Latest / Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast / Spencer Torkelson's hot streak, bullpen concerns and more
Transcript
- 0:09Speaker 1: And welcome in Turno that episode of Tiger Territory, part
- 0:12Speaker 1: of the Foul Territory Network, Troit Tiger's podcast. I'm Kerrien
- 0:14Speaker 1: Steckley with me as a man who believes you don't
- 0:18Speaker 1: have to put chili on everything.
- 0:21Speaker 2: He is, Cody Stavenhagen, How you doing.
- 0:22Speaker 3: I'm doing all right. We didn't talk about that before,
- 0:25Speaker 3: but you nailed it. Like chili has its uses, like
- 0:28Speaker 3: a good chili, but it doesn't need to be on everything.
- 0:30Speaker 3: It doesn't have to be on every every hot dog.
- 0:33Speaker 3: That's how I feel.
- 0:35Speaker 2: There you go.
- 0:35Speaker 1: I think that's a very fair take, starting off, very
- 0:38Speaker 1: timid moderation, you know, but you know we're recording this,
- 0:42Speaker 1: you know, about an hour or so after the Tigers
- 0:46Speaker 1: take the series finale against the Cincinnati Reds with an
- 0:49Speaker 1: eight three victory, and it kind of like a funny
- 0:53Speaker 1: series to kind of talk your talk your way through
- 0:55Speaker 1: Cody because obviously delays Friday got Jansen on the mound
- 1:02Speaker 1: and he and he gives up the walk off to
- 1:04Speaker 1: Nathaniel Lowe, who like might have had the weekend of
- 1:07Speaker 1: his life. I didn't bother researching, like you know, best
- 1:10Speaker 1: weekend series in Nathaniel Nathaniel Lowe's career, but can't say
- 1:14Speaker 1: I'm gonna miss watching him get sliders right into his
- 1:18Speaker 1: bat path and sending them into the stands. But anyway,
- 1:22Speaker 1: you just play a terrible game, you know, led by obviously,
- 1:26Speaker 1: you know, Jack Flaherty just not having it on Saturday
- 1:29Speaker 1: Primetime all that stuff and quick turnaround get away day.
- 1:34Speaker 1: I thought this was actually I thought this was a
- 1:37Speaker 1: pretty resolve based series day for the Tigers. Like there
- 1:43Speaker 1: was a lot of ways that they could have kind
- 1:44Speaker 1: of folded like they had been folding, like they had
- 1:47Speaker 1: been folding a lot on the road this year, you know,
- 1:50Speaker 1: and this was kind of like them kind of you know,
- 1:53Speaker 1: showing that this is still who we are. We can
- 1:56Speaker 1: still do this, and tor can still hit home runs,
- 1:58Speaker 1: and Lee can come up in big spot and then
- 2:01Speaker 1: like the offensive explosion can come and there's no letdown.
- 2:04Speaker 1: Like this could have been a fold over, We'll figure
- 2:06Speaker 1: this out in Atlanta game. It wasn't for the Tigers,
- 2:09Speaker 1: And I think that that's kind of like my number
- 2:11Speaker 1: one takeaway from from the series that fell down for
- 2:16Speaker 1: a lot of the weekend.
- 2:17Speaker 3: Yeah, certainly important that they got that Sunday game. I
- 2:20Speaker 3: think it very much changes the tone of how this
- 2:23Speaker 3: pod was going to be because those first two games
- 2:25Speaker 3: were not really pretty. I mean the first one was weird,
- 2:28Speaker 3: and I'm not on this road trip and very glad
- 2:30Speaker 3: i was not on that road trip to sit through
- 2:32Speaker 3: a two hour rain delay watching from home. Man, the
- 2:36Speaker 3: rain delay questions were pretty good. Jason Bennetti had me
- 2:38Speaker 3: ready to like run through a wall there for a minute.
- 2:40Speaker 3: It was not just joking around. It was getting deep anyway.
- 2:44Speaker 3: And then the Saturday game was about as ugly as
- 2:46Speaker 3: it gets. You know, on Friday night, you came out
- 2:48Speaker 3: of that rain delay and it was just weird and
- 2:50Speaker 3: you just kind of let the game slip away from you.
- 2:54Speaker 3: Even the hobby bias throw it a first like a
- 2:57Speaker 3: game changing mistake, goes back to like this team's just
- 3:00Speaker 3: been a little bit sloppy. That's not great. But then
- 3:03Speaker 3: to come out and play a good game Sunday, like
- 3:06Speaker 3: give yourself a you know, we're not big believers in
- 3:09Speaker 3: momentum here, but like the close thing to positive momentum
- 3:11Speaker 3: you can have, uh is good. But yeah, I mean
- 3:15Speaker 3: dropping two or three, the Reds have been off to
- 3:17Speaker 3: a surprising start. They're playing like a pretty good team
- 3:20Speaker 3: right now, but the Tigers haven't been great on the
- 3:24Speaker 3: road so far. Like, bottom line is as you lost
- 3:26Speaker 3: the series, So even though the Sunday game was good,
- 3:29Speaker 3: I think it's hard to be too cheery about about
- 3:32Speaker 3: the weekend as a whole.
- 3:35Speaker 1: You mentioned that they're you know, the Tigers now are
- 3:38Speaker 1: five and twelve on the road yea, as compared to
- 3:41Speaker 1: ten and two at home. There's probably not an answer
- 3:46Speaker 1: to this, but like, what the hell do they just
- 3:47Speaker 1: like hate hotels? Like, like, like what possibly could explain
- 3:52Speaker 1: some of the disparity that we've seen because it's not
- 3:54Speaker 1: just the wins and losses a lot of times, it's
- 3:57Speaker 1: just like how.
- 3:57Speaker 3: They well do you play? Yeah? All their cleanness best
- 4:00Speaker 3: games have pretty much been at home. I'm gonna take
- 4:03Speaker 3: the trek school route and just say that's probably small
- 4:05Speaker 3: sample size, Like it just seems a little bit weird
- 4:08Speaker 3: on both ends. How good they've been at home, how
- 4:10Speaker 3: bad they've been on the road, and five and twelve,
- 4:13Speaker 3: like that's seventeen games. That's still just a really small sample,
- 4:17Speaker 3: so I'm not putting that much stake into it, although
- 4:19Speaker 3: it does seem weird, Like is this team built a
- 4:22Speaker 3: little more for America maybe than previous teams. Like I
- 4:26Speaker 3: do think they're trending toward that, but I think it's
- 4:30Speaker 3: too I think it's too small to really know. Maybe
- 4:33Speaker 3: the guys are staying up too late playing Fortnite in
- 4:35Speaker 3: the hotel. That's about the only other theory I would
- 4:37Speaker 3: have for you.
