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Scott Harris News Conference Reaction · Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast

0:04
Speaker 1: It will to another episode of Tiger's Territory. Are the
0:07
Speaker 1: Foul Rats or Network a show that is brought to
0:09
Speaker 1: you by Fox One. Fox one is now live stream
0:12
Speaker 1: all your Fox papers together in one place, including all
0:14
Speaker 1: al playoff games, one going on right now, and the
0:17
Speaker 1: World Series. I am Kieren Steckley with me as always
0:20
Speaker 1: as a man who always keeps the light on, lights
0:22
Speaker 1: on at appropriate times. He's got and how you doing
0:26
Speaker 1: doing good?
0:27
Speaker 2: I don't know what that's a reference to. I do
0:29
Speaker 2: know I have a neighbor and they have like an
0:31
Speaker 2: upstairs unit and the lights are on at just all hours.
0:34
Speaker 2: I guess it doesn't really affect me, but it's like
0:36
Speaker 2: four am. You know, you get a tick out the dog,
0:38
Speaker 2: turn off the lights anyway. That's uh, that's really getting sidetracks.
0:42
Speaker 2: Scott Harris talk today, AJ Hinchtock today the Season's over.
0:46
Speaker 2: Had a post morte impresser. Not sure where you wanted
0:49
Speaker 2: to start, Kieran, but I actually want to start with
0:51
Speaker 2: just your takeaways because I think it's more important not
0:55
Speaker 2: what the people in the room felt about it, not
0:57
Speaker 2: how the people who cover the team every day felt
0:59
Speaker 2: about it, but the people, you know, the public and
1:03
Speaker 2: the people who maybe sat and listened to the whole thing.
1:06
Speaker 2: You know what, what was your perception?
1:09
Speaker 1: So trying to assess Scott Harris and Scott Harris isms, Uh,
1:18
Speaker 1: you have a little bit of a mindset going in
1:20
Speaker 1: about like, Okay, he's probably gonna talk this way and
1:23
Speaker 1: we'll get to the schoolbl stuff. That that was as
1:25
Speaker 1: predictable as the day is long, that he was going
1:27
Speaker 1: to have a quote about the school contract situation there.
1:30
Speaker 1: But again, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll talk about that a
1:33
Speaker 1: little bit later. My concern with people like Scott Harris
1:38
Speaker 1: and you know, executives that have this system and this
1:42
Speaker 1: foundation and it and it has given them and their
1:46
Speaker 1: organization a certain level of success is you fall in
1:49
Speaker 1: love with your process too much. Some people fall in
1:52
Speaker 1: love with players too much, and that would be another
1:54
Speaker 1: concern I would have, just generally speaking, but fall in
1:57
Speaker 1: love with their process too much. And I got a
2:01
Speaker 1: better vibe from Scott Harris that there was gonna be
2:06
Speaker 1: a little bit more self scout, self evaluation into this offseason.
2:13
Speaker 1: Then I think I've got Then I know that I've
2:15
Speaker 1: gotten from him in previous Now it's easy to say
2:18
Speaker 1: it's another thing to do. He's still very non committal
2:23
Speaker 1: about a lot of stuff nor which is expected. I'm
2:27
Speaker 1: not even mean that to be critical, but I came
2:29
Speaker 1: across like a little bit a better sense of open
2:32
Speaker 1: mindedness then I was expecting. And again it's like a
2:37
Speaker 1: little thing because he's still like, I'm not saying the
2:40
Speaker 1: Tigers need to abandon their system. They've gotten here to
2:43
Speaker 1: a certain point because of it in large part. But
2:48
Speaker 1: you get here this is it's harder to get here
2:50
Speaker 1: than it is to go from this to this. Right,
2:52
Speaker 1: So like you put in your story, it's really hard
2:54
Speaker 1: to go from good to great, and I think that's
2:57
Speaker 1: the best way to put it. And you got you
2:59
Speaker 1: do have to tweak the process a little bit in
3:01
Speaker 1: order to make that next leap. I came away a
3:04
Speaker 1: little bit more confident that that was like that was
3:08
Speaker 1: in consideration and in the works. So I know I
3:11
Speaker 1: kind of rambled on there a little bit, but I
3:13
Speaker 1: was looking for the in between stuff. In the in
3:14
Speaker 1: between stuff, it gave me a better a more positive
3:19
Speaker 1: view then I honestly probably was anticipating going it.
3:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's important, Like I think the point
3:26
Speaker 2: of these end of season press conferences. Is not necessarily
3:30
Speaker 2: to have all the answers, because look, it's still fresh,
3:33
Speaker 2: the season just ended. There are a lot of meetings
3:36
Speaker 2: still to be had. But to set the tone both
3:38
Speaker 2: for the fan base and for everyone as to what's ahead.
3:42
Speaker 2: I think the tone setting was it was done pretty well.
