Latest / Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast / Eying Detroit Tigers Spring Training

Transcript

Eying Detroit Tigers Spring Training · Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: And welcome into another episode of Tiger Territory, part of
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: the Foul Territory Network, a Detroit Tigers podcast. I'm Kieren
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Steckley with me as always, Cody Stavenhagen and of course
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: the one the only looking real sporty right now, Austin Jack.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: How's it going, fellows? How are we doing? Going good?
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Going good? It's nice here, it's nice in the sunshine.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Cody, you're getting sunshine over there in Michigan.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: No, No, it was in northern Michigan over the weekend.
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: It was pierce snow and uh, it's a little better
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: down here in Detroit, but it is cloudy and we're
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: still waiting. We are still waiting on Alex Pregnant to sign.
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: Over the weekend, we had chalked and the Tigers added
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: Jack Flaherty. There were some optimistic vibes. I was getting
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: a lot of messages on the phone. It's back to quiet.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: What does that mean? I don't know. I think one
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: thing we're.
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: Learning is these negotiations don't always play out, probably like
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: we think they do.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: In our head.
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: I don't know, Austin, maybe you have some insight on
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: how this process can actually work, but these things, man,
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: they take time and and uh it doesn't seem like
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: anyone's in a rush to get this thing done.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you're you're right. They do take time,
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: you know, for everybody on both sides to get the
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: details ironed out. You know, years, money, all that stuff
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: comes into play, you know, the fit. You know, if
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: you you you know, want to move your family there,
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: if you can see your family being there for for
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: some years. But yeah, it's so it's so many, so
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: many things that go on, but you know behind the
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: scenes that you know, we're really not let in on
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: until you know, obviously that person signs. But I know,
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: for me, you know, it was there's a lot of
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: going back and forth with with teams, you know, just
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: years and like I said, just trying to get a
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: good feel if if, if I would feel good about
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: Philip moving my family to wherever wherever it is. So
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: and you know, the team, you know, you just want
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: to you want to go to a team that this
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: that's ready to win. And you know, if you're you're
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: a veteran, you've been in the league for a little bit, uh,
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: you know, especially a guy like Bregman, who's uh, you know,
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: coming from a winning background, a winning that has a
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: winning pedigree, he probably wants to go somewhere where he
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: can win Detroit just so that you know they're they're
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: they're trending upwards, so you know, maybe he's still in
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: in in, you know, in the hunt for coming into Detroit.
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: But you know, time will tell it is getting down
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: to the to the nitty gritty right now, though, you know,
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: so that those these are the times you start sweating
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: a little bit. Maybe not so much a guy like him,
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: because he has options, but at the same time, I
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: think for everybody else, we're just you know, we're kind
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: of biting our nails over here, you know, want them
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: to come, but knowing that it's a process that it'll
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: eventually play us south self out with a with a
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: guy like him, so.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: Well, the family aspect, I'm glad you brought that up,
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: because that's something that we don't really think about all
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: that often, you know, like we we think about team,
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: we think about money, we think about years, but the
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: family aspect. And it made me think of when Scott
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: Harris was interviewing for the president of Baseball Operations job
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: a couple of years ago.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: Like he later told the story.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: It's like, you know, missus Illitch like was showing you know,
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: his wife around because that's you know for him too,
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: Like he was gonna have to move his family. So
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: people don't do that all that often in this culture.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: Like it's a cross country move is hard. Yeah, you're
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: making a lot of money. Yeah you're playing the kids game,
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: quote unquote, but it's still like real life. This is
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: real life for guys like Alex and and.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: He's gonna be okay.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: He's gonna be okay, but it is still a monumental decision.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: Speaking of coming home, we can recap a little bit
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: too Cody about Jack Flaherty, who has, unless I missed it,
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: yet to officially sign with the Tigers. But we did
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: a reaction podcast. You guys can go to wherever you
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: get podcasts or on our YouTube page Tiger Territory. Cody
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: nice thoughts about twenty five minutes, just kind of hashing
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: it out.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Cody was.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: A very busy man. We talked about him being on vacation,
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: like I'm not trying to like, you know, blow smoke
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: up his butt or anything.
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: But then on Monday he was on and he'll be.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: Network and then he was on the Foul Territory Show,
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: so he was very he was busy even after the signing.
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: So any other thoughts.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: You've had to talk about it a little bit more,
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: Cody with some other voices in baseball, not just me,
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: not just Austin, not just kind of people in your
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: circle about this Flarity move and what it could potentially mean.
