Get some facts and come back and seating. Get some facts and come back
and seating. Don't throw up salaries or other things. Get some facts and
come back and seev you can't handle the true I told our players you need
a bit more like a dog. We don't need a bunch of cats in
here. Looking in the mirror, I look good. I got my extra
bands on, I got my other shoes. Be a doll. We don't
need no meals. We don't need no cats. We need more dolls.
Why you're not a detain Oh you're not. At the time, we weren't
good. There's no sense of asking me things about the game. I'm telling
you we laid an egg. So I'm not gonna break it down for you.
He sucks. He sucked. He laid an egg. That's all I
have to say. Guys, I'm sorry. I'm not going to break it
down for you. Nothing went well for us. It's on us. We
have to figure it out every way. Show it is showtime on a Thursday.
Welcome on the ninth of May. Myer hotline eight sixty six eight three,
eight forty eight forty three had some good calls so far. Here this
morning really appreciate it. You add to the show man and you really do.
I like it when we get calls, Ben, don't you love it
when you get calls that make you think, oh, yeah, you know
it's it really is the beauty of what the show can bring. And same
with tax in text Sports Radio to twenty one thousand. This is Exies and
Bros. We're with you Monday through Friday, six until nine. Jason Beck
will join us to the bottom of the hour. My good friend Dennis Fithian
will be in this cheer tomorrow morning and you'll be able to hear them throughout
the great state of Michigan and Grand Rapids WMAX ninety six point one FM,
the game in Cadillac and Flint and Grayling and Gaylord and Midland, Saganaw,
Bay City, Potoski, Charlavoid, Traverse City. We're honored to be on
all those beautiful and great cities throughout this state. If you missed it yesterday,
and we'll talk with Jason Beck about this coming up. Tigers lose in
ten innings to the Guardians five to four. I said earlier in the six
o'clock hour, but we get different listeners all the time. This is very
similar to guarding an inbound pass. I believe, what do you do in
the tenth inning? Do you play for the run and take the lead like
the Tigers did not do in the tenth inning last night. They wanted to
play for a big inning. Javier bayaz On a ground ball to short gets
makes the out, the first out of the inning, second third, whatever,
okay, tagged by Jose Ramirez, whatever, All right, So there's
one out and that just diffuses everything. And then that allows Cleveland, knowing
that all they need is to run, They're going to bunt their man over.
Loreano's bunted to third and then driven in by Brian Rokio with a single
dissenter. It's more than just what took place in the tenth inning. It's
what took place in the eighth inning, the throwing air by Jake Rogers,
the ninth inning, the bad pitch by Andrew Chaffin, and instead of a
four to win, it's four three, it's four to four, and then
it's a five to four walk off win for Cleveland Detroit seven to eight.
In one run games, the fifteen to one run games the most played in
Major League Baseball. They're a game under five hundred and they host Houston.
They host Houston in the first of a three game weekend set tomorrow. Immediately
when you think Houston, at least I do. Anyway, you think hose
L Tuove, Alex Brigman, Jordan Alvarez. Scary team. They're twelve and
twenty four, they've lost four in a row. They are off to a
horridzon start. It has to be one of the biggest surprises in all of
baseball. We'll talk to Jason Beck of MLB dot Com at the bottom of
the hour about that. Jeremy Paine is a really good player, right,
Ricky of the Year and so on and so forth. It's having a good
season so far. Kyle Tucker love him, hell of a player. When
you have jose L Tuve, your Don Olivaaz, Jeremy Panya, Kyle Tucker,
Alex Bregman, just to name a few, you would expect to be
better than with They are right now, last place in the Al West.
Doesn't help that they had to designate Josel Joseo Breu because of his struggles.
But whatever, that's uh. That's this weekend down a k America Park,
Okay, New York beats. Indiana won thirty to one twenty one. Jalen
Brunson had twenty nine points and thirty two minutes. He missed the entire second
quarter injured. Oj Ananobi missed the fourth quarter injured, but he had a
career playoff high twenty eight. New York's up two games to none. Nikola
Jokic wins his third MVP in the last four years in the NHL. Florida
blows out Boston six to one. Boston's defense so good against Toronto. They
allowed just twelve goals in seven games. The reason they beat the Maple Leafs.
