Latest / Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast / Understanding Tarik Skubal's Team USA decision + the latest on Kevin McGonigle

Transcript

Understanding Tarik Skubal's Team USA decision + the latest on Kevin McGonigle · Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: And welcome into another episode of Tiger Territory, part of
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: the Foul Territor Network Detroit Tiger's podcast. I'm Kiri Sekley
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: with me is always a man who always shakes a
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: hand whenever it's offered to him. He's Cody Stavenagan.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: How are we doing?
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: Remember when after COVID they were like, handshakes aren't gonna
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: be a thing anymore, and then everyone just went back
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: to handshakes and I five's like, we forgot about that
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: one real quick as a society. Sorry about that last episode, guys,
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: no fear. We are not recording from the press box
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: hallway at Lone Depot Park probably ever again. So we
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: are back in a more normal setting and we got
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: some ball to talk about.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and just real quick off the top there, like
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: you know, a lot of factors going on, try to
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: make the best of use of time and and all
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: that stuff, and we took it, thought we could do
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: it that way. Turned out it didn't work out. We're gonna,
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: you know, next play, next pod.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: Move on.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Thank you everybody, We appreciate the feedback and thank you
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: for sticking with us. If you're back here with us
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: after that ventured there, all right, I.
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: Ain't going to help when I'm at the park from
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: eight thirty am to eleven thirty pm. Unfortunately. Yes, that's
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: what we were dealing with that day.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's all good.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: We appreciate all of you describe on YouTube, Apple, Spotify
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: if you haven't already, thank you very much. All Right,
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: since we last talked, Cody and it was a little
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: muffled there, But since we last talked, you know, we
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: spent a lot of time about Tark school and his like,
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: you know, his decision as to whether he was going
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: to pitch again in the World Baseball Classic. And now
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: we have a resolution. He opted to just go back
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: to Tigers camp. He's going to pitch again, I believe
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: on Saturday for the Tigers.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: And that is I guess behind us in a way.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: But the drama is not We're still kind of seeing
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: the drama around Tarrek school and just the process. And
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: I'm not gonna sit here and question his decision making
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: and like, you know, whether it was you know, you
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: gotta do what's best for him, and and he's weighing
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: a lot of responsibilities and he's said as much. But
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: the curious piece of this to me, Cody, is that
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: I feel like, by far the lowest approval rating Tarrek
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: Scooble has had as a professional ballplayer, and certainly since
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: he's been in the public eye.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: I mean, like I've.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: Seen a lot of even like Tigers fans, you know,
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: just kind of like I'm kind of paraphrasing general sentiment here,
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: like over the drama, you know. And and from my perspective,
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: I always looked at it as Tarek Schouoble, you know,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: being genuine about like what like he was thinking what
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: you know, he you know, explained that he was naive
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: to how he would feel and and like, you know,
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: being around all those guys, like he was being truthful
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: and genuine. And the reaction from the general baseball public
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: and again and including some Tigers fans, has been largely
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: negative and sort of accusing him of being close to
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: a drama queen, which like he's never exhibited that type
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: of behavior before. So I think that's where we should
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: talk about it. It is just bizarre to see Trek scoogle
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: kind of talked about and thought of in this light.
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I've been thinking about this a lot. You know,
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: We've had to talk about Schooble in the various scenarios
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: so much over the past couple of months. And I
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: don't know if I've always been at my most eloquent
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: or most thoughtful. I've probably had some dumb stuff along
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: that lines. But I feel like, like, how I actually
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: feel about this again, is that Trek has been in
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: some weird situations. Maybe he's sort of his own doing,
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: maybe not, And I think you're right. I think this
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: let's just leave it at the WBC one. It got
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: weird largely because he was being authentic. Could they have
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: rolled out, you know, initially, that he was just going
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: to pitch once? Sure? But what happened most recently, Ken
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: Rosenthal asked him a question and he kind of hinted
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: as his desire to pitch agin and then Chandler Rome
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: and some others asked him the question after the game,
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: and he said, I'm gonna have some conversations and indicated
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: he was interested in pitching in He was honest. He
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: could have said no comment. He could have said I'm
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: not going to discuss that's an internal decision. He could
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: have declined to do an interview, and we an even
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: fans sometimes complain about guys not being accessible or being
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: robotic and boring, and Trek is not that. Entering Spring training,
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: given trade rumors and arbitration and all that, I was
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: very curious to see how Terrek would handle himself, to
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: see if he was hardened by that at all, And
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: he wasn't. He showed up to Spring as the same guy.
