Speaker 1: And welcome Inn to another episode of Tiger Territory, part
Speaker 1: of the bout Territory Network Detroit Tigers podcast.
Speaker 2: I'm curiously with.
Speaker 1: Me as always as a man who has been the
Speaker 1: center of the fold, but never the centerfold.
Speaker 2: He's Cody Standag and how we doing doing all right?
Speaker 3: Kieren? Yeah? Oh man, Like maybe a lot of jokes there.
Speaker 3: I'll probably just leave that one that would be, well, hey,
Speaker 3: you know this is very entertaining people.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 3: There's a place down here by where I live. It's
Speaker 3: called Centerfold. My girlfriend's like, oh, this might be a
Speaker 3: nice place for us to go eat. It's a strip club.
Speaker 3: We have not been Tofold.
Speaker 1: For the record, Well, if people just want to give
Speaker 1: give me a thirty second tangent on something on that
Speaker 1: kind of category, as we have fun here. During the
Speaker 1: All Star break one time in Frisco, right by the
Speaker 1: minor league ballpark the Text Rangers, double a affiliate, my
Speaker 1: mom and I were looking for to go to lunch
Speaker 1: and there was a place called Wild Pitch and I
Speaker 1: was like, oh, baseball, Wild Pitch. This seems like just
Speaker 1: a regular sports bar, right Mom and I walk in there.
Speaker 2: Nope, not a regular sports bar. One of those uh
Speaker 2: one of those.
Speaker 1: Ones where the skin the clothing ratio was a little off,
Speaker 1: if you know what I mean. So, uh, we still
Speaker 1: ate there. You know, it's kind of awkward when you
Speaker 1: walk in. You don't want to leave, you know.
Speaker 2: So yeah, yeah, yeah, it was a great mother's day.
Speaker 2: So all right, that's what.
Speaker 3: We get during the All Star break. I like it. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: it's probably.
Speaker 1: Absolutely maybe maybe a preview what's what's to come during
Speaker 1: Lockout season? All right, as we get to uh do
Speaker 1: some more baseball matters here, Cody. You know, I was,
Speaker 1: I was thinking back on some of our topics in
Speaker 1: our last episode and then, uh and like reflecting on
Speaker 1: maybe some things that we missed or didn't quite get
Speaker 1: to and and there was one thing that kind of
Speaker 1: stuck out to me, and I was like, you know,
Speaker 1: like I talked about how much I really liked Derek
Speaker 1: Hill Mike see him to have success. Then I actually
Speaker 1: like went and looked at like his numbers, and he's
Speaker 1: having himself a decent years. He's a one plus war
Speaker 1: player right now. He's he's a two fifty eight hitter.
Speaker 1: His ops against lefties is good. Like, there's a lot
Speaker 1: to like about Derek Hill if you're a Philadelphia Phillies fan,
Speaker 1: And so then transition to this, how do we feel
Speaker 1: about the state of Tigers center field right now? Because
Speaker 1: like it was something that I think coming into the
Speaker 1: season you would have felt maybe some anxiousness, but overall,
Speaker 1: you like the potential of the Tigers center field status
Speaker 1: with Parker Meadows and we know what you know, Hobby
Speaker 1: Bias could do defensively and and and all that stuff.
Speaker 1: And you know, the majority of the season there's been
Speaker 1: no Parker Medals and there's been no Hobby Bias and
Speaker 1: so it was the Matt Berlan Show for a little bit.
Speaker 1: Now James Outman is in the equation, So I just
Speaker 1: kind of I just wanted to bring it up, like
Speaker 1: because like the outfield itself is not does not great
Speaker 1: out well in general, and these are in the and
Speaker 1: and maybe that shouldn't be surprising when you're relying on
Speaker 1: a Matt veering to play for a long time, play
Speaker 1: nearly every day. Now it's more of a blatoon platoon
Speaker 1: with James, we haven't really gotten into that with all
Speaker 1: the other stuff going on. So I'm just kind of
Speaker 1: curious how you feel about this, Like you know, pivotal position,
Speaker 1: uh for the Tigers for that park, and and an
Speaker 1: area that they obviously epicize in development. Just you know,
Speaker 1: being below average right now, if you look at pretty
Speaker 1: much every metric.
Speaker 3: Well, it's worse than below average. The Tigers center fielders
Speaker 3: this year combined negative two point one wins above replacement
Speaker 3: for Baseball Reference that ranks thirtieth. That is not what
Speaker 3: you want when you play in one of the biggest
Speaker 3: parks in the league. Now, obviously injuries have been a
Speaker 3: part of that, and the James Outman thing has made
Speaker 3: this at least look or feel a little bit better.