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: I think the biggest thing that's downed on me is
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: what we talked about, you know, Sunday night or whatever.
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: But just what does this mean for the rest of
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: the Tigers rotation? Doesn't mean maybe Jackson job is not
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: as likely as we thought to start the year in Detroit.
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: This thing, you know, you add one guy and you're
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: looking at five spots, things get real crowded, real quickly.
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: So again, Scoobale, Flarity, Olsen, you're paying all those guys,
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: and you're paying kin to my Aida. You still have Jackson, Joke, Casey, Miz,
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: Brenton Herder, all these other names. I think a lot
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: of it is going to come down to what the
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: Tigers actual plan is for my Aida this season, and
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: we don't know, we don't quite know the answer to that.
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: But yeah, there's a world where maybe we will get
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: something we've joked about, which is the Tigers saying, well,
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: you know, Jackson can improve all his pitches and locating
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: them to all four quadrants of the zone, and we
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: just think he needs a little more seasoning. No one's
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: gonna want to hear that, but it sounds like more
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: of a possibility than I probably would ever would have
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: guessed earlier this winter.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: So, Austin, I was curious, and I am prepared you
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: for this. I'm apologized about the bat here, but it
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: just kind of came to my mind, you know, the
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: mises of the world, the Mayada's, Uh, well, what the
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: bregnant thing we can bring in like Jase Young and
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: Matt Vierling and guys that maybe thought they were going
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: to have a certain role and if this this thing
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: moving over everybody's head, like if it happens, then their
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: role is gonna change. And in some cases it might
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: not even be in Detroit, you know, it could be
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: in Toledo. Maybe a trade, you know, like all this uncertainty.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: So I'm curious, like the player piece of this, the
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: one that's already on the team, the one that's going
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: through as we record this on you know, February fifth,
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: that's gone through the off season, that's been mentally prepared,
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: probably for a certain role on the team or a
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: certain aspect to contribute, and then something like this could
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: blow up. We don't know that, so we can't go
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: to that angle. But just like the looming aspect of it,
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: like what goes through those guys' minds when like their
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: jobs all of a sudden become a little less certain.
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, sure, I mean it's it's tough, especially I think
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: when you go through the off season training a certain way, already,
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: having a certain mindset about what you're gonna change differently,
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: you know, work on and when you get a call
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: or you say, you get the spring training and that
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: that that role changes. I mean, it can be tough.
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: You know. Obviously we're we're all athletes, and we're you know,
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: we we we're good at making adjustments. We've been able
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: to make adjustments on the Flower whole life, and that's
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: the reason why we're you know good, that's the reason
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: why we got to where we got to. But at
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: the same time, I mean, I can speak on that
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: because it happened to me. It happened to me in
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: twenty fourteen at the end of the twenty thirteen season. Uh,
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: you know, there were things that I went into the
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: off season like, hey, I definitely need to get better
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: at this. I want to get you know, uh, you know,
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: still more bases. I want to you know, you know,
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: be that that leadoff man that you know, I want
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: to try to improve on these things that I felt
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: that I struggled with in the in the season that
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: we just had. And I remember getting a call and
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: it was Ozma's had they had hired ozmas As as
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: the manager, and he was like, Hey, We're gonna hit
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: you five hole. I'm like, what, you hit me five hole?
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: I'm one hundred and eighty pounds soaking wet. You're gonna
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: hit me five hole? Bro? All right? So I mean it,
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: uh it it kind of it kind of shocks you
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: a little bit. But at the same time, you know,
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: you've got we've we've been good about making these adjustments
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: that you know, you go with it, even though it's
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: something that kind of just comes out of nowhere. You know.
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: They just felt that I had the ability to be
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: able to hit five hole, even though the whole off
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: season I've been training, uh, you know on speed and
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: and you know, stealing bases and just you know, things
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: like that the nature of a lite off hitter. And
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: I've been told now that I'm hit five hole, you know,
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: behind Victor Martinez, and I'm like, that's like I'm his
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: you know, I'm his safety. And now like Victor like,
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: come on, man, you want to who you want to
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: pitch to? Victor Me? Okay, so and then you're putting
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: Victor on all day and I'm like, I got to
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: hit it out of the stadium to get Victor in.
