Latest / Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast / 5 free agents who could make sense for the Tigers
Transcript
- 0:09Speaker 1: And welcome into another episode of Tiger Territory, part of
- 0:11Speaker 1: the Foul Territory Network, Detroit Tigers podcast. I am Kieran Steckley.
- 0:14Speaker 1: With me, as always, is a man who has agency
- 0:18Speaker 1: and is free, but he's not a free agent. He
- 0:21Speaker 1: is Cody Sabanagan.
- 0:22Speaker 2: How are we doing? Hey, doing all right, Kieran. They
- 0:24Speaker 2: say the best things in life are free, but not
- 0:26Speaker 2: always free agents. We're going to talk about that a
- 0:29Speaker 2: little bit. We'll go and do some free agent potential
- 0:32Speaker 2: targets for the Tigers this winter. But first, we have
- 0:35Speaker 2: some news and notes to get to.
- 0:38Speaker 1: We do, and there's a couple things on here. And
- 0:40Speaker 1: I think the way to start here is something that
- 0:46Speaker 1: you broke news with. I think that's where we should start.
- 0:49Speaker 1: So in case you guys did not see, Martin Maldonado,
- 0:53Speaker 1: longtime catcher in Major League Baseball, former catcher for A.J.
- 0:56Speaker 2: Hinch.
- 0:57Speaker 1: I wonder if that connection meant anything. We'll be joining
- 0:59Speaker 1: the Tigers coaching staff as a quality control coach. This
- 1:06Speaker 1: felt like something that is a universal home run, to
- 1:10Speaker 1: use a baseball analogy on a baseball podcast. From the
- 1:14Speaker 1: time he was playing, everybody kind of, penciled this guy
- 1:17Speaker 1: in as someone who's going to be a manager. Obviously,
- 1:20Speaker 1: if I were aspiring to be a manager, Cody, I
- 1:23Speaker 1: would definitely try to get on an A.J. Hinch staff.
- 1:27Speaker 1: He'd be on my short list, especially if you already
- 1:29Speaker 1: have a relationship with him. And so, yeah, it seems
- 1:32Speaker 1: like there was a weird coaching year, obviously, for the
- 1:37Speaker 1: Tigers overall in 2026. But this feels like you're going
- 1:42Speaker 1: into 2027 with some momentum making a hire like this.
- 1:47Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure. Seems on the surface like a really
- 1:50Speaker 2: good hire. As you mentioned, Martin Maldonado, very well regarded
- 1:54Speaker 2: in the game. A great culture guy, a bright mind, obviously.
- 1:59Speaker 2: Long-time MLB catcher. Those guys tend to make good coaches
- 2:03Speaker 2: or managers sometimes. it seems like a good hire. He's
- 2:07Speaker 2: going to fill the quality control coach role that was
- 2:11Speaker 2: vacated when Billy Boyer moved from quality control to third
- 2:15Speaker 2: base coach. We still don't know how the rest of
- 2:17Speaker 2: AJ Hinch's staff is going to shake out. Don't even
- 2:20Speaker 2: know for sure if Boyer is going to remain third
- 2:22Speaker 2: base coach or perhaps move into some other position. But
- 2:26Speaker 2: my understanding is that this is going to allow Maldonado
- 2:29Speaker 2: to do a lot of different things where maybe some
- 2:33Speaker 2: different hats for the Tigers as he Kind of maybe
- 2:37Speaker 2: finds his niche on this staff in credit to Chandler Rome,
- 2:39Speaker 2: who had a co-byline and did a lot of work
- 2:43Speaker 2: to help break that story. Maldonado, I think worth noting,
- 2:46Speaker 2: not only did he play for A.J. Hinch, Martin Maldonado
- 2:49Speaker 2: caught Frambois Valdez more than any other catcher has ever
- 2:53Speaker 2: caught Frambois Valdez in his major league career. 91 games
- 2:56Speaker 2: with a 3-2 ERA with Martin Maldonado behind the plate,
- 2:59Speaker 2: I assume that's A little bit of the draw here too,
- 3:02Speaker 2: the Tigers, after parting with Juan Nieves, they needed a
- 3:05Speaker 2: Spanish speaker on their staff. Maldonado can fill that role. He,
- 3:10Speaker 2: in theory, can help relate to Valdez a little bit.
- 3:14Speaker 2: That's going to be a pretty big priority for next season.
- 3:17Speaker 2: He can help with the catchers. He can help with pitchers.
- 3:19Speaker 2: He can help with Spanish speakers. He generally has a
- 3:23Speaker 2: knowledge that can probably touch every aspect of the game
- 3:26Speaker 2: a little bit. And so to me, this seems like
- 3:28Speaker 2: a really good hire.
- 3:31Speaker 1: Yeah, and again, we'll obviously see how most of this
- 3:34Speaker 1: shapes up. I wouldn't mind if this is just a
- 3:39Speaker 1: stepping stone for him and you just kind of have
- 3:41Speaker 1: as many kind of smart minds as you can have
- 3:44Speaker 1: in the coaching staff. And, you know, if they go
- 3:46Speaker 1: move on to bigger and better things, like, I think
- 3:48Speaker 1: that's a good thing personally.
- 3:51Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, there was a time not so long ago, A.J.
- 3:54Speaker 2: Hinch was trying to get Steven Vogt, I'm pretty sure,
- 3:56Speaker 2: in a similar role. He didn't quite get him. Vogt
- 3:59Speaker 2: worked a year for the Mariners, then became the Guardians manager,
- 4:01Speaker 2: and now is beating A.J. Hinch and the Tigers. Maybe
- 4:05Speaker 2: I take that back.
- 4:07Speaker 1: It's like, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't.
- 4:10Speaker 2: Don't go. Don't do that.
- 4:11Speaker 1: Right.
- 4:11Speaker 2: That one thing I did want to note a few
- 4:15Speaker 2: episodes ago, I kind of talked about like, are the
- 4:17Speaker 2: tigers getting a reputation as, as they just burned through
- 4:20Speaker 2: coaches as AJ burning through coaches too fast. And that's
- 4:22Speaker 2: an interesting conversation because there certainly are people in the
- 4:26Speaker 2: game who I think are developing that perception. You know,
- 4:29Speaker 2: they've had a bundle of different first base coaches and
- 4:33Speaker 2: things of that nature. There's also been a lot of
- 4:35Speaker 2: continuity on the pitching side, where Chris Fetter and Robin
- 4:38Speaker 2: Lund have held things down, and Michael Bedard is entering
- 4:41Speaker 2: what I believe is his fourth year as kind of
- 4:44Speaker 2: the top hitting coach. So on the pitching side, there's
- 4:47Speaker 2: been a lot of stability, and to some degree, we
- 4:51Speaker 2: all know how volatile hitting coaches are, and it helps
- 4:53Speaker 2: to have three of them, but Michael Bedard has helped
- 4:56Speaker 2: lend some stability to that side of the staff so
- 4:59Speaker 2: it's kind of a weird they've had a few roles
- 5:01Speaker 2: churning a lot and other roles that have been entirely stable.
