Latest / Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast / Detroit Tigers midseason report card: Who passes and who fails?

Transcript

Detroit Tigers midseason report card: Who passes and who fails? · 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 Territory now the Tiger's Podcast. I'm Karen Steckley
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: with me and as always as a man who would
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: not would not have ever let the liberty bell be cracked.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: He is Cody Stavenhagen. How are we doing?
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: Hey? Doing all right? Kier in the All Star Game, man,
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: it's uh, it's the Midsummer Classic. I really loved the
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: sand Lot style thing with the kids coming out on
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: the bikes and the fireworks. That was That was better
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: than any part of the game for me.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: That was awesome ten out of ten.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: I did like the pen signing of the declaration type
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: document for the starting lineup.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: I got to kick out of that.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: If anybody wants to give that away, DM me, I'll
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: get sent you my address. I'd love to have that
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: in the office here in the background, so you know,
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: if anybody knows anybody you know, holler at your boy.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: And the home run derby I thought was fine, like
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: it was overall, like you know, I thought it was
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: a good All Star Game festivities. Nice to see Justin
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Verlander the family out there and him getting his due.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Even if you know, some interviews were a little awkward,
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: but it was nice to see him get his due
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: and McGonagall, you know, the behind the scenes stuff meeting
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Kevin Durant and you know Riley Green being a starter
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: and Dylan Dingler you know, out there and all that stuff.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: So it was cool.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: Speaking of Dingler, Cody Man like, should be upset at you.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: I don't think you didn't tell me that that hand
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: looked like that. Man Like, I'm seeing pictures of Dingler
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: going around, you know, doing all this stuff, and even
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: like the portrait shots, and his hand is, uh, he's
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: got two different sizes, I think is a good way
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: to put it, two slightly different colors. This guy played
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: on Sunday and he played the All Star Game like
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: I was almost concerned.
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I would say, I guess the swelling
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: just hasn't gone down a ton from when I first
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: saw it the day after he got hit in the
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: hand by foul ball. I mean, it was pretty concerning
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: at the time, right he left the games. So then
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: when he shows up the next day and it's the
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: hands just a little swollen, It's like, oh, okay, I
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: expected a lot worse, you know. It wasn't even really
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: black and blue or anything like that. I guess it'd
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: be nice to see the swelling like go down a
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: little bit. But he's okay, it's just a little swollen. Clearly,
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: he can grip the bat and throw. He's been out
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: there playing, so I'm not worried about him. He's a
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: tough guy.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: He's a tough guy, and and you know, a guy
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: that you're gonna have to force to not be on
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: the field in general. And then and it looked like
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: he soaked up everything in his first All Star game.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: Apparents beautiful young family, all that stuff. So happy for
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: the Dinglers and the Greens, the mcgonagalls and the Verlanders.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: Nice little, nice little moments earlier in the week. All right,
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: let's get to some some topical news code obviously not
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: that much as we are fresh in the middle of
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: the All Star break, but we did get a resolution
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: to the Jamai Jones era in Tiger Land. Jami Jones
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: is officially traded to the Boston Red Sox for a
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: player to be named later. And uh, and man, I mean,
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: like I was trying to think of, like I legitimately
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: will remember.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: I know I've said this before.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: I'll vigily remember the Jami Jones like era in Detroit
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: of just kind of being this thing that came out
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: of nowhere and you just like couldn't ignore it. And
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: then as like as you know, it's like Newton's Newton's
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: laws ran like as soon as you know, it came
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: up and it came right back down with equal force,
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: you know what I mean. And you know, happy for
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: him for getting another major league opportunity. I wish I'm
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: nothing but the best, but it was definitely the right
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: move for the Tigers to officially move on.
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and probably overdue, but I am happy to see
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: Jami land somewhere else. And the Tigers even get a
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: player to be named later out of it, which is
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: a reminder like there are other teams that like this
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: guy's skill set. I had even heard from an evaluator
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: with another team like talking about can he play in
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: the field, and I was like, yeah, I don't think so.