Remember we sett in game six, we said that Toronto, even though
they're high scoring and really love their talent of Taveres and Marner and Matthews and
the like. He said, Okay, you're gonna have to win a more
of a defensive game against Boston, and Boston allowed his twelve goals in the
seven games, they gave up six. The Bruins gave up six to Florida
in Game two alone. It was six to one, fight filled third,
really good game until the third when Florida just blew him out. Vancouver comes
to three goals down to beat Edmonton five to four. They scored three goals
in five and a half minute Connor Garland, that's the game winner. Those
are your headlines in sports. Let's go to the Meyer hotline. Who do
we got waiting? Ben? We got Maury and Grand Rapids? Maury,
how are you? Thanks for listening on the Max ninety six point ONEFM the
game. What's going on? Shep? I'm doing great man, Thank you.
I hope you're doing good as well, you know, listening to the
Tiger Shep and you're talking. I found myself thinking yesterday. I think it
was I think the subject was brought up in an article. Maybe I read
about the possibility or you know, tour Wiklson going down, And I asked
myself, you know, how do these guys, how do these managers and
organizations? And I get it veries, okay, from organization to organization,
but in this case, how are they looking at a guy who, you
know, man last year when you have thirty one bombs and you know he
was he had a good year and he know he's not a rookie. I
mean, I know he's a so young guy, but I mean, what
are your thoughts on that? Chev? Because they're such a poor hitting offensive
team, and which befuddles me. By the way, they didn't go for
the run, you know, funt and sacrifice and all that. You know,
it seems like so tiger to do that right now, but and by
the way, the right thing. But anyways, back to my question,
do you what do you think about that? What do they do with the
guy like Torque? So first things first, do you believe it was the
right thing? Top of the tenth, you're on the road, you play
for one run? Or do you do you understand why they didn't? Okay,
now, I play for the run every time. You play for the
run? Okay, all right, So it's a difficult octically with our offense,
man, especially with our offense, and our pitching has been good.
So anyways, yeah, that's for sure. That's that's what I do.
Yeah, no, I get it. I respect the opinion. I suppose
one could argue, if your pitching is that good, you wouldn't have to
worry about that, you could go for the multiple runs. What I do
is, you know, I probably for the multiple runs too, but I
don't expect a veteran laden guy on second base to get to make an out,
you know. I mean, yeah, so that's a problem. What
do you do with Spencer Torkels? You do I think with what the Tigers
are doing right now, and that's moved him down in the order to take
a little pressure off him. I think what surprises me? And you're right,
he had a really good year last year, thirty one bombs, ninety
four stakes. I'm not looking at average. The on base is a little
worrisome, There's no doubt about it. When you're on base just thirty one
percent last year, that's a problem. I think what concerns me more than
anything else is first of all, the lack of power, so he doesn't
have a homer yet. And second of all the fastballs. He's not on
the fastball and that's a problem. And I don't know if he's up there
guessing. I haven't talked to him about it, so I don't know.
Last year or the years before I would have a better clearer understanding. But
it's a serious issue right now. And this team, as I said earlier
in the show, the margin for error is so slight with this team.
You can't have him going through elongated slumps. They just can't afford it.
No question. So you move him, you move him down in the order,
do you do? You send him down to Toledo and put Mark Kennet
at first base and bring up who justin Henry molloy. I don't think that
should be out of the realm of possibility. I wouldn't do it after thirty
five games. He's only played thirty five. I would, but I think
you're getting to the point now at the end of this month. If it
continues, absolutely you do it. Thanks for the phone call. Awesome stuff.
Appreciate it. Always respect the perspective. Eight six six eight three eight
forty eight forty three. But I don't know. Twenty minutes away, half
hour away from Jason BECKMLB dot Com. We'll ask him the same question that
you just asked me when we come back. Stay with us in the dam
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years or older and in Michigan to play This is Matt Sheppard after a series
loss in Cleveland. The Tigers have the day off and we'll ready themselves for
a six game homestand starting Friday with a three game weekend series against Houston.
You can't argue with the pitching Detroit has received so far. Except for one
starter, kent To Maida, signed to a two year deal in the offseason.
Maeida has struggled so far and seven stars. He's allowed a league high
nine home runs, one just once and possesses an ERA of just under seven.
