Latest / Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast / Evaluating Casey Mize, the Spring Breakout roster and final roster decisions

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Evaluating Casey Mize, the Spring Breakout roster and final roster decisions · Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: And welcome into another episode of Tiger Territory, part of
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: the Foul Territory Network, Tiger's podcast. I'm Karen Steckley with
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: me as always a man who didn't need no prospect
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: incentive to get his call to the big leagues. He
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: is Cody Stavenhagen. How are we doing?
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Hey? Doing all right? Karen? Here?
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Are you go doing well? Doing well? It's a great
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: time of year. We are recording this a week from
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: opening day, but obviously by the time you guys listen,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: it'll be less than a week from opening day, which
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: is equally exciting and somewhat daunting because they're still, like
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: you know, as we've talked about before, there's there's a
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: lot of things are established and then the headliner stuff
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: has yet to be established as of this recording, and
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: we're gonna get to some of that stuff on this episode.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: But first I wanted to uh, I wanted to start
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: out with I guess maybe file under the cat glory
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: of really this is happening now in spring training, and
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: that's Jake Rogers. I'm not trying to make I'm not
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: trying to make light of it. Maybe maybe hopefully everything's
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: all good, but like, you know, he hits himself in
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: the in the head with a bat during a drill.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: He's got a mild concussion, he had to get some stitches. Uh. Again,
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: not really something I expected to read. And uh. And
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: toward the end of March, Cody and Jake, he's supposed
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: to be good for opening Day and hopefully he is.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: And hopefully this is something that you know, we can
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: find some humor in later. But just like a bizarre
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: a bizarre set of circumstances, I guess.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: Cody, these are the reasons I'm always like on the
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: edge about, you know, players staying healthy or the Tiger's
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: gonna make it out of camp healthy. With the exception
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: of Troy Melton, they've honestly had a really healthy spring.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: Knock on wood as we get down to the wire here.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: But even if it's not, you know, some serious injury
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: or someone's arm blowing out, weird things happen in baseball,
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: and a weird one happened to Jake Rogers. It is
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: hard not to chuckle at the headline, like Jake Rogers
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: hit in face with own bat.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: It had to be Jake.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: It had to be Jake. My understanding, he wasn't messing
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: around or anything. He was doing some drill in the cage.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: Hopefully we'll get to talk to Jake and learn a
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: little more about this drill or what happened. But I
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: don't know if he like made contact with whatever he's
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: doing in the drill and the bat just kind of
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: came out of his hands, came back propped him right
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: in the face. He was pretty bloody and he needed
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: a few stitches and was diagnosed with a mild concussion. Again,
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: the initial vibe is like he's going to be okay.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: There is just enough time before opening day. He the
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: hope is he's going to be cleared, but we will
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: obviously see kind of scary one of those things that
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: you don't love in the moment. I'm sure aj Hinch
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: you know, got that text and was like, what the heck.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: But something we'll laugh about down the line. Will absolutely
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: make Jason Starks list of weirdest injuries at the end
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: of the years. So so there we go.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and again, like I said earlier, it had to
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: be Jake. And then also I would imagine like yeah,
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: as goofy as Jake can be like like immediately after
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: it happened, and after like you know, you kind of
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: come down from realizing, you know, what what the actual
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: like case is, He's probably just like are you effing serious?
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: Like are you know what are the chances?
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah? So so again like hopefully he'll be okay by
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: opening day and and and we'll be able to you know,
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: laugh about this later. But just like again just a
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: bizarre like if you wanted some evidence that maybe Camp
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: is too long, maybe maybe maybe this happened to Jake
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: at this point would go underneath that, uh maybe a
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: case that Camp is the right length. Cody is what
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: we see with pictures, and we had talked previously about
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: about Casey mies and and sort of like what's at
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: stake both for him and the team, and you know,
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: he just hadn't had his feel to this point. He
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: pitched on Wednesday night, you were there. His line, there's
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: nothing to brag about, but I think there is some
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: some deep dive worthiness to what we saw from Casey.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: So he goes four innings total, four hits, three earned runs,
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: he walks three, but he also strikes out six. Cody,
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: So what are we to make sort of like an
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: update of our previous conversation, but now we have more evidence,
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: like what are we to make of Casey Miz at
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: this point?
