All right, second hour of the program, Welcome back Exues and Bros.
Monday through Friday, six till nine. Don't forget eight o'clock hour. We're
gonna visit with Michael Harrah boy. He had such an incredible writing career or
uh learned an awful lot from him. Proud to call him his friend.
Always enjoyed our debates from a football standpoint, writes Fred Detroit Lions dot Com
told me the last night, it's it's just time ready to move on.
Okay, we want things to stay the same when they're good. I don't
know different than anybody else, but I also respect, you know, the
need to and the deserved right to, uh kind of relax a little bit
and enjoy your later years. So I'm glad that he's gonna give us some
time and looking forward to that as well. Just before we replayed our interview
with Jim Leland, I was asking you if this Tigers team has the pitching
sustainability and if the hitting has an opportunity to turn around. Now I don't.
I think they're They're starting pitching is fine. I'm not a I think
you know this if you've been listening to the show, not a big believer
slash confidence building at act with the Kent Tomata. I think that's he's been.
He has been less than advertised. How's that you cannot You cannot debate
the effectiveness of three of their starters. This is nothing earth shattering, But
I will tell you this, they're getting if you're getting, you know,
I don't want to use a postseason example because they're not even in that discussion
right now. Number one, but number two, we've got such a long
way to go. The fact that the starters are giving you innings and they
rank eighth, they're starting pitching ranks eighth in innings pitched. That's a great
sign. You'll take that absolutely. Scooball is a is a strikeout throwing,
top of the order type of guy. There are seventh in strikeouts from their
starting rotation. A lot of that has to do with him. You would
shudder if he's the guy you happen to lose down the stretch or at any
point. You're not making up for that. I told you earlier about the
fielding. If you want to go by DRS defensive runs saved, there's nothing
special there. And I don't know how many categories you look at to make
a really good baseball team. Pitching, defense, hitting, base running,
coaching, slash managing. Is that fair? I mean, there's there's five.
You want to throw a bullpen in there to make six. That's part
of pitching. But I get why it could be a separate issue. All
right, do you want to go seven with power and all that other stuff?
However you want to break it down, however many categories you want to
use? Answer yourself objectively, be honest with yourself. Where is their strength?
Where is their weakness? How far does their weakness go? Or need
to get to where it's respectable? Those are the things that are really important,
I believe. So I gave you the starting pitching. You like that,
right, I gave you the defense. You don't like that. I
don't either. Slugging wise, they ranked twentieth. There's a ways to go.
You want to get to the middle of the pack. The San Francisco
Giants Detroit right now is not that far away. That's doable. That's you
can make that up. The base running, you're not making that up.
This team is just not built for that. They just don't have it.
They don't I don't have their statistics of going first to third. It's not
always about base stealing, Okay, so let's get let's get that out of
our minds. It's not always about base stealing, but there is a threat
there that I think is important. Another big concern that I think we have
to look at and that it doesn't get enough play is the walk rate.
So the walk rate right now ranks twenty fourth in baseball. They're at seven
point seven percent. That ain't good if you're not hitting with power, and
we know they're not. Although I gave you the number yesterday when they homer
because Justin Henry Molloy homered yesterday. They are now twenty four and thirteen when
they hit a home run. But for the most part, there's not as
much power as you need. Because of that, you better find a way
to get on base. Well, the walk rate's not there, and the
ice on base percentage isn't there. Only Oakland, Miami and Chicago are worse
than on base percentage. That's concerning. That is a deep concern. And
then you wonder what about the strikeout rate. Well, the strikeout rate is
too high as well. Houston strikes out the least at eighteen percent. Detroit
ranks eighth in all of baseball in strikeout rate at almost twenty four percent.
So maybe things will change a little bit with Torkelsen because he was sent down.
I think he went to for four the other day, so maybe that
changes. Those are the numbers. Now, you and I have both talked
about this. Numbers in baseball can be overwhelming, they can be paralyzing,
paralysis by analysis. But some numbers are important, folks. But I do
want to get to what we were talking about just before the break, and
that is the eye test. Because I hear this a lot from not just
fans, but from members of the media. He doesn't pass the eye test.
Whose eyes, well, my eyes? But what are you looking for?
Folks? That's why I asked Jim Leland the question. I said,
you've seen so much baseball, what is it you look for in young players?