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: By it, I mean whatever, feel free to give it
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: a shot if you want. I guess more like Finway Park,
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: if you have to play him in left field, you
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: could actually hide him there a little bit better. You know,
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: he's not gonna be asked to cover as much ground
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: or do as much. So I'll be interested to see
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: how Jamai does. Certainly one of those guys you wish
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: the best for. But yeah, his time had gone on
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: too long. I never really thought he would clear waivers.
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: I thought, you know, there are always teams kind of
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: looking for that right handed bat, hoping to just catch
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: lightning in a bottle, as the Tigers once did. But
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: for there to be enough demand that there was actually
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: a trade for him maybe a mild surprise. Now the
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: Tigers can at least move on, and so can Jamai
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: in a different setting.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: So does this mean the Tigers are done with trade
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: deadline stuff or.
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: Funny?
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: No, that's gonna be the dominating factor here moving forward
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: the next three ish weeks or whatever. And obviously we'll
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: be covering it all as it had happens. But before
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: we kind of look forward a little bit, I did
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: want to just kind of assess where we're at here
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: and just kind of do a little bit of a
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: like a mid season grade system here, Cody and.
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: And look, there's a couple of ways to do this.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: You could go down the line and give arbitrary letter
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: grades to specific players. I mean, you know, I don't
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: know if you guys need us to say Kevin McGonagall
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: a plus, you know, Bill and Danglar a plus, you know,
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: Ryley green a, you know, all that kind of stuff.
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: But I did kind of want to do it.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: By like group because like I just just kind of
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: felt like more natural. I don't even mean like by
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: position group, just really offense, defense, starting pitching, bullpen, front
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: office coaching. Like, let's let's just encompass as many people
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: and things as we can and boil it down that way,
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: and let's let's start with starting pitching. As of now,
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: Cody the the Tigers are fourth in in starting pitching
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: e er starting pitcher e r A. And that is
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: that that is without what six weeks worth of trek
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: schoolbl and a couple iel stints for Casey Mize and
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: obviously Melton was a late starter. And you know, it's
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: not like Fromber has exactly been thirty six million dollars
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: worth to start the year, although he was good against
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: the Athletics. So like as day to day frustration and anxiety,
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: you know, Jack Flaherty stuff, obviously that we've experienced the
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: bottom line is at the halfway point through the season.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: The Tigers starting pitching is a clear strength and one
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: of the best in Major League Baseball. It's hard for
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: me to give this less than an A because this
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: is A the design B Where would they be without
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: some of these performances that we've seen since June one,
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: And then even if you want to go pinpoint some
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: games when the slide was really happening, like that kind
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: of saved them a little bit. This is clearly the
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: strength of the team, and so I have to give
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: it an A.
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's kind of a hard thing to grade
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: because I don't know that it like, does it feel
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: like they have the fourth best rotation in in baseball?
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: It does recently, but you think back to May when
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: things were bad, or even early in the year where
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: things were a little uneven. I don't know the raw
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: numbers are like deserving of an A three five O
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: era fourth best rotation in the big leagues. I'm gonna
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: go B plus though, just because I'm a harsh grader.
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: Then just because it felt like there's still been some
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: left on the table from Ravald does a great example.
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: You're paying this you're paying this guy what thirty six
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: and a half million dollars and he's come in and
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: he's been okay. His era starts the four Jack Flaherty
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: we talked about so much, like, are Jack Flaherty in
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: Casey MII is really the keys to this rotation? Well,
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: Mice has been terrific although injured, and Flaherty has been
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: really up and down, really bad there for a little bit,
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: and he's just now kind of getting in the range
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: of saving his season. Even Derek Scouoble hasn't been cy
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: young form. Yeah, he was hurt. It's miraculous he bounced
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: back as quickly as he did, But is that really
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: what you expected? If you go back to the beginning
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: the season, who has given you more you know, what
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: you expected or more? Well, unfortunately not Scoobale, not Flairty,
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: not fromber certainly not justin Verlander. So it's really Casey
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: Miz who has exceeded I think expectations. And then Troy
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: Melton getting healthy and coming in and just being completely
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: lights out has helped things in a big way. The
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: Tiger's rotation is in great shape if they want to
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: make the playoffs, I mean, we can talk about that later,
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: but like, maybe it's time for this to be the
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: number one rotation in baseball, which it has been since
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: June first. If they can pitch that way the rest
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: the rest of the season, you know, then then I'll
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: give them the A plus.
