00:00You mentioned your head hurting.
00:02Yeah, it was a roller coaster last night, wasn't it?
00:04Kind of like, yeah, here it is.
00:05Here's your segue into the Tigers.
00:07Hey!
00:10You got to turn that off after the first.
00:12Siren's curse.
00:13Is that what we're calling Valdez?
00:15I don't know.
00:17It's so disappointing that the performances that we're getting
00:22from the guys that we're paying the most money to,
00:25whether it's him, Kenley Jansen,
00:27and I saw this this morning,
00:30and I got the top 10 highest-paid Tigers by AAV.
00:36And the number one is no surprise.
00:38It's Frambois Valdez.
00:40Number two is Tarek Skubel.
00:42All right, so there's a win.
00:43He's done his thing.
00:44Number three, Javi Baez.
00:46Okay, he's hurt.
00:47Yeah.
00:47Hasn't been great.
00:48Number four, all right, it's kind of like in every other deal.
00:51Number four, Gleyber Torres.
00:52Okay.
00:53Again, it's kind of the same thing as Javi,
00:55not been hurt as much, but when he's available,
00:57yeah, more productive.
00:58Number five, Jack Flaherty.
01:01Oops.
01:02He's hurt, by the way.
01:03Yes.
01:04Number six, Kenley Jansen.
01:07Oops.
01:08Number seven, Justin Verlander.
01:10Okay.
01:12His numbers are a little funny because of the furrow,
01:14but he's in there.
01:15AAV.
01:15Yeah.
01:16Number eight, Kyle Finnegan.
01:22Number nine, Drew Anderson.
01:25Oh, boy.
01:26Number 10, Casey Mize.
01:28Okay, so the majority of those have been thuds.
01:31Six out of 10.
01:31It depends on what you want to do with Kyle Finnegan,
01:34but the six out of the top 10 highest paid Tigers
01:38are Frambois Valdez, Javi Baez, Jack Flaherty,
01:42Justin Verlander, Kenley Jansen, and Drew Anderson.
01:45Are you getting your money's worth?
01:47Is he spending wisely?
01:49Well, that's the question.
01:51What is the big...
01:51No, Javi Baez is not his thing.
01:53No.
01:53Glaber's probably his best free agent.
01:56Scott Harris' best free agent addition, yeah?
01:58Yeah.
01:58Yeah.
01:59Just not many good ones outside of that.
02:02No.
02:03No.
02:03So it's, I mean, if you're wondering...
02:09If you're wondering why they're...
02:12There's a lot of different reasons why they're under 500.
02:15Obviously, the month of May.
02:17But why was the month of May the way it was?
02:19And a lot of it had to do with Kenley Jansen, Kyle Finnegan,
02:22and the ability to close games.
02:25Will Vest.
02:25Now, Will Vest isn't on this list,
02:27but it's what have you spent wisely?
02:31We were all excited that they were a top 10 payroll.
02:34Yep.
02:35Still got...
02:36Spending is nice, but you have to get...
02:37Gotta get it right.
02:39Yeah.
02:39Can I read you the text Tom sent last night?
02:42Yeah.
02:43Frambler.
02:44Underrated reason the team didn't reach expectations,
02:47to which I replied,
02:48earning the L that's not actually in his name.
02:50Yes.
02:52That's what you're calling him at first.
02:53Yeah.
02:54I don't know what was going on with that.
02:56My brain was broken.
02:57But maybe it was foreshadowing.
02:59Maybe I knew something subconsciously.
03:01That this was going to be an L of a signing.
03:02I think he's...
03:03You have smarm even when you don't know it?
03:05I don't even realize it's subconscious smarm.
03:06He didn't get out of the first last night.
03:09They hit...
03:09With the first seven batters all reached base.
03:11Yeah.
03:11They hit a round.
03:12They bat a round in the first inning.
03:14And all of a sudden,
03:14Ty Madden's in the game.
03:17And even he walked in a run.
03:20He's put in a bad spot.
03:21Oh, he's put in a bad spot.
03:22Yeah.
03:22But they were...
03:23But your job is to come in and get out of the situation.
03:25And then to make matters worse,
03:26it's like, all right, just to phone it in, right?
03:27I mean, they get shut out for the first eight innings of the game.
03:33And then you get three home runs in two games
03:38by our boy...
03:40Dylan.
03:40Dylan Dingler, 13.
03:43I think Valdez has been a bad signing.
03:46And we all supported it for the most part.
03:48There were some listeners I remember that didn't like it.
