Japan & Korea FA list + New Orioles skipper Craig Albernaz joins FT

00:00:04
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Fout's territory. Frit Jeroli here with Eric Kratz, Kevin Palar, and Craig Alburn as the new Oriole Skipper, who was introduced on Monday in Baltimore. Craig, I talked it up in the break, but I think your accent might be vying for like best in baseball. I did grow up a die I'm from New England. I grew up a diehard Boston Bruins fan. So whenever you talk, I'm like, oh, it's like the nostalgia of the old Bees, you know. So that's how I feel. So if you could tell everyone on the show to maybe park the car, I think we could maybe decide or not.

00:00:39
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:00:39
Speaker 3: I appreciate you saying this as the best accent. Yeah, I really appreciate that. I think everyone else has an accent. I talk normal, I talk the way it should be done. I'm kidding, but yeah, it has a leftie since I was seventeen.

00:00:53
Speaker 4: So yeah, but the baseball baseball will take your accent away. I mean, you know, some people from Alabama, they come in a season and they tall like this. By the end of the season, the only thing you hear is y'all. So your accent must have been super thick.

00:01:11
Speaker 2: That had to be.

00:01:12
Speaker 3: I tell everyone, when your first second grade, third grade teachers you learn, you know, learn English and stuff, and they talk like you, it just gets embedded in grain.

00:01:20
Speaker 2: So here I am still talking the same. Are you gonna talk that way to your team?

00:01:25
Speaker 1: Like?

00:01:26
Speaker 4: What does that mean? What does that mean to you being who you are? When you've now become I mean, reached the apex of being a coach. You've been a coach since we got done playing against each other in Triple A. Now you've reached that head coach status. You're now a manager in the big leagues. What does it mean to you to be who you are and not who baseball needs.

00:01:51
Speaker 5: You to be?

00:01:53
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I got to this position being who I am.

00:01:56
Speaker 2: It's almost gonna keep on doing the same thing.

00:01:58
Speaker 3: Like that's the That's where I see is what players want, right, And that's what players want to want to feel and want to be a part of. Is someone that's authentic, someone that has their back every step of the way, and it's going to tell them the truth. And that's who I am. I'm a truth teller. I let you know where I see it right or wrong or indifferent, And that's when the great conversations happened. And like I said, I'm not going to change. I am who I am. And you know, I joke around with Michael Elias like I'm hoping you know what you're getting yourself into. So you know, we joke around about it. But but yeah, I just that's the only thing I know. You can't be fake in this game.

00:02:36
Speaker 5: First Off, congratulations.

00:02:39
Speaker 2: Secondly, thanks Ape.

00:02:40
Speaker 5: Just talking talking to a lot of players in Cleveland, they always said Jose Ramirez is the guy that really sets the culture there. Whatever Jose does we do. Have you been able to kind of identify with your new team who you believe is going to kind of be that culture center and if you if you have someone, have you been able to get on the phone and talk to them.

00:03:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, I've I've talked to a handful of players. Now I'm trying to get to everyone. It's it's tough, man point everything going on. But the cool part about it is that this group has come up together through the minor leagues. They kind of all broke in around the same time and they're a very close knit group. So for me, there is multiple people that can that can fill that role. And for me, leadership looks different for everyone. You know that you get the vocal guys, you get the guys that lead by example. You know, you got the guys that behind the scenes, well we'll call we'll call you out, we'll talk to you. You know, there's a variably different ways to do it, and for me, it's just allowing the players to be themselves and figure out how they want to lead. And once once I identify that, then you can kind of use that through your conversations, through looping them in to to certain you know, areas of the game that you want to that you want to improve. But then there's also like the veteran guy. You know, it's crazy to think about, like Tyler O'Neal. He's you know, he's only thirty years old, but the most veteran guy on the team, and he's the one that reached out to me.

00:04:04
Speaker 2: I didn't reach out to him.

00:04:05
Speaker 3: So that right there just shows that you know, he's eager to step into that quote unquote veteran leadership role.