Speaker 3: The row number is still not a ton better. I
Speaker 3: mean Outman's negative zero point two war since he's been
Speaker 3: with the Tigers, But I overall do think the roster
Speaker 3: is functioning a little better. You have a little more
Speaker 3: confidence in the defense out there, and again outman and
Speaker 3: center kind of can allow you to sometimes push Verer
Speaker 3: Laying or someone else to right field, so sort of
Speaker 3: strengthened that. Although Kerry Carpenter has still been playing a
Speaker 3: lot of right field, the outman thing has been like
Speaker 3: a slight improvement, and it was so bad you needed
Speaker 3: any slight improvement you could get. That's why they did it,
Speaker 3: and it has been a better use of a roster
Speaker 3: spot than Zach Short was. I think the good news
Speaker 3: here is that there's reason to believe center field can
Speaker 3: be better in the second half. We don't really have
Speaker 3: a great timeline for when Javier Buys is going to
Speaker 3: be back, but seems like he could be back the Tigers.
Speaker 3: The last update we heard on Parker Meadows wasn't overly encouraging.
Speaker 3: Its sounded like the arm is healing slowly. I mean,
Speaker 3: it was a pretty bad fraction, but he still has
Speaker 3: not been ruled out for the season, and you do
Speaker 3: have Max Clark. He's done some nice things recently, could
Speaker 3: be an option to debut at some point before the
Speaker 3: end of the season. We can dive into all that
Speaker 3: a little bit closer, but I think the good news
Speaker 3: is you at least have options that should help in
Speaker 3: some form or fashion between now and the end of
Speaker 3: the year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, just looking at Outman's numbers, like it feels like
Speaker 1: he's got it, had better than one forty eight average
Speaker 1: with the Tigers.
Speaker 3: It really does feel better than that. I don't it's
Speaker 3: actually like, yeah, he's not been good but it feels
Speaker 3: like he's been pretty good.
Speaker 2: And then then you.
Speaker 1: Look at he's got no doubles, but he's got a
Speaker 1: triple in three home runs.
Speaker 2: You know what I mean? It is it is a
Speaker 2: very peculiar thing.
Speaker 1: He actually has like worse numbers with the Tigers in
Speaker 1: Minnesota in some of these instances.
Speaker 2: And they cast them away.
Speaker 1: And I actually kind of feel decent about James Outman,
Speaker 1: like as far as the ratio and the that we
Speaker 1: that we talked about, and even looking at his platoons,
Speaker 1: Cody Man here, you want you want to reverse split?
Speaker 1: You want to reverse split for Outman. He is hitting
Speaker 1: three thirty three versus left handed pitching and one fifteen
Speaker 1: versus right handed pitching. So that's a that's a big
Speaker 1: reverse split. Obviously not the most grand of sample sizes,
Speaker 1: but it is.
Speaker 2: It is. It is kind of wild there.
Speaker 1: So then the question becomes if, but again presumably Hobby
Speaker 1: will be back. He you know, earlier this week had
Speaker 1: a picture of or a video of him. He posted,
Speaker 1: you know, hitting off the tee. It's hitting off the tee.
Speaker 1: But you know, I see anything baseball related from from
Speaker 1: a guy injured.
Speaker 3: It'd be nice if hobby could start speeding things along,
Speaker 3: maybe like early August. Yeah, doable, hobby, I mean, hobby
Speaker 3: on the phone. How are you feelings? Let's let's up
Speaker 3: a little bit, let's.
Speaker 1: Go and is it as simple as he becomes your
Speaker 1: mostly every day center fielder when that's the case, or
Speaker 1: like like it, like, what do you do you know
Speaker 1: from a construction stamp outman?
Speaker 4: I guess I don't know.
Speaker 3: I don't. Then for as much as we say it
Speaker 3: feels better, he can't hit one twenty eight forever. That's
Speaker 3: eventually going to stop feeling so good, so that I
Speaker 3: don't know, it's a question, might just be a lot
Speaker 3: of hobby bios.
Speaker 1: Karen, which was in text the question, It's like, you know,
Speaker 1: one of the things that we've forgotten is what it's
Speaker 1: like to kind of experience that everyday hobby bias. And
Speaker 1: if you and and and for for that, you know
Speaker 1: you I'll remind people his numbers not a lot of power,
Speaker 1: but he was batting two fifty two fifty six, you know,
Speaker 1: solid defense, like really just an average player at this point.
Speaker 1: But again, what is average right now for a team
Speaker 1: that is desperately trying to claw back into you know,
Speaker 1: playoff contention and trying to you know, potentially like make
Speaker 1: a run at division, make a run at a wildcard.