- 5:06Speaker 1: Yeah absolutely so uh like i said once once the
- 5:10Speaker 1: the staff shapes out a little bit more we'll react
- 5:11Speaker 1: to it then uh all right and probably the best
- 5:16Speaker 1: piece of news to come out since the season ended
- 5:20Speaker 1: was this troy melton piece uh troy melton Ended with,
- 5:25Speaker 1: you know, with all the scary words, I think, it's
- 5:27Speaker 1: safe to say how his season, just they shut him down,
- 5:30Speaker 1: how his season came to an end. But the Tigers
- 5:34Speaker 1: put out there that, you know, I don't want to
- 5:36Speaker 1: quote him, but, you know, essentially clean deal of health.
- 5:39Speaker 1: He'll have a normal offseason throwing routine, you know, all
- 5:41Speaker 1: that stuff. So, in theory, there should be no carryover
- 5:46Speaker 1: to physically, I would say, from what we saw at
- 5:50Speaker 1: the end of the season into 2027, which... I don't
- 5:55Speaker 1: think I am alone on this, Cody, but the Tigers
- 5:59Speaker 1: in many ways, like if you list the guys, that's
- 6:02Speaker 1: like the Tigers will only go as far as so-and-so
- 6:05Speaker 1: will take them. Melton's on that list. Yeah.
- 6:09Speaker 2: In some ways, this is obviously terrific news. I mean,
- 6:12Speaker 2: I had said before the vibes just didn't seem great
- 6:15Speaker 2: when it seemed like he was getting multiple opinions and
- 6:19Speaker 2: It was taking a long time to get word on
- 6:21Speaker 2: his status. Very rarely does that end with, oh, he's fine.
- 6:26Speaker 2: And seemingly this one has ended with, oh, he's fine.
- 6:28Speaker 2: They said he was shut down largely as a precaution.
- 6:31Speaker 2: He's going to have a normal off season. Could be huge, huge, huge.
- 6:35Speaker 2: If there's someone you're looking to really be the next
- 6:37Speaker 2: ace of the Tigers staff, I think you have two candidates.
- 6:41Speaker 2: I think it's Troy Melton and Jackson Jobe. Melton... has
- 6:45Speaker 2: already had more success at the Major League level than
- 6:47Speaker 2: Job quite has. Melton has pitched at a super high level,
- 6:51Speaker 2: as you can see on our screen. He had a.
- 6:53Speaker 2: 276 ERA, and sure, he wasn't quite as good to
- 6:57Speaker 2: finish the year. Man,. 779 ERA in 17 and a
- 7:01Speaker 2: third innings in September and October, but he was really
- 7:04Speaker 2: rolling there for a little bit, even if he was
- 7:06Speaker 2: overperforming his metrics. I think this is still a guy
- 7:09Speaker 2: who's Learning how to pitch, still learning how to use
- 7:12Speaker 2: his stuff, still getting better. He's going to have to
- 7:14Speaker 2: miss a few more bats to ascend to that ace
- 7:16Speaker 2: level type or frontline starter type, but certainly capable of
- 7:21Speaker 2: it in my opinion. Sounds like good news. I'm still
- 7:25Speaker 2: a little worried. If I were writing a scouting report,
- 7:28Speaker 2: I think I would put asterisk high risk in there
- 7:31Speaker 2: because this is someone who dealt with a forearm or
- 7:35Speaker 2: elbow issue in spring training, missed some time. You know,
- 7:40Speaker 2: goes on the aisle with kind of this weird arm
- 7:42Speaker 2: fatigue and it doesn't sound great. So although he's avoided
- 7:46Speaker 2: anything serious now, you wonder if the clock is kind
- 7:51Speaker 2: of ticking until there is something serious that happens. That
- 7:55Speaker 2: makes me a little nervous. You know, is this going
- 7:57Speaker 2: to be something where we get to March, April, May
- 8:00Speaker 2: and it's, oh, actually he's going to have to have surgery.
- 8:05Speaker 2: That's just the weird nature of pitching. Clearly, again, saw
- 8:08Speaker 2: multiple doctors, got multiple opinions. Sounds like everyone did their
- 8:11Speaker 2: due diligence and they determined Troy Melton's good to pitch.
- 8:14Speaker 2: It's just hard being a pitcher in 2026, man. These
- 8:18Speaker 2: guys tend to get hurt, if not sooner than eventually.
- 8:24Speaker 1: If it's a pitcher, if it's a pitcher that you're
- 8:26Speaker 1: relying on for the structure of your team, just always
- 8:29Speaker 1: color me. nervous color me like cautious, like all these things.
- 8:34Speaker 1: Like it's, it just, it's just kind of the nature
- 8:36Speaker 1: of the game right now. And, and there's a larger
- 8:38Speaker 1: discussion to be had by that. We certainly don't have
- 8:40Speaker 1: time for all that. And then lastly, last little kind
- 8:43Speaker 1: of tidbit notes here, Dylan Dingler, Zach McKinstry, obviously catcher
- 8:46Speaker 1: and utility nominees or finalists, whatever word you want to
- 8:51Speaker 1: use for the Rawlings gold glove award. Dingler, obviously, defending
- 8:56Speaker 1: his title there. 1.3 defensive war on baseball reference, Cody,
- 9:01Speaker 1: for Dylan Dingler. Obviously, we know all of his great
- 9:05Speaker 1: skills behind the plate. And Zach McKinstry, 1.7, Cody. 1.7
- 9:10Speaker 1: defensive war on baseball reference. And I think kind of
- 9:13Speaker 1: really came on strong. We always knew he was really
- 9:17Speaker 1: good and valuable and all that stuff. But the way
- 9:20Speaker 1: he showcased his arm at the end of the year,
- 9:23Speaker 1: uh really got to me and so i'm happy that
- 9:25Speaker 1: he has another uh utility nomination under his belt.