00:04:13
Speaker 2: So that's going to be a great, a great asset for us.

00:04:15
Speaker 3: And then you know, hopefully our coaching staff can come in and cultivate the same environment that I want to as well. And that's what we're trying to identify right now.

00:04:23
Speaker 5: Hey, since you mentioned his name, are you going to try to do curls with him?

00:04:28
Speaker 3: That guy's a unit, dude, he is a unit. I'm gonna try to do some curls with him because I.

00:04:32
Speaker 2: Just want to see what he can what he can curl? What can you put up.

00:04:35
Speaker 5: First spring training and be like, hey, let's you know, let's bond. Let me work out with.

00:04:39
Speaker 2: Him like you squatting today deadlift and I got you.

00:04:43
Speaker 3: You don't you don't have to unrack the plates and as I throw my back out, Yeah, that dude, he's a specimen though.

00:04:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, the early injury of report on Craig Albernas all write that now headed to the the.

00:04:56
Speaker 2: I L s frand hand no doubt, no doubt.

00:05:02
Speaker 1: As I'm sure you're where. The Orioles have not won a playoff game in a decade. There's been a lot of fan unrest because they went through the rebuild. They won the American League East and then they really had nothing to show for it in terms of October wins. And you know, kind of making the fans feel like sitting through all that was worth it. Often the manager job inherits like a rebuild, but you are inheriting a team that really is set up to win. Now, how does that change the job and how you go about learning on the job, because there's not a whole lot of easing in like there would be if you say we're taking over the Colorado Rockies.

00:05:36
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:05:37
Speaker 3: I mean to me, every team, every player when they show up the spring training, the goal should be to win the World Series. Like, if you're in that that locker room and you don't feel that way, you shouldn't be in there.

00:05:50
Speaker 2: It doesn't matter what team you're on.

00:05:51
Speaker 3: Like, the ultimate goal for every player to start the seasons to win the World Series. So for us, that doesn't change it. For me, it doesn't change And for me, the only way for our guys to do that is for them to be themselves, use this shrinks and then play together as a unit.

00:06:06
Speaker 2: You know, it's it's such a grind of a season.

00:06:08
Speaker 3: This game is so hard as KP and cratch, you know, like one hundred and sixty two games is the hottest thing to do in spots and navigate that season and then when you punch your ticket to your playoffs, to the playoffs, that's the fun part. But you have to get there first. And to get there, you have to play baseball. You know, you have to do the little things right. You have to grind out at bats, you have to you know, get bunts down, you know, because ideally, you know, nine guys in the lineup, you want them to all feel great. But we all know that's not gonna happen. And also, if we go out and hit twelve hour runs a game, sign me up. But that's not the world we live in. So we have to do the little things to compete and win every day, and that's gonna be the mindset is like, what can we do today to win tonight's game?

00:06:53
Speaker 5: Yeah, we all know everyone in baseball. No, Stephen Bot's a special person. Look no further than what he did for you yesterday. Obviously a good friend of mine, was one of my most favorite teammates. Never got a chance to play for him. What was kind of what'd you learn from him? What was kind of his secret sauce as a manager to be able to kind of be maybe a one or two years removed from playing and and and you know, taking his team to the playoff, winning a Manager of the Year.

00:07:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean when when Kratzy asked me the question about changing and like being yourself, like by KP Like, that's what that's what body he is, like, he's himself and he's an elite person, elite communicator.

00:07:32
Speaker 2: That's why I'm throwing seeds on him right here.

00:07:34
Speaker 3: But he's, uh, you know, he has a way about him where he can he can make everyone in that clubhouse feel like their jse Aman Mirras you know. And and that's and that's a special sauce with him, Like he genuinely cares and loves every person that's in that locker room, every person that's.

00:07:49
Speaker 2: In the organization.

