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The biggest questions as spring training begins · Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast

0:09
Speaker 1: And welcome into another episode of Tiger Territory, part of
0:12
Speaker 1: the foul Territo Nork, the Troy Tiger's Podcast. I'm Karen
0:15
Speaker 1: Steckley with me as always a man who has a
0:16
Speaker 1: scorching hot take on Bad Bunnies Super Bowl halftime performance,
0:21
Speaker 1: but that's for a different podcast. He is Cody Stevenaggan
0:24
Speaker 1: and how we doing?
0:25
Speaker 2: Hey doing all right? No hot takes here. It was
0:27
Speaker 2: more entertaining than the game for the duration of that game.
0:30
Speaker 2: Let's just be honest.
0:32
Speaker 1: That's true. And the American public can close a chapter
0:35
Speaker 1: on a football season and go right in to a
0:38
Speaker 1: baseball season because it is here. We are on the
0:40
Speaker 1: verge of spring training. All the thought exercises, all of
0:44
Speaker 1: the anticipation, it all comes to just throwing, catching and
0:49
Speaker 1: hitting the ball. Finally, Cody, I'm really excited, and let's
0:53
Speaker 1: just kind of dive right in here. I wanted to
0:56
Speaker 1: use this time to just kind of go through the
0:59
Speaker 1: offseason and the moves that we made, the moves that
1:01
Speaker 1: weren't made, and and I think the best way to
1:05
Speaker 1: kind of formulate that is to determine whether the Tigers
1:09
Speaker 1: were off season winners not did they win the off season.
1:14
Speaker 1: But were they off season winners or losers? Because I've
1:17
Speaker 1: I've done some, I've done some you know, perusing of
1:21
Speaker 1: the internets, and you got that there's a variety of
1:24
Speaker 1: opinions on this. So I'll state my case and then
1:28
Speaker 1: you kind of answer that question yourself. I maybe it's
1:33
Speaker 1: just ring training, like you know, is in the air,
1:36
Speaker 1: kind of positivity vibes. It's hard for me to say
1:40
Speaker 1: that they're losers. They are a winning team. They have
1:43
Speaker 1: been to the you know Game five the Alds back
1:46
Speaker 1: to back seasons. They maintained that winning squad from the
1:50
Speaker 1: previous year, and they added a premium pitcher and from Rivaldez.
1:56
Speaker 1: That's in addition to obviously coaching and front office stuff
1:59
Speaker 1: and infant structure, and then the you know, the prospects
2:02
Speaker 1: are knocking on the door of being in the major leagues.
2:07
Speaker 1: It kind of feels to me like it was a
2:09
Speaker 1: winning off season, but there is a counter argument to that.
2:14
Speaker 1: So before we get to the counter argument, I'm kind
2:16
Speaker 1: of curious your thoughts on whether it was a quote
2:20
Speaker 1: winning off season for the Tigers.
2:22
Speaker 2: Well, I think the signing of from Bravaldez elevates the
2:24
Speaker 2: Tigers into the winning category. As much as it was
2:27
Speaker 2: sleepy and it was quiet, I still know that I
2:30
Speaker 2: would have put the Tigers as losers pre fromer. It
2:33
Speaker 2: was just kind of like they mostly sat out and
2:35
Speaker 2: they're gonna run back the same team. You couldn't say
2:38
Speaker 2: they got worse because they did enough to bring back
2:40
Speaker 2: a similar team with Kyle Finnegan, Glabor, Torez, Jack Flaherty,
2:44
Speaker 2: and they added kin Lee Jansen. It wasn't a lot.
2:47
Speaker 2: It was fair to criticize them for not doing more,
2:50
Speaker 2: but they go out and they get from Bravaldez. If
2:52
Speaker 2: you would have said day one of the off season, Hey,
2:54
Speaker 2: the Tigers are gonna go get the best starting pitcher
2:57
Speaker 2: on the market, and they're gonna run it back, double
3:00
Speaker 2: down on their young position Core, I think the mood
3:03
Speaker 2: would have been a lot better. Oh, by the way,
3:05
Speaker 2: they're gonna have a two hundred and thirty million CBT payroll,
3:08
Speaker 2: a franchise record. I think the mood this whole time
3:11
Speaker 2: would have been a lot better than it than it
3:13
Speaker 2: actually felt for the duration of this winter. Now we'll
3:16
Speaker 2: see how their offense ends up playing. We'll see if
3:20
Speaker 2: it's better, worse or the same. If it is not improved,
3:24
Speaker 2: or if it is worse, if they play like the
3:26
Speaker 2: version of the Tigers we saw on August and September,
3:29
Speaker 2: there's gonna be plenty of second guessing. But standing here
3:31
Speaker 2: on the eve of spring training, look, they're bringing back
3:34
Speaker 2: a good team and they now have as good of
3:36
Speaker 2: a one to two punch in the American League as
3:38
Speaker 2: there is. I think that's a meaningful difference. I've said before,
3:43
Speaker 2: I think pitching was this team's best best path to improvement.
3:47
Speaker 2: You gotta feel pretty good about the back end of
3:48
Speaker 2: their bullpen. You look at this rotation on paper, it's
3:51
Speaker 2: pretty dang good. They spent some money to get from
3:54
Speaker 2: Borough on a deal that's only three years, so it looks,
3:56
Speaker 2: you know, kind of good all around. So I'll say
4:00
Speaker 2: they are somewhere in the winners category.
4:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I think that's fair. And look, the the
4:09
Speaker 1: first thing that people are gonna point to is the
4:12
Speaker 1: school boll hoopla. I guess it is a good way
4:15
Speaker 1: to put it, whether it's any sort of contract extension,
4:19
Speaker 1: which it's kind of funny, we haven't really talked about
4:21
Speaker 1: the contract extension thing. I think people have all realized
4:24
Speaker 1: it's just not happening for any side.
4:26
Speaker 2: Some people haven't realized that, but we've realized that. So
4:29
Speaker 2: we're not going to waste too much breath on it
4:31
Speaker 2: until maybe the end of the year when it becomes more.
4:33
Speaker 1: Relevant, right right, So, like so we've kind of moved
4:37
Speaker 1: on from that mostly, but like you know, the trade stuff,
4:40
Speaker 1: and you know, is this team in on it? Is
4:44
Speaker 1: this team in on it? And then the arbitration thing.
4:47
Speaker 1: So if you want to say no, meaningful might not
4:51
Speaker 1: be the right word, but no, like real tangible upgrades
4:55
Speaker 1: were made to the batting lineup, and you had the
4:59
Speaker 1: bad up of filing and going to arbitration. And if
5:02
Speaker 1: you want to call yourself a loser, like losing in
5:05
Speaker 1: arbitration like the school Bol did you do enough in
5:10
Speaker 1: his walk year? Will always be the question? And the
5:14
Speaker 1: answer to that is probably no. But the answer to
5:18
Speaker 1: it being no doesn't necessarily mean that you're setting yourself
5:22
Speaker 1: up for a flop of a season. Does that make sense?
5:24
Speaker 1: Like if you could argue that if you have school Ble,
5:28
Speaker 1: there's not really any sort of like enough you could
5:30
Speaker 1: do to maximize having him in his prime. Right, So,
5:35
Speaker 1: so I think that hanging over the team optics wise,
5:39
Speaker 1: they probably were losers because everybody wanted them to do more.
5:43
Speaker 1: But this looks like an improved team, and if you
5:45
Speaker 1: believe in player development, it should be an improved team.
5:50
Speaker 1: But they with their actions in actions, they kind of
5:55
Speaker 1: led into this. We didn't do enough aspect for the
5:58
Speaker 1: outside voices.
6:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, I just don't know that I have like that,
6:04
Speaker 2: you know, anything fresh or new to say about it.
6:06
Speaker 2: We've been talking about this all off season. The reason
6:10
Speaker 2: I'm optimistic about the from Erveldas signing again, the Tigers
6:13
Speaker 2: ranked seventeenth in TmrA last year. That was with the
6:17
Speaker 2: back to back American League Cy Young Winner on their team.
6:20
Speaker 2: Their rotation was eleventh with that guy on their team.
6:24
Speaker 2: Basically when Scooble wasn't pitching, their pitching was not very good.
6:27
Speaker 2: Their rotation was not very good. If they can just
6:30
Speaker 2: sustain offense, so Rightley Green doesn't even have to be
6:34
Speaker 2: better gold Keith doesn't even have to be better. If
6:36
Speaker 2: they can maintain kind of that level they were at
6:39
Speaker 2: last season as a collective, and the pitching, the ERA
6:43
Speaker 2: jumps from seventeenth to top ten, which if everyone's healthy,
6:47
Speaker 2: I think it's plenty capable of doing like this. Team
6:50
Speaker 2: should win the AL Central. Now the offense, again, I
6:54
Speaker 2: don't know how confident I am in it. I think
6:56
Speaker 2: there's gonna be some variability. What are you gonna get, Yeah,
6:59
Speaker 2: Parker is healthy, what are you going to get out
7:01
Speaker 2: of him? What are you going to get out of
7:02
Speaker 2: Matt Vierling? That's going to be I think the most
7:07
Speaker 2: like that's going to be the sticking point for fans.
7:09
Speaker 2: And if they come out and they lose six to
7:12
Speaker 2: one on an opening day, the reactions are going to
7:15
Speaker 2: fly in right away. This team did not do enough.
7:17
Speaker 2: If they strike out thirteen times in the second game
7:20
Speaker 2: of the series, why did the Tigers run back the
7:22
Speaker 2: same offense. We're not done hearing about that. But I
7:25
Speaker 2: think if you want to zoom out and take the
7:27
Speaker 2: broader view, this team got better and it's going to
7:29
Speaker 2: try to win through the strength of it's pitching. And
7:31
Speaker 2: we'll see if these young guys develop. If they do this,
7:35
Speaker 2: this team could make some real noise. Yeah.
7:38
Speaker 1: And to that point, just to again go back to
7:42
Speaker 1: the whole like, if I would have told you then
7:44
Speaker 1: now you know, how would you be feeling an aspect
7:47
Speaker 1: The Tigers enter spring training roughly depending on where you
7:50
Speaker 1: look like plus one and twenty five a favorite to
7:53
Speaker 1: win the AL Central. The Royals are plus two thirty ish.
7:58
Speaker 1: Obviously things could change, but that's roughly the kind of
8:01
Speaker 1: lead you have in the betting markets. And again, if
8:04
Speaker 1: you would have said that on the APY Spring training,
8:06
Speaker 1: you're pretty decent favorites when the AO Central, Yeah, you
8:09
Speaker 1: can live with that and kind of go for them.
8:11
Speaker 2: So Fangrafts is picking them to win about eighty six
8:14
Speaker 2: games right now, which is like kind of what we thought,
8:17
Speaker 2: and the argument can still stand well in Schoobl's final year.
