that's okay.
- 15:16Speaker 3: All right.
- 15:16Speaker 1: Well, we've done outfielders for pressure ratings, We've done infielders
- 15:22Speaker 1: for pressure ratings, but we had an infielder and an
- 15:25Speaker 1: outfielder that was part of the modeling rollout.
- 15:29Speaker 3: For these new uniforms.
- 15:31Speaker 1: So I think I'm gonna add like another quarter of
- 15:35Speaker 1: a point to Torque and to Carpenter's pressure rating, because look,
- 15:40Speaker 1: if you're if you're chosen and you agreed to be
- 15:42Speaker 1: part like a model for a new uniform, you can't
- 15:46Speaker 1: have a bad season after that because otherwise, like the
- 15:49Speaker 1: uniform itself, and you like this image that we just
- 15:52Speaker 1: showed of Carpenter and Torque. If they have bad seasons,
- 15:55Speaker 1: this is gonna live on in infamy. Like that's like
- 15:58Speaker 1: there's a little bit, a little bit more pressure there.
- 16:00Speaker 1: So so hopefully they have good seasons and and this
- 16:03Speaker 1: becomes like a cool picture instead of one that evokes
- 16:06Speaker 1: negative emotions of moving forwards.
- 16:08Speaker 3: I just wanted to get that out of the way first,
- 16:11Speaker 3: But Trek Scooble.
- 16:14Speaker 1: Where else to start but Trek Schouble for how much
- 16:17Speaker 1: pressure is on each player? And I tend to go
- 16:24Speaker 1: high here, Cody, because I think Schooble puts a lot
- 16:29Speaker 1: of pressure on himself in general. And it's also the
- 16:32Speaker 1: contract year. You're chasing history. You're very like vocal about
- 16:38Speaker 1: like what your goals in the game are, you know,
- 16:41Speaker 1: in this instance, like winning a World series as well.
- 16:44Speaker 1: He's not shy about that, so I kind of you
- 16:48Speaker 1: don't want to say, like the stakes are high, like
- 16:50Speaker 1: a Parker Meadows type where we said, like, you know,
- 16:52Speaker 1: things could kind of break here, But I'm I'm gonna
- 16:55Speaker 1: go with the three seven five, because like he's a
- 16:59Speaker 1: he's not made man in a financial sense, but he's
- 17:02Speaker 1: he's already a member of baseball and Tiger's history. But
- 17:06Speaker 1: the man is not satisfied. So there's gonna be some
- 17:09Speaker 1: part of pressure. Plus, you're the lead staff, a leader
- 17:12Speaker 1: of a staff of a team that has like high aspirations,
- 17:15Speaker 1: so there has to be some pressure with that.
- 17:17Speaker 3: So that's my read on the school situation.
- 17:20Speaker 2: Yeah, as we've kind of talked about throughout this pressure
- 17:23Speaker 2: index series, how do we define pressure? I think it
- 17:27Speaker 2: can be defined in different ways. I think Trek Scuogle
- 17:30Speaker 2: is very confident. He doesn't need to feel like the
- 17:35Speaker 2: way of the world is on his shoulders, but in
- 17:37Speaker 2: a way, the weight of Tiger Nation is.
- 17:39Speaker 3: Maybe he does feel that. That's probably how he gets going.
- 17:41Speaker 2: So like, do you want to become the highest paid
- 17:43Speaker 2: pitcher ever? You have a good year and that is
- 17:47Speaker 2: gonna happen. So from that wins, there is certainly some
- 17:51Speaker 2: pressure on him. Let's not forget the Tigers have lost
- 17:53Speaker 2: Alds Game fives in back to back years with schooball
- 17:57Speaker 2: on the mound. He gave up a Grand Slam the
- 17:59Speaker 2: first time he pitched really well, but didn't you know,
- 18:03Speaker 2: for whatever However, we want to religate he was pulled.
- 18:07Speaker 2: He didn't. It's not like he threw a complete game,
- 18:09Speaker 2: even though he pitched really well last year. Surely that
- 18:13Speaker 2: leaves a little bit of a bad taste in his mouth.
- 18:15Speaker 2: And whether this is his last year in Detroit or not,
- 18:18Speaker 2: he is kind of the dude on this team for
- 18:21Speaker 2: a club that has some World Series aspirations. So through
- 18:25Speaker 2: the very nature, there's some pressure there.
- 18:28Speaker 1: All right, we'll just kind of keep going down the
- 18:30Speaker 1: starting rotation from Bervaldez Cody. You know, he is the
- 18:35Speaker 1: high priced, high priced free agent. He is in position
- 18:42Speaker 1: to get another deal if he wants them, but it's
- 18:44Speaker 1: not going to be after this next season. It's going
- 18:46Speaker 1: to be at the earliest after next season. And he's
- 18:49Speaker 1: not the ace. He's not brought in to cure anything.