He's convinced about certain players, Torkulsen, keith Olsen, other players like
that. What does he see in them? It's not just what he sees,
but what he feels when he's talking to them and what he senses with
them. If that's and I'm not telling you to believe everything he says,
it's not the gospel. Okay, However, it should give you an understanding
and appreciation of you know, maybe they're right when they say patients. Now
I hate that word. I'm tired of it, I really am. I
am tired of athletes, coaches, front office members, writers, fans,
talk show hosts. I'm tired of hearing it. Tiger's fans have been very
patient. They didn't expect anything in twenty nineteen and they saw a crap product.
They didn't expect anything in twenty twenty and it wasn't great. They didn't
expect anything in twenty one. They didn't expect anything in twenty two. They
didn't expect anything last year. Guess what they they didn't get anything either.
They got nothing. How long is long enough? How patient do you expect
us to be? Because it's to the point now where you're seeing other players
on other teams rising get better, young players rising get better, and seeing
a commitment from ownership that you're not recognizing now. So don't tell me to
be patient because I'm asking you for something and you're not giving me that in
return. The Meyer Hotline eight sixty six eight three eight forty eight forty three
A quick time out back with more of your calls and your texts when we
return on Exes and Bros. After this, we're teaming off our tenth year
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the entire lineup at Soaring Eaglecasino dot com eighteen after the hour, Welcome back,
Xes and Bros. With you throughout the great state of Michigan. We
are on in Flint WTRX Sports Extra eleven thirteen thirty AM. We're on in
Grand Rapids Wmix ninety six point one FM, The Game. In Cadillac WKD
The Ticket ninety three point seven FM. We are on Grayling and Gaylord,
WGRY one oh one point one FM. That's up North Sports Radio, and
on the Mitt WLUN one hundred point nine serving Midland, Sagana, on Bay
City, Patasky and Charlie Boy. You can catch us on WMBN one oh
four point seven FM, The Ticket Northern Michigan and on in Traverse City WKD
ninety three point seven FM, The Ticket there as well. Ben is our
producers. I'm Matt Sheppard, and the Meyer hotline is open for you eight
three or at eight sixty six, eight three, eight forty eight forty three
text the program sports Radio to twenty one thousand. Good interview with Jim Leland.
Hope you enjoyed that we will have Michael O'Hara on in the eight o'clock
hour as well. I know we got some texts, Ben, Let's get
to some of those texts. It has really loved what Leland said to look
for the toughness in a player, to see what they can or can't handle.
Also, he said every player on his team had to be treated differently,
from stars to the twenty six guy. He couldn't be more right.
I've done that in my business for thirty five years, and that's why I
always believed guys like Leland are successful. Dan Campbell is Jim Leland. I
wish the Tigers could find their Dan Campbell. That's from Freddy the treating players
differently. He didn't say that in our interview, but he has said in
the past. I don't know if he's said it in those exact words,
but I think what he means by that. Look, there are every team,
every manager, every coach has a certain standard. Players have to live
up to those standards. Those don't change. How you handle those players does
change. Now remember this, and there are famous moments in a lot of
managers and coaches careers. Right for Jim Leland. He and Barry Bonds.
You remember it, and he told Barry Bonds, you know I'm in charge
here, this is my team. We're going to do it this way.
So he didn't treat Barry Bonds differently. He treated Barry Bonds the same.
The same could be said about Ivon Rodriguez. When Ivan Rodriguez showed up a
coach, Leland slammed the door and told him in front of everybody, that's
not how you handle things. The way you handle it on my team is
this way. That is not treating him differently, that is treating him the
same. So I think there are when he said or alluded to that,
I think it was more about great players. Star players are going to get
the opportunity to overcome and do certain things. You're going through a stretch,
tough stretch. I might pull a young guy. I might send a young
guy down. I might bench a young guy for a while. With certain
other guys, you're letting him play through it. So I do believe there
are certain things that are different. I say this all the time. I'll
continue to say it for as long as I host shows. And that is
I like in managing and coaching to being a parent. You have kids at
home, don't you, Okay, if you do your principles, you and
your wife or you and your husband, your principles you believe in, and
you're going to reinforce that with your kids. There are certain rules that they
all have to follow. Right. How you go about telling them, or
implementing those rules to them might be different because of their personalities. What they
can do, what they can take, what they cannot is going to be
different. That's that's the beauty of life as individuals a little different in that
regard. So I think Jim Leland, I think his rules or his principles
were the same for everybody. How he went about it and implementing them with
certain players is different. What else we got, Yeah, it says.
