Second hour of the program exues and bros throughout the Great State of Michigan.
First hour, we talked exclusively about Spencer Torkolsen and the fact that he is
headed to Toledo. The promote lost in this, perhaps unfairly so, is
the promotion of Justin Henry molloy from Triple A. Now you remember he was
acquired into trade from Atlanta in December of twenty twenty two, and he is
a very talented hitter. From what we were able to gather, he's just
twenty four same as Torkulsen. I don't think his numbers pop at you in
Toledo, two fifty three six bombs. But look at the walk rate.
This is a big deal. Okay, on base percentage is really important.
This is a big deal to the front office in any front office. It's
not just Scott Harris, it's any front office. His walk rate is twenty
percent, his strikeout rates close to twenty seven percent. Again, marry that
with Torkulsen's numbers. What did I say just before the break? Torkulsen a
walk rate of seven percent and a strikeout rate of twenty four and a half
percent. That's a big difference. Okay, Now one's minor league ball and
one's major league ball. You know major leaguers, Like this is going to
be adjustment for him too, major league ball is I mean, those those
guys are around the plate more and they get more of the benefit of the
doubt. Molloy used to be a third baseman. The Tigers didn't feel like
that was his strength. They felt like they're going to push him to the
outfield. This is a deeper concern for me, but it's not one that
you have to worry about right now. You know, they don't They don't
have any really good defensive players like Jace Young's a hitter, Cole Keith's a
hitter. Justin Henry Lloy is a hitter. Parker Metal is a good defensive
player. But overall their young guys are viewed primarily as what we hope will
be offensive players. Remember, Torkolsen was drafted as a third base That was
the announcement at the draft. Drafted as a third basement even though he was
a first baseman at Arizona State. He was recruited as a third baseman.
There. Gage Workman was their third baseman. His ability moved Torkosoen from third
to first. Either way, the corner infield spot is where you expect power.
That's the way it's kind of always been. So you got guys like
this who are coming up, and it's great. Gives him an opportunity.
He's a really nice kid too, by the way. He's a tough kid.
Parents did a wonderful job with him. But he is going to produce
offensively for you, not defensively. He is viewed as a below average defensive
player. So think about what you have with this team right now. When
sil Perez is an outfielder, not by trade. They moved him there because
he wasn't good enough defensively at shorter second. They move Riley Green from center
to left. Mark Canna is a guy who can play either corner outfield,
perhaps either corner infield, and he'll probably get a lot more first base opportunities.
Matt Werling is a guy who plays a little bit of center, a
little bit of right, a little bit of third base outside of the catcher
spot, and not many catchers are doubling up anyplace else other than first base.
You know, you've got Salvador Perez playing catcher and first but you know
he made his way in the majors as a gold glove catcher. They're only
moving in first base as he gets older. Rogers and Kelly aren't playing any
other positions. So outside of catcher, short and second, Bias isn't playing
any place other than shortstop. Keith is not going to play any place other
than second base. Everybody else is moving around. Yes, Green's and left.
He can play a little bit of center. That's a positive. I
don't view this is where my philosophy is completely different than a lot of the
front office people and the manager, and that is, you know, when
they love the ability to move guys around. I want everyday guys, I
want I want a third baseman. I'm penciling in every single day, and
they don't have this. So you get justin Henry malloy. Now you've got
Matt Feeling, You've got Riley Green, You've got weinsil Perez, You've got
Mark Canna, all patrolling the outfield at times. Feeling can play a little
bit of third, or Schella plays a little bit of third, or Sella
and Canna are going to play some first base, right. That's a to
me. The word hodgepodge has slash is maybe a little too strong, but
it feels like that to me. That's the sense that I get. I
could be wrong there. I hope I am, but I personally not a
huge fan of that, never have been, no matter what the role may
be. Want the guy on a regular basis, and I think that's where
the best teams are. Don't give me that. Adlie Rushman sometimes the DH
yeah, I know, but most of his at bats, most of his
games are as a catcher. I mean, that's what the best teams are
doing. Donnard Henderson is second base every day, Rushman is catcher every day.