00:07:51
Speaker 3: And he's he's really great at the excess and those two you know, he does again enough credit for that, but he's really good with the end game decisions and that also can municating those decisions and why why we did something or why we didn't do something. He's open and honest at every step, you know, every turn. And that's something I'm gonna bring as well. And that's something I learned from him, is just that over communication piece and making everyone feel value valued because they do because they do have value no matter what role you're in.

00:08:20
Speaker 5: Was that moment tense right there when you're throwing seeds at him? And what do you say to you?

00:08:24
Speaker 2: No, I always throw seeds at him.

00:08:26
Speaker 3: So our normal cadence would be, you know, we you know, during the game, we always eat you know, chwo seeds at some point in the game, and we always have Doug Albanto talking about a variety of different situations, and you know, we both throw dumb ideas out there, and just so happened that he threw a dumb idea out there.

00:08:46
Speaker 2: That's why I kind of gave like a quick glance at him.

00:08:48
Speaker 3: Then I threw seeds on him, and then he's kind of like shaking his head like yeah, I'll be I know. But then he kept on talking. So that's that's just the usual usual cadence between us two. We try to keep the light but also check each other of the craig.

00:09:01
Speaker 4: The other part was his jersey didn't fit as nice as your jersey, like he was he was filling out his jersey a little bit. Are you prepared for the stresses that come with being a manager. Obviously you can't get gray hair because you ain't gotten none exactly exactly. I mean, you're gonna start filling the jersey out like like voter did and it's not I mean there's buttons. They're hanging on for dear life. So are you prepared for that? And do you have people around you to be able to handle that?

00:09:33
Speaker 2: Yeah?

00:09:33
Speaker 3: My wife, My wife will keep me, will keep me in check, dialed. Yeah, I mean, you know she did uh, you know, she trained m M A and stuff, so she fought a little bit. So she'll definitely uh if she needs to get a little physical uh, in a good way, not in a bad way. So there's there's that. But also that's why they make the pollovers. That's why they make the you know, the the other articles of clothing to wear.

00:09:57
Speaker 2: You know.

00:09:57
Speaker 3: So those days were you know, you and eating you know for two weeks. You know, you feel a little flabby, you can just throw on the pullover and try to hide it a little bit.

00:10:07
Speaker 4: And keep it baggy. I appreciate that, all right now, the title.

00:10:11
Speaker 3: But also we got we got Tyler O'Neill too, you know Tyler O'Neal.

00:10:15
Speaker 2: He'll look at him every day. I'm like, shit, I got to stay clean.

00:10:19
Speaker 4: Okay, Okay, that's fair.

00:10:20
Speaker 2: That's fair.

00:10:21
Speaker 4: So you keep it, you keep it healthy by looking at your players. I got a question for you, though, and this is a tough one, all right. It is your tough first tough question as a manager. You came in and you brought in Dustin Lynn as your new hitting coach. The hitting coach that was there is gonna get a lot of flak for what happened with the organizations. Hey, you know what, this offense didn't do what they needed to do all that stuff. How hard of a decision is that when you get rid of a guy who was there and worked with some of these guys coming up through the minor leagues, some continuity and really the Orioles didn't win because they're pitching was trash. But you bring in a hitting coach. How hard is that first decision? Bringing in somebody that you know and are comfortable with. I assume you guys were together in San Francisco if I'm not correct, Yeah, how hard is that?

00:11:10
Speaker 2: We were? How hard is that? Yeah?

00:11:13
Speaker 3: I mean to be honest with you, Cratsey, it wasn't that hard because that move a lot of coaching moves were made before I got the job, and so I came in with with I had a you know, we had to bring in a new a new hitting group, and Dustin Lynn was the first day on my list. You know, I was around them in San Francisco. You know, he he has in a very diverse background. I mean he's a you know, formerly a physical therapist. He's a doctor, so he has he knows everything to know about the body, and he's also knows the swing, knows the hit, has you know, teaches a variety of different approaches, you know, like he's a he's a really a unicorn hitting coach. But then also he got to be in Philadelphia and get to work under Kevin Long. We all know Kevin Long. He's one of the best hitting coaches ever. I mean just looking at his track record, that dos an elite leader and communicator and could teach hitting and beating you know, in Philadelphia with that group of players and learning on the k Long like, it to me was a no brainer to bring him in, Like he's ready for this opportunity and our players are going to be communicated with every step of direction, and he's going to cater to them. This is not going to be a one size fits all approach. That's something that really excites me about, you know, bringing Dustin linn In and you know in the players feedback so far is that they're fired up about it.