One of the best things. Leland always said, you're as good as your
next day's starter. And he was damn right. Starters are so important in
baseball. Amen, that's well said. And the other thing that he I'll
summarize here. What else he said was your stars have got to be your
best players. Those are your leaders. Okay, leaders, give me results.
We want to tab and label everybody with something like that. Oh he's
a great leader. Okay. You know what Leland wanted. He wanted guys
who produced. That's what he needed and that's what every coach needs. And
that's what you want too. There's nothing wrong with that. You want someone
who's going to come up in the clutch and get a hit. If that
guy's the leader. You don't care. You just want him to produce.
Now, in a perfect world, your best player is your leader. It's
not always the case, but you rely on certain guys like that. Let's
look at the NBA Western Conference Finals. You're in Minnesota, Dallas had just
lost Game five. They don't want it to get to a game six,
or a game they just lost game four. They're in game five. They
don't want it to get to a game six where it's a possible tie,
because anything then can happen. Right. Who came out and led the way
Doncic and Irving. I'm not going to claim to know the type of impact
of leader that Luka Doncic or Kyrie Irving are, but on the field of
play, in this case, on the court of play, they proved their
leadership in the sense of production. That's great stuff. Steve Eiserman is a
guy who you talk about leadership, right. He was a leader in the
room, but he led differently, and he was a leader on the ice.
Not everybody appreciated his leadership style, especially when it kams came to younger
players. It was not always embraced. But he had other lieutenants, if
you will, who could also help massage certain things and help him lead.
Chris Draper was one of those guys. Brendan Shanahan was one of those guys.
Chris Chelios is one of those guys. It's all helpful. Those are
good text though, appreciate that very much. The Meyer Hotline eight six six
eight three eight forty eight forty three. I do want to get into a
little NBA preview. We will talk with Michael Harra in the eight o'clock hour.
I don't know if you saw this from baseball, being that we are
on the baseball top real quick. We had mentioned when Paul Skeens pitched against
the Tigers. Paul Skeen's the outstanding rookie out of LSU, who was number
one overall a year ago. After leading the Tigers to a national championship.
Pittsburgh picks him up. He's five six starts deep. He pitched against the
Dodgers. Did you see this? He pitched against the Dodgers Wednesday night?
And it was and you know what that means. That means Skeens against shoey
O Tommy. First at bat, Skeens throws not one, not two,
but three straight fastballs in the zone. All at one hundred plus. You
want a power arm. You get enamored with the triple digits on the radar
gun. Paul Skeins is your guy. One oh one point three strike one,
one hundred point one foul tip into the glove, and one hundred point
eight down. Gos Otani swung at all three pitches. Had to turn around
and head to the dugout. Next time up, third inning, three to
two pitch one hundred point one miles an hour from skiens Otani delivers it four
hundred and fifteen feet away and into the bullpen in center field for a two
run blast. That makes great baseball theater. Quick time out here on Exus
and Bros. Back on the other side, we'll tuckle little NBA and NBA
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Breaking news for you not from US, but from Adrian Narski espn Janowski saying
sources are telling him that the Lakers are preparing to offer a massive head coaching
deal to Danny Hurley, the Yukon coach who has won back to back national
championships. What do you think about that? Hmm? Immediately the thought is
why why would you want to leave a good gig where you're making a lot
of money. Have this campus and the college basketball world at your feet,
have a blue blood program like you get it? If Jay Wright wants to
retire at Villanova and get into television. You get it. If Mike Krzyzewski,
who's done everything you possibly can, when national championships, win gold medals,
coach the greatest athletes in his sport, you understand that, right.
Okay, Roy Williams was up in age, Danny Hurley's only fifty one.
Why do you want to leave a program that is perhaps established better than any
other, and in a situation that breeds success as well as any other.
Why would you want to leave that for what is often considered the headaches of
the NBA. On top of that, going to Los Angeles where you might
get a chance to coach Lebron James, who by many accounts as a coach
killer. He said ten coaches in his career. Remember, Darvin Ham was
just sent packing after two years. Team had to run to the Western Conference
finals in his first season a year ago. Then this past year he starts
talking about minutes and the amount of which players should play and was overruled by
Lebron James. James has thrown temper tantrums and gets guys fired. There has
to be a fall guy when it comes to Lebron James's team. Mike Brown
was a two time Coach of the Year. Tyron lew Eric Spolstrog might be
a Hall of Famer. Pat Riley himself was suggesting as much. It just
seems like no one is ever good enough and that coach wears out his welcome
with Lebron James rather quickly. The ego stuff, I get it happens.
