Latest / Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast / What should we expect from Tarik Skubal's return to Comerica Park?

Transcript

What should we expect from Tarik Skubal's return to Comerica Park? · Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: And welcome in to another episode of Tiger Territory, part
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: of the Foul Territory Network, Detroit Tigers podcast. I am
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Kieran Steckley. With me, as always, is a man who
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: actually ended up running off with Jolene. He is Cody Stavenhagen.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: How are we doing?
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: I'm doing all right, Kieran. Pour one out for Dolly Parton,
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: an all-time great.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: All-time great, yes. And speaking of all-time greats, we're going
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: to preview Tarek Skubal coming back to Comerica Park. But first,
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: we got to Kind of get to some business that
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: we didn't get a chance to talk about in our
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: last episode with Austin Jackson. You guys should go watch
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: it if you haven't already. Austin, here's a little teaser.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Another reason to subscribe to our YouTube channel. He was
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: holding a Miguel Cabrera game used bat during that podcast. So,
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: you know, it's kind of fun.
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Let's get to Riley Green, Cody. We didn't really... get
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: a chance to kind of dive in on, on any
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Riley green updates, or even just kind of contextualizing what
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: we're seeing in reference to Riley green being out. And,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: you know, baseball, it's, you know, it's team game. Obviously
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: one batter shouldn't make all that much of a difference.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: And it's probably an oversimplification to kind of attribute a
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: lot of what we'd seen offensively from the tigers of
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: late to Riley green being out. But, that doesn't stop
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: the mind from wandering. Uh, like how much of an
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: impact does that really have? But first of all, uh,
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: seeing him around and, and, and talking with AJ, like,
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: is there anything you can share with us about like what,
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: what the steps forward might be or anything like that?
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: I mean, nothing, nothing super newsworthy. Riley seemed to be
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: in pretty good spirits this week. I mean, first day
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: of the homestand, he kind of came bouncing across the
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: clubhouse and was like, did you guys miss me? It's like, um, Sure,
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: we missed you. I think your team has missed you more.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: And you're right, Kieran. It's not just the absence of
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: Riley Green, but the absence of Riley Green combined with
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: a Dylan Dingler slump, a Spencer Torkelson downturn. You're playing
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: all these young guys. His absence certainly has been felt.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: I think he's going to be back relatively soon as
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: long as all goes well, but it does seem like
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: the Tigers aren't trying to push it. Since Riley's been
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: back in Detroit this week, he's been doing Pretty much
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: full baseball activity.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: A.J.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: Hinch said he's been running at as close to full
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: speed as it gets. You know, he did some hitting
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: on the field. He just hasn't gone out for rehab
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: assignment yet. The Tigers have not publicized what date they're
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: planning for that to happen. Based on the fact he
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: seems to be checking every box, I would think that's
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: got to be happening pretty soon, but It does feel
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: like maybe they want to be extra cautious given it's
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: a hamstring, a soft tissue injury. Given where we're at
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: in the calendar, you kind of can't afford any setbacks.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: So it does seem like he is going to do
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: a rehab assignment. But then it's also a matter of, okay,
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: could we do one game and call it good? Or
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: is it going to be like two games, three games?
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: I don't know. I'd like to see Riley do... green
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: back within about a week or so. But I don't
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: know for sure the exact timeline.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, without obviously knowing, you know, all the
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: medical information or how he's feeling or whatever. I mean,
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: if it's a week, I'd almost feel, like, disappointed because it.