Mountcastle's first base every day, Santander's right field every day, Hayes's left
field every day, Mullins' is center field every day. That's what you're getting
Westburgh sometimes second base, sometimes third base. That's Baltimore and they lost yesterday
four to three. But that team is that team's really good. If there's
any team you'd like to be like, it's the Baltimore Orioles And who would
have thought that two years ago? What their young guys are developing, and
they're really good, and they play every day and they've got a position.
Even certain teams like like Tampa. Take Tampa for example, that used to
people used to pride themselves about using as a model of guys who can play
all over. Jose Series every day center field man, and Andy Diaz is
first base every day. Randy or Rosarina is first base or left field every
day. Esak Paratus is third base every day. Those are the guys you're
getting. Detroit's got two everyday players and one guy, by the way,
is widely despised. And if it weren't for the contract, we may not
even be on this team. So let's let's understand what we're dealing with here.
I'm happy for Justin Henry Maloy. I'm excited to watch him play.
I'm excited to see him take swings. I would love to know why this
organization does not develop good everyday players. Who's the last everyday player who became
an All Star? Is it Curtis and developed Curtis Granderson? Alex Savilla,
Alex Savilla, I believe is the answer. So it's a Villa. It's
Granderson position player wise. How about how about infielder? How far do you
have to go back? Travis Freeman. It's not a good track record.
Meyer hotline is open eight sixty six, eight three, eight forty eight forty
three. The text line is sports Radio to twenty one thousand. This is
ex'es and bros. Across the Great State of Michigan on the Michigan Sports Network.
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welcome back, Glad you're with us on this Monday morning, seven eighteen.
Got some texts that we want to get to. All you got to
do is tex Sports Ready to twenty one thousand to Meyer hotline eight sixty six
eight forty eight forty three. We welcome your thoughts. Spoken a lot about
Spencer Torkolsen this morning. Tiger is an eight to four winner over the Red
Sox. Yesterday Torkulsen sent down justin Henry Malloy up. Maloy has been a
designated hitter a few times as of late, down in Toledo and doing that
on purpose, so you get that mindset, that routine, if you will.
Most of his games have been played in left field, no longer a
third baseman, because they just didn't feel like he was good enough there.
That speaks to a different problem for this team right now. But the Tigers
are in Texas tonight to start a three game series there. Scott Dixon wins
the Detroit Grand Prix. It's his fifty eighth career win. Only A.
J. Foyd has more, and it's his thirty third road course victory,
which is most all time, and it's also his fourth career win in Detroit.
Did you get a chance to go down by chance? Because people I
spoke to who were down there said it was fantastic. It's another event.
I don't know how it looks on TV in your eyes, I think it
looks pretty damn good. I think the broadcast was very good. I think
it's I think it's a prideful moment for the entire state, just like the
event in Benton Harbor and the Senior PGA event. Just like in a couple
of weeks you're going to see the Meyer Classic take place. All these events,
you know, whether you think they're big or not, I don't care.
I think it's I think it's a great way to showcase the state.
I think it's awesome how many people go out and support it. And that
course is one of the bumpiest, one of the most challenging, one of
the tightest courses on the Indy car circuit. Don't ask me to compare it
to Monaco or Long Beach or places like that. I just know Detroit does
a good job and I think they should be proud of it. And I
hope you were too. Last night, Edmonton beats Dallas to win the Western
Conference. I'll guarantee you somebody in America right now is saying, oh my
gosh, this is a nightmare for the NHL. Don't tell me they didn't
want New York in Dallas, you get Florida and Edmonton. Hey, listen,
you can highlight superstars. I know it helps with the TV ratings and
all that other stuff. I don't know how many people are gonna watch if
they're not hockey fans already. I don't know. I'm watching because I love
the sport. I love watching Edmonton play, and I really like watching Florida
play. I think it's an awesome matchup. The Panthers are opening as the
favorites. But here's the thing, and this was said afterwards. Peter de
Boor of Dallas, the head coach of Dallas said this after the game yesterday.