- 9:30Speaker 2: Yeah i think um very well deserving for both of
- 9:33Speaker 2: these guys i think dingler has a legit shot to
- 9:36Speaker 2: repeat as a gold glove winner maybe a little tougher
- 9:38Speaker 2: to say who's going to win in the utility role
- 9:40Speaker 2: but certainly a worthy recognition for mckinstry just to be
- 9:45Speaker 2: a finalist he's done a lot of Different things for
- 9:48Speaker 2: the Tigers and thrived. Last year he was thriving more
- 9:51Speaker 2: in the infield. This year he goes to right field
- 9:53Speaker 2: and he really thrives there. Another reason why I wouldn't
- 9:57Speaker 2: write off the idea of Zach McKinstry. returning. The Tigers
- 10:01Speaker 2: clearly value his skill set, whether it fully shows up
- 10:04Speaker 2: in the stat sheet or in the batter's box or not.
- 10:08Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. All right, we are going to take a
- 10:11Speaker 1: quick break, and then afterward we're going to get to
- 10:14Speaker 1: five potential free agent fits for your Detroit Tigers. But first,
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- 11:21Speaker 1: All right, coming back here. I have Cody, a target
- 11:30Speaker 1: for the Tigers in free agency. And I could even
- 11:34Speaker 1: see him in a Tigers uniform. Like, very, very clearly, actually.
- 11:39Speaker 1: And I think he would fit in with the culture,
- 11:43Speaker 1: with the city. Tarek Scoble. I don't know if you've
- 11:46Speaker 1: heard of him. But Tarek Scoble is soon to be
- 11:51Speaker 1: a free agent. Obviously, the Tigers opted to trade him
- 11:55Speaker 1: this season. And the Dodgers, for their efforts, bow out
- 12:01Speaker 1: before the World Series. So if you want to say
- 12:04Speaker 1: the Tigers have won the trade, they had already won
- 12:06Speaker 1: the trade, kind of perhaps everybody is correct there. But
- 12:09Speaker 1: I just wanted to go over his numbers. He made
- 12:11Speaker 1: 10 starts his regular season. 10 starts for the Dodgers,
- 12:15Speaker 1: 1.9 war in those starts, and a 2.61 ERA. He
- 12:20Speaker 1: had just over 10 Ks per nine. And then in
- 12:24Speaker 1: the postseason, 11 innings. This is over two starts. 11 innings,
- 12:28Speaker 1: three earned runs. Basically, two starts that were identical. It's
- 12:31Speaker 1: kind of funny when you look at them right up
- 12:34Speaker 1: next to each other. 11 innings, three earned runs, 14 Ks,
- 12:37Speaker 1: four walks, and obviously... you know, did not get them to,
- 12:44Speaker 1: or did not help propel them to the World Series. Obviously,
- 12:47Speaker 1: this is not his fault. But, so yeah, the Tigers
- 12:51Speaker 1: are always going to be mentioned with Tarek Skubal for,
- 12:53Speaker 1: you know, the obvious reasons. It's really going to come
- 12:58Speaker 1: down to what he, it's kind of funny, like, the
- 13:00Speaker 1: whole time, like, people, when you want to be critical
- 13:03Speaker 1: of Tarek Skubal, it's like, well, if he wanted to
- 13:04Speaker 1: sign an extension, he could sign an extension. And it's like,
- 13:07Speaker 1: to a certain extent, that is true. But, I also
- 13:10Speaker 1: think that in a more fair sense, like the way
- 13:14Speaker 1: school wants to go about this free agency will more
- 13:18Speaker 1: determine the tigers, uh, viability. Like if he wants the
- 13:23Speaker 1: maximum dollar, the, you know, the maximum years, I think
- 13:26Speaker 1: it's fair to say the tigers are going to bow
- 13:28Speaker 1: out of that. If there's a shorter term deal with
- 13:31Speaker 1: some more considerations that he wants to do because of
- 13:34Speaker 1: uncertainty with, you know, collective bargaining and all that stuff
- 13:38Speaker 1: that would probably put them more in play. Uh, it
- 13:41Speaker 1: seems like most insiders predict like an eight for three
- 13:47Speaker 1: 55 around the 45 ish million dollar a year range
- 13:51Speaker 1: is kind of the safe prediction that a lot of
- 13:53Speaker 1: people are taking. Uh, I do think it's a long shot,
- 13:58Speaker 1: but crazier things have happened. So I have him on
- 14:00Speaker 1: here as a, as a fit. I mean, this is
- 14:02Speaker 1: a fit. He is clearly a fit. So I think
- 14:04Speaker 1: he has the best free agents, a fit for your team.
- 14:06Speaker 1: He has to be on the list.
- 14:08Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's fair. I think there are points,
- 14:11Speaker 2: I've been thinking about this a lot, there have been
- 14:12Speaker 2: points where I've wanted to just write off Scooble and
- 14:16Speaker 2: not even have this conversation. But it's like, if you're
- 14:19Speaker 2: looking at fits, if you're thinking, what can help the
- 14:22Speaker 2: Tigers not just be competitive, but get to the World
- 14:25Speaker 2: Series next year? It'd be having a two-time Cy Young winner,
- 14:31Speaker 2: arguably still in their prime. That'd be what it is.
- 14:34Speaker 2: It would be Tarek Scouble. I mean, especially in a
- 14:37Speaker 2: week free agent class where I don't think there's a
- 14:39Speaker 2: golden ticket bat. I think it's Tarek Scouble. Can the
- 14:44Speaker 2: Tigers get him? I don't know. I don't really think
- 14:46Speaker 2: they're going to pay 400 million for him. I think
- 14:50Speaker 2: Scouble is going to get a lot of money. I
- 14:52Speaker 2: think they're certainly going to look to beat Yoshinobu Yamamoto's
- 14:56Speaker 2: record deal of 325 million. But if there's a way
- 14:59Speaker 2: it ends up a little bit on the lower ends of, of,
- 15:03Speaker 2: These potential ranges we're seeing. I personally think the Tigers
- 15:08Speaker 2: should be in the hunt. I'm not saying they will.
- 15:11Speaker 2: I think it's a little bit of a long shot
- 15:13Speaker 2: that they're even going to go there, but I think
- 15:16Speaker 2: they should. They don't have a lot of other payroll commitments.
- 15:19Speaker 2: Javi Baez is coming off the books next year. Your
- 15:22Speaker 2: best player, Kevin McGonigal, you got him locked up. We're
- 15:25Speaker 2: going to talk about some other ways they could allocate
- 15:27Speaker 2: this money. Frambois Valdez, they are going to be paying
- 15:31Speaker 2: a lot, but he's two more years max he could
- 15:36Speaker 2: opt out after this coming season if things go well
- 15:39Speaker 2: for him. Cap or no cap, they should be in
- 15:43Speaker 2: a financial position where they could actually afford a contract
- 15:46Speaker 2: like this. This would still be something we have not
- 15:49Speaker 2: seen the Scott Harris front office do, would be to
- 15:52Speaker 2: sign a lucrative free agent to a long-term deal. We
- 15:54Speaker 2: saw them sign in free agency, spend in free agency
- 15:59Speaker 2: this winter. But even again, the guys they've made happen
- 16:03Speaker 2: were Flaherty when his market tanked, Fromber when his market tanked.