3:46
Speaker 2: Like I was a little worried, like as Scott Harre's
3:48
Speaker 2: going to come out and pretend that there are no
3:51
Speaker 2: problems and pretend that it doesn't matter that they had
3:54
Speaker 2: a terrible I don't know, he kept calling it a
3:56
Speaker 2: terrible September, like FATA losing record in July. They were
4:00
Speaker 2: below five hundred for the entire second half, So I
4:02
Speaker 2: actually don't love the framing that it was just September
4:05
Speaker 2: that was like bad. But yeah, they were still eighth
4:09
Speaker 2: and run scoring up until September. First, Like there was
4:13
Speaker 2: some level of self awareness, right, which which I thought
4:17
Speaker 2: was good. How like answers to Schooble or just certain personnel,
4:23
Speaker 2: you don't expect a concrete answer, but I was. I
4:27
Speaker 2: don't know. I sat through this whole thing, and I
4:30
Speaker 2: did leave it feeling a little bit like a like
4:33
Speaker 2: a college class, like a like a freshman year, like
4:36
Speaker 2: one oh, one class, like you already kind of learned
4:39
Speaker 2: most of this stuff in high school, but you know,
4:40
Speaker 2: you kind of gotta do it anyway. Sat through it
4:43
Speaker 2: and you leave, and you take in a lot of information,
4:46
Speaker 2: and you take a lot of notes, and then you
4:48
Speaker 2: kind of think, did I actually learn anything from that?
4:52
Speaker 2: And I think there was a decent tone set and
4:55
Speaker 2: a mostly appropriate tone. I'm not sure we'd learned a
4:59
Speaker 2: ton beyond that. I'm still talking round and round on
5:02
Speaker 2: some of these issues, honestly, not much different than than
5:05
Speaker 2: you or I do all the time, even though Scott
5:08
Speaker 2: Harris is the one who does have I think at
5:10
Speaker 2: least closer to concrete answers.
5:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, And look, I think I think Scott doing this,
5:18
Speaker 1: you know, these pressors, these media availabilities, like you expect
5:22
Speaker 1: him to quote unquote get better or at least like
5:25
Speaker 1: not be the same every time, because again, the more
5:27
Speaker 1: the more you do something, the more acclimated you are
5:30
Speaker 1: to it, you know that kind of thing. So he's
5:31
Speaker 1: still very young in the game in that regard. I
5:35
Speaker 1: thought there was a frankness element that I appreciated, even
5:41
Speaker 1: where things were disagreeable to talk about the trade deadline,
5:45
Speaker 1: and he was like, looking back on what we had
5:48
Speaker 1: access to moves wise, I don't regret not you know,
5:53
Speaker 1: do you know, not doing those moves. So I was like, okay,
5:56
Speaker 1: I respect that honesty without obviously and into specifics. I
6:02
Speaker 1: thought he talked about whether they should have added a
6:05
Speaker 1: bat at the trade deadline in a in an honest,
6:09
Speaker 1: thoughtful way, because again, like, it's not I'm not looking
6:14
Speaker 1: for like me or like any of the Tigers fans
6:17
Speaker 1: or people in the media or like podcasts, radio people.
6:20
Speaker 1: I'm not looking for like him to try to convince
6:23
Speaker 1: me of anything or convince others of anything. But I
6:25
Speaker 1: do want to know sort of where your mind was
6:27
Speaker 1: at going in and then kind of how you reflect
6:30
Speaker 1: on it afterward. And I thought that was at least
6:32
Speaker 1: refreshing too. So he did get a little, like I
6:42
Speaker 1: said earlier, a little bit more of a sense of
6:44
Speaker 1: urgency vibe that that I wasn't necessarily expecting, because again,
6:48
Speaker 1: this is the man of no year plans. He kind
6:51
Speaker 1: of made it seem like there's a little bit of
6:53
Speaker 1: a you know, year plan twenty twenty six plan, because
6:56
Speaker 1: you gotta we all know of the elephant or the
6:59
Speaker 1: tiger in the room I guess you could say regarding
7:01
Speaker 1: twenty twenty six without you know, committing to anything. So
7:04
Speaker 1: he he stayed in character. But I also thought he
7:06
Speaker 1: showed a little bit frankness. I thought I thought it
7:09
Speaker 1: showed a little bit of emotion. He kind of looked
7:10
Speaker 1: like he was wearing that, like wearing that season, and
7:13
Speaker 1: I mean that respectfully, like he looked like he was
7:16
Speaker 1: wearing that season. And the way it ended, they kept
7:17
Speaker 1: saying like, we should be, you know, in Toronto right now.
7:23
Speaker 1: That if I did have one criticism, I thought it
7:25
Speaker 1: should be we should be playing a game here today,
7:30
Speaker 1: not necessarily be in Toronto, because if your team was
7:32
Speaker 1: all that, your team was all that, you'd be posting
7:36
Speaker 1: acs game potentially. So now there was a little critical
7:39
Speaker 1: mindset thing, it'd be that.
7:41
Speaker 3: Uh.
7:42
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7:46
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9:02
Speaker 1: All right, coming back here, something that I've been kind
9:06
Speaker 1: of wanting to share that it just never really fit
9:09
Speaker 1: in with the playoff push and then obviously the playoffs,
9:12
Speaker 1: but I think now is kind of an appropriate time.
9:15
Speaker 1: Is you know, watching Clayton Kershaw make his last start
9:20
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles as a pure like baseball fan, Like,
9:26
Speaker 1: I was moved by it. I was moved by a
9:28
Speaker 1: fan base that had watched this guy since he was
9:31
Speaker 1: a teenager and then kind of give him sort of
9:34
Speaker 1: like a here, I know he's gonna you know, he's
9:36
Speaker 1: pitched more games since then, but everybody like give him
9:39
Speaker 1: sort of like a heroes goodbye his family there, you know,
9:43
Speaker 1: all the like it was. It was a very special moment,
9:46
Speaker 1: and it got me thinking, like we had that a
9:48
Speaker 1: little bit with Miguel Cabrera us as Tigers fans, but
9:51
Speaker 1: Cabrera also wasn't exclusively a Tiger, so like there's like
9:55
Speaker 1: a little bit of a difference there. Uh bro Obviously
10:00
Speaker 1: that that ship is long sale. There is an opportunity
10:04
Speaker 1: here for us in eight years, ten years whatever to
10:10
Speaker 1: be able to have that moment with one Trek Schoogbl
10:13
Speaker 1: like that is something that a lot of fans would
10:16
Speaker 1: say should happen. But is it going to happen? I
10:21
Speaker 1: don't know. We're gonna find out literally in the next
10:24
Speaker 1: twelve to eighteen months whether that's gonna happen. But Scott
10:28
Speaker 1: Harris gott asked the question, he gave a Scott Harris response.