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: All right, bullpen.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: Some numbers better than you think, A lot of them
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: as bad as you think.
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: Might be the way to put it.
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: They are.
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: I think eleventh in e RA, which is like remarkable.
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: Three eight eight does not feel like it does.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: Not feel like it.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: Uh, I'm gonna give this a D minus because the
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: part of part of the frustration with what we watched
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: in the first half was the amount of blown leads,
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: you know, games where the Tigers led, you know, after
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: the seventh inning they bloomed this many games, blah blah blah.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: You know, Kenlly Jansen had those really ugly walk off
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: situations earlier, and and like.
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: I can't give it. I'm sure a lot of people.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: Do want to give it like an f ish grade,
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: which I guess the D Mius kind of is. But
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: there have been enough moments Kyle Finnigan hanging on by
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: his chinny chin chin with decent numbers, Drew Anderson showing
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: some some things in some spots. I guess you maybe
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: could even bump it up to a d if if
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: Cater's going to be in here full time. You know,
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: obviously Sunday didn't go great, but if Cater's going to
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: be in here full time, that might that does extend
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: the bullpen a lot. Uh. But what what I said earlier,
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: maybe a couple weeks ago, is like, who are you
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: confident in when they come out and jog onto the field?
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: And that answer is not clear.
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: So I can't. I can't really give it that. I
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: just can't. I can't go that high.
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: All right, See, I'm an easy grader here. C Minus
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: their eleventh in the RA. Somehow they have stayed afloat,
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: remained viable, actually been pretty good. As of late. They're
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: probably eleventh in the RA because of a lot of
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: empty innings or maybe some long relief innings, you know,
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: Drew Anderson having good outings, things like that. You look
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: at what they've done in the late innings, it's been
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: terrible there. They have the second most blown saves in
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: baseball when probability added, second worst. Their performance in clutch
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: situations second worst only to the Angels. So you know,
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: basically when it matters, they've been the twenty ninth best
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: bullpen in baseball. Imagine if they were.
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: Just as bad.
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: Imagine if guys like Jacob Waggispak or in Manuel the
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: haes Whus hadn't provided some quality outings because the bullpen
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: might be totally taxed. It could be just blown apart
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: in a way even more extreme than it is. And
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: so we're not quite talking about that. We're talking about, Okay,
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: how can aj Hinch better navigate the seventh, eighth, and
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: ninth innings. Will vest is injured, he's got a stress
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: fracture in his elbow. They're going the conservative route, but
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: you can go back to guys like Joelle Zemaya or
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: Al Albuquerque who've had similar injuries ended up having to
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: get a screw putting that thing and missing a lot
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: of time. Kenley Jansen obviously just hasn't been great. Yeah,
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: he's been kind of hurt. Confidence factor isn't really high.
