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Detroit Tigers Deep With Arms, Short on CF Options · Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast

0:05
Speaker 1: And welcome into another episode of Tiger Territory, part of
0:07
Speaker 1: the Foul Territory Network, a Detroit Tiger's podcast. I'm Kieren
0:11
Speaker 1: Steckley with me as always as a man who's been
0:13
Speaker 1: known to break a few ankles back in his day
0:16
Speaker 1: on the diamond.
0:17
Speaker 2: He is Cody stapanagging, how you doing?
0:19
Speaker 3: Not really familiar with that being a baseball term, but
0:22
Speaker 3: you know intermural sea league basketball or you know fifth grade,
0:26
Speaker 3: sixth grade kids, inc. I could you know I had
0:28
Speaker 3: some handles?
0:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, has some andles look good doing it too. I
0:31
Speaker 1: can't confirm Cody would wear some ais back in the day,
0:35
Speaker 1: so uh so watch out on the on.
0:37
Speaker 2: The streets of Detroit here.
0:41
Speaker 1: Speaking of breaking ankles, I think you know the metaphor
0:44
Speaker 1: of breaking ankles is you're going one way, you think
0:47
Speaker 1: you're going one way, and then you're going this way.
0:50
Speaker 1: It's kind of a metaphor for how Kentamaeta is doing here, Cody,
0:54
Speaker 1: because I'm just gonna allow myself to be prisoner of
0:58
Speaker 1: the moment here do it.
1:01
Speaker 2: The guy looks kind.
1:02
Speaker 1: Of dialed in and and you're we're recording this on Tuesday.
1:06
Speaker 1: He faced some hitters today and if you look at
1:10
Speaker 1: his complete spring training stats right now, it's eight point
1:14
Speaker 1: two innings. He's allowed six hits, you know, three earned
1:16
Speaker 1: runs he's got.
1:18
Speaker 3: Is that right?
1:18
Speaker 1: Does he have fourteen k's I think I wrote that
1:20
Speaker 1: down four.
1:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's that's impressive. That's impressive. And I had this
1:31
Speaker 2: thought earlier, Cody.
1:32
Speaker 1: I was like, you know, you know, take his age
1:35
Speaker 1: like last year, so basically, take what he's doing right
1:37
Speaker 1: now had it been done last year or reverse that.
1:42
Speaker 1: People we talk about what a genius guy Harris was
1:44
Speaker 1: for acquiring Kamayta on a two year deal for not
1:49
Speaker 1: that much money, and you know, a back end of
1:52
Speaker 1: the rotation guy who comes into spring like.
1:57
Speaker 2: I think, I don't.
1:58
Speaker 1: I assume he hasn't said these were but maybe he has.
2:01
Speaker 1: He does legitimately look like his pitching form is in
2:04
Speaker 1: the best shape of his life. He looks great, Cody.
2:09
Speaker 3: He's looked really good. You know, coming into camp there
2:13
Speaker 3: was a ninety ninety five percent likelihood Kintamayida was going
2:17
Speaker 3: to make this team. The one scenario in which he
2:20
Speaker 3: wouldn't would be if he showed up and he's thrown
2:23
Speaker 3: eighty eight and he was getting rocked and he looked
2:26
Speaker 3: terrible and it were just glaringly obvious he could not
2:30
Speaker 3: be a member of the rotation, and the Tigers just
2:33
Speaker 3: didn't want to carry him in their bullpen. We have
2:37
Speaker 3: to stop even entertaining the idea that Naida is not
2:39
Speaker 3: going to be on the team, because not only is
2:42
Speaker 3: he here in camp, he's in camp and he's throwing
2:45
Speaker 3: ninety two and he is pitching quite well. Now he
2:49
Speaker 3: still has some things to prove. He went three and
2:52
Speaker 3: two thirds innings today. In his fourth up, that fourth inning,
2:56
Speaker 3: the velocity did dip a little bit. Fastball was sitting
2:59
Speaker 3: around ninety. That's a pretty big test for Kinta. How
3:02
Speaker 3: can he hold this stuff as his innings get longer.
3:05
Speaker 3: But even in a way, it was an improvement. He
3:08
Speaker 3: went three innings and the stuff held, and even in
3:11
Speaker 3: the fourth when the stuff dipped a little bit, it's
3:13
Speaker 3: not like he was getting battered around the ballpark. The
3:16
Speaker 3: splitter has looked really good. He's continuing to miss a
3:19
Speaker 3: lot of bats, so Ken Tamaida continues to validate my
3:25
Speaker 3: belief that he's gonna begin this season as the number
3:27
Speaker 3: five starter.
3:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, and and the thing is that this notion was
3:34
Speaker 1: met with nothing but at best groaning.
3:39
Speaker 2: And that was like.
3:40
Speaker 1: Resistance, Like this notion that you like the text messages
3:44
Speaker 1: I have, I'm sure ones that you've seen Cody as well,
3:47
Speaker 1: it's like, you just can't have this guy on the team.
3:49
Speaker 1: Like they clearly like viewed him a certain way at
3:52
Speaker 1: the end of the year. But I guess you could say,
3:54
Speaker 1: to the credit they quickly pivoted and kind of created
3:58
Speaker 1: this plan for him and his credit, it's been executed.
4:02
Speaker 2: You could not execute it.
4:03
Speaker 1: Really any better to this point, being able to turn
4:09
Speaker 1: like an adverse situation into one that as of right
4:12
Speaker 1: now is a relatively positive one is a feather in
4:15
Speaker 1: the cap of him and the plan that was presented
4:18
Speaker 1: for him. And I also like that you said your
4:22
Speaker 1: number five starter there, because that's obviously true. But he's
4:27
Speaker 1: not going to be relied upon in this in the
4:30
Speaker 1: same way that we would have we anticipated really last year.
