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Sorting out Kevin McGonigle's path to the Opening Day roster · Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast

0:10
Speaker 1: And welcome into another episode of Tiger Territory, part of
0:13
Speaker 1: the Foul Territory Nowork Detroit Tiger's podcast. I'm Kieren steckleyan
0:16
Speaker 1: with me is always a man who is a homer?
0:19
Speaker 2: Am I that? I mean? He's home for the first
0:21
Speaker 2: time in a little bit. He is Cody Stavenhagen.
0:24
Speaker 3: How you doing? Hey? Doing all right? Kieren? Home for
0:26
Speaker 3: like two and a half days. I'll be back down
0:28
Speaker 3: in spring training on Sunday. So it's been a busy stretch,
0:33
Speaker 3: but looking forward to getting back around. The Tigers actually
0:36
Speaker 3: feel a little disconnected after a week at the World
0:39
Speaker 3: Baseball Classic.
0:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, look, I think I think a lot of
0:43
Speaker 1: people can relate to that notion in general. The World
0:47
Speaker 1: Baseball Classic, to its credit, it's kind of taken a
0:51
Speaker 1: hold of the baseball conversation, by the way, that's the
0:54
Speaker 1: design of the entire thing, and it's been a lot
0:56
Speaker 1: of fun. And Team USA will be advancing recording this
1:01
Speaker 1: Thursday afternoon, so we'll see what happens Friday against against Canada.
1:07
Speaker 2: But the Tigers are they.
1:10
Speaker 3: Gonna have a showdown with the Dominican Republic and just
1:12
Speaker 3: get embarrassed. I fear for the sake of our fellow
1:17
Speaker 3: countrymen here that that that might be coming. This Dominican
1:20
Speaker 3: team is pretty lit.
1:23
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, like you you saw all that up
1:26
Speaker 1: close and personal. They certainly play with the emotion that
1:30
Speaker 1: the World Baseball Classic is intended for. And look they
1:33
Speaker 1: every team does so, don't I'm not saying, like you know,
1:36
Speaker 1: there are teams that aren't playing with the kind of
1:38
Speaker 1: passion that that the WBC is aimed for. But the
1:41
Speaker 1: D the dr does kind of feel like it's on
1:43
Speaker 1: a whole level.
1:44
Speaker 3: It is in Venezuela's too, and some of these other
1:47
Speaker 3: countries are too. The thing you're seeing on the internet
1:50
Speaker 3: about this makes American baseball look really lame and boring.
1:54
Speaker 3: Like I think it's pretty true, and I know not
1:56
Speaker 3: everyone's going to agree with that, and we're gonna have
1:59
Speaker 3: some traditionally, but some of these other nations are making
2:02
Speaker 3: the game look way more fun than Team USA does.
2:06
Speaker 3: Like there is something to that. I would also, I
2:11
Speaker 3: would go on a whole other tangent that some of
2:14
Speaker 3: that is rooted in travel ball culture and USA just
2:17
Speaker 3: produces baseball robots now in addition to you know, just
2:23
Speaker 3: the way we're raised to play the game and not
2:25
Speaker 3: showing emotion and all that. Watching the Dominican Republic and
2:29
Speaker 3: some of these other teams up close. Man, I'm I'm
2:32
Speaker 3: all in on it. I'm like, this is how you
2:35
Speaker 3: This is one of the reasons baseball is the most
2:37
Speaker 3: popular sport in that country. It's because they make it
2:40
Speaker 3: feel like it really matters. So I man, I'm in
2:44
Speaker 3: on it. I'm ready to go cover the Dominican Winner League.
2:50
Speaker 1: Look, it's it's obviously a lot of fun to watch.
2:52
Speaker 1: And by the way, all of our coverage of the
2:54
Speaker 1: World Baseball Classic is presented by Fox One, and we're
2:58
Speaker 1: going to have postgame shows. The Foul Territory Network are
3:01
Speaker 1: gonna have post game shows after after every Team USA game.
3:04
Speaker 1: So definitely hope you guys check that out on the
3:06
Speaker 1: Foul Territory uh YouTube page. And and you know, like
3:11
Speaker 1: the World Baseball Classic and golfing everything, It's it's one
3:14
Speaker 1: of those things where I'm trying to make sure I'm
3:17
Speaker 1: not missing anything in regards to to Tiger's.
3:20
Speaker 2: Land and and I don't feel like I am.
3:22
Speaker 1: I feel like everyone's like this is a little bit
3:25
Speaker 1: of like an expected spring training where it's like for
3:27
Speaker 1: the most part, we've kind of understood where a lot
3:31
Speaker 1: of people, where a lot of guys stand, and and
3:33
Speaker 1: and what's really at stake here and and and so
3:36
Speaker 1: it kind of forces us, Cody to go back to
3:39
Speaker 1: the well A well that is quite fun to think about,
3:42
Speaker 1: and that is the roster case and ramifications of one
3:48
Speaker 1: Kevin McGonagall, who's momentum, you know, you want to talk
3:51
Speaker 1: about fun. It's a lot of fun to watch Kevin
3:53
Speaker 1: McGonagall play baseball. Uh, momentum. It continues into the direction
3:58
Speaker 1: of him being on the team. I think most roster
4:02
Speaker 1: projections are including him breaking camp with the with the
4:07
Speaker 1: major league squad. And so you can't just take Kevin
4:11
Speaker 1: McGonagall and then put them on the major league squad.
4:14
Speaker 1: There are there are limits to these rosters and there
4:17
Speaker 1: are moves that you have to make. So that's kind
4:21
Speaker 1: of what we're gonna do with this roster projection roster breakdown.