He's one of the greatest, if not the greatest player of all time,
no question, but it sure seems like it's a pain in the ass to
coach him, doesn't it. It seems like he wants to be the guy
to make all the decisions. He wants to be consulted on everything. He
wants to be able to dictate the terms. Why would you want to go
there? Not just that, but on top of that the pressure, and
don't tell me there isn't. There's plenty of pressure for whatever coach takes over
there to go along with Rob Polinka, the general manager, and have them
pursue I'm not sure when I'm not saying it's a first round pick, but
pursue Bronni James so Lebron James can play with his son. Is there has
there ever been an athlete who is more in charge of his respective franchise no
matter where he goes than Lebron James, the guy who dictates just about everything.
I get that some superstars have kind of been off limits in certain things.
They want to rule when they're going to talk to the media. They
believe they should be hitting in a certain spot, they should be consulted at
certain things. I get that it's been that way for a while. This
guy's got personnel decisions type power. It's not just coaching stuff now. Granted,
some people say that that's a label that has dogged him his entire career,
and the reason is the attitude to the various challenges of head coaches he
faces. There's nothing wrong with challenging head coaches. No one has to say,
sorry, you do it this way, and if you're not, you're
out. That's not the way it works, especially in the NBA. But
it is interesting how often he has, how many coaches he has gone through,
and it is interesting how now he feels like I would just be very
careful Danny Hurley, and how good he is, and how enamored he is
with his offensive sets and things of that nature. Two years ago. Just
a reminder. Two years ago he was singing the praises of Darwinham. He
was telling everybody, this is my guy. See, when things are going
great, it's really easy to stay on course and be happy and tell everybody
how great this guy. The hard thing is when somebody is struggling, when
a team is going through some adversity. How how do you stay on the
path. Are you going to ride the wave of emotion like fans or are
you going to stay as level headed. We've said this about aj Hinch quite
a bit, whether you like him or not, that's you know, that's
fine, not gonna upset me about if you're gonna sit there and say I
don't think he's that good of a manager. I think he is. But
whatever the one thing he does do he doesn't get too high when they win,
and he doesn't get too low when they lose. There are certain buttons
he is pushing that are the right buttons emotionally. I think that's really important.
But I found that fascinating. They're looking at a long term deal and
Danny Hurley has expressed interest in doing that. Here's a big reason I believe
a big reason why Danny Hurley is considering making the move. I think the
whole NIL thing is an absolute deal breaker with many coaches today. None of
them are afraid of working hard, none of them. You have to put
the time in, no matter the sport, but the NIL has made it
exceptionally challenging. You are working is hard to try and get players, and
not just to try and get them, but to try and keep them.
And I think it's a turnoff for a lot of college players now, or
college coaches. I should say, and please, I'm not saying they're right.
They've got no problem cashing that multimillion dollar cut contract check, do they
They got a chance to do that, They're gonna sign You know what you're
signing up for. Gon't be complaining about the NIL demands and the fundraising that's
going to require and all that other stuff. Stop. You know exactly what
you're getting into, and you know how much money you're making. Now.
You're bringing the school in a lot of money, and the pressure is real.
But the pressure is real everywhere. Man. I said this when John
Bline left Michigan for Cleveland. I think there are certain coaches, certain coaches
that are college coaches. I think Tom Izlo is a great coach. I
think he's a college coach. I think John Beenline's a great coach. He's
a college coach. Certain things work at the NBA level, certain things work
at the collegiate level. Those things are not always intertwined. How you go
about it, the amount of film you work or watch, the amount of
work you put in, the basic things that you do at the collegiate level
that they don't feel they need to do at the professional level. Doesn't matter
how successful you are at the college level. The pros is different. College
coaches for players. Players are they're forced to listen to college coaches because the
college coach is the go between for a dream. In order for me to
get to the next level, this college coach, say, stands in it
stands in your way, But he's the guy I got to get around or
through or get along with to get me to the next level. Oftentimes,
I mean, if you're playing college ball, there's guys now you can just
go to the G League and go from there and they don't have to deal
with that. But if you're in college, that's the guy right there who
either stands in your way or is going to help support you get to the
next level, so it means to an end pro that's not the case.