4:36
Speaker 1: So like that's I'm a big I'm a big fan
4:39
Speaker 1: of Like the burden expectations is real on whatever scale
4:43
Speaker 1: that you put it on, and it's not going to
4:45
Speaker 1: be like a heavy burden on him. And and he
4:49
Speaker 1: proved last year he could be useful in multiple roles anyway,
4:53
Speaker 1: So like there's if you're looking for reasons to not
4:58
Speaker 1: have him in your front five, those reasons are basically
5:03
Speaker 1: all dried up, like right now, and that's including an
5:06
Speaker 1: injury to someone that you already had had signed slotted
5:12
Speaker 1: into your starting five. And that's that's another thing too
5:17
Speaker 1: about this, Cody. It's like things that are front of mine,
5:19
Speaker 1: things that are back of mind. Uh, are we are
5:23
Speaker 1: we sure?
5:23
Speaker 2: Are we sure?
5:24
Speaker 1: Alex Cobb has a role on this team? I say
5:26
Speaker 1: that kind of jokingly, like obviously he does. He's under
5:29
Speaker 1: contract and it's not for pennies. But at the same time,
5:34
Speaker 1: you're getting to like, out of sight, out of mind,
5:36
Speaker 1: he's obviously not starting in the season with the team,
5:39
Speaker 1: like he's gonna be injured obviously, the injury reports are
5:42
Speaker 1: just you know, throwing a bullpen, progressing rehab daily, or
5:47
Speaker 1: you know, whatever the terminology is.
5:49
Speaker 2: It's getting to the point, Cody, where you know you're
5:52
Speaker 2: paying them no matter what.
5:53
Speaker 1: If you feel really good about your front five, which
5:56
Speaker 1: as of right now you kind of feel like you are.
6:00
Speaker 1: You know, Alex, we want you for the whole season.
6:03
Speaker 1: We don't want you to rush. We know your body's
6:06
Speaker 1: been through a lot, like just just take every day,
6:11
Speaker 1: you know, take each day one day at a time,
6:13
Speaker 1: and and we'll talk to you trade deadline or something
6:17
Speaker 1: like that, you know, like like what's gonna happen with that.
6:19
Speaker 3: I think we'll see him certainly before the trade deadline,
6:22
Speaker 3: assuming he's able to get healthy. But this is this
6:25
Speaker 3: reminds me of like the Joe Joe Tory story, Like
6:28
Speaker 3: you and I both know this is going to take
6:29
Speaker 3: care of itself. The chances that all five starters remain healthy,
6:35
Speaker 3: let's say a month from now, when Alex Cobb is back,
6:38
Speaker 3: or maybe a little longer. Whatever chances are another spot
6:41
Speaker 3: is going to be opened and this thing will sort
6:43
Speaker 3: itself out. Right now, It is kind of a fun hypothetical.
6:45
Speaker 3: If you know my head it keeps throwing well, and
6:48
Speaker 3: then COB's healthy, what do you what do you do
6:50
Speaker 3: when you're ready to get him going? But you can't
6:52
Speaker 3: take your time with Cobb for now. You can send
6:55
Speaker 3: him once the season begins, want to rehab assignment for
6:58
Speaker 3: as long as he needs. And and so I'm not
7:01
Speaker 3: that worried about it because the chances that everything is
7:03
Speaker 3: hunky dorry by the time he's ready for major league
7:07
Speaker 3: action are not great. Another note on Kinto Mayeta maybe
7:12
Speaker 3: somewhat related, Like I think, regardless of how the rest
7:16
Speaker 3: of the spring goes, even if he keeps just shoving,
7:20
Speaker 3: the Tigers can protect him, and I think will protect
7:23
Speaker 3: him a little bit. If there's a lineup that is
7:26
Speaker 3: loaded with left handed hitters, I wouldn't be shocked to
7:29
Speaker 3: see a lefty in the bullpen open for Kinto Mayada,
7:33
Speaker 3: like happened last year. Things like that, Maybe if Cobb
7:37
Speaker 3: gets back, Maida does end up moving into more of
7:40
Speaker 3: a relief role, or maybe it's a thing where you
7:42
Speaker 3: can almost have like a floating fifth rotation spot. So
7:46
Speaker 3: they're gonna be ways that if Maida is just better
7:49
Speaker 3: that you can get him through the bulk of this season,
7:53
Speaker 3: or at least the first half, then he actually would
7:56
Speaker 3: be a trade candidate on an expiring deal. There are
8:00
Speaker 3: so many pitching scenarios that can play out right now.
8:03
Speaker 3: It's just encouraging that you have a lot of guys
8:05
Speaker 3: throwing well, including Casey Mice, who is probably the guy
8:08
Speaker 3: people would want to see you on the rotation over
8:11
Speaker 3: my Ada. The reality is you can option Casey Mice
8:14
Speaker 3: and you cannot option can some my ata and so
8:17
Speaker 3: unfortunately that that will probably be the determining factor there
8:21
Speaker 3: unless someone else gets hurt.
8:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm curious, you know, like where the fan base
8:27
Speaker 1: is at, and if the Tigers had, you know, like
8:32
Speaker 1: in the vacuum discussions on where they view Casey Mice
8:36
Speaker 1: because look, contracts, you know, player options, that's obviously all
8:41
Speaker 1: real thing. But you know, I'm just looking at Alice
8:45
Speaker 1: Cobbs baseball reference page right now, and it's like you
8:48
Speaker 1: made three starts last year, like it like you know,
8:52
Speaker 1: and it's his and you see that number age thirty
8:54
Speaker 1: six for last year and that you know, so you know,
8:58
Speaker 1: based on my math major in college. But this would
9:01
Speaker 1: be his age thirty seven season and it's already gotten out.