8:20
Speaker 2: When aren't you tired of seeing these projections? Oh, eighty three,
8:23
Speaker 2: eighty four, eighty five, eighty six Tigers think they can,
8:27
Speaker 2: you know, exceed the projections by a few games based
8:30
Speaker 2: on how they use their roster. Wouldn't you just want
8:32
Speaker 2: to see that number have an nine in front of it?
8:35
Speaker 2: You know, like, I think that's fair everyone who feels
8:38
Speaker 2: like the Tigers didn't do enough. That's pretty good evidence.
8:40
Speaker 2: The computer picks you to win your division, but your
8:44
Speaker 2: division is not very good and it's only picking you
8:46
Speaker 2: to win eighty six games, So or are you eight
8:48
Speaker 2: bona fide World Series contender?
8:50
Speaker 1: Well?
8:51
Speaker 2: A lot of things have to go right. That point
8:54
Speaker 2: still stands regardless of if the Tigers won or lost
8:57
Speaker 2: the offseason.
9:00
Speaker 1: Speaking of seeing the Tigers, we have an update on
9:04
Speaker 1: that front, but first you gotta pay some bills. A
9:06
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Speaker 1: All right, coming back here, we have a an update
10:18
Speaker 1: regarding the Tigers and their and their broadcast plans. Baseball
10:24
Speaker 1: a lot of times is a game of uncertainty, but
10:26
Speaker 1: you'd like to be certain about being able to watch
10:28
Speaker 1: your favorite baseball team, in this case a hockey team
10:32
Speaker 1: as well. So the Tigers are often to go with
10:35
Speaker 1: the Major League the backing of partnership of Major League Baseball.
10:39
Speaker 1: We have a graphic up here for those watching on YouTube,
10:44
Speaker 1: and it's going to be combined with the Detroit Red
10:46
Speaker 1: Wings starting next season. And it obviously this is like
10:51
Speaker 1: important news, but it did kind of feel like we
10:54
Speaker 1: were heading this way Cody, as as as Tigers, of course,
10:58
Speaker 1: ironically get the highest payroll they've had in some time,
11:02
Speaker 1: if you know, if ever, and now they have the
11:05
Speaker 1: lowest TV guaranteed TV backing that they've ever had. Obviously
11:08
Speaker 1: that's a huge source of revenue. So it seems like
11:11
Speaker 1: this is something that just made too much sense, and
11:13
Speaker 1: you know, and I'm glad that they're, you know, getting
11:16
Speaker 1: this done prior to obviously the season.
11:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, I do think the movement toward being under MLB's
11:23
Speaker 2: broadcast arm has kind of been in the works, whether
11:26
Speaker 2: directly or indirectly, for years. That just made the most
11:29
Speaker 2: sense what we learned today. Honestly, not a lot new.
11:32
Speaker 2: It had already been reported through sources that the Tigers
11:35
Speaker 2: were likely to partner with MLB. Them taking the Red
11:38
Speaker 2: Wings along makes it kind of a first of its
11:41
Speaker 2: kind agreement. But there are a lot of questions to
11:43
Speaker 2: still be answered. How much is this gonna cost, How
11:45
Speaker 2: exactly are you gonna watch the Tigers if you're out
11:48
Speaker 2: of market, do you have to subscribe to ESPN and
11:51
Speaker 2: then MLB and do you get to like that? There's
11:53
Speaker 2: a lot to figure out there, But I think the
11:56
Speaker 2: important news, like they have a broadcast home. It's to
12:00
Speaker 2: me like this, I don't the revenue might not compare
12:03
Speaker 2: at all to what they were making a few years ago,
12:06
Speaker 2: but it might be a little more individualized based on
12:08
Speaker 2: how they're drawing, how they're rating, and most importantly, there's
12:12
Speaker 2: gonna be a way for people to watch the Tigers.
12:14
Speaker 2: It sounds like their works to have a broadcast channel,
12:17
Speaker 2: So whatever used to be fandal Sports is replaced, and
12:20
Speaker 2: if you have Exfinity or whatever, you can still scroll
12:23
Speaker 2: down to that channel and you can watch the Tigers
12:26
Speaker 2: just like you always could. And if that's you know,
12:28
Speaker 2: if you cut the cord or whatever, there's gonna be
12:30
Speaker 2: a way to subscribe and to watch the Tigers. Will
12:32
Speaker 2: it cost more, will it cost less? Like we'll see.
12:36
Speaker 2: But I don't think there's gonna be any huge radical change.
12:39
Speaker 2: I don't think, especially if you're in market, you're not
12:42
Speaker 2: gonna have to jump through a whole lot of hoops
12:44
Speaker 2: to watch your teams. So be interested to learn a
12:47
Speaker 2: little bit more. But at least there's some resolution here.
12:51
Speaker 2: I don't think it being varied and different for every
12:54
Speaker 2: team and changing every year is great. But hopefully this
12:57
Speaker 2: is the first step toward Major League Baseball in particular,
13:01
Speaker 2: kind of getting its ducks in a row and figuring
13:04
Speaker 2: out a better solution for its teams than its broadcasts.
13:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, hopefully. It's one of those things that once you
13:11
Speaker 1: get to like week two three of the season, you
13:13
Speaker 1: don't even it doesn't you don't even realize that there's
13:17
Speaker 1: I feel like it's always that way, you know. Yeah,
13:20
Speaker 1: so so yeah, good news on that front, potentially bad
13:26
Speaker 1: news on another front, Cody. So there's been some speculation,
13:33
Speaker 1: I'm trying to find the best way to phrase this,
13:35
Speaker 1: there's been some aggregate speculation that Resulsen might not be
13:41
Speaker 1: ready for opening Day. Now, we're obviously about to get
13:46
Speaker 1: a flood of medical updates from from the Tigers here
13:49
Speaker 1: pretty soon. So this is kind of a short window
13:51
Speaker 1: of not really kind of knowing what's going on. But
13:54
Speaker 1: I always kind of assumed that, given there was sort
13:58
Speaker 1: of a pie in the sky thing Reese that he
14:00
Speaker 1: could have, you know, they hoped he might be able
14:02
Speaker 1: to come back at the end of last season, that
14:05
Speaker 1: in theory by opening day twenty twenty six, like all right,
14:09
Speaker 1: it should be good, like spring training, like should be good.
14:12
Speaker 4: Uh.
14:12
Speaker 1: The fact that this is out there is in itself concerning,
14:19
Speaker 1: and of course with injuries you know we went on,
14:21
Speaker 1: specially on anything, especially if I haven't heard directly. So
14:24
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna ask you about that, but I am
14:26
Speaker 1: gonna have this be like a lead in into what
14:31
Speaker 1: I will be asking you here pretty soon. And this
14:34
Speaker 1: is called future text to Cody is what this segment
14:38
Speaker 1: is called, and the first one will be what's up
14:41
Speaker 1: with Reesulson, because that will probably be the first question
14:46
Speaker 1: asked over the uh of aj hanch and Scott Harrison,
14:51
Speaker 1: Reese himself.
14:52
Speaker 2: So yeah, I'll just I'll say, like, I don't have
14:56
Speaker 2: anything new to report today. On Wednesday, spring training will
15:00
Speaker 2: open to the media. We will be talking to all
15:02
Speaker 2: the people you just mentioned, and I imagine we will
15:05
Speaker 2: learn a little bit more. Yeah, we'll see Reesemiss. You know,
15:10
Speaker 2: he went out in July with his shoulder strain and
15:13
Speaker 2: he was not really throwing. He sounds like he had
15:16
Speaker 2: a mostly normal off season, but what does that mean?
15:18
Speaker 2: Was the extent of his injury? How far along is
15:20
Speaker 2: he in his process? Was there any setback? Like could
15:23
Speaker 2: this be something worse? I don't know. We'll get there,
15:26
Speaker 2: We'll ask some people, and soon we will have information.
15:31
Speaker 2: If he's not ready for opening day, maybe it's a
15:33
Speaker 2: thing where his timeline is delayed just a little bit
15:35
Speaker 2: and it's not a big deal. Hopefully that's probably maybe
15:38
Speaker 2: best case. Your best case scenario is he's ready for
15:40
Speaker 2: opening day, right, but given his injuries and his history,
15:43
Speaker 2: you certainly hope it's not something that is eventually going
15:46
Speaker 2: to lead down a worse road, surgery or anything like that.
15:50
Speaker 2: As of December, which is the last time we heard
15:52
Speaker 2: a public update, the Tigers felt cold. Thought he was
15:56
Speaker 2: having a normal off season. So we'll get word on
15:59
Speaker 2: Reesulsen what i'll that means. And it's the first day
16:01
Speaker 2: or tear of spring training. Man, it seems like someone
16:03
Speaker 2: else always shows up injured, so you kind of got
16:07
Speaker 2: to cross your fingers and hope there's nothing else out
16:09
Speaker 2: there looming right someone else you haven't thought is hurt.
16:11
Speaker 2: But this is why I've made those disclaimers all off season,
16:14
Speaker 2: like all the speculation is is rendered meaningless with one
16:19
Speaker 2: injury if results and if something is up Drew Anderson,
16:25
Speaker 2: Troy Melton right back in that rotation discussion, even after
16:28
Speaker 2: the signing of from Bravaldez. That's all a long way
16:31
Speaker 2: of saying, hey, stay tuned, stay with us. Wednesday, we
16:33
Speaker 2: will have a lot of news coming out of Tigers can.
16:37
Speaker 1: Indeed, indeed, so other texts that I'll I'll be sending
16:40
Speaker 1: Cody it will. I'm just gonna list them off and
16:43
Speaker 1: then you can just kind of say, like what you're
16:46
Speaker 1: looking for in the in the first day of spring
16:48
Speaker 1: training with a million things happening all at once. I'm
16:52
Speaker 1: very curious, like some of this is repetitive from last season,
16:56
Speaker 1: but that's kind of the point, I guess, Like how
17:00
Speaker 1: school walking around being a two time sy Young winner
17:03
Speaker 1: no longer being like you can the term flash in
17:06
Speaker 1: the pan could never be said of Terech Schooble because
17:10
Speaker 1: he went and had a cy Young season and then
17:12
Speaker 1: he went and had another sy Young season. Plus he
17:15
Speaker 1: has this historic arbitration win. I'm kind of you know,
17:19
Speaker 1: everything over, you know, with the contract and trade stuff
17:23
Speaker 1: and blah blah blah. How he is he handling himself?
17:25
Speaker 1: How's he handled himself with you guys in the media,
17:27
Speaker 1: you know, asking questions about all this stuff. I'll be
17:30
Speaker 1: very curious about a guy who, you know, I mentioned
17:34
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago. We're not talking all that
17:36
Speaker 1: much about, but like what how the far the Tigers
17:40
Speaker 1: go might be directly related to what is Riley Green's
17:44
Speaker 1: body like and what does he feel like he can do?
