00:00All right. Now, obviously, some of the callers brought up Steve Iserman when discussing the problems with the Red Wings.
00:10And right now, it's kind of interesting.
00:13You have we have four organizations and it might not really be fair to even include the Pistons,
00:19because although it is the organization's been around since Tom Gore has bought the team when they sold the Palace
00:25and Arntellum has been there for a while.
00:27But it's only been this is only year two for Trajan Langdon.
00:31So you have the Pistons, you have the Red Wings that we talked about.
00:34The Lions are always in the news and the disputes about how Brad Holmes spends the allotted money is always
00:43a concern with a lot of people.
00:45And even though even when he did that interview with the Detroit Collective, I believe it's called, including our very
00:52own Will Birchfield,
00:54he made his he made some really interesting statements that I kind of disagree with.
01:00But he's there in the whole organization, the way they were raised ticket prices and things like that.
01:06Tony, were they really interesting or was it just he's been consistent about everything?
01:11And it's why I said I think this is a gap year.
01:14I think this is a year where I agree with you.
01:16They're not going full all out to try to win a Super Bowl.
01:19And it's not, oh, you're not a Detroit fan.
01:22No, guys, it's not me saying it.
01:24Listen to the words that he says.
01:26Right.
01:26And you can say that about every team around here.
01:29The Tigers, though, this offseason out of nowhere, you know, obviously the Scoobo thing didn't work out the way a
01:35lot of fans wanted it as of now.
01:37But they did get Valdez and, you know, Verlander and that.
01:41So let me ask this question.
01:432-4-8-5-3-9-97-97.
01:47Which of the four organizations in town do you trust the most in what you want your team to align
01:59with your values?
02:00For instance, you might be one of those who believes, yes, with salary caps and things like that, draft and
02:08develop is the best way for sustainable success.
02:12There are those who say, no, F that stuff.
02:16I want to win a championship.
02:18I wanted Trajan Langdon to do whatever it took to get somebody better than Kevin Herter in a pick swap
02:24at the deadline to make sure we get to the Eastern Conference Finals come playoff time.
02:32And this is, look, the Lions have done a really good job the last few years, although they didn't make
02:37the playoffs this year.
02:38But, you know, where they were when this quote-unquote front office took over with the coaching staff and all
02:45that from where they were to where they are now, you know, kudos for them.
02:49Same thing with the Pistons.
02:51The Red Wings are pretty much in the same boat.
02:53I think they're better than they were when Eisenman took over, but not by a hell of a lot.
02:58I got to say, out of nowhere, the organization that I trust the most right now is the Detroit Tigers.
03:06And I never thought I'd say that.
03:08And here's the reason.
03:09They're doing both.
03:12They are doing both.
03:14They're, if you believe all the, you know, baseball Americas and all that stuff, whatever, kind of like the hockey
03:20prospectus.
03:21A lot of these guys don't turn out, but everybody loves the Tigers' farm system.
03:25Is it the best in baseball?
03:26No, but it's in the top five, as most people think.
03:29And the fact that McGonagall made the roster is impressive.
03:34And then he goes out and gave out.
03:35So he's doing both.
03:36All of a sudden, it wasn't just draft and develop.
03:41It was, you know what, draft, develop, and you know what, we're going to prepare for Scoobo not being here,
03:46looking down the road.
03:47We're going to sign Valdez.
03:48As we're going all in this year, at least pitching-wise, you know, you can argue they still need a
03:53bat and things like that.
03:55But, yeah, you know what, Sonny?
03:56Who do you trust the most with, you know, I'm not saying who's going to win a championship quicker or
04:03who do you like the moves better,
04:04but in your values of what you think your team should be.
04:08And what you want.
04:09What you want, how you think it should be done, which team aligns with you the most?
04:15The funny thing was, at some point, it was none of them.
04:19But then it was this magical six days with the Tigers where it looked as if everything was about to
04:25go into the garbage can
04:26because you were waiting on what was going to happen with Scoobo.
04:29And, oh, my God, you're really fighting with your best pitcher over that much money.
04:33This isn't going to end well.