9:04
Speaker 2: Into into a tough start.
9:06
Speaker 1: I was actually having texting conversations about, you know, almost
9:11
Speaker 1: getting I don't know, this sounds so mean. I like,
9:14
Speaker 1: I don't mean this in a direct way, but almost
9:17
Speaker 1: like an emotional way, like I'm getting like Zimmerman vibes.
9:20
Speaker 1: And I know it's completely different when you're deal long
9:22
Speaker 1: deal blah blah blah. I understand all those differences, but
9:25
Speaker 1: it's just like at a certain point, you just weren't
9:28
Speaker 1: looking to Zimmerman. You see what I'm saying, like back
9:31
Speaker 1: in the day, And and this cop thing has the
9:34
Speaker 1: potential to be that too, because once he comes back.
9:36
Speaker 1: The thing is when you got guys that are behind you,
9:39
Speaker 1: that are at least liked more because they, you know,
9:43
Speaker 1: the fans have seen you more, the media has a
9:46
Speaker 1: better understanding of like what those guys can do. It
9:49
Speaker 1: kind of puts them on a talking about cop here.
9:53
Speaker 1: It puts them on a short metaphorical leash in terms
9:58
Speaker 1: of the public perception and the top. I don't know
10:00
Speaker 1: if it really makes sense there, Cody, but he's gonna
10:02
Speaker 1: have a little bit of an uphill battle once he
10:04
Speaker 1: does come.
10:06
Speaker 3: He might have a pill battle with the fans. But
10:08
Speaker 3: Scott Harris is the guy who you know signed out.
10:12
Speaker 3: I mean, I guess he didn't cut the check, but
10:13
Speaker 3: Chris Hill's cut the check, and Scott Harris recommended Chris
10:16
Speaker 3: Hill's cut the check. I think if Alex Cob is healthy,
10:19
Speaker 3: we will see plenty of Alex cop for that reason.
10:22
Speaker 3: And what if he's good, I mean, I don't know
10:25
Speaker 3: that he's gonna be healthy, but when he's healthy. He
10:27
Speaker 3: tends to be pretty good, so what what if he's good.
10:31
Speaker 3: I don't think we should just write off Alex cop
10:33
Speaker 3: just yet.
10:35
Speaker 2: I mean, it's not a tax right off.
10:38
Speaker 1: The guy's gonna play, so so you know, hopefully, you know,
10:43
Speaker 1: like I said, the rehab is going well, but it
10:45
Speaker 1: is he might as well be one of one of
10:48
Speaker 1: the top prospects in the system right now. And we'll
10:50
Speaker 1: talk about those guys a little bit later, because's a
10:52
Speaker 1: little bit he's literally in the back, out of sight,
10:54
Speaker 1: out of out of mind there. So it is it
10:58
Speaker 1: is funny, Cody, because you know, you talk about trade
11:00
Speaker 1: stuff too. There's there's a thought bouncing through my head
11:07
Speaker 1: about you know, you got all these arms as of now,
11:12
Speaker 1: it kind of feels like you're short position player wise, Like,
11:18
Speaker 1: is there is this a creative avenue to try to
11:22
Speaker 1: acquire some help in the field and in the lineup?
11:25
Speaker 1: And and if so, like who is it that could
11:29
Speaker 1: because you're not gonna get you know, like the one
11:31
Speaker 1: solos of the world obviously, so you're not having to
11:33
Speaker 1: give You're not gonna give up your top bend stuff.
11:36
Speaker 1: But like, is there a combination of manning and some
11:39
Speaker 1: lower guy in the system that could get you some
11:42
Speaker 1: mediocre position player, and I mean mediocre in a good way,
11:45
Speaker 1: like average, like some average position player or some mediocre
11:49
Speaker 1: role player that like helps you in the short term
11:54
Speaker 1: and has the potential to be like a Tray Swingey
11:56
Speaker 1: type or something, you.
11:57
Speaker 2: Know what I mean.
11:58
Speaker 1: So like like, there's plenty of guys out there, but
12:02
Speaker 1: I wonder if that's like an avenue Scott Harris, we
12:04
Speaker 1: even consider or is it March fourth and Meadows and
12:09
Speaker 1: beer Lank could very easily be relatively okay by Eastern
12:14
Speaker 1: you know what I mean?
12:14
Speaker 2: And all this stuff is good for not Yeah, I.
12:17
Speaker 3: Think that's important to remember. For as much as this
12:20
Speaker 3: the Meadows when feeling injuries create a lot of wrinkles
12:23
Speaker 3: for the opening day roster, there's a chance, now we
12:27
Speaker 3: don't know for sure with either of these injuries, but
12:29
Speaker 3: in theory a pretty good chance neither of them are
12:31
Speaker 3: gonna miss a ton of regular season games. I mean,
12:34
Speaker 3: this could be a couple week problem that again someone
12:37
Speaker 3: like Jami Jones could easily fill in and it ends
12:41
Speaker 3: up not being that big of a deal in the
12:43
Speaker 3: grand scheme. The idea of a trade trade for some outfielder.