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: So I mean, but no, seriously, though, I just I
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: get it. I know where that where you're where your
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: where your head can get to. You can kind of
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: you can get your your mind can start playing games
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: with you because it happened to me, you know, and
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: especially when you're in that role and you're not you know,
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: adjusting to that role like like you like you want
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: to or you know how, it can be tough, but
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: you know, we just make those adjustments and we keep moving.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: You know, you don't. You're trying to do whatever you
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: can do to add value to the team. Ultimately, that's
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: what you're trying to do. And if the team sees
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: you in this role, you do your best to try
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: to adapt to that.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: How important is like trust with manager, front office? You know,
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: not necessarily specific to ostmas, but like just in general,
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: Like if AJ is gonna tell Matt, like, all right,
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: you're gonna be playing a lot more right field, that's
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: gonna have to like trust that. That's like, you know,
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: the best thing not just for the team, but also
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: for him, you know. So how important is you know,
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: the trust from the player to the manager and any
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: sort of like office communication that would happen there.
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: Too, Well, I think just uh, you know, the trust
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: comes from, in my opinion, just making sure that you
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: know both sides agree on and then uh, you know
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: you're going out and you're giving me the time to
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: be able to adjust to this new role that you
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: put me in. You know the thing that the second
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: you know, things start start going wrong and we start
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: pulling the plug on it. I think that's where that
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: that trust issue kind of gets skewed a little bit.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: So I think if you know, when guys are being
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: told they're going to be in a different role than
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: than you know they were expecting, I think you know,
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: what they're expecting is to be able to go out
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: and at least try to get comfortable in that role
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: if given, you know, the proper amount of time to
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: adjust to it, and you know, just making sure everybody's
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: holding everybody accountable. You know, you're doing what you said
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: you were going to do, and you're allowing me to
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: go out and play to my best abilities. And I
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: prove that I can I can stay in that role.
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: And Matt Vierling probably doesn't get enough credit for doing that.
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: Last year, he came into spring training almost looking like
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: he was going to be playing third base every day.
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: Then somewhat unexpectedly, the Tigers signed Geo Orchella. Vierling's back
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: to playing mostly outfield. By the end of the year,
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: Orshelle is gone and Vierling's finished in the year playing
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: a lot of third base, and as a reward, he
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: gets to do it all over again.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: Right this offseason.
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: I'm sure he's been training, you know, so, I'm at
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: both positions and those are very different skill sets too.
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: But the Tigers are about out of pivots.
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: Here if they don't get Bregman I Song Kim, the
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: guy really liked as a fit.
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: He gone.
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: He's going to the Rays a really attractive deal for
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: the Rays too, and Raindall Kritchik, who was an outfielder
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: he signed with the d Backs. It is really looking
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: like Bregman or Bust. I mean, maybe there's a potential
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: a couple other potential options, or maybe Matt Vierling and
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: Jase Young always wear kind of the Plan B for
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: the Tigers. But yeahtt Matt Hu, there are some pri
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: for being adaptable.
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, sure, you have. You have to be. You have
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: to be and that's I mean, that's the that's the
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: name of this game. You know, you're always having to
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: adapt on the fly. You know, even when you know
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: you've been told you're gonna be at this certain position,
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: get the spring training or you get to the season,
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: and you know, trades are made, guys are signed, and
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: you know your your position might change. But the big
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: thing is you know you're getting the opportunity to adjust
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: to that change. And and like we said, that's where
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: that trust comes.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: I really like what you said there, Austin, about like,
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: if you're gonna ask me to do this, it's only
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: fair that I get the time to adjust and get
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: my feet wet and you know all this stuff because
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: I can say, you know, media fans tend to be
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: more impatient than patient. I can and and especially if
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: the team success isn't hasn't been that great over the
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: last several years. Like it's like, you know, when is
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: this gonna happen? Everybody wants a quick fix and the
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: things don't happen over time. One of the things that I,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: even the most staunched critic of the current administration for
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: the Tigers, would have to admit is that they are
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: a patient group. Like they are letting guys develop and
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: and and put them out there. And AJ's AJ had
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: a quote a couple of years ago about east Ock
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: Parade is Austin.
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: You'll get a kick out of this. It's like he's
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: a third baseman.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: Uh, you know, we try him at second base and
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: and AJ said something to the effect, well, we don't
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: know if he can't play second base until we try
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: him at second base. And and and he's actually five
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: years lay or whatever. It's still kind of going through
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: that positionally.
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: Now we'll be in Houston, So it's funny, funny how
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: how things work out there.
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: But uh, the transition, well, the Tigers have asked a
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: lot out of these players too. For the last few years.
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: They're all playing different positions. There's no such thing as hey,
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: you're hitting five hole, because the lineup's different every day.