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was an interesting outing in that watching it,
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: I didn't think he looked very good. I mean, he
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: you know, he had a couple of walks. He had
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: a four pitch walk to Connor Griffin. He had some
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: sequences that just didn't look good. He had a slider
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: slip out of his hand and sailed to the backstop.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: Even early on. You know, he had the six punch outs,
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: but he was in some two strike counts that he
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: didn't get out of and there was a broken bats single,
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: there was an infield single. I think those were both
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: on two strike counts. So I came out of it
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: being like, ooof, this isn't great, And then talking to
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: Casey he seemed really encouraged with the outing. So this
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: is another reminder like you can't just judge spring training
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: on the box score. Maybe you can't even fully judge
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: it on the eye test, because I didn't like the
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: eye test. But he seemed closer to having solutions where
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: I think his previous outing he was just kind of
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: completely at a loss. He was like, what is going
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: on in this outing, he at least had some good moments.
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: He's been working on his delivery, trying to get a
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: little better rotation in his torso, and you know, you
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: can see a hit by pitch the walk like. It
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: wasn't perfect, but at times in the outing it was better,
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: and I think Casey was encouraged with that. He did
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: miss some bats, I think six whips with the splitter.
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: I asked him about that. He said, you know, the
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: splitter has been the highlight of camp. If there is
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: a highlight, no case he can be getting self deprecating,
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: I know, but you know, then asked him about that.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: He's got a new queue for the splitter that Doug
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: Bockler told him, which is just kind of trying to
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: throw it through an imaginary line that runs from the
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: back of the plate, you know, through the catcher's feet.
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: So he's just kind of finishing that pitch a little
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: more against right handed batters and he feels good where
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: that's at. And hearing that, I was like, hmm, okay,
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: if you want a reason to not go sound to
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: the alarm bells, maybe there's one. Because we all know
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: how important the splitter is to case He mises Arsenal.
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: He is a different pitcher when that pitch is going,
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: when it is generating swing and miss. The command has
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: been his biggest issue this spring. We've gone back and
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: forth over the years, like how good does Casey mize
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: his fastball command?
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: Really?
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: But when he is on, it's pretty good. He's throwing
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: first pitch strikes at a sixty nine point seven percent
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: clip each of the past two years, I think, which
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: which is really good. Casey generally is pretty solid in
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: his strike throwing. So if he can get back to
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: let's say, his normal self there, and if he can
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: keep having some success with this new splitter cue against
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: right hand batters all of a sudden, maybe you could
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: feel pretty good. Now he's obviously got a lock in
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: the command. He has to be better than he was
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: last time out. You can't just have some good moments
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: in a game. You gotta be able to get through
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: five six innings. You can't leave in the middle of
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: an inning, so you get your fifth up, you know,
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: and then come back in the game like he did.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: The regular season is different, beasts. He obviously has to
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: keep cranking up that dial. He's gonna pitch one more time.
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: I would assuming the exhibitions against the Rockies. Still some
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: still a while to go, but Casey felt pretty good,
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: felt like he made some progress. So if you want
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: to panic over spring training results hype, that's fine. He
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: hasn't looked very good, so I kind of get it.
