Speaker 1: And welcome into another episode of Tiger Territory, part of
Speaker 1: the Foul Territory Network, Detroit Tiger's podcast.
Speaker 2: I'm Kieren Steckley with.
Speaker 1: Me and as always as a man who never takes
Speaker 1: a break from being an All Star, he's Cody Stevenagg
Speaker 1: And how we doing.
Speaker 3: All right, Kieran. We made it. We've made it to
Speaker 3: the All Star break. The first half and some change
Speaker 3: of the season is over. And what a weird first
Speaker 3: half it was. We're here to break it all down. Yeah, man,
Speaker 3: where are we even starting?
Speaker 1: Well, Look, it's been a journey, obviously, I think is
Speaker 1: a good way to kind of put it, and one
Speaker 1: that has had a lot of like ups and downs,
Speaker 1: and you know, you think you know something and then
Speaker 1: you know then the opposite happens, and then you just
Speaker 1: realize you don't know anything. And that's really this Tigers team.
Speaker 1: I still don't. I feel like I have a firm
Speaker 1: grasp on what I can like confidently say will happen
Speaker 1: moving forward. Uh, but you know, like like and honestly, like,
Speaker 1: I think that was reflected in the game today, Cody.
Speaker 2: We're recording this Sunday evening.
Speaker 1: Like I think today like we saw an emotionally and
Speaker 1: physically too, obviously, but emotionally and physically spent baseball team.
Speaker 1: That's kind of what I what I and and you know,
Speaker 1: schoobl being Schooble is obviously an exception to a lot
Speaker 1: of things in this I don't think Schooble was spent, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, in this game. But but like you have
Speaker 1: two one infield single on a routine round ball, almost
Speaker 1: a second one. That's really just not having the sense
Speaker 1: of urgency or I guess maybe the pure arm strength,
Speaker 1: which is something we've talked about before U to get
Speaker 1: get the ball from the left.
Speaker 2: Side of the enfield over the first base.
Speaker 1: You have Montero not you know, backing up a throw
Speaker 1: at a home plate, and like all these kind of
Speaker 1: like little things just kind of it just made me think, like, Okay, yes,
Speaker 1: so this team you have the hype at the beginning
Speaker 1: of the season, and then you know, have the injuries,
Speaker 1: and you have this huge slide and then that sense
Speaker 1: of urgency that we've talked about, how every game seems
Speaker 1: to have like a big feel to it, and every
Speaker 1: bat and every pitching change and every pinch it and
Speaker 1: like all these things, it just kind of felt like
Speaker 1: this was this game felt like and of course it's
Speaker 1: Zach Wheeler on the freaking mount. This game felt like
Speaker 1: the tax that the team has kind of put itself
Speaker 1: through throughout the quote you know, first half of the season.
Speaker 1: Like it as much as like schoolbol versus Wheeler, you know,
Speaker 1: and you kind of like want to talk yourself into
Speaker 1: it kind of being like a playoff game feel and
Speaker 1: and all that stuff.
Speaker 2: I thought the more prevalent.
Speaker 1: Emotion, I guess was the fact that this just looked
Speaker 1: like a tired baseball team that I'm not saying they
Speaker 1: take like tank the game or anything like that. I
Speaker 1: just think this was the result of a team that
Speaker 1: really needed like a real break.
Speaker 2: I think I think that's what we saw.
Speaker 3: That's an interesting observation, and obviously it's backed by what
Speaker 3: happened on the field. I would say there is a
Speaker 3: little bit of a last day of school effect in
Speaker 3: the final game before the All Star break, everyone's looking
Speaker 3: to get out of town. I think I've kind of
Speaker 3: experienced this every year i've covered the team, even last
Speaker 3: year they had six All Stars. They had guys, you know,
Speaker 3: I had to get to the All Star game. You
Speaker 3: would like to think that that wouldn't hit you, affect
Speaker 3: you in a situation where every game means so much.
Speaker 3: But I don't know. You know, you lost this weekend
Speaker 3: to Christopher Sanchez and Zach Wheeler. You could say, oh,
Speaker 3: look the Tigers face some real pitching and they did
Speaker 3: absolutely nothing. That's kind of true. You could say, I
Speaker 3: don't know, man, Like this was always going to be
Speaker 3: a tough series to win. It would have been cool
Speaker 3: if school, if Schoogle could have outdueled Wheeler and the
Speaker 3: offense showed some life, it didn't happen. Listening to aj
Speaker 3: Hinch after the game, he was still really positive. He said, hey,
Speaker 3: he was a foreign two homestand and I mostly think
Speaker 3: he's right. The Tigers are playing good baseball. They're continuing
Speaker 3: to pitch well. Schoogle only allowed one run. We're gonna
Speaker 3: talk about him more. Mies wasn't as sharp on Saturday,
Speaker 3: but kind of grinded through his outing a little bit.
Speaker 3: The Tigers have still gained a lot of ground. They
Speaker 3: are somewhat within shouting distance, especially the wild card. They're
Speaker 3: actually back to six and a half in the division.
Speaker 3: But if they come out of the break playing well,
Speaker 3: they can still mount a case. I don't really think
Speaker 3: losing this series to the Phillies should dampen kind of
Speaker 3: this cinemamentum this team has built.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and again it just it looks bad. That was
Speaker 1: probably the problem with these two losses. Like again the
Speaker 1: Sanchez we other piece of this you're just you're hapless
Speaker 1: is probably too strong, but you're just not getting anything
Speaker 1: done at the plate, and then you're allowed and then
Speaker 1: when you're kind of searching for breaks, which is obviously
Speaker 1: what happened on Friday, Like you know, and I think
Speaker 1: the way that they went on Friday kind of affected
Speaker 1: like you know, not being able to get one of
Speaker 1: the last two there. Uh, like you got a couple
Speaker 1: of breaks in Friday night's game with some errors and
Speaker 1: you know, and and you know, bounces your way didn't
Speaker 1: happen at all Saturday and certainly Sunday, including like you know,
Speaker 1: Derek Hill just like tracking down every single ball in
Speaker 1: the outfield. It felt like if it was at the center.