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: There are a lot it's he's probably operating like that
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: more than even five ten years ago. But you know,
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: I think that's one of these things with the young team.
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: The dudes really have kind of bought into that message.
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: We heard about that all last year, but especially early on,
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: like AJ's first year. I wasn't always a fan of it.
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: It's like, I feel like it's going to be hard
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: for guys to get comfortable and develop, and I've kind
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: of been proven wrong. I think that the players have
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: tooken a stride a little bit once they start seeing
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: at work too, or once they start saying, hey, if
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: this is going to get me a seventh inning at
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: bad against a lefty, okay.
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: I'll do it. Yeah, absolutely well.
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: And again the patient's thing. I'll remind everybody that first
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: base position cult Keith.
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: Moving there, you know what I mean? Like it.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: And then if Jay hen just you know malloy is
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: going to get some time at first base moving there.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: That's a guy that's been moved around, you know, in
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: his professional career as well, so even though the stakes
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: are higher because they just made the playoffs and you know,
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: they're trying to progress, the patient's aspect has to still
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: be there, all right.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: So we're you know, spring training eve Ish.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: It's not technically eve, it's not tomorrow, but it's it's
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: it's basically right there.
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: We had asked you this before, Austin, but I think
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: it'd be a good reminder of like when you're this close,
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: when you're you know, you're you're you're kind of looking
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: at your bags might be semi packed or already packed,
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: depending on how much you prepare to go down to
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: the Lakeland. What's what's what's your mindset at do you are?
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: You are?
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: Did you ever feel comfortable with your training at this
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: point or you know on a given year Over the years,
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: we were like, well, I hope you know, I worked
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: on this and I hope it a net's like what's
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: the what's the player mindset? As like you guys are
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: about to converge down there in Lakeland.
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's it's very detailed. You know, it's
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: probably a lot more detailed than people realize. I mean,
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: because everybody has kind of like their individual uh, Uh,
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: they have like an individual assessment of of their of
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: their season, and essentially that's what you're You're you're going
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: into your off season working on. You're going on you know,
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: did I was I uh, did my legs give out
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: on me? What was I just tired? So you know,
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: you're working on your strength. You know, Like I said,
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: I've said this before, I was a guy that lost
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: a ton of weight during the season, So I really
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: focused on that. Everybody has their uh, their their assessments
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: and things that you look at your strengths. Obviously, everybody
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: looks at those and you want to continue to build
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: on those, but it's really about those weaknesses that that
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: you struggle with that year, things that you want to,
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: you know, continue to try to get better at, things
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: that add value to yourself as a player, but also
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: to your team with the Tigers, you know, going in
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: into the off season just coming off of uh, you know,
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: making it to the playoffs. I mean, I'm if I'm
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: if I'm a guy on that team, you know, I'm
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: looking at what were some of the things that that
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: I struggle with in the playoffs, What are some of
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: the things that that I could get better at in
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: those big at bats or those you know, those big
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: innings where they need a pitch, like, what is something
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: that I could go to. I know, for for me personally,
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: my first year in the playoffs, I mean, it can
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: be overwhelming. So just getting used to that environment, saying that,
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: you know, I gotta slow my breathing down thing, you know,
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: just little things like that. But also you know, if
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: I look at that first year that we made it
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: to the playoffs, I mean I had a terrible playoffs.
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: You know, the moment just was was overwhelming, and you know,
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: it was just a lot to take in for you know,
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: my second year. But going into that offseason, I looked at,
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: you know a lot of my bats. I looked at
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: my numbers from that that year, and I you know,
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: I wasn't I just didn't get on base enough. I
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: didn't get on base for the guys behind me. So
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: that was an assessment that I made of myself and
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: me and Lloyd made that, Hey, we need to start,
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: you know, kind of trying to construct a game plan
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: for you an approach that allows you to get on
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: base more. And I think I went from in the
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: regular season in twenty eleven, I think I hit our
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: on base percentage like three seventeen. The next year was
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: three seventy seven. And the crazy thing about that was Prince.
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: When Prince came over, Prince told me, he said, if
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: you and nothing else, he didn't know anything. I mean,
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: I'm not saying you didn't know anything about me, but
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: he said, if anything else you do, if you get
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: a three seventy on base percentage, we're going to the ship. Like,
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: what what you mean We're going to the ship. I
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: got a three seventy seven and we went to the
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: ship and my man bought me a watch. That's what
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: I'm talking about. Pee am my man about me a watch. Now,
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: we obviously we didn't win, right, But that's the type
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: of goals that I set for myself going into the offseason,
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: like I got to get better at this to help
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: my team, to try to give my team every advantage
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: at the end of the season to make it to
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: the playoffs. And ultimately that's what we're all trying to do,
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: is trying to win a ring. Not saying that I
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: was that I was just a small piece of that.