10:31
Speaker 1: Even Trek Schoogle's response about like meeting with management or
10:36
Speaker 1: whatever was a little little little off vibe wise, I'm
10:41
Speaker 1: not gonna lie, but anyway, you're you're kind of you're
10:43
Speaker 1: kind of read on the situation as it stands right now. Cody,
10:48
Speaker 1: the Trek Schoogle looming contract here.
10:53
Speaker 2: I don't think I loved the answer from either Trek
10:56
Speaker 2: Schooble or Scott Harris. You know, I asked the Trek
10:59
Speaker 2: Schoogle just something to the effect of do you plan
11:02
Speaker 2: to sit down with the front office and talk about
11:04
Speaker 2: scenarios for your future or the direction of the organization. Obviously,
11:10
Speaker 2: that was a way of getting at it without being like,
11:12
Speaker 2: are you going to sign an extension or like, do
11:14
Speaker 2: you think they're going to trade you? If I were
11:17
Speaker 2: Trek's Schoogle, or if I were the Tigers, I would
11:20
Speaker 2: want to sit down with Trek's school and have this conversation.
11:22
Speaker 2: There will be some level of exit interview. So maybe
11:25
Speaker 2: Schoogle just wasn't trying to feed into the media or
11:30
Speaker 2: misspeak and get a headline out there they didn't want.
11:32
Speaker 2: Even though some people did kind of take his quote
11:34
Speaker 2: out of context to be like he won't meet with
11:37
Speaker 2: the front office, That's not what I said. He basically said, Hey,
11:40
Speaker 2: it's not like my job's to play. I'm not worried
11:43
Speaker 2: about that stuff. Well, I think he should be worried
11:46
Speaker 2: about that stuff, and he probably is. He probably just
11:48
Speaker 2: didn't want to say it in those terms, But I
11:51
Speaker 2: would have kind of liked to hear Trek say, yeah,
11:54
Speaker 2: you know, I plan to sit down and really get
11:55
Speaker 2: a feel for what's going on. Like he's the leader,
11:58
Speaker 2: he's the face of this organize. If there's any world,
12:01
Speaker 2: he's gonna stay here. I think he should kind of
12:03
Speaker 2: have a a feel for where Scott Harris wants to
12:07
Speaker 2: go and be a little bit of say in that
12:09
Speaker 2: or if there is a world where they're going to
12:11
Speaker 2: consider trading him, like they should probably keep him and
12:14
Speaker 2: Scotty B in the loop on that, And maybe they are,
12:18
Speaker 2: and maybe they just don't want to say it. One
12:20
Speaker 2: way to find out what's going on, I don't know.
12:22
Speaker 2: Scott Harris could say something about the direction of where
12:26
Speaker 2: things are headed. Instead he said, I'm not going to
12:30
Speaker 2: comment on that at all. Sometimes these answers get chopped
12:33
Speaker 2: up to fit a narrative. I can't comment on free agency,
12:36
Speaker 2: i can't comment on trades, I can't comment on players
12:38
Speaker 2: from other teams. So I'm just not going to comment
12:40
Speaker 2: at all. Am I wrong to view that answer as
12:45
Speaker 2: we're gonna look into trading them, because that's how I
12:48
Speaker 2: interpreted it?
12:49
Speaker 1: Uh? I don't think you're wrong, Like I would tend
12:54
Speaker 1: to be a little bit more conservative of a take
12:57
Speaker 1: from that statement than you are, in the sense that
13:01
Speaker 1: like he's obviously not trying to pigeonhole himself into anything.
13:06
Speaker 1: I still think if you if your plan A and
13:09
Speaker 1: Plan B and Plan C was to sign Tarik Scooble
13:12
Speaker 1: to a long term extension, you would be a little
13:16
Speaker 1: bit more overt about about that. Is that a fair
13:19
Speaker 1: Is that an a fair stance to have?
13:21
Speaker 2: That's absolutely I mean I couldn't get the microphone passed
13:25
Speaker 2: around to me before three people had already asked about
13:27
Speaker 2: Schoogl I want to. I was going to ask, like,
13:31
Speaker 2: are you committed to Trek School being a Tiger in
13:33
Speaker 2: twenty twenty six, just as a way, like that's a
13:36
Speaker 2: yes or no question, which some people say you're not
13:38
Speaker 2: supposed to do, but I that's what I want to know, Like,
13:41
Speaker 2: is this is definitely yes? And if you can't say that,
13:44
Speaker 2: then that answers the question. Okay, you there a trade
13:46
Speaker 2: is going to be explored. Yeah. I think if they
13:52
Speaker 2: wanted to keep him, I could say, Facebook franchise, we're
13:55
Speaker 2: going to do everything in our power to make sure
13:57
Speaker 2: it stays that way. Or if you're committed to twenty
14:01
Speaker 2: twenty six and then see what happens. Terrek schoubl is
14:04
Speaker 2: going to be a Tiger next year, we plan to
14:05
Speaker 2: make another run for a world series and we hope
14:07
Speaker 2: we can keep them beyond that. Instead, it was well,
14:10
Speaker 2: I can't comment on that, or tray it's or free agency.