Speaker 1: I was like, all right, I kind of turned my
Speaker 1: head away. I just assumed Derek Hill was gonna go
Speaker 1: catch that, you know, and of course what he did
Speaker 1: at the plate as well, so it just felt like
Speaker 1: the perfect formula for this team to go down this way.
Speaker 2: And if you want to just.
Speaker 1: Put it out there and put it on them, that
Speaker 1: like the fact that they couldn't rise to the occasion
Speaker 1: and this specific circumstances is reminiscent or like the perfect
Speaker 1: example as to why this team is something something that
Speaker 1: we should not take too seriously. I get where you're
Speaker 1: coming from. I just have a hard time getting all
Speaker 1: the way there on this. Given the level of competition,
Speaker 1: given what we had seen since June one, twenty one
Speaker 1: and thirteen since June won. You know, you come out
Speaker 1: if you would have said that the Tigers were eight
Speaker 1: games below the five hundred mark and obviously within shouting
Speaker 1: distance of the division and a bunch of teams for
Speaker 1: the wild card, you know, in late May, you would
Speaker 1: have considered this like a really good stretch and the
Speaker 1: team was fighting its footing and you know all that stuff.
Speaker 1: So the macro piece of this I think should should
Speaker 1: be acknowledged, even if the micro it just didn't feel
Speaker 1: good watching it in the moment.
Speaker 3: Sometimes I think the Tigers are gonna win the Al Central. Karen,
Speaker 3: I mean, like, I don't know, I don't know even
Speaker 3: losing you know, two games a ground the last two
Speaker 3: days does kind of feel heavy. It's a lot to overcome.
Speaker 3: But like, are the White Sox really going to win
Speaker 3: this division? And if not, who or the misso Twins
Speaker 3: gonna win this division? Come on, Like, if the Tigers
Speaker 3: continue to pitch the way they are doing, this is
Speaker 3: a achievable. This is attainable. Obviously is going to be
Speaker 3: very difficult, and obviously you got to start making that
Speaker 3: math look a little better before the August third trade deadlines.
Speaker 3: To the same conversation we've been having for a long time,
Speaker 3: But I like the way this team is playing. I
Speaker 3: generally think this is the most talented team in the division.
Speaker 3: And this thing is not over. It's going to be
Speaker 3: really I mean, you get to come out of the
Speaker 3: break and face the Angels, who are terrible and who
Speaker 3: beat you two out of three at home last time
Speaker 3: you saw. You know, if you want to make clear
Speaker 3: that hey, May's in the past and we are this
Speaker 3: team that can make the playoffs, good thing to do
Speaker 3: would be to sweep the Angels, because then you might
Speaker 3: look up in the standings and really start to feel
Speaker 3: good about where you're at. It's going to be an
Speaker 3: interesting couple weeks when we get back from the break.
Speaker 3: I don't know what's going to happen. I'm not going
Speaker 3: to make a prediction as to what's going to happen.
Speaker 3: But I do believe, and largely because we have seen
Speaker 3: it so much recently, there is a good team here
Speaker 3: right like it exists, is not over. And that's a
Speaker 3: little bit of a testament to these guys in the
Speaker 3: clubhouse for not just packing it in after May, right,
Speaker 3: I think for the second year in a row, Like
Speaker 3: it's funny we go back to last year and there's
Speaker 3: so much made of like the offense claps in the
Speaker 3: second half, and it did, but the pitching collapse too.
Speaker 3: They the lack of depth of arms really showed up.
Speaker 3: I think maybe for the second year in a row,
Speaker 3: the Tigers can go as far as they're pitching takes them.
Speaker 3: The bar might just be even higher this time, and
Speaker 3: he's continued to be the elite best pitching staff in
Speaker 3: baseball like it has been since June first.
Speaker 4: Many people have this problem.
Speaker 3: I want to eat healthy.
Speaker 4: I have the willpower, I don't have the time and
Speaker 4: the organization. I need help.
Speaker 3: What do you do?
Speaker 5: I mean you go to Factor. I got two boys
Speaker 5: that are looking for the gains, and they always come
Speaker 5: in the house was I'm looking for food. Now they
Speaker 5: have actual healthy food that is great for them, and
Speaker 5: you know what, it's ready in the fridge for them
Speaker 5: to pop in andke it right away.
Speaker 4: And they have meals built around your goals. It could
Speaker 4: be weight loss, overall nutrition gains, more protein, fresh, never frozen,
Speaker 4: over one hundred rotating weekly meals, including globally inspired flavors
Speaker 4: like Mediterranean and Asian. I get all kinds of different
Speaker 4: salads from Factor that I love, quick easy. They can
Speaker 4: be ready in two minutes. Head to Factor Meals dot com.
Speaker 4: Slash foul fifty off and use code foul fifty o
Speaker 4: FF to get fifty percent off and free daily greens
Speaker 4: per box with new subscription only while supplies last until
Speaker 4: nine twenty seven, twenty six.
Speaker 1: All right, well, look, it's fair to say that if
Speaker 1: the Tigers are going to go far, it will probably
Speaker 1: include Trek Scoogle remaining on this roster and and so like.