Seven starts isn't a big sample size unless you look at his history.
Last year, Maeta started just twenty games. He hasn't started more than twenty
six since his rookie season. In other words, he's close to thirty three
percent of his starts so far. The numbers have to improve or it'll be
time to make a change. We're teeing off our tenth year at the Meyer
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Attention Tigers fans, you can now get fifteen percent off every ticket for select
games through May by going to Tigers dot com Forward Slash Huge Show. That's
Tigers dot Com Forward Slash Huge Show. A really good call from Maury.
I really appreciate that too. We've had some really good calls this morning.
I can't tell you how much it means to us. I love the interaction
first and foremost, but second of all, you just bring up really good
conversation and you bring up really good topics, So I thank you for that.
You can call anything that might be on your mind in the Meyer Hotline
eight sixty six eight three eight forty eight forty three. The only thing I
would say is this, and I understand where Morey's coming from. At A
one, we're going to go back to certain guys. You're going to fall
back on it. Maybe just maybe people now feel like, all right,
I'm tired of beating up bias because I've done it for two years now.
You know, he has not been what you expected when you signed him as
a free agent, and he's been one to seventy six. So I think
I don't want to speak for moriy there, but a lot of Tigers were
like, Okay, it's a given. He's not a favorite. He's not
going to be a favorite. He's underperformed, he's been a disappointment. Now
let's get to the next victim. Torkulsen is that guy. And he's that
guy because he's a one one and because he's not a high average guy.
The thirty one homers in ninety four RBIs last year didn't convince you. I'm
not saying you should be convinced. I'm just telling you this is my thought.
This is how I view it. You don't view him as the next
fill in the blank, whoever, whoever is that really good first baseman who
brings you power in the middle of the lineupyard Don Alvarez. It's not Paul
Goldschman. He's not Freddie Freeman, he's not Matt Olsen. He's not that
first baseman. Right, he's not Bryce Harper. He's not going to be
in your mind. Thirty one homers is a lot of homers. I think
it's pretty damn good. However, he doesn't have any yet, and I
think people look at the at bats and say, you know what, he
seems to be guessing a lot. He seems to have a prevention to go
through long slumps. You give Look, Riley Green doesn't have a high average
either. He's been two fifty four, but he's got eight or nine homers.
Right, You're not expecting Andy A. Bonnez to carry your team.
It's a problem. He's got more homers in a game than Torklosen does on
the year. You've been pleasantly surprised with Lensil Perez carry Carpenter. He's come
up with some big, big knocks over the last two years. Cole Keith,
you give a free pass because he's just starting his career. Zach McKinstry
is a utility guy. I don't mean to use that in an negative term,
but he's not an everyday guy. Mark Canna is not the future of
the franchise. Parker Metals has been sent down. Jake Drake Rodgers, you
believe is a defensive guy, but he's not an offensive guy. Spencer Torkosen
was billed as an offensive guy who's going to be a difference maker in the
middle of your lineup, and he hasn't been this year. I understand where
you're coming from. I like him. I like him as an individual,
I like him as a person, I like him as a first baseman.
I would keep trotting him out there, but even I have a limit,
and it's getting dangerously close. Meyer hotline eight sixty six eight three eight forty
eight forty three. I know we got a Tiger's text, don't we been?
Yeah, that's right. What's going on says you know, the old
saying you can't fire the players. I would like to see Scott Harris finally
make a big splash right or wrong. Fire aj Hinch and bring in new
blood. I'm tired of watching old, stale baseball. Win one, lose
three, win two, lose five, promote fetter to manager or bring in
somebody else. Wow. Uh, that's that's really drastic. Aj Hinch signed
an extension. I just want you to know. Aj Hinch signed an extension
in the offseason. The previous deal he had ran through next year. He
signed an extension. So what that extension is I can't completely recall, but
he's going to be there at least at least through twenty twenty six. Okay,
so at least two more years you want. I like Chris Fetter.
Chris Fetter has never been a bench coach. Being a pitching coach and being
a bench coach and being a manager three drastically different things. And I mean
drastically different. It's like being a guy on the assembly line, a guy
driving the truck and the guy making out the schedule, three completely different responsibilities.