- 4:38Speaker 2: The wives and girlfriends at home, that's all.
- 4:40Speaker 3: Get them off the xbox.
- 4:41Speaker 2: Yeah, don't we all? Don't we all? You know?
- 4:47Speaker 1: And it's funny like each each one of these games,
- 4:50Speaker 1: the Tigers did score first, and obviously the first two
- 4:53Speaker 1: that didn't necessarily matter as much, but we we see
- 4:57Speaker 1: like different pieces of EXAs actually what they're trying to
- 5:01Speaker 1: be in in good ways and bad, and we I
- 5:05Speaker 1: think we have to kind of we're five minutes into this.
- 5:08Speaker 2: I guess it's appropriate. We gotta give torqu some love.
- 5:11Speaker 3: Absolutely. I think I think people want reaction.
- 5:14Speaker 1: Right, five straight games, uh ties a franchise record with
- 5:20Speaker 1: some all time names and uh and some legendary figures
- 5:24Speaker 1: in in Tigers baseball history's guys like Willie Horton and
- 5:29Speaker 1: Rudy Yorke and Hank Greenberg and Vick Wurtz and Marcus Tams.
- 5:32Speaker 2: I believe that's the whole list. I might have missed
- 5:34Speaker 2: somebody there.
- 5:35Speaker 1: Uh, but I'll tell you what, Like I I did
- 5:38Speaker 1: do the thing where it's like break down a Torque
- 5:40Speaker 1: at bat, you know, Torque Watch twenty twenty six.
- 5:42Speaker 2: It seems to be working for them.
- 5:45Speaker 1: And I actually kind of wanted to go to the
- 5:47Speaker 1: walk in the first Eddie, am I weird? Like like
- 5:50Speaker 1: you know, he he fouls off a couple of pitches
- 5:53Speaker 1: there and you know one of them is.
- 5:54Speaker 2: I think one of them is.
- 5:55Speaker 1: Well, I don't have the the graph in front of me.
- 5:57Speaker 1: But then again, like I constantly say, and Obby said
- 6:00Speaker 1: it on the broadcast today too, when Tork is able
- 6:03Speaker 1: to lay off those breaking balls low and outside that
- 6:07Speaker 1: are clear balls but not necessarily balls out of hand,
- 6:10Speaker 1: he is doing he is on That means he's.
- 6:13Speaker 2: On the pitcher.
- 6:14Speaker 1: He's on the ball, and you know pun intended and
- 6:18Speaker 1: that bat also included you know, rising raising the eye
- 6:21Speaker 1: level with a fastball of the zone that we both
- 6:23Speaker 1: know Tork has been susceptible when he is not on
- 6:26Speaker 1: the ball to taking and then he gets the walk
- 6:28Speaker 1: there that sets up the double for Kerry Carpenter and
- 6:31Speaker 1: we're kind of we're kind of off and running in
- 6:33Speaker 1: this game, and then of course he hits a you know,
- 6:35Speaker 1: he's on a can't miss uh streak right now, Cody.
- 6:39Speaker 1: When it's like you're gonna throw that fastball middle middle, middle,
- 6:43Speaker 1: chances are he's gonna do some damage to it.
- 6:45Speaker 2: And that's what he did today.
- 6:46Speaker 1: So like, I don't think it's just that he's like
- 6:50Speaker 1: like he's coming into his power for the season.
- 6:52Speaker 2: I don't. I don't really think that's it at all.
- 6:54Speaker 2: I think Spencer.
- 6:54Speaker 1: Torgelsen is actually seeing the ball and anticipating, you know,
- 6:59Speaker 1: the back at better than certainly this year, and be
- 7:04Speaker 1: prisoner a momic and possibly hyperbolic, possibly more than he
- 7:08Speaker 1: has in his career, because I also believe that there
- 7:11Speaker 1: were several moments earlier in his career where if he
- 7:14Speaker 1: did get on a couple of days in a row
- 7:16Speaker 1: streak or even just like not even take away the
- 7:19Speaker 1: home runs, but just kind of like batting the ball
- 7:21Speaker 1: really well, that he was kind of pressing that first
- 7:25Speaker 1: ending at bat. That's why I want to focus on it.
- 7:27Speaker 1: That was an example of him not pressing him not
- 7:30Speaker 1: going for the home run. And this is actually like
- 7:33Speaker 1: the home run is like really cool, but this is
- 7:35Speaker 1: actually a sign of like the maturation of Spencer Torkelsen
- 7:39Speaker 1: that could lead him to being like a more complete
- 7:42Speaker 1: hitter over the course of a season.
- 7:45Speaker 3: Ah, that's an interesting take. I mean, I'm glad you
- 7:47Speaker 3: brought up the just kind of the mental side of it.
- 7:50Speaker 3: I think the single most impressive thing is that TOWRK
- 7:53Speaker 3: got off to a really rough start again and didn't
- 7:56Speaker 3: succumb to that where maybe past iterations of torkal Sin
- 8:00Speaker 3: might have let that slump Linger might have let that
- 8:02Speaker 3: dwindle into May and then things get really awkward, Like
- 8:07Speaker 3: he trusted, you know, things he's talked about before, but
- 8:09Speaker 3: trusted the swing, trusted the process, felt like it was
- 8:11Speaker 3: going to come, and then it did. You know, not
- 8:15Speaker 3: only did he he run into small runs like I
- 8:17Speaker 3: talked about, like he's crushing the ball and I don't
- 8:20Speaker 3: think he's doing anything drastically different. It was what three
- 8:23Speaker 3: episodes ago we showed all the middle middle pitches he
- 8:26Speaker 3: wasn't hitting. He's getting middle middle pitches and he's crushing
- 8:29Speaker 3: him like he's one time and he's doing what he
- 8:31Speaker 3: should do with mistakes. The Urebay pitch wasn't completely a
- 8:35Speaker 3: mistake is ninety nine and did catch a lot of plate,
- 8:37Speaker 3: but that was a really good swing. He's got some
- 8:39Speaker 3: other bad pitches and he's destroyed them, which is great.