Speaker 1: We'll get to some trade deadline hypotheticals here at a second,
Speaker 1: But first regarding the game tonight, you know it's been
Speaker 1: funny fans wanted want Terror Schooble to stay with the team,
Speaker 1: and Terror School wanted to stay in the game. Today
Speaker 1: on Sunday, Cody, because you know, he gets pulled there
Speaker 1: in the in the sixth inning after a tough battle
Speaker 1: with Bryce Harper, you know, Montero comes in. We obviously
Speaker 1: you know, you know know what happened after that, But
Speaker 1: it was a you don't get this kind of like
Speaker 1: Trek's Schooble angst about coming out, Like I felt like
Speaker 1: that was like more palpable than normal from him, not
Speaker 1: just the competitor stuff. No, most of the time when
Speaker 1: he gets pulled, he's like, you know, but this time
Speaker 1: he could like he felt you could tell he felt like,
Speaker 1: I just don't really agree. That's me making up a
Speaker 1: statement from him. Obviously he didn't quote this, but he
Speaker 1: just didn't agree with being taken.
Speaker 2: Out of there.
Speaker 3: He had more left, you know, And of course he
Speaker 3: was very clear to say, I'm not second guess in aj.
Speaker 3: I respect his decisions. I'm not trying to create a story.
Speaker 3: But he wanted to stay in the game, and he
Speaker 3: wasn't afraid to admit that. I think it's interesting, Like
Speaker 3: so many people seem to always want him to throw
Speaker 3: more pitches, right, and it is like, okay, so where's
Speaker 3: the cutoff? Because one more batter he could be at
Speaker 3: ninety eight, ninety nine, one hundred, all right. It's very
Speaker 3: unlike aj Hinch to leave anyone in beyond that, So
Speaker 3: as leaving schoobl In for one more batter doing any good? Like,
Speaker 3: I think the bigger picture here, And I kind of
Speaker 3: said and asked this Tottererk after the game. He would
Speaker 3: have had a much better case to stay in this game.
Speaker 3: At the fifth inning didn't last twenty seven pitches, and
Speaker 3: if the Bryce Harper at bat didn't last ten pitches,
Speaker 3: Bryce Harper took Trek Scuoble out of this game. He
Speaker 3: was supposed to have ten to fifteen pitches to work with.
Speaker 3: Harper used up ten of them, poked a ball and
Speaker 3: got on base, and it wasn't necessarily poor execution, but
Speaker 3: he didn't get out of that count. He kind of
Speaker 3: struggled getting out of two strike counts to his usual
Speaker 3: ability all day and that's why the pitch count built up.
Speaker 3: You know, would it be great to see Terrek Scoober
Speaker 3: will go more than ninety three? Sure, I think he
Speaker 3: was upset because there's a second straight game, even you know,
Speaker 3: with only five innings to his name. He talked earlier
Speaker 3: this week about wanting to be a Justin Erlander type
Speaker 3: guy who goes and takes down innings, you know, like
Speaker 3: the old school, the pitchers of old That's not the
Speaker 3: modern reality. And for whatever reason with Terrek, it plays
Speaker 3: into this bigger narrative. There's a little bit of a
Speaker 3: tangent here, and like, why do people think he like
Speaker 3: asked out of Game five. I've never understood where that
Speaker 3: came from. People think he requested out of that game,
Speaker 3: and that's not what was said. That's not my injury.
Speaker 3: Like it's it's not like Trek Skoubel determines how long
Speaker 3: he pitches. That's a j Anshes's decision.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well man, deep cut there as we as.
Speaker 3: He gets well, that's all I heard listening to the
Speaker 3: radio on the way home. It's like, this is like
Speaker 3: Game five. He wants to stay in Detroit, but he
Speaker 3: doesn't want to stay longer than that. It's like, I,
Speaker 3: I don't know he got pulled from both those games.
Speaker 3: After Game five he did say something like I indeed
Speaker 3: my tank I believe because he knew that was going
Speaker 3: to be his last inning, or he knew he wasn't
Speaker 3: gonna see who was at Pilanco another time. So that's
Speaker 3: getting way down in the weeds. Interesting managerial decision, because
Speaker 3: Scobold was having a good day, maybe you could have
Speaker 3: left him in, tried to get him through that inning.
Speaker 3: To hear Aj Hinchen explain it, he liked having cater
Speaker 3: Montero in the bullpen. He wanted to bring in Cater.
Speaker 3: I just think the history of aj Hinch managing games,
Speaker 3: and really almost every modern manager is you're probably not
Speaker 3: gonna go over one hundred pitches. So this is more
Speaker 3: semantics here. If wanted to stay longer in the game,
Speaker 3: he shouldn't have thrown as many pitches up to five
Speaker 3: plus innings.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you kind of stole my point there at the end.
Speaker 1: Like my first of all, if there's any like if
Speaker 1: you watch Trek Scouobold do anything and then you doubt
Speaker 1: his competitive drive, I just don't know how many things
Speaker 1: we're gonna have in common in general, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean when we're trying to talk about baseball and
Speaker 1: our understanding of this game. So if you have doubts
Speaker 1: about that, it's gonna be hard for me to engage
Speaker 1: with you number one. Number two, I look at like
Speaker 1: these like pitching decisions that AJ makes that like I like,
Speaker 1: you know, I wouldn't have done not to say I'm
Speaker 1: some baseball genius, but like I would love school in there.
Speaker 2: But like again, that doesn't make me right.