He said, we probably had that was probably our best game, but
they lost two one Edmonton had. Did you see the final stat line on
this Edmonton had ten shots on net and yet they won two to one.
Connor McDavid Zach Hyman. Those are the goal scorers for Edmonton the power play,
both of them power play goals. That was the difference. And of
course the other difference is in net and when you get a goalie playing and
nothing against Jake go Ottinger, nothing against him. He was really good for
Dallas all season long. He was good for Dallas in the series. It
just happened to be and his team generated plenty of opportunities. It just happened
to be that for Edmonton, Stuart Skinner was better. And that's a good
story, by the way, it's a really good story. He was benched
earlier in the playoffs. He has bounced back and he has been really important.
He made thirty four saves last night. Dallas outshot Edmonton thirty five to
ten. And yet it's the Oilers that win and advance. So the Oilers
are into the Stanley Cup Finals. They're going to be trying. They're going
to try and become the first Canadian based team to win the Stanley Cup since
the Montreal Canadians in nineteen ninety three. I don't know if this was an
improbable run or not for them, but I do know that it's going to
be a It should be a fun series. Although Florida beat them rather handily
five to one. I think in five to three during the regular season.
Who cares? I mean, that's so overrated. That's just a way for
television and radio to padd some discussion about the series in general. What will
be somewhat interesting. I saw this on social media last night. The distance
of two five and forty miles between Edmonton and where Florida plays Sunrise, Florida
is the longest distance between Stanley Cup final opponents and NHL history. There's your
little tidbit of information that nobody cares about. What is really cool is that
McDavid is into the finals for the first time in his career. Right speaking
of one ones big deep breath, he got them there. Now, Florida
will be the favorite, and rightfully so. I do believe they're the more
complete team. I think they're tougher to play against, but they will.
They will have to do everything they possibly can to stay out of the box
because Edmonton's power play is so damn lethal and Edmonton is so fast. I
will say this, you watched the games earlier this year Edmonton and Florida when
they played one another. Florida was equally as fast in those two games.
And maybe it's Edmonton forcing you you know, that kind of up tempo type
of stuff. But it was really good. Let me get to some texts.
The text line is sports Radio to twenty one thousand, Ben, what
do we have? Yeah, we have one back about Torklesen. It says
Madison Bumgarner, Mike Trout, Max Scherzer, and Mickey Mantle are a few
players who are sent down to the miners to figure things out after being called
up. Just trying to stay positive for this kid seems like a good kid.
Yeah, that's a good one. Keeping it in perspective. I love
it. You have to. It's gonna happen to a lot of different players,
and it doesn't mean that they're not very good, Okay, it doesn't.
It means you've got to make an adjustment. It is really hard to
make the adjustment during a Major League Baseball season. That's why they oftentimes send
you down to the miners. That's a good text, it really is.
I mean, look, Alex Manoa, not alex Alec Manoa was a starter
in the All Star Game. Remember they miked him up. You remember watching
that bend It was really cool stuff. And he throws strikes after strike after
strike. He was fun. Loving that he gets sent down. Not that
year, but something happened and he hasn't recovered. Let's hope that's not the
case for Spencer Trocos. We'll get to more of your text your phone calls
too the Meyer Hotline eighty six six eight three eight forty eight forty three.
When we come back on Exis and Bros. After this, Ready set drop
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our tenth year at the Meyer LPGA Classic for simply give Get Ready for the
best who are yet to help neighbors in need while enjoying golf, food and
family fun. Join us June thirteenth through the sixteenth at Blakefield Country Club for
fabulous food, Discoveryland for kids, and of course, elite women golfers from
around the world competing to help feed our neighbors. Get your tickets now,
Admire LPGA Classic dot Com thirty five after the hour, Welcome back, Access
Bros. Budday through Friday six until nine. I'm glad you're with us.