00:12:36
Speaker 1: Craig, I gotta say, I'm a little disappointed because you signed on and your two year old daughter, Gigi, who I was at the press conference Monday, she's the highlight. Was was there and she's not here, so I want to know is she taking a nap much the rest right now? It's it's that afternoon naptime for Gigi. It was such a cute moment. I think we have a little video to show of her, but the whole family. I'm sure this was your wife wearing the matching shoes, the little Oriel outfits. For those who are not there, Orioles owner David Rubersin picked up Gigi, the youngest of three, put to put her on Craig's lap during this press conference. It was a really sweet moment. Is she excited to to go to Baltimore? She probably doesn't really know what's going on, but it seems like your two older sons are very into baseball and what you do. How how ready is the family to to be in Baltimore long term and to switch all their stuff to orange and black.

00:13:34
Speaker 2: They are excited.

00:13:35
Speaker 3: Both of my boys initially were not, you know, they're upset that we were leaving Cleveland, Like what do you mean, like we're not going to see like obviously body has has kids and not going to see his kids. And also the players, like we mean we're not going to see Hoosey and David fry and and Hedgi. But then they start to realize like, oh, this is this is a good thing. So they're they're fired up. And little Gigi she's I mean, she's the best. She can have whatever she wants. And then when David picked her up, I was like, in my head, I was like, David, do you know what you're doing? Like this is going to be this This can go a variety of different directions.

00:14:08
Speaker 2: So it's they're fired up. It's great. It was such a great day.

00:14:13
Speaker 3: I mean for me, honestly, that's something that I wasn't looking forward to just because it was like a whole day about me, and that's something that is not in my personality. So but you know, the way they incorporated the family and made my family, feel welcome and all the little stuff behind the scenes. It was such a great day and I'm glad that the world got the CGGI and you know how great of a kid she is and how lucky I am.

00:14:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, and two little boys. Craig, No, you're fine. I was worried for you when she went up there, because I was like, oh, this could go really well or she could have a total melt down here on the podium. So as a toddler parent, I was a little I was sweating it out for you. But she was excellent.

00:14:53
Speaker 2: It was excellent.

00:14:53
Speaker 4: Yeah.

00:14:54
Speaker 3: Yeah. My two boys are sitting in the front and they're looking at me like can I come up?

00:14:57
Speaker 2: Can I come up?

00:14:58
Speaker 3: And I'm mouth until I'm like no, can't come up yet. No, And I'm like as like David's talking and Mike's talking. I'm like, oh, no, this is this has got to get chaos real quick.

00:15:09
Speaker 5: Well, speaking of change, and I guess now chaos cans he use the word for someone who spent parts of seventh season in the Al East. Are you prepared for this change? And seeing the Blue Jays, you know, win the division obviously get to the World Series has to you know, service some sort of motivation, knowing that if you're able to get out of the al Beast, which we like to call it beast, you got a good chance of running the table.

00:15:37
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it is. It's a gauntlet of the division. It's but it's also so much fun. I think as a competitive as a baseball fan, like, that's something where you want to be, like, you want to go up against the best every night, which is what this league is, and everyone in this division is ready to win every year and that's the best part about this place.

00:15:58
Speaker 2: And that's that's the challenge of it and the beauty of it.

00:16:01
Speaker 3: And even coming up as a minor leaguer in the Raised organization, that's something our you know, old farm director used to speach.

