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00:00We got you on obviously to update what's being said and what's going on with the
00:04Tigers and AJ Hinch sat down with a bunch of you guys today. What was the
00:09the tenor of the discussion? Yeah so we just we just finished breakfast with AJ.
00:14I think that's where the other siren on the afternoon show but you know it's
00:19mostly an off-the-record session but you know we had some laughs reminiscing
00:24about the days of Jacoby Jones and Harold Castro and Ronnie Rodriguez and
00:29it was sort of jarring to consider how far they've come from those days and I
00:34know they still have a long way to go but I think that the reason the Tigers
00:38feel confident about where they stand is that the young players that they're
00:42attaching their hopes to now are so much more worthy of those hopes than
00:46the players they used to pin their hopes to say three four or five years ago. They
00:51do feel like they have a talented young player at every position that's either
00:55in the big leagues or arriving in the big leagues soon but they also know that
00:59they still need to make a at least one meaningful upgrade to this lineup this
01:04winter and while it hasn't happened yet I do feel pretty confident that it will
01:08happen at least before spring training begins in March. Do you get a sense at
01:13all of whether AJ or Scott Harris understand a growing frustration for the
01:20fans because it doesn't feel like they want to step into I mean even average
01:26salaries for Major League Baseball it's coming across to the fans as them doing
01:31this on the cheap. Do they have a sense for that? Yeah I think Scott Harris
01:35definitely does because every time he's asked any question that relates to the
01:40payroll he sort of chuckles and says ah the payroll question again and I wonder
01:46if AJ even feels some of it himself. I don't want to talk for him but he did
01:52come from an organization in Houston that was spending like one of the
01:56highest payroll teams in baseball over the final three four years of his tenure
02:01and that led to obviously tons of success for the Astros and the Tigers
02:05aren't really even acting like like a middle market team yet you know it's
02:08it's discouraging I think for fans when they see the Tigers linked to a
02:12player like Alex Regman but but only with the caveat that he might be too
02:17pricey for their budget. This is a team that right now only has about 80
02:22million dollars committed in payroll for next season including all of their
02:25arbitration eligible players who will be re-signed and and there is space to make
02:30a move. I think that they could make a move on on the trade market maybe even
02:35more likely than than the free agent market. You know I asked Scott Harris
02:39last night are there moves that you guys feel you are more open to now that would
02:44cost you prospects than you were say a year ago or two years ago when he first
02:49got here and he said undoubtedly. He added that you know the nature and the
02:54tenor of those conversations with other teams are wildly different he said than
02:59they were his first winter here. You know he said we're much more open-minded now
03:03to adding players than we were when I first got here. So I think that that's
03:08where they may look to to upgrade the lineup and just to toss a name out there
03:13someone that might make sense is Yanni Diaz with the Rays who's you know a
03:17veteran player who's under contract at a pretty minimal cost through next season
03:22has a 850 or so OPS over the past two years and would obviously fill their
03:27need for for a right-handed hitter and a veteran in the infield and and he would
03:31cost prospects but Tigers have have prospects to spare now and so I thought
03:35that comment was telling from Harris like he was adamant and and confident
03:40that the Tigers are having meaningful trade conversations maybe behind the
03:45scenes that haven't come to light yet so so we'll see if that does lead to it
03:49to a major move in the next weeks or months. I made a prediction that the
03:54bigger splash will come from the trade market than any free agent signings and
03:57then we'll wait to see if that indeed is the case but I you know the the weirdest
04:02thing about this is is if you can draft develop and put a competitive team on
04:09the field that is a better way to do it than anything to not overextend yourself
04:13financially to maintain some financial flexibility and things like trade
04:17deadlines that's the best way to do it but it also seems like a long shot and
04:23the crazy thing is it feels like Scott Harris is putting more faith in the
04:26previous guys prospects than his own prospects like he's showing faith in
04:30what Al Avila did more so than because those are the guys that are basically
04:34here and ready to go it's a strange dynamic. Yeah it is I I question how much
