00:00Well, definitely.
00:01Are you nervous tonight for Kenny Omega?
00:07Am I ever?
00:08Yeah, I get it.
00:09I mean, tonight he's wrestling for the AEW World Heavyweight Championship
00:15against the champion Maxwell Jacob Freeman.
00:17Jacob Freeman, yeah.
00:19And the stipulation on a match is if Kenny Omega doesn't win,
00:25he will never be able to challenge for the AEW Championship again.
00:34Well, let's not give away the entire second half of the show here.
00:37We're going to start with Tigers.
00:38We'll get to that at noon.
00:40So you're jumping the gun a little bit.
00:42You're right.
00:42I'm sorry.
00:43My bad.
00:43It's okay.
00:44My bad.
00:44I just came across a tweet real quick, and I thought, oh,
00:48let's remind people that this is happening tonight.
00:51That is correct.
00:52Kenny Omega.
00:53Mm-hmm.
00:55All right.
00:55So the Berksh kid did a story.
00:57It's been tweeted out for our account,
00:58at Doug and Gator 971.
01:00And let's, I mean, we got some highlights from what he wrote
01:03because it's really, really interesting about this fascinating conundrum
01:07that faces us with our baseball team is another data point comes in.
01:11And the way they are playing, they look like a playoff team.
01:14Their record screams at us that they are not.
01:16Okay.
01:17The record is what it is.
01:18But there are plenty of metrics that tell you this team is a playoff team,
01:23a playoff caliber team, I should say.
01:25But the only, there's only really, you have a true measurement.
01:29Okay.
01:29It's, and it is your wins and your losses.
01:33And that's the most important one.
01:35And that feedback is they're not a playoff team.
01:38A lot of other feedback tells you they are a playoff team.
01:41And Scuba went out and won last night.
01:43After the game, the topic of, you know, what, what's going to happen next.
01:46So they feel like they're moving in the right direction, et cetera, et cetera.
01:49It came up and here's what Tarek Scuba had to say.
02:05Okay.
02:06It's, it's hard to hear, but he said, I, we, I hope the decision makers see it's not sell.
02:10It's add is the most important part, which is really interesting words coming from him.
02:15Right.
02:15Because this is a dominant, dominant player who probably is less vested in the future of the organization than just
02:24about anyone in that room.
02:26Right.
02:27He, he doesn't, he wants to win, which you can't be mad at him about that.
02:31But of course, adding usually means you're trading future assets.
02:35Right.
02:35And a future asset is not him most likely.
02:40Right.
02:40And he's not going to be around.
02:42So I don't think it's hypocritical, but it's, it's hip or something like you're not going to be here.
02:49Most likely you've hired an agent that is going to go out and, and do what he can financially for
02:55you.
02:55And it feels as though other organizations have resources to go further financially than the tigers.
03:01And, and, and, you know, there's nothing wrong with looking out for your own best interest, but it is also
03:07looking out for your own best interest to say, I want to add because the long-term ramifications of any
03:15move they make do not impact Scooble.
03:19No, but this is why it sucks.
03:21This whole situation is just brutal, right?
03:23We feel like it's a fait accompli that he is going to leave in free agency in the off season.
03:32And most tiger fans think that.
03:34So most tiger fans think they should trade him.
03:36Don't lose them for nothing.
03:37I mean, sure.
03:39If you, if you kept them all season long and then he signs a contract, you get a compensatory pick
03:43in the draft, but that's not the same as getting players.
03:46You've seen maybe play in the minor leagues right now.
03:48And you think are headed for greatness or whatever.
03:50You'd rather have that.
03:52It sucks from Scooble standpoint, though.
03:55What this tells me or reaffirms to me is there is a couple of things.
04:00One, I do think he's ultra competitive.
04:02I think he does want to win here.
04:04And I think he loves playing with these guys.
04:09I don't think there's any question about that.
04:10I think he loves everything about the Tigers, except for the fact that they can't compete with the Dodgers when
04:16it comes to paying him at the end of the season.
04:18So right now, if you're Scooble, you're like, yeah, I want to be all in.
04:22I want to win because I think he genuinely wants to win with this team.
04:25Even if this team were to win a World Series this year, the likelihood of him leaving is probably still
04:30high based on things his agent has said.
04:33If we just judge this by reading what Scooble has said over the last year and a half about this
04:40situation, if you're just reading what his words are, it would tell you he wants to be here, wants to
04:47be a Tiger.
04:48And yet nobody believes it.
04:49Nope.
04:49But what he said has me believing he wants to be a Tiger, at least for the rest of this
04:54year.
04:54I think he desperately wants to win it with this team here and now.
04:58I think another byproduct of that or something else that goes along with this, it's a much smaller piece of
05:04it, is do I really want to pack up and move halfway through a year?
05:08And then who knows where I'm going next year?
05:09You really think that's part of it?
05:11No.
05:11Oh, OK.
05:12So it sounds like something you would say.
05:15I said a very small.
05:15I don't want to do this.
05:16I think it does go through some players' minds, though, when they know that they're on the trading block.
05:21They're like, I'd rather just stay here and let me just sit there and get to free agency.
05:25I can see you not signing in Los Angeles because of the traffic.
05:29100%.
05:30I could totally see if it were you, you wouldn't go to the Dodgers because of the traffic.
05:33I mean, yeah.
05:35I know you will.
05:35Yeah.
05:37Actually, what I would do is I'll take the trade and then I'll sign back here in Detroit.
05:40Yeah.
05:41That's what I would do.
05:41The fact is, there is nothing wrong with wanting to win in Detroit.
05:47No.
