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Detroit Tigers In Prove-It Mode · Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast

0:05
Speaker 1: And welcome into another episode of Tiger Territory, part of
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Speaker 1: the Foul Territory Network, a Toroy Tiger's podcast. I'm Karen
0:11
Speaker 1: Steckley with me as always a man who believes first
0:14
Speaker 1: impressions are lasting impressions unless it's the first day of
0:17
Speaker 1: Live VP. He is Cody Stapen Egg and how.
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Speaker 2: You doing doing good? I was always told you don't
0:22
Speaker 2: get a second chance at a first impression. Actually in
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Speaker 2: baseball you do because I've seen a lot of players
0:29
Speaker 2: look really bad and it's easy to write them off.
0:31
Speaker 2: But you can't judge in small sample sizes. So is
0:36
Speaker 2: it fair to overreact to spring training, bullpens and live pps. No,
0:40
Speaker 2: we're not gonna do it, except for every now and
0:43
Speaker 2: then we probably still will.
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Speaker 1: I'm a big believer that, like, look, all we have
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Speaker 1: is a sample that's in front of us. So we
0:51
Speaker 1: talk about it and we assess it, and then we
0:53
Speaker 1: realize that a lot of times in the grand scheme
0:56
Speaker 1: of things, it doesn't matter. Like the anecdote shared today
0:59
Speaker 1: on on Tuesday that you know, Ryan Kreiler got himself
1:03
Speaker 1: a nice little hit off schoobl And and you know
1:07
Speaker 1: kind of created a little bit of one of those
1:09
Speaker 1: nice camp moments. He gets in there and again instead
1:12
Speaker 1: of you know, leave leaving behind the best impression and
1:17
Speaker 1: he doesn't get it again there, So good for Ryan Kreyler.
1:19
Speaker 1: I had thought about Ryan Kreiler in a while. It's
1:22
Speaker 1: a double live VP off school bul and and here
1:25
Speaker 1: we are things like.
1:25
Speaker 2: You know this wing doesn't work out.
1:28
Speaker 1: You know I have yours, Ryan Krale. You know we
1:30
Speaker 1: can start, we can start doing all that stuff.
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Speaker 2: But spring training drama at its finest was the the
1:37
Speaker 2: Ryan Kreler doubled and broken bat, will vast yelling get
1:41
Speaker 2: out while you can. Kreiler then saying he knew what
1:45
Speaker 2: pitch was coming from Schoogl, school told him it was
1:48
Speaker 2: going to be a fastball. Still broke his bat. If
1:50
Speaker 2: you want my observations on TERRK Scoobol's life bullpen, it's
1:53
Speaker 2: this Terk Schoogle is really good. That has not changed.
1:57
Speaker 2: I was actually right up against the fence. It's the
1:59
Speaker 2: closest is like, then do live Schoogle pitching a little
2:02
Speaker 2: bit and it was kind of like, oh yeah, this
2:05
Speaker 2: is a strong reminder of why I am on this
2:07
Speaker 2: side of the fence. And then I was eventually told
2:11
Speaker 2: to like further back. It's like not disturbed the players
2:14
Speaker 2: or something.
2:15
Speaker 1: So well, you know, I'm just saying that moment there
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Speaker 1: was reminiscent of somebody that could be called scary Terry.
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Speaker 2: And we move on.
2:24
Speaker 1: So we we are, for the first time, Cody recording
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Speaker 1: a podcast where it's officially full squad spring training. All right,
2:32
Speaker 1: So the way it works now basically as soon as picture,
2:37
Speaker 1: everybody's there early or most everybody's there early, and then
2:40
Speaker 1: people kind of trickle in from there. But now it's
2:44
Speaker 1: like contractually obligated everybody's there for spring training and we'll
2:49
Speaker 1: get to perhaps the most interesting and still not talked
2:52
Speaker 1: about enough new face on the team here in a second.
2:54
Speaker 1: But seeing as everybody's there, the drills are happening, the
3:00
Speaker 1: the videos are circulating on x and the overreactions are coming.
3:05
Speaker 1: I did want to have the first official vibe check
3:09
Speaker 1: of the twenty twenty five Detroit Tigers. You've been there
3:14
Speaker 1: from the onset, Cody, what can you share with our
3:17
Speaker 1: audience on this team for the first time, It'll not
3:20
Speaker 1: other Rod you first time a long time, coming off
3:22
Speaker 1: a playoff appearance here going into twenty twenty five.
3:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think there is a heightened sense of confidence.
3:32
Speaker 2: Like I think there's a little bit of swagger to
3:35
Speaker 2: these guys now, there's a little bit of like, Okay,
3:38
Speaker 2: we've done it, we know what it takes. It's certainly
3:42
Speaker 2: not complacency. It's not even like ramp and hype I
3:47
Speaker 2: said a lot down the stretch last year. For as
3:49
Speaker 2: much as this is like a young fun team you
3:51
Speaker 2: walk in that clubhouse, that's not like, you know, like
3:57
Speaker 2: the stories you hear about like Philly's daycare or whatever.
