Latest / Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast / Offseason Mailbag Part 1
Transcript
- 0:08Speaker 1: And welcome into another episode of Tiger Territory, part of
- 0:12Speaker 1: the Foul Territory Network. Hey Detroit Tiger's podcast presented by
- 0:15Speaker 1: Fox One. I am Kieren Steckley with me as always
- 0:18Speaker 1: as a man who was also refusing to drop out
- 0:20Speaker 1: of the New York City mayor ol race.
- 0:23Speaker 2: How you're doing doing all right? That's definitely not a
- 0:27Speaker 2: job I would want, but hey, we're here to talk
- 0:29Speaker 2: a little baseball, a job I do want. We got
- 0:32Speaker 2: some mail bag questions. I don't know if Karen you
- 0:35Speaker 2: want to jump right in or anything else on the mind.
- 0:37Speaker 1: Well, I wanted to say, like this will be We're
- 0:40Speaker 1: gonna do these periodically throughout the throughout the offseason. This
- 0:43Speaker 1: is kind of like a launch point if you would,
- 0:46Speaker 1: And uh, we probably should have done one, you know,
- 0:49Speaker 1: toward the end of the regular season, but it's just
- 0:51Speaker 1: like everything was happening so fast and there was a
- 0:53Speaker 1: higher sense of urgency and so like we.
- 0:55Speaker 2: Is in the most toxic mail bag of all time.
- 0:57Speaker 3: But yeah, it very much would have it.
- 0:59Speaker 1: I don't know if we be able to fit it in, so, uh,
- 1:01Speaker 1: we'll have several of these in the off season and
- 1:04Speaker 1: then you know, spring train and all that stuff. So, uh,
- 1:06Speaker 1: if if we don't get to your question, we'll we'll
- 1:09Speaker 1: definitely have other opportunities. But before before we get into that, Cody,
- 1:12Speaker 1: I did want to go to a story that you
- 1:16Speaker 1: wrote that it's personal for a lot of Tigers fans,
- 1:19Speaker 1: it's personal for Los Angeles Dodgers fans were recording this
- 1:23Speaker 1: before Game three of the World Series, and and it's
- 1:26Speaker 1: and it's also extra personal for myself. Kirk Gibson and
- 1:30Speaker 1: his work with the Parkinson his Parkinson's Foundation, and and
- 1:35Speaker 1: you really encapsulated, you know what he's doing, the advancements,
- 1:38Speaker 1: and you know how he has kind of become embraced
- 1:41Speaker 1: being the face of of fighting this disease. And and
- 1:45Speaker 1: I say it's personal for me. My mother in law
- 1:47Speaker 1: has has Parkinson's disease. So uh, I really appreciated you
- 1:51Speaker 1: like kind of diving into this story and and just
- 1:55Speaker 1: all of its like complexities and all that stuff. So
- 1:57Speaker 1: why don't you kind of take us through reporting this
- 1:59Speaker 1: and you know what you learned? This is a guy
- 2:01Speaker 1: that you've seen around over the years too, but now
- 2:03Speaker 1: he's a little bit more of a background player in
- 2:05Speaker 1: terms of the organization.
- 2:07Speaker 3: But obviously he's still a very busy man.
- 2:10Speaker 2: Yeah, this story was. It's kind of emotional to talk about. It.
- 2:16Speaker 2: Took a long time to get this set up, kind
- 2:20Speaker 2: of tried all summer to get some time with Kirk,
- 2:22Speaker 2: and as you're reading the story, he's still a very
- 2:25Speaker 2: busy dude, despite having Parkinson's, despite no longer being on
- 2:28Speaker 2: the Tigers broadcasts. But when I finally got to spend
- 2:34Speaker 2: some time with him, which by complete coincidence, was on
- 2:37Speaker 2: the exact anniversary of his nineteen eighty eight home run,
- 2:41Speaker 2: it was It took about five minutes just being in
- 2:44Speaker 2: his center, which I had previously been to the grand
- 2:47Speaker 2: opening of the Kirk Gibson Center for Parkinson's Wellness in
- 2:50Speaker 2: Farmington Hills. It took about five minutes in there to
- 2:54Speaker 2: just be like, Wow, this is the place to be
- 2:59Speaker 2: as a reporter. This is one of the best stories
- 3:03Speaker 2: in this area with any sort of connection to baseball,
- 3:05Speaker 2: and as a human being to be like, this is
- 3:08Speaker 2: a pretty special place. I was. Really it seemed really
- 3:12Speaker 2: cool on paper just reading about it. First of it's
- 3:15Speaker 2: kind in the state, one of only a few in
- 3:16Speaker 2: the country that basically a community center for those struggling
- 3:20Speaker 2: with Parkinson's. It's designed to be kind of like a
- 3:25Speaker 2: locker room areas where you can just hang out, sit
- 3:27Speaker 2: and talk, but a lot of areas where there are
- 3:29Speaker 2: classes completely free of charge, thanks to a lot of
- 3:32Speaker 2: fundraising from the Kirk Gibson Foundation, including a large gift
- 3:37Speaker 2: from the Illag family that helped spearhead that. So it's
- 3:41Speaker 2: all free gets people, you know, plates, yoga, it's taichi boxing,
- 3:46Speaker 2: there's a lot more. Kirk Gibson's very passionate about this. Obviously,
- 3:52Speaker 2: Parkinson's has changed certain you know, change physical aspects of him,
- 3:56Speaker 2: the way he walks, the way he talks. Wrote that
- 4:00Speaker 2: it really has not tamed his spirit, but it's also
- 4:03Speaker 2: I think both humbled him and given him an incredible
- 4:06Speaker 2: amount of perspective. I think I learned more, you know,
- 4:10Speaker 2: in a couple hours around Kirk Gibson than I was
- 4:13Speaker 2: even expecting, just sitting down him asking me what my
- 4:16Speaker 2: priorities are in life, you know, getting my mind going
- 4:19Speaker 2: a little bit. It was really special. It was really
- 4:22Speaker 2: special to be in that center, to learn more about
- 4:24Speaker 2: what they're doing, to talk to others about Kirk, to
- 4:27Speaker 2: talk to Kirk beyond just kind of the press releases
- 4:32Speaker 2: or what the commercials you might see. What they're doing
- 4:35Speaker 2: out there is pretty special. It already has a ton
- 4:38Speaker 2: of registrants applicants, and I hope it's able to spread
- 4:42Speaker 2: and there could one day be more places like this
- 4:44Speaker 2: throughout the country.
- 4:46Speaker 1: Yeah, and I just want to reiterate what the foundation does.
- 4:50Speaker 1: It's very active, it's very like, it's very front facing.
- 4:55Speaker 1: Like I've always been impressed by it. One of my
- 4:57Speaker 1: favorite t shirts is when I got from doing one
- 4:59Speaker 1: of those virtual golf tournaments during COVID or you know whatever,
- 5:02Speaker 1: they sent me a whole bunch of gear and all
- 5:04Speaker 1: that stuff. I got some stuff behind me from it,
- 5:06Speaker 1: so I said, very near and dear to my heart.
- 5:08Speaker 1: Uh And and I'm definitely the fans of the Tigers
- 5:13Speaker 1: and the Dodgers and Michigan State and and all that stuff.