Speaker 1: Uh, Like I believe that the bigger deal is, like
Speaker 1: you said, getting to this point where you're in the
Speaker 1: sixth inning and you're at ninety three pitches or whatever
Speaker 1: because you couldn't punch guys out because they kept fouling
Speaker 1: you off because like you know, you had a walk
Speaker 1: or two or whatever like that, Like these these all
Speaker 1: those things had just as much to do with with
Speaker 1: that decision as just like Bryce Harper found off a
Speaker 1: couple of pitches there at the end, you know, and
Speaker 1: you're kind of emptying the tank, as he says, As
Speaker 1: he has said before. Number two, these decisions become a
Speaker 1: whole lot simpler if the offense had a four spot
Speaker 1: up already, you know, like like the fact that the
Speaker 1: offense hadn't done squat to that point and really the
Speaker 1: whole game, well they have two hits, like that that
Speaker 1: that is also why like AJ's like, I just can't
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm guessing he's thinking, I just can't risk
Speaker 1: a fatigue picture no matter who it is, a fatigue
Speaker 1: picture in a one nothing game, when I got to
Speaker 1: try to keep this deficit as little as possible or
Speaker 1: you know the same, hopefully you know. And then Monteo
Speaker 1: comes in there, he takes a ball off his leg,
Speaker 1: he hangs a it was a split no whatever you
Speaker 1: hung to Roomudo there that you know was over the plate,
Speaker 1: and and so like and and so like it worked
Speaker 1: against you. But you but if you have four runs
Speaker 1: on the board, if you have three runs on the board,
Speaker 1: maybe there's a little bit more of a.
Speaker 2: Leash for schoobl or whoever.
Speaker 1: The picture is, so all these things like factor in uh,
Speaker 1: just as much in my mind than just like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'd rather like it's not a nutshell argument, I guess
Speaker 1: is the way to summarize my tangent here. It's not
Speaker 1: like in a nutshell what did you rather have Tark
Speaker 1: Schooble or Kada Montera?
Speaker 2: You know what I mean? Like that that's not how
Speaker 2: it works, you know.
Speaker 3: So Yeah, there's also the conspiracy theory that like the
Speaker 3: Tigers are babying Schooble because they want to trade him,
Speaker 3: to which I would say, like, this guy had surgery
Speaker 3: not all that long ago. A j was kind of
Speaker 3: always clear they were going to be somewhat cautious, and
Speaker 3: he's pitching pretty dang close to his normal workload. I
Speaker 3: don't think you're trying to push him one hundred and
Speaker 3: ten pitches here in July because either you want this
Speaker 3: guy pitching for you in the postseason deep into October,
Speaker 3: or yeah, maybe you are going to trade him. But like,
Speaker 3: I don't I don't think that's some like I don't
Speaker 3: think we need to act like it's a conspiracy. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I don't quite get that. I think if weird ask Aj,
Speaker 3: he'd probably say something effect of like yeah, yeah, yeah, surgery,
Speaker 3: like what two months ago, less than barely two months ago.
Speaker 1: Maybe that's a good theme there, Cody, because the other like,
Speaker 1: there is no conspiracy.
Speaker 2: It could be, could be, it could be.
Speaker 1: It could be applied to a lot of things, including
Speaker 1: like Tarrek's own motivation all that stuff. And then you
Speaker 1: know there's that report out today that he wants to
Speaker 1: remain uh in Detroit.
Speaker 6: Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, because he thinks, like, hey, you want to
Speaker 1: win some games, and you know, thinks they can have
Speaker 1: a run or whatever, uh, which which would be awesome,
Speaker 1: but it but like if if he does end up
Speaker 1: getting traded, that doesn't mean there was a conspiracy that
Speaker 1: School will like lied about wanting to stay on the
Speaker 1: team and you know, like all these things, right Like,
Speaker 1: I think, I think I do genuinely believe Tarrek Schoogle
Speaker 1: wants to win here in Detroit. I also believe that
Speaker 1: Trek Schoogle if the if, if the decisions are made
Speaker 1: outside of his own control, he's also gonna embrace whatever
Speaker 1: that opportunity is as well, Right Like, I think all
Speaker 1: these things can be true and they're not conspiratorial. Okay,
Speaker 1: So so yeah, I guess that's that's our trade deadline update,
Speaker 1: is that Terrek School doesn't want to be traded.
Speaker 3: You got any Yeah, that was according to a report
Speaker 3: from Bob Nightingale. That was according to schoobl what School
Speaker 3: has told his friends. It's also not clear where that
Speaker 3: report originated. It's not in Bob's column. If I'm missing
Speaker 3: where this actually came from, someone send it to me.
Speaker 3: But I'm not even sure this is real. It's very weird.
Speaker 3: It's also like we just got to start applaying common sense.
Speaker 3: There are all these little reports that are just kind
Speaker 3: of obvious, Oh, a player doesn't want to get traded.
Speaker 3: Not that many players are actively looking to get traded
Speaker 3: in the middle of the season. It's a really stressful
Speaker 3: thing to go through. There might be a few guys
Speaker 3: who are like truly miserable or something. But like I do,
Speaker 3: I think if Trek Scooble had it his way, the
Speaker 3: Tigers would just start winning some games, and he would
Speaker 3: love to finish out the season here and then he's
Speaker 3: probably gonna test free agency. Those two things can coexist,
Speaker 3: believe it or not. That's hard for people to wrap
Speaker 3: their minds around for some reason. Also, like again the
Speaker 3: common sense thing, getting traded kind of sucks, especially when
Speaker 3: you have two kids who are under what two and
Speaker 3: a half years old. You're gonna move your family across
Speaker 3: the country in a blink and live in a hotel
Speaker 3: for a couple of months. Like that's not really ideal
Speaker 3: when you have a young family. You know, like there
Speaker 3: are all these other factors that goes into it. So
Speaker 3: I believe Trek Scooble would prefer to not get traded.