4:00
Speaker 2: It's all these young guys, but they kind of go
4:01
Speaker 2: about their business and like they can be fun and
4:04
Speaker 2: they can be funny, but the overall mood in the room,
4:06
Speaker 2: at least when reporters are in there, it's pretty serious.
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Speaker 2: And I've been in other young clubhouses where you kind
4:12
Speaker 2: of feel like it's just kind of loud, guys are
4:14
Speaker 2: joking around. That's never really been the case, and that's
4:17
Speaker 2: very much the same this spring. It's for as much
4:20
Speaker 2: as like vibes are high and there's sometimes like some levity,
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Speaker 2: it's pretty business like. It's pretty serious and that's actually
4:29
Speaker 2: not that new to me. So in a way, kind
4:33
Speaker 2: of good to see this young of a team approaching
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Speaker 2: things with this level of professionalism. I think, even this
4:40
Speaker 2: early in the.
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Speaker 1: Season, professionalism is a word reflection of leadership. When I
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Speaker 1: hear something like that, I kind of imagine, like that's
4:51
Speaker 1: the Aj Hinch vibe at least from afar, where it's
4:54
Speaker 1: like AJ's a former ballplayer, so he knows like what
4:58
Speaker 1: makes these guys tick. He he's not afraid to make
5:01
Speaker 1: a joke every now and then, but he's also like
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Speaker 1: pretty he's very serious about his craft obviously, and these
5:07
Speaker 1: young impressionable players have kind of taken that and you know,
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Speaker 1: put it forward with their own efforts, and you know,
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Speaker 1: the seriousness of it. There's not a better that schooll thing,
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Speaker 1: honestly is a great example of everything you just said,
5:19
Speaker 1: where like, you know, Kryler has his moment, he's getting
5:22
Speaker 1: some cheers and a little bit of jeers about like
5:24
Speaker 1: geat while you're still ahead. Schools like all right, mf
5:27
Speaker 1: for like it's a fastball, here comes and he breaks
5:30
Speaker 1: his back, you know, which you know, maybe the first
5:33
Speaker 1: broken bat speak training, maybe maybe perhaps you know, I
5:35
Speaker 1: don't know if they checked that up, but maybe the
5:37
Speaker 1: first broken bat of the season and it's.
5:40
Speaker 2: Afterward, by the way, said yeah, it's a good pitch.
5:46
Speaker 1: And that's the other thing too, Like I don't think
5:48
Speaker 1: we ever had any like doubts that schoobl wasn't going
5:52
Speaker 1: to be like complacent after his cy young season or ring.
5:56
Speaker 2: Only through ninety seven. He hit ninety nine to five
6:00
Speaker 2: last year. Actually kind of a telling quote he said,
6:02
Speaker 2: you know, there was less adrenaline the last game I
6:05
Speaker 2: pitched was the playoffs. There wasn't as much adrenaline. So
6:09
Speaker 2: these guys in a way have realized, like, oh okay,
6:12
Speaker 2: this is this is kind of nothing. And again, I
6:15
Speaker 2: don't think that means like there's any change in the approach.
6:18
Speaker 2: And I think Terrek himself said like, ninety seven's nothing
6:23
Speaker 2: to complain about on the first live Bullpen of spring.
6:26
Speaker 1: Yeah. And then you know Riley Green talking about he
6:29
Speaker 1: made the headlines, you know, the headline circuit, I would say,
6:32
Speaker 1: about cutting out the Chip fil A and taking better
6:35
Speaker 1: care of his body and all that stuff. And he's
6:38
Speaker 1: coming off in All Star appearents. And again there's a
6:40
Speaker 1: million examples of guys at twenty four years old make
6:43
Speaker 1: an All Star team and think, yeah, like I got this,
6:46
Speaker 1: Like what do I gotta change for And that's an
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Speaker 1: example of taking the craft more seriously as you mature
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Speaker 1: as well.
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Speaker 2: And yeah, that's a little bit of a spring training cliche.
6:57
Speaker 2: I think we're actually publishing a list on the athletic
7:00
Speaker 2: of spring training cliches and it's pretty fun. That was
7:04
Speaker 2: one of my contributions, Like I cut out X and
7:07
Speaker 2: it's either a player who's out of shape or a
7:10
Speaker 2: young player taking their career more seriously, and they say, oh,
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Speaker 2: I gave up ice cream or I gave up Chick
7:15
Speaker 2: fil A or back in the day, I cut out beer,
7:18
Speaker 2: and you know, everyone kind of laughs and it's humanizing.
7:21
Speaker 2: It's a little bit cliche, but I think what was
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Speaker 2: telling for Riley I kind of asked him, like, what
7:26
Speaker 2: was your motivation? And he said this team, you know,
7:30
Speaker 2: trying to do my best for this team, to stay healthy,
7:33
Speaker 2: to stay on the field for them. So kind of
7:36
Speaker 2: cool that it wasn't like, oh, you know, my career,
7:40
Speaker 2: do what's best for me, And even if they said that,
7:43
Speaker 2: I mean, that would make total sense, but instead of that,
7:45
Speaker 2: he said, like this team, So that was kind of
7:47
Speaker 2: a cool quote.