17:46
Speaker 1: And you know, I'm sure there's gonna be some other
17:51
Speaker 1: training regimen change or diet or you know, terms like
17:55
Speaker 1: pliability or something is gonna be like said with regards
17:59
Speaker 1: to he did this offseason and that's and that's just
18:02
Speaker 1: his body his body of work. I'm also you know,
18:04
Speaker 1: I mean text he was like, what did he say about,
18:07
Speaker 1: you know, his approach to the plate, the strike galaxy,
18:09
Speaker 1: blah blah blah. So that's that's a big one. That's
18:11
Speaker 1: a big one. Of course, all the Major League Baseball
18:16
Speaker 1: is gonna be curious about Ken McGonagall and Mex Clark.
18:18
Speaker 1: But Ken McGonagall is the headliner. You know, how does
18:21
Speaker 1: this guy, you know, how's he look? Does he look
18:24
Speaker 1: like he belongs? He's never been around major leaguers like this,
18:29
Speaker 1: so like, how does he look? Is there an is
18:31
Speaker 1: there actually an opportunity there? Uh? And then again Max
18:35
Speaker 1: Clark two and then lastly, we'll do vibe checks from
18:41
Speaker 1: time to time during spring training and throughout the season.
18:45
Speaker 1: I'll be very curious if there's a sense of urgency
18:48
Speaker 1: vibe is there, Like you know, with the school board
18:51
Speaker 1: contract stuff like the the a lot of teams, a
18:55
Speaker 1: lot of the guys from the team from last season
18:58
Speaker 1: coming in bad tastes in their mouths. I think AJ said, like,
19:01
Speaker 1: you know, they're pissed off, you know, it's you know
19:04
Speaker 1: about how last season ended. Does that translate into the
19:10
Speaker 1: vibe of this camp? And and so those are those
19:13
Speaker 1: are my tops right there? Cody, what do you sort
19:15
Speaker 1: of where are your eyes gonna be going as as
19:18
Speaker 1: you descend onto Lakeland.
19:22
Speaker 2: I'm actually gonna tackle tackle your last question first, because
19:26
Speaker 2: I hadn't. I didn't really thought about that a ton
19:29
Speaker 2: until right now, But I think it's important for the
19:31
Speaker 2: past couple of years. You know, the Tigers, they're this young,
19:35
Speaker 2: fun clubhouse where I've actually a lot of people thought
19:38
Speaker 2: they were just young and they were so energetic, and
19:40
Speaker 2: I've actually thought, i mean, really, they're pretty business like like.
19:45
Speaker 2: It's almost it's pretty buttoned up like probably a reflection
19:48
Speaker 2: of leadership Scott Harris and aj Hench And that's not
19:50
Speaker 2: a bad thing by any means. But I think it
19:54
Speaker 2: got interesting when things got tough last season? How were
19:57
Speaker 2: they going to react? There wasn't always just this insane
20:00
Speaker 2: energy to draw off. They had maintained such an even
20:05
Speaker 2: keel personality that like, you know, is that good? Well,
20:10
Speaker 2: that's what they leaned on when the losses started piling up,
20:13
Speaker 2: and it didn't, I don't know, it got them into
20:16
Speaker 2: the playoffs barely it gotten past the Guardians, so maybe
20:19
Speaker 2: that's good. Things probably could have tanked and been even
20:21
Speaker 2: worse than they actually were. But I would like to
20:24
Speaker 2: see some urgency. I would like to see some edge.
20:26
Speaker 2: I would like to see some piss and vinegar out
20:29
Speaker 2: of this team as a whole. This year. They're growing up.
20:33
Speaker 2: They know what competing looks like. This thing's for real.
20:36
Speaker 2: That doesn't mean you have to press, that doesn't mean
20:38
Speaker 2: you have to be on edge all the time. That
20:39
Speaker 2: doesn't mean you have to yell at reporters like me.
20:42
Speaker 2: But I would like to see just a lot. I
20:44
Speaker 2: would like to see the intensity ramped up a little bit.
20:48
Speaker 2: Maybe I'm wrong there, maybe I'm in the minority, but
20:50
Speaker 2: I think there is room for a little more edge
20:52
Speaker 2: from this team.
20:56
Speaker 1: Go ahead, Well, I was just gonna say, like, you know, urgency,
21:00
Speaker 1: the edge, those are fine words. But I also wouldn't
21:03
Speaker 1: mind more. And I said this last year, but again,
21:07
Speaker 1: we know how last year went, and a lot a
21:09
Speaker 1: lot of the same guys are here. In fact, you know,
21:11
Speaker 1: we have more evidence of how like you know, Flaherty
21:14
Speaker 1: and Torres and those guys are like wearing the tiger uniform,
21:17
Speaker 1: Like I would like to see a little bit more
21:19
Speaker 1: frankness and from that like confidence of like you know,
21:22
Speaker 1: like aj Hinch said with us, like yeah, we're trying
21:26
Speaker 1: to win the al Central like that that's a very
21:29
Speaker 1: simple thing. But like there's like as much as success
21:32
Speaker 1: that these these guys have had, they had not won
21:35
Speaker 1: a division like this group of players, So that should
21:39
Speaker 1: be something talked about. It shouldn't be afraid to talk
21:43
Speaker 1: about it, and even like goals beyond that, like we
21:46
Speaker 1: want to win the Pennant, Like I think it's okay
21:48
Speaker 1: to be confident enough in yourself and your group of
21:51
Speaker 1: guys that you got next to you, Like this is
21:53
Speaker 1: how this. We are being honest about this. We don't
21:57
Speaker 1: care that this could come back to bite us. You
21:59
Speaker 1: see what I'm saying. I think that would be a
22:02
Speaker 1: refreshing kind of perspective change, Like you kind of have
22:07
Speaker 1: to say your goals out loud and say you're gonna
22:10
Speaker 1: do them, and then you start believing it and then
22:12
Speaker 1: you see it, you know, come to fruition. So that
22:14
Speaker 1: would be that would be another wrinkle to the whole
22:16
Speaker 1: edge thing for me.