- 8:42Speaker 3: Like that's what professional hitters do. It's what professional power
- 8:45Speaker 3: hitters do. For at times Torque has struggled this past week,
- 8:48Speaker 3: these past five days, he's certainly not struggling with that anymore,
- 8:52Speaker 3: so he deserves credit. It was two episodes ago we
- 8:56Speaker 3: got a question like what is the is it time
- 8:58Speaker 3: to despair over torkal Sin? And for some reason people
- 9:02Speaker 3: think I'm like a Torque hater, Like I think I'm
- 9:04Speaker 3: just attempting to talk about Torque realistically, Like I never
- 9:08Speaker 3: thought he should be sent down or cast out of
- 9:10Speaker 3: the lineup. I've said, I'm not sure he's a Hall
- 9:13Speaker 3: of famer. Is he a Hall of famer now that
- 9:16Speaker 3: he hovered in five games in a row, Like, I'm
- 9:18Speaker 3: not sure. But it's funny how quickly the season numbers
- 9:22Speaker 3: correct as a whole. Right, his ops is now eight
- 9:25Speaker 3: thirty six and five days ago. I don't know what
- 9:28Speaker 3: it was it was. I think it was in the
- 9:29Speaker 3: six hundreds if that. Five homers for the year suddenly
- 9:34Speaker 3: like things have changed. The players a lot of people
- 9:37Speaker 3: were mad about a week ago, Riley Green, Cary Carpenter,
- 9:40Speaker 3: Spencer Torkels and their season numbers have quite quickly come
- 9:45Speaker 3: back to close to the level you would want him
- 9:47Speaker 3: to be. Riley Green's actually absolutely been on a tear.
- 9:51Speaker 3: And that's how baseball in March, April, early May works.
- 9:56Speaker 3: Things changed quickly. It's important to never overreact. Certainly, a
- 10:00Speaker 3: lot of credit goes to Spencer Torkelson for hanging in
- 10:03Speaker 3: there after a tough start, finding the timing, finding the swing.
- 10:07Speaker 3: Good job.
- 10:09Speaker 2: Yeah, and again two doubles today. It's not just the
- 10:11Speaker 2: home run.
- 10:12Speaker 1: It's it's it's it's you know, taking advantage of the
- 10:16Speaker 1: pitcher's given you and then also again getting your walks too,
- 10:19Speaker 1: which I just think like is so important. And if
- 10:22Speaker 1: he's seen the ball, well then we're gonna see like
- 10:25Speaker 1: the best version of Tork. And the question is, and
- 10:28Speaker 1: we don't have the answer yet but we might, is
- 10:32Speaker 1: like have we seen, you know, up to this season,
- 10:35Speaker 1: have we seen the best version of Tork? And that
- 10:39Speaker 1: I think there are a lot of people that would
- 10:40Speaker 1: probably say yes, Like, you know, coming into this season,
- 10:44Speaker 1: if he continues.
- 10:46Speaker 2: To kind of be on this plane.
- 10:47Speaker 1: Not the five home runs in a row, but you know,
- 10:49Speaker 1: the approach and all the metrics kind of line up
- 10:52Speaker 1: and all this stuff. You know, maybe the best is
- 10:55Speaker 1: yet to come for Spencer Turklesen, which used to be
- 10:58Speaker 1: like a hopeful statement and now could be like a
- 11:01Speaker 1: like a realistic statement.
- 11:03Speaker 3: So right, and you brought up like, is the best
- 11:05Speaker 3: version of him? Can he be a more complete hitter
- 11:07Speaker 3: for the whole season? And I think that's now the
- 11:09Speaker 3: big question because you know what's coming next, Right, these
- 11:12Speaker 3: middle middle fastballs, these sinkers, they're going away. Homie might
- 11:16Speaker 3: not see some hit aable pitches for a couple of weeks.
- 11:20Speaker 3: I think teams are about to start pitching him a
- 11:22Speaker 3: lot more cautiously, and we'll see how he handles that.
- 11:24Speaker 3: Can he continue taking some walks? Can he drive some
- 11:27Speaker 3: pitches the opposite way? Things like that. This is kind
- 11:31Speaker 3: of where I think the real test is going to
- 11:32Speaker 3: come in, because teams now have that name's jumping out
- 11:35Speaker 3: on the scouting report at him a little more than
- 11:37Speaker 3: it was maybe a week ago.
- 11:40Speaker 1: Absolutely, all right, we are going to take a quick
- 11:43Speaker 1: break and then afterward we're going to break down a
- 11:46Speaker 1: curious decision by aj Hinch on Sunday, and then the
- 11:50Speaker 1: question are we taking Kevin McGonagall for granted?
- 11:54Speaker 2: That and more?
- 11:55Speaker 4: Next, we love our Dogabella, who's really just a count's
- 11:58Speaker 4: cushion in our house, and you will do anything for her.
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- 13:00Speaker 1: Coming back here, Cody, you know, like we when you
- 13:03Speaker 1: when you watch the Tigers and you listen to a J.
- 13:07Speaker 1: Hinch and of course in your instance like interact with
- 13:10Speaker 1: him on a on a near daily basis, you think
- 13:12Speaker 1: you kind of get a good beat about like what
- 13:14Speaker 1: you think he might do and or at least like
- 13:17Speaker 1: what the thought process is behind a lot of the moves.
- 13:21Speaker 2: That he makes.
- 13:21Speaker 1: And depending on whether you agree or disagree, he's either
- 13:25Speaker 1: suborn or principle. But the the the sixth inning was
- 13:29Speaker 1: like a curious point in the game because you get
- 13:32Speaker 1: the you get the starter out. You're down at this point,
- 13:35Speaker 1: I believe, or you had just taken lead.
- 13:37Speaker 2: I don't have the have it right in front of me.
- 13:39Speaker 1: But the point is Torglesen doubles and then you leave
- 13:44Speaker 1: carry Carpenter in there against a lefty. He ends up
- 13:46Speaker 1: flying out, but Matt Vierling walks. You have the switch
- 13:50Speaker 1: hitter Wentzel Perez up next in the order, keyword there
- 13:57Speaker 1: being switch hitter Wentzel Perez I believe does not have
- 14:01Speaker 1: very many at bats this year. Again, obviously the numbers
- 14:04Speaker 1: are saying he's struggling just in general the counting numbers
- 14:07Speaker 1: at least, but like not that many opportunities to hit
- 14:10Speaker 1: from the right handed side. AJ opts to pinch hit
- 14:15Speaker 1: for Wentz Perez with two runners on for with Jami Jones,
- 14:21Speaker 1: as opposed to letting Perez try to do something from
- 14:24Speaker 1: the right handed side. I don't have in front of me.
- 14:27Speaker 1: It's probably a small list of times that AJ has
- 14:33Speaker 1: pinch hit for a same sided hitter in that kind
- 14:36Speaker 1: of situation.
- 14:37Speaker 2: So that still and JAMMI ended up walking.
- 14:39Speaker 1: Bases loaded, and and then mcgonald you know, mcgonaglass.
- 14:44Speaker 2: Uh, they don't.
- 14:46Speaker 1: They didn't get any runs at anything. I'm sorry, I
- 14:48Speaker 1: got that confused. And so they're still down two a three.
- 14:51Speaker 1: But it's just curiy, curious, very curious went Perez pinch
- 14:54Speaker 1: hit in that situation.
- 14:57Speaker 3: Yeah, it's an interesting thing to point out, for sure.