- 5:16Speaker 1: So he's he's a Michigander through and through and and
- 5:19Speaker 1: that spirit also comes through, uh from from Gibson. So
- 5:23Speaker 1: if you guys have not had a chance to read,
- 5:24Speaker 1: I would definitely encourage you to go go to the
- 5:28Speaker 1: Athletic and subscribe if you haven't already. But you can
- 5:30Speaker 1: get to read stories like that, and that's what makes
- 5:32Speaker 1: it worth the price of Michigan. So all right, let's
- 5:36Speaker 1: let's dive into the mailbag. Cody, thank you to everybody
- 5:40Speaker 1: who sent a question, except we get it this time.
- 5:43Speaker 1: Rest assured there will be other opportunities. But let's let's
- 5:46Speaker 1: kind of let's start from top. Dude, Like, I think
- 5:50Speaker 1: this is something that's gonna be dominating the minds of
- 5:53Speaker 1: Tiger fans all off season, and we'll skip Schooble for now.
- 5:57Speaker 2: But it's not question, all right.
- 6:00Speaker 3: This other topic is.
- 6:01Speaker 1: Uh, has to do with Kevin McGonagall and company, and
- 6:05Speaker 1: in this specific case, Max Anderson comes from Tigers fans
- 6:09Speaker 1: sixty three as of today. Do you think Harrison Hinch
- 6:13Speaker 1: planned for either McGonagall or Anderson to make the team
- 6:17Speaker 1: out of spring training resulting in no qualifying offer to
- 6:20Speaker 1: Glabor Torres or it will? It depend on spring training
- 6:25Speaker 1: performances for that. So uh, I like, I like that
- 6:30Speaker 1: this includes Anderson in here because he's still under the
- 6:33Speaker 1: radar in terms of hype and even like general expectation.
- 6:40Speaker 1: But yeah, Max, Max McGonagall Anderson, he said, Max Anderson,
- 6:46Speaker 1: McGonagall Anderson expect to make the team masking training.
- 6:52Speaker 2: I think Kevin McGonagall has to. I mean, he's just
- 6:55Speaker 2: he's just too talented. He's definitely going to be ready
- 6:57Speaker 2: for the big leagues at some point next year. And
- 7:00Speaker 2: I think it's a great example of why the prospect
- 7:02Speaker 2: promotion incentive works. We went through this with Jackson Joe
- 7:05Speaker 2: Blast spring training. If the Tigers want Kevin McGonagall up
- 7:09Speaker 2: and they bring him up June first, and he rakes
- 7:13Speaker 2: and he wins Rookie of the Year, you do not
- 7:15Speaker 2: get that draft pick incentive for him because he was
- 7:18Speaker 2: not one your opening day roster. He didn't a crew
- 7:20Speaker 2: a full year of service time. So that creates a
- 7:23Speaker 2: decision point. Either he's won your opening day roster or
- 7:26Speaker 2: you're not bringing him up until late in the year.
- 7:30Speaker 2: I think Kevin McGonagall is going to be too good
- 7:32Speaker 2: to wait until late in the year. Max Anderson a
- 7:35Speaker 2: little bit of a different question. It's funny because he's
- 7:38Speaker 2: actually ahead of McGonagall in terms of the timeline. He
- 7:40Speaker 2: has played thirty two games in Triple A. Kevin McGonagall
- 7:44Speaker 2: has still not played in Triple A. It's why it
- 7:46Speaker 2: will be a difficult decision. Maybe will be somewhat dependent
- 7:49Speaker 2: when mcgonagall's showing he's ready in spring training. Anderson, I
- 7:54Speaker 2: think less likely to make the opening day roster, although
- 7:57Speaker 2: we played pretty well in Toledo to sixty seven three
- 8:00Speaker 2: twenty seven to one base percentage. Like, yeah, he is
- 8:05Speaker 2: regging in the Fall League, like a lot of Tigers
- 8:10Speaker 2: prospects before him. No one seems to know what his
- 8:13Speaker 2: position is, and so there may be a case to
- 8:16Speaker 2: keep him in Triple A to work on the defensive
- 8:18Speaker 2: aspects of his game. But you bring up the Glabor
- 8:21Speaker 2: tourist thing, the McGonagall thing. The big question is where
- 8:24Speaker 2: are either of these guys going to play, What is
- 8:26Speaker 2: their position? How do they fit on the roster. Anderson
- 8:30Speaker 2: is right handed. McGonagall hits left handed, so they would
- 8:34Speaker 2: have a little bit of a different function on the
- 8:36Speaker 2: Tigers roster if you ask me right now, I got
- 8:40Speaker 2: Kevin McGonagall on the opening day roster. I have Max
- 8:43Speaker 2: Anderson debuting sometime later in that summer. But there are
- 8:47Speaker 2: a lot of moving pieces and a lot can change
- 8:49Speaker 2: between now and then based on what else the Tigers
- 8:51Speaker 2: do or do not do. This one.
- 8:55Speaker 1: The triple A thing is probably something that we need
- 8:58Speaker 1: to kind of keep hammering home and and and also
- 9:01Speaker 1: like he was he was a talking about McGonagall. He
- 9:06Speaker 1: was such a fast riser and the highlights were so high.
- 9:09Speaker 1: It's like he's still a guy that's figuring out how
- 9:11Speaker 1: to be a you know, everyday ballplayer. He's still really young.
- 9:14Speaker 1: He's still he hasn't been doing this all that often,
- 9:17Speaker 1: all that long, I should say. And so like there
- 9:20Speaker 1: is I do think there is a legitimate case to
- 9:24Speaker 1: for patience for him. I'm not saying it's the better case,
- 9:27Speaker 1: but I think there's a legitimate case out there. If
- 9:29Speaker 1: you it was you know, if you dive into some
- 9:31Speaker 1: of the numbers, and again, how young he is, and
- 9:34Speaker 1: do you want that kind of pressure on him? Because
- 9:37Speaker 1: if you're going him up, he's got to start, or
- 9:38Speaker 1: you're bringing him to the big league, he's got to play. Uh,
- 9:42Speaker 1: and is he it's a lot of pressure.
- 9:44Speaker 2: You know.
- 9:45Speaker 3: This is not the twenty twenty two Tigers, not the
- 9:47Speaker 3: twenty twenty three Tigers, Like this is the twenty twenty
- 9:49Speaker 3: six Tigers with with with real aspirations. It's a lot.
- 9:54Speaker 2: It's all this is all intertwined, maybe intertwined with the
- 9:57Speaker 2: scooball thing. If you're bringing him back. I don't know
- 10:00Speaker 2: if it's quote unquote go for it. But like I
- 10:02Speaker 2: don't know, if you bring back Glabor Torres and sign
- 10:06Speaker 2: another infielder, you suddenly feel a lot better about slow
- 10:09Speaker 2: playing McGonagall in triple A, whereas if you're not making
- 10:14Speaker 2: moves of that substance. It's it's gotta be because you
- 10:18Speaker 2: want Kevin McGonagall in the big leagues. There's yeah, there's
- 10:22Speaker 2: it's such an interesting offseason ahead for the Sigers, it
- 10:25Speaker 2: really is.
- 10:26Speaker 1: And I would also say that, you know, they've invested
- 10:31Speaker 1: a lot in Kevin McGonagall from from jomp Street and
- 10:35Speaker 1: the what's whatever the best thing for him long term,
- 10:39Speaker 1: which should be the move, not like you know, hopefully
- 10:41Speaker 1: we can get this draft pick or you know, like
- 10:43Speaker 1: you know, we really need somebody at second base or
- 10:46Speaker 1: whatever whatever's best for McGonagall, I think, out of play.