4:26
Speaker 1: We're gonna frame it in a way of like, Okay,
4:29
Speaker 1: Kevin McGonagall is on the roster, so then what has
4:33
Speaker 1: to happen or what could happen to get there? And
4:41
Speaker 1: it's an exercise, Cody, like, it is a legit mental
4:44
Speaker 1: exercise to kind of go through what would be the
4:46
Speaker 1: most likely scenarios and how they how they would go
4:50
Speaker 1: about this. I think the low hanging fruit with this is,
4:55
Speaker 1: Yeah McGonagall, who's a shortstop who is you know, profiles
5:00
Speaker 1: as a plus hitter. I think it's safe to say.
5:03
Speaker 1: And then you have a hits left handed, you have
5:06
Speaker 1: another left handed hitting shortstop who does not profile as
5:10
Speaker 1: a plus hitter, and we haven't actually seen a lot
5:12
Speaker 1: of them, so it's something that maybe people out of sight,
5:15
Speaker 1: out of mind, and that's tray Sweeney. The latest medical
5:21
Speaker 1: report that the Tigers put out lists tray Sweeney as like,
5:24
Speaker 1: you know, going through a return the hitting progression that
5:26
Speaker 1: might have the phrase off there a little bit, but
5:29
Speaker 1: he's still not fully healthy. So how does the tray
5:33
Speaker 1: Sweeney piece of this kind of like play into a
5:37
Speaker 1: cody I guess would be like kind of the way
5:39
Speaker 1: to start, like how they feel about him, what to do,
5:42
Speaker 1: you know, that kind of thing.
5:44
Speaker 3: Yeah, And it doesn't sound like he's throwing, and he's
5:47
Speaker 3: got a right shoulder strain, so I don't know exactly
5:50
Speaker 3: how far he is from returning to actual play, but
5:52
Speaker 3: it sounds like he's a ways off, so there are
5:55
Speaker 3: a few things to consider. I think what we're doing
5:59
Speaker 3: here is like, if Kevin McGonagall is going to be
6:01
Speaker 3: on the roster, he's got to get on the forty
6:03
Speaker 3: man roster. So kind of the question, are you going
6:06
Speaker 3: to dfa Trey Sweeney? I would say a pretty firm
6:10
Speaker 3: I know. I doubt that is the course of action
6:13
Speaker 3: the Tigers would take, because although Trey Sweeney wasn't great
6:18
Speaker 3: last year and hasn't really been healthy this spring, he
6:22
Speaker 3: is still fairly young. He's still a guy the Tigers
6:26
Speaker 3: obviously like. Whether front offices like to admit it or not,
6:30
Speaker 3: they tend to be a little biased toward guys they
6:32
Speaker 3: acquire via trade. And Sweeney showed up to camp with
6:37
Speaker 3: some changes in his swing, some changes in his bat path.
6:40
Speaker 3: From the very little I saw, it looked pretty intriguing,
6:44
Speaker 3: and then he was hurt, so we didn't really get
6:46
Speaker 3: to see what that looks like or what that looks
6:48
Speaker 3: like in game action. I think the Tigers would like
6:50
Speaker 3: to give this guy some runway with his altered swing
6:53
Speaker 3: before they just cut bait. And at the end of
6:55
Speaker 3: the day, he is a left handed hitter who can
6:58
Speaker 3: play shortstop and who has options, So that in itself
7:01
Speaker 3: is pretty valuable. I doubt they would just dfa Trey
7:06
Speaker 3: Sweeney that quickly. There are some other ways, but it
7:11
Speaker 3: is interesting that Tigers are very much at a time
7:14
Speaker 3: in their organizational evolution where we no longer have just
7:18
Speaker 3: these slam dunk like, oh, this is the guy who's gone.
7:22
Speaker 3: This is what the forty man move is. They are.
7:25
Speaker 3: There's enough talent on this roster that, when healthy, these
7:29
Speaker 3: decisions are harder than they have been in many years.
7:35
Speaker 1: They are harder and and sometimes in this probably if
7:40
Speaker 1: you just kind of play the live averages like this
7:43
Speaker 1: will probably end up being the case is that, like
7:46
Speaker 1: we we speculate on roster crunches and then unfortunately somebody
7:52
Speaker 1: is hurt or isn't progressing in their injury or just
7:55
Speaker 1: has a new injury. And then and then you you
7:59
Speaker 1: put that person on the sixty day IL and that
8:01
Speaker 1: opens up, uh, you know, obviously a temporary spot on
8:06
Speaker 1: the forty man. There are options. I don't necessarily want
8:10
Speaker 1: to like go through them all. I mean, we can't,
8:12
Speaker 1: but then it kind.
8:13
Speaker 3: Of feels like it real quick. I I think, if
8:16
Speaker 3: you're you're gonna today, you were gonna put Kevin McGonagall
8:20
Speaker 3: in the forty man roster and everyone else makes it
8:22
Speaker 3: through camp healthy. You still have three pitchers on the
8:27
Speaker 3: forty man who, or excuse me, three players on the
8:30
Speaker 3: forty man who are dealing with some lingering injuries, and
8:33
Speaker 3: I don't think we know exactly where they are. That's
8:36
Speaker 3: Sawyer Gibson Long, he just threw a bullpen. He's been
8:39
Speaker 3: dealing with a left oblique strain. Doesn't seem serious, but
8:43
Speaker 3: he's not fully ramped up. Bailey Horn, he's completing a
8:46
Speaker 3: return to play throwing progression after a left elbow ARTHROSCOPI
8:52
Speaker 3: not sure exactly what that means for his timeline. And
8:54
Speaker 3: then Sweeney Who, Again, he's hitting, I don't think he's
8:58
Speaker 3: throwing yet. So how long will it take for any
9:01
Speaker 3: of those guys to be ready to appear in a
9:03
Speaker 3: major league game. I'm not sure. I would not be
9:06
Speaker 3: shocked if even one of them has the slightest setback.