- 15:00Speaker 3: I think it. The first thought that comes to mind
- 15:03Speaker 3: is it's a pretty good example of a line AJ
- 15:05Speaker 3: Hinches often said, which is like, it's not so much
- 15:08Speaker 3: about the guy at the plate, it's the guy on
- 15:11Speaker 3: the bench being really good in that situation, and you
- 15:13Speaker 3: want him in the game. You're right in that. Very
- 15:16Speaker 3: rarely do we see AJ pinchit for a same sided hitter,
- 15:19Speaker 3: even if it is a switch hitter. But I think
- 15:22Speaker 3: it was a spot to get Jami Jones in the
- 15:24Speaker 3: game at what was still a pretty crucial point in
- 15:27Speaker 3: the game. It was kind of taking your shot. Jami
- 15:30Speaker 3: has been heating up a little bit. That's my first thought.
- 15:33Speaker 3: My second thought, maybe there was something a little bit
- 15:35Speaker 3: deeper in the matchups where Aj just thought Wins versus
- 15:39Speaker 3: bruck Burke was not going to be good and Jami
- 15:43Speaker 3: versus bruck Burke was going to be a more optimal
- 15:47Speaker 3: match up. Burke throws, you know, forty percent fastball, he's
- 15:52Speaker 3: pretty slider heavy twenty seven percent that's in the pitch.
- 15:56Speaker 3: He gets a lot of whiffs on. So it could
- 15:58Speaker 3: be something a little deeper like that. So I don't
- 16:03Speaker 3: view it so much of it as like an indictment
- 16:06Speaker 3: of winstle Perez, more like a chance to sketch of mind.
- 16:09Speaker 3: As I look at it. Winstll hit one ninety four
- 16:12Speaker 3: against breaking balls last year, whipped at a thirty thirty
- 16:16Speaker 3: seven percent clip. I wonder if he just did not
- 16:19Speaker 3: want wins seeing that slider. That's what comes to mind
- 16:23Speaker 3: for me at least.
- 16:25Speaker 1: Yeah, and then next ending, you know, Cold Keith gets
- 16:28Speaker 1: hit pinch hit four with uh with.
- 16:30Speaker 2: How you leave?
- 16:30Speaker 3: How many people? Be honest, were you home on your
- 16:33Speaker 3: couch being like, why is he pinch hitting for Cold Keith?
- 16:36Speaker 3: I know you guys were doing it. I know you were.
- 16:41Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 16:42Speaker 1: Well, I mean, look, it turned out to be an
- 16:43Speaker 1: old time moment, one of those things that'll be replayed
- 16:47Speaker 1: for a long time. Lee sprinting around the bases after
- 16:50Speaker 1: his first career home runs.
- 16:51Speaker 2: So that was that was a fun moment.
- 16:53Speaker 1: I don't want that to go on unmentioned here because
- 16:55Speaker 1: you know, we we get knee deep, chest deep in
- 16:59Speaker 1: some of the number and get angry about this at
- 17:01Speaker 1: the other thing, and there's just like the pure joy
- 17:03Speaker 1: of the game right there.
- 17:04Speaker 3: So congratulations, Yeah, Coot's how you LEA just real quick
- 17:08Speaker 3: fact checking myself, Tromi's numbers against breaking balls. Also, we're
- 17:11Speaker 3: not very good last year, also whipped a lot. So
- 17:14Speaker 3: I'm not sure what the exact explanation is, but there's
- 17:18Speaker 3: price something.
- 17:19Speaker 1: Well what's what's what's there? What's the right way to
- 17:22Speaker 1: feel about Wenzel Perez's start? To the year because like,
- 17:25Speaker 1: like I said, the counting numbers are pretty brutal. He's, uh,
- 17:29Speaker 1: he's got a zero nine to eight batting average. He's
- 17:32Speaker 1: only slugging at one seventy one. Ops, you can do
- 17:35Speaker 1: math three to eleven. So like it's not good. But
- 17:40Speaker 1: then you go to his Baseball Savant page and there's
- 17:44Speaker 1: actually a lot to kind of like like his his
- 17:47Speaker 1: k percentage is with percentages chase percentage is squared up,
- 17:50Speaker 1: percentage is hard hit percentages average egyblow. It's all pretty high,
- 17:55Speaker 1: like we're talking seventy five ish percentile and up. And obviously,
- 18:01Speaker 1: look he's not like, uh yeah, there's obviously stuff not
- 18:05Speaker 1: to like about it here. That's why you know it's
- 18:07Speaker 1: not a coincidence necessarily that he's year nine a hitter
- 18:10Speaker 1: right now. But it does kind of feel like there's
- 18:13Speaker 1: enough there that you kind of like got to ride
- 18:16Speaker 1: it out. We've rinted out with a couple of guys
- 18:18Speaker 1: on this team so far. Uh, Wentzell feels like one
- 18:21Speaker 1: of those guys. Because again, my first thought was, if
- 18:24Speaker 1: you're gonna pinch it for Wentzel when there's a lefty
- 18:27Speaker 1: on the mound, then what's he doing on this team
- 18:29Speaker 1: because obviously the switch hit part of it is a
- 18:32Speaker 1: huge piece. And you know, I'm not even necessarily directly
- 18:36Speaker 1: calling for Max Clark, who has cool downs. So we'll
- 18:38Speaker 1: see how he rebounds a little bit. That's uh, you know,
- 18:41Speaker 1: in a way good science, see how he rebounds. But
- 18:44Speaker 1: if Winzell is not gonna be able to bat in
- 18:46Speaker 1: those situations, and I just kind of feel like, I
- 18:48Speaker 1: don't know if we're we're not using Wentzel to his
- 18:52Speaker 1: full capability then, because what's the.
- 18:54Speaker 3: Point, Like, that's not that's not view man. I don't
- 18:58Speaker 3: think it's that Winstil can't hit in those situations. It
- 19:01Speaker 3: is that if Jami Jones isn't on the bench and available,
- 19:04Speaker 3: and he is a slight upgrade over Winsole, you know,
- 19:07Speaker 3: why wouldn't you take the shot? And you know, even
- 19:11Speaker 3: if he is sometimes going to get pinch hit for,
- 19:13Speaker 3: there is a some pluses with the switch hit ability.
- 19:17Speaker 3: He can play center, he can play right. There's not
- 19:20Speaker 3: really another outfielder other than Max Clark, you know who
- 19:23Speaker 3: you would like better. So I think he very much
- 19:26Speaker 3: still has a role here. And it is interesting looking
- 19:29Speaker 3: at the stat cast page best barrels per played appearance
- 19:32Speaker 3: of his career. He's only striking out nine percent of
- 19:35Speaker 3: the time right now, best hard hit rate of his career.