Speaker 3: He's been talking about wanting to make a comeback and
Speaker 3: make a World Series run here with the Tigers, And
Speaker 3: then I'm hearing people like, WHOA, Well, if you really
Speaker 3: wanted to stay here, he would sign an extension, Like,
Speaker 3: I don't know he wants to stay here for the
Speaker 3: next couple of months. Is he wants to stay here
Speaker 3: for the rest of his life. I don't know. He's
Speaker 3: probably gonna go to whoever pays him the most money, Like,
Speaker 3: and that's fine, doesn't That doesn't mean he's like one
Speaker 3: foot out the door. I think he is adult enough
Speaker 3: to compartmentalize and again to your point here, and I
Speaker 3: think this guy's not competitive and doesn't want to win,
Speaker 3: Like watch him freaking pitch. This dude is intense as
Speaker 3: it gets. I think he's trying to win every time
Speaker 3: he goes out out there. And then this off season
Speaker 3: is like its own thing. We got to get to
Speaker 3: the off season first, and we're not there yet, so
Speaker 3: he can want to stay here and he'll probably eventually leave.
Speaker 3: And I think both of those things are fine.
Speaker 1: One of the things that I feel like I will
Speaker 1: remember most about this season. Is the discourse surrounding school
Speaker 1: bl getting way more. I'll be nice and say muddy,
Speaker 1: then it ever really needed to be. And I think
Speaker 1: it's a disservice to the caliber a player he is
Speaker 1: and what he's done for the franchise and and what
Speaker 1: and what he's done to kind of represent the city
Speaker 1: through his play and his and his profile. To me,
Speaker 1: it just it's it's actually really sad. It's actually really
Speaker 1: sad that we're having, like is tek Schooble you know,
Speaker 1: competitive enough, you know, cut type type discussions that you
Speaker 1: know that just come across as disingenuous, Like just just
Speaker 1: tell me you don't actually have something to say and
Speaker 1: then we can move on.
Speaker 2: Uh, it would be my advice.
Speaker 1: So so yeah, we we we have to uh we
Speaker 1: have to recognize this is the biggest story moving forward.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be it's gonna be talked about at the
Speaker 1: All Star break, it's gonna be talked about moving forward.
Speaker 1: The Tigers have sixteen games to to say like, hey,
Speaker 1: this is the this is the best way forward, you know,
Speaker 1: you think of like August third, it's like, okay.
Speaker 2: Well the sixteen games, Cody, that's it.
Speaker 1: That's sixteen games before before this, before a decision has
Speaker 1: to be made, so you know, we we shall see,
Speaker 1: and obviously we'll be covering it all the way. All right,
Speaker 1: Cody wanted to remind everybody that Tiger Territory is brought
Speaker 1: to you by FanDuel and we're gonna make a daily
Speaker 1: Dinger pick here and it's and really I just want
Speaker 1: to use this as an opportunity to talk about Eduardo
Speaker 1: Valencia and just how special of a of a weekend.
Speaker 1: I mean, this guy had obviously first MLB hit home
Speaker 1: run center field. Like the emotion just a pure joy,
Speaker 1: you know, throw in like the family and like you know,
Speaker 1: the home country elements here and it's just like the
Speaker 1: long journey. I mean, it's one of those things that
Speaker 1: you know, if you were there or if you watched
Speaker 1: it live, you'll probably remember for a long time. And
Speaker 1: then you throw in the fact that he was five
Speaker 1: of ten on this you know, since being called up
Speaker 1: two home runs, three Ribbies, he does look comfortable in
Speaker 1: the batter's box, Cody, And this obviously what move was
Speaker 1: necessitated by the injury. Now obviously he's okay, Dylan Dingler
Speaker 1: with the hand contusion.
Speaker 2: But they did not.
Speaker 1: Decide to put him on IL obviously, they figured he
Speaker 1: was going to be healthy enough. They decided to DFA
Speaker 1: Jami Jones. So one, but you you know, just take
Speaker 1: us through your your experience with Valencia and his debut
Speaker 1: and you know, and and all that good stuff.
Speaker 2: And then two, is this the role? Does he have
Speaker 2: an actual role moving forward?
Speaker 1: Or is this sort of a kind of a spark.
Speaker 1: He'll go back down to Toledo eventually and then you know,
Speaker 1: we'll kind of do this up and down thing for
Speaker 1: a bit.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Well, look, the debut. I assume most of you guys
Speaker 3: have watched it or at least seen the interview. If
Speaker 3: you haven't, go watch the interview he did with Danielle Bruce.
Speaker 3: It was really good, you know, and it reflects on
Speaker 3: who Valencia is what everyone says about him. This is
Speaker 3: one of the most popular players in the organization. I mean,
Speaker 3: everyone who came up with him in the minor leagues
Speaker 3: loves this guy for that exact enthusiasm and positive spirit
Speaker 3: he carries. That's something you kind of have to carry
Speaker 3: to take the longer journey to the major leagues like
Speaker 3: he did. So a truly rewarding moment very cool to witness.
Speaker 3: As for kind of the immediate prognosis here, it's really interesting.