04:35Wait, you just signed Farmer Valdez.
04:37It was, okay, and then you're bringing back JV.
04:41We joked around on this saying, you know what, if you didn't get Scoobo, you'll bring back JV,
04:45but you're bringing him back.
04:47Not to be your ace, but I like that move.
04:50And then, yeah, the fact that you allow McGonigal to earn his way on this roster.
04:56That was never going to happen.
04:58That you didn't play the whole service time manipulation.
05:01Yes, exactly, Rico.
05:02You know what, he earned it.
05:04He went out there.
05:05He had a great spring training, and he deserves to be here.
05:08And here's the thing.
05:09If it doesn't work out, you got about 40 to 50 games.
05:13Yes.
05:14And if not, you send him back down.
05:15You got tons of options.
05:17Here's what you need to work on.
05:18Fix this.
05:19Fix that.
05:19We'll see you back up here.
05:22It all changed around the Scoobo arbitration hearings because I thought, man, this is going to be bad.
05:29And they flipped it.
05:30The Tigers flipped this whole thing.
05:32Right.
05:32And to you, everybody was like, wait a minute.
05:37And you're in a bad division, which means, yeah, you're probably going to win this thing.
05:42You're going to be in the playoffs again.
05:45And you added pitching.
05:46Now, would I love to see a bat?
05:48Yes.
05:49We all would.
05:49Now, you kind of did with McGonigal.
05:51We're hoping that he turns out that way.
05:52He's the betting favorite to be the rookie of the year.
05:55But, yes, you made moves.
05:57You started doing things.
05:59I don't see that with the other organizations.
06:03For the Lions, I see squandered opportunity.
06:08That's what I'm looking at.
06:09Is it over for you?
06:11No.
06:11Does it mean you can't win the Super Bowl?
06:13No.
06:13But it means that each year, your odds of winning a Super Bowl are lesser and lesser because you're squandering
06:21opportunities rather than going all in.
06:24And it's okay to say, I'm going all in to win a Super Bowl.
06:27You just want to sustain being good.
06:30That's the wrong thing that I want to hear.
06:32I don't want to hear the word sustainability unless you're building a deck for me, unless you're doing some work
06:38for me, because that means it's going to last a long time.
06:42I want championships.
06:45So, I look at what the teams that go to the Super Bowl and the NFC, they go all in,
06:50they crash and burn, they go all in again, they crash and burn.
06:54But they have represented the team.
06:56You've seen the Eagles, the Rams, the Niners, Seattle.
07:00These teams have all made it.
07:02Why?
07:03Same formula.
07:04You're going to try to buck the trend.
07:07You're going to want to pay your guys.
07:09No.
07:09And with the wings, I've said it before, and people laughed at me years ago.
07:15This guy, Eisenman, it's his last name.
07:18He ain't going anywhere.
07:20If his last name was Brown or Johnson, he'd have been fired.
07:24But it's not.
07:26It's Eisenman.
07:27So, everybody still remembers you had the posters of him holding up the cup, and he's allowed an eternal runway.
07:35It seems that way.
07:37Change the line, it's too early.
07:38It's not too early.
07:40Trajan, I still say you blew an opportunity this year.
07:44Down Eastern Conference, you should have capitalized on this this year.
07:48So, I'm not going to give him the whole, well, it's too early.
07:50Trajan, you had an opportunity to make a move, and you chose not to.
07:542-4-8, 5-3-9, 97-97.
07:56I do wish, like when it comes to moves, like, you know, like I wanted Michael Porter Jr. badly or
08:02Trey Murphy.
08:03We ain't going to break the bank.
08:04But nobody else did.
08:07So, obviously, those guys maybe weren't even on the trading block.
08:10Those teams, even Brooklyn in a weird way, why I have no idea, because they had so many first-round
08:17picks that weren't doing anything anyway.
08:18They just didn't want to make a trade to me, which makes no freaking sense whatsoever.
08:23248-539-9797.
08:26We'll get your text communications and your phone calls coming up next.
08:31It's the Valenti Show with Rico here on 97.1.
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