00:16:08
Speaker 2: To us all the time.

00:16:09
Speaker 3: Was every time we're competing against someone another vision, whether it's ping pong, shuffle board, pick up basketball, whatever, it is, like we're trying to beat them. And that's something that I've had my upbringing, grown up as a as a player in the minor leagues and also as a staff member. So the opportunity to jump in here and jump in the al Beast, which is real, you know, it's it's it's awesome. And what the Blue Jays did you know they were in last place last year and you know in the division now you know, go to the World Series and take it to seven games. I mean, what a great series it was to watch, and it was just it's great for baseball and being able to jump right into that. I mean, it's exciting.

00:16:50
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining us, Craig, best of luck in Baltimore. We really appreciate it.

00:16:55
Speaker 5: Good luck.

00:16:55
Speaker 2: Thanks guys. Yeah, thanks for having me on.

00:16:58
Speaker 1: Welcome back, foul Territory Aircraft. It's Kevin Fuller Bridge ROI here with you. We have Cody Stavenhagen, who covers MLB and the Tigers for the Athletic. He also co hosts Tiger's Territory here on the Foul Territory Network. Cody, how are you. It's good to see you.

00:17:14
Speaker 6: Yeah, doing all right, guys, How are you?

00:17:18
Speaker 1: Good s?

00:17:18
Speaker 5: Sheels, good shols. A lot of stuff on your shelves. I appreciate it.

00:17:22
Speaker 2: I appreciate that.

00:17:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, A little a little dig there, Cody. You had such a great timely piece today with our colleague Will Salmon about the KBO and everything that we should expect, and then of course we get the news today about the posting of I'm gonna have to I'm gonna have to look down at my notes because I do such a terrible job at pronunciation with these names. Some of the last names, Jerolie, I'm very sensitive to that. Munataka Murakami the big news today, obviously. Can you talk to us a little bit about how this guy profiles? It seems like he's like the guy that teams potentially our targeting, but he's not like an Otani or a Sasaki type of like impact talent. Right, What did you gleam in your reporting from executives and from people around the game as to what to expect from a guy like that?

00:18:14
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think there are three big names to know coming over from Japan likely to be posted this winter. Murakami is probably the most famous of this group. My colleague Will Salmon at the Athletic helped on a story we kind of broke all these guys down with a lot of perspective from the scouting realm. Murakami's really interesting because he's a bona fide power hitter. Some scouts have graded him at a seventy or eighty grade power, I mean, elite, real stuff, But it's really the other parts of his game that are more questionable. The big concern is the contact rate, the strikeout rate. There's a lot of whiff and it's a little bit unknown how his game will translate when he's facing major league pitching every night. In Japan, he has not handled velocity very well at all. A sixty three percent contact rate again ninety three miles an hour plus over the past three years, and an even worse contact rate against breaking stuff. MPB is a lower strikeout rate than MLB, so this seems to me to profile of someone who can hit thirty plus homers and is also going to strike out at a thirty percent plus clip in Major League Baseball with probably not a lot of defensive value. He can play third, he's probably better suited for first. He might not be great at either position, So who is going to be willing to bet on his power? And then also see can he make adjustments? Can he make more contact, learn to hit velocity better, because if so, there could be some really big upside in more Commi's bat.

00:19:42
Speaker 4: Is his posting the timing like kind of more advantageous because of the fact that a lot of free agency kind of gets pushed back to the end of the winter, and now his clock is ticking already. Yeah.

00:19:56
Speaker 6: I don't know if that was the strategy behind it or not, but I like it forces some action. He has forty five days to negotiate with MLBA teams he will be signed by I think December twenty second is going to be the deadline there. So if you're one of these other big ticket free agents who might be looking to push things into January or February, or maybe not looking, but that's just how the market seems to play out in recent years, some teams might be willing to pivot and move on to a guy like Murakami.