12:48
Speaker 3: I'd probably do that in a video game, but I
12:51
Speaker 3: don't think the Tigers are in the business of parting
12:54
Speaker 3: with assets when they don't have to. So why would
12:58
Speaker 3: you trade Matt Manning just to get immediate Like are
13:02
Speaker 3: you going to That's the question I keep coming back
13:04
Speaker 3: to you. Are you going to be able to get
13:06
Speaker 3: anyone better than Jami Jones via the trade market? Right now?
13:11
Speaker 3: You just don't see bigger deals happen this time of
13:15
Speaker 3: year very often. One that comes to mind is the
13:19
Speaker 3: Tigers getting Austin Meadows in exchange for Esoch Parade as
13:22
Speaker 3: a deal that did not age well. And it am
13:25
Speaker 3: I right that that happened right after Riley Green got hurt. Yeah,
13:31
Speaker 3: it was all like a little bit of a reaction
13:34
Speaker 3: to like, oh, something happened at the end of camp
13:37
Speaker 3: Al was fighting for his job at the time. We
13:39
Speaker 3: have to do something. You ended up trading a young
13:42
Speaker 3: asset for an established veteran. The veteran player didn't work out. Now,
13:46
Speaker 3: it'd be kind of be nice if you still had
13:48
Speaker 3: that younger asset in your system. So these are just
13:52
Speaker 3: some of the Like that's not a one to one example,
13:54
Speaker 3: but one of the reasons these things don't just happen.
13:57
Speaker 3: I'm sure Scott will poke around on the waiver wire,
13:59
Speaker 3: and there will be some players who can opt out
14:01
Speaker 3: of minor league deals who maybe they can be more
14:04
Speaker 3: of a true center fielder. I think there could be
14:07
Speaker 3: options out there, but I have a hard time thinking
14:11
Speaker 3: of a name who I'm like, Oh, I want that guy.
14:14
Speaker 3: The Tigers should go get him. Like I've mentioned Taylor Ward,
14:18
Speaker 3: but Angels haven't traded Taylor Ward by March. What's going
14:21
Speaker 3: to cause them to suddenly trade Taylor Ward tomorrow? I
14:26
Speaker 3: it just seems like a stretch to me.
14:29
Speaker 1: For the record, Austin Meadows was acquired three days before
14:33
Speaker 1: opening day, so it wasn't just like right after Riley Green.
14:37
Speaker 1: It was like the crunch time, and and that was
14:39
Speaker 1: obviously a very hectic time. I remember that trade very well,
14:43
Speaker 1: still in the early infancy of our podcast.
14:45
Speaker 2: So uh so, yeah, that's that's it. That is a
14:49
Speaker 2: good point. But but my but part of my.
14:52
Speaker 1: Motivation with that is my general philosophy of arms versus
14:57
Speaker 1: position players and the fact that you have this, you
15:02
Speaker 1: have more than what you can do do with right now.
15:05
Speaker 1: And if we're gonna and if I'm gonna if I'm
15:08
Speaker 1: gonna apply reasonings to have job in the major leagues
15:12
Speaker 1: regarding like bullets being fired not major league like that
15:17
Speaker 1: that does not that's not an exclusive thing for Joe.
15:20
Speaker 1: Is what I'm saying is that, like, if you have
15:22
Speaker 1: all these assets, there's just to be wasting innings and
15:25
Speaker 1: pitches and all that stuff in Toledo when there's the
15:28
Speaker 1: ability to do something with them.
15:30
Speaker 2: And this is a.
15:30
Speaker 1: Conversation that I'm gonna, like, I'm gonna bring this back
15:33
Speaker 1: up trade deadline time, like off season, Like, if as
15:37
Speaker 1: long as you're churning out pictures, I think it'd be
15:40
Speaker 1: a good idea to, like, it's an evergreen philosophy of mine,
15:43
Speaker 1: it'd be a good idea to try to get as
15:44
Speaker 1: many bats in your system.
15:46
Speaker 2: In addition, if that makes sense.
15:49
Speaker 3: Yeah, I come back to like, I don't know, you
15:51
Speaker 3: can never have enough pitching. You got a lot of
15:54
Speaker 3: pictures with injury histories. You know, if Jack Flerty's bat
15:57
Speaker 3: gives out, and I mean, we can come up with
16:00
Speaker 3: worst case scenarios, but you know, a couple of these
16:03
Speaker 3: guys get hurt, suddenly you need Casey Mice Suddenly, Maybe
16:06
Speaker 3: you need Kader Montero or Matt Manning, And especially I
16:09
Speaker 3: think that the pictures everyone wants to point to be like,
16:13
Speaker 3: oh could you trade them? Are Mize and Manning because
16:15
Speaker 3: they're in theory nearing the end of their ropes in
16:18
Speaker 3: the system a little bit more. And that is a
16:21
Speaker 3: valid argument, like there's not as much of a clear
16:24
Speaker 3: role or certainly not a clear future for them right now.
16:27
Speaker 3: That's also like, so if the Tigers don't really want them,
16:30
Speaker 3: who's to say anyone else really values them at this point.
16:34
Speaker 3: I mean, there's some things to like about both of
16:37
Speaker 3: these guys, but I don't know, I don't know that
16:39
Speaker 3: there's going to be as much interest from the outside
16:42
Speaker 3: as we might like to believe. And I you know,
16:44
Speaker 3: I think the same with Spencer Twirklesen and all these
16:47
Speaker 3: guys every team wants to trade. It's quote unquote failed
16:50
Speaker 3: prospects or underachieving prospects, and usually they're not going to
16:56
Speaker 3: have the same market as you might like to believe.
