Matt Shepherd back with you on Exus and Bros. Thanks for listening. Wherever
it is you may be, whether it be in Traverse City on WKD ninety
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area and listening on the Ticket Northern Michigan w NBN one oh four point seven
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three point seven FM. Wherever it is you may be listening, We're honored
that you're part of it. Love to hear your thoughts on the Meyer Hotline
eight sixty six eight three eight forty eight forty three. You could take sports
radio to twenty one thousand, The Huge Show a little bit later on this
afternoon from three till six on all these great station affiliates. Tigers rained out
yesterday because some other nature. They will be back in action in a double
dip today against Pittsburgh. Meanwhile, in basketball, Minnesota beats Dallas one oh
five to one hundred. You know, the Timberwolves has led in the last
five minutes in every game so far this year in this series, I should
say, okay. Anyway, they went at one oh five to one hundred
to stave off elimination. Anthony Edwards, Karl Anthony Towns combined for fifty four
points. Luka, Doncis had another triple double. He's amazing, man.
The more you watch him, the more you think as pure as stroke as
he has, he's he might be a better passer than shooter and it shouldn't
surprise us. I mean, he was second in the league in assists.
I don't know if people realize that Tyrese Haliburton is the only one who had
a better assistory show than he did. Anyway, it's three games to one
now. MAVs leaded two to two in the Eastern Conference playoffs in the NHL
because Florida won in overtime Sam Reinhart with the power play goal. They win
in overtime three two over New York to tie that series at two games apiece.
It is an exhausting series. I mean those the Stanley Cup playoffs,
man, I mean it's just every other day. I love it. I
love watching it, but playing in it, oh god, that's got to
take a lot out of you, man. Simply incredible. We spent the
first hour talking about and we'll try to dive into some football coming up here.
I think there's I think there's quite a bit of a football discussion to
be had. But we spent the first half first hour of the program talking
about Scott Harris's comments to Brian Kenny on MLB Network and how they have to
build the foundation for the Tigers before they're going to increase or go heavy in
payroll. I don't think any Tigers fan expects them to go two hundred million
dollars. I think they understand the realities of what they face now. I
think some of that is also self induced. It's that chicken or the egg
stuff, right, I mean, you got to win in order for people
to come through the gates. You got to put a product on the field
that people want to go see. On the other hand, you need money
to spend. People are gonna shake their heads and say, look, man,
if you don't have the money, and again, I don't think it's
two hundred million dollars. I don't think people expect two hundred million dollars.
What I do believe they expect is to be somewhere in the middle of the
pack at least more than one hundred and six million dollars, and spend it
properly, and spend it wisely, and spend it in an area talent wise
on the field that's going to make you more competitive and a more enjoyable product
to watch. Everybody knew. Everybody knew that they needed more power, they
needed guys who can do some damage in the middle of the lineup. I
said, I'm not saying this now. I didn't say this in the off
season. I said it during the season last year. This team needs to
go out and get a bat like Matt Chapman. That's what I said.
I said it in Boston and people were like, yes, yeah, that's
exactly it. Matt, You're you're right about that. I'm not playing general
manager here. I'm not sitting here trying to tell people this is the way
I would do things, and it's the right way. Here's what I know
Matt Chapman. He's got an ops plus of one fourteen, and that's a
big number for people in the Tiger's front office. He'll scare you a little
bit in the Giants lineup. This is a guy who has gold. He's
a gold Glover, He's won four of them. He's not a all time
great player. Defensively, he's one of the best to play his position.
He's not an all time great player, but he will scare you in the
middle of that lineup. He adds depth to the lineup and they sign him
for three years. To the phones we go, it's the Meyer hotline.
Eight six six eight three eight forty eight forty three. Ben, who's next?
Yeah, we got Jake and grand Rappens Jake. Thanks for listening,
man, We appreciate you tuning in on WMAX ninety six point ONEFM. The
game. Hey, chef, I are we doing for him? Good yourself?
Oh, we're making it. It's another beautiful day in Michigan. So
we're going, all right, give a couple of thoughts on the you know,
the foundational pieces quote unquote, and obviously my head goes right to Green
and Turflesen and as may they not be every single day players. They're the
two guys you would look to to be that for this team, and that
the production has just not been there. You could see glimpses with both of
them. Obviously Green's a really good defender and does well with the bat,
and then with Treflesen, he hits a home run here or there and he's
like, Okay, this is when he breaks out, and then he goes
back into a two for sixteen twelve. I was just getting your thoughts about,
you know, when does this become hinching his coaching staff maybe not getting
as much out of those players as compared to some other coaching staff could get
out of them. Yeah. I think it's a really fair question. There's
no doubt about that. At some point I knew this was going to happen.