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: But at the same time, I just let's get in
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: the regular season before we start saying Casey minds has
• 7:59
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• 9:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, like the way I you know, it's funny,
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: like the meme that's going around as soon as the
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: new year started. It's like, you know, twenty twenty six
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: is a new twenty sixteen or whatever. But it's like
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: for Casey Mice, all these years later, going into a
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: contract year, we're still talking about Casey Mice and the
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: splitter and the command and it's like we traveled this
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: long journey Cody to just come to the exact same place,
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: you know, with Casey Miyes. And honestly, like, I think
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: there's a there's a beauty to the game about this
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: element with us too, where like a simple sort of
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: mental trick, which again you can read more about this
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: of you subscribe to You Athlete or read Cody's story,
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: but like a simple mental trick that you would tell,
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: you know, a high school picture or a college pitcher
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: to try to like get a better feel and better
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: result with a particular pit. It's still being used on
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: major leaguers who you know, a guy who as an
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: All Star to his name. I think that's one of
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: the beauties of baseball is that like these simple things
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: still apply to you know, established major league pictures, you
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: know what I mean. So I think that's uh, I
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: think that's kind of cool. And I would say, like,
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: listen the peatree on the radio, like he was glowing
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: over over the split and definitely like I didn't think
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: I thought that he was being overly positive, because you know,
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: it's the home radio broadcast, But then like reading Casey's
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: words and looking at it a little bit better, I
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: was like, Okay, maybe that's me over correcting for bias,
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: and maybe there is something a little bit more here
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: that just people in the know are recognizing as as
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: opposed to you know, lames like you and me who
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: just you know, think we know what we're talking about. Uh.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: Speaking of thinking we know what we're talking about, Kevin McGonagall,
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: the watch continues conclusion while we do, as of this recording,
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: do not have a conclusion, but maybe a tip he
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: has been he is not on the spring breakout roster
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: which happens Friday night, which if you're subscribed on YouTube,
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: you can see the roster here. Uh, it's definitely a reflection,
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna say this code if you look at the roster,
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: a reflection of where the Tigers are now because a
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: lot of the names that we have spent a lot
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: of time discussing, analyzing are non included on this And
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: we'll get to those guys here in a second, but
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: Kevin mcgonag will being taken off in addition to Tray Cruz,
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: John Peck and Max Anderson, if it felt like the
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: Tigers essentially saying oh right, it's it's it's big boy,
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: big league pants time for these guys, Like we're you know,
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: the the breakout game is awesome and and all that stuff,
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: but we got work to do with these guys here.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: And obviously Kevin mcgonald kind of kind of leads that crowd,
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: and it's easy to say that the fact that he
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: has been removed from this particular roster means that he
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: might actually be on that particular roster.
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: But is it correct, Well, we're not talking that Trey
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: Cruz or Max Anderson are going to be on the
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: big league roster. So I don't think we should be
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: treating this as like the smoking gun that some people are.
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: The Tigers clearly made a decision to if you're in
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: big league camp, you're not going to the prospect game.
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: They said they didn't want to send mixed messages to
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: their guys. This is interesting. I'm sure MLB has got
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: to be like pissed. They promote the spring breakout game
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: pretty heavily. It was supposed to be Connor Griffin against
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: Kevin McGonagall. We got know Kevin McGonagall in there. Connor
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: Griffin Pirates is in the exact same situation down to
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: the wire. Is he going to make the roster? Isn't
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: he going to make the roster? As far as I know,
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: he still is playing in this prospect game. If I'm
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: kinder Griffin, you probably got to be looking like across
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: the diamond and being like, wait, they're not bringing that guy.
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: Does that mean he's on and I'm not on the roster.
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: That The real point there is every organization is handling
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: this differently. I get the not wanting to send mixed
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: signals to guys. I would also just say this spring
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: breakout roster just got real boring. I mean, it's it's
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: not quite what it was. You got Max Clark, Chris Rodriguez,
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: Bryce Rayner by the way back on this or he
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: wasn't on it initially, so it sounds like he is good.
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: I believe he's expected to play, so that'll be exciting
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: a more a little more Jordan Jos Michael loloveto draft
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: picks from last year, but you'll get this pitching staff
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: man other than some of the guys who've already pitched
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: in the major leagues Dylan Smith, Drew Summers, and Tanner
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: Kolp's a good arm, but it's you can see the
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: top heavy nature of the Tigers farm system shine through
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: pretty quickly because this is a far less star studded
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: spring breakout roster than it was two days ago. I
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: don't know. I you know, McGonagall, he's gonna go play
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: with the big league team against the Phillies his childhood
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: team in clear Water, So maybe that's better. You know,
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: would you rather be a big leaguer or if you
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: want to stay at prospect you can go play in
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: the prospect game. I get that part of it. I
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: am also just like I don't know this is a thing.
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: It's not going to kill you to have those guys
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: go play a couple of innings in the prospect game.