14:14
Speaker 2: I think you're right. I think that's a Scott not
14:16
Speaker 2: willing to pigeonhole himself into anything which tells you they're
14:20
Speaker 2: gonna look at the trademarket and hey, that's not the
14:24
Speaker 2: worst thing. Like if so, there's a sect of people
14:27
Speaker 2: who do not want that to happen. And I understand
14:30
Speaker 2: that Terrek Scouble is great, but if they think they
14:33
Speaker 2: can't sign him, which I still contend is a Scott
14:36
Speaker 2: Boors thing more than it is a Detroit Tiger's thing
14:39
Speaker 2: or even a Chris Zilich thing. I think you got
14:43
Speaker 2: to see what offers are out there. And so maybe
14:45
Speaker 2: this was Scott Harris's way of saying it without being direct.
14:50
Speaker 2: That's that's still how I interpret it.
14:55
Speaker 1: I'm just trying to go over like there's the school,
15:00
Speaker 1: Like my job is to play thing. Do you want
15:02
Speaker 1: to meet with the front office? Do you want to
15:03
Speaker 1: have an understanding of the direction of the team. It
15:06
Speaker 1: feels to me like there's there should be no concerns
15:12
Speaker 1: from Tark Schoobl's long term perspective about the Tigers trying
15:15
Speaker 1: to be competitive, the extent of which he would sign
15:18
Speaker 1: a contract like that that should not I'm not saying like.
15:22
Speaker 2: Oh, there's one. Are they competitive enough to try to
15:24
Speaker 2: sign him.
15:25
Speaker 1: Well, I guess, I guess I mean, like like good
15:29
Speaker 1: good teams like the Tigers good stuff. We should be
15:32
Speaker 1: past that relatively, or at least as good a bet
15:37
Speaker 1: as anyone outside of you know, maybe a couple franchises
15:40
Speaker 1: to be competitive and good. There's another element of I
15:50
Speaker 1: do think even though the Bors stuff looms, and I
15:53
Speaker 1: don't even mean this to be critical of Tarik front
15:55
Speaker 1: of the program, but if he really wants to get
15:59
Speaker 1: a deal on he could be like looking to do
16:03
Speaker 1: that this offseason too. Is that also fair? Is that
16:06
Speaker 1: also fair?
16:08
Speaker 2: Yes? And I don't you know he did that. Cal
16:11
Speaker 2: Raley fired Scott Boris to sign a Mariner's extension, and
16:16
Speaker 2: Scott Boris has got to be sitting back with his
16:18
Speaker 2: arms crossed like I told you so, Cal, because although
16:22
Speaker 2: Cal's got to be very happy and he's secure, and
16:24
Speaker 2: there are certain things about that that you can't put
16:26
Speaker 2: a price tag on, ky Rally would have made cal
16:29
Speaker 2: Rilly would have made a lot more money if he
16:31
Speaker 2: did not fire Scott Boris to sign an extension with
16:33
Speaker 2: the Mariners. And don't think that Trek Scuble is not
16:36
Speaker 2: aware of that dynamic or Boris Corp. Has not communicated
16:40
Speaker 2: that dynamic. Uh, that's not it. That doesn't make Errek
16:43
Speaker 2: a bad person. If he doesn't want to settle for
16:46
Speaker 2: less than his market value to stay a Tiger, could
16:49
Speaker 2: he dictate that he wants to sign an extension. Sure,
16:53
Speaker 2: there have been a couple guys in the astros who
16:55
Speaker 2: are bores clients who did that. I'm just telling you
16:58
Speaker 2: it's it's really likely that it's gonna work out that way.
17:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's fair. Again, this is not to be
17:06
Speaker 1: critical of Errek and what he, you know, making the
17:08
Speaker 1: biggest decision of his life at that point. Whatever, you know,
17:13
Speaker 1: whatever it is, well, I guess let me just ask
17:17
Speaker 1: you this just for fun, just for fun, just for fun.
17:20
Speaker 1: Is it more likely that Tark Schooble is traded this offseason,
17:27
Speaker 1: traded at the trade deadline, or signed with the Tigers
17:31
Speaker 1: as a true free agent like after the twenty sixth season.
17:35
Speaker 2: After listening to answers from Chris Olich, Tarek Schoubel, and
17:39
Speaker 2: Scott Harris, I lean toward it's more likely that he
17:41
Speaker 2: gets traded this offseason. They're not gonna do it for nothing.
17:45
Speaker 2: I don't think they're gonna do it out of the
17:47
Speaker 2: since they have to, it's gonna have to be a
17:50
Speaker 2: damn good offer. It's gonna have to be some serious capital,
17:55
Speaker 2: probably a major league ready player or two in there.
17:58
Speaker 2: But holding on to him until the trade deadline just
18:01
Speaker 2: seems like you'll get less value in return. And if
18:05
Speaker 2: he goes to free agency, man, I it's it's there's
18:09
Speaker 2: some other works out there. It's just going to be
18:10
Speaker 2: tough to beat them.
18:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would also say that, you know, this is
18:18
Speaker 1: how this process, whatever the end result is, how is handled,
18:22
Speaker 1: is going to be also part of the Scott Harris
18:24
Speaker 1: like kind of legacy or like a public perception because
18:29
Speaker 1: we've talked about it on this pod is like you
18:32
Speaker 1: got sources that just kind of are critical of the
18:34
Speaker 1: way the Tigers deal with other teams. And we'll definitely
18:37
Speaker 1: have that conversation again next trade deadline. So how do you, like,
18:43
Speaker 1: how do you go about like kind of trying to
18:46
Speaker 1: do the whisper campaign of like, hey, well listen, you know,
18:50
Speaker 1: like you know, like those are that's that's where relationships matter.
18:54
Speaker 2: That's where I think it doesn't hurt that it is
18:56
Speaker 2: Tek Scruble and he is hands down one of the
18:59
Speaker 2: games top three elite pitchers seeing Paul Skians or stand
19:03
Speaker 2: outs are the best pictures in the game. You don't
19:06
Speaker 2: have to do a lot of whispering. There are some
19:08
Speaker 2: teams and some front offices who are gonna be under
19:10
Speaker 2: a lot of pressure. The Yankees, the Padres to do
19:14
Speaker 2: something to win a title, and they know schools on
19:19
Speaker 2: an expiring deal, and I think they may be a
19:21
Speaker 2: little more proactive than if it were Jack Flaherty to
19:25
Speaker 2: call and say, hey, what do we have to do
19:27
Speaker 2: to get this guy? Now? You're deal making skills, your relationships.
19:32
Speaker 2: That still matters, and like a deal getting done, but
19:35
Speaker 2: it's scoobable, and I think that makes it different than
19:37
Speaker 2: almost any other player. And to be clear, like again,
19:43
Speaker 2: it's gonna sting if they were to trade school, but
19:45
Speaker 2: it might not be the worst thing. The Nationals deal
19:49
Speaker 2: for one Sodo looks kind of good right now. The
19:51
Speaker 2: Padres Wan Soto deal doesn't look too bad right now.
19:55
Speaker 2: Sometimes these deals work out. The Astros, I Kyle Tucker
19:58
Speaker 2: had a great year, but they're pretty happy to have
20:01
Speaker 2: Cam Smith and he slack Paradise Like, it's not always
20:06
Speaker 2: the worst thing. So I still contend they got to
20:09
Speaker 2: pick a lane, except that you're gonna have to trade
20:12
Speaker 2: them or really make a real push for twenty twenty six.
20:16
Speaker 2: Right now, there are no indications that there's going to
20:19
Speaker 2: be more aggression. Like Scott Harris said, they're gonna be winters.
20:23
Speaker 2: We pursue a flashy name and offer a bunch of money,
20:26
Speaker 2: they're gonna be winters. We go after more targeted needs.
20:29
Speaker 2: I don't know what this winter is gonna be. We're
20:30
Speaker 2: gonna sit back and evaluate. That again, is very different
20:33
Speaker 2: messaging than hey, we're a piece or two away from
20:36
Speaker 2: getting to the top. We're prepared to make that move
20:39
Speaker 2: for twenty twenty six. I'm not sure Scott Harris is
20:41
Speaker 2: ever gonna speak that way, but I think it's important
20:43
Speaker 2: to note that he did not speak that way Monday.
20:49
Speaker 1: All right, well, let's you know, there was another guy
20:52
Speaker 1: at the at the podium there. It was AJ Hench
20:56
Speaker 1: and they announced AJA. You know, it's official now AJ
21:00
Speaker 1: has gotten a contract extension for an unknown amount of
21:04
Speaker 1: money and an unknown amount of years. But you know
21:09
Speaker 1: everything Tucky Dory there or whatever. But the messaging from AJ.
21:12
Speaker 1: You you talked to him obviously multiple times a day
21:15
Speaker 1: during the season, especially during you know, a playoff run
21:18
Speaker 1: and push and and all that stuff vibes from AJ
21:22
Speaker 1: and kind of his messaging because I did kind of
21:25
Speaker 1: feel that sense of urgency a little bit from him too.
21:28
Speaker 1: But you were there, would you kind of get.
21:29
Speaker 2: From Yeah, for sure. I think it's important to note,
21:32
Speaker 2: at least according to Scott Harris, this deal was completed
21:34
Speaker 2: in season. They agreed they just didn't want it public,
21:38
Speaker 2: you know, in season, given the focus should be on
21:40
Speaker 2: the players. So when this the Bob Nightingale thing had
21:43
Speaker 2: come up, I said, Man, this really reeks of coming
21:45
Speaker 2: from an agent. Maybe he's just starting to get a
21:47
Speaker 2: little more money. I guess I'll apologize for saying that
21:51
Speaker 2: because it was it was wrong that the Nightingale report
21:55
Speaker 2: was wrong, and maybe so it didn't come from an agent. Whatever,
21:58
Speaker 2: it was a bad report. I think it's good the
22:01
Speaker 2: Tigers are keeping AJ. Obviously, I said this on The
22:03
Speaker 2: Big Foul Territory Show. Like he's a really good manager.
22:06
Speaker 2: He's had a huge hand in building this up into
22:10
Speaker 2: a winning organization. It is really interesting that he's got
22:13
Speaker 2: two extensions in the course of two years. Hard to
22:17
Speaker 2: talk about without knowing more of the details. Makes you
22:20
Speaker 2: wonder how long it is makes you wonder is his
22:23
Speaker 2: contract longer than Scott Harris's and if so, is that
22:26
Speaker 2: an awkward dynamic even though they love working together. I'll
22:31
Speaker 2: take this as a good thing that the works proactive
22:33
Speaker 2: in locking up AJ, and I'm not sure I have
22:36
Speaker 2: a lot of other other thoughts on it beside that.
22:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, well again, he went into a couple like tangents,
22:43
Speaker 1: some of them unprompted during during the depressor, which I
22:49
Speaker 1: appreciate it because you know, like when you feel like
22:51
Speaker 1: the need to say something, especially with that's an authentic moment.
22:55
Speaker 1: And yeah, I have to say AJ is an authentic
22:57
Speaker 1: but you know what I mean, like there's a little
22:59
Speaker 1: bit more spirit there and that helped set the tone
23:02
Speaker 1: for the for the press conference as well. All Right,
23:07
Speaker 1: it's time for us to remind you that our playoff
23:11
Speaker 1: coverage is brought to you by Fox One. Fox one
23:14
Speaker 1: is now live stream all of your Fox favorites together
23:17
Speaker 1: in one place, including all American League playoff games and
23:20
Speaker 1: the World Series. And the early indications are that the
23:25
Speaker 1: American League play Championship Series is gonna be a fun one.
23:28
Speaker 1: As of recording, it is three to two Seattle and
23:32
Speaker 1: you can watch on Wednesday, October fifteenth. You can see
23:36
Speaker 1: George Kirby versus Shane Bieber and what is gonna be
23:40
Speaker 1: a pretty crucial regardless of how this game ends up?
23:43
Speaker 1: Game three in Seattle.
23:45
Speaker 2: Go.
23:45
Speaker 1: You spent a lot of time in Seattle recently and
23:48
Speaker 1: it was a great crowd. You talked about it previously,
23:51
Speaker 1: But for a CS game, like, what's that crowd gonna
23:54
Speaker 1: be like? For a CS game in Seattle?
23:57
Speaker 2: As good of a baseball environment as I've been in, man, it,
24:00
Speaker 2: I can't imagine it being much better. But yeah, we'll
24:03
Speaker 2: see if they got another level in him.
24:05
Speaker 1: I think they do like I think they do that,
24:08
Speaker 1: I don't know if there is another level.
24:10
Speaker 2: That's how good of it. I'm not kidding you, man,
24:12
Speaker 2: it was amazing.
24:13
Speaker 1: Well, it makes for great TV and you can stream
24:16
Speaker 1: it all on Fox One, from MLB postseason to NFL
24:20
Speaker 1: on Fox to Big Noon Saturdays. With Fox One, you
24:23
Speaker 1: get all live. Start your seven day free trial today
24:26
Speaker 1: offers our subject to change. Go to foxwe dot com
24:30
Speaker 1: for complete terms and conditions. Fox one Streaming. Now, all right,
24:37
Speaker 1: let's let's let let's transition here, Cody to the the
24:43
Speaker 1: other sort of like Elfa in the room when it
24:45
Speaker 1: comes to the twenty twenty six Tigers, and that's when
24:48
Speaker 1: are we going to see Kevin McGonagall, When are we
24:50
Speaker 1: going to see Max Clark? When are we going to
24:52
Speaker 1: see and where are we going to see hos Way Rassino.
24:56
Speaker 1: That's that's gonna be on the top of everybody's minds
24:59
Speaker 1: and it and to Scott Harris's credit, because again this
25:02
Speaker 1: is a little bit of a frankness thing that I appreciated.
25:05
Speaker 1: He said, quote, those guys are going to factor into
25:09
Speaker 1: their off you know, the to their winter winter moves
25:13
Speaker 1: or lack thereof, and he's going to try to thread
25:16
Speaker 1: that needle between like improving major the major league team
25:20
Speaker 1: with proven major league level production and talent, while also
25:25
Speaker 1: quote preserving opportunity for for some of the top prospects
25:31
Speaker 1: who were not We're obviously off the table at last
25:34
Speaker 1: year's trade deadline. So uh, a lot of pressure on
25:38
Speaker 1: those guys and a lot of pressure on Scott Harris
25:40
Speaker 1: to try to figure out a bit a way to
25:41
Speaker 1: kind of thread this needle.
25:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know what you do with the infield man,
25:47
Speaker 2: I don't know. Doesn't sound like they know either, and
25:50
Speaker 2: I don't blame him because it's off hard decision. There's
25:52
Speaker 2: a lot to sort out. I did like how Frank
25:56
Speaker 2: Scott was about the swing and miss, the lack of
25:59
Speaker 2: con tack, the things that plugged the lineup down the
26:02
Speaker 2: stretch and really throughout most of the second half going
26:08
Speaker 2: about fixing that, Like, I don't know. He pointed to
26:10
Speaker 2: a lot of internal things, work with coaches on batpath.
26:14
Speaker 2: I think that will help a little bit. I'm not
26:16
Speaker 2: sure that that can only that I think that only
26:19
Speaker 2: makes marginal gains for players who are prone to chase
26:22
Speaker 2: or swing and miss in the first place, which still
26:24
Speaker 2: makes me think like there has to be something done
26:28
Speaker 2: externally and the good news. Another point Scott made was
26:33
Speaker 2: like basically saying, a lot of the players in our
26:36
Speaker 2: minor league system don't necessarily have as much of that profile,
26:39
Speaker 2: which they don't. Kevin mcgonagal is one of them. Kevin
26:44
Speaker 2: mcgonagal's got to be on the opening day roster, right, like,
26:46
Speaker 2: if you're factoring in prospect promotion incentive, I think he
26:49
Speaker 2: has to be. But he hasn't played in Triple A,
26:51
Speaker 2: so let's not act like he's a sure thing. Savior
26:59
Speaker 2: I don't. We got all the winner to talk about that.