- 19:37Speaker 3: It's also only forty one at bats in so as
- 19:40Speaker 3: we you know, the Bobby Scales thing with Torque, like
- 19:42Speaker 3: sixty seven them at bats like motel Pears is forty
- 19:46Speaker 3: some odd at bats in really small sample. If he
- 19:51Speaker 3: continues to not chase and continues to not punch, I'd
- 19:54Speaker 3: like to him, you know, take a few more walks.
- 19:56Speaker 3: But he's not chasing. So that tells you he's mostly
- 19:59Speaker 3: getting pitches in the his own. If he keeps doing
- 20:01Speaker 3: that that I think he's gonna be all right.
- 20:05Speaker 2: Yeah, let's let's get to this.
- 20:08Speaker 1: And like it's it's getting harder and harder Cody to
- 20:10Speaker 1: talk about Kevin mcgonagall's because like all the dude does
- 20:14Speaker 1: is just produce breaking news. Another really timid take on
- 20:23Speaker 1: this podcast. Uh like even like the play today where
- 20:26Speaker 1: he kind of like lost his balance a little bit,
- 20:28Speaker 1: feeling the ball up the middle and then just like.
- 20:32Speaker 2: Just like Coolly didn't overreact and and you.
- 20:35Speaker 1: Know through the first base get the out, I stretched
- 20:38Speaker 1: by torque there as per usual. Uh, mcgonald's been on
- 20:42Speaker 1: base twenty four straight starts. It's the best a twenty
- 20:45Speaker 1: one year old has done in a Tigers uniform since
- 20:47Speaker 1: Al k Line in nineteen fifty six. And here's a
- 20:50Speaker 1: bold prediction, Cody, there's gonna be a lot of best
- 20:54Speaker 1: sense And you know, either great player or obscure player
- 20:57Speaker 1: who had like a great streak and a long.
- 21:00Speaker 2: Time ago year mentioned.
- 21:02Speaker 1: I think we're gonna get a lot of those with
- 21:04Speaker 1: Kevin McGonagall as a season progresses. And by the way,
- 21:08Speaker 1: dude's got a two point oh war. He's got a
- 21:11Speaker 1: two point oh war. He's like among the league, among
- 21:14Speaker 1: the league leaders. And hits, he's got two triples to
- 21:17Speaker 1: his name. Like, the dude just does everything.
- 21:21Speaker 2: He's just money. He's just money man, He's just money.
- 21:24Speaker 3: He he's really good. I don't know what else I
- 21:28Speaker 3: have to say. Already worth two point zero war is
- 21:31Speaker 3: kind of crazy. He's just so good man. And defensively
- 21:40Speaker 3: like we've seen him tested, right, we've seen some plays
- 21:43Speaker 3: he hasn't made, hasn't made defensively like it hasn't been
- 21:47Speaker 3: perfect the last one week, ten days or so. But
- 21:50Speaker 3: he's worth plus three defensive run saved at third base.
- 21:53Speaker 3: That's the best of anyone at a position on the
- 21:56Speaker 3: team he's worth. He's at an even zero right now
- 21:59Speaker 3: at short style, so like he's holding his own defensively,
- 22:03Speaker 3: even as we see him tested, even as there's some
- 22:05Speaker 3: places he hasn't made, Like there's still plays he he
- 22:08Speaker 3: does make, Man that have been pretty good. His consistency
- 22:11Speaker 3: at the plate for a kid this young, is really remarkable.
- 22:16Speaker 3: I don't have anything new to say to go to
- 22:18Speaker 3: your broader point, like it is hard. This guy is
- 22:21Speaker 3: a month into his career and I'm like, I'm out
- 22:23Speaker 3: always talking about him.
- 22:26Speaker 1: I'll tell you what, Man, When we did all this
- 22:28Speaker 1: speculation and you know, November, December, January, and then we
- 22:33Speaker 1: always said, like on April twenty six he's been a
- 22:36Speaker 1: regular batting lead off and playing short shortstop slash, you know,
- 22:42Speaker 1: third base, but a lot of shortstop. We would have
- 22:44Speaker 1: been like, huh man, all right, you know, like that
- 22:48Speaker 1: would have been kind of surprise. He given everything that
- 22:50Speaker 1: we thought we knew, which is probably the number one
- 22:52Speaker 1: lesson We didn't know anything.
- 22:53Speaker 3: It's been. It's been an absolute best case scenario. Like you,
- 22:58Speaker 3: I don't think Scott Harris was expecting this. He might
- 23:01Speaker 3: have been hoping for it. I don't think he was, Like,
- 23:03Speaker 3: no one could reasonably know how his first month in
- 23:07Speaker 3: the major leagues was going to go, and it has
- 23:09Speaker 3: gotten absolute best case scenario. Where now it's the point
- 23:13Speaker 3: that like, look, when the Tigers are gonna struggle again,
- 23:15Speaker 3: they're gonna have a few bad offensive games, and people
- 23:18Speaker 3: are gonna be like, well, why you know they didn't
- 23:20Speaker 3: they didn't upgrade the offense, and like, we're gonna hear
- 23:23Speaker 3: that complain again. But they did add a bat to
- 23:25Speaker 3: this team. It is Kevin McGonagall, and he might have
- 23:28Speaker 3: been better than any free agent edition they possibly could
- 23:31Speaker 3: have made.
- 23:32Speaker 1: Yeah, but it turns out not in the grand scheme
- 23:34Speaker 1: of things, all that much cheaper. But anyway, uh uh, yeah,
- 23:40Speaker 1: it's just remarkable.
- 23:41Speaker 2: I never tire of it, but like I do constantly.
- 23:44Speaker 1: Find myself trying to be like, man, what do we
- 23:46Speaker 1: say again about McGonagall now, man, just just awesome, dude.
- 23:50Speaker 3: All right.
- 23:51Speaker 1: This episode is brought to you by our friends at SEKIK.
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- 25:32Speaker 2: Another kind of thing.
- 25:33Speaker 1: I was monitoring this, you know, this weekend, especially after
- 25:39Speaker 1: ken Lee Janssen.
- 25:43Speaker 2: Blew the save on Friday night.
- 25:45Speaker 1: Uh is just kind of like the usage of Vest
- 25:49Speaker 1: and finn again, and and it's been kind of I
- 25:51Speaker 1: would say, interesting. I'm not gonna like overlead, you know, dramatic,
- 25:56Speaker 1: it would be overly dramatic about it. But Jansen is
- 26:00Speaker 1: the only guy to record a save among the Vest
- 26:04Speaker 1: and Finnigan trio. The only other save recorded by this
- 26:07Speaker 1: Tigers team is Drew Anderson, who had the three inning save.
