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A series win, a first base platoon and River Ryan's return · Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast

• 0:10
  Speaker 1: And welcome in to another episode of Tiger Territory, part
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: of the Foul Territory Network. Detroit Tigers podcast. I am
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Kieran Steckley. With me, as always, is a Cody that
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: we can all appreciate.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: He is Cody Stabenhagen. How are we doing?
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: I'm not as good as Cody Clemons, all right? Thanks
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: for taking some time here, everybody. Live from the Comerica
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: Park press box for this one, so sorry if the
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: sound is a little bit off. We got Will Birchfield
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: in here doing a Detroit Lions podcast, so. We'll try
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: to make it work as best we can.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so just a little bit of a scheduling crunch.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Appreciate everybody sticking with us through it. But, yeah, let's
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: get right to it, Cody.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: What do we say? What do we do? Like, what
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: do I do with my hands? The Tigers won a series.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: Like, should the title of this pod be like, Scott Harris,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: seat cool. You know, should it be young Tigers get
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: it done?
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: I don't know.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: Like, I just haven't experienced this in a while, Cody.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: And by the way, like, not for nothing, a couple, like,
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: I would say two clutch games and you split them,
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: and then you kind of take care of business there
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: and extend leads and hold it down there on Wednesday.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: I mean, this is... It's been a while since we've
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: been able to see this, no?
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: Seven series losing streak was just snap gear. And so, yeah,
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: it feels a little bit weird just trying to navigate. Like, oh, yeah,
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: they did. In my mind, I'm still like, they lost
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: two out of three, right?
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: Like, no, no, they won.
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: And they played a really good game on Wednesday, put
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: some offense on the board early. Cater Montero wasn't at
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: his best, did have a shorter start. But then the
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: bullfin covered five innings and was really good.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: Tyler Holton.
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: Up and down year but has been better recently drew
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: summers continues to strike dudes out at a crazy rate
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: tyler kinley even has been pretty useful from the right-handed
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: side since coming to the org and kyle finnegan got
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: himself a scoreless ninth.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: One could argue this might have been the best bullpen
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: series in a bit you know like like Like, you know,
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: you were able– even on Labor Day on Monday, you know,
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: with the double plays that were turned and even Kenley
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: getting his first double play of the season. I mean,
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: you want to talk about just things that we're just, like,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: not used to experiencing. I mean, that might be A1
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: right there.
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, you talk about the volatility of outcomes.
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: They were a couple of inches away from losing that
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: home run going out to center field. And then, yeah,
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: just kind of the randomness of baseball, right? Kenley Jansen gets–
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: who has not gotten many ground balls, period, happens to
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: get his first ground ball double play of the year.
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: They certainly had some things go in favor, you know,
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: finally go their way in the first game of this series.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and, you know, we don't have to spend a
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: whole lot of time on it because there's obviously so
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: many other, like, big picture topics, but, like, To see
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: a guy like Ken Lee, whose flaws are known at
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: his age and at his stature, he's not going to
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: really change much. But even if he blew that save
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: there on Monday, I was going to come on here.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: At least he made a concerted effort to kind of
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: buck a trend of his, which is just green light
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: run game.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: You know what I mean? I don't know if.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: Other people caught on this or maybe I was just
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: kind of looking too closely and kind of missing the
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: forest from the trees there. I even thought his stretch
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: was quicker. I thought he was quicker to home plate
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: in that situation. It was definitely more of a concerted effort.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: To at least....
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: Have some attempt at neutralizing the run game. So, like,
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: I do want to give him and the coaching staff
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: and all of them credit there, you know, able to
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: get a win.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: And then, you know, let's get.
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: Let's cover this real quick, too. Kind of a weird
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: starting pitching series for the Tigers.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: I mean, if you especially take it into the last
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: couple days, we'll start with today and go in reverse order.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: Cater Montero, obviously he's got a lot in his mind, like,
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: you know, you know, baby watch as, as, as AJ
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: said it and couldn't imagine trying to, you know, juggle
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: all that.
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: And, and all of his.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: Circumstances, uh, wasn't particularly sharp, but at the same time,
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: he was like, what?