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm kind of being safe there, yeah.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, because, like, here's the thing. Like, it's... I'm not
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: diminishing the, like, what a hamstring injury feels like or
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: what it does to a ballplayer or anything like that.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: but it is something that if he's feeling all right
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: and he's gone through, you know, a game, maybe two
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: and you feel good the next day, you know, I
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: think the Tigers are big on like, what's it like
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: the next day when it comes to injuries? I don't
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: necessarily feel the need to just kind of waste calendar
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: days with Riley green doing the same thing in Toledo
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: or Erie or, you know, wherever that, you know, sometimes
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: they change based on weather and, and, and all that stuff.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: I just feel like there's, If he's okay, he's okay.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: That'd be kind of like my opinion. And to just
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: kind of contextualize a little bit, here's just one little
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: stat trend, I guess you could say, in terms of
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: since he went out, which his last game was August 11th.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: So we're recording this early evening, August 27th. And the
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: Tigers since then have done one, two, three, four. They've
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: had four games of zero or one run. Prior to that,
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: prior to Green getting hurt, the last time they had
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: had zero or one run was July 12th. Prior to
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: that was June 25th. So there's just one little example
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: of what Riley Green, in conjunction with everything else that
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: his absence entails, kind of does for this offense. He's
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: obviously somebody who we talk about all the time, like
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: game plan for and game plan against, and he has
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: been one of the few stable presences in the AJ
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: Hinch order and I think we're seeing sort of the
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: the ripple effects you know the much the much anxiety
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: inducing ripple effects of having him just out of the
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: lineup much less like what he actually does once he's
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: in the in the box.
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah I mean it changes a lot of subtle things
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: too right like I mean there's a lot of statistical
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: evidence that like lineup protection is is not a real
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: thing but I tell you what players certainly seem to
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: believe in it and you know, the way AJ Hintz
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: draws out his lineup, that top half of the order
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: just looks and feels a lot different without Riley Green
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: in it. I would argue it puts a lot more
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: pressure on Kevin McGonigal and the opponent really kind of
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: circles McGonigal's name and underlines it three times because without
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: McGonigal or without Riley, you know, who else are you
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: really afraid of in those top four or five hitters?
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: I mean, we saw Brett Callahan lead off. I think
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: we've seen AJ get kind of a little creative as
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: to how to try to maximize that top half of
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: the order, and it's just a lot harder when you
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: don't have Riley Green's sheer presence there.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and not even to... I know defensively his metrics
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: don't grade out well anymore, but we did see what
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: I would say is a basic misplay in left field
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: this week. So it's like those little things tend to
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: add up as well. All right, let's spend a little
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: time on this, Cody. This was a question we've gotten
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: a couple times, and we just haven't gotten to it,
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: and today feels like a good day to get to it.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: Eduardo Valencia, for as much of a feel-good story as
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: he's been, and it's basically all feel-good, there is something
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: on his box score that is curious. I kind of
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: wanted to see what your opinion was of it. So
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: he's got a strikeout to walk ratio of 21 to 1.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: He's got 21 Ks and 1 base on balls since
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: he got to the major leagues. I'm no baseball expert,
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: but that seems like not the most great of trends.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: Especially somebody whose hit tool is what got him here
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: and presumably what could make him stay. You obviously want
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: that to improve, and that could be attributed to a
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: million things. So I went and researched just a little
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: bit about this, and according to Google AI, the average...
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: I've got to cite my sources here. The average pitches
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: per plate appearance is... about 3.4 to 3.8-ish. That's kind
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: of like the usual range according to Google. Well, right now,
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: Valencia is at 3.9. So it's not like he's more
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: aggressive than the average hitter at the plate, right? So
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: I think that's something that is of note when you're
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: trying to contextualize all this. And then another point is
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: if you go and you look at his minor league
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: track record, which, you know, It's a long track record.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: That's one of the things that makes the story so
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: great is that he had the log in the minor
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: leagues for so long. The strikeout to walk ratio is
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: not alarming. It's right in the range of what you
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: would expect as normal, average, maybe a tick high, but
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: nothing alarming, nothing that makes you say that this is
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: something like he can't walk. Like, you know, Dan Dickerson
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: on the radio when he's describing an opposing hitter, he's like,
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: he will not walk. You know, I love it when
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: Dan does that. You know, that's not Valencia's profile at
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: all if you look at his minor league statistics. So
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: if I were to give just sort of like a
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: general basis of what we're seeing right now, it's probably
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: you're facing Major League Pitching and it's just a little
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: bit harder and he hasn't necessarily gotten a whole feel
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: for the zone based on the skill level of pitching
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: he has seen. That would be my general opinion. take
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: on it given the fact that he's not overly aggressive
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: at the plate and he's got a track record of
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: taking his walk so what what do you think about
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: valencia in this uh sort of like alarming ratio he's
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: got going on.