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: Kyle fin Again, you've said it just kind of barely
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: hanging on by a thread, and you're probably not getting
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: anyone else really stepping into that back end role. Like
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: bow Briskie, such an intriguing guy, lost couple outings a
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: little better, but man, I don't know is twenty twenty
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: four bow brisk He's still in there like he's got
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: a lot to prove. So certainly not pleased with this bullpen,
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: but they have done enough to avoid complete disintegration, which
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: I guess, I guess I will barely give them a
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: passing grade for that.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: All right, we will go to the remaining grades for
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: this team. But first I gotta tell you guys that
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: I am looking for the best deal on tickets to
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: July twenty fifth Jersey nineteen oh one Replica Jersey Getaway
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: at America Park, Which is why I want to give
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: the sponsor of today's video, sea Geek, a huge shout out.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: With over thirty five million download sea geek is a
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: number one rated ticketing app. There are more than seventy
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: thousand events listed on sea geek, including concert, sports, festivals,
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: and more. We got the second half the playoff push
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: of Major League Baseball nfls around the corner. NBA ain't
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: too far behind HL. All that good stuff and the
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: storylines right themselves, and you got to be there to
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: see it, which is why I love using sea Geek.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: Sea Geek has your back. Each ticket is rated on
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: a scale of one to ten, so you know you're
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: a good deal. So look for the green dot. Green
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: means good, red means bad. Plus every ticket is backed
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: by their buyer guarantee.
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: And of course I have a code for you guys.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: You can use code territory ten for ten percent off
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: your next set of tickets on seat Geek. That's ten
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: percent off any MLB tickets on seat Geek with code
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: territory ten. Make sure you click the link in description
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: to download the app and have the code automatically added
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: to your account.
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: So you can use it later. Thank you, Sea Geek.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: All right, coming back here, I, you know, go into
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: the offense here, Cody, and look, he's had three position
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: players in the All Star Game. Offense can't be that bad.
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: But then you look at a lot of the numbers
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: eighteenth in ops in Major League Baseball. The on base
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: they're lower than that. Home you know, home runs they're
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: lower than that. You're really being carried by you know,
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: the big three. I guess you could say Dingler and
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: McGonagall and Green and other than that, you haven't really
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: had anybody kind of step up and be number four
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: for more than a short period of time, I think
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: is fair to say so. For for this, I'm gonna
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna go with a solid c.
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: You gotta have more. You can't. You can't. You can't just.
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: Rely on those three guys, two of them lefties by way,
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: which I know they play every day, But two of
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: those lefties and one a catcher that like it's grueling
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: and that's what makes it so impressive what we're seeing
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: from Dingler, also DH and obviously uh, but you gotta
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: have more. So a solid seat and I se minus
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: nasty plus a solid seat.
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I would agree with you on that.
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: It's kind of ridiculous that they're nineteenth and ops when
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: you have two of the best players in the sport,
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: when you have three All Star position players, you have
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: some really high end talent. And as we have discussed
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: at nauseum this season, you have just kind of gotten
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: next to nothing else from anybody. Every now and then
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: some power from Spencer Torkal Center Kerry Carpenter for BET
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: think Labor Torres has been hurt. That should really be
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: one of your key contributors, you know. Cool Keith has
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: finally started to turn it on. But there are all
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: these guys, all these guys, you know, Zach McKinstry, Like, Okay,
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: can they get it going well? They can they get
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: it going more consistently? Like can they turn around their
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: season numbers? The bottom line is the contributions just have
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: not been enough. It's been great to see the ball
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: leaving the yard at such a high rate, I think
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: leaving baseball on homers since June first, those are the
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: worst offense in baseball in the month of May. It
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: was what a top top four, top five offense in
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: the month of June. You just like, they're gonna be
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: ups and downs in baseball, but you can't be that
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: up and down. That is really what has plugged the
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: Tigers for the better part of the past two seasons now.
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: And it's a problem. So you get to see, really
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: thanks to three guys keeping it from being an.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: F Well put this one's pretty easy too, Cody Defense.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: I think I might just go d D for defense.
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: I don't know what else do you want me to say.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: When you're minus eleven defensive run saved as a team
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: according to Fielding Bible, and then you kind of like
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: think about it. It's like Okay, Cole Keith. We talked
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: about how he doesn't have a position. Ken mcgonagall's held
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: up fine, although the numbers aren't necessarily that kind to him.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: But I think we've all said he's held up fine
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: playing short and in third base. You don't have Glabor Torres,
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: you know, so you're putting Lee in there, and Torque
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: is always gonna have bad numbers despite some of the
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: highlight plays and then no Parker medals, no hobby bias
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: to fill in up the middle. Riley Green has made
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: some highlight catches here recently, and then you know, what
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: are you getting out of right field? Like some of
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: this is was always gonna happen, but it has been
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: uglier this year, I think, and certainly a reason why
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: you find themselves in a hole going into the second half.