At some point, people have to look beyond the player. I think
in baseball, I think it's really hard, especially during the season, to
try and get a guy out of certain habits, change a guy's way of
either swinging, standing, throwing, all these different things. I think it's
really challenging. Are they reaching them. I know what they do. I
know they have hitters meetings, I know they look at the iPad. I
know all the different things that they are going to do to try and help
these individuals become better at what they do. Spencer Torkolsen is one of the
first ones in the ballpark every single day. He and Riley Green are there,
Carrie Carpenter is there. Those guys are baseball rats. But at some
point, I think you're right, it has to come down to wait a
minute, who is teaching these guys. Maybe a different voices needed. I
wouldn't say that from a managerial standpoint, but I understand why you might want
to take a deep dive look into what you're hitting coaches or your coaches are
doing with your players. Right. I got that. You also head on,
you know, some of the guys that we know are foundational pieces,
you know, markna Carson, Kelly, Jake Rogers. Those are guys that
are just supposed to, you know, fill that void per se. But
then I started thinking, Okay, why is Dylan Dingler not up? If
we know not good enough Kelly? Right, that's issue? Yeah, absolutely
right, No, you're one hundred percent right, Jake. I could sit
and thanks for the phone call. I could sit there and complain all I
want about that. They don't have those foundational players, but they're because the
guys who are supposed to be here aren't here because they're not good enough.
So you're one hundred percent right about that. I'm not bringing Dylan Dingler up
for the sake of bringing him up because he was a second round draft pick.
It's ridiculous. Don't be stupid. Oh, give him a chance,
give him a chance. He's failing in double A, he's failed in triple
A. Why would you bring him up to the majors and let him fail
there? Meyer Hotline eight six six eight three eight forty eight forty three.
Good call by Jake. We've had a couple of good calls this morning.
Always enjoy it more with you on the other side on Exus and Bros.
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Made for Michigan. Let's think twenty minar old mission. You playing alright
back with you on Xys and Roads. Yes, I'm well aware that Dylan
Dinglars having a decent year john in Toledo right now. That's something that Jake
and I were just talking about before the break. I've been pretty consistent with
this. Now I'm gonna stay consistent with it, not overreacting, and not
in either positive or negative way. Dylan Dingler thirty four games in Toledo so
far, batting three hundred great. Don't get upset with me if I'd look
at his twenty twenty three season, where he played parts of the year in
Erie, in Lakeland and Toledo and combined bat at two fifty six, including
two oho two in Toledo, I understand it's a long and sometimes treacherous route
to the major leagues. Dylan Dinglar's twenty five. He's he's had some injuries.
I am. I've got my fingers crossed, my toes crossed that the
former second round pick out of Ohio State is going to be good enough to
reach the majors next year. I would love to see that. I'd love
to see it as close to an every day will Smith, like JT,
really moved to a like catcher in the Tigers organization, being that we really
haven't had one home grown since Lance Parish. As far as I'm concerned,
I'm talking about an everyday catcher. I think when you look at baseball right
now, you see the numbers down. Offensive numbers are down. They are
It's what are we about a third of the way through the season. Yeah,
offense is down, average is down, ops is down. ERA,
pitching has been better. E ra is down last year four point three to
three this year under four. I think what Tiger fans were hoping for and
perhaps still are is they're looking for the cornerstone piece. Bobby Witt, Junior,
Kansas City fielding war leads all of baseball three point six. He's the
reason Kansas City is where they are. Kyle Tucker in Houston eighteen bombs more
than Aaron Judge, Gunner Henderson who was leading the league in home runs for
a while at seventeen and is playing pretty solid defense. Right You're looking for
something like that. You're looking for Elie de la Cruz. Two pitchers you're
going to see today. You're going to see Jared Jones and Paul Skins,
two guys who, historically, and it's a small history, throw the ball
well over one hundred miles an hour. You're gonna see some gas being thrown
here today. Jones was a second round pick in twenty twenty and he's already
there making things happen. So we were just talking about Dylan Dingler, weren't
we. Yeah, Jared Jones was taken after Dylan Dingler. Now he was
taken after a lot of guys, so let's be fair here. It's not
cool to just bring up one name. But we were talking about Dylan Dingler.