- 18:52Speaker 1: He's not brought in to be like the you know,
- 18:56Speaker 1: have to talk to guys like you you know, you
- 18:58Speaker 1: know every day about something with the team. Uh, pressure
- 19:04Speaker 1: to win, pressure to a little expectations does exist, but
- 19:07Speaker 1: and also like a little bit of a pressure to
- 19:09Speaker 1: reshape your reputation. So like I like, so I'm kind
- 19:13Speaker 1: of this is boring, but it's kind of going middle
- 19:15Speaker 1: of the road, I'm going I'm going two point seventy five.
- 19:18Speaker 1: Like there's there's pressure there, you're gonna be the number two.
- 19:21Speaker 1: But you but there, but you got some money. But
- 19:25Speaker 1: there's more out there for you and and more stuff
- 19:29Speaker 1: out there for you to improve on than just like
- 19:31Speaker 1: your stats and your counting numbers.
- 19:33Speaker 3: So that's kind of where I ride with uh with fromber.
- 19:37Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the pressure is to acclimate to a
- 19:39Speaker 2: new team, prove yourself to a new city, a new
- 19:42Speaker 2: fan base, do right by the club that is paying you.
- 19:47Speaker 2: In a way, he's accomplished a lot of things Trek
- 19:50Speaker 2: Scobel would like to accomplish. From Bravaldez got a pretty
- 19:54Speaker 2: nice bag this winter, even if it's not what he
- 19:57Speaker 2: might have aimed for initially. He has been a part
- 19:59Speaker 2: of World Series Champion. He has thrown a no hitter.
- 20:03Speaker 2: Uh that doesn't mean he's like satisfied, but he's checked
- 20:05Speaker 2: some of those boxes. So I just think through that,
- 20:07Speaker 2: like there's not the tangible sense of pressure on him.
- 20:11Speaker 2: He's not the guy everyone is looking to, but he's
- 20:15Speaker 2: a pretty damn important part of this team at the
- 20:17Speaker 2: same time.
- 20:20Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, for sure.
- 20:21Speaker 1: And and somebody that will be looked to in crucial situations,
- 20:26Speaker 1: because how do you avoid another game five like heartbreaker?
- 20:32Speaker 3: You win him four.
- 20:36Speaker 1: And another guy that's gonna have something to say about
- 20:38Speaker 1: that is Jack Flaherty and Jack Flarerity. Uh. You know,
- 20:43Speaker 1: we like a favorite of the content machine that that
- 20:47Speaker 1: is our podcast is trying to, you know, tongue in
- 20:50Speaker 1: cheekly figure out what's up with Jack Flarity. Uh he
- 20:53Speaker 1: is I thought he was. He profiles as a good
- 20:57Speaker 1: number two. I think he's a freaking excellent number three
- 21:01Speaker 1: on a staff and maybe maybe this alleviates a little
- 21:05Speaker 1: bit of pressure he would otherwise have. But another guy who,
- 21:09Speaker 1: for reasons that we could get into but are pretty apparent,
- 21:13Speaker 1: hasn't gotten the free agent money that I'm sure he
- 21:18Speaker 1: would like. And again it's a contract year. He decided
- 21:21Speaker 1: to come back. He is a champion, he would you know,
- 21:24Speaker 1: be winning a championship again, would would obviously bolster that resume.
- 21:30Speaker 1: I'm going I'm going with a three point twenty five
- 21:34Speaker 1: for Jack Flaherty and if if there was no Fromber
- 21:37Speaker 1: would be higher. But when you can slide in at
- 21:39Speaker 1: number three, it's a lot, it's a lot easier.
- 21:42Speaker 2: Yeah, you mentioned it, but I think it's the money
- 21:44Speaker 2: that is the real pressure on Jack. He clearly thought
- 21:48Speaker 2: he should have done better, and probably did deserve to
- 21:50Speaker 2: do better in free agency a couple of years ago,
- 21:53Speaker 2: didn't test the free agent market at all. This past time.
- 21:57Speaker 2: He switched his agency to Wasserman at a time other
- 22:00Speaker 2: people were leaving Wasserman for different, different reasons, but he
- 22:04Speaker 2: switched his representation. I think that's a sign he's focused
- 22:07Speaker 2: on improving his brand and hopefully trying to fare better
- 22:12Speaker 2: in the open market come this next winter. You know,
- 22:16Speaker 2: probably the easiest way to farewell in the open market
- 22:19Speaker 2: is just to go out and have a really good season.
- 22:22Speaker 2: Even two years ago, he fell off just enough and
- 22:25Speaker 2: the fastball fell off just enough that it gave teams
- 22:28Speaker 2: some reason for pause. We all know the medical situation
- 22:33Speaker 2: at the trade deadline two years ago, so continuing to
- 22:35Speaker 2: stay healthy would be a very big deal for him.
- 22:39Speaker 2: So I think that's where the pressure is. He's had
- 22:42Speaker 2: probably a couple of chances to cash in and it
- 22:45Speaker 2: hasn't happened for him. Now this is his chance to
- 22:48Speaker 2: get that big payday before before he gets older, and
- 22:53Speaker 2: that may never come. So this is a pretty important
- 22:55Speaker 2: year for him in terms of his lifetime earnings.