05:47And yet, there's a little bit of pushback from the, if you really cared, you'd sign here.
05:55Like, coming back to Detroit long term would be a stronger consideration.
06:02Now, the next question is, is he right?
06:07Is he right, from the Burchey story, since June, the Tigers had the best ERA in the majors,
06:13the most homers in the majors, and the best record in the American League?
06:16Well, those are three good things.
06:18Burchey writes, baseball is a strange sport.
06:20After 91 games, the Tigers are plus 15 and run scored.
06:23The A's are minus 76, and they have matching records of 41 and 50.
06:29If you subscribe to such things, and the Tigers and their analytical-minded front office surely do,
06:34Detroit's run differential equates to an expected record of 47 and 44.
06:38Your eye-rolling is understood, Burchey writes.
06:41The Tigers did this to themselves.
06:43The Tigers would both listen.
06:45They have to.
06:46It would be crippling, some might say, criminal to keep Scoble for an outside shot at making the playoffs,
06:50only to fall short and lose him this winter for nothing more than draft pick compensation.
06:54Ask the last place, Angels, how that worked out a few years ago with Shohei Otani.
06:58That's the opportunity cost of holding out hope.
07:02There are just seven teams in the majors with positive run differential
07:05and a winning record against teams above .500.
07:08Six of them, the Dodgers, Brewers, Rays, Braves, Yankees, and Marlins,
07:11either lead the division or occupy a playoff spot.
07:14The other is the Tigers.
07:16I mean, this is a team that has strong characteristics of a playoff team.
07:23And yet the record is what it is because of a god-awful May.
07:30And what has amounted to a god-awful bullpen performance.
07:34Some of these guys, over the course of time, have been performers out of the bullpen.
07:41They're just not this year.
07:42They're not having good years.
07:43In epically bad fashion.
07:45Right.
07:45But I imagine if you were to take away the month of May from the bullpen,
07:48that their numbers look increasingly better, even though they still aren't great.
07:52When you start playing the take away this part, it's hard to do that.
07:56What I'm saying is, if you're going to do that and believe in that,
08:00then you are believing in future performance of Will Vest and Kenley Jansen, etc.
08:07And do you?
08:08No.
08:09Okay.
08:09So there's no point in taking away the month of May.
08:12No.
08:12Because I think taking away...
08:14Not for the bullpen.
08:15Yeah.
08:15For maybe the offense, maybe you can do that.
08:17Right?
08:17But for the bullpen, it's hard to do that.
08:20And no, I don't...
08:21I mean, Kenley Jansen comes into the game, I don't have a ton of confidence.
08:24I think it's a 50-50 chance.
08:26I think it's a flip of the coin whether he's going to have a good outing.
08:28He just had his first clean inning in five outings.
08:30Yeah.
08:31And he had had several before that.
08:33But it's...
08:34Nonetheless, it's like a 50...
08:35It's a flip of the coin.
08:36Same thing with Will Vest lately.
08:38You don't know what you're...
08:39And obviously, he's injured right now.
08:41So they're without him in the meantime.
08:44So it's...
08:45I do think this is a better than 500 baseball team when all is said and done.
08:50This is a decent baseball team that could be made a lot better if they make some moves
08:54at the trade deadline.
08:55And yet, the record is what the record is because of one bad month.
08:59But the one bad month somehow still keeps them within striking distance.
09:04There's six and a half games out of the lead in the division.
09:08They're five games out of the lead for the last wild card spot.
09:12You think about that.
09:13It's only six and a half games out of the division.
09:16Are they going to play Cleveland and Chicago a lot?
09:20Yes.
09:20And those are the teams that are at the top of the league.
09:23The standings in the division.
09:24They've still got a bunch of games left against those teams.
09:27You talk about swing games or a swing series.
09:29You sweep one series.
09:31All of a sudden, you've come back.
09:33And it changes that.
09:33Or if you get swept, then it goes the other way.
09:36And you know what's going to happen here.
09:37But with three weeks to go before the trade deadline, the team knows what they have to do.
09:42And what Scoople just did is effectively what I think it's smart in a way.
09:47It definitely carries favor with the fans because the fans want this.
09:51When Dylan Larkin spoke out after, well, all of a sudden done a couple years ago and said,
09:55well, we really kind of heard us.
09:56We didn't go for it at the trade deadline.
09:58We really hope to, you know, I'm paraphrasing what he said.
10:01I think a lot of Red Wing fans are like, yeah, absolutely.
10:04They should have gone for it and didn't do anything.
10:05You know, the Neisman had to push back.
10:07And now we have a situation where there's a rift between the general manager and the team's captain.
10:12And now he wants out.
10:14Scoople coming out and saying this preemptively, I think we should be buyers, I think says many things.
10:20One of them is he's appealing to the fans.
10:22Fans will love it.
10:23The other thing is he's appealing to his teammates because he wants to stick by them.
10:27He wants to stick by them.
10:29And for him personally, I think he really wants to win here.
10:33Well, I don't know that the fans across the board love it.
10:37I think most of them would.
10:38Yeah.
10:38I bet.
10:39You know, we hear from plenty that just say it's not a playoff team.
10:42What the hell are you guys talking about?
10:43There's that fan out there.
10:45So I'm not sure that they all love it.
10:49But I guess we want to know how you feel.
10:52There is something that, you know, the record is what it is.
10:56And yet, because of what they have done against the best teams, it should be, it should give you more
11:07hope to not give up on this team.
11:10And we will get to that coming up today at 1032.
11:12Plus your phone calls and feedback.
11:13It's Carson Anderson.
11:14Tigers win again here on 97.1.
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