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: My first stint in Lakeland. I feel like I talked
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: to him either in a group setting or a couple
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: of times one on one pretty much every day. He
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: was accessible, he was thoughtful, he was honest, seemed like
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: he was in a good mood. And so I hope
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: this now that it has really become kind of heightened
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: scrutiny in a national sense, and you're bringing people's opinions
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: on you know, what it means to have pride for
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: your country into the equation. I hope this does not
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: deter K from staying authentic, staying who he is. I
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: hope it doesn't make him close off, because this guy's
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: been under a lot of pressure, a lot of attention,
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: a few different strange situations over the past couple of
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: years with the Tigers, and he has handled it remarkably.
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: This one was was awkward. But I hope he doesn't
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: go to pr school that you try to, you know,
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: just avoid any sense of controversy.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: Ever.
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: Again, I hope he stays open. I hope he stays authentic.
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: I hope we all move on from this, and we
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: will see if Team USA even moves on, because this
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: whole thing might be rendered pointless. Where we're at right.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: Now, Yeah, we're recording this Wednesday morning, so still reeling
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: from from that showcase against against Team Italy. But like here,
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: here's here's my thing, Cody, Like, I feel like I
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: have a pretty good gauge of Trek from watching him,
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: you know, we had him on the podcast, and then
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: obviously you have a great gauge, you know, having talked
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: with him all these years. I think if Trek had
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: his way, he would pitch multiple.
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: Times in the World Baseball Classic.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: I think like he's trying to do right by his team,
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: and that's you know, obviously the Tigers and AJ and
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: his teammates and all that stuff, and his like business
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: teams like Scott Boris and company, like the two entities
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: that have kind of guided him to become what we
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: know as Trek's schoolbl basically because he's followed their advice
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: and like, you know, to get to this point, and
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: we have it reported on multiple sources that neither one
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: really wanted him to do it, period, but he wanted
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: to do it, so like, you know, this was kind
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: of negotiated out. He's gonna pitch once and then again.
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: He would have pitched again. He if it was just him,
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: It was just him and there's nothing else about you know,
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: there's other things, the word, the phrase, the business of baseball.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: He would have pitched again, but there are other things
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: at play, and he's trying to do right by everybody
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: that's helped him get here.
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: That should not make him a bad guy.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: Like like, he expressed authentic feelings about what it meant
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: to pitch, but the USA across his chest with thirty
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: four thousand people screaming in March, and and then like
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: you know, there are all these other circumstances.
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: Could have been worked out.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: Yes, in the grand scheme of things, it probably could
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: have been worked out, but it would have been made
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: difficult by the people around him, and he he ultimately
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: had to decide like I just have to trust like
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: what got me here, And it is unfortunate that We're
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: not gonna see him pitch for Team USA again in
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: this tournament. I would have loved to have seen it again,
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: but like, it's the reality. He's not a bad guy,
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: and he's certainly not a bad guy for being authentic
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: to himself.
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: So let's remember that doing anything in this tournament, he
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: still assumed more risk than a lot of other guys,
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: particularly pitchers out there. Despite all the hype over this
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: year's USA squad, and yeah, Paul Skeen's is out there
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: and is going to pitch multiple times both this year
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: and throughout the history of the WBC, there are a
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: lot of prominent players who have not wanted to show
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: up and put on the jersey at all. So by
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: doing anything, he took on some risk. I don't think
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: we should act like he's so selfish. He's just worried
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: about himself and his paycheck. If that were truly truly
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: the case, he would not have done this at all.
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, could agree more.
• 9:04
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, Sekik.