Chris Feedder works on his pitching staff and his pitching staff alone. The
bench coaches next to George Lombard is next to aj Hinch all game. Aj
Hinch is telling him what you're supposed to be looking for. Who you have
to get ready in the bullpen, Who needs to start getting ready warming up
for a possible pinch hit situation. Who you think is going to be up
in this situation? On why you got to go to this pitcher? There
are I can't begin to tell you how many decisions a manager is making per
inning and per that Chris Fetter is not used to that, even George Lombard
is not quite comfortable with for an entire season. That is a very drastic
tact, right there one that I would not subscribe to. However, I
understand your frustration because this team is underperforming. Right now to the Meyer hotline,
we go, who's up next? Yeah, we got Paul and g
R Paul. Good to hear from you again. Thanks for listening right there
on WAX ninety six point ONEFM, The game. What's going on? Shut
my friend? How are you great? What's going on? So, first
of all, before I get into my air and my grievances here because I'm
very upset right now, age, you look very blessed to have a J.
Hinch. He's top free manager in all of baseball, and he fell
into our lab. You know, he really is the reason why we like
overperformed last year and it's twenty twenty one. So, I mean, that's
just astonin. I'm sorry. Like, we're very lucky to have Aja as
our manager, and I signed him to a lifetime extension of I did.
I love it. So I think he's I think he's a very good manager.
Absolutely. I wouldn't go so far as to say a lifetime extension,
but I think he's one of the better managers in the game. Is he
top three? That's a really good question. A really good debate because you've
got some really good managers out there, but even really good managers, Bob
Melvin's a hell of a manager, but he has but his teams at times
have struggled, Right, I mean, you could be manager of the Year
and still get fired. You can be coach of the Year Dwayne Casey and
get fired. It happens, it does, But I just think that's crazy
because I really do think Ada is really good. So I'm going right after
guy one, after Scott Harris and Chris Villich, especially Chris Ilich. Does
he care like, does he even want to win? Does he care about
winning? And then Scott Harris, I mean, yeah, he wanted time
to evaluate this team. Blah blah blah blah blah. You know what,
I'm sick of it. I'm sick and tired of it. It has been
a decade. We haven't won a World Series since nineteen eighty four. Like
you said, that is unacceptable, Chest and I am so sick of Oh
well, our offseason consists of signing ice cream truck drivers and to a bush
Gardens tour guides that have been DA made a million times and just hopefully find
a diamond in the up like we can't. We have not made any serious
moves, and we had such an opportunity this offseason to set ourselves apart from
everybody else, and we didn't. We did it. And you know what
I'm putting, I don't care if it's her two. I'm putting Scott Harris
on the hot seat and I'm out. Kurtz Illach. I do not think
he cares about the Red Wings or the Tigers. I don't think he cares
about winning. I think he cares more about like parking lot revenues than he
does anything. And I am I'm just so sick of it. Yeah,
but listen, Paul, I completely understand where you're coming from because they haven't
given you any indication to think otherwise. So it's hard to disagree with that.
It really is. I mean, when your payroll is what the Tiger's
pay roll is, especially after saving thirty two million on mc guell Cobra,
I completely understand where you're coming from. I do Scott Harris. I'm going
to wait one more year, but I was disappointed he didn't get the big
bat for the middle of the lineup, so I think he failed in that
regard. Jason Beck will talk about that and more when we come back.
You have MLB dot com. Stay with us exes and bros. Right around
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Michigan, made for Michigan. Must be twenty win er over in Michigan to
play. Okay, Welcome back to EXUS and Bros. Throughout the state of
Michigan. Glad you're with us in Flint and Cadillac and Grayling and Gaylord.
Glad you've joined us in Midland, Saginaw, Bay City, in Petoskey and
Charlevoy and Traverse City, and of course in Grand Rapids as well. Jason
Beck's a good friend of mine. As good as it gets in baseball writing,
as good as it gets in conducting interviews. I've witnessed it firsthand numerous
times. You can fall im on x at Beck Jason and he joins us
now to talk Tigers and Major League Baseball. Jason, hope you and your
family are well. Good to visit with you as always. Really appreciate the
time because I know you're busy. What's your take on this team? Thirty
seven games in, knowing full well that it's too small of a sample size
to come to a complete judgment. Yeah, you know, looking in now
from where we were in string training to you know, nearly the quarter point,
I suppose that, you know, it kind of looks like how we
suspect it. You know, the pitching is better than I think we expected
coming in, and yeah, I think we expected a lot there. You
know, Schoogle looks like the ing candidate that there was some buzz about.
