Latest / Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast / Tarik Skubal's legacy + 2026 roster projection

Transcript

Tarik Skubal's legacy + 2026 roster projection · Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast

0:09
Speaker 1: And welcome into another episode of Tiger Territory, part of
0:12
Speaker 1: the All Territory Network At Detroit Tiger's podcast. I'm Karen Steckley,
0:15
Speaker 1: and I got with me a couple of dudes that
0:17
Speaker 1: keep the MIC's hot even when it's cold outside. Cody Stavenhagen,
0:20
Speaker 1: Austin Jackson, what's up, fellas?
0:22
Speaker 2: How we doing good?
0:24
Speaker 3: As always? Bro?
0:26
Speaker 4: Hey, I'm looking out my window right now. We got
0:28
Speaker 4: snow everywhere. I wish I could be with you guys
0:31
Speaker 4: in Texas right now, but it's it's not that way
0:33
Speaker 4: in Detroit.
0:35
Speaker 2: Nope, things are. Things are a little different.
0:38
Speaker 1: One could say, guys that the gap in the weather
0:41
Speaker 1: that you're experiencing, Cody, and that Austin and I are
0:43
Speaker 1: experiencing is about thirteen million dollars worth if we were
0:47
Speaker 1: to put it to scale. So obviously that's still the
0:52
Speaker 1: story of the Tigers and kind of baseball at large,
0:55
Speaker 1: even though there have been some major transactions over the
0:58
Speaker 1: past week or so in Major League Baseball.
1:01
Speaker 2: But we talked about with.
1:03
Speaker 1: Austin what was almost certainty that the Tigers in school
1:08
Speaker 1: were not going to come to an agreement. What we
1:11
Speaker 1: didn't know at the time, and Cody and I have
1:12
Speaker 1: since talked about was what the gap was, and that's
1:15
Speaker 1: the headline, the thirteen million dollar gap.
1:18
Speaker 2: So I haven't heard from you Austin about that.
1:21
Speaker 1: Like you when you see that school, undeniably the best
1:25
Speaker 1: pitcher in baseball is asking for thirty two million. The
1:29
Speaker 1: Tigers filed, We're willing to negotiate a little bit, but
1:32
Speaker 1: filed for nineteen and yet and it's the largest gap
1:36
Speaker 1: in an arbitration history. As a guy who's been in
1:39
Speaker 1: the trenches and you know, played for the organization, Like,
1:42
Speaker 1: what's your kind of reaction to that.
1:45
Speaker 5: I'm honestly, I'm not surprised, right, I mean, I'm not
1:48
Speaker 5: surprised that arguably the best pitcher in baseball, especially the
1:54
Speaker 5: past two years, is trying to get what he's worth.
1:57
Speaker 5: I'm not surprised at that. And you know, he has
2:01
Speaker 5: one of the best agents in the game, and he's
2:04
Speaker 5: you know, historically known for getting guys with their work,
2:08
Speaker 5: and in this position, I don't see it being anything
2:11
Speaker 5: different other than this is the numbers that I put up.
2:14
Speaker 3: This is what this guy made.
2:16
Speaker 5: And I think that I'm at least as good as
2:20
Speaker 5: my numbers were, at least as good as his, if
2:22
Speaker 5: not better, and I got, you know, the accolades to
2:27
Speaker 5: prove it and the numbers to go along with it.
2:30
Speaker 3: So I'm not I'm not surprised.
2:31
Speaker 5: And I'm also not surprised that the Tigers, you know,
2:33
Speaker 5: filed for what they filed for, because why would they.
2:39
Speaker 3: Give him what he wants?
2:40
Speaker 5: You know, at the end of the day, they still
2:43
Speaker 5: have a lot of options. You know, with him, they
2:46
Speaker 5: still have again, one of the best pitchers in the game,
2:49
Speaker 5: so you have leverage there to be able to, okay,
2:51
Speaker 5: if we do have to give you what you want,
2:56
Speaker 5: I think the trade options are on the table all day,
2:58
Speaker 5: and I think that that's what they're probably going to
3:01
Speaker 5: be looking for if they do have to come up
3:03
Speaker 5: off that number and pay him that thirty two. I mean,
3:07
Speaker 5: it's like, hey, this might be a time where we
3:11
Speaker 5: do explore getting the best options for our team for
3:15
Speaker 5: the future right now as opposed to keeping him for
3:18
Speaker 5: a full year. You never know, if his stock goes down,
3:21
Speaker 5: I doubt it, but I mean, who's not gonna want
3:23
Speaker 5: him on their on their team, especially teams that are
3:26
Speaker 5: hunting for for a championship. So I'm not surprised I'm
3:30
Speaker 5: not surprised by either side, honestly, and that's what you expect.
3:34
Speaker 5: I mean, this is negotiation, this negotiation time. But I
3:38
Speaker 5: definitely think that them being that far off kind of
3:42
Speaker 5: shows what each side is thinking. And I don't think
3:45
Speaker 5: each either side is going to.
3:47
Speaker 3: Budge on that. And I think it's going to be very.
3:50
Speaker 5: Interesting though, to see how it plays out and how
3:53
Speaker 5: that that that dynamic between them and to see if
3:57
Speaker 5: that changes or anything. Scoob, it doesn't seem like a
3:59
Speaker 5: guy like that's worried about all the noise, like give
4:02
Speaker 5: me my money, I'm good, but I'm gonna go out
4:04
Speaker 5: here and play.
4:05
Speaker 3: And I don't expect anything different for him, but I am.
4:08
Speaker 3: I am a little.
4:09
Speaker 5: Surprised that that number is that that far off.
4:13
Speaker 4: Yeah, Like my only follow up to our last episode
4:16
Speaker 4: is just thinking more about the nineteen million number the
4:19
Speaker 4: Tigers offered. We had reported last time the Tigers had
4:23
Speaker 4: offered him more than David Price's record for arbitration eligible picture,
4:28
Speaker 4: which is nineteen point seventy five. But whatever that number
4:31
Speaker 4: was was lower than twenty million some others. I think
4:34
Speaker 4: Evan Pettzwell said it was nineteen point eight, so let's
4:37
Speaker 4: say nineteen point eight was kind of their first offer.
4:42
Speaker 4: They maybe were willing to go higher. There wasn't a
4:44
Speaker 4: lot of negotiation, so when they have to go actually
4:47
Speaker 4: file a number, they dropped it to nineteen. And just
4:51
Speaker 4: as I've reflected on this the last couple of days,
4:54
Speaker 4: I don't know why they did that. Maybe it's as
4:56
Speaker 4: simple as well, if we're going to hearing, we can
4:59
Speaker 4: try to say a few more bucks. Maybe it was
5:02
Speaker 4: conferring with the league, because we know the League has
5:04
Speaker 4: kind of a Kelly Bluebook type system for what they
5:08
Speaker 4: confer with teams before these numbers are filed, just as
5:11
Speaker 4: the Union confers with agents. But the Tigers are kind
5:16
Speaker 4: of getting killed in public opinion, as we've talked about.
5:19
Speaker 4: I think they would at least look a little better
5:21
Speaker 4: and could even have a stronger case in the arbitration
5:23
Speaker 4: hearing room if they stay, well, we are giving you
5:26
Speaker 4: the record for a pitcher. We are giving you the
5:29
Speaker 4: record raise for any player in arbitration, So like, what
5:33
Speaker 4: is it you want? By lowering their offer by eight
5:36
Speaker 4: hundred thousand dollars, they can no longer say those two facts,
5:40
Speaker 4: which I'm not sure really helps their case. It also
5:43
Speaker 4: lowers that midpoint number just slightly from would have been
5:46
Speaker 4: twenty six plus million to twenty five point five, So
5:50
Speaker 4: maybe it even hurts their cases of winning the arbitration hearing.