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• 10:52
  Speaker 1: Dominican Republic Venezuela is tonight Cody and one of the
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: Venezuelan players just had himself a nice day. That would
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: be An Manuel the Hayesius, who was I want to
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: get this right. His contract was purchased by the Tigers
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: and he was added to the forty man rosters. So
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: we talked about him our last episode about like, you know,
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: is he kind of the star of camp if you
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: just kind of forget that Kevin mcgonag will exists, which
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: I understand is very difficult to do. But you know,
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: the Haesius has been certainly one of the biggest risers
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: and now he's on the forty man and now.
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: Could he make the roster? What do you think.
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: I think I were doing a roster projection today, I
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: might have him in there. Let's remember, like the Tigers
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: added a player to the forty man roster in the
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: middle of spring training. That is not a thing that
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: happens hardly. Ever, here's why it happened. Dahesius had multiple
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: offers from Asian leagues. Korea was one of them. I
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: don't know for a fact what the other one was
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: Asian league. I'd probably assume Japan that we're probably going
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: to pay him a decent chunk at change to go
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: back over there and pitch. And the Tigers decided they
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: like this guy enough. Okay, fine, we're going to put
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: you on the forty man roster. We're going to do this,
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: We're going to commit to you. They had a mechanism
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: of doing that, which was putting Troy Milton on the
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: sixty day il we'll talk about that here in a second.
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: But dajesus like, they would not have done this if
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: they weren't pretty invested in this guy. We've talked about
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: him before and how all the pitches tunnel and the
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: deception and just kind of trying to figure out what
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: makes him good. And we're getting a better idea of that.
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: I think every time I see him. What stood out
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: to me is I was doing a little more research,
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: Like I think he might still be getting better. He's
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: twenty nine years old, but he talked about working with
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: Johann Santana, who his team Venezuela's pitching coach, on his changeup.
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: I looked at the change up in each of his
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: three's bringing training outings, and it's been like wildly different each time.
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: I think the first outing it averaged like eighty three
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: miles an hour and sixteen inches of horizontal break. Second
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: outing he comes out, he throws the pitch closer to
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: eighty six, but it's getting less break, about thirteen inches.
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: And then works with Johan a little bit. He comes out,
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: he's throwing the thing eighty seven and it averages eighteen
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: inches of horizontal break. In his game with Venezuela, he
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: got eight whiffs on the change up eighteen inches of
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: horizontal break. What does that mean, Well, that ball is
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: moving nearly the link of the plate from the time
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: it moves from the time it leaves his hand. I
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: think there were eleven or twelve pitchers who threw at
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: least fifty change ups last year and averaged that type
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: of movement. What that means is the change up. You
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: could argue fastball is probably his best pitch, has some
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: good vertical ride. The slider he revamped in Korea, it's
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: pretty good. It's more of a tight pitch like a cutter.
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: This change up against Israel was his best weapon, and
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: that pitch might still be getting even better. So certainly
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: a really intriguing arm and interesting personality. I think the
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: question now is just like does he stay stretched out
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: or does he go to the bullpen. This probably does
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: ride on whether the Tigers want to open the season
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: with three. I say three. I guess it could be
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: your second lefty over a guy like Brenton Herder. But
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: let's say they want to do three lefties. They already
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: optioned Drew Summers. There are some other guys. Sean Gunther
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: reasserting himself a little bit, having a solid camp. But
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: I think based on what we've seen from DeJesus, the
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: success he's had and the fact he's now in the
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: forty man, the way j Hin just talking about him
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: sounds to me a guy like a guy. The Tigers
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: are very seriously considering and again, even if he's not
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: on the opening day roster, Like that's just kind of
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: a false deadline. Seems like a guy we're probably gonna
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: see a lot this season one way or another.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I you know, you wrote a story
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: about him. It's on the Athletic you guys can read.
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: I can only imagine what was going through his head
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: when he he's got like miss calls and a text
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: from Scott Harris. It's like, hey, call me when you
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: get a chance. It's like, boy, what you know, what
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: could this.
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: Call in my life?
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: It's gonna be like we're packing up and we're going
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: back to Korea.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: It's like, could ruin you know, could have ruined his
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: World Baseball Classic experience with you know, with a phone
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: call in a different direction.