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: Uh yeah first of all i'm dismayed by the fact
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: for citing google ai on this podcast although i guess
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: that is kind of a referendum baseball reference and fan
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: graphs both make it way too hard to find pitches
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: per plate appearance ESPN has it readily available though, so
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: it is indeed 3.9. I'm going to consider that a
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: better source. I think it's interesting. I'm not too worried
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: about this yet because, kind of like you mentioned, Valencia's
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: walk rate is minor leagues were fine. I mean, in
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: Toledo it was quite good, 12.6%. That's well above average.
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: In AA it was a little bit low, 7.3%. But
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: it's been fairly stable and never really had the marker
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: of a guy who just doesn't walk, will not walk.
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: It's interesting that a few guys this year have just
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: come up to the major leagues and just, I think,
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: been kind of jumpy at the plate. Howie Lee has
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: very much been the same way. Lee, who posted good
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: walk rates throughout the minor leagues, go look at his
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: first 72 plate appearances, was not walking. He's still only
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: a 5.6% walk rate, but that's begun to pick up
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: a little bit. Even Max Clark, who is known for
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: terrific swing decisions and who you've seen work some really
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: good at-bats, hasn't necessarily been taking a ton of walks
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: out of the gate. What worries me with Valencia when
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: you look into it, though, is he is chasing a lot.
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: He's chasing at a 34.5% clip, which is not good.
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: So he, in theory, could be taking more walks if
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: he wasn't swinging outside the strike zone. It's kind of amazing.
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: This guy still has above 1,000 OPS. But you look
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: at his stat cast page, like, well, he hits the
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: ball really hard. He barrels it up. you know, he's
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: not necessarily doing a ton else that you like because
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: he's chasing a lot, he's whiffing a lot, punching a lot,
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: not walking, and look, no one's expecting him to be
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: a fast young man, but his sprint speed right now
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: is the bottom fourth percentile in MLB, so he is
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: real slow. I think we got to get a bigger
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: sample size, more plate appearances here, but would certainly like
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: to see him cut down on the chase because that
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: could be a big problem, especially for a guy with
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: his power and a guy who can post the exit
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: velocities he can, pitchers aren't going to want to come
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: face this dude in the strike zone very often. And
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: if they feel like they can get away with not
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: pitching him in the strike zone, they will continue to
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: do so. It's going to be important for him to
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: put the onus on the opposing pitcher to get the
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: ball over the plate.
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so I would qualify it as I'm not concerned,
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: but if you're one of those people that's penciling him
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: in for some sort of role next year, It is
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: something to monitor. That would be the way that I
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: would classify it. All right, Cody, it is time. I
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: got to tell you, I am excited to see Tarek
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: Skubal pitch 100-plus pitches at Comerica Park on Friday. Which
• 12:35
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• 12:37
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• 13:37
  Speaker 1: it's here. The day that you guys are listening to this,
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: you will later get to watch Tarek Skubal pitch at
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: Comerica Park for the Los Angeles Dodgers. The day that...
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: I think has been dreaded as a possibility for a
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: long time. And then, you know, it became pretty, pretty
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: apparent that it was going to be a real possibility.
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: And now it is here. So from your perspective, we'll
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: get to, you know, the fan and, and all of
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: that here in a second. But from your perspective, is
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: that going to be weird to see school bowl and
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: another uniform like on the Comerica mound? Like it's like, how,
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: how's it going to be for you as someone who's
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: covered him, but you know, the entirety of his major
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: league career plus.
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's going to be really weird just seeing him.