Flaherty looks like he's figured some things out and looked like a frontline starter again.
You know, you've got a very good or Jason going your resource and
has been fantastic even though he hasn't really been rewarded for it, aside from
my eight of struggles. You know, there's a lot to like there.
The bullpen, you know, it's been a little bit more up and down
lately after a good start. But the question really is the offense, and
you see signs of breakthroughs, but it's up and down. You know,
the eleven run performance the other night was, you know, match the total
runs they had scored in the previous five games combined, and in the game
before that, before that five game eleven run stretch, you know, they
had also scored eleven. So you know, there there's jackal and high there.
You know, there's a capability to really work pitchers. Even yesterday you
saw it where you know, they were Canter Biby for forty four pitches in
that four r and in and inning, and then they couldn't get anything else
going once Cleveland went to the bullpen. So it's you know, it's an
up and down. It's a young squad with clear holes that is trying to
win with their strengths while trying to you know, kind of do what they
can with these growth areas. Why wasn't the offense You and I talked about
this at the end of last season. Why wasn't the offense addressed in the
off season? Besides or Shell on a one year deal and Canna on a
one year deal. What should have been done there? Or are you satisfied
with those two moves to increase an offense that needed I think more punch.
I think they wanted to try to figure out some things with some of the
younger hitters, and they felt like this was the year to do it.
Rather than having those guys getting either part time playing time, we're spending more
time in the minor leagues. I also think that it wasn't a great free
agent market, and I think that kind of boards up out with some of
the guys who ended up lingering out there. Now, could they have done
something you know, later on in the off season or during sprint training,
Well, they kind of did with Urgella, you know, once he was
out there for you know, relatively easy one year deals, they took the
shots. Could they have done something similar with the JD. Martinez? Yeah,
they could have that. You know, you can debate where that would
have been a good option. But I think also too, once you get
to that point in the off season with those guys to where they're available on
one year deals, I think it, you know, their choices become a
lot more you know, plentiful as far as you know where they can go,
but also where they want to go. It's like, Okay, if
JD's going to a one year deal, does he want to come here where
the playing time might not be quite so guaranteed, or would he rather go
to, you know, the Mets or some other clubs that might be closer
or might be closer to a playoff spot even in a tougher division, but
also might be able to guarantee more playing time where he could use that as
a platform year. So yeah, I wasn't even thinking. I wasn't even
thinking JD Martinez just because he's a designated hitter, you don't necessarily need that.
I was thinking more along the lines of a Matt Chapman like Detroit couldn't
have done three years fifty four million dollars like he got in San Francisco,
but perhaps Detroit would have had to overpay for something like that. And let's
face that these guys want to go to a winning team. I still think
Detroit could be that winning team in this division. Jason Beck joins us here
on x'es and bros. He of MLB dot Com. You can fall him
on x at Beck Jason Matt Manning was a little bit of a surprise to
me to be sent to Toledo. I think I know the reason why when
you signed Jack Flaherty and Ken to Maida. It's going to squeeze somebody.
So it came down to Casey Miz, it came down to Reese Olsen,
and it came down to Matt Manning. He has handled it rather professionally.
At what point, Bill, do you think he gets the call and kent
to ma Ata suddenly gets injured with uh, you know, a sore shoulder,
some type of blister or whatever the case may be. Because my ATA
through seven games has not been very good. I mean, I don't think
anything like that imminent. For one thing, MLB has been ringing cracking down
on those phantom injury type things. Uh you know, you know we saw
we saw that in New York where you know it's that call somebody their job
and costumer suspension. So you know something I got to get creative. That's
that's not going to happen. So I think we're waiting for you know,
well they do something performance wise. That's tricky because like you know, for
one thing, Kantis track record shows you kind of have to wait it out
with him for him to figure things out. You know, he's not a
guy who's had strong starts to seasons, so once you sign him, you're
you're pretty much committed to kind of waiting for him to may things and to
look like he was on that path until the other night were just really just
look arguably his worst start this season, so you know, you wait to
see what happens there, and he also figured that somewhere along the line,
you know there's going to be an opening. Honestly, it's kind of surprising
that they haven't had some sort of opening aside from double headers already this season,
given you know, in previous years they were already on starter seven or
eight or something like that by now, and they've generally been able to roll
with the current five, you know, plus one for double headers. So
you know, the the odds and the injury hittories, histories with pitchers.