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: So, uh, it's really it's cool to see.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: I mean, this is this is the sort of thing
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: that the Tigers have to do, like the like the
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: general principle of like finding a DeJesus, you know, making him,
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: like putting him in a situation where he could actually
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: be a member of your organization, and then capitalizing on
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: it when he earns it, right, Like this is how
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: the Tigers, like, in order for the Tigers to be
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: the Tigers in their own vision, these kinds of things
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: have to occur, and you know to this extent they
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: have occurred. And obviously, yeah, the opening day roster is
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: a little bit of a false deadline, like you said, but.
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: I would really.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: Prefer it if you have dudes with good stuff that
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: could be used in the variety of roles that aren't starter.
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: I don't want like all of them in Toledo as starters.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: So you already did you already did the Montero thing,
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: you know, like he said he would be willing to
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: be in the bullpen. Guy the hasius, I'm sure he's
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure what his preferences.
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: I don't know if you have an answer to that.
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: But like when you when you have assets at your disposal,
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: I want them at my disposal as much as possible.
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: I don't want as many.
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: I want to say, break glass in case of emergency,
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: because we know these things will happen. But like break
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: glass when said, like situation occurs, you know, Like, so
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: that's my thoughts, Like, I don't.
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: Know, I'd put him in the bullpen if you think
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: he's good. No, he's is a lefty which has value.
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: But he seems like a pretty platoon neutral picture. We'll
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: see what that looks like, you know, and again face
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: Team Israel. He faces a couple of spring training lineups.
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: It's different than facing the Yankees or the Red Sox
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: or whoever in the big leagues. So he still has
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: some stuff to prove. But if you're looking for that
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: third lefty in your bullpen, you have a guy who
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: can fill that role but also give you some length,
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: be versatile, be a little bit of a swingman. I
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: don't know. I kind of like that you threw all
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: these darts at the wall with all these non roster
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: pitchers you brought in, and you're hoping a couple of
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: them stick. Well. Tojesus, has been the guy who's stuck
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: right in the middle of that bullseye. Their smothers. Burch
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: Smith we haven't really talked about, but he's having a
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: pretty nice camp. If you're gonna put this guy on
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: the forty man, I think you gotta be serious about
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: breaking camp with them if you design, if you decide
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: to construct your team that way.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: Now he's uh, he's not pitching today, but you will
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: be there tonight. Cody for Dominican Republic versus Venezuela, you know,
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: wrapping up pool play there in in Miami, obviously a
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: marquee game for for this tournament to this point. And
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: you know we're you know, foul Territory is gonna have
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: a here's how big it is. Foul Territory is gonna
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: have a postgame show. So if you go to our YouTube, uh,
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: you know, there'll be a postgame show for that one
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: as well as all subsequent hopefully Team USA games that
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: that happened. Moving forward, and all of our World Baseball
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: Classic coverage is brought to you by Fox one. Sorry
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: your seven day free trial today at foxone dot com.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: So any any preview for US Cody, but with DR
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: and Venezuela and you know what, what what are you
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: expecting to see once you're down at the park.
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: It's gonna be loud. I know that just from you know,
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: attending those games in the d R what I've seen
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: so far at the WBC, both the Dominican Republican Venezuela,
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: their fans bring it, and now they're gonna be together
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: at the same time in the same building. This is
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: the matchup everyone has been talking about and looking forward
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: to all week in Miami. If you've paid attention to WBC,
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: the Dominican Republic team gets a ton of attention. They're loaded,
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: they're a lot of fun. They celebrate like no other team. Venezuela,
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: oddly enough, is almost kind of flown under the radar,
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: but they are really good too. They'll be starting old
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: friend Eduardo Rodriguez. The Dominican Republic will start Sandy ALCNTRA.
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: So we're gonna have some notable pitchers on the bump.