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: No hit.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: He had a no hitter through three. Uh, and then,
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: and it was like, okay, this might be one of
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: those Montero kind of gets it done days. And then
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: the aforementioned Cody Clemens, and then, uh, Josh Bell go
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: back to back and, all of a sudden it's like, oh, man,
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: what's going to happen here? And then Drew Anderson, too,
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: on Tuesday. Drew Anderson was looking like, I don't even
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: know what I was going to come on this podcast
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: and start talking about Drew Anderson stuff there for about
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: five innings. And then it kind of, I don't want
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: to say collapsed, but it zeroed out there pretty quickly.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: So it was like one of those outings where you
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: have two starting pitchers that you're curious or excited for,
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: moving forward in the case of Montero, but then it
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: just kind of siloed really quickly. And then you kind
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: of had to come back to reality. And again, you
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: had an opportunity to win on Tuesday in that situation,
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: and then you pulled away in a win on Wednesday.
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: Well, it might be worth talking about Drew Anderson a
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: little bit, starting to come into focus. He has a
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: $ 10 million club option next year. And are the Tigers
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: going to pick that up or not? I would lean
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: toward yes. You know, when we talked about the, history
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: of pitching acquisition failures and said Drew Anderson has been
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: completely fine, ranks toward the top in terms of Scott
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: Harris acquisitions over the past two years because he's not
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: negative war. I don't know that he's been some huge
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: unheralded fine, but he's done some nice things. He interestingly
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: has been much better as a starter than he has
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: out of the pen. He has a starter's arsenal. You know,
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: you go up from 7 to 10 million. It's not
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: a huge difference, but suddenly that does get expensive for
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: a reliever, but I think that's a guy who's shown
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: you enough, who can miss some bats, the changeup is legit.
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: You could bring the next year's spring training kind of
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: back in this swingman role. There are injuries he can
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: fill in as a starter, and if not, he can
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: give you something from the right-handed side and the pin.
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: So I don't know that's a total guarantee, but given
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: what the Tigers have already invested in him and given
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: that there are some signs that maybe he could be
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: even better, I would think that's probably an option that
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: seemingly is going to get picked up.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, and I would wager that it's a
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: little bit similar to some of the other discussions we've
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: talked about players as to, you know, whether you hang
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: on to them, whether you maybe see if there's, you know,
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: greener pastures.
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: And with Drew, there's enough there.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: And again, at price point, if people care to talk
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: about it in that way, there's enough there at price
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: point where I'm like, if you.
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: decline the club.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: Option or don't exercise it or whatever the correct terminology
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: would be like then you're just gonna go look for
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: another drew anderson like you're gonna go look for another
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: guy who.
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: Could maybe get that a cheaper than 10 million would
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: be the thing have they the the devil's advocate argument
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: would be have they seen enough from drew to realize
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: well there's not a ton more upside they didn't strike
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: gold here for seven million you could probably get 0.6
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: war for less than $ 10 million. So that would be
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: the discussion point, but then you're just trying to save
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: a few million here and there, which, hey, whatever. I
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: can respect that. But I don't know. I think this
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: guy's shown you enough and has established some level of
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: stability that assuming they still like him, assuming they think
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: they can get a little more out of him, I
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: don't know, there are worse things than picking up that option,
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: to your point.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and then just to tie a bow on that,
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: I would add the cost of, even if you bring
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: in a guy at a slightly cheaper rate, the manpower
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: cost to figure out exactly what his best assets are,
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: how to best utilize him from Robin Lund's perspective, how
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: to best utilize and coach him to get the most
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: out of his arsenal, and then just like all this
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: institutional knowledge you've built up for having a guy in
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: your system for a year, that's savings time is money
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: on what you would do to replace a Drew Anderson.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: So is that worth $ 4 million?
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: I don't know. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: But it does allow you to look elsewhere and other
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: ways to improve your team if you just pick up
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: the club option and you don't have to think about
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: it too hard. All right. We are going to get
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: to a quick break. And then afterward, let's talk about
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: first base. But first, a word from our sponsors.
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• 10:33
  Speaker 2: All right, coming back here.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: So, uh, interesting stat that was on Detroit sports net
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: in the bottom of the top of the second, I mean,
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: excuse me, is that the tigers this season, uh, are
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: 17-5 when they hit a first-inning home run. And at
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: that time, it was like they had won 13 of
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: their last 14, so obviously it should be 14 of
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: 15 now when they hit a first-inning home run, which
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: is what we got. Colt Keith, a two-run shot with
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: Howie Lee walking right before him.
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: Line drive. I mean, if you wanted to envision a
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: Colt Keith home run, it would be that.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: It would be like real muscling, a hanging off-speed pitch.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: Right, it was a change-up, I believe. And then, you know,
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: just line drive right at the fence. And that's strength.