7:50
Speaker 1: Well, along those lines, I have noticed no best shape
7:55
Speaker 1: of my life comments.
8:00
Speaker 2: This is under now should we read into this? I
8:05
Speaker 2: think Riley could qualify for best shape of his life.
8:08
Speaker 2: I mean, he gave up Chick fil A and he
8:09
Speaker 2: looks great. Cold Keith looks great as always. A lot
8:13
Speaker 2: of these guys showed up in great shape. A. J.
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Speaker 2: Hinch is making making a point to not utter this
8:19
Speaker 2: phrase for anyone, which I certainly respect. I think pretty
8:25
Speaker 2: much everyone is shown up in pretty good shape. Kerry
8:31
Speaker 2: Carpenter is looking a little heavier. We'll see if that's
8:34
Speaker 2: intentional or not. I don't know. You can go look
8:36
Speaker 2: at pictures and judge for yourself on that one, but yeah,
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Speaker 2: I don't know. Like it's you know, athletes these days, man,
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Speaker 2: they take stuff pretty seriously. No one's pretty rare to
8:47
Speaker 2: see a guys show up not looking in good shape.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, And the way that I I look at it
8:53
Speaker 1: through the lens of what is purposeful and like if
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Speaker 1: Cold Keith came in like bigger and fashioned, like I
9:01
Speaker 1: would be like, Okay, well he's playing first base. He
9:03
Speaker 1: probably knows he's not gonna have to run around as much.
9:06
Speaker 1: You know, power is a little bit more important. Like
9:08
Speaker 1: that makes sense. If Carrie thinks he's gonna be doing
9:11
Speaker 1: more DH stuff, like or if he thinks his body
9:15
Speaker 1: this way or versus that way is going to be
9:17
Speaker 1: better and prevent the shitt't from injuries, which obviously been
9:21
Speaker 1: part of his major league story. Like, all this stuff
9:25
Speaker 1: is pretty purposeful. They have all their own coaches and
9:28
Speaker 1: nutritionists and obviously the Tigers provide them with more than
9:32
Speaker 1: enough resources to do all this stuff. So I'm very
9:36
Speaker 1: interesting to see how it affects just kind of like
9:38
Speaker 1: actual game movement, even if it is like spring training stuff,
9:41
Speaker 1: and how they look, you know, throughout the summer. So
9:44
Speaker 1: we'll have to harken back to this conversation eventually. Another
9:50
Speaker 1: big topic. And I say big because it's big in
9:53
Speaker 1: my mind, Cody, and I don't know if if the
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Speaker 1: fan base has kind of grasped the full gravity of it.
10:01
Speaker 1: I talked about it today on X and that's Labor Torres,
10:05
Speaker 1: like everybody has. Everybody has kind of like accepted it.
10:13
Speaker 1: It's in their minds, but they don't look at it.
10:16
Speaker 1: I think this is my guess, they're not looking at
10:18
Speaker 1: it in the same lens that the Tigers and the
10:22
Speaker 1: Tigers front office are looking at it. Labor Torres is
10:26
Speaker 1: this side of thirty.
10:28
Speaker 2: It's a big thing.
10:29
Speaker 1: He was good enough. I've said this, I'm gonna repeat myself.
10:34
Speaker 1: He was a good enough get in Scott Harris's mind
10:37
Speaker 1: to completely upheaval the configuration of the infield. Right, so
10:43
Speaker 1: you move cold Keith to first base. What happens with Torque,
10:47
Speaker 1: Like all these fallouts come from the desire to bring
10:49
Speaker 1: in Labor Torres. And I don't blame anybody for saying this,
10:53
Speaker 1: but the term like band aid was thrown out. I
10:56
Speaker 1: don't because it's a one year deal, and I understand that.
10:59
Speaker 1: I just don't think that's how the team is looking
11:02
Speaker 1: at it. I think they're looking at as like we
11:03
Speaker 1: got ourselves a guy who is in his physical prime,
11:08
Speaker 1: who's gonna be motivated, who has a plethora of experience
11:13
Speaker 1: playing for the Yankees, and we believe in our ability
11:17
Speaker 1: to get the most out of him. And this is
11:19
Speaker 1: gonna be one of the great examples of the Scott
11:21
Speaker 1: Harris mantra for position players, where everybody knows you come
11:25
Speaker 1: to Detroit and we get the most out of you.
11:27
Speaker 1: We've seen it with pictures, you know, wholeheartedly. We haven't
11:31
Speaker 1: seen it like with these level of free agents on
11:34
Speaker 1: one year deals, Glavor Torres, who is still not recognizable
11:38
Speaker 1: to me when he sports the full beard. But that's
11:42
Speaker 1: a signing I think is gonna have a lot more
11:45
Speaker 1: of a net positive cognitively in fans' minds than then
11:52
Speaker 1: what the energy they're giving right now to it. So
11:57
Speaker 1: you got to talk to him, You've written about him.