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, there's obviously a way to do both.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: Like it's not it or it could be even be
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: organized better from a major league perspective, And maybe the
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: World Baseball Classic had a little bit to do with
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: it here, but like, like just you could you could
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: still showcase those guys while giving them their major league
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: reps or whatever, you know what I mean, So it
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: feels like it could be done. Tigers opted to go
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: this way. But let's give a little love to Tray Cruz,
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: Peck and and our you know, front of the podcast,
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: Max Anderson, because Trey Cruz has you know, he's obviously
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: a long it's a long journey to get to this point,
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: and obviously he's not gonna make this team barring something
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: like crazy happening, but he does that he was added
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: to the forty man. He does offer a ton of
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: versatility and like that part of his profile has definitely
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: been like part of how they're used him in spring.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: And then Peck has been a guy that, like the
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: glove has always been his calling card. I've been I've
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: been i would say, pleasantly surprised with how he's done
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: at the plate and then and sort of like the
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: opposite with with Max Anderson. Obviously a you know, higher,
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: higher touted prospect, but Max Anderson is a guy who's
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: always been that guy, back guy, back guy and had
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: to work on defense and he and I feel like
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: the steps that him the organization have taken to make
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: him a more sound defender, a somewhat versatile defender has
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: also shine through, because I mean there are even when
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: Anderson was drafted, a lot of people are like, yeah,
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: he's probably just gonna end up at first base, and
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: he's still that might be like whatever the path, but
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: it's at this point in his career it's not a necessity,
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: which I do believe is a credit to him in
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: the organization.
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think all these guys have had good camps. Anderson, Yeah,
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: just you know, the bat's clearly pretty real and he's
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: taken some strides defensively. I would tamp down like the
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: idea that Max Anderson is a great defender now, but
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: he's made some nice plays, He's look good. That's great,
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: That's kind of what you want to see from a
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: developing player. You want to see incremental progress. Trey Cruz.
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: They're playing this guy all over the place. He can
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: handle himself pretty well. How's the bat going to play
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: in the major leagues. It's a little bit of a
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: question still, but I think this guy you're probably gonna
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: see this guy in the big leagues at some point
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: this season. And then Pack, we haven't really talked about
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: John Pack. I he indeed has had a great camp.
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: The bat's been a little more solid than you probably
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: would think. The glove is legit. The Tigers seem to
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: really like him, evidenced by the fact he's still in
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: big league camp right now. Again, he's not going to
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: make this team, but he's put himself on the radar
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: maybe for having a shot to debut at some point
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: this year. You know, what's his staying power like in
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: the big leagues? I think that's the question. Is he
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: a you know, Zach Short type or I think the
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: Tigers like to think he could have even a little
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: more staying power, like a Kyle Farmer or some other
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: sort of glove first infielder that can hit enough to
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: stay on a major league roster for a period of years.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: So Peck's certainly a guy to watch. Congrats to all
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: those guys who have showed up and made a good impression.
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and like it's important to know because you know,
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: we transition to this after talking about the spring breakout
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: Elman how the system is a little top heavy, but
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: there that's true. But these three names, and I'm taking
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: McGonagall out of this list here for a second. These
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: three names are examples of organizational depth that doesn't like,
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: doesn't like make headlines with a breakout prospect game. And also,
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: you know, isn't made up of I would say, guys
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: that you're expecting to carry you at certain points, like you,
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: this is the kind of depth that is actually needed.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: So it's a little it's a credit to all these
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: guys because again Peck was he like a seventh round pick?
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: Is that correct? Yeah, I have to I'll double check
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: that a second trade cruise again, has been in the
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: system for a long time, not brought in by this
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: current regime. And dudes that have just stayed at it,
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: stayed at it, stayed at it, and not really even
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: with the cleanest lane of opportunity, but have still been
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: able to you know, form somewhat of a role for themselves,
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: a value for themselves in the organization. So uh, if
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: we were doing like non major league roster like winners
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: for spring training, these three guys, I don't know how
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: you can't just like automatically put them at or near
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: the top of the list. So uh so you know,
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: good on, good on all of them. And I think
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: it's fair to go back to McGonagall here for a second, Cody,
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: because we got a question on X about lineup construction.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: If McGonagall makes this team and if Parker makes this team,
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: which as I said last time, I don't see a
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: lot of smoke that like that could not be the case.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: So we'll see. But it's just for the sake of
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: the exercise, McGonagall and Parker are gonna be on the
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: roster going to San Diego. You get yourself a little
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: bit of a pinch when you are facing a left
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: handed starter. So I just I just did a straight
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: like a positional lineup. So this is not a batting order,
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: but I did a positional lineup against a left handed starter.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: If Parker and mckin assume me, Parker and McGonagall make
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: this team. So Dingler Catcher, Torque first, Torre's second, Green left,
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: Jami Jones at DH. Those are I would say, like
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: locks right and then third base, shortstop and center and
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: right are sort of where you can do some some maneuvering,
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: I guess. But I have Matt vierling and right that
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: seems pretty safe. I have McKinstry at third, which, again,
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: who knows what he did against left handed pitching last year,
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: is you know, revocable for another season, but as of now,
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: you've gotta kind of slow him in there. And then
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: I initially put Parker in center and then Bias at
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: short because I'm like, if you're gonna have Parker, the
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: value is the glove. It doesn't matter if it's against
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: the left handed pitcher. Put the glove in center field
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: and live with it. But before we've pressed record, you said, well,
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: if you're gonna have mcgoga on this team, you're not
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: going to platoon him. So McGonagall in this case would
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: be shortstop. And then put Baias in center. So's that's
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: a lot of words and a lot of names there.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: So what do you make of this lineup structure? Should
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: the Tigers kind of opt to go in this direction?