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: I see. We saw what MICKI did that year, so mean,
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: but me able to get on base for guys like
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: that behind me. Let those guys do their job. And
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: that was just by me focusing a little bit more
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: on some of the things that I could help change
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: my game to add value to the team.
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: Spring training, you know, in some ways the best time
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: of the year. Everyone's in a good mood, everyone thinks
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: they're gonna have.
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: A great year.
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: You start getting that itch around this time. I'm feeling
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: that I'm ready to be down there. But spring training
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: gets long and the days are long too. Was spring
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: training fun for you as a player.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean spring chaining was fun because you know,
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: for me, I'm getting into good weather. It was always
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: nice there in Lakeland or even in Arizona when when
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: I played for teams that spring training in Arizona, it
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: was a fun time. It was just that change of
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: scenery and it was really just being able to get
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: back focused on baseball and uh, you know, take all
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: my attention and focus and the things that I worked
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: on and you know, apply those things. Uh. The spring
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: training it does get long, but you know, I think
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: you have really good management to do it. It does
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: a really good job with you know, building guys up,
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: you know that way guys aren't breaking down too much
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: in spring training. It's about really just kind of you know,
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: knocking some rust off and you know, working on some
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: of those things. But I love spring training because of
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: you know, the places that I that I got to go,
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: and it was just it was about really just knocking
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: rust off for me and and you know, trying to
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: apply some of those things that I worked on in
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: the off season, you know, to try to get ready
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: for the season. Yeah.
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: Well, there's always a debate is spring training too long?
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: You know, we we've done over the past couple of
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: years when there was you know, labor disputes and it
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: changed everything, and then even twenty twenty with the ramp
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: up once baseball came back in the summer post pandemic.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: Might be the ultimate example of inexact science. Is it
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: too long? Is and too short?
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: Like we you know, basically you do something, something happens,
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: and we associated with spring training being too long or
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: if it was shorter, and then there's more injuries. It's
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: like it's because they didn't you.
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: Know, have a long enough spring trainings. Yeah.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: So you know, six and one hand half does in
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: the other I know from an observation standpoint, it's you know,
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: you start feeling like, all right, well, okay, I see
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: what these guys are doing. We joke all the time.
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: It's like, some guys gonna have a two home run.
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: Game, and what does it mean?
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't know, probably nothing, but it's
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: still good to see. It's still good to see, you
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: know what I mean. So and AJ's pretty good about
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: joking about that with the with the media as well. So, uh,
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: all right, let's uh, let's kind of do the the
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: parallels portion of this podcast. Whereas you know, Austin mentioned
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: those teams that you know, we're itching to get there,
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: got there, tried to you know, make that leap, you know,
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: made it to the World Series, and and the Tigers
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: are in the midst of a similar you know goal
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: to advance up the American League here, and so I want,
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: I asked Austin before, I asked, like, what were some
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: of the best traits about those teams and and and
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: the kind of lay them out for us, and then
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: we can kind of draw some parallels between between what
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: these Tigers have. Now they don't have Miguel Cabrera, so
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: you know, there's there's not gonna be apples and apples everybody,
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: but you know, some some I'm a firm believer that
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: some things are universal, even if they don't even if
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: they don't have direct to direct application. So, Austin, what
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: what kind of wisdom can you bestow upon us about
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: those really successful Tigers teams?
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: I mean, if if you I mean starting off, you
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: gotta you gotta, you gotta go to the man, mister
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: Leland himself. Uh, I mean old school manager, right, and
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: you know you hear that about a lot of those
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: I mean, but seriously, an old school manager, and in
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: a sense that this is these are my guys, this
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: is who I'm going with, you know, this is the
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: guys on the team. He didn't he didn't he didn't
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: do a lot of moving around. It is this, Hey,
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: you you're here, this is your role, this is what
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: you do. And guys. He was able to relay that
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: to guys and make him feel special about where their
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: role was. You know, that was the good thing about uh,
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: him being able to to manage that many egos in
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: one room, but to get everybody to feel like they
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: were on the same level. You know. Obviously we had
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: the stars, you know, we had the Miguel Cabreras in
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: the the fielders in the in the Verlanders, but we
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: but he made everybody on that that that on that
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: team feel like they were a part of the success
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: of the team. And that's I mean, that's that was
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: the thing that that your leader has to be, has
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: to be that he has to be able to, uh
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: you know, talk to the the closer the same way
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: as he started talking to the the starting shortstop. He
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: has to be talking to Don Kelly, who you know
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: wasn't a star of the same way. And he had
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: to have him ready because at any given time his
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: number was called, he was ready to go. We didn't
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: we we didn't have the egos like that, and uh
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: Leland did a really good job of keep keeping that
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: in check and treating everybody like they you know, like
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: they like they meant something to the success of the team.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: Another thing, we really had a really close knit clubhouse.