- 10:50Speaker 2: So you got to manage your assets, right, That's why,
- 10:52Speaker 2: it's why the incentive is a really good rule.
- 10:55Speaker 3: That is true.
- 10:56Speaker 1: All Right, we're gonna take a quick break and then
- 10:59Speaker 1: afterward we're gonna discuss, among other things, what's up with
- 11:02Speaker 1: Kamerica Park.
- 11:03Speaker 3: Cody's got some thoughts on that. But first a word
- 11:06Speaker 3: from our sponsors.
- 11:07Speaker 1: The twenty twenty five baseball season is down to what
- 11:10Speaker 1: matters most, lifting the trophy. With DraftKings Sportsbook, you're right
- 11:13Speaker 1: there for every pitch, every moment. DraftKings Sportsbook delivers the
- 11:16Speaker 1: intensity of the championship stage, the player props, live in
- 11:19Speaker 1: game betting and more new customers.
- 11:21Speaker 3: This one is for you.
- 11:22Speaker 1: Betes five dollars, If your bet wins, you get paid
- 11:24Speaker 1: out three hundred dollars in bonus bets instantly. That's what
- 11:26Speaker 1: October Baseball is all about. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook. I
- 11:28Speaker 1: have you used code Falet's code foul that turned five
- 11:30Speaker 1: bucks and the three dollars and bonus bets if your
- 11:32Speaker 1: bet wins and partnership with DraftKings, the Crown is yours.
- 11:35Speaker 4: Gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler in New York
- 11:38Speaker 4: called eight seven seven eight open wire text hope and
- 11:40Speaker 4: y four six seven three six nine in Connecticut. Help
- 11:43Speaker 4: is available for a problem gambling called eight eight eight
- 11:45Speaker 4: seven eight nine seven seven seven seven or visit CCPG
- 11:48Speaker 4: dot org. Please play responsibly on behalf of Boothill Casina
- 11:51Speaker 4: when resorting Kansas Pass through I per wager tax may
- 11:53Speaker 4: apply in Illinois twenty one and over age and eligibility
- 11:55Speaker 4: varies by jurisdiction. Voyd and Ontario restrictions apply. Bet must
- 11:58Speaker 4: win to receive bonus bets which expire in seven days.
- 12:01Speaker 4: Cinnimum odds required. Twour additional terms and responsible gaming resources
- 12:04Speaker 4: see DKNG, dot co, slash audio, limited time offer.
- 12:09Speaker 3: All right, coming back here. This is from Sparky's Ghost.
- 12:16Speaker 1: Got a nice picture of Kirk Gibson speaking of Gibson
- 12:19Speaker 1: from the eighty four World Series as the profile pick
- 12:22Speaker 1: how can Kamerica Park and its fans create a better
- 12:25Speaker 1: game environment? It seems like reporters been over backward to
- 12:29Speaker 1: say how great Seattle was without dissing Detroit, but the
- 12:32Speaker 1: subtext was clear. Do you think the comparatively muted crowd
- 12:36Speaker 1: was a function of the late season collapse?
- 12:42Speaker 2: I appreciate this question, and I appreciate the way it's
- 12:44Speaker 2: phrase because Sparky's Ghost here is right. The worst thing
- 12:49Speaker 2: someone like me in my position can do is criticize
- 12:53Speaker 2: the fans. Oh, the fans are terrible, the fans are lazy, whatever.
- 12:57Speaker 2: But I do think if you're listening to Tiger territory
- 13:00Speaker 2: in late October. You're probably pretty die hard. The answer
- 13:03Speaker 2: I'm about to get probably doesn't really apply to you.
- 13:05Speaker 2: You're probably one of the good ones. But I think
- 13:08Speaker 2: the Tigers have a little bit of a problem with
- 13:10Speaker 2: the atmosphere at co America Park. I do think the
- 13:13Speaker 2: late season slide did not help matters. I think a
- 13:15Speaker 2: lot of fans were a little bit checked out or
- 13:17Speaker 2: angry or frustrated. But because there were some pretty good
- 13:21Speaker 2: atmospheres down the stretch a year ago, not so much
- 13:25Speaker 2: this year. But you also had a team that was
- 13:27Speaker 2: in first place nearly the whole season, and there are
- 13:30Speaker 2: some really good weekend crowds. There's some Schoobal days that
- 13:33Speaker 2: were really good. But your average Thursday, well, Thursday's usually
- 13:38Speaker 2: day games. I don't know your average Wednesday home game.
- 13:42Speaker 2: It's not sure the crowd was all that great. Seattle
- 13:46Speaker 2: really did. I mean, that was one of the best
- 13:47Speaker 2: baseball atmospheres I've ever been in. But you just haven't
- 13:50Speaker 2: seen atmospheres of that caliber at k America Park enough.
- 13:55Speaker 2: I don't know why. I don't know. I'm trying to
- 13:58Speaker 2: sort this out in my own mind, because you hear
- 14:01Speaker 2: all the things Jim Leland being like Detroit and Saint
- 14:04Speaker 2: Louis are the best old school, you know, baseball markets.
- 14:07Speaker 2: The fans are so knowledgeable. And when I first came
- 14:10Speaker 2: to Detroit and started covering the Tigers, the teams were
- 14:13Speaker 2: really bad, and all I heard was like, wait until
- 14:16Speaker 2: they get good, You're not gonna believe it. And now
- 14:18Speaker 2: they're good, and the atmospheres have been like good, not
- 14:22Speaker 2: great for the most part. Every now and then it's great.
- 14:25Speaker 2: Is the fan base that knowledgeable? Like I think there's
- 14:28Speaker 2: a sect of die hards, including most of you guys
- 14:30Speaker 2: listening to this, who are It's a multi generational fan
- 14:35Speaker 2: base goes back to nineteen oh one. There's a certain
- 14:37Speaker 2: passion and lineage that is present in the Tigers fan
- 14:41Speaker 2: base that you don't quite feel everywhere. But in terms
- 14:44Speaker 2: of fans living and dying on every pitch or really
- 14:47Speaker 2: grasping the intricacies of the game, I'm not sure you
- 14:49Speaker 2: feel that at the ballpark. I think the ballpark itself
- 14:52Speaker 2: continues to just do an awful job like honoring that
- 14:57Speaker 2: multi generational history. I've been saying this for a year,
- 15:00Speaker 2: like there's just not that much acknowledgment of the Tigers
- 15:02Speaker 2: rich history at Kamerica Park. You go somewhere like Dodger
- 15:06Speaker 2: Stadium and it's very apparent. I don't know. I was
- 15:09Speaker 2: walking through the New Truest Park in Atlanta, and like
- 15:12Speaker 2: the ode to pass Braves Teams is really nice. There's
- 15:16Speaker 2: a little waterfall type ERAa you can walk through. There's
- 15:18Speaker 2: just like nothing like that in America. So I don't
- 15:20Speaker 2: think that helps. But I think something about this market too.
- 15:23Speaker 2: Is it because the Lions are good and now it's
- 15:25Speaker 2: just more of a football market? Is it because maybe
- 15:28Speaker 2: more blue collar fans have been priced out and the
- 15:31Speaker 2: illag just charged too much for parking. I mean that
- 15:34Speaker 2: could be it too. I don't know, do you have
- 15:36Speaker 2: any thoughts on this, Kire, And because I do like
- 15:39Speaker 2: it was heightened in the playoffs and the performance of
- 15:42Speaker 2: the team certainly played into it. But there's a little
- 15:45Speaker 2: bit of a problem as the Tigers look back to
- 15:48Speaker 2: staging elite teams and years to come, are they going
- 15:51Speaker 2: to have an elite atmosphere to match it?