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: I think I'm just gonna go f here. I mean,
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: it's been a little together. It's been a little better
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: as of late, and that's been a part of why
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: they're record has been better. The baseball has been cleaner,
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: but for I mean even in April Kieran, before the
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: wheels totally fell off, there were just some dumb mistakes,
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: some sloppy mistakes. Obviously May was just a disaster. Like
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: we say, things have been better. The Tigers are twenty
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: ninth in outfield defensive runsaved. They play in Chimerica Park
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: I don't know if you've heard Kieran, it's one of
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: the biggest outfields in the major leagues. You can't be
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: negative twenty three drs in this outfield. Adding James Outman
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: to the mixes kind of helped, but it was probably
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: too late. In addition to just the dumb mistakes, you
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: have an outfield that does not profile as being very
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: good now. Obviously the injuries to Parker Meadows and Javier
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: Baiez have impacted that in a big way. But the
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: guys you have playing the corners, even Riley Green, just
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: does not grade out well anymore. It's probably too much
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: carry Carpenter in right field, but Matt Vierling hasn't hit
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: to really justify more time in that spot right now
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: when Soel Perez is injured now, but he wasn't playing
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: very good defense. It's still That's the most frustrating thing
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: about this first half to me is how not just substandard,
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: but how just straight up bad the defense was for
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: the majority of the first half, that Tigers certainly have
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: to pray that the worst of that is over because
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: if not, if not, they're in some real trouble.
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: Again.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: Things on the margins and we saw way too many,
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: like we saw so many things on the margins that
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: the Tigers did not execute or perform well that they
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: became not marginal anymore. Right, And it should be noted
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: that behind the plate, obviously Tigers are excellent with Dingler
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: and Jake Rogers. I don't want to forget about that.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: They're plus three defensive run saved on Fielding Bible and
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: that second base they're actually plus three defensive run saved.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: How about that on fielding Bible. So that's you know,
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: there are some pauses, but for the most part, it
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: finds you lacking. All right, let's go to coaching staff.
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: Popular opinion is a pretty low one on this. If
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: you judging by Twitter or Cody I Am, I think
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: I would say I'm a staunch believer in aj Hinch.
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: I'm a staunch believer in his process. I'm a staunch
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: believer in his leadership and his baseball acumen. The guy
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: has forgotten more about baseball than I will ever know.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: But given the record, given the fact that you did
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: have to make a coaching change, Like, it's hard for
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: me to give like a great grade here, and if
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: you're gonna get credit for all the moves that work out,
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: like the you know, the pinch hitting and you know
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: in the matchup stuff from the bullpen that has not
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: gone his way way too many times this year. So
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: just from a pure great perspective, I'm going I'm going
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: C plus. I can't go any higher than that given
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: the record, given everything we've seen.
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: But in terms of.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: Process, in terms of stabilizing this team, that also has
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: to be accounted for as well. So I'm going I'm
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: going C plus.
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: I think that's kind. I will go C minus. You
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: have a team that entered the year with World Series
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: aspirations and you are at the All Star break and
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: you were eight games under five hundred. Just really shouldn't
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: be that way. That is, that is a sign of
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: a lot of things going wrong and the types of
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: things that usually fall on the manager and on the
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: coaching staff. You're right here, and the AJ Hinch, like
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: obviously the pinch hit thing has just not worked out
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: this year. The bullpen decisions maybe not his fault based
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: off all the bullpen numbers we just read off, but
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: they certainly have not gone his way even some You know,
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: when are you gonna leave the starter in? When are
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: you gonna pull the starter that's gone against him multiple
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: times in pretty dramatic fashion. The coaching staff, Yeah, I
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: don't know. Joey Korr is kind of your most notable
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: coach and he got fired. I still don't know. I
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: can't really say a lot about that, but it sounds
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: like maybe he wasn't actually all that popular among at
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: least some of the players. It does sound like there
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: was some sort of baseball related disagreement that finally became
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: the last straw. It's really not a good thing if
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: you have to part with your third base coach in
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: the middle of the year. You know, you see signs
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: of Chris Vetter, Robin lond still being really good they
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: do at what they do, saving Jack Flaherty season, trying
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: to get Fromber back on track, maybe getting a little
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: more out of a guy like Jacob waggispat continuing to develop,
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: Troy Melton and and Cater Montero. But there are some
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: things to not like on the pitching front as well.