9:10
Speaker 3: They could very easily become a candidate to go on
9:13
Speaker 3: the sixty day injured list, which boom opens a forty
9:16
Speaker 3: man spot for one Kevin McGonagall.
9:20
Speaker 1: And just to kind of put it out there. We're
9:24
Speaker 1: we're good with like forty adding a position player with
9:31
Speaker 1: a you know, with the sixty man. I l with
9:33
Speaker 1: a pitcher like that that does that doesn't matter. I'm
9:36
Speaker 1: just kind of putting it out there.
9:37
Speaker 3: I mean, I don't think so. I mean, especially you
9:41
Speaker 3: don't have a lot of position players you're gonna want
9:43
Speaker 3: a DFA. Dylan Dingler's not going anywhere, Tyron Lorenzo, You're
9:46
Speaker 3: not dfaing Jake Rogers, He's not going anywhere. Let's be real.
9:50
Speaker 3: Edward of Lynci a young guy, Jase Young. I mean,
9:53
Speaker 3: I guess a little bit of a maybe, but he's
9:56
Speaker 3: having a pretty nice camp. Uh. I don't think he's
9:59
Speaker 3: going anywhere. Cole Keith, he's here. Stay how you Lee,
10:02
Speaker 3: He's here. Stay. McKinstry, Sweeney, we talked about sort of
10:06
Speaker 3: a maybe. Twurgelesen, Torres, Bias Carpenter, Trey Cruz had a
10:11
Speaker 3: nice camp. Switch hitter, Riley Green, Jami Jones. I don't
10:16
Speaker 3: think they're defaying him. Parker Meadows, Winsel Perez, Matt Vierling. Look,
10:21
Speaker 3: it's possible they could option Meadows or Perez, but they're
10:24
Speaker 3: not just dfaing him out of the organization. You're not
10:27
Speaker 3: getting rid of any of those guys. In my opinion,
10:29
Speaker 3: I think you have a few different options when it
10:31
Speaker 3: comes to pitching.
10:34
Speaker 2: Right, so so so you.
10:36
Speaker 1: So that's the next step that you just kind of
10:38
Speaker 1: teased right there, is that you don't have forty men
10:41
Speaker 1: in uniform on game day. Right, there's a there's a
10:47
Speaker 1: there's a twenty six man roster at play here.
10:49
Speaker 3: And so then even if none of these guys end
10:53
Speaker 3: up being sixty man eligible, you could maybe live with
10:56
Speaker 3: dfing let's just say, a Bailey horn rather than defaing
11:01
Speaker 3: a position player.
11:04
Speaker 1: Okay, so that's the forty man element to this, and
11:07
Speaker 1: then we'll get to the second layer of this and
11:09
Speaker 1: then what those uncomfortable conversations are. But first we gotta
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Speaker 1: All right, coming back here. When it comes to the
12:24
Speaker 1: active roster, it seems to me, Cody that the the
12:31
Speaker 1: most often used pieces that you have to subtract in
12:35
Speaker 1: order to add to Kevin McGonagall are in no particular order,
12:40
Speaker 1: Parker Meadows, Wentzel Perez, and to a lesser extent, Jami Jones.
12:47
Speaker 1: And I'll tell you that when I kind of did
12:51
Speaker 1: this exercise, I tried to. I tried to blend like
12:55
Speaker 1: my mind with how I think the Tigers thing, which
13:00
Speaker 1: is difficult because like, obviously they are more.
13:02
Speaker 2: Access to information than I do.
13:04
Speaker 1: But the way I looked at is that if you
13:08
Speaker 1: are adding Kevin McGonagall, why are you adding Kevin McGonagall.
13:11
Speaker 1: You're adding Kevin McGonagall because of offensive upside being the
13:16
Speaker 1: main piece there with you know, competency a defense right now,
13:24
Speaker 1: in that sense, I want to have as much defensive
13:27
Speaker 1: upside or elite defense as possible. And that is obviously
13:31
Speaker 1: a check in favor of Parker Meadows. And if he
13:34
Speaker 1: could you know, speaking of new swings and you know,
13:37
Speaker 1: with his hand placement all that stuff, if that could play,
13:39
Speaker 1: that would obviously be a boom. And this isn't probably
13:42
Speaker 1: much of a conversation. Jami Jones also elite at at
13:48
Speaker 1: least last year hitting left handed pitching. That is a
13:51
Speaker 1: you know, there's a weapon that aj Hinch has at
13:53
Speaker 1: his disposal every single game. And again, like I want
13:57
Speaker 1: as many elite skill sets as I can get when
14:01
Speaker 1: I am trying to win a division, when a pennant
14:03
Speaker 1: win a World Series. So that's those are my thoughts
14:06
Speaker 1: on those guys. Unfortunately, that leaves Wentzel Perez, who is
14:12
Speaker 1: more well rounded then both of these guys I just mentioned.
14:16
Speaker 1: He is also a switch hitter.
14:18
Speaker 2: He you know, he can.
