Speaker 1: There was a place and time where you thought Alex
Speaker 1: Bregman was an automatic going back to Houston. And then
Speaker 1: it wasn't after the trade that sent Kyle Tucker to
Speaker 1: the Cubs for Escoc Paradis and more, and the belief
Speaker 1: was Paradis was going to start at.
Speaker 2: Third base for Houston.
Speaker 1: I mean, he actually taking advantage of that short portion
Speaker 1: and left would be ideal for a guy like Escoc
Speaker 1: Paradis anyway, And I don't think the greatest third fielding
Speaker 1: third baseman, he's sure as hell, isn't a you know,
Speaker 1: an Alex Bregman four and a half war type of guy.
Speaker 1: But you know, Houston trying to save some money and
Speaker 1: doing what they feel like they had to do in
Speaker 1: order for them to compete in the Al West. Now
Speaker 1: you've got a situation where they trade Ryan Presling, free
Speaker 1: up a little bit of money, and you think, all right,
Speaker 1: now they're back in the Bregman sweepstakes. Dana Brown. Actually
Speaker 1: it was left open by Joe a spot up right
Speaker 1: on the Houston staff, Dana Brown, their general manager, said
Speaker 1: during his annual media luncheon. He said this about Alex Bregman.
Speaker 1: He said, in so many words that it's not necessarily
Speaker 1: going to happen. He mentioned twice about Bregman in past tents,
Speaker 1: saying that once the team had lost you know, saying,
Speaker 1: once the team had lost Bregman, it appears that they've
Speaker 1: decided to move on. That's the inference you get. And
Speaker 1: if that is the case, a guy who helped them
Speaker 1: win two World Series title, won a Gold Glove, silver slugger,
Speaker 1: two ball Stars, all these other things, where.
Speaker 2: Do they go for them? But more importantly, where does
Speaker 2: he go?
Speaker 1: The latest revelation is that the Boston Red Sox have
Speaker 1: talked with Saint Louis about acquiring Nolan Arnado.
Speaker 2: So if you read.
Speaker 1: Those tea leaves, if you're into a certain way that
Speaker 1: general managers talk about players in past tense, if you
Speaker 1: see that, you know, Boston's a team that might be
Speaker 1: able to acquire and upgrade in a certain position without Bregman.
Speaker 1: That leaves really just three teams, allegedly three teams in
Speaker 1: the Bregman sweepstakes. It would be Toronto, it would be
Speaker 1: the Cubs, ironically enough, and it would be the Tigers.
Speaker 1: Do you feel a little bit better about that?
Speaker 3: Now?
Speaker 1: What's interesting about that is that Boston and some people
Speaker 1: kind of, you know, turn their nose up at Bregman
Speaker 1: possibly going to the Red Sox because they already have
Speaker 1: a third baseman, Rafael Devers, who I like a lot
Speaker 1: as an offensive player, don't like him as a defensive player.
Speaker 1: Does his offense outweigh his poor defense? Probably? Probably? It's
Speaker 1: been good enough for Boston, But Bregman could play second
Speaker 1: base there. He's willing to move, and he could play
Speaker 1: second base anywhere, right, he could mean Nico Horner with
Speaker 1: the Cubs. As at second base, you'd probably put Bregman
Speaker 1: at third there. Toronto, you'd play him at third for sure,
Speaker 1: or second, but probably third. So Detroit definitely third. I'd
Speaker 1: love him at either place because I'm not a big
Speaker 1: glabor tourist guy. But Bregman's numbers, you know. There was
Speaker 1: an article yesterday from ESPN, I believe, but breaking down
Speaker 1: the concerns that they have for him one and this
Speaker 1: kind of validates what you and I have talked about
Speaker 1: during this entire free aage in process on whether or
Speaker 1: not he's the right fit for the Tigers. Does he
Speaker 1: make them better? You damn right?
Speaker 2: He does?
Speaker 1: Defensively for sure. Offensively, yes, doesn't mean that I want
Speaker 1: him on a long term deal. I've gone over that.