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: Kenlee Jansen being a big one of those. The only
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: reason I'm not giving this a failing grade is what
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: you mentioned. At least this has stayed together. A lesser
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: coaching staff, a lesser manager, this thing might have gone
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: off the rails man and they could be twenty games
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: under five hundred and we were talking. We'd be talking
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: about more than just the third base coach getting fired
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: and things could really be in dire straits. Seem like
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: AJ and the and the coaches have kept this ship together,
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: got the team playing a little better, kept their chances alive,
• 22:07
  Speaker 3: and there is something to be said for that culture.
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: There were times this year I was really I was like,
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: what is going on behind the scenes culturally, Like it's
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: something off? And sometimes I still wonder, But you feel
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: a little better about it given how this team has
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: bounced back from a really difficult may. Obviously, all the
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: injuries don't make the job easy on AJ or the
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: coaches or the front office, but a lot of things
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: have gone wrong. So I'm going C minus.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: Speaking of front office, I mean, you know this this
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: covers everything. Maybe I should have been writing these down
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: and just made an average and then just said that's
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: the front office. Great, because that's really what it comes
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: down to, right, But but I didn't you know, obviously
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: the the move to trust your process with Kevin McGonagall
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: and then to sign him to a long term extension. Uh,
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: you know that those two things are obviously a plus.
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: There have been some I don't want call them diamonds
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: in the rough, but you know, nice gems in the
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: rough that that that they that they've found.
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: But for the most.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: Part, the injuries have exposed a lack of major league
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: ready options. Even at Toledo. Even if Lee has had
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: some moments, you're a games under. We're we're gonna spend
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: the next three weeks wondering whether you're gonna trade the
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: best pitcher in baseball. I'm going I'm going with a
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: D man like like like that that's that that that
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: I don't know where else to go with that, because
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: this is a situation that someone is out of your control.
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: At the same time, like, what's the most results oriented
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: uh piece of this probably the people who put the
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: team together.
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: So yeah, yeah, that's feel I think D feels appropriate
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: for me as well. Again, injuries make everyone look bad here,
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: but it's probably the front offs's job more than anyone
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: else to be able to account for the injuries that
• 23:54
  Speaker 3: are gonna happen over the course of the season. I mean,
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: if you just look at what they did this winter,
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: they brought and Drew Anderson, which has been like I
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: guess fine, He's had some nice moments, he's had some
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: bad moments. He's ultimately a middle of the long reliever.
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: So whatever, Kyle Finn again, the era is good. Nothing
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: else is good. Kinley Jansen, that was really the one
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: signing I didn't like, and it's sure enough not been
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: a good signing. And then from Bervaldez obviously the big contract,
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: and I think we've kind of seen why teams weren't
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: lining up to give Fromberg five six, seven years. It
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: seemed like a great popular move at the time. I
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: liked it at the time. Hasn't really worked out, and
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: that's just a ton of money on the table for
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: a guy who is underperforming. Again, the things on the
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: margins that they've always prided themselves in, how much of
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: that have they really got right? I mean, hell, they
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: left Jami Jones on this roster up until the All
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: Star break, just kind of crazy. Luckily, Jacob Waggis pack
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: so far has been a nice addition. I didn't think
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: we'd be saying his name three or four times on
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: this podcast, but here we are. Something small they've got right,
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: like I guess leave Valencia. Nice moments, just really not
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: a ton of actual like difference making contributions so far.