14:19
Speaker 1: He's obviously Parker could play right field if you wanted to,
14:22
Speaker 1: but he but it's a waystaff Parker in right field
14:24
Speaker 1: as post center, so like Wentze can play center. Wentzel
14:27
Speaker 1: obviously plays a lot of right field. But then we'll
14:32
Speaker 1: get to the line of stuff here in a second,
14:33
Speaker 1: and then I almost started to change my mind. So
14:35
Speaker 1: just like when we kind of group those guys together,
14:38
Speaker 1: I guess, where where do you kind of where does
14:41
Speaker 1: your mind go to in terms of you're adding Kevin
14:47
Speaker 1: McGonagall at the expense of this thus at the expense
14:50
Speaker 1: of this.
14:50
Speaker 2: Guy, or do you go somewhere else? You can go
14:52
Speaker 2: somewhere else. I don't. I don't want to lead John.
14:54
Speaker 3: No, you don't have a lot of places to go.
14:57
Speaker 3: It is interesting that you're swapping I'm likely swapping an
15:01
Speaker 3: infielder for an outfielder if you were to carry McGonagall
15:04
Speaker 3: in the opening day roster. Now, the Tigers are equipped
15:06
Speaker 3: to do that because they have so much versatility. All
15:09
Speaker 3: this versatility they've worked on over the years, it's finally
15:12
Speaker 3: coming in handy. You have McKinstry, Veerling, Baiez, guys who
15:16
Speaker 3: can play infield or outfield, so it's really just flipping
15:21
Speaker 3: where certain guys might be spending most of their time.
15:23
Speaker 3: But it's plenty feasible. I'm pretty out on the idea
15:28
Speaker 3: of Jami Jones being at risk at all. This guy
15:31
Speaker 3: had almost a thousand ops against left handed pitching last
15:34
Speaker 3: year and he doesn't have options. Although he is a
15:37
Speaker 3: limited chess piece, there is no way the Tigers are
15:41
Speaker 3: just gonna cut bait with a guy who had almost
15:43
Speaker 3: a thousand ops against left eas before even going into
15:47
Speaker 3: the season. Now, I think it's possible his leash throughout
15:50
Speaker 3: the year could be relatively short if he gets off
15:53
Speaker 3: to a slow start and they think they got to
15:54
Speaker 3: shake some things up. The fact that he's probably DH
15:58
Speaker 3: only or you don't really trust him in the field
16:01
Speaker 3: and you're probably not gonna play against righties, that's gonna
16:04
Speaker 3: keep him at a little bit of risk. He's gonna
16:05
Speaker 3: have to keep hitting lefties at a very high clip,
16:08
Speaker 3: but I think he's safe for the opening day roster.
16:11
Speaker 3: And then, like you just mentioned, wins olver'ss Parker gets
16:14
Speaker 3: to be a really tough conversation. Matt Vierling's had an
16:18
Speaker 3: excellent camp. I think worked himself off the edge. Meadows
16:24
Speaker 3: and Perez Perez are just valuable in such different ways.
16:29
Speaker 3: Meadows skill set as a plus center fielder is still
16:35
Speaker 3: still hard for me to look past because we know
16:38
Speaker 3: the Tigers value infield defense. This is a team that
16:41
Speaker 3: has a bunch of ground ball pitchers and doesn't care,
16:44
Speaker 3: just keeps getting bad defensive infielders and is cool with
16:51
Speaker 3: that because it wants to have a plus outfield and
16:54
Speaker 3: limit extra base hits and it plays in Comerica Park,
16:56
Speaker 3: And I don't know, would you rather have the plus
17:01
Speaker 3: defensive Parker Meadows and just have to live without Winstle's
17:06
Speaker 3: skill set? You know his versatility, maybe your alternative Now
17:10
Speaker 3: Winsle can play some center and he's fine there, but
17:13
Speaker 3: your alternative probably becomes a lot more Hobvey Baias in
17:16
Speaker 3: center field. Matt Vielin can play there too, but I
17:19
Speaker 3: would I would be willing to guess if Parker Meadows
17:21
Speaker 3: is not on this roster, Hovey Bays is playing a
17:24
Speaker 3: lot more in center field, Which is interesting, right, because
17:29
Speaker 3: there's a world where Haave's bat is just as bad
17:32
Speaker 3: as Parker Meadow's bat. You're kind of taking on some
17:36
Speaker 3: risk there, And although Hove was really good in center
17:39
Speaker 3: last year, he's not quite as good as Parker, I
17:42
Speaker 3: don't think, especially if he's going to be playing there
17:45
Speaker 3: on let's say, close to an everyday basis. So that's
17:49
Speaker 3: all to say. I think that's a really hard conversation,
17:53
Speaker 3: and it depends on your evaluation. I think of Meadows
17:56
Speaker 3: a little bit, like how much faith do you actually
17:59
Speaker 3: think he how much faith do you actually have in
18:02
Speaker 3: him to hit? How do you feel he has actually
18:05
Speaker 3: looked at the plate beyond the results this spring which
18:07
Speaker 3: haven't been good, Like do you think he's close? Do
18:10
Speaker 3: you think he can defend himself in the box or
18:13
Speaker 3: are you just going to have to go a different direction.
18:17
Speaker 3: Maybe I'm still holding on to the defense thing a
18:19
Speaker 3: little bit too much, But I think if they have
18:21
Speaker 3: any hope at all in that bat, they might be
18:24
Speaker 3: willing to give him, let's call it, you know, a
18:28
Speaker 3: month in the big leagues to try to get going
18:30
Speaker 3: and maybe wintles the odd man out.
18:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, Like with the Parker piece of this gets tricky too,
18:40
Speaker 1: because I think like how many times can you go
18:43
Speaker 1: up down with him? And I don't necessarily mean the
18:45
Speaker 1: actual like option piece of it. I just mean like,
18:47
Speaker 1: how many times can you like emotionally put him through that?