Speaker 1: I don't need to rehash it. But knowing that he
Speaker 1: turns thirty one next month, a little bit of an
Speaker 1: issue from a contract.
Speaker 2: Standpoint, all right.
Speaker 1: Because let's face it, it is a bit of a
Speaker 1: young man's game. But last year, again, as I mentioned
Speaker 1: earlier in the show, he's a four point one war
Speaker 1: that's an All Star. That's something the Tigers need, is
Speaker 1: something they haven't had in a long time, all right,
Speaker 1: So there's a concern there the offense for his games
Speaker 1: or for his season. Back in twenty nineteen, they bring
Speaker 1: up he drew a league leading one hundred and nineteen
Speaker 1: walks and struck out seventeen percent of the time. That
Speaker 1: has plummeted. The walk rate now at six point nine percent,
Speaker 1: a career low. Three to one P five on base
Speaker 1: percentage last year. Hard hit ball rate not good, okay.
Speaker 1: Slugging okay, average eh, People can go past that nowadays,
Speaker 1: and they don't even look at batting average as much
Speaker 1: as they used to. Some people do, but most people
Speaker 1: in baseball are looking at ops on baseball, slugging, slugging
Speaker 1: and OBP on base percent and if your numbers are
Speaker 1: going down, it's a bit of a red flag. And lastly,
Speaker 1: despite the gold glove surgery after the season to remove
Speaker 1: bone chips from his elbow, I don't think he's going
Speaker 1: to be the second coming of Butch Hobson. Butch Hobson
Speaker 1: was a former third basement for Boston, had bone chips
Speaker 1: in his elbow, all kinds of problems and long lasting.
Speaker 1: Otherwise a pretty good player. But perhaps it's a perhaps
Speaker 1: it's a thing. Perhaps it's team doctors looking at him
Speaker 1: going m this is a red flag. I don't think
Speaker 1: I would necessarily not pass the physical, but I'd take
Speaker 1: a long shot at him, and that could be a
Speaker 1: problem for people too. So we'll see, we'll see what
Speaker 1: happens with it. But there's not many guys whose war
Speaker 1: goes up okay as they get older. Justin Turner is
Speaker 1: a bit of a freak in that regard his war.
Speaker 1: His wins above replacement averaged four point eight from the
Speaker 1: time he was thirty one to the time he was
Speaker 1: thirty four to thirty five. Don't think that's going to
Speaker 1: happen with Alex Bregman. I think the numbers go down.
Speaker 1: Let's get to the phone lines the Meyer Hotline eight
Speaker 1: sixty six eight three, eight forty eight forty three, and
Speaker 1: Meyer brings you this hour of Exus and Bros. Who
Speaker 1: do we got.
Speaker 2: We've got Mark, yesterday's chef.
Speaker 1: We were talking about rivalries and sports and he just
Speaker 1: wants to call back on that.
Speaker 3: Okay, Hey Mark, Hey, good morning, chef. Yeah, you were
Speaker 3: talking about Michigan State. Michigan. I'm looking forward to they
Speaker 3: still got both their games coming up, correct, correct, Yeah, okay, okay.
Speaker 3: On the inside of the state. It was a few
Speaker 3: years back we had Sports Illustrated do the top twenty
Speaker 3: rivalries in the country, and they had number seventeen. I
Speaker 3: think it was with Hope and Calvin and I don't
Speaker 3: know if you've ever heard of that that rivalry. I'm
Speaker 3: sure you probably have the.
Speaker 2: Bats for sure. Yeah and my double A yep.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, they do. They draw quite a crowd and
Speaker 3: they have to turn people away on that. But I'm
Speaker 3: looking forward to the Tigers this year. I think their
Speaker 3: pitching staff is going to be awesome. Do you think
Speaker 3: that we'll ever get a no hitter or two out
Speaker 3: of that team this year?
Speaker 2: I don't know about a no hitter.
Speaker 1: Those are tough to come by, but I quite honestly,
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter to me. What matters most to me
Speaker 1: is you know whether those guys can go deeper into games,
Speaker 1: stay healthy all season long, and give their team a
Speaker 1: chance to win.