27:01
Speaker 2: Help me out because I I don't have an answer.
27:03
Speaker 2: We got to be on your oster. But you've got
27:05
Speaker 2: to do more too.
27:06
Speaker 1: But you well, the thing is you have to try
27:08
Speaker 1: to find a like a half glabor toras essentially like
27:12
Speaker 1: a a player, a player that is like has the
27:16
Speaker 1: approach and the skill set and the mindset and is
27:19
Speaker 1: a veteran that is also sort of knows that there's
27:24
Speaker 1: going to be a displacement at a certain point. Does
27:27
Speaker 1: that person exist, I'm sure exists somewhere. I don't, but
27:32
Speaker 1: but I know that's not gonna be the greatest sales
27:34
Speaker 1: pitch on the planet. Uh for for again, like there's
27:37
Speaker 1: not gonna be another Glabor Tours. You have to go
27:39
Speaker 1: a tier below and and you might have to get creative.
27:42
Speaker 1: You might have to do trades, you might have to
27:44
Speaker 1: this is this is, this is what I'm talking about
27:46
Speaker 1: with not falling in love, you also can't fall in
27:48
Speaker 1: love with the prospects. Mind you too, Like that's.
27:51
Speaker 2: That might be too late. They love their prospects.
27:54
Speaker 1: We know that that so like it it's a very
27:58
Speaker 1: difficult kneed to thread like I said, and and part
28:02
Speaker 1: of it too is also like where like I don't know,
28:05
Speaker 1: I went through every scenario, where do you put Cold Keith?
28:09
Speaker 2: That was what else you're gonna do?
28:11
Speaker 1: I don't know, but it seems to me that they're
28:14
Speaker 1: gonna they're gonna try to give him something closer of
28:19
Speaker 1: a home positionally than he had this year. And maybe
28:25
Speaker 1: that home is third base. As of now, it's hard
28:27
Speaker 1: for me to envision him getting a whole lot of
28:30
Speaker 1: first base reps. I mean, I guess it's nice to
28:32
Speaker 1: have it in the arsenal. I also, I don't know.
28:36
Speaker 1: There was a very interesting comment with AJ about like
28:39
Speaker 1: the training that Cold Keith is, you know, and how
28:42
Speaker 1: it's like connect you know, and he used him as
28:44
Speaker 1: an example. It wasn't calling out Keith R anything, but
28:46
Speaker 1: like you know, how you train and in like how
28:49
Speaker 1: you like what kind of shape you put your body
28:51
Speaker 1: in for the next season, Like it all affects this
28:53
Speaker 1: blah blah blah blah. It was very interesting. Cold Keith
28:56
Speaker 1: is young enough that he does not have his quote
28:59
Speaker 1: unquote full grown man body build, yet like he can
29:03
Speaker 1: still kind of morph himself into a couple of different directions.
29:06
Speaker 1: Is that a corner guy. Is that someone who is
29:10
Speaker 1: like a somewhat of an up the middle player. I
29:13
Speaker 1: don't know. I kind of leaned toward a corner thing.
29:16
Speaker 1: But he was also negative too outs above average in
29:19
Speaker 1: a short sample size at their base this year, So
29:22
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know what you do there. Yeah,
29:24
Speaker 1: I want to give him some direction though, so he
29:26
Speaker 1: can kind of train as properly as possible while having
29:29
Speaker 1: a little bit of the versatility.
29:31
Speaker 2: Your point about not falling in love is a very
29:34
Speaker 2: strong and I think important point. I think for all
29:38
Speaker 2: the self awareness that Tigers showed today like they're still
29:43
Speaker 2: it's a very dangerous trap to overvalue your own players,
29:46
Speaker 2: and I worry they have been doing some of that,
29:48
Speaker 2: certainly in the minor leagues and maybe even at the
29:50
Speaker 2: major league level. And now you're at this point where
29:54
Speaker 2: you have this young core young talents. They've gotten you
29:56
Speaker 2: in the playoffs two years in a row. You're in
29:58
Speaker 2: a good spot as an organization, but we've seen the
30:02
Speaker 2: flaws show up, and so do you just hope that, hey,
30:05
Speaker 2: I give them another year, they'll stop striking out where
30:08
Speaker 2: Riley Green started striking out way more in his fourth
30:11
Speaker 2: major league season, or do you have to make some
30:14
Speaker 2: sort of difficult and creative move. I don't know what
30:18
Speaker 2: that move is. I'm glad I'm not the one who
30:20
Speaker 2: has to make it, but I think there we can
30:24
Speaker 2: unpack this as the offseason goes along. But I think
30:26
Speaker 2: there's going to be a case to make some sort
30:28
Speaker 2: of move because otherwise you're you're running back probably the
30:31
Speaker 2: same team, but McGonagall and you replace Glaber Torez, probably
30:36
Speaker 2: with some other free agent musician. It's gonna be really similar.
30:40
Speaker 2: And I'm not real comfortable with that, right, I'm not
30:44
Speaker 2: sure that gets you a lot better.
30:46
Speaker 1: It doesn't. It doesn't make me think that the expectation changes.
30:50
Speaker 2: Right. That sounds like another team that Pakoda is gonna
30:53
Speaker 2: pick to win eighty three games, and you're gonna hope
30:55
Speaker 2: it can win ninety games for the third, second or
30:59
Speaker 2: third year in a row. Like you're pregnancy time. It's
31:01
Speaker 2: time to It's about time to have that team that
31:04
Speaker 2: is picked to win ninety games, right. I think it's
31:09
Speaker 2: fair to assume you're at that point in a franchise.