- 23:00Speaker 3: Casey Mice.
- 23:02Speaker 1: Uh, by the way, did you know that Casey Mice
- 23:04Speaker 1: was a number one overall pick in twenty eighteen?
- 23:07Speaker 3: Did you know that?
- 23:08Speaker 1: I think?
- 23:08Speaker 3: I So.
- 23:12Speaker 1: Here's the thing, Like, Casey Mice is that kind of weird,
- 23:15Speaker 1: Like in terms of like stature element, Casey Mize like
- 23:19Speaker 1: he was drafted to see this rebuild all the way through,
- 23:24Speaker 1: and in several aspects he has like he was an
- 23:28Speaker 1: All star last year.
- 23:29Speaker 3: Give him respect for that.
- 23:30Speaker 1: You know, he has had injury concerns and inconsistency as
- 23:34Speaker 1: well as as well as having like his draft classmate
- 23:39Speaker 1: kind of surpassed it. Now their best friends. I don't
- 23:41Speaker 1: think he's like upset about it, but it is like
- 23:43Speaker 1: a thing that has happened over the course of his
- 23:45Speaker 1: professional career. He is also going into a contract year.
- 23:49Speaker 1: Are you noticing a pattern? He is also going into
- 23:51Speaker 1: a contract year, and and somebody that like, from a
- 23:57Speaker 1: personal standpoint, when you're a draft in the first round,
- 24:01Speaker 1: specifically number one overall, the number one thing that you're
- 24:04Speaker 1: looking for is to be like, did I help turn
- 24:06Speaker 1: this franchise around? He has, but they haven't reached the
- 24:09Speaker 1: ultimate heights. Is a is a guy that could make
- 24:11Speaker 1: himself a lot of money this year. If you throw
- 24:15Speaker 1: in the one to one element, I'm gonna I'm gonna
- 24:18Speaker 1: go with the four here. We still have yet to
- 24:20Speaker 1: see him in several ways go you know, regain his
- 24:25Speaker 1: twenty twenty one form, which I would remind people he
- 24:27Speaker 1: was a three point four war player in twenty twenty one,
- 24:31Speaker 1: so like if he could have something closer to that,
- 24:34Speaker 1: he was one point six last year.
- 24:35Speaker 3: For whatever it's worth.
- 24:36Speaker 1: If you have something close to that, the Tigers Experience Division,
- 24:40Speaker 1: Pennant World Series, whatever, like, that's a that's a legacy
- 24:44Speaker 1: pretty well fulfilled, especially if you look at the rest
- 24:47Speaker 1: of that first round draft class.
- 24:50Speaker 3: I'm gonna give it. I'm gonna give Casey a four.
- 24:54Speaker 2: Fourth big the funniest way, you know, we never really
- 25:00Speaker 2: talk about wins and losses on this podcast unless we're
- 25:03Speaker 2: talking about Casey Mice because for whatever reason, it's always
- 25:06Speaker 2: the most striking way to look at his career. Casey
- 25:09Speaker 2: Miz has a career record of twenty three and twenty
- 25:12Speaker 2: five as a Detroit Tigers starting pitcher, which is just ridiculous.
- 25:17Speaker 2: Like a for how few decisions he has actually factored into,
- 25:21Speaker 2: given all the time he has missed, and then the
- 25:24Speaker 2: fact like when he has been healthy, he's been like
- 25:26Speaker 2: not maybe the pitcher, he has build the b but
- 25:29Speaker 2: he's been like pretty solid. He's twenty three and twenty five,
- 25:33Speaker 2: So in that way, Yeah, his Tigers legacy, you know,
- 25:37Speaker 2: he could cement it a lot better with a good
- 25:39Speaker 2: season and helping the teams. The teams rise, and then
- 25:44Speaker 2: in the open market. I have no idea how Casey
- 25:47Speaker 2: miz will fare in free agency. There are the obvious
- 25:50Speaker 2: concerns with flarity, but he strikes out guys like there
- 25:53Speaker 2: are metrics that attracted a pitching savvy team like the
- 25:57Speaker 2: Tigers to Jack Flaherty, Casey miss struggled to miss bats
- 26:01Speaker 2: like I don't. I don't know what that market will
- 26:06Speaker 2: look like for him, So I think it's gonna be
- 26:08Speaker 2: important year for him to kind of try to shape
- 26:11Speaker 2: that market and bolster his case too. Is he even
- 26:15Speaker 2: a guy who gets a like a multi year contract, Like,
- 26:18Speaker 2: I really don't know, and I think it's pretty important
- 26:22Speaker 2: for him to shape his future, no doubt.
- 26:26Speaker 3: Yeah, Well, let's let's go to Erlander this one.