- 16:07Speaker 2: They were willing to spend on Bregman, but they didn't
- 16:10Speaker 2: quite do enough to get that deal over the hump.
- 16:12Speaker 2: So in a way, this would still be something we
- 16:15Speaker 2: haven't quite seen from the Tigers in a long time.
- 16:18Speaker 2: We haven't seen under this front office, but could it happen?
- 16:21Speaker 2: I don't know. I think they should certainly think about it.
- 16:23Speaker 2: And then the other question is, what does Scuba want?
- 16:26Speaker 2: We don't quite know the answer to that. I think
- 16:30Speaker 2: Scott Boras is going to want this guy to set
- 16:31Speaker 2: a record deal. I think, without quite saying it, I've
- 16:37Speaker 2: always got the sense School would prefer the idea of
- 16:41Speaker 2: maybe a team that has its spring training in Arizona
- 16:44Speaker 2: where he could keep his family kind of more in
- 16:47Speaker 2: one spot year-round. I don't know if that's a deal breaker.
- 16:50Speaker 2: Would that prevent him from going to the Yankees or
- 16:53Speaker 2: the Mets if they're offering him the most money? I'm
- 16:55Speaker 2: not sure. But I think that could be a factor.
- 16:58Speaker 2: I think there is a part of Tarek that did
- 17:02Speaker 2: like Detroit and actually did love Detroit, despite what people say.
- 17:05Speaker 2: I wonder how he feels about his Tigers experience now
- 17:08Speaker 2: that he's seen the experience somewhere else, especially somewhere like
- 17:12Speaker 2: the Dodgers. And... I wonder about his relationship with the
- 17:18Speaker 2: team too. I mean, he made kind of clear that
- 17:21Speaker 2: his relationship with the front office was maybe not the
- 17:23Speaker 2: best after the arbitration thing. I mean, he just said,
- 17:26Speaker 2: what did he say? He said, you try sitting in
- 17:28Speaker 2: that room and see how you feel coming after it.
- 17:31Speaker 2: So I don't think that necessarily applies to relationship with
- 17:34Speaker 2: AJ Hancher's teammates or, or the team on the field,
- 17:37Speaker 2: but you know, will that impact any potential negotiations with
- 17:41Speaker 2: the front office? It could, that's all a very long
- 17:44Speaker 2: way of saying, I don't know. I think it's a
- 17:46Speaker 2: long shot, but I think we still have to sit
- 17:48Speaker 2: here and talk about it a little bit because you
- 17:51Speaker 2: want to win the world series, man. I think you
- 17:52Speaker 2: should be throw your hat in the ring for Terrence Google.
- 17:56Speaker 1: Yeah. And I do think it's important to, um, like
- 18:02Speaker 1: when you have that relationship period, I think it is
- 18:05Speaker 1: kind of important to be like, at least can you
- 18:07Speaker 1: do a check, check in phone call? You know what
- 18:11Speaker 1: I mean? Hey, what's you're allowed to, of course? Was
- 18:14Speaker 1: it like the five days exclusive negotiating period? Like, you know, just, hey,
- 18:19Speaker 1: what's up? Hey, if you have anything, you know, let
- 18:22Speaker 1: me know.
- 18:23Speaker 2: They don't have an exclusive negotiating period. They traded them.
- 18:27Speaker 1: No, I mean like they being like the... Oh, after the.
- 18:29Speaker 2: Yes, yes, yes. Yeah, I think that's a fair way
- 18:32Speaker 2: to look at it. I'm not really expecting the Tigers
- 18:35Speaker 2: to offer Tarek Skubal $ 400 million and to go sign him.
- 18:38Speaker 2: But would it be kind of wrong... If there wasn't
- 18:40Speaker 2: even a phone call, if there wasn't even an effort,
- 18:43Speaker 2: would you feel good about that as a fan? I
- 18:45Speaker 2: know maybe some who are just over Scooble would be
- 18:48Speaker 2: fine with that. That wouldn't sit super well with me.
- 18:55Speaker 1: I'll close it with this. If you're a teeth clencher
- 18:57Speaker 1: over some of the Scooble stuff that happened over the
- 18:59Speaker 1: past year to date, once the contract is signed, let's
- 19:04Speaker 1: just say that happens. Once the contract is signed, all
- 19:07Speaker 1: that stuff is gone. you know what i mean like
- 19:09Speaker 1: like because the arbitration the trade rumors the uh you
- 19:13Speaker 1: know the uh you know what you know the expresso
- 19:16Speaker 1: the the expresso machine or cappuccino machine or whatever the
- 19:19Speaker 1: hell that was in there like all that like stuff
- 19:22Speaker 1: on the on the periphery is gone so like if
- 19:25Speaker 1: he comes back on a long-term deal or even a
- 19:28Speaker 1: short really expensive deal like you can put all those
- 19:31Speaker 1: worries aside for you know at least the duration of
- 19:33Speaker 1: the contract for several years All right, well, let's stick
- 19:37Speaker 1: with the Dodgers here, Cody. I got a right-handed reliever,
- 19:40Speaker 1: Evan Phillips. He is 32, just turned 32 in September.
- 19:44Speaker 1: He made 6.5 million. dollars last year on a one
- 19:52Speaker 1: a one-year deal so that gives you a sense of
- 19:54Speaker 1: maybe what his market will be and with the appealing
- 19:59Speaker 1: part of Evan is that he he didn't pitch a
- 20:02Speaker 1: full season last year he appeared in 31 games 26
- 20:04Speaker 1: innings and But that was after starting the season on
- 20:09Speaker 1: 60-day IL. 85 percentile fastball velo. 88-ish percent if he
- 20:16Speaker 1: qualified chase percentage. 90-ish percent K percentage. This is if
- 20:21Speaker 1: he would qualify. 87-ish percent based on ball percentage. So
- 20:27Speaker 1: there are traits in here that would be quite helpful
- 20:32Speaker 1: to the Tigers' bullpen based on what we saw last year.
- 20:36Speaker 1: And I will add that he has maybe the greatest
- 20:39Speaker 1: nickname in the history of baseball reference, High Leverage Honey Bun. So,
- 20:45Speaker 1: I mean, that alone. I didn't know that.