Appreciate it very much. The phone number on the Meyer hotline eight sixty six
eight three eight forty eight forty three. The text line sports Ready to twenty
one thousand good text just before the break mentioning some players who were sent down
in their careers were not comparing Spencer Porkelson to certain players, certain all stars,
if you will, guys who helped lead a team to a league championship.
John Rocker, for example. It was like that, I think Harmon
Killerbrew actually was sent down at one point. I'm not comparing Spencer Porkleson to
those guys. All I'm saying is that he's not the first. He will
not be the last big name player to be sent down. And I don't
even know how big of a name he is outside of Detroit. May not
be very big at all. There may be a lot of people who who
were just questioning a little bit in saying, who is that guy? You
know, I mean, we live it because it's somebody we feel is really
important to this organization. But there might be a lot of people around baseball
who don't feel like that's a big name. And if that's the case,
then that tells you about the disappointing start to his major league career overall.
Back to the text line and you can text as Sports Radio to twenty one
thousand, Ben, what else is up? Yeah, it says Alex Savilla
was a stud. I remember down the stretch he caught every game in that
human heat near were around twenty eleven and rake the ball while handling a Hall
of Fame pitching staff. Yeah, I thought Alex Savilla was There was a
period of time. First of all, I think he's a really good analyst
by the way Radio, n TV, But there was a period of time.
Look just one all start. No one's saying he's a he's a Hall
of Famer or a Tiger's Hall of Famer or anything like that. But twenty
eleven he had an excellent season. You bet two ninety five you slug over
five hundred, you drive in eighty two, you hit nineteen bombs, you
win a Silver Slugger. That's pretty damn good. I would remind you this,
and I need to remind myself this sometimes. He was drafted his third
basement out of Alabama and then made to a catcher thirteen years in the big
League's pretty damn good. And yeah, he handled a lot of pitchers with
type A person like most athletes are type A. But especially when you have
when you have guys like Verlander and Sure and Fister and guys who are they
want things done a certain way that can make the job hard sometimes and he
was excellent about that. So that's a good text too. I appreciate the
texts at twenty one thousand, appreciate anything that might be on your mind.
In the Meyer hotline, eight sixty six eight three eight forty eight forty three.
That's eight sixty six, eight three, eight forty eight forty three.
We mentioned Scott Dixon, we mentioned the NHL, the other story in Sports
Yesterday, there's a couple of other ones, and then in the eight o'clock
hour, we're going to get to a lot on NFL. But I don't
know how much you watched the RBC Canadian Open. I know it's not a
major, so it probably doesn't garner a lot of attention. But there are
you know, there are other events in golf that are really big too.
Not saying this is huge, but it's been around for one hundred and twenty
years. They played it at Hamilton, Ontario, seventh time it's been played
there at the Hamilton Golf and Country Club. And the winner is the guy
by the name of Robert McIntyre. That's not even the story. The story
is ct Pan and you might be going, what what are you talking about?
Ct Pan had a really nice eagle from one hundred and twenty one yards
out yesterday, that's not the story. His caddy on the bag was Mike
fluff Cowen. That's not the story. The story is that ct Pan went
through not one, not two, not three, but four caddies in his
final round. I don't know if you saw this, but his original caddy,
Mike fluff Cowen, who was the caddy for Tiger Woods for so long,
He was on the bag for the entire tournament. But he fell on
the third hole on Sunday and couldn't continue. So what does Pan do.
It's not like you're gonna carry your own bag, right, what's he gonna
do? He selects a fan out of the crowd. I don't know how
you do this. The fan gets all excited. He's like, hey man,
I'm I'm your guy. It's an it's an on the course interview,
I suppose right away. So he gets this guy out of the crowd and
he says he's ready for the job. He caddies on the fourth hole.