- 26:31Speaker 1: I feel like has to be kind of low, like
- 26:33Speaker 1: obviously he's a Hall of Famer, obviously, like he's uh,
- 26:37Speaker 1: he'll forever be a made man in Detroit. Like the
- 26:40Speaker 1: fans have you know, loved him since he came up
- 26:43Speaker 1: and then uh, you know, even I you know, saw
- 26:45Speaker 1: the clip of when he made his return to Detroit
- 26:47Speaker 1: as a member of the Astros. Uh, this is as
- 26:51Speaker 1: feel good a story as we've had in Tiger's Land
- 26:54Speaker 1: in some time. I'll give it like a one point
- 26:57Speaker 1: twenty five just because, like, you know, you want to
- 26:59Speaker 1: win World Series again. He wasn't number one overall, but
- 27:02Speaker 1: the one thing he didn't do in Detroit was when
- 27:04Speaker 1: a World Series.
- 27:05Speaker 3: So I'll give it a little bit.
- 27:07Speaker 1: But he's obviously not somebody that you know, the stakes
- 27:11Speaker 1: are riding on.
- 27:11Speaker 3: So yeah, so that it's a feel good story.
- 27:14Speaker 1: It's a real story, a little bit of pressure, but
- 27:17Speaker 1: you know, also a legacy firmly intact.
- 27:21Speaker 2: Yeah, he really comes here with no pressure. You know,
- 27:24Speaker 2: he's justin Verlander. The only thing is you just hope
- 27:28Speaker 2: it's not as disaster, Like wouldn't that be terrible, you
- 27:33Speaker 2: know if he's just bad, because that could get awkward
- 27:38Speaker 2: very quickly. I think he proved enough last year. That's
- 27:41Speaker 2: one of the reasons that Tigers were confident bringing him one.
- 27:44Speaker 2: They think he can be pretty good or at least serviceable.
- 27:49Speaker 2: You just there's that one thing in the back of
- 27:51Speaker 2: your minds, like what if this goes real south? That
- 27:55Speaker 2: would be that would be unfortunate. Any other scenario, whether
- 27:59Speaker 2: he's okay, whether he's pretty good but injured a lot,
- 28:03Speaker 2: or whether he goes out and shoves any other scenario
- 28:06Speaker 2: people are going to enjoy. I think he wants to
- 28:09Speaker 2: stay healthy and give this team some quality innings, and
- 28:12Speaker 2: he will put some pressure on himself too to do
- 28:15Speaker 2: that and try to write the type of into the
- 28:17Speaker 2: story that he wants.
- 28:21Speaker 1: How about get into the bullpen here? How about Kyle
- 28:27Speaker 1: Finnigan and and I and I I go to Kyle
- 28:30Speaker 1: Finnegan because you know, and speaking of you know, labor disputes.
- 28:35Speaker 1: The whole history of the Finnigan family and the Tigers
- 28:38Speaker 1: is fascinating.
- 28:39Speaker 3: You wrote about it.
- 28:40Speaker 1: I encourage everybody to go read that on the Athletic
- 28:44Speaker 1: and again, a guy that was the crown jewel of
- 28:48Speaker 1: the trade deadline last last year for the Tigers and
- 28:51Speaker 1: then brought back. Uh, still don't exactly know, like if
- 28:58Speaker 1: what the sustainability of of what of what he do
- 29:02Speaker 1: on this staff is. He's obviously not gonna be relied upon.
- 29:06Speaker 1: This is a tough one for me, Cody. I think
- 29:09Speaker 1: I'm gonna go with a two two point eight for
- 29:13Speaker 1: Kyle Finn Again on the pressure meter, it's very precise.
- 29:16Speaker 2: I don't know that there's a big sense of pressure,
- 29:18Speaker 2: but you know, just when I think of and again
- 29:21Speaker 2: we've said this before, but like, is there a chance
- 29:24Speaker 2: the Tigers got the best eighteen innings of his career
- 29:27Speaker 2: after the trade deadline last season? Like that is the
- 29:30Speaker 2: one fear be curious to see what the splitter is
- 29:34Speaker 2: like and how much he uses it and how he's
- 29:36Speaker 2: the same or how he's different than than what we
- 29:40Speaker 2: saw toward the tail end of last year. He did
- 29:43Speaker 2: give up runs in his past three playoff appearances, which
- 29:46Speaker 2: might have left a little bit of a bitter taste
- 29:48Speaker 2: in his mouth. But there is a guy who's a
- 29:51Speaker 2: good pitcher, and he's got a pretty solid, consistent track record.
- 29:56Speaker 2: I don't think there's a ton of pressure on him
- 29:58Speaker 2: other than like the Tigers need their bullpen to be good.
- 30:02Speaker 2: They need the back of the bullpen to be something
- 30:05Speaker 2: close to what it's being built to be right now,
- 30:09Speaker 2: and then that's the only real source of pressure.
- 30:13Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 30:13Speaker 1: Well again like that, it's funny like these are guys
- 30:16Speaker 1: and Will go will Vest next, Like these are guys
- 30:18Speaker 1: that will be in literal, literal pressure situations.
- 30:22Speaker 3: Uh you know.