11:59
Speaker 1: It's on the athletic like, what what do you make
12:03
Speaker 1: of the Glaber Torres signing situation? And just kind of
12:08
Speaker 1: the guy after talking to him in person for the
12:10
Speaker 1: first time.
12:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I said a while back, I feel
12:14
Speaker 2: differently about it on different days, Like some days I'm like,
12:16
Speaker 2: this is a great underrated signing and some days it's
12:19
Speaker 2: just like it was it worth reconfiguring this infield? Are
12:23
Speaker 2: you going to have the worst defensive infield in baseball?
12:26
Speaker 2: And I think where I've settled is kind of like
12:29
Speaker 2: a mixture of those two, where like at the plate, man,
12:32
Speaker 2: I love Glaber Tores, I've liked watching him for years,
12:36
Speaker 2: but go look at his stats. He has been consistent
12:39
Speaker 2: year in and year out for as much as in Yankees' land,
12:42
Speaker 2: he's kind of viewed as that guy who never replicated
12:46
Speaker 2: the thirty six thirty eight Homers. He was a solid
12:50
Speaker 2: performer every single year and then so he brings you,
12:56
Speaker 2: in theory, a high floor and maybe some pretty big upside.
13:00
Speaker 2: It's kind of cool. One year deal came here because
13:02
Speaker 2: he was motivated. Defense is I think, a real problem,
13:06
Speaker 2: and you pair that with moving Colt Keith to a
13:08
Speaker 2: new position. It worries me, it scares me. But this
13:12
Speaker 2: was very intentional on the tigers own behalf of the Tigers'
13:15
Speaker 2: front office. They chose this guy over first basement on
13:19
Speaker 2: the market part of the calculus there. Scott Harris really
13:22
Speaker 2: loves him. Some draft picks. They're hoping Labor has a
13:24
Speaker 2: big year and they can give him a qualifying offer
13:27
Speaker 2: and receive a compensation pick. But Claverer's what twenty eight
13:34
Speaker 2: years old, Like he's still very young, which is easy
13:36
Speaker 2: to forget he's been around a while. And another thing
13:40
Speaker 2: I mentioned a while back, I think it's entirely possible
13:44
Speaker 2: Labor Torres could rival Alex Bregman's offensive production this season.
13:50
Speaker 2: I looked at the Fangrafts zips projection kind of confirmed
13:55
Speaker 2: that Suspicion Tourres projected to hit two sixty three point
13:58
Speaker 2: thirty five on base seventeen homers three point zero. War
14:03
Speaker 2: Bregman projected to hit two fifty two three thirty three
14:07
Speaker 2: twenty two homers three point nine. War Bregman's war is
14:11
Speaker 2: obviously going to be higher. He's a superior defender, but
14:14
Speaker 2: Fangress currently projects tores to have a higher average, slightly
14:18
Speaker 2: higher on base percentage, and not be too far off
14:21
Speaker 2: in the homer realm. In a way, they're very similar
14:25
Speaker 2: offensive profiles. Now, it'd be cool if you could have
14:29
Speaker 2: both of those guys, but that's not the case. But
14:32
Speaker 2: at the same time, I just don't know if, like
14:34
Speaker 2: the Tigers nation as a whole, is kind of realized,
14:38
Speaker 2: just how good of a hitter Labor Torez is.
14:41
Speaker 1: So two things there. He is a career two seventy
14:46
Speaker 1: one hitter against left handed pitching right so that's and
14:49
Speaker 1: that's actually not a huge jump from his average against rioties,
14:54
Speaker 1: which is in the two sixties. So he is at
14:56
Speaker 1: he he is consistent as hell at the plate. Another thing,
15:01
Speaker 1: this is just offensive war per Baseball Reference. A little reminder,
15:04
Speaker 1: if we take out twenty twenty, because it was twenty twenty,
15:08
Speaker 1: he only has one season below three point zero offensive
15:12
Speaker 1: war and and defensively last year. Again, take this for
15:19
Speaker 1: whatever it's worth, he was minus point six defensive war.
15:23
Speaker 1: The year before that he was a zero point zero
15:25
Speaker 1: defensive war. So I share a lot of overall defensive concerns,
15:30
Speaker 1: especially because that's been a relative calling card for this
15:34
Speaker 1: team over the past couple of years. However, Yascor runs
15:39
Speaker 1: regardless of what kind of defense you put out. There
15:41
Speaker 1: were kind of you know, pitching chaos you put out there,
15:44
Speaker 1: and I think it was a worthwhile addition to the team,
15:48
Speaker 1: even if it did kind of make things a little
15:50
Speaker 1: bit awkward, specifically on the right side of the infield.
15:53
Speaker 1: And we obviously don't know how good Colt Keith will
15:57
Speaker 1: be at first base or justin.
16:01
Speaker 2: Or the early Uh here's my early scouting report. Cole
16:05
Speaker 2: Keith's gonna take some work, all right, He's and it
16:07
Speaker 2: took him some work at second and he got better.