Speaker 1: Berth like having having average in certain spots here, Cody
Speaker 1: is like resents like a decent upgrade. And then if
Speaker 1: you throw in the fact that like there is still
Speaker 1: an energy to Hobby that I think, like maybe one
Speaker 1: could argue was missing from this team and some in
Speaker 1: some respects over the course of the first half that
Speaker 1: I think there's there's actually like there is potential. I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna like lay my reputation on the line here
Speaker 1: to make this prediction, but there is potential that there
Speaker 1: is some sort of like Hobby comes back. Then we
Speaker 1: kind of and we kind of for remember that we
Speaker 1: forgot as I punched through that like what he brings
Speaker 1: on a daily basis in terms of upside, in terms
Speaker 1: of you know, you know, making these wild plays occasionally
Speaker 1: that over the course of the second half of the
Speaker 1: season could end up being the difference in a win,
Speaker 1: and every single win, as we've talked about for the
Speaker 1: last like six weeks, could come crucial come standing time, right, So,
Speaker 1: like there there is that element to Hot that maybe
Speaker 1: the you know, the El Majo magician. I'm sorry I
Speaker 1: spudged that up again.
Speaker 3: Yeah, let's go clean it up.
Speaker 1: Yeah, tighten up, let's go clean it up. It's an
Speaker 1: all Star break for me too. I just think, like
Speaker 1: we we for we have forgotten what he can do
Speaker 1: well and and I think we like we probably need
Speaker 1: a reminder of that.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: The other I guess kind of an elephant in the
Speaker 3: room is Max Clark. And because it's a prospect, I
Speaker 3: know there are people out there, why not just bring
Speaker 3: up Max Clark. I will say Max Clark is having
Speaker 3: a pretty nice July, only ten games, but he's got
Speaker 3: a nine to thirty nine OPS. He's gotten deep off
Speaker 3: lefties a couple of times here recently. He's doing some
Speaker 3: of the things you would really like to see. Because
Speaker 3: his overall season numbers the OPS is only seven fifty five,
Speaker 3: you would like to see that higher from a prospect
Speaker 3: of his caliber. We've talked about like he's hit lefties
Speaker 3: for average, but not a lot of extra base power.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's only four extra base hits against lefties
Speaker 3: all year, but some of those three of those have
Speaker 3: been recent, so that is an encouraging sign. He's a
Speaker 3: talented defender. The instincts. You know, we've talked about. We
Speaker 3: saw it a lot in spring training. Maybe not quite
Speaker 3: what you would want them to be, So it's not
Speaker 3: as easy as you snap your finger. And Max Clark
Speaker 3: is a plus center fielder, let's keep that in mind.
Speaker 3: But there are very real scenarios where Max Clark could
Speaker 3: debut by the end of the year. I think given
Speaker 3: the course of where we're at, it'd probably be wise
Speaker 3: for the Tigers to try to maintain Clark's rookie eligibility.
Speaker 3: So we're talking he's not coming up until the end
Speaker 3: of August. But there's a world where the Tigers are
Speaker 3: in this and they need a little help and so
Speaker 3: they call it Max Clark. Or there's a world where
Speaker 3: they are out of it and things have kind of
Speaker 3: been dismantled a little bit, and you call the kid
Speaker 3: up just to let them play. I think either of
Speaker 3: those could be could be scenarios. I guess there's also
Speaker 3: a world where you're totally out of it and you
Speaker 3: to just delay his debut until next year. Also not impossible,
Speaker 3: but given you can retain a four year of service
Speaker 3: time and retain a year of rookie eligibility, I would
Speaker 3: kind of lean towards seeing Max Clark before this year
Speaker 3: is up. If he continues to hit to the tune
Speaker 3: of a nine to thirty nine ops, I think we're
Speaker 3: definitely gonna see this kid. But let's remember some of
Speaker 3: it just depends how he performs, what the underlying numbers
Speaker 3: look like. Is he doing the things the Tigers most
Speaker 3: want to see him do.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've kind of gotten to the point of I anticipate.
Speaker 1: I'd have to be proven otherwise. I just don't think
Speaker 1: we're gonna see him this year unless something, Unless unless
Speaker 1: we get like some wide variants, either his performance or
Speaker 1: the team's, you know, decline performance. I just kind of
Speaker 1: feel like the equilibrium element here is just just kind
Speaker 1: of let him be a ballplayer in Toledo and figure
Speaker 1: it out as many things as he can and see
Speaker 1: what happens at twenty twenty seven and what would be
Speaker 1: a very interesting spring spring training storyline. So oh right, Cody,
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Speaker 2: So you can use it later. Thank you seek all right, Cody,
Speaker 2: I you know one of the things that we like.