- 30:24Speaker 1: Of the majority of the time that they are on
- 30:26Speaker 1: the mound. And and Will Vest is a guy that,
- 30:30Speaker 1: like the the pressure element for will Vest is finding
- 30:34Speaker 1: being able to find a way to best acclimate in
- 30:39Speaker 1: this kind of three headed late ending monster that that
- 30:42Speaker 1: the Tigers have created. And and I think like most
- 30:48Speaker 1: guys who prefer the ninth only. And then we've talked
- 30:51Speaker 1: about what is any Well, you know what his numbers
- 30:53Speaker 1: are based on, you know, the ending that he pitches in.
- 30:57Speaker 1: But I don't think there's like a whole lot of
- 30:59Speaker 1: pressure on Will. I'm gonna go with He's he's got
- 31:03Speaker 1: more of a track record with this organization than Finnigin obviously,
- 31:05Speaker 1: So I'm gonna go with a one point nine to
- 31:09Speaker 1: three pressure rating for Will Best.
- 31:11Speaker 2: How is that for specific I think there's more pressure
- 31:14Speaker 2: on Vest than there is Finnegan because Vest hasn't had
- 31:18Speaker 2: the big payday yet in his career. He's still trying
- 31:20Speaker 2: to prove himself. He's trying to prove himself as a
- 31:22Speaker 2: guy that can be a closer for the long haul
- 31:26Speaker 2: of his career. So what he does this year, regardless
- 31:30Speaker 2: of how he's used, will impact this. And maybe this
- 31:33Speaker 2: could apply to Skyle Finnigan too. But like the narrative
- 31:38Speaker 2: since Kiley Jansen showed up in camp has been pretty positive.
- 31:41Speaker 2: But let's not forget like kind of the mixed or
- 31:45Speaker 2: like apprehensive reaction when Kim Lee Jansen signed. His underlying
- 31:49Speaker 2: metrics were really not very good last season. If Kiley
- 31:53Speaker 2: Jansen comes out and isn't that good, one a vest
- 31:56Speaker 2: where Finnegan could be thrust to be like the dude
- 31:59Speaker 2: in the ninth inning. I think that might fall invest
- 32:03Speaker 2: because I think he's earned it. He was really good
- 32:06Speaker 2: for the Tigers last year, and I think there might
- 32:08Speaker 2: be some sense of pressure on him just because that
- 32:11Speaker 2: scenario exists, and because there's a guy who's still kind
- 32:14Speaker 2: of trying to prove his value deeper into his career.
- 32:20Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, and that brings up, you know, the Jansen
- 32:24Speaker 1: piece of this. If Aj Hinch is going to do
- 32:30Speaker 1: the closest thing AJ Hinch could do to name a
- 32:34Speaker 1: closer and name you a closer, which is essentially what
- 32:37Speaker 1: he's done. That there is some pressure to that because
- 32:42Speaker 1: again there are other guys that we just discussed who
- 32:45Speaker 1: are at worst capable of handling the save situation. So
- 32:51Speaker 1: another guy who like historically is a made man, but
- 32:55Speaker 1: still is you know, seemed I would say, seems motivated,
- 32:59Speaker 1: is not like just resting on his laurels. I would
- 33:03Speaker 1: give Jansen like a solid I'll give him a two
- 33:06Speaker 1: point five. I probably goes straight down the middle. Again
- 33:09Speaker 1: here it's like you're still going to be a pressure situations.
- 33:11Speaker 1: There are still other guys on this team that could
- 33:13Speaker 1: do your job, but you are you know, you are
- 33:17Speaker 1: brought in for a specific reason and you do have
- 33:20Speaker 1: a track record that says that you can accomplish it.
- 33:23Speaker 2: Yeah, I think for the record reasons I just outlined,
- 33:26Speaker 2: there's some pressure on Kinley Jensen. He's getting paid and
- 33:31Speaker 2: yet you know, some good surface results, some some concerning
- 33:35Speaker 2: underlying numbers last season, he is chasing the three hundred
- 33:39Speaker 2: save threshold. So like there's a little bit of a
- 33:41Speaker 2: legacy element for him. But I think there's a proved
- 33:44Speaker 2: element too that to try to prove that some of
- 33:47Speaker 2: those metrics that might have scared off some other teams
- 33:50Speaker 2: in free agency were not as important as as some
- 33:55Speaker 2: might have thought. So like, yeah, I mean, I think
- 33:57Speaker 2: that's kind of what it is. I'm really interested to
- 34:00Speaker 2: see what Kenley Jansen is going to look like when
- 34:03Speaker 2: we get into meaningful games.