- 20:48Speaker 2: I didn't know that was his nickname. I got to
- 20:50Speaker 2: figure out the origin of that. This goes back to
- 20:54Speaker 2: what we were saying. Which swing and miss relievers should
- 20:57Speaker 2: the Tigers target? They should probably target all of them.
- 21:00Speaker 2: And I think they should start with the good ones.
- 21:03Speaker 2: Adrian Morhone is up there. Evan Phillips is certainly up there. Phillips,
- 21:07Speaker 2: maybe a little more affordable given he missed a full
- 21:11Speaker 2: year and change. That's kind of the question. Again, philosophically,
- 21:16Speaker 2: how much are you willing to spend on a reliever? Generally,
- 21:21Speaker 2: I'm not a fan of saying, okay, let's go pay
- 21:23Speaker 2: some reliever 20 mil a year or whatever, but we
- 21:26Speaker 2: just talked about they really don't have a ton of
- 21:28Speaker 2: payroll commitments, especially not long-term payroll commitments. if you're Scott
- 21:33Speaker 2: Harris and you're sitting there saying, yeah, we're just not
- 21:35Speaker 2: going to do Scooble. We're not even going to waste
- 21:37Speaker 2: our time going into Boris land and dealing with it.
- 21:41Speaker 2: I think that makes it more palatable to sign a
- 21:43Speaker 2: reliever for three years and whatever it takes to get,
- 21:47Speaker 2: to get a really good reliever. I'm watching the Cleveland
- 21:50Speaker 2: guardians all post-season and it gets to about the seventh
- 21:53Speaker 2: or eighth inning. And if they have the lead, you're like,
- 21:55Speaker 2: they're winning. I'm like, imagine, imagine if the tigers could
- 22:00Speaker 2: have that, if they could have a, a Cade Smith
- 22:03Speaker 2: level closer, and I don't know if any of these
- 22:05Speaker 2: guys are quite Cade Smith, but to add a real
- 22:08Speaker 2: swing and miss late inning arm, I think it's kind
- 22:12Speaker 2: of the thing this team, even in its current state,
- 22:14Speaker 2: even projecting him forward, is missing right now. I don't
- 22:18Speaker 2: think it's super like the Harris front office to spend
- 22:22Speaker 2: a bunch on relievers. They've talked about trying to build
- 22:26Speaker 2: a bullpen kind of through excess starters, and that's not
- 22:29Speaker 2: a terrible philosophy at all, but I think having one
- 22:32Speaker 2: or two dudes who you really trust could be beneficial.
- 22:35Speaker 2: Now the downside of that, we've seen the Dodgers. I mean,
- 22:38Speaker 2: we saw it happen with Phillips last year when it
- 22:39Speaker 2: was hurt. We saw it with Diaz this year. There've
- 22:42Speaker 2: been other relievers who've gotten a lot of money and
- 22:44Speaker 2: then not lived up to it. And then you're like, well, this,
- 22:47Speaker 2: that wouldn't be, you know, this time next year, can
- 22:49Speaker 2: you imagine? We'll be killing Scott Harris for setting money
- 22:52Speaker 2: on fire. If he misses, spins a lot, I want
- 22:54Speaker 2: to leverage reliever and misses. But, um, I think they
- 22:58Speaker 2: have to think long and hard about a player like
- 23:01Speaker 2: an Evan Phillips. Again, I really like more hone. There
- 23:04Speaker 2: are a couple other guys out there who could certainly
- 23:06Speaker 2: make sense for them.
- 23:07Speaker 1: All right, and we'll bring up another reliever here in
- 23:11Speaker 1: a second, but let's get to a couple position options.
- 23:15Speaker 1: This one's for you, Cody. Randall Gritchick. Ooh, yeah.
- 23:19Speaker 2: Give me some Randall Gritchick.
- 23:23Speaker 1: And you know what? I love Misa Reynold-Richards, too. You
- 23:26Speaker 1: know why? Because he had a 1.025 OPS versus left-handed
- 23:30Speaker 1: pitching last year. Like, just take it. Because the Tigers,
- 23:36Speaker 1: I think, and I think a lot of people hope,
- 23:38Speaker 1: are going to move past this heavy, pinch-hitting element that
- 23:44Speaker 1: kind of defined them over the past couple seasons. And...
- 23:49Speaker 1: Gritchick is one of those guys that you can just
- 23:53Speaker 1: start him against the lefty and then you do a
- 23:56Speaker 1: regular pinch hit routine later in the game and then opposite,
- 23:59Speaker 1: obviously when a lefty reliever comes in, he can come in.
- 24:02Speaker 1: Because if you're going to do Kerry Carpenter, if you're
- 24:05Speaker 1: going to do Colt Keith and some of these guys
- 24:08Speaker 1: that you're not necessarily going to trust, you want to
- 24:10Speaker 1: have some options, good old Randall is going to be
- 24:15Speaker 1: that guy for you. He's obviously a little bit older,
- 24:17Speaker 1: I think. 35, 36 years old. He's not going to
- 24:20Speaker 1: come expensively, but he's a guy who certainly could have
- 24:26Speaker 1: a role on any A.J. Hinch, Scott Harris-led organization.
- 24:31Speaker 2: Yeah, I think one of the defining questions of this
- 24:36Speaker 2: Tigers offseason is what are they going to do about
- 24:38Speaker 2: right-handed production? You are losing Gleyber Torres. who is a
- 24:43Speaker 2: big part of your right-handed production. The Tigers are pretty left-handed.
- 24:46Speaker 2: That's not necessarily a bad thing. That's the strong side
- 24:49Speaker 2: of the platoon. The Tigers have drafted along a lot
- 24:52Speaker 2: of left-handed hitters for that very reason, to be able
- 24:55Speaker 2: to get the platoon advantage more often. But you need
- 24:58Speaker 2: a good righty bat around, a good righty bat or
- 25:01Speaker 2: two around as well. And Gritchick, throughout his career, he's
- 25:05Speaker 2: been a pretty reliable right-handed bat, mashes lefties. The only
- 25:08Speaker 2: qualifying hitter in all of baseball with a better OPS
- 25:11Speaker 2: against the lefties last year, Kieran, was Kobe Mayo. Randall
- 25:13Speaker 2: Gritchick was number two. Now, he is 35. Even though
- 25:19Speaker 2: this has kind of always been his MO, it was
- 25:22Speaker 2: arguably a career year, certainly one of the better years
- 25:25Speaker 2: of his career, especially in recent years where he has
- 25:28Speaker 2: been more of that platoon type guy. But this is
- 25:32Speaker 2: a guy I like, especially if you're not willing to spin,
- 25:37Speaker 2: or if you just don't like the everyday right-handed options,
- 25:41Speaker 2: you got to bring in a Randall Gritchick type. As
- 25:45Speaker 2: much as the Tigers might want to get away from
- 25:47Speaker 2: their platoon style, I think they have to have somebody
- 25:51Speaker 2: still to somewhat fill the Andy Abanez, Jemai Jones role. Now,
- 25:56Speaker 2: maybe that could be someone internally like Max Anderson, but
- 26:01Speaker 2: I think some proven production from the hidden core is
- 26:04Speaker 2: going to be needed. And, again, we'll talk about some
- 26:07Speaker 2: of the other candidates. If you don't like anyone else, man,
- 26:10Speaker 2: I think Randall Gritchick could certainly make some sense. He's
- 26:12Speaker 2: going to play corner outfield. So that gets back, like, well,
- 26:16Speaker 2: how much do you really trust Ben Malgeri? Like, there
- 26:19Speaker 2: are some interesting questions, but it's hard to rule out
- 26:23Speaker 2: a guy like Gritchick.
