00:00Let's talk Kevin McGonigal. Good morning, 97.1 Jim Costa, John Jansen, Heather Park,
00:05Gov and Greg behind the glass is going to be here for a very long time. Yes, he is.
00:11Okay, you put it well. This is an opportunity to speak now or forever hold your peace.
00:19I don't know how there could be any detractors of this move by the Detroit Tigers. It buys
00:27you three years of free agency. You don't have to go through arbitration. Comparable players
00:33right now, yes, with a much deeper resume and track record, are making two to three times
00:41as much, rightfully so. They're not a rookie. They've got more than 65 at-bats in Major League
00:47Baseball. But in five years, six years, seven years, we have no idea what the new CBA looks
00:55like after 2027. But I don't think we're going backwards at all. This, if there is some form
01:03of salary cap, I got to imagine this is going to look like an even more brilliant move by
01:09the Detroit Tigers. You use the word brilliant. I would use the word shrewd. This is a really
01:13smart move for the Detroit Tigers because Kevin McGonigal is one of these guys who has
01:19the pedigree, skipping AAA, elite prospect, remarkable start. You are going to save money
01:27doing this deal. The top shortstops today make over $30 million. The top shortstops when
01:34McGonigal would hit free agency might be in the 40s and pushing 50. So you're locking him
01:40up for his prime years, cost controlled. He's going to be a Detroit Tiger for nine years,
01:47minimum. The heart of his prime, his 20s and up till age 30. You want a face of your organization.
01:54You want to own the zone. You want to see pitches, draw walks, make hard contact. You want to have
02:00a competitor. The package is Kevin McGonigal. And you're saying we want to make sure that guy's
02:06here for his prime years. I think this is shrewd. This is a, I'll agree with you. Brilliant move for
02:12Scott Harris. And he deserves the credit because they identified this player. They developed this
02:17player. They rewarded this player. And what is different about Kevin McGonigal than a lot of the
02:24other players that have come up and for two, three, four weeks, or even a rookie season outperformed
02:33expectations. He's not outperformed expectations throughout major league baseball. And it's not
02:40just been, you know, Tigers fans or those that cover the Detroit Tigers or the mud hens or the entire
02:47farm
02:47system. He was the number two prospect in all of baseball talking heads, people that dig deep into
02:56numbers in regards to baseball prospects believe that he was going to be a really good baseball
03:04player. When he got to major league baseball, he has followed through on that. So it's not like
03:09a guy has, you know, hits a home run at his first at bat and, you know, is batting 400
03:16through two
03:16weeks. And you're like, well, where did this guy come from? Who is this guy? Yeah. Because one of the
03:20comparisons I saw yesterday from the detractors and there aren't many, but there are some
03:26what if he's Chris Shelton? Okay. Right. Well, who was Chris Shelton? Thank you. And who predicted
03:31that he was going to have a stellar major league baseball career? Exactly. Right. No one. And
03:39what did he do? He returned to what people thought he was going to be. Did they jump the gun?
03:45I don't
03:46think so. I don't have any hesitations or doubts. The only argument I saw that
03:56could give you could, could you could possibly make would be, well, he's only had 65 at bats.
04:04Why don't you wait till he's got a hundred at bats? Why don't you wait till he's, you know,
04:07till June or July? Yeah. Why don't I wait till he's won an all star made an all-star game
04:11and won
04:12a silver slugger and right. I'm not talking to the end of the year. It's like, Hey, why don't you
04:16wait until what we're talking about? Riley Green, Spencer Torkelson, like all these guys,
04:20like the reason they didn't is because, okay, he wasn't drafted one, one, but throughout
04:26his time in minor league baseball, the way that he was projecting was that he was going
04:32to be exactly what we've seen so far. Right. What I was saying is if you wait and he does
04:38what he's supposed to do, you will pay through the nose, right? The price tag only goes higher.
04:43So that's why you do this. Now I want people to understand the business of baseball here.
04:49If Kevin McGonigal played the long game and said, I'm not signing this deal, I'm going to stack
04:55season after season, after season, he could make half a billion dollars. I don't say that lightly.
05:03He is trading that away for security and the tigers are getting a team friendly agreement for a player
05:09who should be the face of the franchise for a decade, right? There's risk on both sides. Yeah.