• 25:15
  Speaker 3: James Autman, I think getting him in and reshuffling the
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: roster was a good move, even if he's hitting below
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: two hundred. Of the reasons we like that move is
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: because they had a very dumb move and left Zach
• 25:28
  Speaker 3: Short on this team for way too long. So I
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: just haven't seen a lot of the smaller ways that
• 25:34
  Speaker 3: the front office has impacted this roster in a positive manner.
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: In addition to the big picture decisions, which obviously just
• 25:41
  Speaker 3: don't look great. I'm sure Scott Harris would be saying, well,
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: what did you want us to do this offseason? You
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: guys can go look at the hitters who were signed.
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: Most of them did not turn out good at all.
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: Things I like, like Hassan Kim has been hurt or bad,
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: so you know, I didn't necessarily have all the answers either.
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: Good thing they didn't trade Troy Melton last year's trade deadline,
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: Karen Troy Melton is the type of thing he might
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: be saving some people's jobs because he makes you feel good,
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: not just this year, but way into the future. So, look,
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: there's a lot left to play out, There's a lot
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: of baseball left to play. We may be having a
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: different conversation if things go well in the second half,
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: or even if we feel like the Tigers ace to
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: the trade deadline. But that is obviously going to be
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: a huge, huge, potentially career defining trade deadline coming up
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: for Scott Harris.
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: I have a point on that, and I want to
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: get to it, but first we got to get to
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: a break. Is this a trade deadline defined or a
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: career define trade deadline for Scott Harris?
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: But first award from our sponsors.
• 26:48
  Speaker 4: This episode is brought to you by FanDuel Baseball Fans.
• 26:51
  Speaker 4: The MLB season is in full swing and FanDuel is
• 26:54
  Speaker 4: giving you a chance to call your shot with daily dingers.
• 26:58
  Speaker 4: Joining the action is easy. Just make your free pick
• 27:01
  Speaker 4: on who's hitting a home run in their game, and
• 27:04
  Speaker 4: if you're right, you'll get a profit boost to use
• 27:06
  Speaker 4: on your next bet for a chance at extra winnings.
• 27:10
  Speaker 4: It's just another reason why FanDuel is the home of
• 27:12
  Speaker 4: home runs. So are you ready to play your game?
• 27:15
  Speaker 4: Head over to FanDuel dot com slash podcast to get started.
• 27:18
  Speaker 4: That's FanDuel dot com slash podcast. To opt in for
• 27:21
  Speaker 4: daily dingers, make your free pick on who's hitting a
• 27:24
  Speaker 4: homer playball swing for the Fences on FanDuel, an official
• 27:29
  Speaker 4: partner of Major League Baseball. No purchase necessary, opt in required.
• 27:34
  Speaker 4: Bonus issued as non withdrawable profit boost tokens. Restrictions apply,
• 27:37
  Speaker 4: including any token expiration and max wager amount. See terms
• 27:41
  Speaker 4: at sportsbook dot FanDuel dot com. Gambling problem caller tex
• 27:45
  Speaker 4: one eight hundred gambler.
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: All right, coming back here. You know, like you said,
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: this could be a career defining, you know, trade deadline
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: for Scott Harris. And I've said that in the past
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: and gotten some pushback on that at like I would say,
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: like somewhat surprising. I didn't really think it was that
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: hot of a take, But I just feel like, you know,
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: if you're the guy that trades Mookie Betts, if you're
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: the guy that trades Tom Seaver, if you're the guy
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: who you know sells the contract of Babe ruth like
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: like like these kinds of moments, especially locally, you know
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: what I mean, Like, are are what you kind of
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: get remembered for, you know, like you know, like I
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: just feel like there's a lot of examples of those
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: guys kind of having that stick to their name. Now
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: does that mean it like leads their obituary or anything?