5:53
Speaker 4: It's one of the smaller nuances in this whole thing.
5:56
Speaker 4: But if they would have just left it at nineteen
5:58
Speaker 4: point eight, I think it would feel a little bit
6:02
Speaker 4: better than it does by by dropping it when they
6:04
Speaker 4: actually went to file.
6:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, Like, I know not everybody thinks this way, and
6:10
Speaker 1: I'm not even here to tell you that I'm correct
6:14
Speaker 1: in thinking this way, But I'm just gonna tell you
6:15
Speaker 1: how I think about things in my life. And I
6:18
Speaker 1: usually will look at, well, what's the counterpoint if I
6:22
Speaker 1: decide to do this, if if if I go this
6:25
Speaker 1: route and this transaction or you know this, uh this
6:30
Speaker 1: aspect of of you know, building my life and all
6:34
Speaker 1: this stuff I think about, like what the reactions would
6:37
Speaker 1: be to other you know, from others about my actions.
6:40
Speaker 1: The Tigers obviously don't because because if I was in
6:43
Speaker 1: the room, I would have been like, hey, is there
6:45
Speaker 1: any harm in just making it even twenty Like do
6:49
Speaker 1: we are we aware of how this is going to
6:52
Speaker 1: look by Major League Baseball fans, by our fans, by
6:56
Speaker 1: the media. That helps kind of shape you know, what
6:58
Speaker 1: we're doing, kind of shape the narrative. I like, are
7:02
Speaker 1: we doing any damage to ourselves to just get it
7:04
Speaker 1: to twenty? And I would have wanted to hear that argument,
7:07
Speaker 1: obviously if somebody did raise their hand that uh, you know,
7:11
Speaker 1: it wasn't persuasive enough. But that's how I look look
7:15
Speaker 1: at things. And and another aspect too, that we talked
7:17
Speaker 1: about this last time, Cody. I want to see if
7:19
Speaker 1: Austin has any thoughts on this, is that Schooble's trying
7:23
Speaker 1: to and his team are kind of trying to buck
7:25
Speaker 1: the picture trend because all these like arbitration high end
7:29
Speaker 1: numbers are position players or in the case of Shohetani,
7:33
Speaker 1: like a two way player. So I'm not saying pictures
7:37
Speaker 1: are coming for your position player territory, AJAX.
7:41
Speaker 2: But but but.
7:42
Speaker 1: But Schooble kind of is now He's he is trying
7:45
Speaker 1: to put the pictures in the conversation of the everyday players.
7:47
Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't I don't know how that
7:49
Speaker 1: plays for you, for you guys that you know are
7:52
Speaker 1: out out there in the sun and the cold, in
7:54
Speaker 1: the early late parts of the season, you know, every
7:56
Speaker 1: single day.
7:57
Speaker 2: I don't know how that plays for you.
7:59
Speaker 3: Look, anything is moving the needle up.
8:01
Speaker 5: I'm all for it, you know, I'm all for the
8:04
Speaker 5: needle moving the right way. And I think that I mean,
8:08
Speaker 5: I mean, you look at the position he's in, and he's,
8:12
Speaker 5: like we talked about it last time.
8:13
Speaker 3: He's in such a good position.
8:14
Speaker 5: It's not like he's I mean, the guy's gonna get
8:17
Speaker 5: paid regardless. You know, we're we're we're over here fighting
8:21
Speaker 5: with thirteen million, like that's you know, that's hey, that's
8:24
Speaker 5: that's the money. Still, nineteen is a lot of money,
8:27
Speaker 5: but from from the perspective of the player, and again,
8:31
Speaker 5: you know, you having that right to negotiate the way
8:35
Speaker 5: that you are and look at not only what someone's
8:39
Speaker 5: did the same year as me, but you know years
8:43
Speaker 5: after that. You know, I can I can go look
8:45
Speaker 5: at what a Cy Youngs did and I can say, hey,
8:47
Speaker 5: this is what he gets paid. He has the right
8:49
Speaker 5: to do that. So he's in a great position. But
8:52
Speaker 5: I still, I still just think that this thing is
8:54
Speaker 5: gonna it's gonna play out funny. It's gonna play out funny.
8:57
Speaker 5: And I just I don't know if again, if it's
9:00
Speaker 5: gonna change that that dynamic between the team and the player.
9:04
Speaker 5: Hopefully it doesn't, you know, And again I don't think
9:06
Speaker 5: School was like that. But you know, I think that
9:10
Speaker 5: he's in a good position and the guy's gonna get
9:12
Speaker 5: paid and he really is.
9:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, no doubt about that. So you know, speaking
9:21
Speaker 1: of like, you know, how it will affect the team,
9:23
Speaker 1: will not affect the team, you know, that kind of stuff.
9:25
Speaker 1: We did see several Tigers players at a Red Wings
9:28
Speaker 1: game earlier this week and it was you know, School
9:31
Speaker 1: was not there, so he had done his tour earlier.
9:34
Speaker 1: He was not there with Riley Green, Jamaia Jones, Colt
9:37
Speaker 1: Keith Parker, Meadows Carry Carpenter, Zach McKinstry. I think that's
9:42
Speaker 1: all of them up the top of my head.
9:43
Speaker 4: The position players were in town for a little get
9:46
Speaker 4: together and hitting camps there. There were no pitchers in town,
9:48
Speaker 4: to be clear.
9:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, Tray Sweeney I think was at the game.
9:51
Speaker 1: So so anyway, that game was the jersey retirement, the
9:57
Speaker 1: long awaited jersey retirement of Sergei federal Off, one of
10:00
Speaker 1: the best players in the world during a long stretch
10:04
Speaker 1: of time in the nineties and into the two thousands,
10:06
Speaker 1: and he was like from a Detroit fans perspective, like
10:10
Speaker 1: he was one of our guys. And then he would
10:12
Speaker 1: get into a couple contract disputes, and then he eventually
10:15
Speaker 1: left in free agency and finished his career with a
10:17
Speaker 1: couple other teams, in fact actually taking less money when
10:22
Speaker 1: he finally left Detroit. Then he was that upset with management,
10:25
Speaker 1: ownership and all that stuff. But then he gits his
10:28
Speaker 1: jersey retired, you know, time heals all wounds and he says,
10:31
Speaker 1: you know, I wish that was a mistake. I wish
10:33
Speaker 1: I had never left. And we've seen this from other
10:38
Speaker 1: athletes in various sports. I'm sure Ben Wallace, I don't
10:41
Speaker 1: know that. I don't have the quote off the top
10:43
Speaker 1: of my head. I'm sure Ben Wallace feels that way
10:45
Speaker 1: about leaving Detroit when he did, he obviously came back
10:48
Speaker 1: to finish his career. But like Shaquille O'Neil even said
10:51
Speaker 1: it about leaving the Orlando Magic when he was an
10:55
Speaker 1: unrestricted free agent and going on to the Lakers and
10:57
Speaker 1: winning titles and all that stuff. So I'm curious, Austin,
11:02
Speaker 1: like the reality with everything that Trek schoobl does from
11:07
Speaker 1: this arbitration case to he's gonna be pitching in the
11:11
Speaker 1: World Baseball Classic, to how he follows up and back
11:14
Speaker 1: to backside young seasons and then what happens with free agency,
11:18
Speaker 1: whether there's a trade or not, and where he'd go,
11:20
Speaker 1: Like it's all like, it's all legacy to finding like
11:23
Speaker 1: these are pinnacle point, pinnacle.
11:25
Speaker 2: Points in the trek Schooble legacy.