03:51Didn't like the...
03:53Yeah, that.
03:54And had some...
03:55Bad finish to the year last season.
03:57Yeah.
03:59You know, he's here for sure next year, no matter what.
04:02And then there's an option.
04:04And he would probably pick it up at this point,
04:06the way things are going.
04:07I would think so.
04:08So, highest paid left-hander ever.
04:11You know, and...
04:11Look, it's okay to criticize a signing,
04:14even though we liked it.
04:15It...
04:16I think the bagging on Harris for it a little bit
04:19can...
04:20You get back away from that a little bit,
04:21because we all did support it.
04:23But this is a bad signing right now.
04:24It can change.
04:26But it's a bad signing.
04:27His ERA is over four and a half.
04:29Like, you take that to a 3-7 even,
04:33and I think there's been three games now this year,
04:36like last night,
04:37where he really put them in a spot
04:39where it was going to be impossible to win.
04:41Can I ask why we shouldn't bag on Harris
04:43for a bad signing?
04:45A signing you're saying is a bad signing?
04:46I think you do it...
04:47It's almost a soft landing for him.
04:49Because we did support it.
04:51Right.
04:51We sound like a bunch of hypocrites.
04:52We can be wrong.
04:53We can criticize us, too, then, with it.
04:55You know, we come...
04:55Well, I want to be clear.
04:56We supported that there was a real spend
05:00associated with this team.
05:01And I like the idea of giving yourself
05:03insurance on Tarek Skubal.
05:04So, this isn't me saying,
05:06I was right, and Scott was wrong.
05:09I was wrong, and Scott was wrong.
05:11The difference is,
05:12me being right or wrong
05:13doesn't have a bearing on how many games
05:14this team wins.
05:15Right.
05:16It's his job to be right.
05:17Right, exactly.
05:18I would kind of equate it a little bit
05:20to when Iserman came here.
05:23Everybody loved it.
05:24Everybody wasn't completely on board
05:26with Valdez like Iserman.
05:27But there's the same thing to it.
05:29Like, I guess, let's play it to you
05:30and what you like.
05:31You like to hand out strikes.
05:32Sure.
05:32I think it would be a little unfair
05:34to hand out a strike on this.
05:36Yeah, maybe it's a foul.
05:37Yeah.
05:38The strike is going to be if they...
05:40Well, the strike is...
05:41It's only not a strike if it's a foul,
05:44if you've already got two strikes.
05:45Right, which haven't we documented
05:47the man's been choked up in a two count?
05:50You're right.
05:50I can't keep track of it anymore.
05:52Tom's about to segue us
05:53where I want to go.
05:54Is it full?
05:55The Jeff Passan report yesterday.
05:58The timing, right?
05:59Unlikely they're going to trade Tarek Skubel.
06:02That's the thing you can get on Harris more.
06:05Because this team,
06:07seven games under 500.
06:09It's a seller's market.
06:11You have the number one chip on the market
06:13if you're willing to make a move.
06:14Are you willing slash able to do it?
06:17Well, it's a bit of a roller coaster.
06:19And we're riding this roller coaster
06:21just like everybody else.
06:22And four weeks ago, likely to trade.
06:25With two weeks to go before the trade deadline,
06:30likely not to trade.
06:33What the Tigers do in the next two weeks
06:35ultimately will make the decision
06:38most likely for Scott Harris.
06:42And if they're not any better,
06:46if they're still seven below 500,
06:50you're running out of opportunity.
06:51Your runway is getting shorter and shorter
06:54for you to even get back to 500.
06:56And then you look at the stats
06:58and you look at the wild card
07:00and you see that there are other teams
07:01that are consistently making that jump.
07:04It is no longer teams that are,
07:07you know, hey,
07:08first team in,
07:09they're at the cut line
07:10that were below 500.
07:12All those teams now are above 500.
07:14You say the team will decide it for him.
07:17I would add the word
07:18the team should decide it for him.
07:22But they could be five under 500.
07:24It's going to be a decision would be to sell
07:26and they could still do
07:27whatever they damn well please.
07:28And I think they're very hesitant
07:29to move on from Tarek Skubal
07:31as evidence from the comments
07:32from Jeff Passan yesterday.
07:33We'll get to it a little more at 635.
07:35I have a Sam Laporta stat
07:36and some good news on Sam Laporta
07:38we got yesterday.
07:39We'll do that coming up next.
07:40It's 97.1.
07:41We'll do that coming up next.
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