00:00Tarek Scoobal, yeah, he should be resting and ready.
00:02He's looking to get paid a lot of money, and more importantly, on top of that,
00:05maybe win another Cy Young Award, but he's got a long season to do it.
00:09And also the WBC, hey, maybe I'm not going to pitch.
00:12Maybe I will pitch.
00:13Maybe I'll drive through the rain at night to watch the boys.
00:15Maybe I'll be available, and it turns out he wasn't.
00:17But Tom, he'll be available for opening day.
00:20Padres, Tigers, one of the better series to open up the season here.
00:23And a slight favorite here for Scoobal, going up against Nick Pavetta.
00:27Padres, expectations maybe not as high in the previous years
00:29because why?
00:30San Francisco Giants got a little bit better,
00:32and of course the Los Angeles Dodgers are in your division.
00:34But the sky seems like the limit right now for Detroit.
00:37They spent some money on their line, particularly to get a number two,
00:39eight starter, and away they go.
00:41I'm excited to see what Detroit has right off the bat, Tom.
00:45I am too.
00:46And the duo of Scoobal-Valdez might be one of the best one-two punches
00:53really in the AL outside of the Mariners, which we'll get to in a little bit.
00:57But this is what they needed, right?
00:58And Jack Flaherty is not the same pitcher he once was.
01:01He had really struggled last year, but I think he was in for a rebound year.
01:04But you really need that consistent option behind Scoobal to then let Flaherty,
01:09Mize, and Verlander, who re-signed with the Tigers,
01:12to be the back end of the rotation for them.
01:14But the one-two combo should be there.
01:16Donnie, you and I love the Tigers lineup because we know where we're getting from them.
01:20On the Padres' side of things, I'm not sure they're going to have a great year.
01:24I think the talent and the name-brand value of the Padres that we thought that they had
01:29isn't going to live up to expectations.
01:31And a lot of it stems from their pitching staff, where seeing Pavetta and King up the top is great.
01:37But after that, it's tough.
01:38And I understand that Joe Musgrove and Hugh Darvish both aren't fully healthy.
01:42Joe Musgrove is on his way back.
01:44But seeing Randy Vasquez, Hermann Marquez, and Walker Buehler as the three options in a rotation
01:52does not make me feel all warm and fuzzy and comforting.
01:55The two top guys, Pavetta and King, are good.
01:57But the back three guys are terrible.
02:00Yeah, and we'll see.
02:01Again, bullpen's going to hold up throughout the season for these guys
02:04because the expectations are Valdez supposed to get you into the seventh inning.
02:06Same thing with Tarek Scoobal.
02:08And Kenley Jansen comes over as a free agent along with Drew Anderson
02:10and also Emmanuel DeJesus to try to bolster that pen.
02:14But as Tom points out, a lot of people just look at Detroit as,
02:17oh, they just need pitching to get by.
02:18That lineup's got a lot of things that you absolutely love.
02:2116 home runs last year out of Glaber Torres.
02:23He had 26 there out of Carpenter.
02:25He had 36 out of Riley Green.
02:2731 out of Torkelson.
02:28A lot of young players on that lineup here that seem to, Tom,
02:31like I don't want to say we have to converge and have like historic years for all of them.
02:35But I expect better years from Carpenter, Green, and Torkelson
02:37as those guys just continue to get more at-bats.
02:40600-plus at-bats last year.
02:41I think it's going to work out in their favor.
02:43And also, when you start to project and say,
02:45what's going to happen this weekend, right?
02:46Scooble versus Pavetta.
02:47Valdez versus King.
02:48Flaherty versus Vasquez.
02:49I look forward even further, Tom.
02:51If you get to the playoffs and you're the Tigers,
02:54it starts with your one-two punch.
02:56And as you pointed out, maybe the best in baseball if they can stay healthy,
03:00which is going to be a knockup on them.
03:02I love it.
03:02I love the Tigers.
03:03I'm high on them entering the season.
03:04And I thought maybe if you can even say, Tom,
03:07the best move of the offseason for me
03:08might have been if Valdez is healthy to Detroit
03:11and he pitches like we think he can.
03:12I think it might be the best move in free agency in this offseason.
03:16It might be.
03:17And it might be one of the missing pieces that they need.
03:19Now, this is not to say that I think their lineup is perfect.
03:22We like their lineup.
03:23But to see them go out and get another bat,
03:25also potential to see Kevin McGonigal, their top prospect,
03:29if he develops into a star,
03:30obviously that can remedy some of the issues.
03:32And they don't need to make a big trade deadline acquisition.
03:35They can go out and get a solid hitter.
03:37But if he develops and the pitching is stable come September,
03:40also if they don't have the struggles that they had to end last year
03:42where they collapsed and lost the division to the Guardians,
03:45if they have more stability heading into the end of the year,
03:48they're going to be a dangerous team
03:50knowing that you have those two pitchers
03:51that can start off a series
03:53and then potentially pitch twice in a seven-game series.
03:56Yeah, again, Padres are going to be a good baseball team.
03:59It's just hard, though,
03:59because if the Padres were not in the West,
04:01like, hey, they can compete in any division,
04:03it's hard to compete with the Dodgers,
04:04like 103.5 as their win total here for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
04:07And we'll get to them.
04:09Superstars all over the place.
04:10And the one interesting thing about the San Diego Padres, Tom,
04:12was they were never that team that spent a ton of money.
04:15With the old ownership group there where their owner passed away,
04:17like, you know what?
04:18Let's start to spend more money at this point
04:19and catch up to the Dodgers.
04:20And then the Dodgers just lapped everybody in baseball.
04:22And it's like, well, why would I keep spending here
04:24when I can't outspend the Dodgers?
04:26And they sort of cut back at this point
04:27and leaning on their stars.
04:28Hey, Tatis.
04:29Hey, Machado.
04:30Hey, Bogarts.
04:30You got to step up.
04:31They're high-paid players to see if you can carry us here.
04:33And we'll see if that bullpen can help out.
04:35But I don't look at that starting pitching staff for the Padres
04:38and say, hey, they're going to do a lot of damage
04:39once they get into the playoffs.
04:40But as we know in the playoffs, Tom,
04:42so much it's not really about your starters.
04:43Hey, get us through two or three innings.
04:45We'll piecemeal that bullpen together.
04:46And maybe they can do that.
04:48High expectations for the Padres for me?
04:50Not nearly as much as the expectations I have, Tom,
04:52on those Tigers here.
04:53Is it legitimate for you, Tom?
04:55Could the Tigers have the most wins
04:57in the American League this year?
04:58Do you think that's a possibility?
05:01I think it is based on the fact –
05:03I think their biggest competition would be the Mariners.
05:04I think the AL, like you could say,
05:06oh, the AL would be another answer to one of those teams.
05:08But I think those teams are just going to beat each other up.
05:11So no team is going to be running away with it.
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