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: He still doesn't look quite right in the brighter shade
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: of blue to me. And then it's just been such
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: a long year. It's been exhausting covering the Scooble saga,
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: and I mean that in a way it's been challenging
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: and fulfilling, but it also hasn't been necessarily the most
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: fun story to cover just because the reactions all around
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: have been so strong and he's kind of hoping you're
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: done with that right but now it's back he's here
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: we'll see how he pitches we'll see and he won't
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: talk uh friday on his start day but i'm sure
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: he will talk obviously after the game and then saturday
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: and just seeing what that's like is is um i
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: don't know it's kind of like in a way it'll
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: be like he never left like all right the the
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: school feeds the news cycle thing will continue And I'm
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: actually not looking forward to that just because it kind
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: of makes your blood pressure go up. As for the baseball,
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: I don't know. I've always liked the guy watching, watching
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: the guy pitch. So I guess I am excited about that.
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: Get to, get to see him pitch again and maybe
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: against a lineup that doesn't have a lot of experience.
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: I think that's the big question. Like, how is this
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: going to go? And we, we can talk about it more, but,
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: and we've already kind of said it, but like, It's
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: got to be one extreme or the other, right? There's
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: no way he just goes like six innings, two or
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: three runs. He's like pretty good. That doesn't seem like
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: that's going to happen. He's either going to freaking dominate
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: or the Tigers are going to put like eight runs
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: on him.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I do believe that there is a full range
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: of outcomes available for this Terrick Schuble start. And, you know,
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: what's kind of funny about it is, like, we talked
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: a lot about how young the Tigers are. And obviously
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: these guys have been in the organization and, like, you know,
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: seen him, you know, faced him and, you know, whatever,
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: live EP and, you know, things like that or whatever
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: over the years. But, like, it's not going to be
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: the playoff team that Skubal led the past two years, mostly.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: like that that he's going to be going up against
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: you know it's going to be the lees you know
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: it's going to be the clerks and you know the
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: mcgonagall's you know like that's.
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: Another thing karen when we're we're in the clubhouse like
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: all right who are we going to talk to about
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: scooble and you look around it's like well riley's hurt
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: and like a couple guys were like no one was
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: in there to ask about like their teammate because they're
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: all they're all gone It was like Colt Keith. He
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: was like, yeah, I'm probably not going to play against
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: a lefty. It's like, oh yeah. McKinstry probably won't play
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: against the left. It's like, so Kevin, I'm sure we'll play.
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: And like Twerk is kind of the only right-handed hitter
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: who was like a teammate of Tarek Skubal throughout this
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: whole thing. So yeah, that'll be weird in itself.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: That's good. Well, I wrote down some, some outcomes or
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: some events that I just got, you know, I figured
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: it'd be like, this happened, and then the reaction I
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: would have would be, of course. So, you know, it
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: could go any full range of outcomes. It's like, of
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: course this happens, or, huh, of course. So, one, Cody,
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: would be, like, the biggest, like, of course. What if
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: he throws a no-hitter? Like, every time Scooble's on the mound, like,
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: the past, like, couple years, I've kind of been on, like,
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: No hitter alert. That's one of the few things he
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: doesn't have on his resume. Wouldn't that be a storybook
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: ending in some way? Not that a lot of people
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: would like it locally, but it would make national headlines.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: Derek Scouble no hits the Tigers in his first game
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: back at Comerica Park. That would be nuts. The other
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: end of that is, wouldn't it be kind of funny,
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: the Tigers on this losing skid and Was it nine
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: of last ten and all that stuff? Tarek Skubal comes
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: to town, and what do the Tigers do on Skubal days, Cody?
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: They win.