22:18
Speaker 2: I think you're spot on. I mean the Tigers haven't
22:20
Speaker 2: won their division since twenty fourteen. That's the seventh Only
22:23
Speaker 2: seven teams have longer droughts too. Of those are the
22:26
Speaker 2: Rockies and the Marlins, who have never won their division.
22:30
Speaker 2: So it's been a long time. I'm a little bit
22:33
Speaker 2: sick of hearing well back to back playoff appearances, like
22:37
Speaker 2: it is important to acknowledge the good and the growth
22:39
Speaker 2: this organization has come, and they've achieved some good things
22:43
Speaker 2: given where they were at not that long ago. But
22:46
Speaker 2: you got two wild card berths and you wouldn't have
22:48
Speaker 2: made the playoffs in any other era than the expanded playoffs.
22:51
Speaker 2: So if I were standing in front of that team
22:53
Speaker 2: and I were the manager or I were an executive,
22:55
Speaker 2: I might say, hey, we have a lot of faith
22:57
Speaker 2: in you. You guys are really good, but you have
22:59
Speaker 2: achieved nothing yet. Do not start feeling yourselves. You've not
23:03
Speaker 2: even won the weakest, lowest payroll division in baseball. Yeah,
23:08
Speaker 2: so come on, this is the time to go do it.
23:10
Speaker 2: I think that should be the message a little bit.
23:13
Speaker 2: And you know what, that leads me back to your
23:15
Speaker 2: first question, Trek Scooble. I think Trek Scooble is a
23:17
Speaker 2: good guy. To execute that message because he is probably
23:20
Speaker 2: the most intense competitor on the team. This offseason, we
23:24
Speaker 2: talked about the noise, and there were times I was worried,
23:26
Speaker 2: is this gonna get awkward? Look, I don't know if
23:29
Speaker 2: I'm not saying he's not gonna remember the arbitration or
23:32
Speaker 2: the trade rumors. But I think this thing is landed
23:35
Speaker 2: in about as good of a place as you can want.
23:38
Speaker 2: Where he won the ARB case, he gets his money.
23:40
Speaker 2: It doesn't sound like the Tigers ever got personal. There
23:43
Speaker 2: was an outside firm doing the arguing. It wasn't Scott
23:46
Speaker 2: Harris up there in the room saying Trek School is
23:48
Speaker 2: not any good. They spent on something in from Bravaldez
23:53
Speaker 2: to legitimize the idea that they are trying to win
23:57
Speaker 2: the World Series this year. The contracts sense stuff like, yeah, whatever,
24:02
Speaker 2: they're they're not trading him, and they're not letting this
24:04
Speaker 2: trade conversation really linger into spring. I think there's some clarity.
24:08
Speaker 2: There's evidence from the team that they're gonna support Schooble
24:13
Speaker 2: with other players and specifically fromber and Scooble won his case.
24:17
Speaker 2: He's getting his money, So I think he's going to
24:19
Speaker 2: be just fine. Like, I think he's going to be
24:21
Speaker 2: just fine. I think it's going to be business as
24:22
Speaker 2: usual at least I certainly hope it is from Trek
24:25
Speaker 2: Scouble at least until we get to trade deadline time
24:29
Speaker 2: and then we'll see where the Tigers are at in
24:30
Speaker 2: the standings.
24:34
Speaker 1: What about uh, what about Riley Green? Man?
24:37
Speaker 3: Like?
24:37
Speaker 1: Is that? I mean, that's that's something that like we've
24:42
Speaker 1: seen so many different different like variations of him as
24:46
Speaker 1: a player, him as a how he talks about his game.
24:50
Speaker 1: And then I still like, I guess this, Well, he's
24:54
Speaker 1: twenty five years old, RII, you're not supposed to be
24:57
Speaker 1: a finished product of twenty five, like, so I understand
25:00
Speaker 1: in that. But if I had to like stake my
25:04
Speaker 1: reputation on a describe Riley Green the baseball player in
25:09
Speaker 1: four sentences or less, and like that's gonna be how
25:12
Speaker 1: I'll be judged for the rest of my life. I
25:14
Speaker 1: don't know if I can do a really good job,
25:16
Speaker 1: because it has kind of ebbed and flowed in different
25:19
Speaker 1: areas since we've been talking about him as a member
25:21
Speaker 1: of the Tigers organization. So what he is now might
25:24
Speaker 1: be close to what he'll be. You know moving forward.
25:27
Speaker 1: That's what makes it so curious.