- 34:06Speaker 1: And just just for housekeeping purposes, five hundred it's safe
- 34:10Speaker 1: mark for wow, for Kenley Jansen. For seventy six I
- 34:16Speaker 1: believe is the number he's How about Tyler Holton? Tyler
- 34:19Speaker 1: Holden was like this, you know, for a couple of
- 34:21Speaker 1: years there was kind of like this secret weapon that
- 34:23Speaker 1: the Tigers you know, had at their disposal the two
- 34:27Speaker 1: point nine war and twenty twenty three at three point
- 34:29Speaker 1: one war in twenty twenty four dipped and was not
- 34:33Speaker 1: as consistent in twenty twenty five point seven war. Obviously,
- 34:37Speaker 1: we talked about that as the season was going on.
- 34:40Speaker 1: I would remind that this is his looking at his birthday.
- 34:44Speaker 1: He will turn thirty this year, So like, you know,
- 34:47Speaker 1: what's how long of a leash does Tyler Holten get
- 34:51Speaker 1: to kind of be the guy that we've kind of
- 34:54Speaker 1: grown accustomed to him being, so I'll put this at
- 34:57Speaker 1: three point three.
- 34:58Speaker 2: Wow. I don't think there's much pressure on Tyler Holton
- 35:01Speaker 2: other than like all these guys who are pre free agency,
- 35:04Speaker 2: like trying to extend your career, increase your career earnings.
- 35:08Speaker 2: But this is a guy who spot remains as solid
- 35:11Speaker 2: as ever. He's going to get used in a variety
- 35:13Speaker 2: of situations like all ways. You know, at times last
- 35:16Speaker 2: year he wasn't quite as good as he had been
- 35:18Speaker 2: years prior, but he's still a pretty good left handed
- 35:21Speaker 2: bullpen option. Like, I just don't know really what else
- 35:27Speaker 2: he has to prove other than maybe try to get
- 35:29Speaker 2: back to kind of a guy who received an MVP vote.
- 35:33Speaker 2: That's a pretty high bar. Relievers numbers are probably going
- 35:36Speaker 2: to vary year to year a little bit by their
- 35:38Speaker 2: very nature. I don't I don't see any real compelling
- 35:42Speaker 2: reason beyond the super long term why Tyler Holton should
- 35:45Speaker 2: feel any pressure this season.
- 35:49Speaker 1: Do we want to do and we'll try to go
- 35:51Speaker 1: quickly here do we want to do? Troy Melton? Troy
- 35:55Speaker 1: melt I feel like this is low, Like.
- 35:59Speaker 2: I think Troy Melton, if I'm Troy Melton. I'm wanting
- 36:02Speaker 2: to prove I'm a big league starter. I wanted to
- 36:04Speaker 2: end of this year in the big league rotation. I
- 36:06Speaker 2: wanted to show up to camp this time next year
- 36:08Speaker 2: like with my spot locked. So from that regard, like
- 36:13Speaker 2: it's it's a little more of like a platform, not
- 36:15Speaker 2: a financial platform year, but a platform year maybe for
- 36:19Speaker 2: what his future in the organization looks like. But the
- 36:22Speaker 2: good news is the Tigers have signed other guys. They're
- 36:25Speaker 2: not a ton of expectations bestowed on him right now
- 36:28Speaker 2: here in the early days of spring training. So a
- 36:31Speaker 2: little pressure, but not a lot.
- 36:35Speaker 1: What about a guy that we haven't really talked a
- 36:37Speaker 1: lot about recently, Bow Brisky. By the way, pressure in
- 36:42Speaker 1: the beard Hi Beard Beard Beard is also high on
- 36:46Speaker 1: the index for me. I like the bow Brisky Beard. Yeah,
- 36:50Speaker 1: but like, yeah, what what you so you say?
- 36:52Speaker 2: Hi?
- 36:52Speaker 3: High pressure on bow Brisky.
- 36:55Speaker 2: I mean, there's a guy trying to reassert himself as
- 36:59Speaker 2: not just a back bullpen piece, but as a member
- 37:02Speaker 2: of the roster. He's coming in fighting for a spot
- 37:04Speaker 2: after an injury riddled year. AJ Hinch seems pretty optimistic
- 37:08Speaker 2: right now about Brisky. I've watched two of his live sessions.
- 37:12Speaker 2: I thought he was spraying it a little bit in
- 37:13Speaker 2: the first one. He was all right. In the second one,
- 37:17Speaker 2: Kevin McGonagall did take him deep, though, and that ball
- 37:20Speaker 2: had probably a launch angle of like forty degrees and
- 37:23Speaker 2: McGonagall just smoked it straight in the air and it
- 37:25Speaker 2: kept carrying. So it was a fast ball. Pretty impressive
- 37:28Speaker 2: swing by Kevin McGonagall to time out Bowbriski. It's worth
- 37:34Speaker 2: remembering how good Boberski was late in twenty twenty four.
- 37:37Speaker 2: Imagine if he's healthy and he recaptures that form. I mean,
- 37:41Speaker 2: then you're talking a four headed monster at the back
- 37:43Speaker 2: of this bullpen, not a three headed monster. And maybe
- 37:47Speaker 2: that takes pressure off all the other guys we just mentioned.