16:09
Speaker 2: So I don't think anyone should have expected him come
16:12
Speaker 2: to spring training looking great, but it's it's gonna take
16:16
Speaker 2: some work. And Jay hen I was kind of reminded,
16:18
Speaker 2: like I've always liked his infield actions, like at third
16:21
Speaker 2: it he moved like he was stuck in quicksand but
16:25
Speaker 2: his glove work, his hands seemed good to me, and
16:28
Speaker 2: just watching him at first, I had a very similar feeling.
16:30
Speaker 2: It's kind of like, oh, oh, he's not that bad,
16:33
Speaker 2: but you get game speed and you have to move
16:36
Speaker 2: a little bit. Like that's gonna be more the concern
16:38
Speaker 2: with with Jahn, But I think his glove work stands
16:40
Speaker 2: a chance to be decent. Yeah, And.
16:44
Speaker 1: It's it's funny we uh, we have called for a
16:47
Speaker 1: lot of these guys, you know, to get first base reps,
16:49
Speaker 1: and then they finally do, and then it's like everyone's like, oh,
16:52
Speaker 1: freaking out when it's not like smooth like right away. Uh,
16:56
Speaker 1: you know that kind of stuff. That kind of stuff
16:58
Speaker 1: is okay. And and so anyway, I just I just
17:01
Speaker 1: wanted to kind of push forward the narrative of like
17:06
Speaker 1: they view Torres is quite valuable even if like this
17:10
Speaker 1: is not a five million dollar one year. They offered
17:12
Speaker 1: him fifteen for one year for a reason, right, That's
17:16
Speaker 1: that's a splurge that really up until the Alex Bregman
17:19
Speaker 1: situation was we just had seen it from this regime
17:23
Speaker 1: and we don't have this. I spent a lot of
17:25
Speaker 1: time on this, Cody, but the Alex Begman situation in Boston,
17:29
Speaker 1: I think it's fair to say it was just kind
17:31
Speaker 1: of weird this week. That fair to say, Like, you know,
17:34
Speaker 1: Dever saying he's a third baseman, Cora saying that that
17:39
Speaker 1: the guy who promised Devers to play third base, you know,
17:42
Speaker 1: for the length of this contract or whatever, is no
17:45
Speaker 1: longer on the in the organization. I think it's I
17:48
Speaker 1: think it's safe to say it's a little the early
17:51
Speaker 1: returns and I'm sure it'll be fine, not overreacting, but
17:53
Speaker 1: the early returns are it's kind of weird.
17:56
Speaker 2: It's weird, really wild. Man. The reporter in me wish
17:59
Speaker 2: is like, man, like I cover anyone who just comes
18:01
Speaker 2: out in some crazy stuff. Because there were some wild
18:05
Speaker 2: quotes in Boston that would never happen in Detroit. Yeah,
18:11
Speaker 2: I don't know. I feel like Devers should just like
18:15
Speaker 2: chill out a little bit, and I bet he eventually
18:17
Speaker 2: will and they could have a really good team, but
18:20
Speaker 2: obviously some stuff to work out, maybe behind closed doors there. Man,
18:26
Speaker 2: I don't have a lot more to say it on Bregan,
18:28
Speaker 2: like we like like we're done with this, right, we
18:31
Speaker 2: already know. We know what the offer was. We know
18:34
Speaker 2: the opt out was one sticking point. They're like, maybe
18:37
Speaker 2: there was more to it, maybe there wasn't. That's all
18:40
Speaker 2: I got something, That's all I have.
18:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm okay, moving on to all right, time.
18:47
Speaker 2: To turn the page. Do you think Bregman's gonna opt out?
18:51
Speaker 2: I think you think he'll opt out if he has
18:53
Speaker 2: a good year. I think he will.
18:57
Speaker 1: These guys all I feel like, I feel like they
18:59
Speaker 1: opt out a rod opted out, Like a lot of
19:02
Speaker 1: these guys opt out because they want more year security.
19:05
Speaker 1: So I think he will because then then you're looking at,
19:08
Speaker 1: you know, the dollar. The thing is, when it's a
19:10
Speaker 1: short term deal with a high dollar amount, the dollars
19:13
Speaker 1: come down quickly when you go into the next year
19:16
Speaker 1: of the deal.
19:16
Speaker 2: Right. The only other thing, he's going to be a
19:18
Speaker 2: year older. He's going to be thirty two. We did
19:21
Speaker 2: see the deferred money, so it's not like forty MILLI
19:24
Speaker 2: a year in the in the conventional sense. Still maybe
19:28
Speaker 2: tough for him to like talk, but.
19:30
Speaker 1: He could probably get more than eighty million dollars though,
19:33
Speaker 1: and you could have less he and he could have
19:36
Speaker 1: more like team security. So yeah, whatever, whatever.
19:40
Speaker 2: You know what, I'm gonna worry about that next October November.
19:45
Speaker 2: Maybe we'll get a whole other offseason worth of content
19:47
Speaker 2: out of it. But now it's just hard to mentally
19:51
Speaker 2: go there. Yeah, maybe not all right?