25:29
Speaker 2: I basically wrote that exact thing in the in the
25:31
Speaker 2: Athletic for Tuesday Morning, Like, I think this season is
25:35
Speaker 2: going to kind of reveal what the rest of Riley
25:37
Speaker 2: Green's career is going to look like, Like is he
25:41
Speaker 2: injury prone, not going to age well, has power but
25:44
Speaker 2: nothing else, or is it like back to oh, this
25:47
Speaker 2: guy I could be a top ten, top five MVP
25:50
Speaker 2: vote getter or is it somewhere in between. I think
25:54
Speaker 2: at twenty five, this deep into his career, as his
25:57
Speaker 2: body's adjusted, Like I think I think all the shape
26:00
Speaker 2: shifting like from Riley Green probably is going to end
26:04
Speaker 2: a little bit and we're gonna get an idea of like, Okay,
26:06
Speaker 2: this is who this guy is and that's fine. Like
26:09
Speaker 2: maybe that ends up in the best way possible. I
26:11
Speaker 2: do like Scoobl's interview is probably gonna get the most headlines,
26:15
Speaker 2: But I think Riley Green's Day one interview, I don't
26:17
Speaker 2: know if he'll be there Wednesday, maybe he won't be
26:19
Speaker 2: there until later when position players report will see might
26:23
Speaker 2: be the most interesting because what are you gonna say?
26:26
Speaker 2: How are you communicating to others the world? In this
26:30
Speaker 2: case the Tigers world, what's important to you and what
26:34
Speaker 2: you focused on this offseason and who you want to
26:36
Speaker 2: be as a player. If you want to go up
26:38
Speaker 2: there and say, Hey, I don't I'm cool striking out
26:41
Speaker 2: two hundred times again, I'm gonna hit forty home runs
26:44
Speaker 2: this year. Hey, that's great. At least you're picking a lane,
26:47
Speaker 2: right that. Like, I don't think that's what he's gonna say.
26:50
Speaker 2: But there were times last year where Riley down the
26:55
Speaker 2: stretch was kind of a deer in the headlights, Like
26:57
Speaker 2: it seemed like he was out of answers and the
26:59
Speaker 2: cameras were on him. Teams were struggling, and in a
27:01
Speaker 2: way I felt bad for him, right, but in a
27:04
Speaker 2: way like I think I said this, like I hope
27:07
Speaker 2: he grows up from this. When he was at the
27:09
Speaker 2: podium next to Hovey Baiez in the DS and Hovey
27:13
Speaker 2: had been through the world, like I hope Riley was
27:15
Speaker 2: looking at how Hovey by has handled that moment. I
27:18
Speaker 2: hope Riley shows up a little more matured, maybe even
27:21
Speaker 2: a little hardened, not in a bad way, but just
27:23
Speaker 2: like he's battle tested, he's been through it. I hope
27:26
Speaker 2: he's a little more sure of himself and who he is,
27:29
Speaker 2: and I hope that translates to the field as well.
27:34
Speaker 1: Man, there was a time where the sentence I hope
27:41
Speaker 1: Riley Green learns from Hobvey Bayaz would have been like
27:48
Speaker 1: nightmare fuel for Tigers fans.
27:51
Speaker 2: He doesn't say he's going to strike out two hundred times.
27:53
Speaker 2: He doesn't say I'm going to chase like Hobvey. I
27:55
Speaker 2: don't think I'll say either of those things.
27:59
Speaker 1: But in context, what you're saying makes a lot of sense.
28:02
Speaker 1: But I out of context, and you know, take it
28:04
Speaker 1: back to a different time that would have been that
28:06
Speaker 1: would have been crazy. All right, let's there's obviously a
28:11
Speaker 1: lot of these storylines we're gonna be talking about, you know,
28:14
Speaker 1: throughout the next couple of months in detail. But I
28:16
Speaker 1: did want to do a little quick hitters here, Cody,
28:18
Speaker 1: just short, don't have to talk about all that much
28:22
Speaker 1: little predictions. I'm gonna put you on the spot here.
28:25
Speaker 1: The Kevin McGonagall piece. We talked about it. You know,
28:28
Speaker 1: one of the things I'm curious about you have to
28:31
Speaker 1: predict right now, no spring training has happened yet, will
28:34
Speaker 1: Kevin McGonagall make this.
28:35
Speaker 2: Team that's hard. I'm gonna I'm gonna lean no, And
28:43
Speaker 2: again I almost hope I am proven wrong, because if
28:47
Speaker 2: I'm proven wrong, that means a Kevin McGonagall had a
28:49
Speaker 2: really good camp, and that means be the Tigers are
28:51
Speaker 2: willing to be aggressive. I think the Duke can handle
28:55
Speaker 2: it and put him in there, and if he's up
28:57
Speaker 2: to the task, I think they'll be a better team
28:59
Speaker 2: for X. They'll they'll have something closer to an answer
29:03
Speaker 2: at shortstop. But I'm going to go no, just because
29:05
Speaker 2: he hasn't played in Triple A yet. He's played thirty
29:07
Speaker 2: six games above Double A. As I've said before, it
29:09
Speaker 2: just seems Untigers like that. They would put a player
29:13
Speaker 2: like that in the minor leagues, regardless of their name,
29:16
Speaker 2: or their prospect ranking, or their their overall credentials. Mcgonag's
29:20
Speaker 2: back to ball skills as bad to ball Dad, it's terrific.
29:22
Speaker 2: There's a chance to this guy it's going to translate
29:25
Speaker 2: to the major leagues quickly. But if I had to
29:28
Speaker 2: guess today, I think they're gonna want to see him
29:30
Speaker 2: in Triple A.
29:32
Speaker 1: All right along those same lines, and you know, translating
29:37
Speaker 1: to major league play Hyu Lee Max Anderson in front
29:41
Speaker 1: of the podcast who will make their debut sooner? So
29:46
Speaker 1: basically more or less like, where's the pecking order with
29:48
Speaker 1: those two guys who actually have more kind of skins
29:52
Speaker 1: on the wall in the minors than McGonagall.
29:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a good question. Either of these guys could
29:58
Speaker 2: be kind of the next dude up if Jami Jones
30:01
Speaker 2: gets hurt or if there's any sort of opening for
30:03
Speaker 2: a right handed bench bat, and they are, they're close
30:08
Speaker 2: to even in the pecking order. Lee has a little
30:10
Speaker 2: more experience in triple A, so I might lean that way,
30:13
Speaker 2: But I think Anderson might be the better hitter overall.
30:16
Speaker 2: If you go look at Lee's batted baldad. A lot
30:18
Speaker 2: of it's really good and that's why the Tigers like
30:20
Speaker 2: him so much. But there's already some concern about his
30:25
Speaker 2: end zone wif rate, I wonder, I think Max Anderson
30:28
Speaker 2: might just be a little bit of a better hitter
30:31
Speaker 2: if we're talking hitting only enough we open up the
30:33
Speaker 2: defense and everything else. Who knows, uh, So they're really close,
30:38
Speaker 2: you know what? As I debate it right now, I
30:40
Speaker 2: don't know. I don't know. I'm a little more optimistic
30:42
Speaker 2: at this point about the offensive profile Max Anderson. Lee's
30:46
Speaker 2: a little more well rounded, just given that he has
30:49
Speaker 2: more experience, I wonder, and man, the Tigers love him.
30:54
Speaker 2: I'm gonna pick him to get the shot first. I
30:57
Speaker 2: don't know that I feel confident about that, though it's
30:59
Speaker 2: pretty close one.
31:02
Speaker 1: This is like a PSA for you know, all the listeners,
31:05
Speaker 1: for you like, given the framework of this team and
31:10
Speaker 1: the additions that they made in the off season with
31:14
Speaker 1: ken Lee and Fromber and even you know we're retaining
31:17
Speaker 1: Jack if they're gonna be a pitching team. Then and
31:22
Speaker 1: when these questions come up about like who do you like,
31:25
Speaker 1: what do you want to what do you want to happen,
31:27
Speaker 1: I'm gonna lean with the guy with the better offensive
31:29
Speaker 1: profile or the better offensive upside because I just feel
31:34
Speaker 1: like runs runs are going to be at a premium
31:37
Speaker 1: and not to diminish run prevention. I understand all that,
31:41
Speaker 1: but I just offensive upside is going to be the
31:44
Speaker 1: name of my game this season in terms of what
31:47
Speaker 1: I want to happen. So last one, real quick, and
31:54
Speaker 1: this might be more complicated. Give them what we talked
31:57
Speaker 1: about earlier in this podcast, But what to do about
32:00
Speaker 1: Troy Melton. What are they gonna do with one Troy Melton.
32:07
Speaker 2: I think he's gonna be in the opening day rotation,
32:09
Speaker 2: because if it's not Resoulson, I think some other picture
32:12
Speaker 2: will have some other sort of injury. That's just what happens.
32:16
Speaker 2: I guess there's a chance Melton himself could be the
32:19
Speaker 2: unfortunate picture who befalls that injury that would be unfortunate today.
32:23
Speaker 2: I think some way, one way or another, Troy Melton
32:26
Speaker 2: will be your fifth starter to begin the year.
32:29
Speaker 1: All right, That's that is a nice and bold prediction,
32:32
Speaker 1: and then let the chaos ran from there, depending on
32:35
Speaker 1: the injuries and timelines. And you know, sometimes if you
32:39
Speaker 1: want to have fun, just look at the opening day
32:41
Speaker 1: roster and some of the first couple series and who
32:44
Speaker 1: the Tigers were triting out there, and it's like, man,
32:46
Speaker 1: I forgot I forgot about that. It didn't seem seemed
32:49
Speaker 1: like a big deal at the time, and then you know,
32:51
Speaker 1: you just forget about it.
32:52
Speaker 2: Manuel Margo was in last year opening day roster, Like like,
32:57
Speaker 2: there's probably gonna be someone like this that this year,
32:59
Speaker 2: maybe someone who's not even in the ORG right now.
33:02
Speaker 2: So don't get too worked up. About the little minutia
33:07
Speaker 2: of spring training because this is a fluid timey year.
33:10
Speaker 2: Things change, their injuries, their surprises. Uh, stay calm.
33:15
Speaker 1: Is a long year, fluid timmy year. That's the best.
33:20
Speaker 1: That's the best way to put it. H little PSA.
33:22
Speaker 1: I just want to say thank you to everybody who
33:25
Speaker 1: was very busy week for Cody and I last week
33:27
Speaker 1: between you know, regular schedule pods and the Frombird thing. Uh,
33:32
Speaker 1: almost over ten k views on YouTube Cody and in
33:36
Speaker 1: a week, which I'm guessing is a is a record
33:39
Speaker 1: for us. I didn't go all the way back, but
33:40
Speaker 1: I'm guessing that it is. So thank you to everybody
33:43
Speaker 1: who has stayed with us through the off season and
33:46
Speaker 1: and will rival with us through spring training, in the
33:48
Speaker 1: season and everything after that. So just shout out to
33:50
Speaker 1: you guys. You're the reason that we get to do this.
33:52
Speaker 1: So reminders Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts, YouTube,
33:57
Speaker 1: subscribe if you haven't already, Tiger to ritoryshop dot com
34:01
Speaker 1: for your merch needs and at Cody staved Hagen, I'm
34:04
Speaker 1: at Keenan Underscore Steckley pod page at Tiger Territory Underscore
34:07
Speaker 1: so four Cody David Hagen. I am Kieran Steckley. Everybody
34:12
Speaker 1: have a great day.