18:52
Speaker 1: Can you like hang on to the idea of late
18:56
Speaker 1: season twenty twenty four Parker Meadows playoff Arker metals in
19:00
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four, Like how long can you do that
19:03
Speaker 1: and still kind of feel solid about like your your
19:07
Speaker 1: prospects moving forward?
19:11
Speaker 2: Again?
19:12
Speaker 1: Sometimes like I look at this as like what can
19:14
Speaker 1: I guarantee when I'm when I'm piecing together this roster
19:18
Speaker 1: and you, and just like you, I cling onto the
19:20
Speaker 1: defense too, because I can guarantee Parker Meadow's like elite defense,
19:26
Speaker 1: and then if he can get on base like a
19:29
Speaker 1: plus you know runner attribute there as well, whereas with
19:34
Speaker 1: the other guys, I don't know. The problem is the
19:37
Speaker 1: problem is that, like you can, you run the risk
19:42
Speaker 1: of being of not being very versatile against certain lineups
19:46
Speaker 1: if you don't have Perez. I think I I underrated,
19:51
Speaker 1: just like obviously I know he's a relatively everyday player,
19:56
Speaker 1: but then when you start figuring out how to use
19:59
Speaker 1: this whole ross, you do.
20:01
Speaker 2: Realize just how.
20:04
Speaker 1: Like versatile thus valuable wetzel Peiz is And I don't
20:10
Speaker 1: know how much you want to give that up over
20:13
Speaker 1: the over the course of a season. So that that
20:16
Speaker 1: that's that's the tough part. That's the tough part. There's
20:18
Speaker 1: really I want to say. I want to say Parker
20:21
Speaker 1: is my is the guy that I'm hanging on too,
20:24
Speaker 1: because it's still Camerica, it's still center field, center field.
20:29
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think that matters. And another thing he
20:34
Speaker 3: talked about emotionally kind of how much can you handle
20:36
Speaker 3: with him? We know what Parker Meadows does in Triple A.
20:41
Speaker 3: He goes down there and he crushes and a short
20:44
Speaker 3: sample last year, yeah, nine to thirty three ops. He
20:47
Speaker 3: had an eight eighty three ops the year before that,
20:50
Speaker 3: eight twelve the year before that. Parker Meadows can hit
20:53
Speaker 3: Triple A pitching. I'm not sure how much it's helping
20:57
Speaker 3: him going down there because the things he struggles with
21:00
Speaker 3: is elite spin, elite top rail velocity, things you're really
21:05
Speaker 3: only seeing at the major league level. At some point,
21:09
Speaker 3: do you just have to say, hey, we get to
21:11
Speaker 3: figure out if you can do this or not. And
21:14
Speaker 3: maybe that's incentive to just roll with it. Another thing
21:18
Speaker 3: I've heard from people in the organization over the years
21:22
Speaker 3: is like, you know, you can live with a hole
21:25
Speaker 3: in your lineup. You can live with one, maybe two,
21:29
Speaker 3: you can't live with four or five. And there have
21:31
Speaker 3: been times that Tigers have had four or five, or
21:34
Speaker 3: six or seven or eight offensive holes. And we are
21:40
Speaker 3: past that. Now. There are some question marks and we'll
21:43
Speaker 3: see how certain guys perform, but you feel pretty good
21:47
Speaker 3: about most of the players on this roster. And if
21:50
Speaker 3: you're carrying Kevin McGonagall, you're doing so because you believe
21:53
Speaker 3: he can succeed. From day one. You're kind of going
21:57
Speaker 3: into this thinking maybe we only have one. You know,
22:01
Speaker 3: you might not be getting all star performance from eight positions,
22:05
Speaker 3: but you feel that the floor is a lot higher
22:08
Speaker 3: than it once was, and maybe you're willing to live
22:11
Speaker 3: with one hole in that lineup if it's giving you
22:14
Speaker 3: elite defense.
22:19
Speaker 2: Do we.
22:21
Speaker 1: Hang on to any upside like so in the in
22:27
Speaker 1: this scenario, you're talking about it from a whole standpoint, right,
22:31
Speaker 1: a whole without the just a whole standpoint? Uh is
22:39
Speaker 1: there is Does the word upside go into Parker's favor
22:43
Speaker 1: at all?
22:43
Speaker 2: Like offensively? Uh? Or are we or are we.
22:47
Speaker 1: Completely past that that? Because that's another piece of this too,
22:50
Speaker 1: is that like if it's and it's not just like can't.
22:53
Speaker 1: There's the whole competency thing, like obviously you want out
22:57
Speaker 1: of you know, everybody down your lineup, and obviously Parker
23:00
Speaker 1: being that as well. But the majority of like us
23:05
Speaker 1: talking about Parker Meadows has been offensive, upside possible. So
23:12
Speaker 1: now I wish I should have pulled it up in
23:14
Speaker 1: front of me how many at bats he has in
23:15
Speaker 1: the major leagues? But like, are we throwing that word
23:19
Speaker 1: out with Parker?
23:22
Speaker 2: Now? The piece of that you have to consider. I think.
23:26
Speaker 3: You know many a batts Parker medows hass in the
23:28
Speaker 3: major leagues less than I thought. Uh, six hundred and
23:32
Speaker 3: fifty six played appearances. That's one full season's worth. Really
23:39
Speaker 3: now he's twenty six, even that he's been the system
23:43
Speaker 3: so long almost feels twenty seven or twenty eight to me.