Speaker 1: To do preseason is you know, come up with some
Speaker 1: bold predictions and just kind of see how right or wrong.
Speaker 1: I think we usually are pretty good about our bold predictions,
Speaker 1: but I wanted to do some second half bold predictions
Speaker 1: because look, if the Tigers are going to be a
Speaker 1: playoff team, a playoff contender anything above that, things are
Speaker 1: going to have to be bold, right, So why don't
Speaker 1: why don't we start out with some bold predictions for
Speaker 1: the second half. And I'm just gonna start off the
Speaker 1: top with maybe the boldest Tigers win the AL Central.
Speaker 1: It's not out of the question.
Speaker 2: Code.
Speaker 1: I know you like one of your like, I guess
Speaker 1: most famous phrases of the of the season is are.
Speaker 2: The Chicago White Sox really gonna win this division? And
Speaker 2: and and like.
Speaker 1: Yeah, like I I don't have a huge argument. I'm
Speaker 1: looking at the odds on fan duel right now. I'll
Speaker 1: just list them off for everybody to win the AL Central.
Speaker 1: Cleveland Guardians minus one oh five, Chicago White Sox plus
Speaker 1: one eighty, Tigers plus six hundred, so their third third
Speaker 1: best odds, Minnesota Twins plus eight fifty, Kansas City Royals
Speaker 1: a big number.
Speaker 2: Let's just put it at that, So.
Speaker 1: It's like one of the reasons I think this is
Speaker 1: like I almost wonder if this is the well, I
Speaker 1: don't wonder it. It clearly is the clearest path to
Speaker 1: getting to the postseason because you have only a few
Speaker 1: teams that you gotta contend with in order to clinch
Speaker 1: up postseason birth as opposed to I don't know the
Speaker 1: entire American League for these wildcard spots, and like, you know,
Speaker 1: like like so people are gonna look at the wildcard
Speaker 1: standings and be like, well, the number is smaller, that
Speaker 1: might be the more feasible option. I mean, not necessarily, Cody,
Speaker 1: I like I think that. I think that, like, given
Speaker 1: the status of Cleveland, given the youth of Chicago, and
Speaker 1: given the rest of the division, I just feel like
Speaker 1: this might be the thing to shoot for as opposed
Speaker 1: to stands score watching you know, the entire American League.
Speaker 2: So that's my bold prediction.
Speaker 1: And if I were to make it bolder, I might
Speaker 1: just say it's division or bust for a playoff berth,
Speaker 1: But I'm not sure I want to go that far.
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, yeah, if you can win the division,
Speaker 3: you can also get a wildcard spot. So that's not like,
Speaker 3: really the way to look at it. Every time I
Speaker 3: sit here and look at the division standings, I'm just like,
Speaker 3: it's doable. It felt better when it was four and
Speaker 3: a half two days ago compared to six and a half.
Speaker 3: The Tigers playoff odds a reminder of how much weight
Speaker 3: is on every game right now. Three days ago, their
Speaker 3: playoff odds were thirty nine point five percent. They lost
Speaker 3: two games, White Sox won a couple, the Guardians won
Speaker 3: a couple. The playoff odds overall have dropped to uh,
Speaker 3: where are we at twenty three point two? The division
Speaker 3: odds were as high as twenty seven point five percent.
Speaker 3: They're back down to thirteen point five. But a reminder.
Speaker 3: You come out of the break, you sweep the Angels,
Speaker 3: White Sox lose a couple, like you're back to You're
Speaker 3: back to this feeling possible. It will take a lot,
Speaker 3: It will take playing like one of the best teams
Speaker 3: in baseball for the entire second half. But you have
Speaker 3: been one of the best teams in baseball since June first. Okay,
Speaker 3: you've been playing at that clip. You just have to
Speaker 3: keep doing it. I don't think I'm quite comfortable enough
Speaker 3: like putting my foot down and saying, the Tigers are
Speaker 3: going to do this. I've thought about it a couple times.
Speaker 3: It's still it's still just a little too hard. It's
Speaker 3: still just a little bit uphill. But I really wouldn't
Speaker 3: be shocked because the Twins man come on the White
Speaker 3: Sox again. Are they really going to win the division?
Speaker 3: I guess sometimes, you know, it felt like the Guardians
Speaker 3: have fallen off. They've won four in a row. They're
Speaker 3: actually tied with the White Sox atop the standings, and
Speaker 3: they are eventually going to get Jose Ramirez back. So
Speaker 3: maybe the Guardians are still the biggest threat here. If
Speaker 3: you can look at run differential Kieran, the Tigers are
Speaker 3: plus twenty four. That's they're the only other team besides
Speaker 3: the White Sox and the Central in the green. The
Speaker 3: White Sox are at plus twenty five. If you can
Speaker 3: just keep playing good ball, you could end up right
Speaker 3: there with the White Sox at the end of the year.