You're not specific pictures like these guys, but just the way baseball roles would
tell you something's going to come up where they're going to need somebody, and
he's in line right now, and you know these things tend to come in
bunches, So I think you waited out and see what happened. But you're
also going to have innings to watch with some of these guys. You know,
Reese Olsen did not have a full use last year, even though he
did get a pretty good innings total under his belt. Yo, Casey Mies
hadn't bitched in two years until out. You know, it would shuck me
if at some point you've got to either give him a break or maybe stretch
authorization, you know, to give mad a starter to and give him a
little bit extra rest. There different ways you could do it. Yeah,
that's an excellent point. Excellent point. It's a big reason why Jason Beck
is so well respected throughout the game of baseball. He's with us here on
ex'es and bros. Bear with me on this because you interact with fans a
great deal on social media, and when you're at the ballpark, you understand
the mindset, even though you don't always agree with it. Riley Green,
he's got homers. People don't care about the average. They shouldn't. Andy
Banya is not seen as an everyday guy when so Perez brand new, so
they're not even sure. Carrie Carpenter has come up with some big hits over
the last couple of years, they're okay with that. Cole Keith is a
young guy, they're letting him grow into it. Zach McKinstry's kind of a
you know, a jack of all trades, hobby or bias people have given
up on for the most part. So where does the eyre go to.
It goes to Spencer Torkolsen, fair or unfair. People forget about the thirty
one bombs in ninety four stakes a year ago. They worry about the lack
of power this year. And of course the average, which I think is
overrated. What do you think is the level of concern for the Tigers on
Spencer Torkolsen And what is the length of leash you give him before you do
anything drastic about him. I mean, I think there's a good deal of
concern. That's one thing. If it was like previous years where there's a
ton of hard times tag not getting rewarded for it, but we're not seeing
that to the same degree this year. It's a lot of pop ups.
It's a lot of you know, low percentage hit by low percentage. I
mean like they expected batting average or they hit probability. Whatever you want to
call. It is not as high, so, you know, but he's
still making contact. It's not as they're the same strike a rate that he's
had in years past. So you know, would you rather have it previous
ways? Maybe to some degree, but it also suggests that he's at least
seeing balls. He's just not you know, with that swim, with the
timing, he's just not making the same quality of contact he's been able to
make it. And yeah, that's worrisome. Is it a reason to do
him for his career? No, he's shown the ability to make adjustments,
he's shown the potential, and he's shown the ability to heat up rather quickly
once he figures things out. You know, what they say is that they
don't think he can That triple A would necessarily make a huge amount of difference
with him, because he's shown he can get there. I think if you
were to send him, it would have to be with specific targets that you
want him to work on to figure things out to where like if he if
when he does that, you bring him back up, you know, and
then you know, you you go back and see what works. They're not
at that point yet, you know, they've said they haven't talked about it,
although you know, you kind of say that you know all the time
until you actually do it. At the time you talk about it is the
time you actually do it. But right now they're willing to give him,
you know, more leash. I don't think it's forever, but I think
at this point you keep letting him go along. Remember like a couple of
years ago, they let him go all the way through you know, up
to you know, basically the All Star Break to try to figure things out.
So they've shown, you know, of willingness to be as abundantly patient
here to let him work things out. But you know, it's been a
grind and I think if he showed it was really wearing on him mentally,
you know that leash might be quicker. He is not so far. So
you know, if he keeps not just his spirits up, because that's what
you know, he's naturally a pretty optimistic guy, but also the determination that
he's an adjustment a way that he really feels like there's progress there and that
it's within reach, that it's not helpless. I think you want to keep
rewarding for that, for that willingness to keep working, to keep giving him
the shot to to see if this works. Yeah, and to his credit,
I mean, he's such a he really is a great young man.
To his credit, he's handled this adverse time with great class and dignity.