11:29
Speaker 1: I have to think that matters a little bit for
11:32
Speaker 1: an athlete. But does it Does it matter at all?
11:37
Speaker 1: Is this something that you're thinking about in any way,
11:40
Speaker 1: like when you're in these situations or are we just
11:44
Speaker 1: destined in twenty five years for schoobl to get a
11:46
Speaker 1: statue of Camerica Park and and for him to say,
11:50
Speaker 1: you know, I wish I had never left the Detroit Tigers,
11:53
Speaker 1: Like is that just the path that we're on?
11:55
Speaker 2: We have to accept it.
11:57
Speaker 5: Man, There's like I don't know if people realize, but
12:00
Speaker 5: there's a lot of emotions wrapped up in this. Like
12:03
Speaker 5: you build friendships from the you know, from the person
12:08
Speaker 5: that you you know, you you a greet out the
12:09
Speaker 5: door every day. You know, obviously your teammates, the front office,
12:13
Speaker 5: the front staff, the uh you know, the training staff,
12:17
Speaker 5: the strength and condition like you build these relationships and
12:21
Speaker 5: I mean that's a big part of coming to the
12:24
Speaker 5: field every day and just you know, wanting to be
12:27
Speaker 5: there when you're around good people, you're around you know,
12:30
Speaker 5: just a good vibe in general. And so those things
12:32
Speaker 5: definitely like play in a lot of the decision making.
12:36
Speaker 5: You know, when you when you think about playing for
12:39
Speaker 5: one team for your career, that's special. You know, there's
12:43
Speaker 5: only a certain amount of guys that have have been
12:45
Speaker 5: able to do that, and it was something that I
12:47
Speaker 5: wish I would have been able to do. But you know,
12:49
Speaker 5: that's that's something that when you think back, you know, hey,
12:52
Speaker 5: my career was different than you knowe Tarik Schools clearly,
12:56
Speaker 5: you know, and and a lot of guys. But I
12:58
Speaker 5: think a lot of guys would love to stay with
13:01
Speaker 5: the team that they were drafted by or the team
13:03
Speaker 5: that they were traded, uh, you know to before they
13:06
Speaker 5: even got to the big leagues. And you know, just
13:08
Speaker 5: to play that career out with with one team is
13:11
Speaker 5: something special. And for Tyreek, I mean I definitely think
13:16
Speaker 5: he would he would love to be uh in a
13:19
Speaker 5: Detroit Tigers uniform for for the rest of his career.
13:22
Speaker 5: I think he's built up that type of status, that
13:25
Speaker 5: type of uh, you know legacy there in Detroit, and
13:28
Speaker 5: we know Detroit's you know history and there the legacy
13:32
Speaker 5: that that team has, and he could be you know,
13:34
Speaker 5: like like you just said, you know, having a statue
13:37
Speaker 5: up there one day, like he's that good.
13:39
Speaker 3: Uh.
13:39
Speaker 5: He possesses that type of of you know, talent, So
13:42
Speaker 5: he definitely has the power to you know, take over
13:46
Speaker 5: that time where when you do mention the Detroit Tigers,
13:49
Speaker 5: you're talking about scoobl and he's that good.
13:52
Speaker 3: So I think that, you know, it'll all play out.
13:55
Speaker 5: Obviously, the the money has to be right, you know,
13:58
Speaker 5: the money has to be right because you know, I'm
14:01
Speaker 5: you know, I'm not gonna be out here throwing no
14:03
Speaker 5: hitters and tossing cy Young gems every game. And at
14:06
Speaker 5: some point, you know, you want to be secured, and
14:08
Speaker 5: you want to be secured the right way. So I
14:11
Speaker 5: think that his legacy is really more so on what
14:15
Speaker 5: he's going to do on the field, not so much
14:19
Speaker 5: what team he's gonna be with.
14:22
Speaker 4: Hey, Jack, you and I both know this is Trek
14:24
Speaker 4: Scooble's last season with the Tigers. Come on, now, hey,
14:29
Speaker 4: I try to you not trying to mix it up
14:31
Speaker 4: a little bit.
14:32
Speaker 3: I don't want to be too honest.
14:36
Speaker 4: Oh look, Kieren, you you said the Shaquille and Eal thing.
14:39
Speaker 4: And just before we started recording, I looked up some
14:42
Speaker 4: shock quotes about that very topic and it kind of
14:45
Speaker 4: made me laugh. Check out this Shack quote talking about
14:48
Speaker 4: leaving the Magic. That's why I kind of regret it
14:50
Speaker 4: because we had a young, fabulous team. We really did,
14:53
Speaker 4: and it's a shame that we got torn apart. I
14:56
Speaker 4: think about it all the time. I try not to
14:58
Speaker 4: live my life now on IF's or would have should have,
15:01
Speaker 4: But I do regret leaving here in ninety six. Yes,
15:04
Speaker 4: I do you think that You think Shaq was being
15:08
Speaker 4: honest when he said that? Like yeah, yeah, like maybe
15:12
Speaker 4: through the glossy lens of like nostalgia, you know, they
15:15
Speaker 4: were tiging your number or whatever. I guess. Fuck, come on, man,
15:19
Speaker 4: you got to be a huge star with the Lakers.
15:21
Speaker 4: You lived the life. My only thought. They're like, you know,
15:26
Speaker 4: we were a young team and we got torn apart.
15:28
Speaker 4: Like in a way that's not unlike the Tigers. They're
15:31
Speaker 4: a young team. They're doing some cool things. One of
15:33
Speaker 4: them's becoming a huge star, and business is maybe ripping
15:38
Speaker 4: this thing apart. That's how it goes. That's how it
15:40
Speaker 4: goes a lot. But will Trek Scubel to your point
15:43
Speaker 4: here and never come back to k America and say, oh,
15:45
Speaker 4: I wish I wouldn't have left? And if he does,
15:47
Speaker 4: will that be fully honest? Because this guy might go
15:50
Speaker 4: on to pitch for the Dodgers or Yankees or Mets
15:52
Speaker 4: or whoever else and become an even bigger star and
15:55
Speaker 4: do even greater things in his life or maybe not,
15:59
Speaker 4: Like you don't know, but just reading that shock quote
16:01
Speaker 4: kind of made me laugh.
16:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, like the way I look at especially
16:06
Speaker 1: the shock quote, because we know everyone everyone knows Shack, right, Uh.
16:11
Speaker 1: I do think it was like sincere when he said that.
16:15
Speaker 1: But if forty eight year old, fifty five year old
16:20
Speaker 1: how old you know how old he was when he
16:22
Speaker 1: said that told twenty.
16:24
Speaker 2: Four year old Shack.
16:25
Speaker 1: That twenty four year old Shack would tell fifty five
16:28
Speaker 1: year old Shack to go kick rocks like I'm gonna
16:31
Speaker 1: go to La and like and and I'm gonna live
16:34
Speaker 1: this life and it's like it's one of those things.
16:36
Speaker 1: It's very easy to say in retrospect, but you wouldn't
16:38
Speaker 1: ever think to act that way when when it's all
16:41
Speaker 1: like right in front of you, uh and and so yeah,
16:45
Speaker 1: Like I it's it's something that I almost like struggle
16:49
Speaker 1: with too, because you want, like the players on your
16:52
Speaker 1: teams to enjoy playing for your teams, and like in
16:56
Speaker 1: you know, choosing to leave in free agency, you know,
16:59
Speaker 1: in the federal off like when the money is lesser
17:02
Speaker 1: like that, that like stings a little bit, you know
17:04
Speaker 1: what I mean.
17:04
Speaker 2: And if Schoolble just goes on to you know.