- 26:25Speaker 1: Yeah, and somebody that you can put in the field, too,
- 26:28Speaker 1: which is obviously different than, like, the Jemai Jones case
- 26:33Speaker 1: of it.
- 26:33Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 26:35Speaker 1: So, you know, that is of note. All right, let's, uh,
- 26:41Speaker 1: let's go to another one. Look, it, it's hard to
- 26:44Speaker 1: kind of find a perfect player in this situation, but
- 26:47Speaker 1: I think this is somebody who could at least elevate
- 26:50Speaker 1: your team in some fashion. And then I went on
- 26:52Speaker 1: the infield guy who can play shortstop. JP Crawford is
- 26:55Speaker 1: obviously an older player. He's turning 30. He'll be 32
- 26:58Speaker 1: in January. Uh, He just got out of a five-year,
- 27:03Speaker 1: $ 51 million contract with Seattle. And there is, you know,
- 27:10Speaker 1: there's some stuff to like. He got on base, you know,
- 27:14Speaker 1: 335 last year, Cody. And actually, as a left-handed bat,
- 27:21Speaker 1: actually does decent. He holds his own against left-handed pitching, which, again,
- 27:25Speaker 1: like if you can get a couple of those guys,
- 27:28Speaker 1: that is obviously beneficial for your– for your lineup construction. And,
- 27:35Speaker 1: and so, yeah, like the defense is declining. Some of
- 27:37Speaker 1: the athleticism traits are declining. I understand all that. I'm
- 27:41Speaker 1: not sure what his market will be, but if you're
- 27:44Speaker 1: looking for someone experienced who can play the position, I
- 27:49Speaker 1: think you could do, you could do some things with
- 27:52Speaker 1: JP Crawford.
- 27:53Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 27:54Speaker 2: JP Crawford's an interesting player. He's a player I've always
- 27:56Speaker 2: really liked, like to watch. And he does, he works
- 27:59Speaker 2: good at bats. He can take his walks. I struggle
- 28:03Speaker 2: with this one because I just don't think you can
- 28:05Speaker 2: play him at shortstop. J.P. Crawford was negative 12 defensive
- 28:09Speaker 2: runs saved last year. He's been in decline kind of
- 28:13Speaker 2: year over year for at least the past two seasons.
- 28:18Speaker 2: He's never, you know, he had 2024, he was plus
- 28:21Speaker 2: nine DRS, but that was almost kind of an outlier.
- 28:24Speaker 2: He was negative for the two years before that. You know,
- 28:28Speaker 2: he's been hurt. He's gotten slower. He's into his 30s.
- 28:32Speaker 2: it's hard to see a fit for me unless you're
- 28:34Speaker 2: willing to move them to third base. And it seems
- 28:37Speaker 2: like the Tigers would still like to play a lot
- 28:39Speaker 2: of Kevin McGonigal or, you know, they have how you lead.
- 28:42Speaker 2: They have Max Anderson. They don't want to play McGonigal
- 28:44Speaker 2: at shortstop every day. So that makes it tough for
- 28:47Speaker 2: me to see how you could make Crawford fit. Maybe
- 28:52Speaker 2: I could be wrong. There's some things about the profile
- 28:54Speaker 2: that make a lot of sense as we keep talking
- 28:57Speaker 2: about it here. And I think the Tigers, if they
- 29:00Speaker 2: don't want to play McGonigal at short, almost every day,
- 29:03Speaker 2: I think they need a shortstop. And so maybe they
- 29:06Speaker 2: have to explore the trade market to make that happen.
- 29:08Speaker 1: I don't know.
- 29:09Speaker 2: Jeremy Pena might be expensive. Anthony Volpe is interesting but
- 29:13Speaker 2: doesn't actually get on base. There could be some other
- 29:15Speaker 2: names out there. I think that's certainly something to keep
- 29:18Speaker 2: an eye on. Maybe you could throw Crawford in that conversation.
- 29:22Speaker 2: But if you don't trust the defense and it does
- 29:25Speaker 2: seem like the Tigers want to get better, Scott Harris
- 29:28Speaker 2: talked about it, better and more athletic. I'm not sure
- 29:30Speaker 2: JP Crawford at 31 is helping you in that mission.
- 29:35Speaker 1: Fair enough. Uh, all right, let's go back to the, uh,
- 29:39Speaker 1: back to the bullpen for a guy that's, you know,
- 29:42Speaker 1: we've talked about on this podcast before Pete Fairbanks. He just, uh,
- 29:48Speaker 1: he just, uh, fulfilled his duties on a one year,
- 29:51Speaker 1: $ 13 million contract. Um, they signed with Miami and, uh,
- 29:58Speaker 1: If you look at the numbers, you're going to think
- 30:00Speaker 1: I'm crazy because he, in 2026, had a 6.31 ERA.
- 30:06Speaker 1: But I'm looking at, you know, I'm trying to look
- 30:08Speaker 1: at other things. And, you know, his fastball is in
- 30:10Speaker 1: the 89 percentile in VLO. He had a good expected
- 30:14Speaker 1: batting average right in their 86-ish percentile. He gets whiffs
- 30:20Speaker 1: at a good rate. He gets Ks at a good rate.
- 30:22Speaker 1: And those are the kind of things that the Tigers
- 30:25Speaker 1: obviously need, as I said earlier. So, I don't know, again,
- 30:29Speaker 1: I'm not sure what his market will be coming off
- 30:32Speaker 1: a one-year deal that was obviously on the more expensive side,
- 30:36Speaker 1: 32 years old, 33 years old. But if they're in
- 30:45Speaker 1: certain metrics or whatever, you know, Fairbanks is a guy
- 30:48Speaker 1: that maybe it's an opportunity to have a little bit
- 30:50Speaker 1: of a reclamation project adjacent situation.