23:47
Speaker 3: I don't know, Like I think I really like Parker
23:51
Speaker 3: Meadows as a guy. As a player, I've never been
23:54
Speaker 3: as all in on like he's a four or five
23:57
Speaker 3: win players as some people in in the fan base
24:00
Speaker 3: have been. I do think at this point you want
24:04
Speaker 3: to see him survive in the big leagues before you
24:06
Speaker 3: get back to like, oh, the huge upside, But it
24:10
Speaker 3: is in there a little bit, and that might be
24:13
Speaker 3: worth something because and this is hard, I like win
24:17
Speaker 3: Soil Perez a lot too, Like he's done such valuable
24:21
Speaker 3: things for the Tigers over the past two years. It
24:23
Speaker 3: doesn't always show up in war and it doesn't always
24:27
Speaker 3: like it's not the most tangible, but damn, he just
24:30
Speaker 3: feels like he comes up big for this team a lot.
24:34
Speaker 3: But if we're being realistic, there's probably not a ton
24:38
Speaker 3: more upside there. This is probably a guy who's a
24:42
Speaker 3: fourth outfielder or an updown guy for the foreseeable future
24:47
Speaker 3: in his career. That doesn't mean he's not a good player,
24:49
Speaker 3: it doesn't mean he can't stick in the big leagues
24:51
Speaker 3: for a whole lot longer. But that's probably closer to
24:53
Speaker 3: what he is. Like there's a little less to find out.
24:58
Speaker 3: So I think that's what what makes this whole conversation tough.
25:01
Speaker 3: It's what makes this whole evaluation tough. Winstle's in one
25:05
Speaker 3: thirty six this spring, Parker's hitting one to eleven this spring, Like,
25:09
Speaker 3: how much can you actually take from that. I don't know.
25:12
Speaker 3: Maybe it'd be nice if one of these guys just
25:14
Speaker 3: has a nice final few days of camp and it
25:16
Speaker 3: makes the decision for you.
25:20
Speaker 1: All right, So I wasn't sure how we would land
25:22
Speaker 1: on this. I think right now it feels like we're
25:24
Speaker 1: landing on Parker over Perez.
25:28
Speaker 3: I think so. And we should also remember again, opening
25:31
Speaker 3: days like a false deadline, or it's not. It's not
25:34
Speaker 3: really a deadline at all. You can change the roster
25:37
Speaker 3: in a couple of days if you want ten days
25:41
Speaker 3: in the case of position players, if you option somebody.
25:43
Speaker 3: But if you want to go Parker Meadows for defense,
25:48
Speaker 3: I don't know. You're in You're in Petco, which is
25:51
Speaker 3: a big park. You're in Chase Field, which I think
25:53
Speaker 3: is a medium park, and see how it goes. And
25:57
Speaker 3: if he's not hitting, you can just switch him like
25:59
Speaker 3: you can do that. So this is not necessarily the
26:02
Speaker 3: end all, be all, final decision that that we like
26:06
Speaker 3: to make it out to be.
26:09
Speaker 1: That played appearances things is gonna be on my mind.
26:11
Speaker 1: I'm gonna lie uh that that's uh, that's man, that.
26:17
Speaker 2: That is part of the equation.
26:18
Speaker 1: Uh So let's uh So, basically, when it comes to
26:23
Speaker 1: this roster everybody you expect McGonagall in there, and and
26:27
Speaker 1: and Perez uh peas out just you know, in this
26:31
Speaker 1: false deadline exercise that we're doing. So then that brings
26:35
Speaker 1: us to pictures, which again there's a lot of expected
26:39
Speaker 1: uh pieces here, the five starters school bol Clarity, Valdez,
26:44
Speaker 1: uh Maze and and and Verlander and then your three
26:48
Speaker 1: back end guys Vest, Finnigan and Janssen.
26:54
Speaker 2: So then what are we what are we doing here?
26:56
Speaker 1: And I get and we should shout out Evan Woodberry
26:58
Speaker 1: of m L for kind of putting together a creative
27:03
Speaker 1: solution to this scenario that we just spent twenty minutes on,
27:08
Speaker 1: and that is you carry one less picture. Yeah, and
27:13
Speaker 1: you don't have to make the Perez or Meadows decision.
27:17
Speaker 2: And that is interesting.
27:19
Speaker 1: And his theory, and I'm paraphrasing as best I can,
27:22
Speaker 1: I don't want to obviously speak for him, but his
27:24
Speaker 1: theory is that if you have guys that are built
27:27
Speaker 1: to able to go deep in the games, which is
27:30
Speaker 1: what in theory the Tigers have. You have Drew Anderson
27:33
Speaker 1: who's going to be relatively stretched out, you're gonna have
27:36
Speaker 1: the hate. You can have the Jesus who's relatively stretched
27:38
Speaker 1: out and then kind of match up how you like
27:43
Speaker 1: it from there. So I will say this, I don't
27:46
Speaker 1: know if anybody else has done that. I am intrigued
27:48
Speaker 1: by that because of the tough decisions that we just
27:51
Speaker 1: went over, you know, twenty minutes.
27:54
Speaker 3: It's certainly an interesting idea. It is totally doable. You'll
27:59
Speaker 3: start the season three games against the Padres and off
28:02
Speaker 3: Day two games against the Diamondbacks. Now three more in
28:08
Speaker 3: a row against the Diamondbacks, off Day three against the Cardinals,
28:12
Speaker 3: four against the Twins, three against the Marlins. It's doable.
28:19
Speaker 3: I'm not a huge fan of it still, especially just
28:23
Speaker 3: in my time around the Tigers. They value these bullpen spots.