So I wanted to bring up the guy who's starting Game one of the
doubleheader today for Pittsburgh, small sample size for him. I'm not going to
sit there and say this is look at how great this guy. He's made
ten starts in his major league career. Let's back off for a moment,
and that's the year. By the way, Torkelsen was won one. We've
got some texts you could text as sports Radio to twenty one thousand Ben fire
Away. It says everyone is going to focus on the owner and resource quote,
which is ridiculous in my opinion. Let's focus on the flip flop of
now saying kids and the miners can't get the quality at bats and the miners
versus up here. Just call out Max Clark, McGonagall, Jayce, Young,
Ty Madden and Jackson job and give these guys the rest of this year
and a real shot in spring training to stick to next year. Freddy,
honestly, you want to call up a nineteen year old kid who has two
hundred and ninety played appearances in the minor leagues, has not reached high A,
and you want to call him up to the major leagues? Are you
kidding me? Why in the world would you do that? That makes no
sense. You just want to You want to rush through life calling up every
young kid. How long will you give him before he fails? And he
will fail because he's failing it at low A right now. You want to
call him up just because he was a first round draft pick. Ti Madden
has fifty nine starts. Fifty nine starts in his college and minor league career.
That makes no sense either. Four starts at Triple A, four starts
at double A this year, last year, twenty five starts with a three
four three ERA and you want to call him up. He's got one hundred
and eighteen innings at the double A level, but you think he's ready.
I know, guys make the jump from double A all the time. That
doesn't mean that you have to rush a guy. That's crazy. Honestly,
that is that is simply ridiculous. Why you would do that, You think
that Max Clark, I'm not. I am not one of those guys who
believes you go low A high A, double A, triple A, majors
bull crap. If a guy's good enough, if he has shown you that
he's good enough to play, then you rate bring him up. Max Clark,
Kevin mcconne have not shown you that at all. What was the other
name I know, Tid Madden was one? Jase Young. Yeah. Look,
first of all, this team doesn't necessarily need it doesn't need ty Madden,
So bringing him up makes no sense. Okay, it really doesn't.
Don't bring him up because you're starting. Pitching for the most part, has
been fine. Jace Young. He's having a nice year right now in Toledo.
If he continues, I would have no issue with that whatsoever. I
don't care that he's twenty three. I really don't be interesting to see where
they put him defensively. But if he can hit and he can help this
team, I'm all for it. Clark McGonagall, No way. Twenty seven
after the hour, I got to take a quick time out. We'll take
more of your texts, more of your phone calls on the Meyer hotline when
we return on Exus and Bros. After this thirty five after the hour,
welcome, and then as our producer, give m a call on the Meyer
hotline eight sixty six eight three eight forty eight forty three if you are compelled
to do so, or you can text a sports radio to twenty one thousand.
Matt Shepherd here with you Monday through Friday six and until nine, talking
about the articles written about Scott Harris based off the interview he gave to MLB
Network yesterday. Tigers will bring in or bring up the payroll as soon as
the foundation is built. That foundation is not there right now. How frustrating
is that for you, knowing full well that this is a winnable division,
That's the whole thing about it. You're gonna wait till the foundation is built.
What just out of curiosity, if you were to sign a guy like
Matt Chapman, who I've suggested since last summer, if you signed a guy
like that to the contract San Francisco signed him three years fifty four million dollars,
which you could have done. Who is he blocking because you hadn't signed
Geo Orchelle yet? What third basement prospect is he blocking over the next three
years? Jace Young? You can find out bets for Jay Young, and
it's not like he's going to be a goal glove third baseman. The big
concern within the organization is where are you going to play him? Much like
Cole Keith, they're in lies. Part of the problem too, a different
problem, And I'm not saying it's Scott Harris's problem because he didn't draft them.
But you do have guys who aren't very good defensively, they don't necessarily
have a home. But who's he blocking? Just so unclear. You could
bring in Jill or Schella and afford to have him as a blockade for one
year, but you don't want a gold glove all star third baseman like Matt
Chapman, huh for two years after. That makes no sense. I wouldn't
want to get caught up in long term contracts with older players. I wouldn't.
It was the problem with Miguel Cabrera. It's the issue right now with
Javier Baiaz. We're talking three years and you knew you weren't going to have
your future quote unquote third baseman this year. So that means it would be
a two years he would have this year if you had signed Chapman wasn't blocking
anybody these year. He might block somebody for two years. You can't find
at bats for guys. Come on, sure you could just one example.
I'm not saying I'm always right. I'm just saying that that to me made
a ton of sense. They needed a third baseman, they needed to improve
their defense, They needed a middle of the order bat. Now, maybe
he didn't want to come here. That's a that's fair. That's a fair
defense. He didn't want to come here. I have not heard that that
they reached out and he said, no, don't reach out, Ben.