17:08
Speaker 1: For the play for the Yankees or play for the
17:09
Speaker 1: Dodgers or whatever, you're just gonna you're gonna be constantly reminded.
17:13
Speaker 1: It's like that easily could have been I could be
17:16
Speaker 1: watching him on a daily basis in CA America Park,
17:19
Speaker 1: but not because of all these other extenuing circumstances, including
17:23
Speaker 1: how the Tigers operate financially. So this is not just
17:27
Speaker 1: a schoobl thing, like Ajax said, This is something that
17:30
Speaker 1: has to be reflective of the organization how they choose
17:33
Speaker 1: to operate.
17:34
Speaker 2: As much as anything.
17:35
Speaker 1: Because I I do having read and watch Terrek for
17:41
Speaker 1: you know, his entire career. Like I do firmly believe
17:44
Speaker 1: he enjoys playing for the Tigers organization. So like if
17:48
Speaker 1: this was I don't think he's gonna lead because it's like,
17:51
Speaker 1: you know what, screw k America, you know, screw the
17:53
Speaker 1: cole Like it's gonna be a I want to get
17:57
Speaker 1: my my my best worth type move and I think
18:00
Speaker 1: that's okay.
18:01
Speaker 2: I just want to be clear on that.
18:02
Speaker 4: I think it doesn't want emotions that come with that.
18:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, And it's on the Tigers to you know,
18:08
Speaker 1: to match. Like we have this environment, we have everything
18:12
Speaker 1: that he loves about being here. We got it's up
18:14
Speaker 1: to us to like, you know, raise the business part
18:17
Speaker 1: of it if we have like the sentimental part of
18:19
Speaker 1: it all down. So just uh, just my thoughts on that.
18:22
Speaker 1: I'm sure. I'm sure we're on that train. That train
18:25
Speaker 1: is head into I wish I'd never left and we're
18:28
Speaker 1: gonna I don't know if YouTube will exist in twenty
18:31
Speaker 1: five years, but this video will live on forever.
18:34
Speaker 2: Like I called.
18:34
Speaker 1: It now, I said that was gonna happen.
18:39
Speaker 3: You did, you did. It's a great place to it's
18:43
Speaker 3: a great place to play.
18:44
Speaker 5: Too, man, like you know what you it's it's you know,
18:48
Speaker 5: obviously there's a lot of history there and you know,
18:51
Speaker 5: putting on that that English D, man, it means something.
18:54
Speaker 5: I enjoyed my time there. I enjoyed the fans, I
18:57
Speaker 5: enjoyed the club. I just enjoyed the organization.
18:59
Speaker 3: Man. So I know that that's something that you.
19:02
Speaker 5: Know, it's gonna creep in his head if it doesn't
19:04
Speaker 5: work out, Like, man, what if you know, what if
19:06
Speaker 5: we could have got that taken care of? And as
19:10
Speaker 5: Cody mentioned, this is probably his last year, so it's probably.
19:14
Speaker 3: Going to be a lot of that going on in
19:16
Speaker 3: his head.
19:16
Speaker 5: But you know, and like you mentioned, hearing, like you know,
19:19
Speaker 5: just getting maximizing your your your value is important, you
19:24
Speaker 5: know for the players, you know, you got that short
19:26
Speaker 5: window and who with the Tigers wouldn't love to see
19:31
Speaker 5: him in that English D, you know, strolling out there
19:35
Speaker 5: and you know big Lefty every every every time, man,
19:38
Speaker 5: you you would love to see him out there. But
19:40
Speaker 5: the business side, as you mentioned, Cody, that's that's what
19:43
Speaker 5: kind of kills those those special moments like that, you know,
19:46
Speaker 5: the fantasy of having him there for for as long
19:50
Speaker 5: as as possible the business side, and that's just you know,
19:53
Speaker 5: that's that's part of it, that's part of what comes
19:55
Speaker 5: with the territory. Especially when you're at a statue of
19:59
Speaker 5: Tarik's Google, you know, this is gonna be something that's
20:02
Speaker 5: gonna be in the headlines for a long time until
20:05
Speaker 5: they can get this settled.
20:06
Speaker 4: So I'm gonna go back to relating something to the
20:10
Speaker 4: average American workplace. A lot of you guys maybe can
20:13
Speaker 4: can relate to this. But my first real job, my
20:16
Speaker 4: first journalism job, was at the Tulsa World in Oklahoma
20:20
Speaker 4: covering the Oklahoma Sooners. Man, I loved it. I worked
20:23
Speaker 4: with great people. Sometimes I miss the people. Sometimes I
20:27
Speaker 4: miss living in Tulsa and the shenanigans you would get
20:29
Speaker 4: into and the situation. It's like, well, if I had
20:33
Speaker 4: stayed there, I'd be broke. I'd be working at a
20:36
Speaker 4: newspaper that was kind of on life support. You know,
20:40
Speaker 4: I wouldn't have met my girlfriend and all these other
20:43
Speaker 4: wonderful friends of my life. So you can look in
20:45
Speaker 4: nostalgia and be like, man, that was great. A lot
20:48
Speaker 4: of you guys can probably relate to something, right, But
20:50
Speaker 4: if you stay in your comfort, like there's something to
20:53
Speaker 4: be said for getting out of your comfort zone and
20:55
Speaker 4: growing and evolving for all of us. And if you're
20:58
Speaker 4: Trek Schouble and we're talking generational wealth, we're talking as
21:04
Speaker 4: historic legacy in Major League Baseball. It's all those things
21:07
Speaker 4: we might feel times a million.
21:10
Speaker 3: Yes, So.
21:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure.
21:15
Speaker 1: And you know, one of the things that has been
21:19
Speaker 1: like this arbitration process has brought in like the notion like, oh, okay,
21:24
Speaker 1: this maybe we really are like maybe we were like
21:27
Speaker 1: we kind of ignored that the perhaps reality of.
21:31
Speaker 2: The situation that this is Schoogle's last.
21:33
Speaker 1: Year, you know, wearing the old English DA and and
21:37
Speaker 1: now it's like, oh, it might quite possibly be. So
21:41
Speaker 1: let's maximize what the you know, let's see the team
21:44
Speaker 1: try to maximize what this year could be.
21:46
Speaker 2: That brings us to a roster projection.
21:49
Speaker 4: We got to get onto the roster projection now my bad.
21:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, so that brings us to the roster projection, which
21:56
Speaker 1: if you paid attention to the Tigers last year, congratulations,
22:00
Speaker 1: do you have a pretty firm grasp on what the
22:02
Speaker 1: twenty twenty six Tigers will be, especially among position players
22:07
Speaker 1: and and so, like Cody, I'll just maybe just like
22:11
Speaker 1: throw this to you. You're the one that performed this exercise.
22:16
Speaker 1: You know, if you could just kind of take us through,
22:19
Speaker 1: you know what your thought process was, and maybe I
22:22
Speaker 1: guess we'll start with position players.
22:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, was this.
22:27
Speaker 1: I don't want to say easy, but was it a
22:29
Speaker 1: little bit simpler to fill out?
22:31
Speaker 3: Well?