- 37:50Speaker 2: But entering camp right now, Bobersky's not guaranteed anything. He
- 37:54Speaker 2: could start the year in triple A Toledo like a
- 37:57Speaker 2: reminder that being a reliever in the big leagues is
- 38:00Speaker 2: and so he's really feeling it. He has to reassert
- 38:03Speaker 2: himself in Sanalthy.
- 38:05Speaker 3: We about Drew Anderson.
- 38:07Speaker 2: Hmmm, that's a good one, Drew Anderson. He hasn't been
- 38:12Speaker 2: talked about a ton in camp. It is weird this
- 38:14Speaker 2: guy they signed, and now it's just kind of like, oh, yeah,
- 38:17Speaker 2: they signed Drew Anderson. I've watched him a little bit.
- 38:20Speaker 2: That kick change man. That pitchure looks pretty nice, so
- 38:24Speaker 2: I'll be curious how that can play. But I am like,
- 38:28Speaker 2: I'm like, I don't have the best feeling otherwise, like
- 38:32Speaker 2: how good is the fastball? How good is the command
- 38:34Speaker 2: going to be? How is he going to be used?
- 38:37Speaker 2: If I'm Drew Anderson, like, you're glad the Tigers brought
- 38:39Speaker 2: in other starters, but you also got to be there
- 38:41Speaker 2: kind of like wait, thought I was gonna be like
- 38:44Speaker 2: giving a shot to make this rotation. You know, yea,
- 38:48Speaker 2: injuries are a part of this, but right now he's
- 38:51Speaker 2: he's uh. I'm sure he'll build up as a starter,
- 38:53Speaker 2: but he probably projects to make the team in the bullpen.
- 38:59Speaker 2: The only pressure on Drew Anderson is actually pressure on
- 39:02Speaker 2: Scott Harris to make sure the Tigers got this signing
- 39:04Speaker 2: right and aren't just flushing seven million dollars down the toilet.
- 39:08Speaker 2: Good on Drew Anderson. This guy's coming back from Korea.
- 39:10Speaker 2: He's getting seven mil. He probably couldn't have been advisioned
- 39:13Speaker 2: that A couple of years ago. So in that sense
- 39:15Speaker 2: house money. If Drew Anderson is bad, the one taking
- 39:19Speaker 2: the flak isn't gonna be Drew, It's gonna be Scott.
- 39:24Speaker 1: Uh. Yeah, I was about to say, like, there's no
- 39:27Speaker 1: way he thought he was gonna get a seven million
- 39:29Speaker 1: dollar major league contract, you know, probably at this time
- 39:33Speaker 1: last year or two years ago. And how about I'm
- 39:36Speaker 1: a group some of these guys together, and I realized
- 39:39Speaker 1: this is somewhat unfair. But you know, the Bailey Horns
- 39:42Speaker 1: that Drew Sommer sammers like lefty specialists, Like we kind
- 39:47Speaker 1: of figure we could probably project like a lot of
- 39:50Speaker 1: you know, up down for these guys, depending on situations
- 39:54Speaker 1: and health and and all that stuff. But to maybe
- 39:58Speaker 1: be unfair and stick to some star is like Sawyer
- 40:01Speaker 1: Gibson long Ty Madden.
- 40:04Speaker 3: Madden's an interesting one. There's a little bit Ti Madden.
- 40:07Speaker 1: Now there's a little bit of pressure to be like look, man,
- 40:10Speaker 1: remember I was essentially a first round pick.
- 40:13Speaker 3: Everybody loved me.
- 40:14Speaker 1: I was great at the University of Texas. Uh.
- 40:18Speaker 2: We were saying, you're like, no, I probably shouldn't trade
- 40:20Speaker 2: Ti Madden, like this guy who he may not be
- 40:22Speaker 2: a star, but he profiles to someone who could pitch
- 40:25Speaker 2: in the big leagues a long time. Now we're here
- 40:28Speaker 2: like barely. I'm glad we're talking about him now because
- 40:29Speaker 2: we've barely talked about him.
- 40:32Speaker 1: And Cater Montero falls into this category as well, where
- 40:36Speaker 1: I just like, I mean, I like him, I know
- 40:40Speaker 1: the organization likes him, but there's also an element of
- 40:46Speaker 1: you know, he's twenty he'll turn.
- 40:48Speaker 3: Twenty five this year.
- 40:50Speaker 1: It's not it's not old, but it's not young either,
- 40:53Speaker 1: and like, will he ever kind of get his rotation?
- 40:57Speaker 3: Yeah, spot.
- 40:58Speaker 2: You know, Cater been done a good job doing whatever
- 41:02Speaker 2: the organization has asked him. But if I were kaya Montaro,
- 41:05Speaker 2: I would be sick and tired or drive in between
- 41:07Speaker 2: Toledo and Detroit. And not just because of the construction.