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: Those those Tiger teams. You know, it's it's it's it
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: was like family. You're you're around those guys more than
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: you are around your family. And you know, there were
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: no clicks. Didn't have clicks. Man, Everybody no matter what nationality,
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: what you spoke. It didn't matter like we joked around.
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: We we clowned on each other, nobody, I mean we
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: would clown on Verlander and and Meggie like we just did.
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: It didn't matter like we had that type of clubhouse
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: to you know, everybody was vulnerable with everybody. Nobody was
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: too cool for anybody. We all just you know, we
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: we we joked around with each other. We go out
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: to eat together, you know, and and clown on each other,
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: and uh, they don't haze no more, but we did
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: some haze. It was, but it was It was cool though,
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: because everybody was was about it. You know, everybody was
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: on the same page. You know, we could do things
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: like that and and and turn it on when the
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: games start. We could turn it off and enjoy each other,
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: enjoy each other in the clubhouse. But then right when
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: that right when that game starts, it's time to turn
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: it on. We knew how to turn it on. And
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: that was a special thing about that team because your
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: your leaders in that clubhouse were you know, Niggi. When
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: you see how he went about his work ethic and
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: went about his business each and every day, that stuff
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: trickled down to the rest of us. You know, you
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: have a future Hall of Fame here, you know, getting
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: his workout in, getting his extra hitting in. Like when
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: you see that when you see Verlander running polls in
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: him out there, throwing flat grounds in him, you know,
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: in the video room studying. That type of stuff trickles
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: down to everybody else. And we had that leadership. We
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: had the leadership from the measure standpoint, and we had
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: the leadership for the players in the clubhouse. So those
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: type of things are are are ingredients for championship winning teams.
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: You know they have that they have a close well
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: most of them anyways. You know you have that club
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: you have that close knick group in there. And that's
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: what I loved about that that. You know, my time
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: in Detroit is just that clubhouse, man, it was. It
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: made it special to come to the locker room each
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: and every day and in that leadership do we have
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: with those those top guys when you, like I said,
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: when you saw those guys working, you knew him in business.
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: And that's that's the way. That's the way the rest
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: of the team was. But we we had some good times, man.
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: We had some really fun flights, really fun bus rides,
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: you know, just just clouding around. And that's what made
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: it fun. Man, that that that rad it It made
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: it really special to be in those clubhouses at that time.
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: I would like to pay attention to how the how
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: the rookies kind of act those first few days in
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: spring training.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: This.
• 27:31
  Speaker 3: Sure there will be I mean, Joe, but Jase Ong
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: they've actually been around and done big league spring training before.
• 27:36
  Speaker 3: But I'm sure there'll be a couple of new faces,
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: and I'm sure it can be intimidating maybe on that
• 27:41
  Speaker 3: chemistry is not like built in you played a good
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: ben spring training with the two thousand and ninety Yankees.
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: Was what was that like? Man, I listen, I just
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: tried to I went and when I would go in there,
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: and I mean, this is all you're looking at like
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: an all star team. These guys are guys that I
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: watched growing up. I mean, everybody is you know, a
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: Hall of Famer or or in the you know, in
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: the talks of being a Hall of Famer. That's what
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: type of team this? This was the Yankees. And so
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: I wanted to make myself not seem like a little shy,
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: you know, rooky. I was talking to people. I would
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: go up and I would introduce my like I wouldn't.
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: I used to go up to Jeter's locker all almost
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: every day and just just kind of crack jokes with them,
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: but mainly because I'm like, I'm anna be playing with
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: you one day, so I need you to know my name,
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: you know. But I wanted I had that type of
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: confidence in myself, so I didn't want to be this
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: rookie to sit down in the corner and not say nothing.