19:55
Speaker 1: Well, on the token Cody real quick of guys that
20:01
Speaker 1: we probably just want to check in on, like how
20:04
Speaker 1: we feel. We got some comments on on X and
20:09
Speaker 1: none of these were like bad comments or anything. But
20:12
Speaker 1: when we we did our roster projection, which if you
20:14
Speaker 1: missed that can go to YouTube. You can go to
20:16
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcast and listen to it.
20:18
Speaker 2: There.
20:20
Speaker 1: We had we both had my we didn't plan this.
20:22
Speaker 1: We both had Mata as the fifth starter, and that
20:28
Speaker 1: naturally gets a little bit of pushback.
20:33
Speaker 2: To fair and it is totally fair.
20:37
Speaker 1: The thing is, though, like it leaves out the minds
20:41
Speaker 1: of the world, the mannings of the world, but also
20:44
Speaker 1: the Keeter Montero's of the world. And I think there's
20:47
Speaker 1: like a misnomer that you know, slash. I like, by
20:53
Speaker 1: not kind of including him in that list was like
20:58
Speaker 1: downgrading what we viewed of him as a player and
21:01
Speaker 1: asset in the organization.
21:02
Speaker 2: Blah blah blah.
21:02
Speaker 1: I'll speak for myself and then you can go. I
21:05
Speaker 1: think it just makes more sense to slot him in
21:09
Speaker 1: Toledo to begin the year and then he's gonna get
21:12
Speaker 1: plenty of run in the major leagues. Reminder, he will
21:17
Speaker 1: turn twenty five this year. He's still a pup and
21:20
Speaker 1: there's a lot, there's a lot that he can still
21:23
Speaker 1: work on. And I'd rather him get regular work than
21:26
Speaker 1: infrequent work, and he will eventually get his chance.
21:30
Speaker 2: And we saw it. They all obviously value him.
21:32
Speaker 1: Because they left Matt Manning and Toledo last year and
21:35
Speaker 1: gave Montero the run. So I just wanted to clear
21:38
Speaker 1: the record. It's not like you, you know, Maya is
21:41
Speaker 1: clearly better than Montero's. Just like we're just kind of
21:44
Speaker 1: reading the tea leaves and what the reality, the economic
21:46
Speaker 1: realities of the situation are. But we don't want to
21:49
Speaker 1: forget about him either.
21:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I think that's good to note. I mean,
21:53
Speaker 2: I like cater Montero a lot. I think if I
21:56
Speaker 2: had to rank top five starters based on two he
22:00
Speaker 2: might be my number five. I mean, maybe Brent Herder,
22:04
Speaker 2: but Brent her is such a natural fit to be
22:06
Speaker 2: like a long relief Lefty that and that's probably he
22:10
Speaker 2: has a great shot to break camp in that role
22:12
Speaker 2: that I'm not including him right now, Like I drink
22:15
Speaker 2: him above my Ada, and you could talk me into
22:17
Speaker 2: ranking him above even Casey Mice, even even though I said,
22:21
Speaker 2: I can't quit Casey Mies either. Montero he just has
22:26
Speaker 2: a lot of potential. I mean, he has a slider
22:28
Speaker 2: that at times could be really good generated whiffs of
22:31
Speaker 2: that twenty five point nine percent clip last year has
22:34
Speaker 2: a chance, I think, to bump that even higher. And
22:37
Speaker 2: then a change up that had a whiff rate of
22:39
Speaker 2: thirty two percent, he only used it ten percent of
22:42
Speaker 2: the time. Maybe mix that in a little more like
22:45
Speaker 2: there's a version of cater Montero that can come out
22:47
Speaker 2: and really start missing a lot of bats, but we
22:51
Speaker 2: saw it last year. He has commands that needs to
22:54
Speaker 2: be refined and more consistent. And also go to look
22:58
Speaker 2: at his Baseball Savant page, go cater Montero Baseball some hunt.
23:02
Speaker 2: You see a lot of blue one there, and suddenly
23:04
Speaker 2: you're not gonna feel quite as good about them. So
23:07
Speaker 2: you pair all that. It's the package of a player
23:10
Speaker 2: who is still growing and developing. You pair that with
23:16
Speaker 2: the reality the Tigers are paying my ata and want
23:18
Speaker 2: to get something out of this that Casey Mayes is
23:23
Speaker 2: more experienced than that Manning is more experienced. Montero seems
23:28
Speaker 2: like unless he just dominates in camp, seems like the
23:33
Speaker 2: guy who makes total sense. You want him getting innings,
23:37
Speaker 2: probably staying stretched out as a starter in Triple A Toledo.
23:43
Speaker 2: That just seems to me kind of what's gonna make
23:46
Speaker 2: the most sense to begin the season. And much like
23:50
Speaker 2: last year, one way or another, I bet we see
23:52
Speaker 2: Cater Montero throw a lot of innings in the big
23:54
Speaker 2: leagues this season.
23:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would agree, all right. Speaking of uh, of
24:03
Speaker 1: names that people are buzzing about, we have ourselves the
24:08
Speaker 1: first camp darling of this of the year of the
24:14
Speaker 1: spring training. I almost it's it's actually not that grave
24:19
Speaker 1: a label to get because a lot of times these
24:21
Speaker 1: things on that say work out all that well. A
24:23
Speaker 1: couple of examples being a kid, which you know he had,
24:26
Speaker 1: I kind of wanted.
24:27
Speaker 2: To talk about this. Actually, let's go through camp darlings
24:30
Speaker 2: in recent Tiger's history.
24:32
Speaker 1: The first thing that come to mind are for me
24:35
Speaker 1: are a Kielbad and Eddies Leonard Uh and you know, like.
24:39
Speaker 2: I said, but do had his moments. He's still with
24:41
Speaker 2: the team.
24:42
Speaker 1: So I respect, but like he obviously we know where
24:45
Speaker 1: he slots in the organization right now.
24:47
Speaker 2: And I don't know, we.
24:49
Speaker 1: Might have mentioned Eddies like five times once the regular
24:53
Speaker 1: season started, like the entire summer, if that, like.
24:57
Speaker 2: If we did, it was just being like Twitter, he's
25:01
Speaker 2: not getting called up because he chases forty percent of
25:03
Speaker 2: the time. Yeah. Uh. Trek Scoogle was once a camp darling,
25:07
Speaker 2: though that one worked out. Okay, it's true. I think
25:10
Speaker 2: that same camp Franklin Perez was a little bit of
25:13
Speaker 2: a camp darling. That one didn't work out quite so well.
25:16
Speaker 2: One get the parade, he said was an aj Remember A. J.
25:22
Speaker 2: Hinch said he was hitterish the first time he was
25:25
Speaker 2: hitterish in his Tigers tenure. And it didn't work out
25:28
Speaker 2: for the Tigers, but it's working out pretty well for
25:32
Speaker 2: some other teams out there.
25:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, a couple of them guys. Guys got a nice
25:36
Speaker 1: MLB passport. Uh. And you know you probably throw Jackson
25:40
Speaker 1: job in there a little bit last year for the
25:41
Speaker 1: one ending where everybody was like, oh my god. But
25:45
Speaker 1: this year right now, to get to the main point
25:47
Speaker 1: is how you lee, how you lee? Reminder came over
25:52
Speaker 1: to the Tigers and the Michael Rens in trade a
25:56
Speaker 1: couple of years ago, and he's been always looked at
26:01
Speaker 1: as like, like I said before, he's always been looked
26:03
Speaker 1: at as like if you know, you know, if you're
26:05
Speaker 1: paying attention to the minor league guys, like they've been
26:07
Speaker 1: hyping this guy up for a while. But now we're
26:09
Speaker 1: kind of seeing it in a different light. And you recently,
26:12
Speaker 1: you know, wrote about and got a chance to talk
26:13
Speaker 1: with him. He's now everybody's you know, waiting around guy,
26:21
Speaker 1: waiting around until we get to see him, which good
26:24
Speaker 1: for him. And what do you kind of make of
26:26
Speaker 1: of his place in the in the Tigers hierarchy?
26:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean my early impressions of how you leave,
26:32
Speaker 2: both as a player and as a person are are
26:35
Speaker 2: pretty high. I'm I'm drinking the kool aid, and in
26:38
Speaker 2: part because everyone in the organization is telling me to
26:42
Speaker 2: drink that kool aid, but seeing with my own eyes
26:44
Speaker 2: like which like some pretty good kool aid. To bring
26:50
Speaker 2: it back to glab Like, for as much as I
26:52
Speaker 2: really like Glabor's bat, we know he has a history
26:55
Speaker 2: to be just a frustrating player, have mental lapses, whatever.
27:00
Speaker 2: I could see a world where the fan base just
27:02
Speaker 2: isn't going to attach itself to Glabor. How do you Lee?
27:06
Speaker 2: I think people are kind of really like because he's
27:09
Speaker 2: pretty intense when he gets out there on the field,
27:12
Speaker 2: He's a little bit he's not afraid to show some emotion.
27:17
Speaker 2: He locks in, but I've seen him smile after some
27:20
Speaker 2: nice plays or kind of give a little fist bump
27:22
Speaker 2: after some nice plays. And then I interviewed him for
27:27
Speaker 2: the first time just the other day. I have a
27:28
Speaker 2: story up on the Athletic Wednesday morning, and I don't know.
27:34
Speaker 2: He was like really soft spoken. He admitted to being
27:37
Speaker 2: shy and like having social anxiety, but then he gave
27:41
Speaker 2: some very interesting quotes. Is the word persistence tattooed down
27:45
Speaker 2: his neck, so every time in the mirror it kind
27:48
Speaker 2: of reminds him of his journey and like the importance
27:51
Speaker 2: of keeping going as a guy who came over from Taiwan.
27:54
Speaker 2: All his family's still in Taiwan, his girlfriend's in Taiwan,
27:58
Speaker 2: so he's gone for months at a time with seeing
28:00
Speaker 2: him obviously very difficult. So a little bit of a
28:03
Speaker 2: cool backstory in that regard kind of this shyer, quiet guy.