- 41:12Speaker 2: I think he, you know, really wants to be on
- 41:16Speaker 2: the big league team. He even said, I don't really
- 41:18Speaker 2: care whether it's rotation or bullpen. I want to be
- 41:21Speaker 2: in the big league. So some pressure on him to
- 41:25Speaker 2: go out there and earn that and make that a
- 41:27Speaker 2: reality this year. He could certainly get a rotation look
- 41:31Speaker 2: or some spots starts. But what he did out of
- 41:33Speaker 2: the pin in the playoffs, and Seattle has really stuck
- 41:36Speaker 2: with me. I get We've talked about this before, like
- 41:39Speaker 2: the Tigers don't love to move guys to the bullpen
- 41:42Speaker 2: if they don't have to, basically just they have more
- 41:44Speaker 2: value short term and long term if they're stretched out
- 41:47Speaker 2: as starters. But sometimes I wonder, I don't know, if
- 41:50Speaker 2: you just move Cater to the bullpen and he became
- 41:52Speaker 2: really good for you. We'll see where the opportunities end
- 41:56Speaker 2: up being this season, but I'm a little optimistic one
- 42:00Speaker 2: Cater Montero. You mentioned Drew Summers. I watched him too.
- 42:04Speaker 2: He looked kind of nice in a live VP session.
- 42:07Speaker 2: He's kind of like the pitching version of how you
- 42:09Speaker 2: lee a guy. The Tigers internally just love and just
- 42:13Speaker 2: rave about, and you talk to scouts, you talk to
- 42:15Speaker 2: other people and they're like whatever. So I'll be curious,
- 42:20Speaker 2: and that was kind of my feeling. Like last year
- 42:22Speaker 2: Drew Summers, I was disappointed by how basically like how
- 42:26Speaker 2: little sizzle was on his stuff when he got up
- 42:29Speaker 2: to the big leagues. Watched him a couple of days ago. Man,
- 42:31Speaker 2: it looked like he had added a little life to
- 42:33Speaker 2: that fastball. I'll be interested to see if he can
- 42:36Speaker 2: fulfill kind of the high hopes that Tigers have for him.
- 42:41Speaker 1: Yeah, and also a sneaky like valuable contributor is a
- 42:46Speaker 1: brand herder, you know.
- 42:48Speaker 3: Another you don't get talked about enough either.
- 42:51Speaker 2: Yeah, parts two.
- 42:53Speaker 1: Years, one point eight war, the last two seasons like comebye,
- 42:58Speaker 1: Like that's pretty good, man, pretty good. And again like
- 43:01Speaker 1: a guy that they they ask a lot of and
- 43:04Speaker 1: you know, speaking of like we don't have you know,
- 43:06Speaker 1: don't do things unless we have to. They just decide
- 43:08Speaker 1: for him whatever, we're gonna ask him to do it all.
- 43:11Speaker 2: And that's a great point. We say this, but they
- 43:14Speaker 2: heard her. They haven't tried to kept stretching out as
- 43:17Speaker 2: a starter. May he probably I think it's because he's
- 43:20Speaker 2: lefty and probably profiles more valuable, more usable, uh in
- 43:25Speaker 2: in that type of role. But you're right, man, they've
- 43:27Speaker 2: asked him to do a million different things. He's for
- 43:29Speaker 2: the most part delivered. Had to overcome a little bit
- 43:32Speaker 2: of adversity, find himself, find the mechanics, find the slider.
- 43:35Speaker 2: Last year he made a nice adjustment. I'd probably project
- 43:40Speaker 2: him to be in the bullpen right now. It'll be
- 43:42Speaker 2: interesting to see if the Tigers carry two or three
- 43:44Speaker 2: lefties when they open the season in San Diego. This
- 43:48Speaker 2: is the Tigers. They're going to go back and forth
- 43:50Speaker 2: between how many lefties are in their bullpen. But right
- 43:52Speaker 2: now I would have heard her as my number two
- 43:55Speaker 2: with Summers with some other guys like in Manual. That
- 43:59Speaker 2: HASU one of the non roster guys. Uh kind of
- 44:02Speaker 2: knocking on the door in the mix for that competition.
- 44:07Speaker 1: And that's a good time as any of the tea's.
- 44:09Speaker 1: We'll have a roster projection coming up real soon and
- 44:12Speaker 1: and uh and we'll have some games to talk about
- 44:16Speaker 1: as well, including you know, the first Major league camp
- 44:22Speaker 1: start invite Kevin of Kevin mcgonagall's career. So uh so
- 44:27Speaker 1: looking forward to discussing that with you, Cody, and and
- 44:29Speaker 1: all the other amazing storylines when we have real games
- 44:32Speaker 1: to talk about. Reminder, you can follow us on X Woman,
- 44:35Speaker 1: on Twitter at Cody steven Hagen. I'm at Cairo Unerscore
- 44:37Speaker 1: Steckley pot page at Tiger Territory Underscore, YouTube, Instagram, Apple, Spotify,
- 44:41Speaker 1: You guys.
- 44:42Speaker 3: Know what to do. We appreciate all of you.
- 44:44Speaker 1: So for Cody staven Hagen, I'm Keeren Steckley everybody have
- 44:47Speaker 1: great that