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: We're gonna have some goat hitters in the lineup. I
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: think this game could go either way. For as loaded
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: as Team DR's lineup is, they haven't faced real pitching
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: in the WBC. It will be kind of an adjustment
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: to like, oh yeah, this isn't batting practice anymore, because
• 19:53
  Speaker 3: they've just been teeing off on dudes from Israel and
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: Nicaragua and the Netherlands. So I'm excited. It's been very
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: interesting to observe Albert Pouholz in a managerial capacity. He
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: seems to be handling it really well. He seems built
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: for it a little more than I would have thought.
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: Omar Lopez Astros bench coach Manages Venezuela has a good
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: relationship with aj Hinch, So I'm excited for this game.
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: I think my ears are going to be hurting afterward.
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: We will see who wins. Both teams have already clinched advancing,
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: but there's some stuff at stake. Winner is going to
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: go to face Korea. They have, I can say with
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: full confidence, and I don't set the lineup, but they
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: have clinch. Loser is going to go face Japan in
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: a game that could actually determine whether these teams are
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: eligible for the Olympics in twenty twenty eight, because the
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: twenty twenty eight Olympic qualifying process is a little bit screwy.
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: You can read about that on the Athletic if you're
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: curious to know more. And yeah, everyone one's locked on
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: to see if the United States team advances.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah go Italy.
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: All right, let's uh, let's get to some other roster
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: mechanics here. Cody Max Clark was reassigned to minor league camp.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: And I can't say, like I'm trying to figure out
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: like a way to talk about this that is the
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: most fair and comprehensive. So in that sense, I'm just
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: gonna kind of boil it down. I don't think I'm
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: going to be telling my grandkids about Max Clark's first
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: like big league camp.
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: I think that.
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: I say, I hope he had some sort of some
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: learning experience from this, and there's a lot of stuff
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: behind the scenes that he can take with him. And
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: it was like a productive you know whatever months, six
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: weeks whatever for him. But he was not productive in
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: spring training games. For whatever that is worth. He finishes,
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: I say finishes, but you know what I mean. He
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: was before being optioned down or sum me reassigned. He
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: was two of eighteen. He had five k's, he only
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: had a walk, obviously, you know the stuff in the field,
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: and he garnered negative attention that you and I both
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: agree is like misguided.
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: But that's just the reality of the situation.
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: I'm not gonna say I'm disappointed, but I was hoping
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: for more. Is that a fair kind of way to
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: look at it?
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: Uh? I'm sure that's how probably pretty close how Max
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: Cork feels. I mean, Max Cork might feel straight disappointed.
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: I don't know, but like, yeah, look, this is spring training.
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: He is a young player. He did not have a
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: good major league camp. In terms of his game performance.
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: Not the first player, not the last player that that
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: will happen to. I'm not that worried about that. Do
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: you think we learned a little bit about him or
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: some questions The idea that he wasn't immediately as polished
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: plus plus center fielder, I think that was probably proven correct.
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: He's quick, he's athletic, he has good instincts. He's going
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: to be a good outfielder. But he has work to
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: do if he's going to a be a center fielder
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: and BB a Gold Glove caliber center fielder. Just because
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: he is fast does not guarantee you are a Gold
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: Glove center fielder, So he has work to do there.
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: At the play, Look, this guy makes good swing decisions.
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: I think major league pitching, you know again, has some
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: areas he can improve. What is your approach going to be?
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: Can your pitch selection really be locked him on? How
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: are you going to elevate the ball consistently against big
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: league pitching. That's something I'm going to be watching as
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: he's in the minor leagues. As he's in I assume
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: he'll spend most of this year in Toledo. I don't
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: know what it means for his timeline to the bigs.
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: This is a talented player. He could make a couple
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: adjustments and take off really quickly. But I just think
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: it's clear, like, hey, yes, Mary is to improve. I'm
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: sure Max knows that, I'm sure the organization knows that.
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: I don't think it's the worst thing in the world.
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: Would have been cool if he came out just had
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: a great camp. Sure, yeah, but that doesn't always happen.
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: Not the end of the world.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: Well, we're getting to the point, Cody, that it would
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: be the end of the world if Kevin McGonagall didn't.
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: It didn't break camp with the team at a home run.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: I guess you could say first home run at spring
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: because the dr showcaseing camp, but another home run and
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: continues to do everything that you possibly could in order
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: to make this team. And I like, again, I've said
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: it before, it's not necessarily new analysis, but the list
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: of reasons to not have him as you're opening day
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: shortstop or on the roster or whatever just gets smaller.