You've already arrived. Now they can handle your minutes, they can deal with
that, and that may affect the next contract you get. So that's important
unless you're a star. And once you're the star, the coach doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter to your playing time, It doesn't matter to you in
general in your contract and so on and so forth. All he is is
a guy that you're going to use to try and help recruit other free agents,
and a guy who you're going to help dictate with the amount of playing
time you get, the amount of practice time your team puts in, and
so on and so forth. But there are certain coaches. They are just
they're built for the college game. I don't know Danny Hurling. I see
him, I watch him just like you do. I hear people talk about
him. You know, obviously a brilliant basketball mind. I don't think that's
ever the question really good college coaches, most of them, they have that
brilliant offensive scheme or defensive scheme. The question is how do you handle people?
In the NBA. It's as much as how you handle the players as
it is base your basketball acumen, where in college it's probably the other way
around. But with the NIL it's probably different these days. But I truly
believe that's what has forced a lot of really good coaches who could have stayed
longer out of the game at the collegiate level. It's an interesting possible marriage
Danny Hurley and the LA Lakers. Remember it wasn't long ago where JJ Reddick
was the talk of the town, right there was a podcast interview with JJ
Reddick Lebron James then posted on X about Hurley. He's so damn good along
with his stuff, super creative with their offense. Love it. Now suddenly
there are reports that he's in Negotia serious negotiations with a contract. Is that
coincidence perhaps? But it's interesting that there are so many other candidates assistants throughout
the league James Perego Reddick, as I mentioned, Sam Cassell, David Edelman,
Nuggets assistant head coach or assistant coach. All of those were candidates,
and yet it's Polenka and Jenny Buss, the owner, who are gravitating toward
the two time defending NCAA National championship coach In Danny Hurley. We'll have to
follow that and see how it works out. Hey, we're going to get
to Michael Harra coming up. I wanted to give you this. I thought
this was really interesting. I was reading a column on CBS the other day
and Matt Snyder, who has written for baseball, written about baseball for a
long time, had an under the radar picks at each position for the Major
League Baseball All Star Game, and I thought, Hm, I immediately started
thinking to myself who some of these players would be, not just Tigers,
but who would be who would be some of these choices, like Josh Naylor
is a good one. He's never been to an All Star Game. He's
at first base for a first place team, and he's had a nice season.
I don't think Bobby Whitt Junior is an under the radar guy. I
think he's in the conversation as MVP. He's not Aaron Judge, for example,
he's not Gunnar Henderson so far, but he's in that conversation, right.
So you're reading through some of the positions and he writes, when you
get to American League outfielders, Matt Snyder writes this, Stephen Kwan of the
Guardians. Now he's won a Gold Glove. Is that under the radar?
Could be he's been hurt this year. He's a table setting machine. Dalton
var Show of the Blue Jays and Riley Green of the Tigers. Here's what
he writes. All three of our top selections are out now. Judge and
Sodo are such big names. I mentioned them here in the intro. Kyle
Tucker is a two time All Star. Everyone has seen plenty of him in
the Astros deep postseason runs as well. Has Kwan played enough? He's only
appeared in thirty five games, but he's back on the field and hopefully that
remains the case heading to the break. If it does, he'll have plenty
of work. He's packed a lot of value in a short period of time.
After that, the oddtions thin pretty quickly. Green is a great talent
and deserves a look, while Varshow overcomes his low batting average with great defense
and versatility in the field, in addition to power and the ability to steal
bases. Jared Durant of the Red Sox has an argument here as well.
He absolutely does. The word I focused on is great because I think it's
overused. I'm not saying it's overused here, but I do think the word
in general used by sports fans, sports hosts, coaches, even and even
other players when they say something is great. That's a great team over there,
they're barely above hive hundred. I don't think they're great. That's a
great player over there. He had a really good game. That doesn't mean
he's great. Great is reserved for the best of the best, as far
as I'm concerned. Matt Snyder writes, Riley Green is a great talent.
If you had to guess one All Star for the Tigers this year, it'd
be Trek Scoogle. That's another thing that has made you and I cringe when
you get around the All Star Game and I get it's a popularity contest.
You get around the All Star Game. How many times have you and I
said, yeah, but they're only going to get one Tiger's only going to
have one guy, and who's it going to be? What do you start
doing? You start looking at pitching because they haven't had the position players.
I'd love to see Riley Green go. I'd love to see him do stuff
in the All Star Game that we see on a regular basis because he's a
hell of a player. We're gonna talk Michael Harre on the other side.
He's about to retire, but he's been a staple writing about the Lions for
decades. He joins ex'es and bros. Next, we're teaming off our tenth
year at the Meyer LPGA Classic for simply Gives. Get ready for the best
to 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
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