05:14And the risk for Kevin McGonigal is he's going to be underpaid for what the final five years of his
05:21contract. Probably. Yeah. The risk for the tigers is he is a flash in the pan. All right. Which I
05:29don't think is going to happen. And the, when you talk about, we're talking about this being such a
05:34great deal for the Detroit tigers. Why would Kevin McGonigal agree to this? He agrees to it because
05:41he's going to make $150 million and he's got money in his pocket. He's got security. He's got all of
05:50those different things. Now at 21 years old, instead of playing the long game and going through
05:56arbitration and doing all of those things to eventually get to, and he doesn't even know,
06:01no one knows what this looks like after 2027. Yeah. And now he has that security going into a
06:08potential work stoppage lockout situation, and he will still have another chance to hit the open
06:13market at age 30 and potentially recoup some of the money. So it made sense for him to get the
06:19security today because you can't be a free agent for six years. So you don't get to test the open
06:25market for six years. Someone's going to throw you 150 to $160 million with incentives and bonuses.
06:33And if you ever do get traded, you're getting 5 million a pop. That's also in there too. Like
06:36you take care of yourself, you look out for yourself and you can get your second,
06:40even bigger payday if you deliver. Yeah. This made sense for everybody.
06:45Two, four, eight, five, three, nine, 97, 97. And I do think Scott Harris deserves his flowers on this.
06:50Yes. You know, like at every level that his fingerprints are all over this. And yesterday
06:55he was very complimentary of McGonigal and wanted to make it about McGonigal and his family's there
07:00and his teammates are there. And it should have been about Kevin McGonigal, but I got to tell you,
07:03it was every bit as much about Scott Harris too. I agree. I mean, it's a great move by him.
07:09We've seen it with Colt Keith and those aren't really comparable. Well, there's not comparable,
07:14because you're talking about what? $35 million versus $150 million, but they did lock him up as well.
07:20And we're starting to see the fruits of that. Not that he had a horrific one or two, you know,
07:26his first two years, but we're starting to see his path is more the normal path. Kevin McGonigal
07:34is on a different path. Put it to you this way. We think Javi Baez, uh, overpaid bad contract,
07:41right? Yes. Even if he's endeared himself in different ways over the last year, bad contract. Yeah.
07:46Yeah. Yes. His contract pays him over $20 million a season. McGonigal's average is 18 and a half for
07:53this deal. Think about it. I get Kevin McGonigal for less than what Javi costs for nine years.
08:02Who's bitching about that deal? Let's get to the phones. Ken, you're on 97.1.
08:08Yeah. Apparently a lot of people are bitching about that deal. Hey guys, like the show go blue,
08:14go blue. Um, first of all, nothing to do. Kevin, as far as Kevin, great for him, right? Cash in
08:21when
08:21you can. Exactly. Right. Cash in when you can. I am so happy for him. I do the same thing.
08:27This is all
08:28about Scott Harris and the tigers. What the hell are you doing? The guy's a rookie. He's got not even
08:34a
08:34hundred at bats. And I heard the contract in a few years is going to be like 20 million a
08:40year
08:41than like 26 million a year. I guarantee you in four years, it's going to be Kevin who you never
08:47even hear from him again. All right, Ken, we'll do me a favor. I mean, put it, no, put it
08:54in your
08:54calendar. And in four years, I want you to call us back and, and, and let us know Kevin who
09:02I give
09:03you a call. Give us a call at the beginning of next year, every single year of this deal.
09:08I'd like to hear from you at the start of the season. And I don't think we're going to be
09:12saying
09:12Kevin who, so we'll make it April 16th. Ken calls in and we do a check-in on Kevin McGonigal.
09:18As soon as you file your taxes, give us a call. I will add it to my calendar. I love
09:23you guys.
09:23Thanks again, but that's what I'm talking about. There are people who go, he's going to be flashing
09:28a pan, not even a hundred at bats. He'd played 17 career baseball games and you're giving
09:32him 150 million dollars. Yeah. Cause he might be worth half a billion dollars, right? That's
09:36the trade-off. Well, and trust me, we're also good. Ken probably will call in because every
09:42big, big league player goes through slumps. Yeah. If he hits a slump, Ken's going to call
09:48in and say, Kevin who?
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