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: It just continues to get smaller. It's not over yet, obviously,
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: the decision has not been made, But I don't know
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: where we at mcgonaga'll watch for you. That's why I
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: think where are we at for you?
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: Like I said, I've tried to be a little more
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: in the conservative side on this one. I've been reading
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: a lot about Albert poohols I mentioned him and his
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: managerial stuff writing a little bit about that for story
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: coming up, and that led me down a rabbit hole.
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: And I was reading about his first Cardinals camp and
• 25:28
  Speaker 3: how taken Tony LaRussa was with Albert Pooholz way back
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: in the day, like he just saw it and he
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: wanted that dude on the team. We all know mcgonald's good.
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: We all know he's had a great camp. The first
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: time I ever felt like, oh, he might actually be
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: on this team was just a couple of days ago
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: when Aj Hinch basically said every at bat is a
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: singular event with a singular plan.
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: That made me.
• 25:55
  Speaker 3: Sound like, oh AJ wants this dude. Normally we hear like, well,
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: he's young hitter. You know, he's very talented, but he
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: has to work on his approach there, thinking like Aj'
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: is like, oh no, this guy knows how to work
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: in at bat, Like he just doesn't talk about guys
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: like that very often and it was a shorter quote,
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: but like knowing AJ haven't covered AJ for six years now,
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: It's like, Okay, I think GAJ Hitch wants this guy
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: on the team. I don't think there's any doubt about that. Now, well,
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: the front off is Deem, it best to put him
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: on the team. I still think that's it's not a lock,
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: it's not a slam dunk. But at this point I'm
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: starting to lean that way. I'm starting to think it
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: might happen.
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it's there, that's more measured than other
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: people are talking about it.
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: Cody, So I don't know whether to I.
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: Don't know whether to give I don't know whether they
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: give you credit or say that you're just slow to
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: the game.
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: So I guess maybe.
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: I'm being I'm probably I'm probably slow to the game.
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: But Kevin McGonagall was really good. I could tell you
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: some things scouts have told me. I'm not even gonna
• 27:02
  Speaker 3: say them because it's just gonna create more hype that's unnecessary.
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: This dude's legit.
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: He's very young.
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: If he has a bad april, If Kevin McGonagall has
• 27:14
  Speaker 3: a bad april, you guys are not allowed to start
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: yelling and for him to be optioned. You can't do
• 27:21
  Speaker 3: it right now. It's like the world is over if
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: he's not on the team. And I get that this
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: dude has pretty much earned a spot, I think, right
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: like with his play on the field. But there's a
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: reason that Tigers don't like guys skipping levels, even if
• 27:34
  Speaker 3: it is a next level talent like McGonagall starting to
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: think he's gonna be on this roster. But let's just hey,
• 27:41
  Speaker 3: we have a little bit of time. We don't all
• 27:43
  Speaker 3: have to jump to, you know, to the farthest conclusion possible.
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: We're all we're gonna get there and it's gonna be
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: opening day and we're gonna see who's on the team,
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: and if he's on it, it's gonna be pretty fun.
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: All right, Yeah, that's very true.
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: And we'll we'll figure out how he could get on
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: this roster because again, it's gonna come with some potentially
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: uncomfortable conversations. Uh, in our next episode, we'll do we'll
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: do a roster projection and see how see how it fits,
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: because you know, it can't just add him. Someone's got
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: to be moved as well, obviously. So you can follow
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: us on x formally known as Twitter at Cody Stavenhagen,
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: I'm at here and Underscore Steckley pot page at Tiger Territory, Underscore, YouTube, Apple, Spotify,
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: you guys know what to do. We appreciate all of you. Again,
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: apologies for the last episode. Tried to make it work.
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: We're moving on and uh and we still we still
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: got a lot of work left to do, uh this
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: spring training and into the season, and we're gonna have
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: fun doing it. So for Coty Stavenhagen, I'm Kieran Steckley. Everybody,
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: have great day.