Ct Pan bogies that hole. But that's it's not like he got rid of
him off the bag because of that. It's not like he's asking this guy
yardage or he's all he's asking him carry my bag, hand me the club.
I want clean it. Please make sure you have a towel to wipe
the golf ball off once it lands on the green, and hold the flag.
He's not asking him to read the green. He's not asking him what
club he should hit. He's not asking him for yardage. Well, I
suppose you could shoot it, but you probably wouldn't trust a guy coming out
of the gallery even to shoot the flag. And how far it is?
I got one sixty three for me? You know, I'm using a seven
iron here, how about you CT Yeah, thanks, I'm going to use
I'm going to use a heavy wedge, but I appreciate it. Stand over
there for me. Don't move, I'm about to hit. I don't know,
I don't know how the conversation goes anyway, the fan caddies for the
fourth hole. Mike Campbell, who was a worker from the caddies services at
the course, steps in. He finishes out the front nine. After the
ninth hole, a guy by the name of Al Riddell, who was a
caddie for an earlier for a player who had missed the cut, took over
on the back nine. Apparently he was watching this whole thing unfold while he
was at home, and knowing that his player wasn't playing the weekend, he
jumped through his car, raced over to the course and said, I'll help
him out now. I don't know how much he gets paid. I don't
know what their relationship was or anything like that, but that's a hell of
a story. That's a hell of a run. Man. Four caddies in
one round. The CTPAN, by the way, finished one under for the
day, three under for the tournament. So Robert McIntyre to a certain extent,
at least in my eyes, to a certain extent, was overplayed by
that story right there. It's really good. This is another story that's a
little little frustrating to me. I'm I don't know how you take this,
but I'm gonna lay it out there. I'm gonna ask you what you think.
All right. Every league has rules that it's athletes are expected to follow,
and if you don't follow them, oftentimes there's a fine. Now,
a lot of these guys make so much money, finding them is just a
drop in the bucket. You can find a thousand bucks if you're a Major
League Baseball player. Who cares they lose? Is that on the plane flying
from New York to Atlanta in their card games in the back? So it
really doesn't matter. The WNBA is a little different, slightly different. They
don't make that kind of money, and I'm not suggesting they should. But
over the weekend, not that I expected you to follow this, and I'm
not gonna lie. It's not like I sat there and glued to the television
and doing all that stuff. But Chicago played Indiana. The storyline there was
that there were three players who are top five picks, Caitlin Clark who played
at Iowa, Angel Reese who played at LSU, and Kimii Cardoso who played
at South Carolina. The latter two won national titles. The first Kaitlin Clark
was a national runner up in both those games. But during one of the
games, or during that game Chicago, Indiana, Caitlin Clark was pushed shoved
to the ground a foul, hard foul, not while she had the basketball,
but while she was waiting for an inbound pass, not by either one
of those players. Either she was fouled by another player who's I'm sorry whose
name escapes me right now or Kennedy Carter is her name anyway, After the
game, they're supposed to be made available to the media. There's a media
policy that says postgame media availability no later than ten minutes following the game.
Each head coach in two players, the leading scorer and a key contributor based
on what the team feels, have to be made available in a separate press
conference room for people on the media, and in case those want to join
via zoom, all the other players at the conclusion of that press conference may
be requested to join the media as well, so They're supposed to remain in
the building, whether requested or not, until all the media obligations are met.
That's just their policy. Whether you agree with it or not doesn't matter.
Somebody did ask for Carter, she would not ask answer questions about the
incident in the third quarter where she shoved Clark, put a shoulder into her
and picked up a flagrant one. Well, Angel Reese was not at the
podium that she was requested. She was not available, so she gets fined
one thousand dollars. I guess my question would be, at what point are
these players in this league going to understand that they are not the NBA.