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: You know what I mean? That's like natural power. And
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: that's something that.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: We're always going to be waiting to see until it
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: happens or it doesn't.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: And Colt Keith can do that consistently. Consistently.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: However, what is right in front of us, Cody, is
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: that it does seem like if we're not already there,
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: we are like on the tip-tip-tip-tip cups of a straight platoon.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: Colt Keith and Spencer Torkelson, it seems like if there's
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: a lefty on the mound, Torkelson's going to get the start,
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: and then as soon as the enter can happen, it'll happen,
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: and then if it's a righty on the mound to start,
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: it's going to be Colt Keith in there, and he'll
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: be batting, and the difference is Colt Keith will be
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: batting at the top of the lineup, whereas Spencer, middle
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: to back.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: So that's what it appears. Is that what you're seeing?
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: I mean, it's pretty clear, right? Spencer Jorgensen hasn't started
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: three of the past four games, which is just kind
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: of awkward for... Anything you want to say about Tork,
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: this is a guy who has posted very consistently throughout
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: his time in the big leagues, has played, I think,
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: 159 games in one season and 155 last year. So
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: just to see him not starting at first base is
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: a little bit odd, and that kind of brought it
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: to the forefront of like, oh, yeah, this is suddenly
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: a platoon. And I think that's pretty awkward for both guys.
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: I think these are two of the most talked about,
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: most debated Tigers players really very different hitters. Twerk obviously
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: has the incredible natural power, but we see the peaks
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: and valleys. Keith has been a little more stable, but
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: hasn't unlocked the power, has just kind of been solid,
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: quietly solid. That homer was only his second homer in
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: the past 48 games, so again, you just want to
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: see a little bit more of that power. And then
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: I think it's like, well, what does this mean going forward, Kieran?
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: And I'm not sure what the answer to that is. Clearly,
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: this is somewhat of an indictment of Torkelson clearly is
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: also just a product of where the Tigers are at
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: in their year, bringing up someone like John Peck, which
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: I would argue, like, one way you could have used
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: September is say, you know what, maybe we're not going
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: to do this platoon stuff. Maybe let's let Colt Keith
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: actually face lefties. And one way you could have done
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: that would have been keep McGonigal playing at short, don't
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: bring up Peck. He would have had to bring up
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: someone else, and then maybe they just don't play a lot,
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: so I'm not sure that's ideal either. But that possibility existed.
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: The Tigers are not doing that. Instead, they're letting Peck
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: play after only six games in AAA. McGonigal's playing third,
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: and now Colt and Tork are platooning. Like I said,
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: I feel like that's a little bit awkward. I've talked
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: to both guys about it. They understand it. They're professional
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: about it. But I don't think either of them love
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: the situation. But then you look at just where they're
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: at on paper. I mean, Spencer Torgelson is in 207
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: against righties this year. And Cole Keith barely plays against
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: lefties and has hit below, I think, 200 the past
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: two years against lefties. So on paper, platooning those two
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: guys kind of makes total sense. But we're talking about
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: a number one overall pick and a guy you gave
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: a pre-debut extension. And I think it's a little hard
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: to say exactly what this means for next year's team
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: because we don't know. anything about how this team is
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: going to look. Oddly enough, the only infielder who is
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: a sure thing is Kevin McGonigal, and he could play short,
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: he could play third, or he could play second. We
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: don't know where Kevin McGonigal is going to play next year,
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: so I don't know what the construction is going to
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: look like. I think it's interesting, and I do wonder, like, okay,
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: if you still believe in Colt Keith and if you
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: still believe in his development, is this actually the best
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: course of action?
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: Man, that is so layered. I could go in so
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: many different directions. Because, like, the value judgment of it
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: is no for Colt Keith. Like, no, it is not
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: the best use of his value for him to be
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: playing first base. Number one, obviously first base is a
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: less important position than all the rest of them, right?
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: Number two, you don't want to.
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: You don't want to stunt the development of a 24th,
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: about to turn 25, whatever.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: Just turned 25, infielder prospect. You don't want to stunt
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: the development there by having him at first base. And
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: then three, this steady, consistent, not much power, but consistent
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: hit tool is not cute if you're an everyday first baseman.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: So for all those things, I wouldn't say it's the
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: most comfortable thing. And then from the TORC perspective, we've
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: all done the TORC thing. We'll continue to do the
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: TORC thing until TORC is no longer on this team.
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: But is that the best use of him to be
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: a platoon? Like in general, I know what the numbers
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: are this year and all that stuff. There's a very
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: real possibility that that we're going to spend like February
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: and March talking about how, isn't it nice that the Tigers,
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: you know, maybe it is kind of the Tiger, two
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: guys that could throw a first base, either handed pitcher.