17:02
Speaker 1: So really, what it comes down to is the reason
17:04
Speaker 1: that we're having this conversation is because when you have
17:08
Speaker 1: an injury to an a kiel Bado, when you have
17:12
Speaker 1: like a mysterious injury to Parker Meadows and a wear
17:20
Speaker 1: and tear injury to Matt beer Lan. It kind of
17:25
Speaker 1: like opens you up to like look at the off
17:27
Speaker 1: season because that off season is over, and be like,
17:31
Speaker 1: you know, is there an implication here? Is this something
17:35
Speaker 1: that the front office deserves a little bit of I
17:39
Speaker 1: don't want to say criticism, but like a little bit
17:43
Speaker 1: of pushback, a little bit of pushback of like, hey,
17:46
Speaker 1: like Riley Green might have to play center field. I
17:50
Speaker 1: know nobody liked that when we put the videot from
17:53
Speaker 1: our last episode because of the injury concerns, and you know,
17:56
Speaker 1: we're talking about injuries here.
17:57
Speaker 2: That's very real.
17:58
Speaker 1: However, like all we talk about is putting the best
18:04
Speaker 1: team out there to win, right That's the philosophy. And
18:09
Speaker 1: it feels to me, Oh, there's gonna be several scenarios
18:12
Speaker 1: where the best lineup is going to consist of Riley
18:14
Speaker 1: Green in center field if these injuries hold up. Hopefully
18:18
Speaker 1: they don't. We'll see how Perez does. We don't know,
18:21
Speaker 1: but I it might, you know, might not like the
18:25
Speaker 1: lineup with him and left as you would with him
18:27
Speaker 1: in center. If that's what you have to do to
18:29
Speaker 1: win games. So that's kind of like a two thing, Cody.
18:32
Speaker 1: I guess you can kind of take in whichever direction
18:34
Speaker 1: you want where it's like it is there some second
18:38
Speaker 1: guesting Monday Morning quarterback can be done about the offseason
18:41
Speaker 1: right now.
18:42
Speaker 2: And you know.
18:45
Speaker 1: What I think is kind of a reality is that
18:47
Speaker 1: like you might have to might have to play Riley
18:49
Speaker 1: and center, and like, hold your breath.
18:52
Speaker 3: I'm always with you a little bit, Kieren. And I
18:54
Speaker 3: was critical of the Tigers last year for kind of
18:58
Speaker 3: running Riley to the point of the Josh when they
19:00
Speaker 3: had said quite clearly they weren't going to do that,
19:03
Speaker 3: and then they proceeded to do that. But yeah, you
19:07
Speaker 3: want to win or not. I'm a lot more comfortable
19:10
Speaker 3: with Jahen left, Riley center, Winsle right than Riley left,
19:16
Speaker 3: Winstle center, Jahn right, if that makes any sense. That's
19:21
Speaker 3: just a better configuration. And then you can throw Kerry
19:25
Speaker 3: Carpenter in there on some days as well. But I
19:29
Speaker 3: think Riley stands to be probably a better center fielder
19:32
Speaker 3: than Winsol. I think you could feel a lot more
19:35
Speaker 3: comfortable playing Jayhen in the outfield more often if you
19:38
Speaker 3: were able to put him in left and feel good
19:40
Speaker 3: about the guy who's next to him in center. We
19:42
Speaker 3: Winsle's done well and right, you can you can feel
19:45
Speaker 3: comfortable with that. The injury risk booms large with Riley Green.
19:51
Speaker 3: There's a small part of me that's also like, I
19:53
Speaker 3: don't know, dude, you're gonna stay healthy, Like, are you
19:57
Speaker 3: a player We're going to feel comfortable extending or not
20:00
Speaker 3: to ever feel comfortable extending Riley Green, You're gonna have
20:03
Speaker 3: to not be afraid of him getting hurt constantly. So
20:09
Speaker 3: that's a really difficult discussion. And again, maybe we're overstating
20:13
Speaker 3: all this because maybe Parker Medos is back by the
20:16
Speaker 3: end of spring training, or maybe these guys are both
20:18
Speaker 3: back two weeks into the season and it's not a
20:20
Speaker 3: big deal. But that's also I almost think even more
20:22
Speaker 3: reason to just I don't know, and you put Riley
20:25
Speaker 3: and center for a couple of weeks, it might not
20:27
Speaker 3: be the end of the world. To bring that back
20:30
Speaker 3: to the bigger picture of the off season, ESPN just
20:33
Speaker 3: gave the Tigers a final off season great of c
20:37
Speaker 3: I can't I can't decide if I think that's fair
20:39
Speaker 3: or not. I think that almost I'd be a little
20:41
Speaker 3: more generous. Maybe C plus maybe maybe maybe be minus
20:46
Speaker 3: Glaber Torez is a pretty nice addition. And Jack Flaherty,
20:50
Speaker 3: You're pretty dang lucky to get Jack Flaherty back. And
20:53
Speaker 3: that's the number two started right there. Obviously you didn't
20:57
Speaker 3: get Bregmant and you didn't get another right now handed bat,
21:00
Speaker 3: and I was pretty clear they needed some other right
21:03
Speaker 3: handed bat, whether it was Randall Gritchick, whether it was whoever. Like,
21:08
Speaker 3: and now that you have a couple of injuries, that
21:10
Speaker 3: need feels pretty glaring. It's kind of a tough conversation
21:15
Speaker 3: to like bash the front off is because part of
21:18
Speaker 3: the reason they're in this situation they did go to
21:20
Speaker 3: the wire with Bregmant and they offered him six years
21:22
Speaker 3: and they missed out on another because of that. But
21:25
Speaker 3: they did what we wanted him to do the whole
21:27
Speaker 3: time and it just didn't happen.
21:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a yeah, that's an important and I always
21:32
Speaker 1: try to be fair of this up. That's very important
21:33
Speaker 1: to note. If you want to say that like there's
21:39
Speaker 1: this is, they would probably be quick to point out, hey,
21:41
Speaker 1: this is also kind of flukey to have, like the
21:44
Speaker 1: injuries that we just said like whole happened in a
21:46
Speaker 1: pretty short time span. Are we overreacting the fact that
21:50
Speaker 1: these are happening in spring training in general when you're
21:53
Speaker 1: not obviously losing games because of these injuries, Like all
21:56
Speaker 1: that stuff is fair. It's just and the whole and
21:59
Speaker 1: the whole construction of this offseason looks better if you
22:02
Speaker 1: get pregnant. Obviously, I'm good with those like off season
22:06
Speaker 1: grades because I think that's kind of gonna be baked
22:09
Speaker 1: into the cake a lot with the way Scott Harris
22:12
Speaker 1: wants to build organizations, and that is like the team
22:17
Speaker 1: improvement is not gonna come from player acquisition as much
22:22
Speaker 1: as player development. So if Carry Carpenter becomes but is
22:27
Speaker 1: he a zero out of ten right now against lefties, Well,
22:29
Speaker 1: if it becomes a one out of ten, and he
22:31
Speaker 1: improves in all these other areas, like that makes your
22:34
Speaker 1: team better. If Riley Green improved like taps into the
22:37
Speaker 1: power more, that makes your team better. If Colt Keith
22:40
Speaker 1: has a sophomore surge, like those are team improvements that
22:45
Speaker 1: aren't just adding you know, uh from my free agency
22:49
Speaker 1: or trades or whatever. So like that's always gonna be
22:51
Speaker 1: the sky. Harris philosophy so I would expect the probably
22:54
Speaker 1: average see plus to be minus like every off season
22:58
Speaker 1: went from the national great perspective. And I don't necessarily
23:01
Speaker 1: think on the surface that's like an indictment of him.
23:04
Speaker 2: I think that's part of his philosophy that makes sense.
23:07
Speaker 3: Probably right, And then you get in situations like this,
23:10
Speaker 3: and it's fair to be like, well, I don't know,
23:13
Speaker 3: one more little piece, you feel a lot better about
23:15
Speaker 3: the whole thing, and you would be a little less
23:18
Speaker 3: dependent on all the mini questions. If this guy can
23:21
Speaker 3: do this, if that guy can do X, so like
23:27
Speaker 3: it's a hard discussion. But the Tigers are a little
23:30
Speaker 3: bit overly left handed. They could really use another right
23:33
Speaker 3: handed bat and they don't have one. And then a
23:36
Speaker 3: couple of injuries happened. And now that's kind of more
23:38
Speaker 3: obvious than ever, Like that's just the fact of the matter.
23:41
Speaker 3: What's the solution? I don't know. I mean, you told
23:46
Speaker 3: me they couldn't assign Randall Kertchik, Like was that really
23:49
Speaker 3: going to deter them from Bregman, Like a one year
23:51
Speaker 3: deal for an aging platoon outfielder, Like, I don't I'm
23:54
Speaker 3: not sure those two things had to be mutually exclusive.
23:57
Speaker 3: And maybe they didn't like him, maybe they thought he sucked.
23:59
Speaker 3: And they have more data than I do.
24:01
Speaker 1: So we had, we had, we had a lot of
24:04
Speaker 1: ideas this offseason. I'm not saying a lot of them
24:05
Speaker 1: were great. I'm saying, well, they also didn't do any
24:08
Speaker 1: of them. So uh, I'll tell you what what what
24:12
Speaker 1: is going for him? It's I don't know, it might
24:14
Speaker 1: just seem like, you know, down and out or whatever,
24:16
Speaker 1: but Tarrek Scooble looks all right, Cody uh like and
24:19
Speaker 1: and that's part of the the.
24:21
Speaker 2: Smart Tigers fans.
24:22
Speaker 1: You know, your readers are listeners, like they all have
24:25
Speaker 1: this to your window thing that everyone's focused on. And
24:28
Speaker 1: and and I just say to your window and everybody
24:30
Speaker 1: knows what I'm talking about, you know what I mean.
24:32
Speaker 1: That's that's how smart everybody is. Uh, he looks all right.
24:35
Speaker 1: So like you have you have, you have Opening Day,
24:37
Speaker 1: you have Trek schoo. Well, no, no problems with him
24:42
Speaker 1: metaphorically gating fat with success. He's as he's as motivated
24:46
Speaker 1: and as uh I would say, like team friendly, as
24:50
Speaker 1: as you would want like your superstar to be. Like
24:52
Speaker 1: I just saw you know, they post on next like
24:54
Speaker 1: a picture of him, like waving from the bullpen to
24:57
Speaker 1: his wife and child and all that stuffing. I'm nice, nice,
25:00
Speaker 1: wholesome content. We like wholesome content here at Tiger Territory
25:03
Speaker 1: and so terror schools good. Do you have any Ribby
25:06
Speaker 1: analysis there?
25:08
Speaker 3: No other than it continues to it amazes me how
25:13
Speaker 3: he's good almost every time out, even some of the
25:16
Speaker 3: best pictures. I don't think I've seen execute as consistently
25:20
Speaker 3: as Trek Schougle has really from the day he returned
25:24
Speaker 3: from that flexor tendon surgery. It's just every time he
25:27
Speaker 3: gets out there, he's begun making it look very easy.