22:31
Speaker 4: The position player part was probably the easiest roster projection
22:35
Speaker 4: I've ever done, at least at this point in the winter,
22:38
Speaker 4: because it's the same guys from last year to a
22:40
Speaker 4: t Unless we're going to get into the Kevin mcgonagal thing,
22:46
Speaker 4: I'm not sure there's even a lot of competition now. Granted,
22:49
Speaker 4: there will probably be an injury or two in spring
22:52
Speaker 4: training that could make things interesting. Guys like Trey Sweeney,
22:57
Speaker 4: Trey Cruz, you know, some other prospects how you leave
23:00
Speaker 4: maybe are on the outside looking in, But it's the
23:03
Speaker 4: same core Man Dingler, Rogers, Turgelsen, Torres, Baiez, Keith Mckinsry Veerling,
23:09
Speaker 4: Green Meadows, Carpenter, Perez, and Jami Jones. If everyone stays healthy,
23:13
Speaker 4: that's probably your roster. The McGonagall thing is interesting. We've
23:16
Speaker 4: talked about it a lot as it's getting a little
23:20
Speaker 4: bit closer. Man, I'm not sure we're gonna see Kevin
23:23
Speaker 4: McGonagall until maybe later in the season, which isn't fun,
23:27
Speaker 4: But I think that might be the reality of where
23:30
Speaker 4: we are headed. But again, an injury or two in
23:34
Speaker 4: camp could make all this a lot more interesting. But yeah,
23:36
Speaker 4: it's the same position playing core. Probably the biggest question,
23:39
Speaker 4: how are the Tigers gonna divvy up playing time on
23:42
Speaker 4: the left side of the infield? Is hobby or quote
23:45
Speaker 4: unquote every day shortstop? Is Colt Keith your quote unquote
23:49
Speaker 4: every day third baseman? Where things a little more fluid there.
23:53
Speaker 4: Other than that, I'm not sure. We got a lot
23:55
Speaker 4: of questions entering camp.
23:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, well say this, like looking excuse me, looking at
24:02
Speaker 1: that list of names, it is kind of striking. It's like,
24:06
Speaker 1: you know, we were thinking, I mean, it's basically the same, right,
24:09
Speaker 1: So we're looking at all these same names last year,
24:11
Speaker 1: and it is a reminder of like some of the
24:14
Speaker 1: time missed by some guys. And then like there was
24:17
Speaker 1: the torque question that popped. We don't really have that
24:21
Speaker 1: this year. It's more of like it's more of like
24:24
Speaker 1: a what's real and who can take a leap discussion
24:27
Speaker 1: as opposed to like where we where are we gonna
24:30
Speaker 1: be at in terms of these uh, these position players.
24:33
Speaker 1: But I'll tell you what like and I'll and i'll
24:35
Speaker 1: I'll ask Austin this, you know, before Cody gets to
24:39
Speaker 1: the pitchers. It it's obvious the Tigers are comfortable with
24:45
Speaker 1: their setup with position players and and and they're they're
24:49
Speaker 1: starting lineup and and the optionality that that kind of
24:53
Speaker 1: comes with that. Of course, we all know that the
24:56
Speaker 1: lineup was part of the reason of the decline in
24:59
Speaker 1: the his store collapse that we saw last year, and
25:02
Speaker 1: even in the playoffs, like you would obviously say, you
25:05
Speaker 1: need a more offense in the playoffs, despite getting as
25:07
Speaker 1: far as they did, Uh, they're gonna go with pitching
25:12
Speaker 1: as a way to try to quote, you know, it
25:14
Speaker 1: be better in twenty twenty six than they were in
25:16
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five as a general principal.
25:20
Speaker 2: Austin like, how does that? How does that.
25:22
Speaker 1: Play for you? It's like, all right, we got these
25:24
Speaker 1: young guys. We just got to rely on them to
25:26
Speaker 1: get better and then we'll kind of figure it out
25:30
Speaker 1: pitching wise. But the lineup where we just have to
25:33
Speaker 1: kind of trust the process of these guys We're not
25:36
Speaker 1: gonna make any Reregman Bashatt, Schwarber, Harper, like you know,
25:41
Speaker 1: Nolan trades and you know anything like that. We're riding
25:44
Speaker 1: with these guys and we'll and we'll kind of figure
25:47
Speaker 1: it out on the pitching side. How does that kind
25:49
Speaker 1: of play for you with the you know, another year
25:51
Speaker 1: of young hitters and you're kind of like, okay, hopefully
25:54
Speaker 1: it works.
25:56
Speaker 5: I mean, I think that And we spoke, we spoke
26:00
Speaker 5: about this before. Just having another year of experience under
26:03
Speaker 5: the belt, right, another meaningful year of baseball. It wasn't like,
26:08
Speaker 5: you know, guys are just playing for for nothing. These
26:10
Speaker 5: guys were actually going out Tigers went out and played
26:14
Speaker 5: well enough to put themselves in a position to uh,
26:18
Speaker 5: you know, make a championship run at it. So, I mean,
26:22
Speaker 5: I'm not I'm not mad at it because I think
26:25
Speaker 5: there's there's another agenda kind of hidden in there somewhere.
26:29
Speaker 5: As far as okay we got this far, my mind
26:34
Speaker 5: is kind of set on what they're gonna do with Schoogle,
26:37
Speaker 5: and it's they're going to try to maybe you know,
26:41
Speaker 5: make a trade for him and kind of bolster the
26:43
Speaker 5: future of this team and just for them to keep thinking, hey,
26:47
Speaker 5: if we can keep our heads above water with this
26:51
Speaker 5: this group that we have right now, still a very
26:53
Speaker 5: young group. They got some you know, potential prospects coming
26:56
Speaker 5: up over the next couple of years that could really
27:00
Speaker 5: changed this team. But you know, I I as if
27:04
Speaker 5: this was me on the team, I'd be looking at
27:07
Speaker 5: this as another year to prove prove ourselves. We got
27:11
Speaker 5: to prove ourselves again. We didn't go out and make
27:14
Speaker 5: a big splash. The Tyreik Schoobal headlines are going to
27:17
Speaker 5: be all during spring training. I mean, you're gonna hear
27:20
Speaker 5: that you got to block all that noise out and
27:23
Speaker 5: and say that we got to where we got during
27:26
Speaker 5: the season because of this group right here.
27:28
Speaker 3: And guys, you.
27:29
Speaker 5: Know have to buy into that knowing that we don't
27:32
Speaker 5: necessarily need a big splash. We were good enough to
27:34
Speaker 5: get where we got last year. We got more experience.
27:38
Speaker 5: Let's go out there and use that experience to our
27:40
Speaker 5: advantage and and hopefully maybe throughout the season, maybe they
27:45
Speaker 5: make a trade, maybe they get another picture here early
27:49
Speaker 5: and kind of bolsted that pitching staff up a little bit.
27:52
Speaker 5: But looking at it from the outside end, it's like
27:56
Speaker 5: this kind of just looks like the same team that's
27:58
Speaker 5: capable of, you know, making a deep run in the playoffs,
28:01
Speaker 5: but not really enough to push them past that.
28:04
Speaker 3: So that's how I kind of look at it.
28:06
Speaker 5: It's like another good, solid team, another good solid Tigers
28:10
Speaker 5: team didn't get the offensive weapon.
28:14
Speaker 3: I think that they were needing.
28:16
Speaker 5: But again, when we talk about what a year of
28:19
Speaker 5: experience does in a meaningful year of playoff baseball, that
28:23
Speaker 5: goes a long way.
28:24
Speaker 3: So I think that it's gonna help.
28:26
Speaker 5: I think it'll help these young guys with that experience,
28:29
Speaker 5: and really just the season and health is going to
28:32
Speaker 5: really determine how well this team does in that playoff push.
28:36
Speaker 1: Again, speaking of health, Cody, what's that? How healthy is
28:42
Speaker 1: your projected pitching rotation for the Tigers as of now?
28:46
Speaker 2: This is just one point.