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: They win. They win.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: The Tigers win on Skubal day, of course. That's what
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: they do. That would be fitting as well. Another one
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: that I like and I hope happens for multiple reasons
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: is I think, and I wrote this down or I
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: was thinking about this before Max Clark did it earlier
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: this week, But wouldn't it be fun if Max Clark
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: hit a home run off Tarek Skubal? Remember, his first
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: career home run was the night of the trade. So, like,
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: there's that, you know, kind of changing of the guard.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: If you look at the highlight of Max Clark, like,
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: you see, like, Skubal in the dugout, right? So, like,
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: that stuff is fun. Another sort of, like, changing of
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: the guard of, like, you know, former face of the franchise,
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: potential future face of the franchise. I think that would
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: coincide really well. Of course, Scooble is going to be
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: highly emotional. So, of course, we are going to see
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: at some point one of those Scooble exclamations, a strikeout
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: at the end of an inning, you know, pumping his
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: hand into the glove and a little bit of yell.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: And it's going to be very weird to not also
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: get fired up at that moment. But it's probably going
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: to happen, of course. And then lastly, of course... He's
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: going to go eight innings, and he's going to have
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: 116 pitches. Like, of course, the number one thing this
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: fan base wanted out of Tarek Skubal on a more
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: frequent basis will happen the first time he's in the game. Detroit,
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: not as a member of the Tigers. So what do you,
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: what do you think about those Cody?
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: Uh, they all sound highly entertaining.
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: I think the pitch count will be the number one
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: thing too. And don't worry, I'm crafting how I'm going
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: to ask AJ Hinch about that. Just the fact he's already, um,
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: He's already gone over 100 a couple times under Dave Roberts.
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: That's quite the talking point, and it would be incredible
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: if it plays out at Comerica against the Tigers.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know, there's been some talk on the
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: Twittersphere about what's the appropriate reaction. We gave a little
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: bit of it in our last episode, too. And to me,
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: it's really simple. It's... A standing O when he runs
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: out onto the field for the first time. And I
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: hope the Tigers do something, whether it's some sort of
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: tribute video or whatever. I hope the organization does something
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: as well. But the fans, there's no alternative in my
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: mind other than a standing ovation for the first time
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: that he goes out there and takes them out. And
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: Tarek is always good about sort of acknowledging the bigger picture.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: And so I think he would give it back, too. Like,
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: I mean, we literally saw it the last time he
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: was at Comerica, right? Like, he understands all this stuff.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: He's cognizant of it. But after that, he's the enemy. Like,
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: there's no cheering for Tarek Skubal after the first pitch.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: Does that make sense? Like, you know, like when he,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: like when, I know Tarek Skubal's not Tom Brady, but
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: when Tom Brady played his first game at Foxborough, he
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: got booed once the game was going. Because guess what?
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: You are now the enemy. There's no, like, oh, I
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: hope you do well. No, screw that. Like, you are
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: in the way of what we know how to accomplish now.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: So there's no, like, clapping for Scooble, like, in between
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: innings or any of that stuff. Like, I'm not saying
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: you gotta boo him. In fact, I would say don't
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: boo him. But, like, there's no, like, concessions after acknowledging him,
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: giving him the standing ovation that he deserves prior to
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: pitch one. Because... Guess what? Once he starts pitching, he
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: ain't giving any concessions either just because he really liked
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: his time here or whatever the past six years. So, yeah,
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: that would be my thing. Pre-game and game are different.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: And then once he comes out, however the outcome is,
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: I think it's also appropriate to give him love there.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: But in between those, there's no like, hey, Tarek, that's
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: so cool, bro. Nah. Nah, ain't about that. Ain't about that.
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: You got to treat them like you would any other
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: starting pitcher on the opposing team. And so, like, I'm
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: happy that it's happening now as opposed to, like, a
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: Matthew Stafford type situation where the first time he comes
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: back to Detroit, the stakes are insanely high, right? It's
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: a playoff game. The Lions are trying to win their
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: first playoff game since before your boy was born. You
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: know what I mean? Like, that part was unfortunate. And
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: so he got not the ovation that he deserved. Still hasn't.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: But eventually, one day he will. But the stakes have
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: been too high. This is a perfect situation where the Tigers, yes,
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: they are still fighting for their playoff lives. I understand
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: all that. But it's not a playoff game. It's not
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: a game one, a game five, or whatever of a
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: playoff series. So that would be my thing. There's no
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: qualms about a standing ovation prior. He's just any other
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: opponent during. And then afterward, you can still give him love.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: And I think that's what would satisfy every single aspect
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: of why we love this game and why, and why
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: we watch it, why we cheer for it, why we
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: pay attention to it, because there is going to be
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: a unique experience being at Comerica park on Friday. So
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: that would be my call to action for Tigers fans.