31:11
Speaker 2: But to do that, there's going to have to be
31:13
Speaker 2: some sort of greater reshaping. I think, uh and that's
31:17
Speaker 2: the kid's going to be really difficult to pull off
31:20
Speaker 2: real quick.
31:21
Speaker 1: Here do you expect and we're talking about people's jobs here,
31:24
Speaker 1: So I want to make this with the right amount
31:25
Speaker 1: of grace, But do you expect coaching staff changes? I
31:28
Speaker 1: thought I kind of got that vibe based on what house. Yeah,
31:32
Speaker 1: the question.
31:33
Speaker 2: Look, if they were all coming back, I think they
31:34
Speaker 2: would say they're all coming back. It's very rare to
31:37
Speaker 2: bring back an entire coaching staff for two straight years
31:40
Speaker 2: for a variety of reasons. Some guys just might be
31:43
Speaker 2: ready for something different, some guys might want to challenge,
31:45
Speaker 2: some guys could be up for other jobs. Some guys
31:48
Speaker 2: might be ready to retire. So I think it's fair
31:51
Speaker 2: there will be some level of shuffle. We'll see exactly
31:54
Speaker 2: what that is.
31:56
Speaker 1: All right, And then you know, talk about not like
32:01
Speaker 1: a whole deep comment, but talking about Parker Meadow's injury.
32:06
Speaker 1: AJ call it the most random injury he had occurred
32:08
Speaker 1: in his career, where it's like the nerve wasn't like
32:10
Speaker 1: firing or whatever. That's another one too, where it's like
32:13
Speaker 1: you better get in the lab and figure something out
32:15
Speaker 1: with Parker Meadows because he is a there's only some
32:20
Speaker 1: We like him front of the program, but he probably can't.
32:25
Speaker 1: You have to have more options at center field this year,
32:29
Speaker 1: or you know, twenty twenty six than you anticipated going
32:32
Speaker 1: into twenty twenty five.
32:33
Speaker 2: Well you'll have one so Perez, and you'll you'll have
32:36
Speaker 2: Matt Vierling, and so you do have some other options.
32:39
Speaker 2: I guess that's the good news. But Parker's a textbook
32:43
Speaker 2: example of like, all right, this young player who didn't
32:45
Speaker 2: have a good year, he was hurt, so he gets
32:48
Speaker 2: a little bit of a pass. But is that an
32:51
Speaker 2: automatic re up or is there a way to be
32:53
Speaker 2: more aggressive and be like, you know what, we're just
32:55
Speaker 2: gonna upgrade center field. Again, I'm talking very hypothetical. I
33:00
Speaker 2: don't know what center fielder's out there. Even if if
33:02
Speaker 2: you were to trade Schoogle for major league ready talent,
33:05
Speaker 2: like what position would you want that major league great
33:08
Speaker 2: talent to play? Because you are displacing an existing player
33:12
Speaker 2: who is pretty good by doing that. Yeah, So like,
33:17
Speaker 2: in a way, I would almost treat this as like, hey,
33:20
Speaker 2: no one spot is one hundred percent safe this offseason
33:23
Speaker 2: because we're trying to get better and we're trying to
33:24
Speaker 2: win a World Series. I think that's kind of how
33:26
Speaker 2: you have to approach things. Parker Meadows could still have
33:29
Speaker 2: a very bright future. But yeah, I don't know that
33:32
Speaker 2: any job should be considered locked down.
33:36
Speaker 1: I agree. I agree, Uh, fall in like with your players,
33:42
Speaker 1: falling like with your seasons, don't fall in love with
33:45
Speaker 1: anything because it's gonna make it harder to pivot. That's
33:47
Speaker 1: that's that's the philosophy that I like my sports teams
33:50
Speaker 1: to have. And we're gonna find out a lot about
33:53
Speaker 1: where the like and where the love is I think
33:56
Speaker 1: this offseason.
33:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you're right, and yeah, they're probably is
34:00
Speaker 2: even an even deeper level of self awareness regarding some
34:04
Speaker 2: of that. Although they talk highly about all their players,
34:06
Speaker 2: I think when it's time to make some hard decisions,
34:10
Speaker 2: I mean, they're gonna have to be willing to do something,
34:12
Speaker 2: and I guess we'll have that answer provided in time.
34:17
Speaker 2: But I wouldn't be shocked if behind closed doors they
34:19
Speaker 2: already have an idea or two of what they'd like
34:21
Speaker 2: to do. Yeah.
34:22
Speaker 1: Absolutely, all right. You guys can follow us on Expertly
34:26
Speaker 1: known as Twitter at Cody Stavenhagen. I'm at here in
34:29
Speaker 1: Underscore is stectly pod page at Tiger Territory Underscore, YouTube, Instagram, Apple, Spotify,
34:34
Speaker 1: You guys know what to do. We appreciate all of you.
34:36
Speaker 1: We're chugging along this offseason with no shortage of things
34:39
Speaker 1: to talk about, so looking forward to a fun, fun
34:43
Speaker 1: and eventful winter. And I want to thank you guys
34:46
Speaker 1: for falling along. And be sure to go to Tiger
34:48
Speaker 1: Territory shop dot com if you want your Tiger Territory merch.
34:52
Speaker 1: So for Coey Stavenhagen, I'm Kieren Steckley. Everybody, have a
34:56
Speaker 1: great day.