00:20:25
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:20:25
Speaker 5: I mean, maybe the timing is good, maybe the timing's bad, because my hopes is that what we saw in the World Series this year, that contact is a way of winning games, and hopefully it's a way forward. But what you're talking about from this guy is the prototypical Major League Baseball player hits thirty homers and punches out thirty percent of the time. So I guess two questions is, do you believe that what we saw kind of in the postseason is a way teams are going to start to kind of move forward. I guess that would be my only question right now. I'll follow up after Yeah.

00:20:58
Speaker 6: I think quietly. I mean, I mean, you would probably no better than I, Kevin, But I think quietly, behind the scenes, we've already been seeing a shift back toward contact for the past couple of years. Look at the Milwaukee Brewers, who have built a team through kind of pesky contact type hitters and speed. Some of the new rules have incentivized that a little bit more. I think teams are realizing that that contact matters. That's not to say power doesn't. That's not to say laun jingle is going to go away. That's to say slug and pulling the ball in the air is going away. But some of these boom or bus type players, maybe like Morikami, aren't going to be attractive to everyone. They haven't been in the last couple off seasons, and they might not be going forward. I do think you're right that there's going to continue to be even more of a premium on guys who can hit the ball put the ball in play. In the playoffs where it's an unpredictable environment, contact matters, Power matters as well, though, so there's certainly still a blend, and maybe that over correction towards power is coming back to earth a little bit.

00:22:01
Speaker 1: All Right, Cody, I feel like I need to ask you about Trek Scooble, because like, that's all you're gonna get asked about this entire winter. From your interactions with Scott Harris, from knowing that front office and kind of how they operate, Where do you place your bets here? What are the chances that Scooble is a Tiger next season? And real quick, can I just can I just say one of the issues that I felt like I have with baseball is that teams now think like, oh, what's gonna happen after next season? What about if the Tigers go all in when the World Series this year, if they lose Scoble, who cares at that point? Like flags fly forever? I don't know why you wouldn't go all in try to win, And then if you miss out on Schooble, fans would be a little bit more like, well, we had a great final year with him, but if you trade him away now it feels like a faction of that fan base will be upset. And we'll never get over it because he will go somewhere else and he will win anyway.

00:22:50
Speaker 6: To you, it's a hard spot to be in, right. This is why the executives make the big box because if you make a push and don't win at all and then Google walks for nothing, how are we going to look back on that decision in two or three years. I do think if you have the best pitcher in baseball, I do think that represents a real window. That doesn't mean your window closes after Schooble leaves, when you have a good organization with a lot of young talent when the rise. But we've seen what Scooble can do in the playoffs. This is why this is not This is just speculation in my personal opinion, but I think it would be wise for the Tigers to pick a lane either except the fact you're not going to re sign him and you're really playing the long game and look long and hard at trading him, or you have to make a more meaningful push to win the World Series in twenty twenty six. That means spending. That means blocking some young players with a veteran bat or two in this lineup. That means going after some big ticket swing and misrelievers. That's a compelling argument, something fans would love. We also haven't seen in the Scott Harris era really the idea that the Tigers are going to pursue free agency at that level, that that is their mo as an organization. That would require a little bit of a pivot. So what's going to happen. I'm not sure, but I'm not sure trying to thread the needle here is the right answer.

00:24:10
Speaker 5: Hey, but guess what if they do keep them, as me and Brittain and Kratzy were discussing, you'll get a qualifying offer, so you're not, you know, missing out entirely, and that's very valuable.

00:24:20
Speaker 6: Well, the Tigers do love their draft picks. I am probably a little more skeptical personally, like a draft picks not nothing, you're right, but the value of a compensation round pick compared to what you could get if you traded him right now that the trade return is obviously better, And I'm not saying they should trade Schooble, but I'm saying I understand that thinking and why it seems like a decision point for the Tigers this winner.