25:30
Speaker 3: Latest outing three innings, one hit, three punches. He was
25:34
Speaker 3: dialing up elevated heaters, he was throwing nice sliders, his
25:38
Speaker 3: change up looked good. As ever, we're in a place
25:42
Speaker 3: where it's hard to say a lot about the best
25:45
Speaker 3: picture in the American League because he's just been the
25:48
Speaker 3: same every time out, and the same has been elite,
25:52
Speaker 3: and so I don't have a lot to add other
25:55
Speaker 3: than we should probably just appreciate how good this guy
25:58
Speaker 3: has become.
26:00
Speaker 1: Off on the watch and a lot of fun to
26:02
Speaker 1: see him out in the national space as much as
26:05
Speaker 1: he is and.
26:06
Speaker 3: That's been probably the most remarkable thing. Like I said,
26:09
Speaker 3: like he's he's embraced it, hasn't run from it. His
26:13
Speaker 3: personality has really started to shine through. That's kind of
26:17
Speaker 3: a credit to him and who he is. I don't
26:20
Speaker 3: know how long he'll be here, but Tigers fans are
26:22
Speaker 3: pretty lucky he's here for sure. All Right.
26:27
Speaker 1: Well, speaking of guys that you feel lucky to have,
26:33
Speaker 1: the probably the pipeline rankings, Cody came out today for
26:37
Speaker 1: from MLB MLB Pipeline obviously top thirty four, the Tigers
26:42
Speaker 1: the tops. Not really that surprised. I'm not going to
26:44
Speaker 1: read the top thirty, but I did want to make
26:48
Speaker 1: just a couple notes. Number one, Justice big Be still
26:52
Speaker 1: in the top thirty. No one's talking about him that.
26:56
Speaker 3: That well field depth that maybe we're not considering.
26:59
Speaker 1: Maybe we're I just wanted to bring that up. He
27:01
Speaker 1: bats right handed, didn't have like as good a year
27:04
Speaker 1: as he with like last year, but he's a guy
27:07
Speaker 1: that's there. Chris Rodriguez, we talked about him when he signed.
27:12
Speaker 1: That's your prize international free agent. He is still He's
27:18
Speaker 1: only seventeen years old, so don't expect to see him
27:22
Speaker 1: in CA America Park anytime soon.
27:23
Speaker 2: But he comes in at number ten.
27:25
Speaker 1: That's kind of, like, I feel like, a pretty standard
27:27
Speaker 1: operator procedure. They tend to know those guys are obviously
27:30
Speaker 1: highly touted prospects, but don't think like, oh, number ten
27:33
Speaker 1: prospects can't wait to see him, probably gonna be a while.
27:37
Speaker 1: Tray Sweeney is eleven, Ty Madden fifteen. I'll just read
27:41
Speaker 1: the top five real quick, Joe Clark McGonagall, Bryce Rainer,
27:46
Speaker 1: and Tyrone Lorenzo and number six hos Way Persino. So
27:51
Speaker 1: I kind of bring that up to answer a couple
27:54
Speaker 1: questions that we've gotten throughout the spring training. Cody is that, like,
27:57
Speaker 1: why are we hearing about Bryce Rainer. We see Loronzo
28:02
Speaker 1: because he's a catcher and he's getting works at a
28:04
Speaker 1: home run the other day. Barsenio, we have not heard
28:07
Speaker 1: from really since the Arison Fall League, so I think
28:11
Speaker 1: it'd be a good time to address, Yes, these guys
28:13
Speaker 1: still exist, Yes they are still top prospects, but we're
28:17
Speaker 1: talking about dudes that are nineteen twenty years old and
28:22
Speaker 1: the Tigers aren't really rushing them into any major league time.
28:26
Speaker 3: So yeah, nothing to be worried about. There. As far
28:29
Speaker 3: as I know, these guys are very young. The Tigers
28:32
Speaker 3: view it has more beneficial to hav him get some
28:35
Speaker 3: abs and some wraps and some instruction on the backfields
28:38
Speaker 3: than it is to put them on a bus and
28:40
Speaker 3: make him drive two hours to Port Charlotte and get
28:43
Speaker 3: two at bats and call it good. So that's just
28:47
Speaker 3: the thinking with the lower level prospects. It's pretty standard
28:49
Speaker 3: operating procedure. I will say, I wouldn't mind if the
28:54
Speaker 3: Tigers brought Max Clark Kevin McGonagall for a couple of
28:57
Speaker 3: late inning, late ending appearances in one of these games
29:01
Speaker 3: in Lakeland. Maybe we don't have to wait until the
29:03
Speaker 3: spring breakout games to see the guys the fans want
29:05
Speaker 3: to see, Yeah, for sure, and that's actually but you're
29:10
Speaker 3: also you're trying to do a lot of things right now.
29:11
Speaker 3: You're trying to get Ryan Kreidler time in the center field,
29:14
Speaker 3: and you're trying to get you know, guys looks at
29:16
Speaker 3: different positions. Some of that's probably a consequence of all
29:20
Speaker 3: the positional versatility the Tigers are obsessed with. It's been
29:24
Speaker 3: kind of cool getting to see Roberto compos who's actually
29:27
Speaker 3: stung a couple balls right when you're ready to write
29:29
Speaker 3: him off, it's like, wait, he's still really young. So
29:33
Speaker 3: some remember maybe with Chris Rodriguez, these international guys, man,
29:37
Speaker 3: they come in very young. It can take you wild.
29:39
Speaker 3: It's twenty one, I would have guess like twenty three.
29:42
Speaker 3: Roberto compos is twenty one. So you're trying to do
29:46
Speaker 3: a lot of different things. But you know, I hope
29:48
Speaker 3: we get at least a small look at some of
29:50
Speaker 3: the big big prospects. Yeah.