Speaker 2: That's what matters most to me.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you look at low scoring this year, do you
Speaker 3: think we're going to score some runs?
Speaker 1: I think they're going to have a hard time putting
Speaker 1: to There's a number of There's a three players, I
Speaker 1: would say, man, maybe four four players who I'm really
Speaker 1: interested to see if their numbers will continue to rise.
Speaker 1: Riley Green, Parker Meadows, Cole Keith, and Kerry Carpenter. Now
Speaker 1: Kerrie Carpenter, are they going to strictly use him as
Speaker 1: a designated hitter? That's tough to do at that age.
Speaker 1: I think he'll get a little bit of time. I'm
Speaker 1: in right field. It'll be interesting what happens with wensil
Speaker 1: Perez because of the crowded outfield mix.
Speaker 2: So let's see what those guys do.
Speaker 1: If they take that proverbial next step, then I think
Speaker 1: Detroit is going to be in really good shape. The
Speaker 1: problem is they're all left handed hitters. They need a
Speaker 1: little bit more punch from the right side.
Speaker 3: You think Spencer's going to come back? I got to
Speaker 3: drop off. I want to hear your all one.
Speaker 2: I appreciate it.
Speaker 3: Mark Tiger's biggest rival, the Tiger's biggest rivalry. Who do
Speaker 3: you think that is? And I'm wondering if you think
Speaker 3: Spencer's going to come back this year with a good bat,
Speaker 3: I'll talk about you later.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Okay, thank you. I hope Spencer Torkolsen does.
Speaker 1: It's going to require a big spring, but I think
Speaker 1: spring training is it's for players who need to win jobs.
Speaker 1: And I don't even even if he has a great spring,
Speaker 1: I you know, I think Cole Keith is going to
Speaker 1: have a really good spring too. What happens if they
Speaker 1: both have great springs and Labor Torres has a creddi one,
Speaker 1: What do you think is going to happen? You think
Speaker 1: suddenly they move Cole Keith from first base bat to
Speaker 1: second base. I think they've made their decision. I think
Speaker 1: Spencer Torkosen is going to have to make this team
Speaker 1: as an extra guy, and I think a guy like him,
Speaker 1: it's hard because if you're not getting a lot of AB's.
Speaker 2: He's that type of player.
Speaker 1: Now, I know you'll probably say plenty of AB's last
Speaker 1: year cheap, but he didn't do squad. Yep, you're right
Speaker 1: one hundred percent about that. But I don't think he's
Speaker 1: a guy you can just use as your pinch hitter
Speaker 1: and your your spots starter. I think it's too kind
Speaker 1: of up and down with him, and you've got to
Speaker 1: ride those those waves. I'm not saying you should. I'm
Speaker 1: just telling you. You asked the question, do you think
Speaker 1: he's going to bounce back? I think it's going to
Speaker 1: be hard for him to bounce back if he's not
Speaker 1: playing on a regular basis, And you've got to.
Speaker 2: Earn that, all right.
Speaker 1: You have to earn your way into a lineup in
Speaker 1: baseball in most situations. So that's number one. As far
Speaker 1: as this team scoring a lot of runs, yeah, I
Speaker 1: think a lot depends on some of those young guys
Speaker 1: that I've mentioned.
Speaker 2: But I am worried about the lack of power from
Speaker 2: the right side.
Speaker 1: And if you're all you're doing is counting on the
Speaker 1: labor torres for that and an occasional bomb from Jake
Speaker 1: Rodgers what had a career high at Homer's last year,
Speaker 1: But he's not one of those guys that pitchers shiver
Speaker 1: when they're on the mound. So your right eyes think
Speaker 1: about your right handed hitters in the lineup right now,
Speaker 1: Matt Ververling, how your bias labor, Torres, Jake Rogers. Three
Speaker 1: of the four have something in common. Do you know
Speaker 1: what I'm talking about? Torres bias and Rogers do a
Speaker 1: lot of what striking out, swinging and missing a lot
Speaker 1: of swing myths there. So I think that's why I
Speaker 1: believe a lot of people. I think it's the name
Speaker 1: first and foremost for fans. But it makes a lot
Speaker 1: of sense for Detroit to continue the pursuit of a
Speaker 1: guy like Bregman. You already know my feeling about it,
Speaker 1: so I'm not going to rehash it in terms of
Speaker 1: whether they should go get him and whether or not
Speaker 1: it should be a long term deal.