00:24:47
Speaker 4: If they move in that direction. Is it a clear step back? I mean, you mentioned all the things that you could get for them, but is it a clear step back because when we go into the office or when we go into the postseason, Okay, they're set up where Schooble's gonna pitch game one in game five, they have to figure out how to win one more. Now you don't have that. Is that a clear step back, which would then indicate, Hey, you know what, we're also gonna get rid of this guy. We're also gonna go down the line and get rid of that these other guys.

00:25:19
Speaker 6: Well, I think you're right cratzy in that if you move Trek'scooble, it's hard to see the Tigers being better in twenty twenty six than they were in twenty twenty five, regardless of what else you do.

00:25:29
Speaker 5: It just is No.

00:25:30
Speaker 6: I don't think that means they would rebuild or move other pieces because they move Schooble. Like, the Tigers have this young core, they have more young guys on the rise. They've pretty clearly incentivized a core of homegrown hitters. So I don't think it would represent a step backward for like the entire organization and its trajectory necessarily, but I do think do you feel better or worse about your chances of winning ninety games without Trek Scouble? It would take quite a lot of major league ready players to feel any better about that. In twenty twenty.

00:26:04
Speaker 4: Six, all right, best case scenario, you signed free agent Glabor Torres. Now you offer him a qualifying offer. What is the best case scenario out of this qualifying offer that he comes back hits two to eighty for the team on a twenty centilly twenty two million dollars deal for one year, or that he takes the qualifying offer and says no, thank you, I'm gonna go to free agency and they get a draft pick.

00:26:34
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:26:34
Speaker 6: Another great question. If you guys don't follow the Tigers every day, I hope you can see why they're in an interesting spot because they have some tough calls. I think because they extended Glaber to where's the qualifying offer? I think that's a sign they wouldn't mind having him back. We talked about contact, we talk about good at bats. That's something that Tigers need a lot more of, and that's something Glabor Torres did probably better than any other hitter in their lineup. He slumped in the second half. He was playing through a hernia. So if you get him back on a one year deal, I'm not sure you feel terrible about that at all. You might feel kind of good about it. The question is what does it mean for the rest of your infield and the rest of your off season, Because when you have Cole Keith and Zach McKinstry, you can play third. When you have Kevin McGonagall knocking loudly on the door and he can play second or third. Could you bring back Labor Torres and still go after a Bregman or a Boba Shad or whoever else you want to name, or is it kind of Glaber Tores and then you're going with the young players you have. I think that's a real question because I think one thing the playoffs revealed is that the Tigers, if they're serious about winning a World Series, they have to find a way to reshape this lineup beyond just running it back with the group they had, And that's tough when you have ascending young hitters. Maybe they could upgrade at shortstop, maybe they could upgrade at center field. These are things to certainly keep an eye on. You like the profile Glabor Torez brings you, though, So if he accepts this qualifying offer and comes back one year and then you can move on, I'm not sure that's a bad thing at all.

00:28:03
Speaker 4: They can go after all those guys. You know that, Cody, You're just asking the questions. But the biggest question I have are the Tigers twenty twenty five first half tigers or are they twenty twenty five second half tigers going into the twenty sixth season.

00:28:22
Speaker 2: Yeah?

00:28:23
Speaker 6: I think the answer right, it's not the fun answer, but the answer is neither. They're some blend of that. If they had the weirdest possible season, and they kind of had a very weird season the year before that they won eighty six and eighty seven games, I think they're an eighty six eighty seven win team. It'd just be nice if they could find a more normal, smooth way to get there. I think the projections are going to come out and unless they do something groundbreaking this offseason, they're going to be picked eighty two, eighty three, eighty four wins, and they think with Aj Hinch managing this team and some young guys who can get better and maybe some unheralded pitching, they can win eighty seven, eighty eight, eighty nine games. I think that's clearly kind of the team they are if you look at the talent they have, that seems to match up in my view.

00:29:11
Speaker 1: Thank you, Cody, we appreciate it, and be sure to check out Tiger's territory with Kieran Steckley where they will, i'm sure, get into trek spooble and all of the offseason questions using a very interesting Detroit Tigers team.