- 30:53Speaker 3: There, so.
- 30:54Speaker 2: Yeah, Fairbanks is a guy I liked, a guy who
- 30:56Speaker 2: I guess would have gotten me fired if I were
- 30:59Speaker 2: leading a baseball team. I know the Tigers liked him
- 31:02Speaker 2: last winter, and I was on board with that idea,
- 31:04Speaker 2: and then he had a terrible year. I do think
- 31:07Speaker 2: there's some bounce back potential. Maybe you could get him
- 31:10Speaker 2: at a cheaper rate. His ground ball percentage tanked. Karen,
- 31:17Speaker 2: in 2025, he was a 45% ground ball pitcher, pretty
- 31:21Speaker 2: close to 50-50. It's kind of what he'd been through
- 31:23Speaker 2: most of his career. Last year, only a 24.5% ground
- 31:28Speaker 2: ball rate. He was giving up way more balls in
- 31:30Speaker 2: the air, and it seemed like that really hurt him.
- 31:33Speaker 2: There was just more damage against him. The average exit
- 31:37Speaker 2: velo was up. The barrel rate was up. Maybe a
- 31:40Speaker 2: function of location. He's always been kind of a crafty guy.
- 31:43Speaker 2: I mean, he can average 97, hit 98, 99, but
- 31:45Speaker 2: another guy did the ABS impact him, like what was
- 31:48Speaker 2: going on. Hard to fully answer that question, but that's
- 31:55Speaker 2: what I look at. That's a complete outlier in his career,
- 31:58Speaker 2: and I would not expect that to happen again. He
- 32:01Speaker 2: still got a lot of swing and miss and was
- 32:04Speaker 2: able to punch some guys out. If you can get
- 32:07Speaker 2: Pete Fairbanks for cheap, I don't hate it at all.
- 32:10Speaker 2: I think it can make some sense.
- 32:14Speaker 1: Alright, and then let's... Let's go back to some bats,
- 32:22Speaker 1: or a bat, I should say. Seiya Suzuki. So, Seiya Suzuki,
- 32:27Speaker 1: he just turned 32. He had a 5.1 war season
- 32:33Speaker 1: last year, a 131 OPS. And here's what I like, Cody, because,
- 32:37Speaker 1: you know, some of the things I always try to
- 32:39Speaker 1: keep in mind is, like, this guy just really had, like,
- 32:41Speaker 1: the best year of his career right before free agency. No. No.
- 32:45Speaker 1: I mean, in some ways, yes, he did have the
- 32:48Speaker 1: best year of his career. Yeah, no, he did. But
- 32:51Speaker 1: there are also– but it's not like he had– he's
- 32:54Speaker 1: not his highest OPS season. It's not his highest home
- 33:00Speaker 1: run season. You know what I mean? It's not his
- 33:02Speaker 1: highest batting average season. So, you know what I mean?
- 33:06Speaker 1: It's a pretty consistent profile, I guess, is what I'm
- 33:08Speaker 1: trying to get at.
- 33:09Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 33:10Speaker 1: And he was a five-year, $ 85 million man when he
- 33:14Speaker 1: came over in the 2022 season. So another one, the
- 33:22Speaker 1: market could be interesting. But if you're looking for plug-and-play
- 33:26Speaker 1: guys available in free agency, Suzuki is definitely that type.
- 33:32Speaker 2: Yeah, really interesting player. Right-handed bat. consistent on base profile,
- 33:37Speaker 2: his own base percentage over the past four years, three 57,
- 33:40Speaker 2: three 66, a little bit of a dip in 2025
- 33:44Speaker 2: down to three 26 up to three 68 this past year. Um,
- 33:49Speaker 2: double digit walk rate, you know, strikes out a decent bit,
- 33:52Speaker 2: but not a ton makes up for it with the walks,
- 33:54Speaker 2: solid power, If the Tigers aren't going to upgrade shortstop,
- 33:59Speaker 2: I think right field is the other position where they
- 34:01Speaker 2: could serve to upgrade. I think it would be a
- 34:03Speaker 2: disappointment if the Tigers didn't somehow, someway upgrade one of
- 34:07Speaker 2: those two positions. And again, it doesn't have to be
- 34:09Speaker 2: through free agency. This is not a very good free
- 34:11Speaker 2: agent class. Seiya Suzuki in so many ways. Reliable right-handed bat.
- 34:15Speaker 2: Checks so many boxes. I think he's a great fit
- 34:17Speaker 2: for the Tigers. Except he is 32 and probably going
- 34:24Speaker 2: to be seeking what? If I were his agent, I'd
- 34:26Speaker 2: be trying to get the guy at least $ 100 million.
- 34:28Speaker 2: I would be very nervous to sign a hitter into
- 34:34Speaker 2: their 30s to give him that type of contract. Again,
- 34:38Speaker 2: the Tigers haven't loved to go long term. I'm sure
- 34:41Speaker 2: they won't be the only team that's a little bit
- 34:43Speaker 2: hesitant to do that, but is there going to be
- 34:45Speaker 2: a team that feels a little more like it? Maybe
- 34:47Speaker 2: it can kind of take that risk or be willing
- 34:51Speaker 2: to hope to get one to two more good years
- 34:53Speaker 2: out of Seiya Suzuki, even if That contract doesn't look
- 34:56Speaker 2: as good on the back end. Makes me pretty hesitant.
- 34:59Speaker 2: I don't think I would give him $ 100 million. Would
- 35:02Speaker 2: I give him $ 60 million? Maybe, maybe. So an interesting guy,
- 35:09Speaker 2: an interesting market to keep an eye on. It'll be
- 35:11Speaker 2: interesting to see how his market develops when we're all
- 35:14Speaker 2: expecting a lockout. Is this someone who signs before or after?
- 35:19Speaker 2: Not someone I would write off, but unfortunately, Guys like Suzuki,
- 35:24Speaker 2: guys like Brandon Lau, guys who make a lot of sense.
- 35:27Speaker 2: They're just in their 30s. They're older free agents coming
- 35:31Speaker 2: off career years. And that naturally makes me a little
- 35:34Speaker 2: bit nervous when there are only a couple good bats
- 35:37Speaker 2: in this free agent class and they all share that trait.