28:49
Speaker 4: I was just gonna say, thet looking at that group
28:51
Speaker 4: of position players, it seems so cut and dry. I've
28:54
Speaker 4: done this long enough now that it never plays out
28:56
Speaker 4: that way, So I don't know what exactly that's going
28:59
Speaker 4: to mean. But like I said, there's gonna be somebody
29:01
Speaker 4: getting hurt, there might be someone else popping. There will
29:05
Speaker 4: probably be a mild surprise or two by the time
29:08
Speaker 4: the Tigers open in San Diego. So look, it might
29:11
Speaker 4: not be as fun as bringing Alex Bregman or Boba
29:13
Speaker 4: Shedd into your camp, but there will still be something
29:16
Speaker 4: to keep us talking throughout February and March. There's already
29:20
Speaker 4: things to talk about in the rotation because check out
29:23
Speaker 4: what we got here. The Tigers already have six or
29:27
Speaker 4: seven pitchers for five spots. Derek Skogle, Jack Flaherty, Casey
29:31
Speaker 4: mais Rhese Olsen. I would assume those guys are all
29:34
Speaker 4: locks for the rotation, provided they're healthy. And so I
29:38
Speaker 4: really struggled on this fifth one. I'm gonna be honest.
29:41
Speaker 4: I almost left our guy Troy Melton off of this
29:44
Speaker 4: because of the Tigers signed Drew Anderson. They're paying him
29:46
Speaker 4: seven million dollars to come to camp as a starter.
29:50
Speaker 4: But as I was really thinking about it, man, you
29:53
Speaker 4: already did nothing this offseason. If you were to option
29:57
Speaker 4: Troy Milton, who might be your highest upside pitcher other
30:01
Speaker 4: than Scooble, at the end of camp, that might be
30:03
Speaker 4: a mistake. Unless Melton just has a terrible camp. I
30:07
Speaker 4: think it might make more sense to push Drew Anderson too.
30:10
Speaker 4: The bullpen keep him in a swing man role no
30:13
Speaker 4: matter how much you are paying him, So that will
30:17
Speaker 4: be interesting to see. And then we probably don't talk
30:19
Speaker 4: about cater Montero enough either. This is a guy who's
30:21
Speaker 4: done everything the Tigers have asked of him, who's come
30:24
Speaker 4: up big, who's also really good out of the bullpen
30:27
Speaker 4: and the alds for whatever that's worth. So that's another question.
30:30
Speaker 4: Can Montero wiggle his way in here? The Tigers historically
30:35
Speaker 4: have liked their young guys to remain starters in Triple
30:38
Speaker 4: A rather than push them to the pin. But might
30:41
Speaker 4: it be time to change that calculus to get cater
30:43
Speaker 4: Montero on your team. I think that's one of the
30:46
Speaker 4: more interesting debates. Again, this is all fun to talk about,
30:50
Speaker 4: and the Tigers might be still seeking another starter too,
30:54
Speaker 4: But the other reality is we are probably one injury
30:58
Speaker 4: away from that conversse not mattering. I think this is
31:01
Speaker 4: one of those things that will sort itself out by
31:03
Speaker 4: the end of spring training.
31:07
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, so you talk about the Tigers don't
31:09
Speaker 1: like to, you know, put starters in the bullpen, they'd
31:12
Speaker 1: rather have them pitch in Toledo as as starters or whatever.
31:15
Speaker 1: That makes me think like they're gonna start melting, And
31:20
Speaker 1: I like it just feels like a very Tiger's thing
31:22
Speaker 1: to do for Melton again, like you said, outside of
31:25
Speaker 1: their schooble, like their highest upside pitcher, starting pitcher. Uh,
31:30
Speaker 1: it just feels like a Tiger's move to give him
31:32
Speaker 1: like two or three starts in Toledo and then and
31:36
Speaker 1: then like when an opportunity presents itself or he's just
31:39
Speaker 1: like you're just wasting innings and and and pitches thrown
31:46
Speaker 1: by having him in Toledo. When it gets to that point,
31:49
Speaker 1: which I think could happen really quickly if this were
31:51
Speaker 1: the case, then it's like, all right, we gotta do
31:54
Speaker 1: the Anderson to the bullpen thing and kind of reconfigure this.
31:57
Speaker 2: But it just kind of like.
32:02
Speaker 1: The Tigers like to like to be smart, right, Like
32:04
Speaker 1: that's a weird thing to say. They like to be smart.
32:07
Speaker 1: And the Anderson signing, if it works out, is one
32:11
Speaker 1: of those like see how smart we are signing And
32:14
Speaker 1: so I just feel like it's like that's his job
32:17
Speaker 1: unless he's not that good or Melton is that awesome.
32:23
Speaker 1: And of course, like you know, opening day roster isn't
32:26
Speaker 1: playoff roster necessarily we all know this, but it just
32:30
Speaker 1: feels like a risk averse move to put him him
32:35
Speaker 1: being Melton, into Toledo to start and then kind of
32:38
Speaker 1: giving Anderson like his opportunity to prove himself on that
32:42
Speaker 1: because keep in mind, it's not just he's getting paid
32:44
Speaker 1: seven million, it's a ten million dollar team option after that.
32:47
Speaker 1: So they're gonna try to figure out exactly They're gonna
32:50
Speaker 1: use as many opportunity as they can to figure out
32:51
Speaker 1: exactly what this guy is throughout the course of the season,
32:55
Speaker 1: and it could start literally in the fifth game.
32:57
Speaker 4: Yeah, so real quick fallow up. The Tigers could also
33:00
Speaker 4: put Melton in the bullpen, but like they did last year.
33:03
Speaker 4: But you know, if they're in tent on him being
33:05
Speaker 4: a starter, would you want him to have to stretch
33:07
Speaker 4: out a little more mid year? I don't think that's
33:09
Speaker 4: very smart. As I had up on the screen a
33:12
Speaker 4: minute ago, and I'll put it back up mel that
33:14
Speaker 4: at two seven six ERA last year, the Tigers might
33:17
Speaker 4: not have even made the playoffs without a couple of
33:19
Speaker 4: the key performances he provided them. But there are some
33:23
Speaker 4: arguments against him that a smart team might point to.
33:26
Speaker 4: He really struggled a little bit against lefties. He didn't
33:28
Speaker 4: miss bats at near the same rate, a nineteen point
33:31
Speaker 4: three percent with rate against lefties twenty seven point eight
33:34
Speaker 4: against righty's. For some reason, he walked more left handers
33:38
Speaker 4: as well. Like, this guy's objectively pretty nasty, but he
33:42
Speaker 4: actually didn't strike out that many guys seven point one
33:45
Speaker 4: per nine innings, didn't get a whole lot of Chase
33:48
Speaker 4: didn't get a whole lot of whiff. So good as
33:50
Speaker 4: he was, there was room to get better. There's a
33:52
Speaker 4: part of me that's, like, I hope the team doesn't
33:54
Speaker 4: just point to this stuff as an excuse to put
33:56
Speaker 4: Troy Melton in Toledo Overdrew Anderson. How about some of
34:00
Speaker 4: this is going to be on Melton to come up
34:02
Speaker 4: and show that he can miss a little more bats,
34:04
Speaker 4: that he can be better against lefties in spring training?
34:09
Speaker 1: How about the bullpen? Is that?
34:11
Speaker 3: Uh?
34:15
Speaker 4: Check out this list of non ross for invites so far. Tanner,
34:18
Speaker 4: Rainey Jack Little, Scott FROs shawangun Through, Kole Waits, Tyler Owens,
34:21
Speaker 4: Tyler Madison, Matt Stielinger, Bert Smith, Dugan Darnel, Ricky Vanasko,
34:26
Speaker 4: and Manuel de Jesus. The Tigers that we talked about.