- 15:56Speaker 1: So like this is sort of like a two pronged answer.
- 16:00Speaker 1: I'm not concerned about Kamerica Park being a top notch
- 16:05Speaker 1: elite like postseason end of season environment, there's too much
- 16:10Speaker 1: proof of concept. So like I do believe I'm not
- 16:13Speaker 1: worried about that in regards to Seattle. Just like Detroit
- 16:20Speaker 1: last year, you can't fake desperate and you can't fake
- 16:22Speaker 1: New Seattle was doing something or trying to do something
- 16:26Speaker 1: that had not been done in some cases ever in
- 16:30Speaker 1: other cases like in twenty something years or whatever. So
- 16:33Speaker 1: like that plays a part in it as well, maybe
- 16:38Speaker 1: not necessarily for the playoffs. Well, actually, yeah, for the playoffs,
- 16:41Speaker 1: Like some of these star times are weird. Remember the
- 16:44Speaker 1: Tigers did bump their games to start earlier a couple
- 16:47Speaker 1: of years ago. You know, does that play a factor?
- 16:51Speaker 1: I don't know, but it's certainly something that could. And
- 16:55Speaker 1: in terms of like honoring teams obviously, like you know,
- 16:59Speaker 1: we got to mention this statues out there in the
- 17:01Speaker 1: outfield are are I think awesome?
- 17:04Speaker 3: Uh? I would like to see like a hall of
- 17:09Speaker 3: Fame in the stadium.
- 17:11Speaker 1: Yes, I think there's plenty of room on that on
- 17:16Speaker 1: that property to to to make one. And you know
- 17:19Speaker 1: they have, like I assume they still have those kind
- 17:22Speaker 1: of periodical like mobile displays that are around the stadt.
- 17:27Speaker 1: Be honest, I would prefer to have like one location
- 17:31Speaker 1: where it's like if I go with my father, if
- 17:33Speaker 1: I go with you know, one of my children that
- 17:35Speaker 1: doesn't exist yet, and like you can see the multi
- 17:38Speaker 1: generational connection where it'd be like, you know, my dad
- 17:40Speaker 1: talking about alk Line or it would be like me
- 17:43Speaker 1: talking about Miguel Cabrera.
- 17:45Speaker 3: And then like that bond.
- 17:47Speaker 1: Is further, like further grows from like hearing somebody talk
- 17:50Speaker 1: about something that they saw or experienced or whatever. Uh,
- 17:54Speaker 1: and make it a central location. The Kansas City Kaufman
- 17:58Speaker 1: like they have they have a fun one. It's and
- 18:00Speaker 1: he's just Ryan left field. Walk in takes about ten
- 18:04Speaker 1: to fifteen minutes if you want to be slow, and
- 18:06Speaker 1: you know, you get a sense of the history of
- 18:08Speaker 1: the franchise that way. I feel like that's I would
- 18:10Speaker 1: be an easy fixed for that. And then also, yeah,
- 18:14Speaker 1: like the way things went down this year had to
- 18:16Speaker 1: play a part.
- 18:17Speaker 3: I do think.
- 18:18Speaker 1: Every Detroit team being at least good to like pretty
- 18:23Speaker 1: dang good in the case of the Lions, is a factor.
- 18:26Speaker 1: Like if you want to see highly competitive professional sports
- 18:29Speaker 1: in Detroit, you have yourself several options. You know, shout
- 18:34Speaker 1: out to the Pistons, who you know, who are that
- 18:37Speaker 1: way now too, So yeah, and expenses, all that stuff
- 18:41Speaker 1: is one hundred percent real. I would say that generally speaking,
- 18:45Speaker 1: people care more about TV dollars than ticket revenue, so
- 18:49Speaker 1: like that's that, that's part of the problem. But the
- 18:51Speaker 1: aesthetics of CA America. You never hear somebody whose visits
- 18:54Speaker 1: say a bad thing about it. But I do believe
- 18:57Speaker 1: there is like a connection to the past that could
- 19:02Speaker 1: be facilitated in a more grand way with relatively simple adjustments.
- 19:08Speaker 2: I think the seats being so far removed from the field,
- 19:11Speaker 2: particularly in the upper deck, is a real thing. Certainly
- 19:13Speaker 2: impacts the noise, maybe even impacts your viewing experience. Yeah,
- 19:18Speaker 2: I want to be clear, I do think Detroit is
- 19:20Speaker 2: a great sports market. I mean, the athletic has done
- 19:23Speaker 2: well in Detroit because there are a large number of
- 19:27Speaker 2: people passionate about all their pro and college teams around here.
- 19:31Speaker 2: But there's a difference between being a great sports market
- 19:34Speaker 2: and a great baseball market. I'm not sure we've seen signs,
- 19:37Speaker 2: at least in recent history, of it being a great
- 19:40Speaker 2: baseball market.
- 19:43Speaker 1: Well, it's definitely a chicken the egg thing in regards
- 19:48Speaker 1: to that. But I will say, like you know in
- 19:50Speaker 1: the postseason, like you did feel it from the TV,
- 19:54Speaker 1: not like, oh my god, this is a ten out
- 19:57Speaker 1: of ten, but it did feel like big time, big
- 20:00Speaker 1: time stakes, big time games, big time moments were reflected
- 20:04Speaker 1: just from the TV experience. All right, let's go to
- 20:08Speaker 1: a kind of interesting question from Daniel grizz What happened
- 20:15Speaker 1: to Riley Green's speed? And when will the team emphasize
- 20:22Speaker 1: base stealing?
- 20:25Speaker 3: So what do you think about that?
- 20:28Speaker 2: I'll start with the second part. I don't know when
- 20:30Speaker 2: they will emphasize it. We've talked about a little bit before.
- 20:32Speaker 2: I'm not sure they're ever going to be a huge
- 20:35Speaker 2: base stealing team. I just don't think that's I think
- 20:38Speaker 2: they're a little bit too analytical of a team to
- 20:40Speaker 2: be that way. They need probably a little more team speed.
- 20:44Speaker 2: But I said, like they could steal a little bit more.
- 20:46Speaker 2: There's also a mathematical case because they are still successful
- 20:49Speaker 2: at what a seventy eight percent clip, and kind of
- 20:53Speaker 2: the general theory is if you steal bases successfully seventy
- 20:57Speaker 2: five percent of the time, it's worth that risk. I
- 21:00Speaker 2: think they could press that issue a little bit more
- 21:03Speaker 2: harder to do when players such as Riley Green, who
- 21:07Speaker 2: are supposed to be among your better athletes, are getting
- 21:10Speaker 2: slower at age twenty four. I don't know what is
- 21:13Speaker 2: causing it, but I think the decline in speed and
- 21:18Speaker 2: the decline in defensive metrics concern me in some ways
- 21:21Speaker 2: more than the strikeout problem Riley had last year. Because
- 21:25Speaker 2: the strikeout problem, the chase rate can be corrected, and
- 21:29Speaker 2: Riley has shown time and time that he's a very
- 21:32Speaker 2: talented hitter and it's capable of cutting back the strikeout rates.