- 35:40Speaker 2: That's one reason I'm like, I wonder if there's another
- 35:43Speaker 2: way to go about this. Yeah, I wrote Monday, still
- 35:50Speaker 2: working on his name, Tarouki, Tarouki Sato. It's going to
- 35:54Speaker 2: be the big slugger coming over from Japan. Very similar
- 35:57Speaker 2: to Murakami and Akimoto last year. Left-handed hitter, big power,
- 36:02Speaker 2: strikes out a lot, corner profile. That's something like if
- 36:06Speaker 2: the Tigers really wanted to be done with Spencer Torkelson,
- 36:10Speaker 2: maybe you could look at a move like that. You're
- 36:13Speaker 2: still going to have to pay up, even if the
- 36:15Speaker 2: market's not crazy. You're going to have to convince an
- 36:18Speaker 2: international player to come to Detroit. play in more of
- 36:22Speaker 2: a pitcher's ballpark. I think that's probably going to be
- 36:25Speaker 2: a tough sell. So I wouldn't really lock in too
- 36:29Speaker 2: much on that. And again, that's a left-handed hitter versus
- 36:31Speaker 2: a right-handed hitter. It's a tough free agent class. And
- 36:34Speaker 2: that's why I come back to, I wonder if trade
- 36:37Speaker 2: could be the route to go and be a little
- 36:39Speaker 2: bit of a test for the Tigers front office to
- 36:42Speaker 2: pull off a trade that makes sense for an everyday
- 36:46Speaker 2: type bat.
- 36:48Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. One name we didn't mention, Gleyber Torres, are
- 36:57Speaker 1: we confident that that's it?
- 37:01Speaker 2: It seems like kind of the natural, like, oh, they
- 37:04Speaker 2: should probably move on. But for all the reasons we
- 37:06Speaker 2: just talked about, I don't know. I don't think Gleyber's
- 37:09Speaker 2: mark is going to be crazy given he's– every time
- 37:14Speaker 2: I see that man is 29. I just can't believe it.
- 37:18Speaker 2: Given he's been injured, given he's not moving well, given
- 37:22Speaker 2: he only played 96 games, the defense, I know he
- 37:27Speaker 2: graded out a little bit better this year, but the
- 37:28Speaker 2: defense just isn't very good. He doesn't help you there,
- 37:31Speaker 2: but I'm like, sometimes I'm like, I don't know, man.
- 37:34Speaker 2: If Glaber were willing to come back on a one-year
- 37:37Speaker 2: deal again, it's not the worst. It's not the worst.
- 37:41Speaker 2: It doesn't really help you defensively, but I'm not sure
- 37:45Speaker 2: you're going to do better in terms of right-handed production.
- 37:48Speaker 2: So I think it's a no, but maybe I could
- 37:52Speaker 2: be talked into it. If certain other things don't go
- 37:54Speaker 2: well this offseason, it might not be the worst fallback option.
- 37:59Speaker 1: He's going to have a fascinating market for all the
- 38:01Speaker 1: reasons that you mentioned and that we understand about him
- 38:04Speaker 1: and just the free agency class in general. But we
- 38:09Speaker 1: do know that he is valued by both the front
- 38:11Speaker 1: office and coaching staff. Like you said, if certain things
- 38:17Speaker 1: break a certain way... still available here's another.
- 38:20Speaker 2: Way to look at it who would you rather have
- 38:22Speaker 2: who do you think is going to have a more
- 38:24Speaker 2: productive season next year glaber torres or how you lee
- 38:27Speaker 2: i think that's a hard question too i'm not i
- 38:31Speaker 2: mean i.
- 38:31Speaker 1: Like i like lee but but glaber is like obviously
- 38:35Speaker 1: the more proven asset and uh aesthetically not as pretty
- 38:40Speaker 1: as lee with all the things that we talk about
- 38:42Speaker 1: that fascinate us with lee but uh now.
- 38:46Speaker 2: To different players in terms of yeah, at cost point,
- 38:50Speaker 2: and Lee is basically free, but Lee is very up
- 38:54Speaker 2: and down, maybe a high ceiling, maybe a low floor,
- 38:57Speaker 2: who knows, Glaber is the picture of steadiness, maybe to
- 39:02Speaker 2: a fault, you know, slow and steady to a fault, yeah, again,
- 39:07Speaker 2: at cost point, that's probably, like, I think maybe Lee
- 39:10Speaker 2: wins that argument, except, do you think how Lee's gonna
- 39:14Speaker 2: post a 330, 340, 350, one base percentage. You probably
- 39:20Speaker 2: hope he can, but you don't know that he can.
- 39:22Speaker 2: And I'm sure that's what the Tigers front office has
- 39:26Speaker 2: been spending the past few weeks crunching, and I'm sure
- 39:29Speaker 2: they've had... you know very similar discussions what we're having
- 39:31Speaker 2: right now.
- 39:33Speaker 1: Yeah absolutely so it is it like doing the free
- 39:37Speaker 1: agency thing I'll tell you it's like fun but also
- 39:40Speaker 1: grueling process at the same time because you're like trying
- 39:43Speaker 1: to see if there's alright, these are checked, but here's
- 39:46Speaker 1: this major flaw here, and this is probably going to
- 39:48Speaker 1: be a no-go, or even positionally, this doesn't make sense,
- 39:52Speaker 1: or who's going to be blocking what. I'm glad I
- 39:58Speaker 1: did it, but it was kind of tiring.
- 40:01Speaker 2: It's still not all-encompassing. Again, I think they're going to
- 40:03Speaker 2: add I would say probably two starting pitchers and maybe not,
- 40:08Speaker 2: you know, Tarek Scooble tier, but you get a little
- 40:10Speaker 2: deeper into that pitching market there. I think that's where
- 40:12Speaker 2: they will be willing to spend a little bit. They're
- 40:15Speaker 2: going to have to add to this bullpen in some
- 40:17Speaker 2: form or fashion. And they have some money to play
- 40:20Speaker 2: with there. It's a matter of philosophically, how do they
- 40:24Speaker 2: view it? And then the offense, look, I don't know.
- 40:28Speaker 2: I don't really think they're going to spend a lot
- 40:30Speaker 2: on it. And I think, I don't really blame them, again,
- 40:33Speaker 2: given how bad this free agent class is, man.
- 40:39Speaker 1: No, for sure. It's definitely a factor. So if you
- 40:42Speaker 1: guys have any favorite free agents, you can send them
- 40:45Speaker 1: our way at CodyStevenHagan. I am at Kieran underscore Steckley.
- 40:49Speaker 1: Our pod page is at TigerTerritory underscore YouTube, Apple, Spotify.
- 40:53Speaker 1: You guys know what to do. We appreciate all of you.
- 40:54Speaker 1: So for CodyStevenHagan, I'm Kieran Steckley. Everybody have a great day.