34:29
Speaker 4: They're clearly going straight volume here. They've signed all these
34:32
Speaker 4: guys and they might all have a chance to ultimately
34:35
Speaker 4: make the bullpen. For the sake of this projection, I
34:37
Speaker 4: have Drew Anderson in there, but I think the only
34:40
Speaker 4: real locks Kenley, Jansen, wilve Ask, Kyle Finn again, Tyler Holton.
34:44
Speaker 4: Those are the only Everything else is up for grabs.
34:47
Speaker 4: Brendan Hannafy, bo Brisky, if he's healthy, he could have
34:49
Speaker 4: a good case. Brent Hurders probably your second best lefty.
34:54
Speaker 4: But Bailey Horn, Drew Summers, the Tigers liked them a lot,
34:57
Speaker 4: Dylan Smith did some good things last year, and then
35:00
Speaker 4: they brought in all these dudes to compete. In addition
35:03
Speaker 4: to Anderson, Melton, Montero, maybe even Swayer Gibson Long could
35:08
Speaker 4: also be bullpen candidates. So that's kind of classic spring training,
35:12
Speaker 4: a million guys fighting for the last two or three
35:14
Speaker 4: spots in the bullpen. We're gonna see plenty of that
35:16
Speaker 4: this year, and we'll probably see almost every name I
35:20
Speaker 4: just listed at some point in the regular season, because
35:23
Speaker 4: that's how pitching goes.
35:25
Speaker 1: Very true, Austin, do you uh you had one at
35:30
Speaker 1: bat in your career against ken Ley Jansen, do you
35:33
Speaker 1: I don't know when it was.
35:34
Speaker 2: I just know that it was one at bat and
35:36
Speaker 2: you did and it was and you had a hit.
35:37
Speaker 2: I don't know what that.
35:38
Speaker 1: Hit was, but you had to hit about one point
35:41
Speaker 1: zero batting average against ken Ley Jansen. Is there any
35:44
Speaker 1: way you remember facing him like I want to.
35:48
Speaker 5: I do remember facing him. I don't remember the outcome though.
35:51
Speaker 5: I just remember reason because I remember because there's just
35:55
Speaker 5: certain guys that throw a cutter, and it looks different
35:59
Speaker 5: than a normal cutter. It actually it actually moves on
36:04
Speaker 5: the same plane that it was thrown on. So instead
36:07
Speaker 5: of kind of cutting like kind of down, almost like
36:09
Speaker 5: a slider, I mean, it's it's literally moving across the
36:14
Speaker 5: zone on the same plane. So he was just a
36:17
Speaker 5: guy that I always wanted to face because I wanted
36:20
Speaker 5: to see the cutter. I wanted to see if it
36:22
Speaker 5: was like Mariano's. I wanted to see if it was
36:24
Speaker 5: like uh Robertson's. I wanted to see if it had
36:28
Speaker 5: that same cut So I remember facing him, and I
36:30
Speaker 5: remember what that ball was doing. I just don't remember
36:33
Speaker 5: the outcome. But you said I got a hit. I'll
36:36
Speaker 5: take it. It's probably a blooper. I'm gonna be honest.
36:39
Speaker 5: That seems like that probably was like an infield hit.
36:43
Speaker 5: Like guys were all running for the ball like you
36:45
Speaker 5: got it, I got it, know you got it, I'm
36:47
Speaker 5: safe type thing.
36:48
Speaker 3: So that's as an infield hit. I'm gonna go with
36:50
Speaker 3: an infield hit.
36:52
Speaker 4: We gotta get the research department on that one.
36:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a homework assignment for that. I'll that.
36:57
Speaker 1: I'll give myself to see if I can see if
36:59
Speaker 1: I can, and then maybe there's video out there, see
37:01
Speaker 1: if we can, we can we can share it.
37:04
Speaker 3: Uh maybe a broken bat.
37:06
Speaker 5: I think a broken bat not only infield hit, but
37:09
Speaker 5: I think a broken bat infield hit.
37:11
Speaker 4: If I hold up, we got Lee Kenley breaking down
37:15
Speaker 4: this at bat. Oh my gosh. Even on Austin Jackson,
37:19
Speaker 4: I located that outside corner. It's like everything is just
37:22
Speaker 4: falling right now. Jansen said, I don't know exactly what
37:26
Speaker 4: you did, but sounds like he made a good pitch
37:27
Speaker 4: to the outside corner and you poked a hit.
37:31
Speaker 3: I poked a hit. That's that. That was poked the
37:34
Speaker 3: hit is what happened. It was it was.
37:35
Speaker 4: Mad about it. He put it on the outside corner
37:38
Speaker 4: and couldn't get it by you.
37:40
Speaker 3: I don't know what to tell you. You'd be mad.
37:42
Speaker 3: How you want to? I gotta bat my hand. I'm
37:44
Speaker 3: swinging this thing, all right. I missed it sometimes, but
37:46
Speaker 3: when I connect, I'm a connect. So you're mad? How
37:50
Speaker 3: you want put it on the board.
37:55
Speaker 1: An amazing team by a research department to pull that
37:57
Speaker 1: up real quick.
37:58
Speaker 2: That was great?
37:59
Speaker 1: That was great. Well, let's stroll down memory rate lane
38:05
Speaker 1: for AJAX. Anything else fellows before we jet out of here.
38:10
Speaker 3: I do I got something? I got I do have something.
38:12
Speaker 5: What let's just hypotheticals, right, Let's just you know, if
38:17
Speaker 5: you are front office for the Detroit Tigers and this
38:22
Speaker 5: is like, it's time to put up or shut up?
38:25
Speaker 3: Like, what are you doing with scoops? What are you doing?
38:31
Speaker 3: I want to know? Go ahead, Cody, go to go
38:37
Speaker 3: ahead away.
38:39
Speaker 4: I think I pointed this out. I've I've said since
38:41
Speaker 4: the start. They need to pick a lane. They need
38:44
Speaker 4: to either build around them, make a more meaningful push,
38:46
Speaker 4: or they should probably trade them. If you want to
38:48
Speaker 4: do the development thing, you know what, that's fine, and
38:51
Speaker 4: they might not be wrong, but you're trying to do
38:54
Speaker 4: two things at once. I think by keeping him and
38:57
Speaker 4: not adding to your lineup not really both string your
39:00
Speaker 4: rotation with with another front end starter. So at this
39:04
Speaker 4: point in the off season, I think I would look
39:05
Speaker 4: a long and hard at trading them. Now, obviously you
39:08
Speaker 4: can't trade him for nothing. You got to be smart
39:10
Speaker 4: in the return you get, so that that can be
39:12
Speaker 4: easier said than done. But sometimes I wake up and
39:16
Speaker 4: I'm like, dude, why are they Why are they not
39:19
Speaker 4: more actively trying to move him, because it I don't know,
39:23
Speaker 4: I think that aligns with the rest of their philosophies
39:26
Speaker 4: more than keeping him and seeing what happens.
39:29
Speaker 5: I agree with you, Cody, I'm right there. I even
39:32
Speaker 5: thought about the teams like who would who would step
39:35
Speaker 5: in and taking I'm thinking like a team like the Yankees, though,
39:37
Speaker 5: because they're more I feel like desperate to win they
39:41
Speaker 5: need a win, And the Dodgers, I just feel like,
39:44
Speaker 5: I mean, they don't really really, they don't need them,
39:48
Speaker 5: you know, they they.
39:49
Speaker 4: Just sign him next year. They don't have to trade Silent.
39:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly, I don't have to trade anybody.
39:54
Speaker 5: I'll just you know, we'll just wait wake this thing
39:57
Speaker 5: out and I was just thinking about what the Yankees.