- 21:35Speaker 2: Is capable of hunting better pitches. But it's not very
- 21:39Speaker 2: often you see someone start to decline in terms of
- 21:43Speaker 2: speed and then suddenly get faster again. Defensive metrics can
- 21:48Speaker 2: be tricky, so maybe he can rebound in that area
- 21:52Speaker 2: next year. But I fear his decline in defensive metrics
- 21:56Speaker 2: may be tied to the decline in speed. His routes
- 22:02Speaker 2: were not actually worse, but his reaction and his burst
- 22:06Speaker 2: was worse in the field. His jump was worse in
- 22:08Speaker 2: the field this year. You know, you can watch him
- 22:13Speaker 2: run and it looks like someone who's I don't know,
- 22:18Speaker 2: stiff sore. He's probably playing through a lot this year,
- 22:21Speaker 2: so maybe that contributed, and we did credit him for
- 22:24Speaker 2: playing a whole year without going on the IL. That's
- 22:27Speaker 2: important to Riley Green, But it would be nice to
- 22:30Speaker 2: see him at least certainly not continue to slow down.
- 22:34Speaker 2: His sprint speed was twenty seven point seven feet per
- 22:39Speaker 2: second a year ago. This past year twenty six point seven,
- 22:42Speaker 2: so a full foot per second slower. Two years ago
- 22:46Speaker 2: he was at twenty eight point one. That's an unusual
- 22:49Speaker 2: decline for someone as young as he is.
- 22:52Speaker 1: So I'm just going to go through the sprint speed
- 22:55Speaker 1: percentiles in his major league career, sixty in twenty twenty two,
- 23:01Speaker 1: seventy one in twenty twenty three, fifty nine in twenty
- 23:06Speaker 1: twenty four, and thirty one this past year. So I
- 23:12Speaker 1: think this is purposeful. That would be my opinion on this.
- 23:16Speaker 1: Like I do believe it does coincide with the fact
- 23:18Speaker 1: that he hit thirty six home runs. I do believe
- 23:21Speaker 1: that it coincides with the fact that I think he
- 23:23Speaker 1: put on some weight to like on purpose, to add
- 23:27Speaker 1: strength and then probably give himself a little bit more
- 23:31Speaker 1: sounds bad, but kind of like a little bit more cushion, like,
- 23:35Speaker 1: you know, for what his body takes. I do think
- 23:39Speaker 1: at twenty four or twenty five years old, that he
- 23:41Speaker 1: is capable of reshaping his body into a way that
- 23:45Speaker 1: like can be a little bit more.
- 23:47Speaker 3: Advantageous to.
- 23:49Speaker 1: You know, to the athletic running aspects of the position,
- 23:53Speaker 1: while still maintaining some degree of health. I do believe
- 23:58Speaker 1: he is capable of that. I do believe like athletes today,
- 24:01Speaker 1: especially young ones, are capable of finding that middle that
- 24:04Speaker 1: middle ground there. And maybe it's maybe it's as simple
- 24:07Speaker 1: as lose a little bit of weight, gain a little
- 24:10Speaker 1: bit of the right weight, and you can still have
- 24:13Speaker 1: your power. He doesn't have to hit thirty six home
- 24:15Speaker 1: runs to be like the guy that this team needs.
- 24:18Speaker 3: Uh.
- 24:18Speaker 1: And and maybe that also cuts down on strikeouts, and
- 24:21Speaker 1: then he's able to know his body a little bit
- 24:23Speaker 1: more in terms of when to kind of go for it,
- 24:25Speaker 1: when to take it, take that extra step metaphorically, and
- 24:29Speaker 1: when to kind of chill out, because he did a
- 24:31Speaker 1: lot of chill out this year. If you if you
- 24:33Speaker 1: watch uh, all right, let's uh, let's go on to
- 24:40Speaker 1: a classic Carrie Carpenter Carry Carpenter. This is from k
- 24:48Speaker 1: LOB seven to one one. Will he work hard in
- 24:52Speaker 1: the off season, Yes, he's gonna work hard.
- 24:53Speaker 3: In the but I see, well, I see where you're
- 24:55Speaker 3: getting criticizing. That's not me criticizing.
- 24:57Speaker 1: Will he work hard in the off season to get
- 24:59Speaker 1: his bat and ad up and walk right up. If
- 25:02Speaker 1: you could have a league average walk rate and hit
- 25:04Speaker 1: two seventy, he would be a perennial All Star and
- 25:08Speaker 1: the other classic. Do you see him ever as an
- 25:10Speaker 1: everyday player against lefties?
- 25:16Speaker 2: Well, I think he's gonna work hard. I think it's
- 25:20Speaker 2: easier said than done to just raise your batting average.
- 25:23Speaker 2: His expected batting average has been remarkably consistent over the
- 25:27Speaker 2: past three seasons. Two fifty eight, two sixty five, two
- 25:30Speaker 2: sixty three. That's expected batting average. I think the walk rate, sure,
- 25:37Speaker 2: that's important. Down the stretch. Carrie was certainly among those
- 25:41Speaker 2: swinging some bad pitches not walking enough. His walk right
- 25:44Speaker 2: tank from seven point four percent in twenty twenty four
- 25:48Speaker 2: to three point nine percent in twenty twenty five, bottom
- 25:52Speaker 2: two percent of baseball. That's certainly not what you want, uh,
- 25:56Speaker 2: But that does lead to the question, like, how does
- 25:59Speaker 2: one work to improve their walkerrate? Pitch recognition is one
- 26:03Speaker 2: of the harder things to teach or to improve. I
- 26:06Speaker 2: think the good news is there's already a sample of
- 26:08Speaker 2: him walking it closer to a seven percent clip league
- 26:12Speaker 2: average is going to be more around eight percent, And
- 26:13Speaker 2: you're right, that would make a huge difference in his game.
- 26:18Speaker 2: That'd probably be a good starting point for becoming an
- 26:20Speaker 2: everyday player. His at bats against lefties almost doubled from
- 26:24Speaker 2: twenty eight two years or in twenty four, where he
- 26:28Speaker 2: had only a four to h eight ops to sixty.
- 26:31Speaker 2: This year. OPS did improve to six thirty eight, batting
- 26:35Speaker 2: average two thirty eight, still below average numbers, still not
- 26:38Speaker 2: quite what you're looking for. I know he had a
- 26:40Speaker 2: homer against a lefty in the playoffs. It's just hard
- 26:44Speaker 2: for me to think he's going to become an everyday
- 26:46Speaker 2: player when he hasn't really justified it with his performance. Mike,
- 26:51Speaker 2: those numbers improve with more at bats, maybe, but given
- 26:55Speaker 2: the way that Tigers are built, I just don't really
- 26:58Speaker 2: see it happen.
- 27:01Speaker 3: Yeah, I'll be sure on this.
- 27:02Speaker 4: Uh.
- 27:03Speaker 1: I would like for the walk rate to obviously go
- 27:06Speaker 1: up because he's he's a respected enough hitter that pitchers
- 27:12Speaker 1: are going to pitch carefully to him, So there's really
- 27:15Speaker 1: no reason for his walk rate to be in the
- 27:19Speaker 1: two percent tile right, So, like I think I do
- 27:23Speaker 1: think that could be a point of emphasis. And maybe
- 27:25Speaker 1: it's maybe it's something that you know, with him being
- 27:29Speaker 1: in his going to his fourth year, full full season,
- 27:32Speaker 1: like maybe that's something that he can kind of, you know,
- 27:34Speaker 1: hone in on a little bit more.