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: And they just kind of, you know, you know, can
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: roll the punches that way. And then by the time
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: like June 16th, like comes across, it's like, all right,
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: this isn't really like cute anymore.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: You know what I mean?
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: Like, like, you know, Cole hasn't necessarily developed like, I
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: don't think that would.
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: Be a good use of the roster spot if this
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: is like their plan for next year while you're maybe
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: waiting on Briseño. But, I mean, I guess the good
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: thing is Colt can do things other than first base.
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: But is first base really where you want to platoon,
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: especially if one of those guys, Tork, in theory can't
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: do anything except first base? Although, don't forget, don't forget
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: he played an inning or two in right field in
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: spring training. How long until we're bringing that back into
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: the equation? I don't know if this means they're moving
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: on from Tork or Colt or either guy, and I'm
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: not sure they know for all the reasons. We just
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: talked about the other thing, too. We know what the
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: metrics say about Tork's defense. We know the eye test
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: tends to be a little better than the metrics. Cole
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: Keith hasn't played there enough to really know how he's
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: going to grade out metrically. The eye test is not
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: very pretty, and he admits it. He's still getting better,
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: learning about scoops and cutoffs and pickoff throws. He's kind
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: of leaning on Tork for help, which tells you something
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: about both of those two guys. But Cole Keith definitely
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: has some work to do on the defensive side of
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: first base.
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and, you know, you're right.
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: That's when it's like, guess what? This guy had some
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: work to do defensively at second, and he started to
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: get better.
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: Well, then they moved him to first, and then they
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: moved him back to third, and he had a lot
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: of work to do. And guess what? He got better
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: to the point A.J. Hinch was talking him up at
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: third about a month ago, and now, oh, hey, you're
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: going to spend all September in a first base platoon.
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: Sometimes that's just how things go in the big leagues,
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: but I just don't love that from a developmental perspective.
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it All the above. I will give him credit.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: He has made a couple nice plays at first, like
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: in the double play, throwing around the runner. That's kind
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: of him showing off his baseball acumen.
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: And he ran into the dugout. I hope he's okay.
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: I'm not trying to laugh.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: But ran into the dugout there going after the foul ball.
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: And I love that. Colt Keith is a lot of things.
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: Playing hard is definitely one of them. Right.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: So so like I like that aspect and the athletic
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: piece of it is something that if it turns into
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: something I can I can talk myself into. But there's
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: so many other layers to it that I'm just not sure.
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: I would probably bet that having this like platoon thingy
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: majig at first base, that's probably like offseason plan like
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: D or E. Like they're going to have that in
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: their back pocket. They're not going to make it the
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: goal to go into 2027 with that as the plan,
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: but they know that if there's another situation where they
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: can add elsewhere and it makes more sense to do this,
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: that will be like something they opt for especially now
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: that we I mean they've already done it basically when
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: they signed Glaber the first time and moved Colt to
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: first base and then Now, one could argue we're seeing
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: the real manifestation of that sign a couple years ago.
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's interesting, too. Another ripple effect from that. Obviously,
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: it seems like some things are beginning to come to
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: a head on this roster, and this is just one
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: more sign of it.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: And again, Brasenio, I'm as curious as anybody to see
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: what he looks like and how quickly he can look
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: like what his potential is, because it's hard not to
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: get excited for for his hitting potential at such a
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: young age. So definitely part of the broader plan for
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: the Tigers. All right, we are going to get to
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: a quick break. And then afterward, it finally happened. River
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: Ryan pitched for the Detroit Tigers organization. But first, a
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  Speaker 2: All right, coming back here.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: So if you were bored during the near two-hour rain delay,
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: you got your fix in by getting updates on River Ryan,
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: one of the pieces, obviously, in the Tarek Skubal trade.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: Made his organizational debut. He was pitching for the Toledo Mudhens.
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: And short, but on purpose short, two innings. He sprayed
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: a couple bloop singles, I believe is what it was.
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: Two strikeouts.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: 23 pitches, 17 strikes. I think he topped out at 98.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: People are getting excited about the breaking balls. In terms
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: of debuts that, I'm not going to say they mean nothing,
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: but it wasn't like a major league debut, a major
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: trade piece.
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: You see what I'm saying?
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: I'm just trying to separate those. It seems like this
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: was a pretty good applause to see River Ryan finally
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: pitch in this organization.
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah, given his story, his trajectory, number one, just good
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: to see him healthy on a mound. Again, a very
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: important player for the Tigers. I'd say one of the
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: most interesting things going on behind the scenes right now
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: is River Ryan and what he can be. And are
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: they actually going to get him to the major leagues
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: this year? Because you're running out of time. The clock's ticking.