Speaker 3: I think what the Tigers will do with Valencia. It
Speaker 3: sounds to me like they want to keep him on
Speaker 3: this roster. Post All Star break, we will see somewhat
Speaker 3: determine what the matchups look like. Right maybe who else
Speaker 3: is at their disposal, but no one's I don't think
Speaker 3: there's another big roster decision point until Labor Torrez is
Speaker 3: ready to return, and it's not super clear when that
Speaker 3: is going to be. It's not going to be right
Speaker 3: after the All Star breaks, So I'm kind of thinking
Speaker 3: they roll with Valencia, and then I personally wonder how
Speaker 3: much of his future is also kind of tied to
Speaker 3: what the Tigers decide to do at the trade deadline. Remember,
Speaker 3: Jake Rogers is a free agent after the season. I
Speaker 3: know Jake's you know, offensive numbers are not impressible, though,
Speaker 3: man did he ever step up also in the absence
Speaker 3: of Dylan Dingler, maybe enough to remind some evaluators that
Speaker 3: he can still hit a little bit too. So if Jay,
Speaker 3: if the Tigers are out of it and they were
Speaker 3: to move Jake, you know, Valencia is obviously kind of
Speaker 3: the guy. I think, who's going to get that playing
Speaker 3: time If they can't move Jake, no one wants them
Speaker 3: and they're out of it. Does the whole team chemistry
Speaker 3: thing that Jake provides really matter anymore? Or would they
Speaker 3: just want to play the younger guy see what they
Speaker 3: got now? If the Tigers are in it, I think
Speaker 3: they would keep Jake Rogers for the dependable defense, the
Speaker 3: leadership that he provides, the stability behind the scenes, and
Speaker 3: so then it's like, Okay, well, valency is not gonna
Speaker 3: catch much. He's capable of playing first, but he's not
Speaker 3: really going to play first hardly at all. Are you
Speaker 3: comfortable with the guy that young basically taking over the
Speaker 3: Jamai Jones role or do you want him playing more consistently.
Speaker 3: I don't know. Maybe there's a world where they buy
Speaker 3: and they get themselves another right handed bat and once
Speaker 3: he goes back down. But I do think it's interesting
Speaker 3: that he's shown he can hit major league pitching, at
Speaker 3: least in this small sample. He's given the team something
Speaker 3: to think about. And it may be as simple as
Speaker 3: if he continues to hit, dude's probably gonna stay on
Speaker 3: the roster.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I think I I would not. Like
Speaker 1: there's of all the crazy scenarios that this season could
Speaker 1: still lay out in front of us, Cody like Scott
Speaker 1: Harris calling Valencia's addition to the major league roster a
Speaker 1: like an acquisition to the major league roster, like you know,
Speaker 1: kind of framing it that way as if a guy
Speaker 1: coming back from injury like boost the team or whatever,
Speaker 1: like that's very much in play, like like that Valencia
Speaker 1: becomes this like the right handed, uh you know, platoon
Speaker 1: bat addition. And I don't know, maybe maybe I'm still
Speaker 1: kind of like in the moment not thinking like big
Speaker 1: picture enough.
Speaker 2: I would. I would.
Speaker 1: I would be a okay with him having the Jamia
Speaker 1: Jones role plus like to my Jones role plus where
Speaker 1: he gets like a little bit more of a runway
Speaker 1: not just exclusively against Lettis or whatever.
Speaker 2: And you kind of we don't necessarily need him to work.
Speaker 1: On the catching stuff like all that much this season
Speaker 1: if he's going to be continued to rake and and
Speaker 1: and actually impact the team that way, like I would,
Speaker 1: I would be comfortable enough with that. Now That's probably
Speaker 1: why I don't work in front offices, because that's very
Speaker 1: narrow minded, but that but that's just kind of how
Speaker 1: I feel like. If the bat is that real, I'm
Speaker 1: not sacrificing it right now when you're still trying to
Speaker 1: win and get to meaningful baseball games.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think the bat is pretty real. What
Speaker 3: exactly does that look like at the major league level,
Speaker 3: I'm not sure, but I think I think the dude
Speaker 3: can hit for power, and if he can hit for
Speaker 3: enough average to justify at bats, you know there's a
Speaker 3: guy who can stay in this organization for a long time. Now.
Speaker 3: The catching defense, I'm not overly optimistic one. I know
Speaker 3: they're trying to say he improved kind of subtly in
Speaker 3: all the facets in triple A, but you know, we
Speaker 3: watched just first start, and we watched our pal Derek
Speaker 3: Hill run all around the bases on him, even though
Speaker 3: he probably was out at third. But didn't love that.
Speaker 3: And I don't think it's going to be a whole
Speaker 3: lot better at first. That's probably one of the reasons
Speaker 3: Valencia had not gotten a call up before this. You know,
Speaker 3: there's just a lot to work on in other aspects
Speaker 3: of his game. But popular guy off to a great start.
Speaker 3: One of those dudes, you do kind of have to
Speaker 3: have to root for a little.
Speaker 1: Bit, well said, so to recap, he is our daily
Speaker 1: dinger pick. So are you ready to play your game?
Speaker 1: Head over to FanDuel dot com slash podcast to get started.
Speaker 1: That's FanDuel dot com slash Podcast. To opt in for
Speaker 1: Daily Dingers and make your free pick on who's hitting
Speaker 1: a homer, playball and swing for the fences on FanDuel,
Speaker 1: an official partner of Major League Baseball.
Speaker 6: No purchase necessary, opt in required, bonus issue does non
Speaker 6: withdrawable profit boost tokens. Restrictions apply, including any token expiration
Speaker 6: and max wager amount see terms It's sport book dot
Speaker 6: FanDuel dot com gambling problem caller tax one eight hundred gambler.
Speaker 2: All right, coming back here.
Speaker 1: You know, we talk a lot about the immediacy of
Speaker 1: this season, Cody, but this also was like a futures
Speaker 1: weekend in a way because MLB Draft occurred this week
Speaker 1: and we talked a little bit about it earlier last week,
Speaker 1: and you know, said like, all right, here's some prep guys,
Speaker 1: the left handers that you know, you feel like the
Speaker 1: Tigers might be able to snag, but feel like they
Speaker 1: might like these traits, you know that they and none of.
Speaker 2: Them, not not anything.