- 27:36Speaker 3: But but but yeah, and then.
- 27:40Speaker 1: A steady increase against lefties I think would be good
- 27:43Speaker 1: because again we've we've seen that like that the book
- 27:47Speaker 1: is out on the Tigers. So if he's going to
- 27:49Speaker 1: be an automatic pullout when I know he wasn't, and
- 27:52Speaker 1: especially in that moment you reference, but he's going to
- 27:54Speaker 1: be an automatic pullout, teams are going to be looking
- 27:56Speaker 1: to do that. Maybe that does play in hitches his
- 27:58Speaker 1: hand blah bla blah.
- 27:59Speaker 3: It's old chests.
- 27:59Speaker 1: But but I think giving him a little bit more
- 28:03Speaker 1: work would be beneficial to him and the long term
- 28:08Speaker 1: viability of the team. So good for him for having
- 28:11Speaker 1: that moment in the playoffs for multiple reasons, including the
- 28:13Speaker 1: fact that it was against a left.
- 28:16Speaker 3: All right, let's go to a cold key question.
- 28:18Speaker 1: This is one that I actually really I really love
- 28:22Speaker 1: again from Tigers Fans sixty three. Is cold Keith a
- 28:26Speaker 1: long term building block or does his team friendly contract
- 28:30Speaker 1: make him attractive to a two low budget teams looking
- 28:33Speaker 1: for hitting, you know, Pittsburgh, Miami, you know, well, you know,
- 28:38Speaker 1: get some.
- 28:39Speaker 3: Prospects for Cold Key.
- 28:40Speaker 1: So really it's like, how do you, how do you
- 28:42Speaker 1: and how do you think the Tigers view Colt Keith.
- 28:45Speaker 3: My initial answer to this is yes.
- 28:48Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean yeah, well, he is
- 28:53Speaker 2: naturally attracted to other teams because he is under contract
- 28:56Speaker 2: at an affordable rate for a good long time. I
- 29:01Speaker 2: also think he's under that contract because the Tigers view
- 29:04Speaker 2: him as a building block. He's This is why we
- 29:08Speaker 2: talked about this a little bit. I will still say
- 29:11Speaker 2: be careful before you go trying to trade Cold Keith.
- 29:14Speaker 2: He last year he improved in barrel rate, average exit velocity,
- 29:19Speaker 2: walk rate, pull percentage, the percentage of time me gets
- 29:24Speaker 2: the ball in the air, the percentage of a time
- 29:26Speaker 2: he pulls the ball in the air. He improved in
- 29:28Speaker 2: all of those metrics. Strikeout rate remained somewhat steady. This
- 29:33Speaker 2: is a talented guy, and I think there's more in
- 29:35Speaker 2: the tank if he can make out just a little
- 29:39Speaker 2: bit more stride in some of those directions, pulling the
- 29:42Speaker 2: ball in the air, hitting the ball hard, barreling up
- 29:45Speaker 2: the ball. He did those things at points this year
- 29:48Speaker 2: and made all the really all the improvements you want
- 29:51Speaker 2: to see. The question is like, where's he playing? And
- 29:53Speaker 2: that's why maybe he's tradeable. I would caution doing that.
- 29:57Speaker 2: If you trade cold Keith, you're hoping McGonagall, Max Anderson,
- 30:03Speaker 2: how you Lee, whoever it is, you're hoping one of
- 30:05Speaker 2: these guys puts themselves on the type of trajectory cold
- 30:08Speaker 2: Keith is on right now. McGonagall is probably the only
- 30:11Speaker 2: one that really is. I mean, he's definitely the only
- 30:14Speaker 2: one who profiles as a better hitting prospect than cold Keith.
- 30:18Speaker 2: And remember how we were talking about Colt Keith just
- 30:21Speaker 2: two three years ago. He was a very hyped prospect.
- 30:26Speaker 2: The Tigers may have to get creative and however they
- 30:29Speaker 2: reshape this roster. So I don't want too much to
- 30:32Speaker 2: knock anything that is like a creative trade idea. At
- 30:36Speaker 2: some point they're gonna have to do something. But I'm
- 30:39Speaker 2: not real comfortable trading cold Keith. Does that create a
- 30:43Speaker 2: long cham in your infield? Yeah, so then guys are
- 30:46Speaker 2: gonna have to go out and earn their playing time.
- 30:48Speaker 2: Maybe that's not a bad thing.
- 30:51Speaker 1: Yeah, the way I look at it is Cold Keith
- 30:53Speaker 1: is still an as sending player. I think the Tigers
- 30:55Speaker 1: know that. I think other teams know that. You know
- 30:59Speaker 1: what the ceiling is. I here to like overhype it,
- 31:01Speaker 1: but I do believe he is like still in like
- 31:03Speaker 1: a guy whose trajectory is one that you want to
- 31:07Speaker 1: be on the correct side of. So by that token,
- 31:11Speaker 1: if there was ever a time, especially if some of
- 31:14Speaker 1: these guys underneath them show some level of promise that
- 31:16Speaker 1: there was ever a time to be able to use
- 31:19Speaker 1: somebody to go get you like a haas like Cold
- 31:23Speaker 1: Keith could be a healthy part of that trade package.
- 31:27Speaker 1: So like I'm not looking for that, but like I
- 31:31Speaker 1: would say, there's a non zero percent chance I get
- 31:34Speaker 1: that situation presented itself, he might have to be in
- 31:37Speaker 1: the trade package because again, young, ascending, controllable, you know,
- 31:41Speaker 1: relatively cheap ballplayer. So so yeah, I like that question
- 31:46Speaker 1: a lot real quick, I'll address this. I see I
- 31:49Speaker 1: see the comments on X and it's fair. I'm not
- 31:52Speaker 1: angry about it about like my microphone, it's a I
- 31:56Speaker 1: believe it is part of the software that we use. Uh,
- 32:01Speaker 1: it's just you know, transition intro everything kind of fudges
- 32:06Speaker 1: up a little bit there. We're going to go to
- 32:09Speaker 1: a new host software here pretty soon, so we'll see
- 32:12Speaker 1: if that. If the prophecis then we will have no
- 32:14Speaker 1: choice but to replace the microphone. But any other circumstances,
- 32:18Speaker 1: it does not happen to me. It's a mystery. We've
- 32:20Speaker 1: tried different ways, so we are aware. We are sorry.
- 32:23Speaker 1: Thank you to everybody who gets through those a couple
- 32:26Speaker 1: of seconds and then can listen to the listen to
- 32:28Speaker 1: the episode. But we'll see if if it improves and
- 32:31Speaker 1: we go to a new host.
- 32:34Speaker 3: All right, let's go to I like I like, I
- 32:43Speaker 3: like this one. Cody h.
- 32:46Speaker 1: How many new offensive starters this comes from? John Fine?
- 32:49Speaker 1: How many new offensive starters? Regular offensive starters? Do you
- 32:53Speaker 1: think is possible? Because we we've been talked about this.
- 32:58Speaker 1: It kind of feels like a run it back scenario
- 33:00Speaker 1: in a lot of ways. And if you re signed
- 33:02Speaker 1: labor Torres, which I maintain is not out of the
- 33:06Speaker 1: remal possibility, then you're almost looking at everybody running back
- 33:12Speaker 1: with everybody's and you've got these prospects everybody loves.