Speaker 3: So I don't think it's the most ridiculous bold prediction.
Speaker 3: Of course, it all still kind of comes back to
Speaker 3: sixteen games until the deadline. Can you play well enough
Speaker 3: in those sixteen games to either prevent a fire sale
Speaker 3: or maybe become legitimate buyers instead of sellers, because if
Speaker 3: you part with some pieces, some difficult match gets even
Speaker 3: more difficult than I and I don't know if they
Speaker 3: can do it. So that's these next sixteen games, man
Speaker 3: are going to be so fascinating.
Speaker 1: Well, on that note, Cody, that brings me to bold
Speaker 1: prediction number two. The Detroit Tigers trade Trek Schoogle. But
Speaker 1: more or less, that's it. It's not a fire sale.
Speaker 1: You know, you keep Miyes, you keep Flaherty, you keep Torres,
Speaker 1: you keep Jake Rogers. Maybe you bolster, you know, your
Speaker 1: your your team and your bullpen in some fashion with
Speaker 1: with a smaller deal. But it's not a fire sale.
Speaker 1: You trade Trek Schoogle because it's just you just can't
Speaker 1: you get I can't say no deal and then you
Speaker 1: and then you play it out the rest of the
Speaker 1: way and just kind of see what happens. That That
Speaker 1: is my bold prediction right now. And then a side note,
Speaker 1: I will say congratulations to Tigers executives because no one
Speaker 1: seems to think that they're gonna trade Derek Schouble like
Speaker 1: national pundits, local market guys like outside of Detroit, of
Speaker 1: teams that might want Derek schoogle services, nobody seems to
Speaker 1: think they're gonna do it. So if your goal was
Speaker 1: to play poker and say that like, hey, we don't
Speaker 1: really want to trade them, so you're gonna have to
Speaker 1: impress us and you're trying to raise the price, good job.
Speaker 1: Seems to have worked so far. But anyway, Yeah, and
Speaker 1: that is it throughout the needle. That's that's my bold prediction.
Speaker 3: I do think made No, I don't. I'm about to
Speaker 3: get going on that first. The point you just made
Speaker 3: that I that I like is that it's not like
Speaker 3: a vacuum Scott Harris has to sit down and press
Speaker 3: a button. I'm going to trade him. I'm not going
Speaker 3: to trade him. One thing that will probably determine whether
Speaker 3: Schooble is traded is the caliber of offers, right. I
Speaker 3: think that the reason a lot of people do want
Speaker 3: to maybe thread this needle, trade Schooble but nothing else,
Speaker 3: is because the return could potentially just be too good
Speaker 3: to pass up. It could be beneficial for your future
Speaker 3: to hold on to Schooble and hope you have a
Speaker 3: magical couple of months and then then it's like, well,
Speaker 3: what are the offers, and we're probably not really gonna
Speaker 3: know the offers. If the offers suck, that increases the
Speaker 3: likelihood that he's just gonna stay put. If the offer
Speaker 3: is really, really good and really compelling, like that is
Speaker 3: something Scott Harris is going to have to weigh. Now
Speaker 3: with the threading the needle part, Here's where I guess
Speaker 3: I'm unlike a lot of people. I just I don't
Speaker 3: really get it. If you were going to trade Trek's Schooble,
Speaker 3: what are the chances, like, do your odds of winning
Speaker 3: the World Series actually go up? Is your team actually
Speaker 3: is there any offer that makes your team in the
Speaker 3: second half of twenty twenty six better than it is
Speaker 3: with Trek's Schoogle? I tend to think no. I tend
Speaker 3: to like, at best, you're gonna get some really young
Speaker 3: hitter and you're gonna plug him in and hope he
Speaker 3: can get going right away. Or you can get river
Speaker 3: Rye who's pretty good increase it. It doesn't increase it.
Speaker 3: So if you're not playing to win the World Series,
Speaker 3: and if you're playing for the future, the pieces you
Speaker 3: get back for Schooble, why would you not just trade everybody.
Speaker 3: You can get a pretty damn good prospect for Casey
Speaker 3: mys Too. You can get something for Jack Flaherty, you
Speaker 3: can get something for Glabor Torres. You might be able
Speaker 3: to get something for Jake Rogers. I'd like, as much
Speaker 3: as it would be kind of demoralizing to pull the
Speaker 3: plug more or less on the year, if you trade Schooble,
Speaker 3: that to me is a white flag it.
Speaker 2: I get it.