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: So I hope that's mostly appropriate. I should say, come on,
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: people conduct yourselves with some class. I'm sure we'll hear
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: some booze before and more during, and probably after like, don't,
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: don't be that guy. Is it really worth it? You're
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: really going to boo this guy who won two Cy
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: Youngs in Tigers jersey. Again, yeah, you don't have to
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: cheer for him the whole game. You don't have to
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: want him to beat your Tigers, but have some class,
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: have some appreciation. That would be my word of advice.
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: Let's act like adults when Tarek Skubal returns to Comerica Park.
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: It's possible to have the big picture and the small
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: picture in line when an event like this occurs. So, yeah,
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: I agree with you there. All right, we are going
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: to take a quick break and then afterward, is there
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: another guy that ought to get his shot in Detroit?
• 24:39
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• 25:46
  Speaker 1: All right, coming back here, you know, like there's one guy, Cody,
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: that I have to imagine over there in Toledo, you know,
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: seems like a nice kid. He's just kind of going
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: about his business, but at the same time, he's kind
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: of looking around. There's a lot less of the dudes
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: that I've kind of shared the field with around most
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: of the season than there was at the beginning. Hello,
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: I'm right here. And that would be Max Anderson. So,
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: Max Anderson, I believe he went yard last night. Don't
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: quote me on that. He's got 16 home runs on
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: the season. Batting a cool 309. I know you'll like this, Cody.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: How about a 390 on base? Does that do it
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: for you?
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm a fan of that.
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, 904, OPS, and by all accounts has put in
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: the work defensively. Like, again, what kind of defender will
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: he be? No idea. But, like, whatever result is going
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: to come from his hard work, right? So, the Tigers, like,
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: we talked last time about, like, is this developmental time?
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: I know it's not as simple as this, but at
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: the same time, it's like, I don't know if there's
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: any more development for Max Anderson than in toledo i
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: feel like he's kind of earned and guys are all
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: the time they don't always get it i understand but
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: i feel like he's kind of earned a shot here.
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: Well he has he's been there pretty much all year
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: i don't think he's going to get a ton more
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: out of it especially not at the plate you listed
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: off some of the stats in august alone at the
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: time we're recording this hitting 325 917 ops um Not
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: always hit velocity the best. He's hitting 295 against pitches
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: 95 miles an hour or above. Still whiffs a good
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: bit against those pitches for the season, 31.4%. But again,
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: he's getting 295 plus better than he was at other
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: points in the year against breaking balls, hitting 270, 25%
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: whiff rate. So some progress there, and I think that's
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: certainly important. The defense is obviously still where he has
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: to improve, and generally his defensive profile, which is he
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: plays second and he plays third, is probably what's keeping
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: him from being in the major leagues right now. Because
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: you can beat the table for this guy to be
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: in the big leagues all you want. Probably the reason
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: he's not, there's nowhere for him to play.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: A.J.
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: Hinch is having a tough time getting Howie Lee at bats,
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: and Howie Lee has been terrific for the Tigers lately,
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: but you have Gleyber Torres, Cole Keith, Kevin McGonigal. And
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: that in itself is kind of a logjam. It would require,
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: I don't know, it kind of requires Javi Baez playing
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: left field just to get Lee in the lineup unless
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: you're going to give Glaber a day off right now.