- 26:11Speaker 1: So if you know, it counts, but like also doesn't
- 26:14Speaker 1: count for the sake of this discussion. Uh, Vest has
- 26:17Speaker 1: looked really good today Sunday, and I think that stomach
- 26:21Speaker 1: bug and you know, we were worrying about his his below.
- 26:24Speaker 1: I think a lot of those concerns have been, uh,
- 26:28Speaker 1: have been put to the side, and then Finnigan's been awesome.
- 26:30Speaker 1: Finigan's point seven war right now, dude, Like that's uh,
- 26:34Speaker 1: that's pretty dang good.
- 26:35Speaker 2: And it feels like whatever.
- 26:38Speaker 1: Whatever sequencing thing that kind of affected the latter half
- 26:42Speaker 1: of his twenty twenty five seasons coming in, they kind
- 26:45Speaker 1: they kind of got in the lab and figured that out.
- 26:47Speaker 2: And then Jansen. Look, Janson's been good.
- 26:49Speaker 1: But I think by near May we would have figured
- 26:53Speaker 1: the mix would have been a little bit more mixier, uh,
- 26:56Speaker 1: you know, in terms of who gets the ninth ending.
- 26:58Speaker 1: But it's really basically, really basically Jansen. So I just
- 27:03Speaker 1: think that's curious.
- 27:04Speaker 3: Yeah, it is part of me certainly would have expected
- 27:09Speaker 3: some of these other guys to get the ninth inning.
- 27:11Speaker 3: I would say somewhat, this is just how it's worked out.
- 27:14Speaker 3: Like Kinley, Jansen's only pitched what's seven and a third innings.
- 27:17Speaker 3: He's actually gone a decent amount in between outings, so
- 27:22Speaker 3: he's been like rested and available every save situation so far.
- 27:26Speaker 3: He's kind of been naturally, you know, this is where
- 27:30Speaker 3: you would want him, and there have been some other
- 27:32Speaker 3: pressure pockets where AJ's gone to Finnigan, who's got a
- 27:37Speaker 3: pretty good arsenal that can play against both sided hitters
- 27:40Speaker 3: or really pretty much anyone if he's got the splitter
- 27:43Speaker 3: going like he is right now. We'll see what happens
- 27:46Speaker 3: as the season goes on. Like we're still pretty early
- 27:49Speaker 3: here again, Jansen has just really barely pitched and he
- 27:53Speaker 3: has blown two saves. Oddly enough, that's more saves than
- 27:56Speaker 3: he blew all last season, Karen, he only had one
- 27:58Speaker 3: blown save last year. You know, his his good nights
- 28:02Speaker 3: have been really good, to be fair, and then he's
- 28:05Speaker 3: given up, you know, two walk off home runs. That's
- 28:07Speaker 3: the life of a closer for you. It brings up
- 28:11Speaker 3: like the bigger discussion about the bullpen. I know that
- 28:13Speaker 3: was a hot topic, especially Friday night and a little
- 28:16Speaker 3: bit Saturday. Strange that Finnigan's been really good man like
- 28:20Speaker 3: again when they brought him back. I liked them bringing
- 28:23Speaker 3: him back, but it was like, did they get the
- 28:25Speaker 3: best eighteen innings of his life last year? Like was
- 28:28Speaker 3: he going to be able to measure up? And no,
- 28:30Speaker 3: like he's come out the gate and thrown some more.
- 28:33Speaker 3: Really good innings. Jansen has been solid. He certainly has
- 28:37Speaker 3: not appeared as someone who's like totally washed or whatever
- 28:41Speaker 3: when that concern may have lingered, and best hasn't always
- 28:44Speaker 3: been as best play like you said, like seeing some
- 28:47Speaker 3: ninety seven, seeing a little ninety eight, I'm really encouraged.
- 28:50Speaker 3: I think maybe he's close to becoming that fireballer again.
- 28:54Speaker 3: But the rest of the pen certainly is a concern,
- 28:57Speaker 3: Like especially if Tyler Holton's not as best. That's a
- 29:00Speaker 3: guy who has been just rock solid, consistent for three
- 29:03Speaker 3: years and when he goes through it a little bit
- 29:06Speaker 3: like he has here of late, like the whole bullpen
- 29:09Speaker 3: kind of feels that you're seeing the middle relief, the
- 29:13Speaker 3: back end where the quality is just not super high.
- 29:15Speaker 3: The Tigers as a whole four five to five bullpen
- 29:19Speaker 3: era twenty second in strikeout percentage, twenty first in case
- 29:23Speaker 3: per nine. It does beg the question like, even though
- 29:27Speaker 3: they brought in Jansen and so far, so good, they
- 29:29Speaker 3: brought in brought back Finn again, that's working out great,
- 29:32Speaker 3: they didn't really address the whole issue of this team
- 29:36Speaker 3: not being able to miss bats. And even though they
- 29:38Speaker 3: got a bundle of guys you know that some would
- 29:41Speaker 3: call off the scrap heap, like Drew Anderson, who hasn't
- 29:45Speaker 3: been good obviously, is really kind of the only one
- 29:47Speaker 3: who profiles if his kick change is good as a
- 29:50Speaker 3: guy who's going to miss a ton of bats. Maybe
- 29:52Speaker 3: Burch Smith. I don't know, We'll see he's got a
- 29:54Speaker 3: long track record in the majors and hasn't pitched with success,
- 29:58Speaker 3: So like that, that is certainly a real concern for me.
- 30:02Speaker 3: Maybe I've like undersold it at times when people are
- 30:05Speaker 3: worried about the bullpen, because I could see the Tigers
- 30:07Speaker 3: having deeper bullpen struggles throughout the season, and it is
- 30:11Speaker 3: worth wondering, like what reinforcements do you really have? You
- 30:15Speaker 3: might be able to go go get a Ricky Venasko
- 30:18Speaker 3: or or maybe Birch Smith pitch as well, and you
- 30:20Speaker 3: get ten to fifteen quality endings out of them. Do
- 30:24Speaker 3: you have anyone who's gonna get your strikeout rate in
- 30:26Speaker 3: the top half of the league. I don't know if
- 30:29Speaker 3: the Tigers do. And I think that is fair to
- 30:31Speaker 3: be worried about.
- 30:34Speaker 1: Yeah, And it's hard to think of, like I try
- 30:43Speaker 1: to find the right mindset on this. I'll be honest
- 30:46Speaker 1: with you, because some of this is just like every team,
- 30:50Speaker 1: like most every team feels like they want to get
- 30:53Speaker 1: like a you know, more swing and miss. It's like
- 30:56Speaker 1: more dudes in the in the bullpen. Yeah, I'll just
- 31:00Speaker 1: you know, place a bet right now with you, Cody
- 31:02Speaker 1: on April twenty six that you know, over the next
- 31:04Speaker 1: couple of months, there's gonna be many a team that's
- 31:06Speaker 1: gonna be like, oh, you know, we could you know,
- 31:08Speaker 1: we want another bullpen arm, you know, during the trade deadline.