- 33:15Speaker 3: I don't know, this is a tough number to come
- 33:17Speaker 3: up with.
- 33:18Speaker 2: It's really hard, all right. Catcher Dylan Dingler not going anywhere.
- 33:22Speaker 2: Solid first base, Spencer Torkleson. I guess unless they were
- 33:28Speaker 2: a creative trade where you traded him and move col
- 33:30Speaker 2: Keith to first base, he not going anywhere. Second base
- 33:34Speaker 2: maybe maybe shortstop. I mean I think Hobby is still
- 33:38Speaker 2: going to play there, But yeah, I think you got
- 33:40Speaker 2: to do something else. It can't be eighty one games
- 33:43Speaker 2: of Tray Sweeney so regularly, right, because I don't know,
- 33:50Speaker 2: I'm gonna put the question mark there. What has some
- 33:53Speaker 2: kid man? It's my guy, has some kin shortstop still
- 33:56Speaker 2: Kevin McGonagall, a little bit Hobby, a little.
- 33:59Speaker 3: Bit boom great, I'm still on the Kim train.
- 34:02Speaker 2: Third base certainly possible, could be Boba Schett, could be
- 34:05Speaker 2: Alex Bregman, could just be more cool Keith Zach McKinstry.
- 34:10Speaker 2: Maybe throwing at how you leave Max Anderson, but possible.
- 34:13Speaker 2: Left field. Riley Green He's I mean, he's not going anywhere, right.
- 34:18Speaker 2: I mean there's this talk like trade Riley trade card,
- 34:21Speaker 2: Like I don't I don't think that that's.
- 34:23Speaker 1: Happened again, that that goes into the effect of like
- 34:26Speaker 1: every single prospect that you have you hope gets to
- 34:29Speaker 1: Riley Greensle at this side like and it probably unrealistically too,
- 34:33Speaker 1: two time All Stars.
- 34:33Speaker 2: Starter center field. It's actually a hard one. I mean,
- 34:39Speaker 2: I think the upside of Parker Meadows is hard to
- 34:42Speaker 2: look away from. But you know, Jaron Duran ideas that
- 34:46Speaker 2: get thrown out there. I think it wouldn't hurt for
- 34:49Speaker 2: the Tigers to look at other options. But keep in mind,
- 34:52Speaker 2: you do. You have Matt Vierling coming back. He's going
- 34:54Speaker 2: to play out there some and Winsel Paris played a
- 34:56Speaker 2: lot out there right field, who even played the most
- 34:59Speaker 2: games in it was at Winsol Carrie. I mean, both
- 35:03Speaker 2: those guys I think are going to be back. So
- 35:06Speaker 2: it's hard for me to really see any way where
- 35:08Speaker 2: you have more than three new quote unquote every day faces.
- 35:12Speaker 2: And yeah, it's kind of hard to talk about the
- 35:14Speaker 2: Tigers in this way because they mix and match so much.
- 35:18Speaker 2: But yeah, I think three absolute. I think one minimum,
- 35:22Speaker 2: three maximum, and I think the team would be better
- 35:26Speaker 2: if you're more in the two to three range. But
- 35:29Speaker 2: for reasons we're kind of outlining right now. That gets
- 35:32Speaker 2: hard and that gets messy, and the front office will
- 35:35Speaker 2: have to get creative.
- 35:37Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree, and I do think there are some
- 35:40Speaker 1: creative moves out there and that I've been kind of,
- 35:43Speaker 1: you know, jumping around my brain to see if I
- 35:46Speaker 1: feel comfortable enough for sharing them.
- 35:47Speaker 3: But you know, I've been.
- 35:48Speaker 1: Thinking, I've been thinking, it's like, what if you did this?
- 35:50Speaker 1: So if there's a tease for maybe another episode this
- 35:53Speaker 1: this winter. Well, you mentioned Bregman, you mentioned Bashett. Do
- 35:58Speaker 1: you see do you foresee like serious considerations for either
- 36:04Speaker 1: of those guys or is there like could one be
- 36:06Speaker 1: more likely than the other?
- 36:08Speaker 2: I don't know. I think uh, I.
- 36:12Speaker 1: Think there's gotta be by the way, not not that
- 36:14Speaker 1: John Rocker, but a John Are.
- 36:16Speaker 2: We sure it's not that John Rocker? Do we know
- 36:17Speaker 2: that John Rockers? Just like but the Tigers are gonna
- 36:22Speaker 2: do this offseason? I think they both have to be considerations, right,
- 36:28Speaker 2: I mean, they're two of the best on the market.
- 36:30Speaker 2: They fit a lot of your needs, both of them.
- 36:34Speaker 2: Bregman in the age is more of a factor, but
- 36:36Speaker 2: you know, maybe there's more upside than Bashad. I yeah,
- 36:40Speaker 2: I think they're both real considerations. Everyone wants to know,
- 36:43Speaker 2: like just last year's negotiations. I mean, the Tigers are
- 36:47Speaker 2: out on Bregman. I don't. I don't surely not. I mean,
- 36:51Speaker 2: AI's assuming he ops out or doesn't just renegotiated a
- 36:54Speaker 2: deal with the Red Sox. I have concerns that I've
- 36:59Speaker 2: outlined in previous episodes that he is a year older.
- 37:01Speaker 2: You know, maybe you don't want him this time around,
- 37:03Speaker 2: but I think you certainly have to be in on
- 37:05Speaker 2: those negotiations because he still fits so many of your
- 37:09Speaker 2: needs and Boba Schett does in a lot of very
- 37:12Speaker 2: similar ways. The question is more where does he play?
- 37:15Speaker 2: Is he still a shortstop or would he have to
- 37:17Speaker 2: move to a third or second? And if so, you know,
- 37:22Speaker 2: are you as comfortable committing years and dollars to him
- 37:26Speaker 2: as you are Bregman.
- 37:29Speaker 1: I mean, part of me thinks that if you were
- 37:33Speaker 1: that in on Bregman with the reported contract offer, it
- 37:37Speaker 1: makes sense that you would do more than just kick
- 37:40Speaker 1: the tires on what it's going to take to bring
- 37:43Speaker 1: him back this year. I don't necessarily think that this
- 37:49Speaker 1: is another question. I don't believe that the Tigers operate
- 37:52Speaker 1: in either or quite a scenario, so like, are they
- 37:55Speaker 1: going to trade Schooble that you don't go after this?
- 37:58Speaker 1: You know, like I think they're going to operate with
- 38:00Speaker 1: as much flexibility as possible in terms of their plan
- 38:02Speaker 1: until you know, decisions have to be made.
- 38:06Speaker 2: You know.
- 38:07Speaker 1: But Shedd is intriguing. I'm a little bit nervous about
- 38:10Speaker 1: somebody having like health and excellence in a contract year.
- 38:15Speaker 3: Just in general.
- 38:17Speaker 1: The familiarity with Bregman that we outlined last year, and
- 38:22Speaker 1: even familiar like familiarity with the negotiation process for him
- 38:26Speaker 1: should lend itself to be like you should have some
- 38:29Speaker 1: insight into what that's gonna take.
- 38:30Speaker 3: Right.
- 38:31Speaker 1: So, I don't know, I have my reservations, but I
- 38:34Speaker 1: still think like it's it still might be worth it
- 38:37Speaker 1: to go to go not like all in, but pretty
- 38:39Speaker 1: all in on the Alex Bregman experience.