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: I wanted to learn as much as I could because
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: I didn't know if I was going to, you know,
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: how long I was gonna be there. So when these
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: guys went to the to the cage, I'm going to
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: the cage, like I wanted to build that bond with
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: these guys, you know, with these guys around me because
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: I wanted to be there. So you know, you young guys,
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: don't don't just sit in the corner. I'm not saying
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: be the loudest in the locker room, but I'm saying, hey,
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: get to know your teammates. Man, get to know your teammates.
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: Like you don't want to talk to me, that's fine,
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: but you know I'm not gonna sit over here and
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: not speak now. We talked about that already now, but
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: they're not speaking. Now, You're gonna speak. Now, let's talk.
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: Let's let's let's build that bond right here in spring
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: training because we about to play a full season together, Like,
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: we need to be on the same page. I need
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: to know your personality. I need to know what makes
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: you tick. You need to know what makes me tick.
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: You need to we need to know when hey, he
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: needed a little break right now, like, but you only
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: can do that in spring training. When you build those
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: that bond, that relationship in spring training, that's like the
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: best time to do it is in spring training. And
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: I've been in several different clubhouses, and you know that's
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: I've tried to remain the same as far as you know,
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: being real with myself, being real with the guys around me,
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: and and like you know, establishing that those boundaries and
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: but also establishing you know, a bond for each other.
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: Well, when it comes to this current iteration of the Tigers,
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: I mean the things that you relayed there, And I'll
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: ask Cody's perspective on this, because he's in the clubhouse
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: damn near every day. But you know, first thing you
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: said was manager obviously Tigers have as respected a manager
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: as there is in the game right now in aj
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: Hinch and and so like you know, checkbox there, right
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: and then you know, like the know, the camaraderie aspect
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: can easily become like a cliche and sometimes like you
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: could look at it as a correlation not causation at times,
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: you know, but I will say that clearly was like
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: this youthful exuberance was clearly part of their run last year.
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: It was clearly like that like a piece of it
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: as soon as the no offense to veterans of Bajor
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: League baseball, but as soon as they got rid of
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: the old people, like they went on this run, you know.
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: And it's and it kind of felt and that's talked
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: about it, you know with us too. It's just like
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: you know, he's playing baseball. You know, there's it was
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: just playing baseball.
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: And so.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: Like I see some parallels there, even though I in
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: my mind I'm always gonna question like is it real?
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: Is it real? Uh?
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: But it's these guys have played together for a long time,
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: like you know, going back into the minor leagues, and
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: that's as as as a fan of the team, that's
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: as fun as anything to see guys have been doing
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: the same things as they're eighteen, nineteen, twenty one years old,
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: doing it into their mid to late twenties and achieving success.
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: So Cody, uh, some of those traits there that Austin said,
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: what observationally, what can you kind of you know, draw
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: with this Tigers team.
• 31:43
  Speaker 3: Well, I'll say I'm curious to see how these guys
• 31:47
  Speaker 3: act this year compared to years past, because for as
• 31:50
  Speaker 3: much as this been a fun team, it's actually been
• 31:53
  Speaker 3: still like kind of business like. It's not just a
• 31:56
  Speaker 3: bunch of young dudes running around like hollering the whole time.
• 32:00
  Speaker 3: Now that these guys have some success under their belts,
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: will they almost loosen up more? And would that be
• 32:06
  Speaker 3: a good thing or a bad thing? I mean, some
• 32:08
  Speaker 3: of them are a little more established, maybe they can
• 32:11
  Speaker 3: breathe in a little bit more of that confidence. Now
• 32:13
  Speaker 3: if you're Riley Green, or even if you're Cold Keith
• 32:16
  Speaker 3: and you're not doing this for the first time, or
• 32:18
  Speaker 3: if you're Dylan Dingler and you're probably not really on
• 32:21
  Speaker 3: the roster bubble, you know, I think that might make
• 32:26
  Speaker 3: for a little bit of a different dynamic this season.
• 32:28
  Speaker 3: And I'm just curious to see exactly how that will
• 32:31
  Speaker 3: play out.
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's another thing too. It's like we talked roles
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: on this podcast a lot, and you know, Dingler like
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: could kind of be in the shadows, you know what
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: I mean, Like Keith, like I would I would have
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: loved to see you know, Keith is very stoked guy.
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: So I'm not making I'm not making fun of him
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: at all, but he's a very stoic guy. I would
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: love to see better in Austin in that clubhouse, trying
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: to get him to you know, crack jokes or whatever,
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: because Keith is a very serious. He's a very serious guy.