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: Like no, I'm not saying that, but like when the
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: story of the franchise is told, how the school situation
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: is handled is going to be like the defining moment
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: of the era one way or another, you know what
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: I mean? Same thing if you go and watch documentaries
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: about the eighty six Mets and how was it cash
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: In like like dismantled that team. I'm sorry if I
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: can't remember that guy's name, but maybe that's the point.
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: But like, you know, but like that's what we think
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: of so like so I just feel like this is
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: something that there is gravity behind these next two weeks
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: for Scott Harris and professionally this and sort of like
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: his perception in Detroit and in baseball, like these are
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: moments that will define is that am I nuts here?
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: Not to me? And to be clear, I don't envy
• 29:20
  Speaker 3: Scott Harris. He is in a really difficult position. It's
• 29:23
  Speaker 3: a really heavy weight on his shoulders. But you're right,
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: whatever he does or doesn't do in the next handful
• 29:29
  Speaker 3: of weeks, we are going to talk about for years
• 29:32
  Speaker 3: to come. It's either he keeps Schooble and they make
• 29:35
  Speaker 3: a heroic run and he's bold and he's a genius,
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: or he keeps Schoobale and they fail and he's an idiot.
• 29:41
  Speaker 3: He trades Schooble for a big return that bolsters the
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: farm system and sets him up for success years to come.
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: We think that's good. Or he trades Schooble and he
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: gets nothing. It's like, well, really, maybe you should trade
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: him in the off season you traded I mean, you know,
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: then it becomes Alavila with Verlander and all the trades
• 29:57
  Speaker 3: that netted nothing that were kind of the story of
• 30:00
  Speaker 3: his tenure. Like that, this is what it becomes, not
• 30:03
  Speaker 3: just school ball, but also what you do with mis Flaharty,
• 30:07
  Speaker 3: some of these other eliber tores, some of these other guys.
• 30:10
  Speaker 3: This is a huge, huge moment. And look, Scott Harris
• 30:15
  Speaker 3: may end up having a long tenure here and this
• 30:17
  Speaker 3: may only be one of several decision points, but this
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: is a this is a huge one. This is a
• 30:21
  Speaker 3: massive moment in his tenure. And there's just no other
• 30:25
  Speaker 3: way around it. Again, man, I don't envy him. It's
• 30:28
  Speaker 3: going to be a tough call, especially if the Tigers
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: come out of the break and they're they're pretty good.
• 30:34
  Speaker 3: You know, they're not great or they're not terrible. That's
• 30:38
  Speaker 3: you're gonna earn those paychecks, that nice house you live in,
• 30:41
  Speaker 3: You're gonna earn that, that nice car you drive. Yeah,
• 30:43
  Speaker 3: you're gonna earn that, man. And it's not easy.
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: It's a chapter.
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: I think we could all agree on that. I don't
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: know if there's any disagreeing on, Like, this is a
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: chapter in the professional you know, head of Baseball operations
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: career of Scott Harris, the School Bowl, and you can
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: even throw back at how serious, like any extension talks
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: were on either side. You can throw back how serious
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: any trade talks were, like coming in like all that stuff,
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: like arbitration, like all those things.
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: It's all part of the chapter.
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: You and you came into a team that and and
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: helped develop one of the best pitchers in baseball, and
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: then once and the and then what is going to
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: be is gonna is gonna.
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: Follow you the rest of your professional life.
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: Hey, that's the job, you know, that's the job, and
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: it's our job to guess and critique.
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: That's what we do here.
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: Cody, Uh, you guys can follow us along the entire
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: second half at Cody Stavenhagen. I am at Kieran Underscore,
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: Steckley pot Pages at Tiger Territory Underscore, YouTube, Apple, Spotify,
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: you guys know what to do.
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: We appreciate all of you. We'll have one more.
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: Episode this week and then it's right back into the
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: Daily Grind. Looking forward to it. So for Cody Stavenhagen,
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: I'm Karen Steckley. Everybody, have a great day.