- 31:11Speaker 1: It's like, yeah, yeah, it makes sense, makes sense that
- 31:13Speaker 1: you want more arms and more options in the back end.
- 31:16Speaker 2: Uh.
- 31:17Speaker 1: It just feels like right now the Tigers are top
- 31:21Speaker 1: and bottom heavy in terms of confidence. Now, I know
- 31:24Speaker 1: Jack Flaherty, you know, didn't look good on on Saturday,
- 31:28Speaker 1: and and you know, you know, Montero had you know,
- 31:31Speaker 1: another Montero esque outing today wasn't as sharp as we
- 31:34Speaker 1: had seen them in this previous start.
- 31:35Speaker 2: But that's okay.
- 31:36Speaker 1: Uh. But like, for the most part, like this is
- 31:38Speaker 1: a top and bottom heavy team in terms of the
- 31:42Speaker 1: pitching staff as a whole, and that middle is very
- 31:45Speaker 1: uneasy and even some of the some of the wins
- 31:47Speaker 1: that we've seen. Uh you know, it's like a ground
- 31:52Speaker 1: ball up the middle, right at second base, hobby field
- 31:55Speaker 1: step first base.
- 31:57Speaker 2: You know what I mean.
- 31:57Speaker 1: Like, it's not like there's some some you know, some
- 31:59Speaker 1: pitching masterclass, although you gotta give a credit some of
- 32:01Speaker 1: those things that the bounces that did go your way
- 32:04Speaker 1: haven't gone your way and that and and that's like
- 32:07Speaker 1: uneasy with uh with in terms of trying to anticipate
- 32:10Speaker 1: how this team's gonna be, because right now you're just
- 32:12Speaker 1: a barely above five hundred team. What would be the
- 32:14Speaker 1: difference because there's a lot of things that we've seen
- 32:17Speaker 1: so far that we like, I think would would be
- 32:19Speaker 1: fair to say, what is the one thing that's gonna
- 32:23Speaker 1: like make this team be able to take the next step?
- 32:26Speaker 1: I would say consistency in the middle. That seems to
- 32:29Speaker 1: be the number one thing that you feel. I don't
- 32:31Speaker 1: want to say, I don't want to say that they're
- 32:33Speaker 1: worse at it, but like you feel the worst about it.
- 32:36Speaker 1: And that's and and that's something I don't necessarily know
- 32:39Speaker 1: if we would have thought on April twenty six coming.
- 32:42Speaker 3: In, Yeah, it kind of some of my point about
- 32:44Speaker 3: the strikeouts, like another way to look at it is,
- 32:47Speaker 3: why don't the Tigers have anyone who throws a hundred
- 32:50Speaker 3: in their bullpen? You know, in this age where more
- 32:52Speaker 3: people than ever throw a hundred, the Tigers don't have
- 32:55Speaker 3: anybody in the bullpen who throws one hundred miles an hour.
- 32:58Speaker 3: And if you were trying to roll the dice and
- 33:01Speaker 3: get a great ten to fifteen innings of some I mean,
- 33:04Speaker 3: I know there aren't that many guys who throw one
- 33:05Speaker 3: hundred out there on minor league deals, but there actually
- 33:08Speaker 3: are some. Like if you were trying to kind of
- 33:09Speaker 3: luck into, you know, a lottery ticket type guy, why
- 33:14Speaker 3: wouldn't you prioritize velocity a little bit more than the
- 33:17Speaker 3: Tigers have. I don't know the answer to that question.
- 33:19Speaker 3: I would assume there is some sort of method, because
- 33:22Speaker 3: it's actually been a couple of years now where the
- 33:24Speaker 3: Tigers have not prioritized velocity. For a while, it felt
- 33:27Speaker 3: like maybe they were prioritizing sinkers and changeups and just
- 33:31Speaker 3: trying to be a little different. I wonder if maybe
- 33:33Speaker 3: they've tried too hard to be different. Maybe they should
- 33:35Speaker 3: just go get some dude to throw the crap out
- 33:38Speaker 3: of the baseball. We'll see, we'll see what this one
- 33:41Speaker 3: looks like as the summer goes on.
- 33:44Speaker 1: Well, if only you could just go grab you know,
- 33:46Speaker 1: the next Mason Miller. That would be a lot of fun,
- 33:48Speaker 1: wouldn't it.
- 33:49Speaker 2: Uh?
- 33:51Speaker 1: Speaking of flairity, I just yeah, I don't want to
- 33:53Speaker 1: go without uh without mentioning it.
- 33:55Speaker 2: You know.
- 33:56Speaker 1: It just feel like it's kind of like our duty here.
- 33:59Speaker 1: But second in second outing for him, where he gave
- 34:02Speaker 1: up at least five earned runs. The other one he
- 34:04Speaker 1: gave up six on Saturday, the other one being an
- 34:07Speaker 1: April fourth start against the Uh, I guess the Cardinals.
- 34:11Speaker 2: That was his.
- 34:12Speaker 1: The offense picked me up right, that was his. That
- 34:14Speaker 1: was at that start. It didn't happen unfortunately on Saturday.
- 34:19Speaker 1: It just felt like to me, he wasn't able to
- 34:21Speaker 1: hit his spots. It wasn't able like he like they
- 34:24Speaker 1: weren't terrible pitches, like you know, some of them were legitimate,
- 34:26Speaker 1: like you know, actual balls. Uh, but like you know,
- 34:30Speaker 1: he just some someone caught too much of the plate.
- 34:32Speaker 1: And then he is just fully capable of having an
- 34:36Speaker 1: app like a team avalanche him this season, and I
- 34:40Speaker 1: think that's exactly what we saw Saturday night. It's unfortunate
- 34:43Speaker 1: Saturday night Primetime Fox Main broadcast.
- 34:45Speaker 2: It's kind of awkward that Terrek Schooble like.
- 34:48Speaker 1: Talking to the crew and it's like you're already down
- 34:50Speaker 1: four or five nothing or whatever it was, you know.
- 34:53Speaker 1: But the Jack Flaherty experience continues to be undefeated this year,
- 34:57Speaker 1: unfortunately for him because obviously this is a big year
- 35:01Speaker 1: for him and and a love expectations are on his shoulders.