Speaker 3: It might be too hard to pass up. You might
Speaker 3: have to trade them, especially if you don't win at
Speaker 3: probably at least ten of these next sixteen games, You're
Speaker 3: probably gonna have to do it. And if you trade him,
Speaker 3: I think you gotta trade everyone. I just don't see
Speaker 3: what is the point of like trying to make a
Speaker 3: wild card. Where does that get you? To me? That
Speaker 3: to me, I to me, if you're not really gonna
Speaker 3: go in and try to win the World Series with Scooble,
Speaker 3: I would rather really start reshaping things for twenty twenty seven. Then,
Speaker 3: even if that sucks, and if the goal was to
Speaker 3: thread the needle and get stuff here and reshuffle, I
Speaker 3: think you should have done that in the off season.
Speaker 3: There was a part of me that was not opposed
Speaker 3: to the Tiger's trading ark school in the off season,
Speaker 3: especially before they signed from er Valdez, and it felt
Speaker 3: like they weren't gonna do anything. They didn't do that
Speaker 3: because they seemingly wanted to take a shot at this thing.
Speaker 3: And although the first half went poorly, you're playing good
Speaker 3: ball now, so like, why are you straying for that
Speaker 3: from that mission? If you get there in the math
Speaker 3: says you just can't do it, that's fine. I don't
Speaker 3: know why would you hold on to Casey Miies though,
Speaker 3: what like, tell tell me why?
Speaker 2: Why?
Speaker 1: Well, because, like I like, because the broader piece of
Speaker 1: this cody is that I just still feel like postseason opportunities,
Speaker 1: which is I think we can fairly say the Tigers
Speaker 1: have in front of them, and even if they do
Speaker 1: trade terror school and that's it, they would have postseason
Speaker 1: opportunities unless again, if they're basically in there in the
Speaker 1: realm of where they're at right now that they collapsed.
Speaker 1: And this argument is, boy, can we kind of agree
Speaker 1: on those parameters right where it's like if it's within
Speaker 1: striking distance, but you just have to do you can
Speaker 1: do it's doing the long term thing and doing the
Speaker 1: short term thing because if we're not playing for the postseason,
Speaker 1: so everyone says, like, go win the World Series.
Speaker 2: I understand all that.
Speaker 1: But if we're not playing for the postseason, then what
Speaker 1: do we do and we have a good enough team
Speaker 1: to get to the postseason, then what.
Speaker 2: Are we doing here?
Speaker 1: It's that to me, and you have like you have
Speaker 1: an opportunity to go for it, why not go for
Speaker 1: it while also saving yourself for the future.
Speaker 2: I just don't think it's now.
Speaker 3: I'm not really going for it. If you trade Schooble,
Speaker 3: You're just not really It's kind of like a bad
Speaker 3: faith effort, I think.
Speaker 1: I mean, is it bad faith or is it bad
Speaker 1: faith to just like assume in the future that you're
Speaker 1: gonna be able to compile a team that is like
Speaker 1: quote unquote going for the World Series, you know, without tear,
Speaker 1: without terror Schooble, with these pieces, I just feel like
Speaker 1: the more certain thing is this team can get to
Speaker 1: the playoff to see what happens. And Okay, like again,
Speaker 1: the bull friction is not like I want to trade
Speaker 1: Terror school. The bold prediction would be this would be
Speaker 1: like the thread the needle thing.
Speaker 2: Because it's satisfied.
Speaker 3: I have heard people in this organization say the word
Speaker 3: asset management before, right, how do you best manage each
Speaker 3: of your assets? And there may be an argument that
Speaker 3: the best thing to do is just to trade schoople.
Speaker 3: There is also an argument the best thing to do
Speaker 3: is just to trade Casey Mice and probably a couple
Speaker 3: of these others.
Speaker 1: Well, the best thing to do is to always trade
Speaker 1: every single player on the last year of a contract
Speaker 1: and then just you know, reset with young, cheap labor.
Speaker 1: That's always the best thing to do. Doesn't always happen,
Speaker 1: isn't isn't always the most like easiest pill to swallow.
Speaker 2: But that's the most asset management thing to do.
Speaker 3: But that kind of sounds like a Scott Harris move
Speaker 3: as we talk it out, then, Yeah, what's the best
Speaker 3: I'm trading all these guys on expiring deals get.
Speaker 1: Some asset management was to trade them in the off
Speaker 1: season or like or whatever, because that you would have
Speaker 1: gotten more for him or whatever. Like, I know, the
Speaker 1: Yankee fans aren't excited about getting school for Jacob Lombard
Speaker 1: or George Lombard.