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: And there's there's the other problem with that. Everybody's their
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: own person. But you know, like how is he gonna
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: you know, approach all that school. Well we talked to
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: school about like having the success and then moving forward. Uh,
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: Like he he's now everybody's target. He was just like
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: a really good picture that everybody respected last year when
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: you got cy young on your resume, like like your
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: your kicking yours, put your foot in the dirt a
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: little bit more in that batter's box, I bet, because
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: like I want to get this guy so like as
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: much as there is, like you know, turnover it. There
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: is a challenge, as Austin said, kind of still be
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: yourself and balancing that I'm sure is is probably gonna
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: be one of the probably one of the one of
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: the top things that will determine their success this season.
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it ain't gonna matter with excuse you. You can.
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: You can get in there and kick dirt and blow smoke,
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: tightened bag and gloves hard and hit the plate hard
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: all you want. You still sitting in the truck after
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: this set back because and you know you're not, you're
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: doing all that extra so you can get over here
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: and sit down, just like the whole squad. So just relax.
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah that's good.
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: Well, real quick here, let's end on like a little
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: bit of a lighter note, not lighter for the people
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: that areround Austin and I in the greater North Texas area,
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: but one of the most surprising trades and sports history
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: really Luka Doncic going from the Dallas Mavericks to the
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: Los Angeles Lakers. People here are devastated. I know Austin's
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: seen it too. It got me thinking though, like it's
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: such a one of one, there's no real comparison. But
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: I will say, Luca has, you know, one and a
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: half years left on his contract. Right when Miguel Cabrera
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: signed that big extension in twenty fourteen, he had two
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: years left on the contract, so more or less in
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: the same range. Right, So twenty fourteen, Austin, you go
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: from C World Series CS. What if the Tigers had
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: traded Miguel Cabrera before that fourteen season and you know,
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: get a new manager too, Like all of a sudden,
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: now you're gonna back fourth. You're not about in fifth anymore.
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: You're gonna back fourth because because we just traded at Cabrera.
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: So this pure hypothetical, what would that been?
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: Like, Hey, man, don't do me like that, dude. It
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: was already crazy enough. My man said a five hole.
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: But no, I mean, do you're not. I mean you
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: can't replace that that production, you know what I mean?
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: Like he twenty twelve, he won the Triple Crown and
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: one MVP and then he goes in and wins the MVP,
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: probably with better numbers. You know, like, you can't replace
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: you can't replace a guy like that. You know, you
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: you you know you you just don't see it, Like
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: what other superstar. You're gonna have to play replace him
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: with a superstar. You're gonna go get Mike Trout. They're
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: not giving away Mike Trout, you know what I mean,
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: like the team or you have to go get you know,
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: twelve guys, you know, and and you know, first round
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: picks for the next ten years. Like that's what type
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: of you know production that that he had and what
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: what he really meant to those teams? You know? So yeah,
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: it wouldn't it wouldn't have been good. It's just you're
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: you're basically telling everybody we're starting all over. And that's
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: no disrespect to anybody else on on the on the squad.
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: I was on the squad, but I'm being honest when
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: I'm saying that that that I mean that guy put
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: put us on his back a lot, you know, And
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: and so there there would have there would have been
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: tough to replace that type production, and it would have
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: it would have it would have been ugly. He'd have
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: took half of Detroit with him, right, People would have left,
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: they would have quit jobs. They would have they were
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: they're done. We've been here Detroit our whole life. Were
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: going to wherever Niggy's going on the Venezuela ift. We
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: need to but you following him. That's where we go with.
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that would have been That would have been a crazy,
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: crazy time, but have been a great time to have
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: a podcast.
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: Would have done numbers.
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: The media down here is doing all right, but for
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: the fan experience, it would have been that fun, all right,
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: A lot of a lot of fun discussions today. Uh
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: makes me even you know, itch for spring training even
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: more so. Uh, I want to thank you guys for
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: taking the time. Thank everybody for subscribing wherever you get
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: your podcasts, Apple, Spotify, subscribing to us on YouTube so
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: you can watch us because uh I don't know if
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: you can tell the audio feed, but we're doing a
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: lot of laughing here. Uh so we have a good
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: time watching. To be able to watch us on YouTube,
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: subscribe there and give us a five star rating wherever
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: you get your podcast.
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: So for Cody.
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: Stavenhagen and Austin Jackson, I'm Kieren Steckley. Everybody have a
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: great day.