39:59
Speaker 5: You know, they probably we have several prospects that they're
40:02
Speaker 5: they've been you know, holding down there, waiting for a
40:05
Speaker 5: moment like this, and again, like I said, they're more
40:07
Speaker 5: desperate to win. You know, they are the Yankees, and
40:10
Speaker 5: they haven't been playing the Yankee style of baseball that
40:14
Speaker 5: that I guess we're used to seeing. So I feel
40:17
Speaker 5: like a team like that would make a trade, and
40:20
Speaker 5: that's what I would be looking for, Cody.
40:21
Speaker 3: I think I would be just right now. Look to
40:24
Speaker 3: move them.
40:24
Speaker 5: Go ahead and get some good prospects back and both
40:27
Speaker 5: of your team for the future, because you do have
40:29
Speaker 5: some good prospects.
40:30
Speaker 3: You do have a young team. But Kieran, I want
40:33
Speaker 3: to know what you think. What you think, big up?
40:36
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm in I'm in the owner's office every
40:39
Speaker 1: day with various charts and graphics and and and anecdotal
40:46
Speaker 1: examples of how almost no matter what you're paying Trek Skoogle,
40:52
Speaker 1: it's a good investment to have him on the team
40:55
Speaker 1: because of the gates, because you're going to be on
40:58
Speaker 1: national TV more, because you have a better chance of
41:01
Speaker 1: making the playoffs. I've been in these playoff games they
41:04
Speaker 1: charged twice, you know, two times for a beer, all right,
41:07
Speaker 1: Like they're making money at these own playoff games. And
41:10
Speaker 1: that's not even talking about revenue and additional you know,
41:12
Speaker 1: gate revenue, TV revenue, all that stuff but gets lost
41:16
Speaker 1: when we talk about these contracts these high end guys.
41:20
Speaker 2: I'm not saying.
41:21
Speaker 1: They're free in terms of what you get for them,
41:23
Speaker 1: but a lot of the times there's still a bargain
41:25
Speaker 1: even at market price for these for these owners. So
41:28
Speaker 1: that's what I'm doing, is I'm trying to convince them
41:30
Speaker 1: that hey, we can go all in on this potential
41:34
Speaker 1: future Hall of Fame pitcher, and then if we want
41:37
Speaker 1: to cut back here and do the young thing around this,
41:41
Speaker 1: and we've proven that we can do that in practice,
41:44
Speaker 1: then we can. Then we can still have a winning team.
41:48
Speaker 1: Maybe we get lucky with one of these prospects and
41:50
Speaker 1: we and they're like a superstar and we get you know,
41:53
Speaker 1: you know, a World Series like type team. But yeah,
41:57
Speaker 1: I just think that if if you trade Trek Schoogle,
42:02
Speaker 1: you you can you're either gonna be famous or you're
42:04
Speaker 1: gonna be infamous because you're gonna be a genius. Or
42:07
Speaker 1: what the return was or you're gonna be infamous as
42:10
Speaker 1: you're gonna be the guy that trade Schoolble for you know,
42:13
Speaker 1: fifty two cents on the dollar.
42:15
Speaker 4: My my position is a conviction, no doubt.
42:18
Speaker 1: My My my position is that I believe in my evaluation,
42:21
Speaker 1: I can fill a roster around Trek Schooble. I feel like,
42:24
Speaker 1: if you're Sky Harris, you should have the ability, you
42:26
Speaker 1: should have the confidence like I can fill a roster
42:29
Speaker 1: around Trek Schooble and whatever budget you get me and so,
42:33
Speaker 1: and I'm telling you that he is a good investment
42:37
Speaker 1: because by the way, everybody, you know, other teams are
42:39
Speaker 1: willing to pay him. So it's not like you're a
42:41
Speaker 1: sucker for paying Terrek Schooble. Now, so that would be
42:44
Speaker 1: that would be my point. Now, the pure like sort
42:49
Speaker 1: of analytical thing to do is to never pay anybody
42:51
Speaker 1: and trade everybody as soon as as soon as they're
42:54
Speaker 1: at their maximum value. And so it's not like the
42:57
Speaker 1: quote unquote wrong opinion to want to trade Trek Schouble.
43:00
Speaker 1: But I just think this is a unique set of circumstances,
43:03
Speaker 1: this is a good time for the organization. I would
43:06
Speaker 1: find a way to convince the owner in this case
43:09
Speaker 1: Chris Silich that this is a good investment and essentially
43:13
Speaker 1: make Terrek do the Sergei Federoff and like leave for
43:18
Speaker 1: less money or leave for the same amount of money
43:20
Speaker 1: to go to New York. And it's like, hey, look
43:22
Speaker 1: I did, I did literally everything I could. That would
43:26
Speaker 1: be my position because I think it gets lost in
43:28
Speaker 1: these contracts as you look at Ranger Suarez. We don't
43:32
Speaker 1: have to talk a lot about this, but Ranger Suarez
43:34
Speaker 1: gets five years, one thirty.
43:36
Speaker 2: I don't he's a good picture.
43:37
Speaker 1: So I'm not even trying to be critical, but like,
43:39
Speaker 1: what is he on a scale of one to ten
43:41
Speaker 1: to Trek Schooble. I'll let you guys kind of you know,
43:44
Speaker 1: you know, and our listeners kind of come up with
43:46
Speaker 1: your own numbers. But it's like, if you're not gonna
43:48
Speaker 1: pay Trek Schooble, will you pay anybody ever?
43:50
Speaker 2: I guess would be my question.
43:52
Speaker 1: Uh so that and maybe you don't want to, and
43:55
Speaker 1: maybe you don't want to, but this this gift that
44:00
Speaker 1: he is, that he is a part of your organization,
44:03
Speaker 1: I would not want to waste and I would look
44:05
Speaker 1: at every single and again, being forever a Tiger, there's
44:10
Speaker 1: value in that too from the team's perspective as well,
44:13
Speaker 1: So that would be my position.
44:16
Speaker 4: What I actually would have done would have been a
44:17
Speaker 4: more aggressive push to build around him. And if that's
44:20
Speaker 4: not Bregman or Burchett, that means looking harder at Jaron Duran,
44:23
Speaker 4: that means looking harder at trading for Kittel Marte. That
44:25
Speaker 4: means looking harder at doing something, being creative and not
44:31
Speaker 4: blowing anything up, not necessarily blocking young players, but adding
44:35
Speaker 4: a little bit more. That's what I think I would
44:38
Speaker 4: have done. Knowing you have the best picture on the planet,
44:41
Speaker 4: and you can like your young players as much as
44:43
Speaker 4: you want you, we are not guaranteed a better shot
44:45
Speaker 4: than the one that's looking in the face Boom.
44:49
Speaker 3: I like it.
44:51
Speaker 4: I'm also glad I wasn't the one who had to
44:53
Speaker 4: call Chris Oloch and say, hey, just so you know,
44:56
Speaker 4: our budget projection might have been off by thirteen million dollars.
45:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah that.
45:05
Speaker 2: If anybody's got a wiretap of that, I'll gladly it's
45:11
Speaker 2: part of it, part of it, man part.
45:13
Speaker 1: Of it, and we'll continue to have these discussions and
45:16
Speaker 1: we'll continue to see what happens.
45:19
Speaker 3: Well.
45:19
Speaker 1: Thank you, everybody for listening, subscribing on YouTube, Apple, Spotify,
45:23
Speaker 1: going the Tiger Territory Shop dot com for your Tiger
45:26
Speaker 1: Territory merch at Cody Stapenhagen, I'm at Careen Underscore decintely
45:30
Speaker 1: at Tiger Territory Underscore is the X handle, So for
45:35
Speaker 1: Cody Stapenhagen, Austin Jackson, I'm Kieren Steckley. Everybody have great there,