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: Well, it's one of the things that makes the potential
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: Winsle pairs versus Parker Meadow's debate so interesting and so difficult. Right,
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: they just are different players with different strengths. As we've
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: talked about, Yeah, there is a little bit of a
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: trade off. If you take Parker's glove and the fact
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: he's shown some signs of life at the plate, you
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: do risk getting a little more left handed now, kind
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: of like McKinstry. There's also a question, well, what Winsle
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: did from the right side last season trains like can
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: you do it two seasons in a row? Because it
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: was a little bit out of nowhere, but it was
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: a game changer. It's something that bow in his favor
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: in this debate, But as you go through it, I
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: don't think it's the end of the world to have Again,
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: the Tigers aren't gonna play to Kevin McGonagall. You know,
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: you think he's a good enough hitter that you want
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: him in the lineup against lefties. Zach McKinstry, will he repeated,
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: I don't know, but he played seventy four times against
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: left handers last season, so that doesn't seem to be
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: a concern in the minds of the team. We've seen
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: Parkers start against lefties before. You know, batom ninth for
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: the sheer value of his defense, or like we just
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: talked about, one of the perks of having Hobby By
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: is available to play center field. You probably want Hobby
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: hitting against a lefty. He can slide there and play
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: in center. So look, do you have some lefties in
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: the lineup, Sure, but if McKinstry can hit lefties and
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: McGonagall can hit lefties, suddenly you're not as worried about it.
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: So as I look at that talk through that a
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: little bit, I tend to think that that's not like
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: a kiss of death for Parker Metto's roster spot. By
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: any means, we also don't have cold Keith in this lineup.
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: Col Keith, I think the Tigers would like for him
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: to be close to an everyday player still, but he
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: struggled a lot against left handers last season. He's probably
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: gonna have to find a way to earn those opportunities.
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: Riley Green struggle against left handers last season. I don't
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: think they're gonna put in Riley Green though.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: Right Well, then is there a if you so? If
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: you say a statement like I want the Tigers, or
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: I believe the Tigers want Colt Keith to to be
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: an everyday player, and the upside offensively is obviously, you know,
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: could be higher than McKinstry. Is There is there a
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: case too, in certain situations, maybe depending on the picture,
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: to just like putting Keith out there at third base
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: in the in this specific scenario and having McKinstry be
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: the one that comes off the bench. And yeah, obviously
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: there's more versatility with what you could do with him
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: coming off the bench than than Colt Keith when it
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: comes to pinch hitting and defensive you know, alignment and
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: all that stuff, and just maybe maybe letting Colt Keith
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: kind of sink or swim a little bit, you know,
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: Is there any thought to doing that?
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: No, I don't. I actually almost want to retract that statement.
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: I lean toward no. I think the days of Colt
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: just getting at bats against left East because he's a
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: young hitter are over. I think this team is too
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: good for that now. Colt is one of these guys
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: who is even though a lot of people myself included,
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: are projecting, you know, this could be kind of his
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: breakout year. He's one of a few guys wintleedby in
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: another one, McKinstry in a way being another one who
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: played a lot last season, who might not be guaranteed
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: that same amount of at bats if mcgonagall's on this roster,
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: if some other guys are are popping, there's just kind
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: of less of the pie to go around a little bit.
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: That means col Keith's not playing against lefties. That means
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: he's not playing against lefties. Again. The best version of
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: this guy is a well rounded hitter who can hold
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: his own against left handers. But I think this team
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: is too good to just give him kind of free
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: at bats for the sake of development at this point.