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: So how much are we actually going to see of him? Again,
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: he only threw two innings, I think. wasn't hard at
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: all to see what the tigers liked guys really good
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: fastball guys really nasty breaking ball you know i watched
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: the outing i thought there were a couple sequences where
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: he got ahead and looked really good uh there were
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: a couple sequences where he got behind and it's like
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: okay and you know triple a it's not what you
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: want to see uh there's some pretty big misses actually
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: when he did miss the strike zone but he also
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: didn't leave anything in the middle and then you look
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: at the uh the modeling, some of the stuff that
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: comes out on Twitter, and it's like, okay, so he
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: had one, two, three, four, five, six plus pitches. You know,
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: the computer loves this dude for a reason. He has
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: serious plus stuff. It's not just the foreseam and the slider, cutter, sinker, curveball, changeup.
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: River Ryan has some pretty nasty stuff, and you could
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: see a glimpse of that, and what amounts to only
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: his first rehab outing in AAA, not even with the
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: adrenaline of a big league mound. I remain under the
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: impression like this is probably the guy who's going to
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: determine whether the school bowl trade was good or bad.
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: And Zaire Hope, you know, after a slow start, he's
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: really turned it on. He's been good. Profiles to me
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: is he's not quite as highly ranked of a prospect
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: as Riley Green, but a Riley Green-esque player, you would
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: hope he can maybe have an all-star ceiling. We'll see
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: how he ages. We'll see how he can play in
• 24:31
  Speaker 3: the field. In Smith, you have an arm that's a
• 24:35
  Speaker 3: little bit more of a flyer. Best case, you're hoping
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: he can be a major league starter. Worst case, he's
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: maybe a long reliever. And then it's Ryan, who could
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: be an ace or could be hurt and nothing or
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: could be a closer. The array of outcomes is pretty
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: wide for River Ryan. Obviously, the talent is there, but
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: we're going to be talking about this guy for years
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: and years to come, so this is really just step one.
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I'll just say this right now. Having a
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: plumber come out to our house, if you guys hear
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: some voices on my end, that's what's happening. So again,
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: thank you for everybody's understanding. My impression is from, and
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: this is a good reminder as to why, but if
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: you go back and you look at our reaction to
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: the trade deadline and then our reaction to Scott Harris
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: talking about the trade deadline, like, I think they were
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: really happy to get hope in the deal. I think
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: they were satisfied with the Mize return. But I think
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: the juices are really flowing in the front office for
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: what River Ryan could be. And I think that might
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: be one of the guys that they're... If you made
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: them choose, which one are you most excited on the
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: trade deadline returns, especially the Scooble trade, they would probably
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: say River Ryan.
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: Let's see if it's River Ryan.
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: And, and, and even though like I'm a hope guy,
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: that was the one that I was really hoping for
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: leading up to the trade deadline. It's hard to, it's
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: hard to say, uh, river Ryan being your, your dude
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: basically is, is a bad choice. And given that he's
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: a prospect that's a little bit older and everybody knows
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: like his story, I'll just go ahead and do it
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: right now. Uh, I was just double checking. He has
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: no nickname listed on baseball reference. So I'm going to
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: submit old man, river, old man, river as his, uh,
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: as a, as his nickname, because he's, you know, he's,
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: it's a little bit of an older prospect, you know,
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: it's a little tongue in cheek, old man, river, uh, not,
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: not very many people traded at the trade deadline as
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: a prospect, get paternity leave before they make their organizational debut.
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: Just say it, you know, it's a old man river. Uh,
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: hopefully he's an old soul too.
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: Uh, but, but yeah, that was a positive day on
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: day that the tigers won a series for the first
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: time in seven series. So, uh, We're going to have
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: another episode that airs Friday, so we'll get to some more, like,
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: bigger picture stuff.
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: But I feel like we covered a lot here, Cody.
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: Anything else you really wanted to get into before we
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: jet out?
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: No, I think that takes care of it. Plenty more
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: we could dive into, but we will be back next episode.
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: Well, I want to thank you guys for listening, watching along.
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: You can follow us on.
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: Twitter, at CodySavenhagen.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: I am at Kieran underscore SteckleyPodPage, at TigerTerritory underscore SteckleyPodPage. YouTube, Apple, Spotify,
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: you guys know what to do. We appreciate all of you.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: So for Cody Stavenhagen, I'm Kieran Steckley.
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: Everybody have a great day.