Let me ask you, this is kind of a broad question. I think
you've already partly addressed it with the offense, but this is kind of what
I've said. Look, they're pitching. It's hard to argue with the starting
pitching like you've brought up. And I still truly believe in the bullpen.
Shelby Miller has had some blow ups, but overall, you believe in the
bullpen. Their defense is an elite there's no really no elite defender now that
Parker Medos is down in Toledo. There's some guys who make some spectacular plays,
but it's not an elite defense. It's a substandard offense right now.
And their speed on the base pass is for the most part lacking. You
know, they don't you don't fear them. Let's say, like you would
a Kansas city of the past. What do you think this team's biggest detriment
is overall? And how do they fix it? The biggest detriment I think
the most fixable detriment, honestly me is probably defense. I think they're a
better defensive team than they've shown so far. I think there are ways to
fix it. I think he've seen progress from at first base, and I
think first base is critical, you know, for a lot of defenses,
but particularly this one, because a good first baseman, what he can do
on throws or off target, can make an entire endfield better. You know,
Jim Leelant talks about that for years, and while Hobby's throws have not
been as wild, he's a lot more on target throws. I think you
know, Ork can do when he's right defensively, can help out a cold
teeth, can help out what they're trying to do. A third before Geo
comes back, you know, can help out in a lot of areas,
can help out on double plays, and I think we've seen that a little
bit more in recent days to where you know, Torque reading balls right and
stretching. It's kind of made a difference on some plays to where you know,
early in the year maybe those don't get made. Okay, all right,
it's fixable with positioning. I think third base becomes better once comes back.
I think center field without post Parker has become a little bit better in
recent days, is once sol has gotten settled in there, although I still
think Fearling is a more solid, reliable option there on days players. Yeah,
I think rightfield becomes better as as Carpenter makes better reads. Yeah,
and you could actually move Riley Green to center and they've I know you guys
have talked to the Tigers about that a little bit. One final thing before
we let you go. This division has surprised me. I mean Cleveland Stephen
vote his first year, that surprised me a little bit. I still think
Detroit should win this division. I think that should be the expectation. I've
said that for more than just this year. I said it a year ago.
That should be the expectation for Detroit fans and should be for the Tigers.
Who's the biggest surprise to you so far as we reached the quarter pole
in Major League Baseball? Me personally, the biggest surprises Cleveland. Oh,
you know, they've won recently, they've won in the past, But having
watched the challenges that the Tigers went through when they went from Jim Leland to
Brad Austinas, what they've been able to do in year one underceives both is
really impressive, and especially with a younger roster than they get credits for.
You know, they don't defeat themselves, and they've shown that, you know,
they they played good fundamental baseball. You know, they win at the
margins as as some baseball people like to say, you know, and they
put pressure on you, and you know, the Tigers they they felt that,
you know, that that was a very winnable series they had this week,
but the Indians pressured them and they took advantage of mistakes and I think
the Tigers were a little bit surprised by that. And you know, this
is a division to where it's like, you know, even though the Tigers
weren't in the race last year, they had their way with the division and
had to have match up. That's right. And I think Cleveland made a
statement, you know, this week to where you know, you can't just
assume it's going to be that way again. You know, that was very
impressive and I think it's you know, that goes along way towards establishing Cleveland
as the team to be if they weren't already. I agree with you,
Jason. The other the other surprise to me be Houston and their struggles at
the bottom, and of course you'll be there front and center for the Tigers
and the Astros starting tonight. Thanks for your time, Hi, my friend.
I appreciate it as always. Have a great weekend, all the best
this season. Hope to talk to you again soon. Thanks Chef. Always
good talking ball with you. I miss fent so good to talk with you.
Yeah, likewise, I'm missing a great deal too. Jason Beck joining
us from MLB dot com. You can fill him on Twitter at beck Jason.
Really good follow great information. Always enjoy the perspective that he brings.
Always enjoy your perspective as well. Thanks for the phone calls, Thanks for
the texts. It's been an honor this morning. Please join my friend Dennis
Fifthyan tomorrow. He's got you tomorrow morning six until nine. You can call
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thousand and enjoy the sports conversation. Our appreciation to Ben, our producer as
well. We'll be back with you Monday morning, six till nine here on
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