Speaker 3: Yeah I don't think.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so like so like maybe, like you said earlier,
Speaker 1: maybe the turn just isn't there, and it's like it's
Speaker 1: just better to kind of go forward and see what happens.
Speaker 1: I will say this though, and this isn't This is
Speaker 1: kind of independent of my bold prediction there. I bear
Speaker 1: with me with a football analogy. Lane Kiffin leaving Old
Speaker 1: miss in the playoff to go coach LSU and Old
Speaker 1: Misses going in the playoff like advancing in the playoff
Speaker 1: like without their head coach is to me a sign
Speaker 1: of a broken system when he leaves for in conference arrival,
Speaker 1: like all these things, like that is a broken system.
Speaker 1: That that is a thing that we just like are
Speaker 1: okay with. I think it's also kind of a sign
Speaker 1: of a broken systm them that a team that's got
Speaker 1: back to back playoffs, you know, alds game five appearances
Speaker 1: as the best pitcher in the world and is right
Speaker 1: there in the thick of an expanded playoff race, it's
Speaker 1: just gonna like sell everybody because because they can't win, it's.
Speaker 3: It's broken because of the expanded playoff. He really shouldn't
Speaker 3: be eight games under five hundred and we're sitting here,
Speaker 3: can you win the World Series?
Speaker 1: So that's extended playoffs. The case of point extended playoffs
Speaker 1: always broken. All right, We're gonna take a quick break
Speaker 1: and then afterward I'm gonna get to my last bull prediction.
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Speaker 1: All right, coming back here, Cody last bold prediction for
Speaker 1: the second half, Kevin McGonagall recent All Star.
Speaker 2: I don't know if you know this.
Speaker 1: Kevin mcgonagal, We'll finish with the highest war of any
Speaker 1: Tigers position player, not rookie, any Tiger's position player this century. Now,
Speaker 1: I'll give you guys the competition here. It's basically Curtis
Speaker 1: granders in two thousand and seven seven point six, Miguel
Speaker 1: Cabrera twenty thirteen, seven point five. Mcgonagall's war right now
Speaker 1: on baseball reference is four point seven. So obviously there's
Speaker 1: an on pace element here that could be at play.
Speaker 1: But really, this is a prediction on him just continuing
Speaker 1: because like as much as remember we used to worry
Speaker 1: about workload, or complain about worrying about workload, and like,
Speaker 1: and you know, whether you know when pitchers will adjust
Speaker 1: to him, how will he do?
Speaker 2: And like all these things, and none of that has
Speaker 2: stopped him to this point.
Speaker 1: So this is a this is like a prediction, a bet,
Speaker 1: like a metaphorical bet on on him just continuing to
Speaker 1: do Kevin McGonagall things and continue and having what might
Speaker 1: be one of the most special seasons a Tiger's position
Speaker 1: player has had in recent memory.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it'll be really fascinating. To be clear,
Speaker 3: here we are talking about Baseball Reference, which is different
Speaker 3: from Fangraph's war fangrafs war. The Tigers leader this century
Speaker 3: is twenty thirteen Miguel Cabrera at eight point six. Mcgonagal's
Speaker 3: also valued a little bit lower on fangrafs. He's at
Speaker 3: four point zho compared to four point seven on Baseball Reference.
Speaker 3: Pretty sure they're just using a different set of defensive
Speaker 3: metrics to evaluate him, and that's why he's a little
Speaker 3: bit lower on fangraphs. This is very much attainable for him,
Speaker 3: which is incredible. I mean, just think about it. This
Speaker 3: kid as a rookie could be seven or eight wins
Speaker 3: above replacement, which is wild as a rookie, which hints
Speaker 3: that this could be a nine to ten more player
Speaker 3: one of these days. I mean it's not always that simple, right,
Speaker 3: but with McGonagall I mean, I don't think this kid's
Speaker 3: going away anytime soon, all right, And in a weird way,
Speaker 3: you could argue he's like due to really get hot.
Speaker 3: He's never fully cooled off, but he's like trying to
Speaker 3: look at some splits right now. I mean, he's in
Speaker 3: two eighty two in July, which is obviously quite good.
Speaker 3: But I could see a world where he comes out
Speaker 3: of the gate and maybe the power ticks up a
Speaker 3: little bit and maybe he hits three point fifty for
Speaker 3: a month. I mean, sometimes rookies is the most ball
Speaker 3: they've ever played. He's going to the All Star Game
Speaker 3: right now, which is awesome and a great story. He's
Speaker 3: got to be kind of tired. He wouldn't be the
Speaker 3: first rookie where the wheels just fall off a little
Speaker 3: bit in the second half, but based on everything we've
Speaker 3: seen so far, it wouldn't surprise me if the opposite
Speaker 3: happens and he just continues getting better. That's how special
Speaker 3: his season has been so far. I think this is attainable,
Speaker 3: and we're not enough people are like, this guy is
Speaker 3: maybe going to be a top five MVP finisher as.