28:26
Speaker 3: They value their arms. You're trying to make your bullpen
28:30
Speaker 3: last for the whole season. Are you sure you want
28:32
Speaker 3: to start taxing guys in April? Even the idea of
28:36
Speaker 3: carrying a third left hander gives you value in a game,
28:42
Speaker 3: and was aj Hinchsey everything matters. I could be wrong,
28:47
Speaker 3: but I think there is more value in having the
28:51
Speaker 3: eighth man in your bullpen than having an extra bat
28:56
Speaker 3: off the bench. Now, the Padres do have a pretty
28:58
Speaker 3: good bullpen, so maybe it hurt you to have an
29:01
Speaker 3: extra option you could go to in game, but the
29:05
Speaker 3: Padres also have a pretty good lineup. I would I
29:08
Speaker 3: would rather have an extra arm prevent you from squeezing
29:15
Speaker 3: your bullpen or really allow you to be aggressive and
29:18
Speaker 3: match up. But it certainly is an interesting theory, and
29:23
Speaker 3: Evans really smart. Evans the smartest Evan would Berry is
29:26
Speaker 3: the smartest person on the Tigers beat, by the way.
29:28
Speaker 3: He's a lot smarter than I am. And his coverage
29:30
Speaker 3: maybe doesn't get isn't like as as splashy as some
29:33
Speaker 3: of the stuff you see out there, but he does
29:36
Speaker 3: good stuff, so I applaud him for presenting this idea.
29:40
Speaker 3: It's certainly something to think about.
29:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, the the risk factor I feel like is definitely
29:49
Speaker 1: higher there, and.
29:52
Speaker 2: It does.
29:55
Speaker 1: It just so goes against the grain of what we
29:58
Speaker 1: know the Tigers to about, like you said, and thus
30:03
Speaker 1: it's like one of those so crazy it just might
30:05
Speaker 1: work or it's just like ludicrous to even like put
30:09
Speaker 1: it out there, and I and I think it might be.
30:11
Speaker 2: More the former.
30:11
Speaker 3: Yeah, a better way to sum up what I was
30:15
Speaker 3: trying to say. I think that's a good chance you're
30:18
Speaker 3: just leaving an extra guy on the bench. He's not
30:20
Speaker 3: gonna be playing at all, And where where does that
30:22
Speaker 3: really get you? Maybe he's gonna get one at bad
30:24
Speaker 3: against the Padres. Here is that is that actually productive
30:27
Speaker 3: for anyone? Maybe is a way of delaying a decision
30:31
Speaker 3: between Jones, Meadows, Perez. Sure, but again, like you don't,
30:39
Speaker 3: it's not a final decision. You can you can swap
30:43
Speaker 3: out these parts at any time. So that's why I
30:45
Speaker 3: don't fully like the idea.
30:50
Speaker 1: So if we go with the thirteen pitchers, then so,
30:54
Speaker 1: like I said, the five starters plus the three back
30:57
Speaker 1: end guys, Holton feels pretty safe. I would say, yeah, right,
31:04
Speaker 1: Drew Anderson, obviously they bring him in.
31:06
Speaker 3: What are camps have? And people are starting to be like,
31:08
Speaker 3: is he better than Casey Mies or something? And that's interesting,
31:12
Speaker 3: But I don't think they're I don't think they're sending
31:14
Speaker 3: Casey Mice to the bullpen.
31:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that was Yeah, we could do an emergency
31:20
Speaker 1: podcast about that.
31:21
Speaker 2: If they make that decision that was send.
31:23
Speaker 3: Justin Berlander to the bullpen. They're not gonna have a
31:28
Speaker 3: six Related to the discussion you just had, They're not
31:31
Speaker 3: going to do a six man rotation because they don't
31:34
Speaker 3: want that bullpen being an arm short. They have never
31:37
Speaker 3: liked that idea.
31:40
Speaker 1: Right, Okay, so then do we how do we feel
31:42
Speaker 1: about would we put as of today so March twelfth,
31:45
Speaker 1: would we put the hayesuss on.
31:49
Speaker 3: I think that's become other than McGonagall, you know, probably
31:52
Speaker 3: the single biggest question looming over this roster I'm putting
31:58
Speaker 3: them on. I don't think you give him a I mean,
32:00
Speaker 3: you give him a forty man spot to keep him.
32:02
Speaker 3: But if you're that serious about keeping him, maybe you
32:05
Speaker 3: should have him on your team. Let's see, let's see
32:07
Speaker 3: what he looks like and is you know, as we
32:10
Speaker 3: get through the rest of this, is it just an
32:11
Speaker 3: illusion against Team Israel and some hitters in early spring.
32:15
Speaker 3: But he's a lefty. He gives you length, he gives you,
32:20
Speaker 3: you know, some versatility and how you can use him
32:24
Speaker 3: if you want three lefties. I think he's your guy now.
32:29
Speaker 3: If you just decide from a handedness matchup standpoint that
32:32
Speaker 3: you you don't want three lefties, maybe not could stash
32:36
Speaker 3: him in the minors, keep him stretched out as a
32:39
Speaker 3: starter if you have a rain delay and you're facing
32:42
Speaker 3: a left handed heavy team, maybe you bring him up
32:44
Speaker 3: instead of cater Montero. There could be some value in that.
32:47
Speaker 3: But I wonder if I just am starting to get
32:52
Speaker 3: the sense he could be a real asset for you,
32:55
Speaker 3: and if he is, you should probably pitch him in
32:57
Speaker 3: the major leagues.
32:59
Speaker 1: If you want to use him, maybe he should be
33:01
Speaker 1: on your team. What a statement? So then that gives
33:07
Speaker 1: us too Herder and Hannafy does that feel?
33:13
Speaker 2: Yeah?