They're getting coverage. They should be very grateful they're getting as much coverage as
they do. And I'm not going to claim because I don't know, I'm
not going to claim that it's all because of Caitlin Clark. That's not fair
to some of the past great players who've played in this league, whether it
be Sue Byrd, Tina Thompson, Cheryl Swoops, Diana Tarassi, whomever.
All right, but if you're going to start having that attitude where you don't
feel like you've got to meet what the league has suggested or demanded. If
you're not going to start answering questions when the media asks you questions, and
you're going to start pulling the NFL stuff, don't be upset when the pushback
becomes super real and if you're going to start biting the hand that feeds you.
So for example, that Carter or Angel Reese after the game starts sending
out on social media. How good is Caitlin Clark? What does she do
besides hit threes and all that other stuff. You're getting charter flights? Now,
think about this for a second. How much is it to attend to
WNBA game? How much money are teams truly making? There are certain games
that they are The New York Liberty had a big crowd earlier this year and
made some money, a lot of money. But you better be careful,
don't overplay your hand because the public interest isn't so great that you can't go
away you your team or your league where everyone would be crying for it all
over again. You're starting to expand a little bit. You're getting You've got
the national TV rights, you're getting right ups, you're getting draft previews,
you're getting analysis on a regular base of things. You're getting big names to
do this, that and the other thing, and now you're going to start
pulling this type of attitude. You better be careful. Players better recognize it.
Now. There is a, I want not a misconception, but there
is a belief that the reason they're getting charter flights and the reason a lot
of things are happening well for the WNBA is because of the infusion of Caitlin
Clark and one specific player there has been. You got to be careful with
that. This is not responsible by the media. That is not proven yet.
It is timing, yes, and it is is it, you know,
a coincidence? Probably not. She's part of the reason, but she's
not the only reason, because what it does is it creates a vitriol,
a jealousy. Just the way it is, it's true, and players are
starting to do that toward her. I don't agree with a lot of the
people who are saying she is she is treated differently because she's white and straight,
which is pretty sad too. Even if that were the case that somebody
who is straight in that league is viewed as so different that you've got to
push back on her, that's pretty scary stuff. And there's a very little
pushback on the fact that other people have come out and said she is privileged
because she's white. That's bull crap, absolute bull crap. She comes in
with extreme fanfare because of what she did at the collegiate level, and what
she did at the collegiate level is greater than anybody has ever done at the
collegiate level. From an individual standpoint, our phone number on the Meyer hotline
eight sixty six eight three forty eight forty three. I was just stunned to
read the I mean, it's so early in her career, what are they
ten games in? Eight to ten games in and already and you can tell
that visiting players have had enough think about the stuff that she's had to deal
with on a regular basis at the collegiate level. It is a hard balance
to be the focus of so much attention and still be humble and be willing
to try and steer a lot of that public attention toward others on your team,
while those on the team no, da you know, damn well,
there's a little resentment there. They want a piece of that public eye.
They want to be written up every once in a while for what they felt
like they contributed to a team's effort, and then the media, what do
we do. We're constantly asking about her instead of the person we're actually interviewing.
It's bound to get old. It's bound to get old for a lot
of people. Our phone number again on the Meyer hotline eight six eight three
eight forty eight forty three. You could text the program sports Radio to twenty
one thousand. A lot of good stuff when it comes to the National Football
League. A couple of articles out there, the favorite in the conference,
the favorite to reach the title game, and one specific player has come out
publicly and suggested his top five quarterbacks. Who are they. We'll get to
all that and more coming up here on Xis and Bros. On a glorious
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simply Give. Get ready for the best who are yet to help neighbors in
need while enjoying golf, food and family fun. Join us June thirteenth through
the sixteenth at Blakefield Country Club for fabulous food, discoveryland for kids, and
of course, elite women golfers from around the world competing to help feed our
neighbors. Get your tickets now at Meyer LPGA Classic dot com.