Speaker 2: A rookie, which is that one? He could win one?
Speaker 3: Kiaran Kieran if the Tigers win the Al Central, Kevin
Speaker 3: McGonagall RD, Dylan Dingler could win MVP like that, Like
Speaker 3: right now, Bobby Witt is the war leader and he
Speaker 3: plays on a terrible team. So I don't really know
Speaker 3: who the ale MVP is going to be. There's obviously
Speaker 3: a lot to be determined. It's no guarantee McGonagall or
Speaker 3: Dingler continue to play at the amazing clip they did
Speaker 3: in the first half, but it would not surprise me.
Speaker 3: And when you really step back and kind of look
Speaker 3: at the numbers he is putting up, it's it's amazing.
Speaker 2: Since he brought it up.
Speaker 1: Our friends of FanDuel have MVP odd so I'll just
Speaker 1: read him off real quick. He's not that far down
Speaker 1: the list. Or On Alvarez minus one sixty five, Junior
Speaker 1: Camorello minus four fifty, we Junior plus or sorry plus
Speaker 1: four fifty excuse me, wet Junior plus five hundred, Ben
Speaker 1: Rice plus fourteen hundred, Nick Kurtz plus two thousand, Hulo
Speaker 1: Rodriguez plus forty five hundred, Jay Langeleers plus fifty five hundred,
Speaker 1: Byron Buxton plus six thousand, Dylan Danglar plus six thousand,
Speaker 1: Camp Schlitzler plus seven thousand, and Kevin McGonagall plus eight.
Speaker 3: So he's like, I'm surprised that low and the why
Speaker 3: is he that low his second position players are we.
Speaker 2: Not talking about? Like is he not getting enough pub?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 2: Really like is he not getting enough pub?
Speaker 3: I don't think everyone realizes how high his his war is.
Speaker 3: He's getting plenty of PUB, but I don't think everyone
Speaker 3: realizes that he's been one of the top five players
Speaker 3: in the sport in terms of position players.
Speaker 1: Not only that, but the responsibility that he has on
Speaker 1: a daily basis for this team playing shortstop, playing third base.
Speaker 1: I would probably argue third base on his natural position
Speaker 1: for him, uh, but you know, always bagging at the
Speaker 1: top of the order facing lefties, not having a single
Speaker 1: ending of triple A like there. That's probably what this
Speaker 1: first half is really robbed, is like people just like
Speaker 1: oohing and aye and a lot more at Kevin McGonagall,
Speaker 1: which he deserves. I'm really glad he got his All
Speaker 1: Star Game and magical moment Philadelphia and all that stuff.
Speaker 3: Yeah he uh. I hope the All Star Game doesn't
Speaker 3: take too much out of him for all the fun
Speaker 3: it's going to be. I mean, even the media attention
Speaker 3: leading up to the All Star Game with the Phillies
Speaker 3: in town was pretty crazy. He's getting to go home,
Speaker 3: sleep in his childhood bed. I hope that's that's good
Speaker 3: for him. But there are a lot of demands on him,
Speaker 3: a lot of people wanted to see him, even you
Speaker 3: know family, well meaning as it is when there's you know,
Speaker 3: thirty five family members around all the time, that maybe
Speaker 3: that's I think. I think Kevin should go to the
Speaker 3: mountains for like two days, you know, just decompress a
Speaker 3: little bit, then come back, then come back and play
Speaker 3: the Angels. And yeah, I just hope he's able to
Speaker 3: keep going and doesn't really start feeling them, both the
Speaker 3: mental and physical fatigue that surely has got to be
Speaker 3: setting in a little bit.
Speaker 1: Well, look, man, there's no evidence to say that he
Speaker 1: can't handle whatever is kind of thrown his way.
Speaker 3: He's past everything, that's the thing, man, he just keeps
Speaker 3: check box.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's part of his story. So and of course
Speaker 1: we will follow it every step of the way. Do
Speaker 1: you guys have any bold predictions for the second half
Speaker 1: of the season. Hit us up on the YouTube comments,
Speaker 1: hit us up on ext fully known on Twitter at
Speaker 1: Cody Stavenhagen, at Keran Onscore Stcley pod page at Tiger Territory, Underscore,
Speaker 1: Apple Spotify. You guys know what to do. We appreciate
Speaker 1: all of you. Let's enjoy the second half. For Cody Stavenhagen,
Speaker 1: I'm Kieran Steckley every way. Half A great day