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: Well, that actually is a perfect transition to our next
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: kind of like as we get down to the bare
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: bones of roster construction, and that's Austin Slater, a guy
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: brought in on a minor league deal. He's, you know,
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: a veteran guy, right hander. So you know that actually
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: kind of plays for this conversation as well. So if
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: I have this correct March twenty first, which is you
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: know tomorrow, if you're listening to this on on Friday,
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: March twenty first, he has an opt you know, an
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: opt out option, where basically the Tigers would be forced
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: to either let him go or or it could become
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: a freation, I should say, or add him to the
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: forty man roster. Now, Austin Slater is a guy that
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: checks a lot of boxes for what you want out
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: of a you know, Toledo call up outfielder. He's right handed,
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: he's a veteran, he knows the deal. But is it
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: a case where the forty man spots are a little
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: bit more precious, especially right now than the the Tigers
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: to kind of like force their hand to make room
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: for for Austin Slater. But the other side of that is,
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: if you ever plan on using him, you're gonna have
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: to use a forty man spot on him anyway. So
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: I don't know, I guess we don't necessarily have to
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: get a prediction as to whether what the Tigers will do,
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: But just like, what have you kind of like, what
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: have you seen from Austin? You know? You know this spring?
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean he's had a nice enough spring shown
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: up himself as someone who can contribute. I think he's
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: exactly what they brought him in to do. You know,
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: he's a kind of a platoon bad, who can be
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: good in the field, who could profile is good Triple
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: A depth. It gets tough when you get these guys
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: with some service time and the CBA gives them these
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: opt out clauses. It's basically an upward mobility clause, and
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: it's designed to give guys opportunities who have some experience
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: rather than just getting stashed in Triple A. It does
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: create a tough decision because I think the Tigers would
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: like to keep this guy's death. I'm not so sure
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: they're going to clear a forty man spot for it.
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: Especially you have a very similar player in Corey Jokes
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: in your system, so we'll see what happens. It's also
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: a little bit of a tough spot for Slater. He
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: could take this clause, become a free agent, hope that
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: someone else is going to have a chance and pick
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: them up. But it's kind of like, all right, you
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: know the Tigers and what they value. You could get
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: a shot this year if there's an injury. In theory,
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: you're going to be playing on a competitive team, a
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: playoff type team. You could become a free agent and
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: go take your shot and see what happens. If the
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: White Sox pick you up. I don't know the landscape
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: of every roster across the league. Maybe there's a good
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: team that is dying for a player just like Austin Slater.
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: That's probably what his agent is kind of trying to
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: figure out right now, Like, is there somewhere where he
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: is a good fit. We'll see what happens. I wouldn't
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: be stunned if Slater decides to stay in this organization,
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: thinking it's as good of an opportunity as he's going
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: to get anywhere, though, So we'll see a kind of
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: a tough situation for both player and team.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, be curious to see what the salesmanship of an
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: aj and a sky Harrison this situation is because the
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: flip side is also Cody that to replace him, like
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: the best option or the option that you like, might
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: be like some sort of waiverclaim that might require a
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: forty man spot, you know what I mean, Like you
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: like you might end up in that situation anyway, with
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: potentially a player that you like a little less. Uh So,
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: So it's it's obviously it's a good thing that the
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: Players Union Player Association got in there in the CBA
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: to Like I said, like try to, you know, get
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: these guys uh into into the big leagues that have
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: some experiences set just being stashed. But the the timing
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: is purposefully problematic in some ways. But that's that's okay. Yeah,
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: anything else, Cody before we jet out of here.
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: No, I think that's all I got. It's uh, it's strange,
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: you know, being here at the end of camp. We'll
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: have one more schoogle start and then one one more
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: I guess from Rivalde is one more game in Lakeland
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: and then we are done. So yeah, it's uh, it
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: has gone by quick in a lot of regards. As
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: much as we talk about can't be in long man,
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: it's opening days about here.
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, about the smack me in the face with everything
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: being real all right. You can follow this on x
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: four known as Twitter Atquoty Steven Hagen, I am at
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: here in underscore Stecley at Tiger Territory. Underscore is the
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: show page Tiger Territory shop dot com for your merch, YouTube, Apple, Spotify,
• 30:11
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• 30:12
  Speaker 1: So for Tory Stavemen Hagen, I'm Kean Steckley. Everybody have
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: right day,