Speaker 1: Like that occurred the first first selection for the Tigers,
Speaker 1: their number one pick, Cameron Fluky, a college pitcher, right
Speaker 1: hander from Coastal Carolina. And I'm gonna do some quick
Speaker 1: math here. One, two, three, Three of the first five
Speaker 1: picks were college pitchers for the Tigers. They did take
Speaker 1: a prep shortstop in the fourth round.
Speaker 2: But he's a right.
Speaker 7: So so we uh so just just like crumple it
Speaker 7: all up and throw out everything you thought about the
Speaker 7: Tigers and and who they who they love drafting.
Speaker 1: But but it seems like if we're just going to
Speaker 1: focus on the Fluky pick is obviously it's the most
Speaker 1: noteworthy being the number one pick of their draft. This
Speaker 1: did feel like a good value for the Tigers because
Speaker 1: he came into this like if he doesn't pitch, what
Speaker 1: was it seven games this year?
Speaker 2: Is that what it was? Uh if if if.
Speaker 1: He has a normal season, he's probably not available at
Speaker 1: twenty two, it would be my guess. So he falls there,
Speaker 1: and you know, don't look at his last season's numbers.
Speaker 1: He had a stress fracture in his rib. If he
Speaker 1: in case you guys didn't see so uh so he
Speaker 1: was recovering from that injury and uh, you know, never
Speaker 1: really found his form. But it's easy to see why
Speaker 1: evaluators like fall in love with him. He's got good
Speaker 1: v low, he's got good he's got good uh break,
Speaker 1: and he is a lot of fun to watch pitch.
Speaker 1: I don't know if this is a scouting term, Cody,
Speaker 1: but I watched highlights of him and he's like whippy,
Speaker 1: like like like yeah yeah yeah so so like and
Speaker 1: it's also very vertical base. There's not a whole lot
Speaker 1: of horizontal movement with his rotation.
Speaker 2: Was he six y six?
Speaker 1: He's got good extension and and and top end arm
Speaker 1: slot there. So like, look, we're not gonna like give
Speaker 1: a deep breakdown here, but it seems like it's a
Speaker 1: pick that I like. It's a pick that I like.
Speaker 1: The upside's there. Obviously there's always a need for pitching
Speaker 1: in general. But then, you know, the whole point of
Speaker 1: what we've been talking about with this podcast for the
Speaker 1: past couple of months, the major league team is a
Speaker 1: little bit uh free agent to be heavy when it
Speaker 1: comes to starting pitching rotation. So never a got a
Speaker 1: bad idea to invest in starting pitching in your organization.
Speaker 1: So any thoughts on Fluky. I know you guys had
Speaker 1: a chance to talk talk with him, and and and
Speaker 1: and and and anything else from this this draft.
Speaker 3: Well yeah, I mean I think you and I should
Speaker 3: really get all the credit for this pick. I think
Speaker 3: the Tiger's clear they got tired of us making fun
Speaker 3: of them for taking left handed shortstops and under scouted
Speaker 3: kids from cold weather states. So and they did what
Speaker 3: I wanted to do. They took pitching. They actually addressed
Speaker 3: needs in their system. They said they weren't addressing their needs.
Speaker 3: That's how the draft board fell. That is somewhat true.
Speaker 3: There was a real run on hitters early in this draft,
Speaker 3: and that's part of the reason a player like Cameron Fluky,
Speaker 3: even with the injury, was available at twenty two. Again,
Speaker 3: the guy probably you know, for entering the year kind
Speaker 3: of looked at as a top ten pick. The twenty
Speaker 3: twenty five College World Series, this guy held LSU to
Speaker 3: six or to one run over six innings. I think
Speaker 3: he struck out nine. That was really his like his
Speaker 3: statement game. I kind of liked this pick a lot.
Speaker 3: Another thing they listened this guy throws hard, all right,
Speaker 3: he throws ninety seven ninety eight, and according to Cameron
Speaker 3: Fluki can really still get bigger, stronger, type of guy
Speaker 3: who seems like he could be touching triple digits with
Speaker 3: a couple tweaks and gain a little more size. So, wow,
Speaker 3: we're caring about stuff now. I like it now. He
Speaker 3: does have a Tigers type thing, which is a big
Speaker 3: arm angle over the top. There's actually some thought that's
Speaker 3: made its fastball more hittable because it has such a
Speaker 3: downward slope, even though it actually gets a great vertical ride.
Speaker 3: But it's been a hittable pitch at times. Maybe have
Speaker 3: to have that outlier arm angle that the Tigers seem
Speaker 3: to like six' Six. Whippi the twelve six curveball is
Speaker 3: the main secondary. Option the knock on him this year
Speaker 3: is kind of, like, well is he really throwing the
Speaker 3: curve or the slider for, strikes because you, know upper
Speaker 3: level hitters might not just chase that as. Freely i'm
Speaker 3: really watching the change up a pitch THAT i guess
Speaker 3: got a decent amount swinging miss for him in twenty,
Speaker 3: five but he barely used when he came back from
Speaker 3: injury this. SEASON i think that'll be really important to
Speaker 3: help him get left handed batters. Out seems to me
Speaker 3: like a guy The tigers could tweak his change up
Speaker 3: grip or maybe get right to work on teaching this
Speaker 3: guy a, cutter and the potential could be super sky
Speaker 3: high even if that doesn't happen. Here AND i think
Speaker 3: the floor could be like a like An alex laying, right, big,
Speaker 3: hard throwing power. Curveball you know you'd like your first
Speaker 3: round pick to be a, starter but that wouldn't be the.