29:53
Speaker 1: Well, speaking of guys that embrace their role, Max Clark
29:56
Speaker 1: is definitely one of those dudes. So he lives are
30:00
Speaker 1: the moments like the you know, the prospect showcases and
30:03
Speaker 1: all that stuff, so look looking forward to that, and obviously,
30:07
Speaker 1: like this is an indication of just how balanced the
30:10
Speaker 1: Tigers are as an organization. You have in your top
30:13
Speaker 1: eleven three guys that are most likely gonna break camp
30:18
Speaker 1: on the major league team. That's obviously job young and swinging,
30:21
Speaker 1: I don't want to say most likely, but really good chance.
30:24
Speaker 1: And then you obviously have a lot of a lot
30:27
Speaker 1: of youth in there as well, so pretty well balanced,
30:30
Speaker 1: which again plays into the things like the Kryler stuff
30:35
Speaker 1: where they're the guys that we used to obsess over
30:39
Speaker 1: are metaphorically kind of getting pushed to the edges of
30:43
Speaker 1: being assets in the organization. We brought Manning earlier. Kreyler
30:46
Speaker 1: is another one. I want to see Kreiveler in center
30:48
Speaker 1: field like every day, like like because I just think,
30:51
Speaker 1: like you have to. If he's gonna be on the forty,
30:55
Speaker 1: you got to utilize him. I think a situation like this,
30:57
Speaker 1: someone asks, like, why not a third base? Yeah, he
30:59
Speaker 1: like if you think he can obviously can play it positionally,
31:02
Speaker 1: but if he can swing the bat a little bit
31:05
Speaker 1: there too, and gives you the versatility, like I want
31:07
Speaker 1: to see Ryan Kreidler or I think that the spot
31:10
Speaker 1: is better used elsewhere.
31:12
Speaker 3: But I wouldn't. I almost wonder if maybe we're overlooking
31:15
Speaker 3: Kreidler's chances of a roster spot. Though it doesn't hurt
31:18
Speaker 3: that he can play some third base, you don't even
31:20
Speaker 3: know for sure if the Tigers want to carry Jase
31:23
Speaker 3: Young regardless, Like, wouldn't hurt to have Kreidler there as
31:27
Speaker 3: a right handed option. But I do think, yeah, he's
31:30
Speaker 3: not really playing there in spring training games because his
31:32
Speaker 3: path to the roster right now is to be able
31:34
Speaker 3: to hold down center field. You know, he can play third.
31:37
Speaker 3: You have to see and give him chances to improve
31:40
Speaker 3: in the outfield. That's just his path right now. But
31:43
Speaker 3: if he, by some event were to make the team,
31:46
Speaker 3: I wouldn't be shocked if he did factor in at
31:48
Speaker 3: third a little bit as well.
31:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, as you should.
31:51
Speaker 1: I mean, he really should try. I mean he's not
31:54
Speaker 1: the athlete of Vierling, but he should try to be
31:56
Speaker 1: do his best, like Matt.
31:58
Speaker 2: Verley impression, like every day.
32:00
Speaker 1: It would be like it would be like my advice
32:02
Speaker 1: for Ryan Kreiler, there's and and he would be a
32:05
Speaker 1: he'd be obviously a better high end infielder defender. But
32:09
Speaker 1: but if he can place, if he can play some
32:11
Speaker 1: center field, like relie like, opportunities are there. That's the
32:14
Speaker 1: thing about these injuries, man. Opportunities are there for some
32:17
Speaker 1: of these guys, and it's whether they take advantage of it.
32:21
Speaker 1: This is this is part of the competition aspect the
32:23
Speaker 1: cliche that Scott Harris and aj Hinch like like to
32:26
Speaker 1: say a lot. So also they could just PARKU metals
32:33
Speaker 1: could just be healthy tomorrow. So like all the stuff
32:36
Speaker 1: that we talked about for the last thirty minutes could
32:38
Speaker 1: be irrelevant, and it's ever no, and it's still only
32:40
Speaker 1: early March. I felt like there was a lot of
32:41
Speaker 1: urgency of this podcast coding, and now I'm looking up
32:43
Speaker 1: at the computer screen, It's like, yeah, that's March.
32:45
Speaker 3: Four, Tigers four six and one in the Great Free
32:48
Speaker 3: League here, and I don't know, it might be time
32:51
Speaker 3: to panic Vegas and Spanish track.
32:54
Speaker 2: Riley Green only has like three hits.
32:56
Speaker 3: Is there any nook? People who obsessed too much over
33:01
Speaker 3: spring training games are losers? All right?
33:07
Speaker 1: That's a perfect way to end the podcast. The podcast
33:11
Speaker 1: I have no notes on that. You can follow us
33:15
Speaker 1: on x formally known as Twitter. He is at Cody Stavenhagen.
33:18
Speaker 1: I am at Kieran Underscore. Stecley pod page is at
33:20
Speaker 1: Tiger Territory Underscore, YouTube, Instagram, Apple, Spotify. Wherever you listen
33:25
Speaker 1: to your podcast, please subscribe five star review if you
33:28
Speaker 1: feel so inclined and want to thank everybody for listening
33:31
Speaker 1: to us.
33:33
Speaker 2: On a more down midweek podcast. And I think I
33:38
Speaker 2: anticipated but I still had a lot of fun doing.
33:40
Speaker 1: This discussion Cody. So for Cody staved Hagen, I'm Karen Steckley.
33:44
Speaker 1: Everybody have a great day,