I know we got more techs fire away. Yeah, it says, uh
rap buy out bias. If my aida continues to slip, move him to
the pen. So job and Madden can pitch decide on MYZ and Torque on
what to do with them long long term by the trade deadline, and I
would make that Steve Kemp move. Trade Riley Green, Yes, unpopular,
but this team needs to put everything into a ziploc bag, shake it up
and see what's left by making lots of trades to get his own players and
see what he has now. Well, Jackson, job again, I'm not
pulling him up after five starts in eerie. I'm not doing that again.
You're just rushing for the sake of rushing sakes. So that caught my ear
and I would say no to that trading Riley Green. Look, we've talked
about this with the Pistons for a long time. Which guys do you have
to keep? Personally? I want to keep Riley Green. There is such
a thing as as good players that you want and who can be your foundation.
He's one of those guys. Wouldn't you agree with that? Don't you
think he is one of the staple of your team moving forward? Absolutely,
you want your Steve Kemp deal, so this has got to be I would
guess you know, I don't know who sent this text, but they've got
their history down. Okay, so ste you went, you went. If
people don't know Steve Kemp, who was a hell of a player at USC,
but Steve Kemp was. He was a good young player for the Tigers,
and he was traded by Detroit to Chicago. He was He was a
one to one for Detroit in nineteen seventy six, and then in nineteen eighty
one they traded him Chicago for chet Lemon. Later he would go to the
Yankees and then to the Pirates. But that's neither here nor there. Trade
for chet Lemon, straight up, chet Lemon was, you know, a
key to the Tigers run in nineteen eighty four. That was a straight up
one on one for one deal. Who's the guy you expect to get in
return for Riley Green? You're gonna get a left handed, decent power hitting,
good fielding, everyday player. Those are the things that we have to
take into consideration. I believe. Look, I I was reading about this
the other day. This was a very risky but the organization felt like they
had to do it. And this it's a different sport. I understand that.
And I'm not saying everything is equal. All I'm saying is the Panthers
became a pain in everybody's tail. They became the team that played with more
sandpaper than just about anybody else, and they did so when they acquired Matthew
could Chuck from Calgary, and it was roughly, it wasn't straight up,
but it was. It was a very good deal for both teams. Fine,
they were able to do that. That's when some would tell you that's
when things changed for Florida. I can't say that it's definitive, but when
you traded Jonathan Huberdough too Calgary for Matthew could Chuck, things changed a little
bit. Nothing against Huberdough, who was who had one hundred and fifteen points
his last season there, but Florida said they needed a shift, so they
sent two guys to Calgary. They bring in Matthew Kuchuk, who had signed
an eight year extension. It's surprised most it has worked out for Florida.
Well, if you can find that deal, depending on the deal, maybe
it's worth exploring. Personally, I wouldn't do it because I I think he's
a focal piece of this team moving forward. At some point, you guys,
you got to say this guy's worth building around you can do that.
You know, there are certain players where you say, okay, I'm good
there. Let me move on to the next guy. To the Meyer hotline,
we go, who's up next? Ben? Yeah, we got Scott
in gr Scotty. What's going on, hey, Buddie. Hopefully we have
a better connection. I'm in the food industry, so I travel all the
time, so I am everywhere. I wanted to give it you the from
yesterday. First of all, I'm poops not football with us there in the
late eighties, early nineties, and I coached summer camps for three years as
well down there, so I'll get to know Judd. I mean I became
friends then. Now then I had Then I coached high school varsity and jav
for thirteen years. So until my daughters, all my daughters, three daughters,
thirty five, thirty two, and twenty nine all hit their youth sports
and I couldn't play it. I couldn't do it anymore. Mamma said you're
done. So that's all I side. My coach was nine okay, all
right, no excuse me two thousand. But anyway, on the stuff,
I think what has to happen, and people have to take this sacrifice,
and I'd love to see Scott Harris do it. The guys that have to
be You're not trading Green, you're not training school ever, never out throw
what started is they do that. Those are yours, those are your building
pieces, those are your potential multi year All stars. But with that,
Joel, I would I would agree. I would agree with Riley Green,
I believe it or not. I do not agree with Eric Scouoble. I
would reason why. Okay, I suppose the first thing you have to ask
yourself will you be able to afford him after next year? Because he's going
to be a free agent in two years. The second thing is is that
really be the question? Well, and I think it's one of the questions
why shouldn't Why shouldn't we be because this team is so depleted of everyday talent
that you may have to do that. Okay, well I'm paying with these
with these other young pieces, I think we can get some talent and spend
a little money and not as much. But with with Manning and Mies and
Joe who are still highly say highly, but sours out after and then you're
probably going to have to look at Heath and cart and I don't want I
don't want to get those guys up. But the thing that if you want
to win, or if you want to be competitive now we're heavy, young,
and a lot of players are looked bad as I think all around the
league is really good, really good pieces that people would like to work with,
especially some really good coaching. And then you were talking about the bias
that if I were to coach, I know they can't do this nowadays anymore.