Speaker 3: Worst and then the ceiling is is it a poor
Speaker 3: men's Like Jacob? Mazerowski LIKE i think it might be
Speaker 3: given the size the velo and ability to spin. It
Speaker 3: and Remember Jacob mizerowski was not all that highly. Toubted
Speaker 3: some people thought he was going to be a, Reliever
Speaker 3: so they're really good tools to work. With it would
Speaker 3: be a really good test case for The tigers pitching,
Speaker 3: development which even though things haven't gone great for them
Speaker 3: on the, farm they're definitely still some really bright pitching
Speaker 3: people in this. Organization And fluky seems like someone who's
Speaker 3: an adjustment or two away from making everyone kick themselves
Speaker 3: for not picking him.
Speaker 1: Higher it's an infusion of talent for those guys to
Speaker 1: work with in fluky and ALSO i think if he,
Speaker 1: could if he could work in that that like, straighter not,
Speaker 1: straighter but like that tighter slider That casey mys. Throws,
Speaker 1: YEAH i, THINK i, THINK i, think, YEAH i think
Speaker 1: that'd be that'd be. Great and and so, Yeah i'll
Speaker 1: just name a couple of guys that seemed like the
Speaker 1: industry like really liked the. Pick one of them Was Dominic,
Speaker 1: pelegrin who was the aforementioned high school, shortstop really late,
Speaker 1: riser apparently undersounded guy. Here, yeah and, uh but like
Speaker 1: seemed like everyone kind of like thought, like, okay this
Speaker 1: is like one of the sleepers of, like, uh of
Speaker 1: the first several rounds of the. Draft already HE'S i
Speaker 1: think he's already said he's gonna, sign but don't quote
Speaker 1: me on.
Speaker 2: That and then we have A.
Speaker 1: Will, adams who is a corner infielder From, Hoover, alabama
Speaker 1: is another one that if you're going into later, rounds
Speaker 1: people are, like all, right like this this seems like
Speaker 1: some guy who's got the, tools and if you can
Speaker 1: work with this and he could develop, this he could
Speaker 1: become like a nice player in your. Organization, obviously no
Speaker 1: one's putting out like huge amounts of hype on on
Speaker 1: twelfth round. Picks but look like Tech school is a
Speaker 1: ninth round, pick like these things can, happen so so so,
Speaker 1: YEAH i think those are those are just a couple
Speaker 1: of names that seemed like industry people were like high
Speaker 1: on and wanted to.
Speaker 2: Highlight so as as always we shall.
Speaker 1: See BUT i did THINK i did, laugh you, know
Speaker 1: because like how come need never actually happens in. Drafts
Speaker 1: it's always it's always our board broke this way when
Speaker 1: it just happens of coincide With, need just what one
Speaker 1: of the one of the stranger coincidences we have in the.
Speaker 1: Game All, RIGHT i wanted to, mom we just wrap up,
Speaker 1: here CAN i JUST i just use like ten seconds
Speaker 1: ten seconds to, say LIKE i still love You Derek,
Speaker 1: Hill LIKE i still love watching him play. BASEBALL i like, like,
Speaker 1: like you, know the family was one of the first
Speaker 1: like kind of consistent listeners of the.
Speaker 2: Podcast they're always so nice to, us you know WHAT i.
Speaker 1: Mean And derek always like like he always seemed to
Speaker 1: have like a good like head on his, shoulders even
Speaker 1: though like you, know like the status of the first
Speaker 1: round pick or, whatever never really netted here In, detroit
Speaker 1: like like like maybe hoped it. Would i'm so happy
Speaker 1: for him every TIME i see him make a big,
Speaker 1: play have a, hit you, know run a ball down
Speaker 1: the outfield LIKE i.
Speaker 2: Can't i'll never stop hating, you. Dude SO i just
Speaker 2: wanted to say.
Speaker 1: That shout Out Derek, hill you, know like you still
Speaker 1: still doing your thing in the major leagues in twenty twenty.
Speaker 3: Six fun, player really. Likeable he's obviously gotten through a,
Speaker 3: lot done a lot to keep himself. Afloat you Watch Shreyk,
Speaker 3: hill what he, do what he's, doing it's kind of
Speaker 3: reminder of like why teams don't like to give up
Speaker 3: on guys who are really athletic or guys who have
Speaker 3: certain traits LIKE i don't, Know we're gonna see what
Speaker 3: happens With Parker meadows at the end of the year
Speaker 3: With Max clark starting to knock on the, Door but,
Speaker 3: like you, know are you sure you just want to
Speaker 3: let a guy like that go off to another. Team
Speaker 3: it's obviously Taking Derek, hill what six or seven, teams
Speaker 3: and he's still never quite found like staying. Power but
Speaker 3: there are a lot of things like about the way
Speaker 3: that young man plays the, game and the reason other
Speaker 3: words keep taking chances on him is because he's, Fast
Speaker 3: he's an athletic. Defender it seems, like you, know whatever
Speaker 3: adjustment he's made at the box now looks like it
Speaker 3: can play a little bit at the major league, level
Speaker 3: probably more than it could when he was with The.
Speaker 3: Tigers so, yeah talk about guys that you root, For
Speaker 3: Derek hill certainly one of.
Speaker 1: Them all, right, well we will still have episodes this,
Speaker 1: week still kind of breaking down the schedule a little
Speaker 1: bit about when they will, air but we will still,
Speaker 1: have you, know two more episodes after this one this,
Speaker 1: Week so be sure to be following us on x,
Speaker 1: foman On twitter At Hoe Steven, HAGEN, I Matt Kieran,
Speaker 1: Underscore deckley pot page At Tiger, Territory, Underscore, YouTube, Apple,
Speaker 1: spotify wherever you, listen wherever you, watch we are, there
Speaker 1: know what to. Do we appreciate all of. You so
Speaker 1: for Coach David, Hagen I'm Keenan. Steckley, everybody have a great,
Speaker 1: day