- 35:05Speaker 3: Yeah. Uh, Twerkle since has probably been the hitter we've
- 35:08Speaker 3: talked about the most in terms of trying to make
- 35:10Speaker 3: sense of it go down bad Flarerty's He's kind of
- 35:13Speaker 3: filled the old Matt Manning role of just like what
- 35:16Speaker 3: do we make of this? And you know, I've been
- 35:18Speaker 3: in the camp. You could do worse than Jack Flaherty,
- 35:21Speaker 3: but you would sure like to get rid of some
- 35:23Speaker 3: of these blow ups. You're right, he just wasn't. It
- 35:26Speaker 3: wasn't hitting spots. I talk a lot about like his
- 35:28Speaker 3: command has to be elite. And it was only two innings,
- 35:31Speaker 3: so you know, we didn't even see him get deeper
- 35:33Speaker 3: into the game. But the Vila was fine for his
- 35:36Speaker 3: standards in ninety three, but he struggled with missing glove
- 35:41Speaker 3: side on a couple of different occasions this year. I
- 35:43Speaker 3: think something mechanically. You can almost see it at signs
- 35:46Speaker 3: like that front shoulders just kind of flying open. There
- 35:48Speaker 3: are a lot of gloves, side misses, get themselves in
- 35:51Speaker 3: some bad counts, make some mistakes, things can unravel quickly.
- 35:56Speaker 3: We can see him just look visibly frustrated on the mound.
- 36:01Speaker 3: There's a better version of Jack flarity in there, and
- 36:03Speaker 3: we've already seen it this season. You would just like
- 36:07Speaker 3: to be able to unlock that a little more consistently
- 36:09Speaker 3: than you have this year. Any and even going back
- 36:12Speaker 3: to last season as well. It does make you wonder
- 36:15Speaker 3: like if cater Montero continues to pitch really well, Like,
- 36:21Speaker 3: are we sure he's going to get optioned when ver
- 36:22Speaker 3: Laner comes back? Or would they consider some sort of
- 36:25Speaker 3: other move I don't know what that looks like. So
- 36:27Speaker 3: you're not just going to get rid of a guy
- 36:29Speaker 3: you're paying twenty mil in Jack flerity, But is there's
- 36:32Speaker 3: some other way to manipulate things if Jack isn't able
- 36:36Speaker 3: to get himself back on track more consistently, Like I
- 36:39Speaker 3: don't know, but maybe that's something to start thinking about
- 36:42Speaker 3: a little bit. But there is jack flarity. He might
- 36:45Speaker 3: just go out and pitch seven strong innings next time out.
- 36:50Speaker 3: You know, that's right?
- 36:54Speaker 1: Real quick as we wrap up here, Cody, any thoughts
- 36:58Speaker 1: on ren and handed Fee kind of going with the
- 37:02Speaker 1: lock the locks and the more full beard. Uh Like
- 37:06Speaker 1: you know, I was like, Oh, that's Brendon Hannifee.
- 37:09Speaker 2: Yeah, you know what I mean.
- 37:10Speaker 1: Like it kind of looked like, uh, Charlie Whitehurst, you
- 37:14Speaker 1: know out there, you know, a little little bit little
- 37:16Speaker 1: little Jesus.
- 37:17Speaker 2: Look to him like, I don't know, uh.
- 37:20Speaker 3: Well, my experience turning hand I fee like pretty quiet,
- 37:22Speaker 3: soft spoken, real real slow country drawl talker. Maybe he's like,
- 37:27Speaker 3: maybe maybe I just look a little more intimidating, they'll
- 37:29Speaker 3: stop sending me down. Like maybe if I look like,
- 37:33Speaker 3: you know, I've been working in the woods, kind of
- 37:35Speaker 3: get a little more of a lumberjack lumberjack look, They'll
- 37:39Speaker 3: I'll stop being the guy who they just can yank,
- 37:42Speaker 3: yank back and forth. That's the best theory I can
- 37:44Speaker 3: come up with. I don't know. It sucks that it's
- 37:47Speaker 3: at the expense of a conor uh counter seabolt injury,
- 37:50Speaker 3: but I am glad to see Hanafee in the major leagues.
- 37:53Speaker 3: A guy again, like we talked about track record, Like,
- 37:56Speaker 3: go look at his track record. The guy's been nothing
- 37:58Speaker 3: but good, uh in the big picture for the Tigers
- 38:01Speaker 3: since coming to the organization, even though he doesn't throw
- 38:03Speaker 3: a hundred or strike guys out.
- 38:07Speaker 1: Yeah, he's he's uh when you were talking and not
- 38:11Speaker 1: just because he pitched it when you were talking about
- 38:13Speaker 1: I don't know if they're even really trying to look
- 38:14Speaker 1: for those guys.
- 38:15Speaker 2: That's exactly what I was just thinking of Annamal.
- 38:17Speaker 3: I mean, he was the in the sinkerballer group that
- 38:19Speaker 3: they had so much success with a couple of years ago.
- 38:21Speaker 3: He's kind of the poster child for that.
- 38:24Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 38:24Speaker 1: So I mean we'll see, you know, if he's one
- 38:27Speaker 1: of those guys, if he gets a little bit of
- 38:28Speaker 1: a run here, but he probably will be back and forth,
- 38:32Speaker 1: you know, this season, like a lot of these dudes
- 38:33Speaker 1: and uh and and and maybe that's also partially baked
- 38:38Speaker 1: into the cake is that the Tigers are probably going
- 38:40Speaker 1: to use the better part of this season to try
- 38:43Speaker 1: to kind of figure out the best sort of mix
- 38:47Speaker 1: and line up, if you would, of guys to kind
- 38:49Speaker 1: of make up the entire bullpen and the thought being
- 38:52Speaker 1: that you're the offense is good enough, the starting pitching
- 38:55Speaker 1: is good enough, and the back end is good enough
- 38:57Speaker 1: that you can kind of get away with this like
- 39:00Speaker 1: lab within the game's count. So I think that's probably
- 39:04Speaker 1: part of as frustrating as it is in the moment,
- 39:07Speaker 1: that's probably by design.
- 39:10Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that's a fair point. And again kind
- 39:13Speaker 3: of what every team does. The bullpen, it's are volatile,
- 39:17Speaker 3: they are in flux by nature. The Dodgers like didn't
- 39:20Speaker 3: have a bullpen for for a large chunk of the
- 39:24Speaker 3: second half last year and they won the World Series.
- 39:26Speaker 3: So believe it or not, they're a waste to overcome it.
- 39:30Speaker 2: And we'll see how the Tigers do with that.
- 39:32Speaker 1: All right, You guys can follow us on x formally
- 39:35Speaker 1: known as Twitter at Cody Stavenhagen, I'm at Kieran Undiscore
- 39:37Speaker 1: Steckley at Tiger Territory, Underscore, YouTube, Apple, Spotify, wherever you
- 39:41Speaker 1: get your podcast. You guys know what to do. We
- 39:43Speaker 1: appreciate all of you. So for Cody Stavenhagen, I'm Kean Steckley.
- 39:47Speaker 3: There.
- 39:47Speaker 2: We have