Back in the old days, I find him every time he swings at
anything anything from the black and beyond, when every single picture throws in those
swingers in those I don't know why he does. It's a mental thing,
but I would. I know you can't do it anymore. It doesn't it
doesn't equaint today's society, of today's well. I don't think any coach,
no coach ever did that. No coach ever said anytime you swing at a
ball, you're getting fined. You don't do that. I mean, no
coach has ever done that. I'm not saying a ball, I'm saying any
anything. If a picture can throw free on the black, how you can
just sit stand there like house on the side of the road and walk back
to the dug. But I don't think that can happen. I don't.
I'm saying, yeah I do, and thanks for the phone call. I
appreciate it. I don't think you do. You know you want to change
the eye level, you want to change his patterns, you want to change
all that stuff. I get it, and I know how people I wouldn't.
I wouldn't swing at a slider if i'm sliders can be very They're very
tempting. You know, we we sometimes forget you have just a millisecond to
make a decision. I'm not making excuses for Howvey or bias, okay,
because he gets fooled way too often, especially with sliders. But I'm just
I'm just saying that you've got to be You gotta be careful when you're throwing
around ideas like, oh, you know, I would just find him every
time he swings at a pitch on the black, or if you take three
pitches on the black. Look, look what happened to why at Langford not
too long ago, he gets wrung up by Angel Hernandez, which was ridiculous
on three pitches that were outside the black. You can't tell a guy just
to sit there and take take, take the only pitch you're going to swing.
It is right down the middle. As for the schoobl situation, he's
had a couple of surgeries, and that's the reason that I would be at
least I'm not saying to trade him. I'm saying I would be open to
exploring that if your team is out of it, on a team like the
Yankees or a team like the Dodgers, teams that have deep minor league systems,
and you can get a close to baseball ready guy and you can address
a couple of different aspects of your team, catching, third, basement power,
whatever things that you're lacking right now, would you do it? I
would, knowing that pitching is your strength right now. You can't sit there
and tell me that, Oh, you love Jackson Job, you love Tyme
Madden, you love certain pitchers and you're hoping that they can come up sometime
soon when they're already blocked by guys like Reees Olsen. You can find that
veteran guy like Jack Flaherty, like a Kenta Maeta for one season, could
you not while your younger guys are fitting into their roles. Absolutely, Again,
I'm not suggesting you do it, I'm saying you shouldn't be opposed to
it. I wouldn't close it off automatically. I don't know how much he's
going to command, Like I don't think he's not going to be a forty
million dollar pitcher. Verlander's forty three million, Sure's is forty three million,
De Grahm's forty million, Cole's thirty six million, Patrick Corbin's thirty four and
a half million, Blake Snell's thirty two million, Carlos Rodin's twenty eight million,
Aaron Nola's twenty four and a half million. You think he's getting that,
maybe somebody will give it to him. I wouldn't give him forty million
dollars. I wouldn't give him thirty million dollars. But he is a Scott
Boris client, and Scott Boris has got some big name guys who've gotten some
big name deals. So would you do that. As far as the text
saying I would buy out buy as well, that's because that's because you're not
the owner. He's gonna make twenty twenty five million dollars next year, twenty
four, the next year twenty four, the next year. That's seventy three
million dollars. You're gonna write him a check for seventy three million dollars,
Go ahead, no problem, I just buy him out. There's seventy three
million dollars. Roll down the window, open up the briefcase, and just
throw it out the window. That's what you're doing. See. I would
like to be away from the contract too. That's where you and I do
agree. But I'm not so naive to think that if I were the owner
that I would do that. Your owner has a problem spending money as it
is, one hundred and six million dollars at a payroll that ranks twenty fourth
in baseball. You think he's going to just go, ah, here's what
I'm doing. I'm going to say so long and give them a seventy three
million dollars for not playing. It's not moneyball, Brad Pitt's not going no,
Dave Justice. The Yankees are paying half your salary to play against them.
That's not happening, you guys, And don't tell me you would do
that if you were the owner, because you wouldn't. It's seventy three million
dollars, not seventy three dollars, not seventy three hundred, not seventy three
thousand, it's seventy three million. Quick time out them back with a final
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