33:13
Speaker 3: And I do wonder you know, Herder is probably penciled
33:16
Speaker 3: in over to dehes who's still I think just based
33:19
Speaker 3: on track record, maybe that's not a slam dunk. Maybe
33:23
Speaker 3: something to keep an eye on. So I think these
33:27
Speaker 3: final two spots, you know, how are they going to
33:29
Speaker 3: break it down? Let's say Dejeshus is in, Herder's in,
33:33
Speaker 3: You're really looking at one more right hander hand. If
33:35
Speaker 3: he's probably the favorite, Bowbrisky not totally out of that equation,
33:39
Speaker 3: but he missed some time. He's going to have to
33:41
Speaker 3: really get going and finish strong. Burch Smith is still
33:46
Speaker 3: in this picture. Ricky Venasco is still in this picture
33:50
Speaker 3: a little bit. But to me, Brendan Hannef he seems
33:53
Speaker 3: like the pretty clear favorite, even if he has some
33:55
Speaker 3: stuff to work on. He is pretty limited to being
33:59
Speaker 3: a right handed sink baller type, but that's kind of
34:02
Speaker 3: always been his m The Tigers talk about, you know,
34:05
Speaker 3: building a bullpen with different parts, different strings. Need a
34:09
Speaker 3: right handed pitcher who can keep a batter on the ground, Well,
34:11
Speaker 3: you happen to have one, and you don't have to
34:14
Speaker 3: use them for other things. If you have a virstatal
34:16
Speaker 3: weapon like in Manuel to hayesus in your bullpen.
34:23
Speaker 1: I'm looking at looking at the you know, sort of
34:26
Speaker 1: a roster breakdown right now, sneaky kind of veteran bullpen,
34:31
Speaker 1: like you know, like handa feet hand if he heard
34:36
Speaker 1: her and you know, you throw Brisky in there.
34:38
Speaker 2: They're all twenty seven plus, it's uh.
34:42
Speaker 3: That means that means you're running out of guys with options,
34:45
Speaker 3: which can get tricky if pictures are struggling.
34:50
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, and and Brisky to me, like.
34:54
Speaker 1: Especially when he had what was it was a rib
34:57
Speaker 1: injury that that he had that or what he came
35:01
Speaker 1: out of a game. I can't remember what the injury
35:02
Speaker 1: was that he came out of a game for a
35:05
Speaker 1: couple weeks ago, but to me, he feels like a
35:11
Speaker 1: rib cage tightness, ripe tachess okay uh. He feels like
35:17
Speaker 1: a second half post Memorial Day, Like, get him really
35:22
Speaker 1: ramped up and get them correct in Toledo and then
35:26
Speaker 1: when inevitably there's a spot opens up, like I would
35:30
Speaker 1: expect him to get the call and probably not lose it,
35:33
Speaker 1: to be honest like that, because that's that's like the
35:36
Speaker 1: respect I have for what he was a couple of
35:37
Speaker 1: years ago.
35:38
Speaker 3: I'm totally with you on that. I wouldn't be shocked
35:41
Speaker 3: if he's better than Kenley Jansen by the end of
35:45
Speaker 3: the year. But because you know, like you take it slow,
35:49
Speaker 3: don't rush it. Get this guy back to the picture
35:52
Speaker 3: he can be, and he might. He might end up
35:55
Speaker 3: being really valuable, even if it's not one Opening Day.
36:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, he might be mister Opening Days. A false deadline
36:04
Speaker 1: like that might be.
36:04
Speaker 3: That might be that before. He has literally been that before.
36:08
Speaker 1: Absolutely all right, a lot of a lot of fun exercises there.
36:12
Speaker 3: We're probably totally wrong about something. Someone someone give me
36:15
Speaker 3: a call and tell me what I'm what I'm missing.
36:17
Speaker 3: I know we've been away from camp here. Yeah, yeah,
36:20
Speaker 3: give it.
36:21
Speaker 1: Give us some indication of what we're overlooking. So that
36:23
Speaker 1: we can make ourselves a little smarter. And and by
36:26
Speaker 1: the way, if you guys have any thoughts about this,
36:28
Speaker 1: you know, whether it's you know, there's some player that
36:31
Speaker 1: we're missing that you're not sort of like in love with,
36:34
Speaker 1: like holding down a roster spots as comfortably as we
36:37
Speaker 1: gave it, you know. At Cody Stapenhagen act here underscore
36:41
Speaker 1: stectly at Tiger Territory Underscore, comment on YouTube page, Apple, Spotify, follow, subscribe.
36:46
Speaker 1: We appreciate everybody who who does that. Uh, like, if
36:49
Speaker 1: there's something we're missing, like sometimes you get into the
36:51
Speaker 1: weeds in this and then something just goes over your head, like,
36:54
Speaker 1: uh well, we'll love to hear, and we'll and we'll
36:56
Speaker 1: mention it next time we bring this up. Because again
36:58
Speaker 1: it's we're at that time right now, Cody, where oh man,
37:02
Speaker 1: it's March twelfth, but it's also like it's only March twelfth,
37:05
Speaker 1: Like we're like really like right right in that line.
37:08
Speaker 3: That's a good way to put it, So it.
37:11
Speaker 1: Won't be the last time we talk about this, and
37:13
Speaker 1: then obviously throughout the year, anything else, Cody before we
37:16
Speaker 1: jet out of here.
37:18
Speaker 3: No, I think that's it. I don't know if I
37:19
Speaker 3: got all the roster scenarios, but I am on top
37:22
Speaker 3: of all the tiebreaker scenarios.
37:24
Speaker 1: There, there you go, there you go, all right for
37:29
Speaker 1: Cody stabuting and I'm Karen's Deckley.
37:31
Speaker 2: Everybody, have a great day.