- 38:44Speaker 2: Let's see, the thing's gonna end up back in Boston
- 38:47Speaker 2: for the reck maybe all right, speak until February twelfth
- 38:52Speaker 2: again for us to get there.
- 38:56Speaker 1: Well, let's let's get to I think this is interesting question.
- 39:00Speaker 1: I know we're running along here, but this is a
- 39:02Speaker 1: good question from Isaac. In terms of market size, in
- 39:06Speaker 1: terms of payroll, in terms of organ operational dynamics, which
- 39:11Speaker 1: MLB organization do the Tigers most pattern themselves Afterward?
- 39:16Speaker 3: After, not afterward, just after.
- 39:18Speaker 2: Yeah, I think this is one of those off seasons
- 39:21Speaker 2: where we're learning the answer to that question. I think
- 39:23Speaker 2: with them kind of just emerging from this rebuild, it's
- 39:26Speaker 2: it's almost a little bit hard to say for comparisons
- 39:30Speaker 2: to the Rays, but they already they spend more than
- 39:33Speaker 2: the Rays. What they do with a player like Scooble
- 39:35Speaker 2: will kind of tell you though. Do they trade him
- 39:38Speaker 2: like probably the Rays or the Brewers would, or did
- 39:41Speaker 2: they let him walk like the Astros would. I think
- 39:44Speaker 2: there are a lot of the Astros in some ways
- 39:47Speaker 2: are not a terrible comparison. A team that can run
- 39:50Speaker 2: a big payroll, but not a ridiculous payroll, a team
- 39:54Speaker 2: that has found out how to win sustainably. Houston is
- 39:58Speaker 2: by market size bigger than Detroit, but you know, in
- 40:03Speaker 2: terms of like the level of, like I don't know,
- 40:06Speaker 2: fan interest in the team, I feel like maybe there's
- 40:09Speaker 2: some some similarities there. So, just off the top of
- 40:12Speaker 2: my head, Houston certainly comes to mind.
- 40:15Speaker 1: You don't think they do? You think they do anything
- 40:18Speaker 1: Dodgers like inspired?
- 40:20Speaker 2: No? Oh yeah, their whole farm system is made up
- 40:24Speaker 2: of ex Dodger guys. So yeah, I've inspired. Sure. Does
- 40:28Speaker 2: that mean they are run like the Dodgers?
- 40:32Speaker 1: Yeah, obviously, Yeah, I was just talking about, like, you know,
- 40:34Speaker 1: they try to get like the insights from the you know,
- 40:36Speaker 1: the infrastructure stuff from the Dodgers.
- 40:38Speaker 2: Their infrastructure certainly has some similarities, considering it's like all
- 40:42Speaker 2: ex Dodgers guys. Yeah, probably doesn't get talked about enough. Actually,
- 40:46Speaker 2: Ryan Garko, Gaprivas among others have Dodger's ties.
- 40:51Speaker 1: Yeah, so I like to see the uh, the fruit
- 40:54Speaker 1: of that labor, and maybe we will this year one
- 40:57Speaker 1: of those new faces that comes up so brave similarities
- 41:03Speaker 1: braves like the but the way to the eye contextualize
- 41:07Speaker 1: it is a team that is capable of being expensive,
- 41:11Speaker 1: but also doesn't want to be but also does not
- 41:15Speaker 1: ever want to be bogged down. Is that like a
- 41:17Speaker 1: good way to kind of phrase it, Like yeah, like
- 41:20Speaker 1: like I want to maintain flexibility obviously willing to pay
- 41:23Speaker 1: top dollar with the aforementioned Regman offer, but does not
- 41:27Speaker 1: want to be like bogged down by old expensive and
- 41:34Speaker 1: the tier rating talent. And I think is a good
- 41:36Speaker 1: way to put it.
- 41:37Speaker 2: Yeah. In terms of market size fan base in Roster construction,
- 41:41Speaker 2: there are a lot of Cleveland similarities too. So again,
- 41:44Speaker 2: this is one of the off seasons if you are
- 41:47Speaker 2: going to operate differently than the Guardians have, like, this
- 41:50Speaker 2: is kind of the time that would start to show up.
- 41:52Speaker 2: But I think the past two years there have been
- 41:54Speaker 2: a ton of Tigers and Guardians similarities and teams that
- 41:58Speaker 2: are based on development and winning around the margins and
- 42:01Speaker 2: all that good stuff. There's a lot there.
- 42:04Speaker 1: Well maybe depending on what happens this offseason and what
- 42:06Speaker 1: happens in twenty twenty six and beyond, then it becomes
- 42:09Speaker 1: like the Tiger system, you know, the choice system that
- 42:13Speaker 1: would be I guarantee you that is the goal of
- 42:16Speaker 1: Harrison Company to create the Tiger system that everybody looks
- 42:20Speaker 1: to take pieces of or even you know, individuals.
- 42:23Speaker 3: Let's end on. This is from Joe Mills. How's life?
- 42:26Speaker 3: How's life?
- 42:27Speaker 2: Cody? You good? Well, it's all right, you know, off
- 42:30Speaker 2: season's going here, but still been working. I got to
- 42:33Speaker 2: help with the live blog on the World Series. Is
- 42:37Speaker 2: that a wedding in North Carolina this past weekend? That
- 42:39Speaker 2: was a good time, but like like a little more
- 42:41Speaker 2: vacate time coming up. But yeah it's good.
- 42:44Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, life's good.
- 42:46Speaker 1: Over here had a lot of fun doing the podcast
- 42:48Speaker 1: three times a week during the season. It was like
- 42:51Speaker 1: sprinting a marathon there at the end and trying to
- 42:54Speaker 1: come up with different ways to say the same thing happening.
- 42:56Speaker 3: Over and over again.
- 42:58Speaker 1: And then the playoff run and late night and you know,
- 43:01Speaker 1: you can't help but feel alive. You can't help but
- 43:03Speaker 1: feel alive doing this and and and you know, always
- 43:07Speaker 1: always thinking about like how to, how to you know,
- 43:10Speaker 1: go about the next episode and what are you going
- 43:12Speaker 1: to talk about? And at this angle and all that stuff.
- 43:14Speaker 1: You can't help but feel alive. So we appreciate everybody
- 43:16Speaker 1: who's followed along. Continue to follow one follows on x
- 43:19Speaker 1: firmly on Twitter, at co you stave in Hagen, I'm
- 43:21Speaker 1: at Keran Underscore, s Declely pot page is at Tiger
- 43:23Speaker 1: Territory Underscore. Please go to Tiger Territory shop dot com
- 43:26Speaker 1: and get your Tiger Territory merch and please, if you
- 43:29Speaker 1: haven't already, subscribe on YouTube so we can continue to
- 43:32Speaker 1: grow our presence there and uh and be even more involved.
- 43:36Speaker 3: Uh. You know, we want to go live sometime. We
- 43:38Speaker 3: gotta find a good time to.
- 43:39Speaker 1: Go live, and you know, adding adding the subscriber base
- 43:42Speaker 1: there would certainly ate that. So we appreciate all of you.
- 43:44Speaker 1: If you have all ready, if you haven't, please do.
- 43:46Speaker 1: We would appreciate it. So for Coach saving Hagen, I'm
- 43:50Speaker 1: Kieran Seckley. Everybody, have a great day.