28:09
Speaker 2: He did kind of laugh a lot during our interview,
28:12
Speaker 2: and then you get him out on the field and
28:14
Speaker 2: he's just locked in. Seems to play very hard a
28:19
Speaker 2: guy I could see people really liking.
28:23
Speaker 1: Yeah to me, like he's in that category of player
28:26
Speaker 1: that I'm really curious about if they recognize, because you know,
28:31
Speaker 1: these guys are young. They may not know any better
28:34
Speaker 1: but from us from Afar, like, do you recognize like
28:37
Speaker 1: the opportunity We started this podcast talking about first impressions
28:41
Speaker 1: and all that stuff, like do you recognize the opportunity
28:43
Speaker 1: in front of you? Obviously a guy like Jace does
28:47
Speaker 1: lee this is his kind of first experience in the tier,
28:52
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. And and you know, like
28:54
Speaker 1: he's words like grinding and persistence and and all that
28:57
Speaker 1: stuff that tells me like, you're serious because he get
29:02
Speaker 1: up to this level. Everybody's talented, you know, but how
29:04
Speaker 1: many people like truly give a and and they're all
29:08
Speaker 1: indications are this is one of the guys that does.
29:11
Speaker 1: And even though he's been in our lives as Tigers observers, fans, whatever,
29:16
Speaker 1: he's still so young. I think that's that's that's that's
29:21
Speaker 1: something that keeps sticking out in my mind. And he
29:24
Speaker 1: looks good. He's like a stockier dude, just like you know,
29:27
Speaker 1: physique wise, but you know, just those little drills. He
29:31
Speaker 1: does look like a fluid athlete on the infield.
29:33
Speaker 2: Moves pretty well. Man, he moves pretty well. I'd like
29:36
Speaker 2: to be see him tested more like game speed at third.
29:40
Speaker 2: But he has the actions. He seems to me to
29:43
Speaker 2: have plenty of arm. You know. I don't know if
29:46
Speaker 2: he would be league average or slightly minus or slightly above,
29:50
Speaker 2: but he could be kind of anywhere in that range.
29:52
Speaker 2: I think he seems entirely capable of playing third base. Yeah.
29:58
Speaker 1: The way I would phrase it is he's a guy
30:00
Speaker 1: that any sort of like long term concerns in field wise,
30:05
Speaker 1: there's like he has a great chance to like make
30:10
Speaker 1: you in two years be like, remember we were freaking
30:12
Speaker 1: out about like the future of second basis or you know,
30:16
Speaker 1: the third base situation and how it worked itself out,
30:19
Speaker 1: and it's like how you Lee kind of was the
30:22
Speaker 1: thing that made it work himself out.
30:23
Speaker 2: I think he has that potential and he does. I
30:26
Speaker 2: think the power is still going to be an interesting question.
30:28
Speaker 2: Is this a twelve homer guy or a twenty two
30:31
Speaker 2: homer guy or somewhere in the middle. That's probably the
30:34
Speaker 2: one question. But good back to ball skills, good plate decisions.
30:39
Speaker 2: You know, I think he's going to be able to
30:40
Speaker 2: hit for a decent amount of average and draw some walks.
30:44
Speaker 2: His ultimate ceiling will probably be contingent upon the power. Yeah.
30:48
Speaker 1: And you know, if I was like Jase Young, I'd like,
30:52
Speaker 1: look at this talent profile right there in Lee and
30:55
Speaker 1: I'd be like, man, I probably should be spent as
30:58
Speaker 1: much time as I can, like, you know, work on
31:00
Speaker 1: the craft, but also kind of like being buddy buddy
31:03
Speaker 1: with Trek schoobl and aj Hinch. Oh wait, he was
31:05
Speaker 1: doing that during Live VP today. I saw a photo
31:07
Speaker 1: of it.
31:07
Speaker 2: So good on Jason.
31:08
Speaker 1: He knows the power players for the Tigers, all right,
31:14
Speaker 1: But a lot of fun discussions, Cody, anything else you
31:17
Speaker 1: think we should get into before we jet out here.
31:19
Speaker 2: No, that's it, but we have a lot more storylines
31:21
Speaker 2: to come. We'll be back with you guys in a
31:23
Speaker 2: couple of days with even more updates and insight from
31:26
Speaker 2: Spring shinting. That's right.
31:28
Speaker 1: As a reminder, we're doing three days a week, so
31:31
Speaker 1: set your clocks for Monday, Wednesday and Friday. YouTube, Apple, Spotify,
31:36
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts.
31:37
Speaker 2: Follow us on.
31:38
Speaker 1: X Roman On his Twitter, he is at Cody Stapan Haagen.
31:40
Speaker 1: I'm at Cuan Underscore Steckley pod pages at Tiger Territory Underscore.
31:45
Speaker 1: So for Cody Stavean Haagen, I'm Kieran Steckley. Everybody, have
31:48
Speaker 1: great day.