Speaker 2: You know how I feel about that, all right.
Speaker 3: But.
Speaker 1: A guy like this, if you got the pre twenty
Speaker 1: four version where he's getting on base a lot and
Speaker 1: he's taking more walks, you know I should the money
Speaker 1: matter all that much. Detroit ranked what twenty eighth the
Speaker 1: payroll last year. Had they done anything this year to
Speaker 1: make them go up exponentially, a one year fifteen million
Speaker 1: dollar deal by Alex Cobb, a one year fifteen million
Speaker 1: dollar deal by Labor Torres, a one year seven point
Speaker 1: seventy five million dollar deal that went to Tommy Kinley,
Speaker 1: and a twenty five million dollar deal for Jack Flaherty.
Speaker 1: It's thirty six overall, but it's twenty five this coming
Speaker 1: season with a ninety I think their end of the
Speaker 1: year payroll was ninety six ninety eight million dollars, So
Speaker 1: have they really added to it exponentially? That makes you go,
Speaker 1: I don't know, we're getting pretty close to that threshold.
Speaker 1: The answer to that would be no, all right, it's
Speaker 1: not a lot higher than it was a year ago
Speaker 1: when they first started the season, And to me, this
Speaker 1: is the time to spend, but not spend unwisely. Detroit
Speaker 1: third baseman, do you know what they hit last year?
Speaker 1: The guy's moving in and out of that position.
Speaker 2: You know what they hit? What to thirty four? I
Speaker 2: was going to guess two twenty five, so I lowball them.
Speaker 2: Do you how many homers they hit? Twelve eleven, eleven?
Speaker 2: How many were I don't know. I don't know.
Speaker 1: How many people feel like certain positions you got to
Speaker 1: have power. But that was the old cliche, the belief
Speaker 1: growing your power has got to come from third base
Speaker 1: and first base, and you want your corner outfielders to
Speaker 1: have pop as well. You'd love it if your catcher did.
Speaker 1: Detroit's catcher's got some, but not enough, I think to
Speaker 1: scare many pitchers. If that's the case, there's not a
Speaker 1: lot of pop in the lineup.
Speaker 2: If that's how you define it. I mean Riley Green.
Speaker 1: How many homers do you think you're gonna get out
Speaker 1: of him?
Speaker 2: Twenty to twenty four? Twenty five? Good?
Speaker 1: That's great, man. I love Riley Green. You know that
Speaker 1: right field, whether it be Vererling or maybe Carpenter. Carpenter
Speaker 1: can give you thirty Yeah, that would be great, but
Speaker 1: he's not gonna be playing right field. He's gonna be
Speaker 1: more of a DH.
Speaker 2: Maybe one series, is that right?
Speaker 3: You?
Speaker 2: First base? Yeah, what's that? Wants a series? You think
Speaker 2: they'll put Carpenter on right?
Speaker 1: I think it depends on pitching matchups. I don't think
Speaker 1: aj Hinch goes by x amount of starts per series.
Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, I know that's what he does.
Speaker 1: It's all about the matchups. Third base is going to
Speaker 1: be veling again again. Career high in homers last year,
Speaker 1: but not a ton right first base. How many homers
Speaker 1: for Cole Keith? What do you project him being as
Speaker 1: do you project him to be a big home run
Speaker 1: hitting guy? And maybe power is not just home runs
Speaker 1: either extra bases. It's driving in runs and things like that.
Speaker 1: Good hitters they could do that right. You don't always
Speaker 1: have to leave the yard, but you have to have
Speaker 1: that threat of doing just that if those are your
Speaker 1: power positions. Try doesn't have a lot of power in
Speaker 1: that regard. Bregman would add something to it.