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: So I'm not sure what this looks like. The rosters
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: expand by two on September 1st, and that will be
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: pretty interesting because I think Anderson certainly has the most
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: compelling case to come up, but he doesn't really... have
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: a clear role on this roster. And again, do you
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: want to bring him up if he's not going to
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: play or would you rather him just continue to get
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: the defensive reps down in Toledo? I don't know. I'd
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: like to see him in the bigs by the end
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: of the year, but you could argue it might take
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: an injury to another infielder or something of that ilk
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: because you just have other guys at these positions right now.
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, that, that, that is obviously the consideration.
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: The other point to it is I just rattled off
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: some of the offensive output that we've seen of late.
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: And it's like, there's somebody that could give you a
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: chance of a punch. Uh, I just feel like you
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: could try to work it out. Uh, I know he's,
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: you know, he's gotten some work all over the infield
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: except for shortstop. Maybe there's something there. But I just
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: feel like there's, at a certain point, organizations reward development.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: And the Tigers have done that with basically every single
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: call-up they've made this year. And there haven't been a few.
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: I mean, quite a bit. I just feel like he...
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: I mean, I don't even think it's an exaggeration to
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: say he was kind of skipped in line just based
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: on the circumstances of the Major League roster. Nothing against
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: some of the other guys, but I just feel like
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: it's time. Figure it out because this is somebody that
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: is going to play a factor in your 2027 roster
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: regardless of whether you bring him up this year or not.
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: So more information at this point. I would like that.
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: I would be in favor.
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: I think that's one of the weird hindsight-ist 2020 things
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: about what the Tigers did at the deadline, right? Where
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: they sold Scouble and Mize, but they kept Glaber, Kinley, Flaherty,
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: those sort of players. If you knew you were going
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: to lose 10 out of 12 and watch your playoff
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: odds fall to 3%, you'd probably say, oh, we should
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: probably trade Glaber and get Max Anderson some playing time.
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: But obviously at the time of the deadline, the Tigers
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: still were in the mix and still, I think, hoped
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: to earn a playoff spot. So they kept Glaber and
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: they didn't feel the return was going to be great
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: for him. And it's one of those things, if you
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: could redo it now, it'd be easier to just play
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: your kids if you didn't feel obligated to get Glaber
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: Torres at bats. And I mean, that could be another
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: interesting thing here. And if the Tigers are mathematically eliminated,
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: do you continue to do something like that? I mean,
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: Glaber is a veteran guy, a class act. I don't
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: I don't really think the Tigers would just cut him
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: or anything like that, but sometimes wonky stuff happens at
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: the end of the year when the Tigers get in
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: those positions, when teams get in those positions.
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's all well and good, and Glaber's been
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: around a long time. He understands how these things work too,
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: but if you're going to do the long-term approach, which
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: obviously they did, this falls into the next category of steps.
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: And even if you make the decision, which they did,
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: to keep Gleyber Torres, which I'm not here to criticize
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: him for. I'm not going to Monday morning quarterback that.
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: Which I know you're not either, but just for the
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: statement of record. This is the next step. This is
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: the blowing of the 7-0 lead on Wednesday night. of
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: figuring out what you're going to do with the rest
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: of the season in order to set yourself up for
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: success in 2027 and beyond. So, yeah, I'll bang the
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: table for that. I want to see Max Anderson. And
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: it's not just because he's a friend of the podcast.
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: It's because I just don't know what more he can
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: do in Toledo at the plate. And I just want
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: to see him in a major league uniform and see
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: what he does against major league pitching.
• 32:43
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: That was fun. Fun little discussion. Look forward to watching
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: Tarek Skubal pitch at Comerica and all the storylines that entail.
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: And we will react to all of it next week
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: on Monday morning as per usual. And you guys can
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: follow along at Cody Stabenhagen. I am at Kieran underscore
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: Stekley pod page at Tiger Territory underscore YouTube, Apple, Spotify.
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: You guys know what to do. We appreciate all of you.
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: So for Cody Stabenhagen, I'm Kieran Stekley. Everybody have a
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: great day.