04:41private faith they have in Spencer Torkelson. I know publicly that they say
04:47they're committed to him but I think they're working behind the scenes to
04:50come up with a more sure thing at first base both both next season and moving
04:57forward and maybe they're just waiting for for one of Harris's prospects and in
05:02Jose Brasinho to arrive and and maybe that's three two three years and and in
05:06the meantime they find a veteran to plug that gap. I know they've been connected
05:10to Paul Goldschmidt I don't know how realistic that option is he does sound
05:15open to a one-year deal has been a lot of buzz around his name this week here
05:19in Dallas as well as another longtime Cardinal who would fit the Tigers
05:23infield framework in Nolan Arenado and again those Arenado would have to be
05:28traded for but the Tigers have the assets to go do that you know the other
05:32name Doug that that yesterday generated tons of buzz maybe more buzz than any
05:37other is is Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki who is a 23 year old right-handed
05:43pitcher who is available to any team in baseball because as an international
05:47amateur free agent he is subject to those international signing bonus
05:52limitations and the Tigers have as good a chance as anyone to sign him and you
05:57don't often hear really ever hear Harris or this regime talk openly about players
06:03who aren't on their roster but Harris had no issue doing that last night and I
06:06thought it was interesting you know he said we have begun to brand ourselves as
06:11a destination for starting pitchers and I'll just say that Roki Sasaki's agent
06:16spoke yesterday about how closely Sasaki has been watching MLB teams as he
06:21prepares to make the jump and taking note of certain things like pitching
06:25development and also noting that he he may not want to be in a big market like
06:30Los Angeles or New York he might be more comfortable given some of the media
06:33scrutiny he dealt with in Japan in a small market or a mid-market and
06:37certainly the Tigers have acted more and more like a small to mid-market team
06:42recently and and so that could be another possible splash move on the
06:47horizon for this team they really do feel like with the successes they've had
06:51with guys like clarity and Michael Lorenzen and obviously that cobbled
06:55together bullpen slash rotation that pushed them to the playoffs last year
06:59they have announced to the league and the pitchers who are available to the
07:03league that you can come here and really thrive as a pitcher with Chris
07:07Federer and Juan Nieves and Robin Lund so you know it's not often that this
07:11team has had a real chance to land an international star from Japan I think in
07:17this case they really do yeah I mean I was about to say Birchikid joining us
07:21from the winter meetings in Dallas you really think that's possible like I mean
07:25this is not a pipe dream this is potentially on the radar huh yeah I just
07:30I think reading the tea leaves of again the way that Harris spoke last
07:34night and all that they have done in the past couple years to mark themselves as
07:39a pitching department that has made advances and can apply technologies
07:46and strategies that maybe other organizations can't that they that they
07:50would appeal to Sasaki who sounds like he really is a cerebral player who wants
07:56to end up with an organization that can allow him to make the most seamless
08:00transition possible from Japan to the majors look he's obviously one of the
08:05most talented young pitchers in baseball but that's still not an easy jump to go
08:09from Japan to the majors at 23 years old and so if the Tigers are a team that can
08:15help him make that jump rather harmlessly I think he would give them
08:20serious consideration and I think the Tigers know that and are prepared to
08:25make that pitch to Sasaki when they meet with him at some point in the next
08:2945 days interesting uh you sounded skeptical that the Paul Goldschmidt
08:33thing is really going to happen yeah I I am skeptical I'm mostly skeptical
08:40skeptical because his numbers have declined in a pretty significant way
08:44over over the past two years and while he would certainly be an upgrade at first
08:50defensively which which does matter I'm not sure if his current trajectory
08:56continues that he represents a huge upgrade over eating someone like
09:01Torkelson next season and I know that's crazy to say but if you look at
09:05Torkelson's numbers when he came back from AAA last year compared to
09:08Goldschmidt's numbers really over the course of the season they're not all
09:13that dissimilar I mean this is a guy who's who's down to a near 700 OPS and I
09:18know he's just two years removed from an MVP season but he's trending the
09:22wrong way at a pretty like precipitous degree so maybe he's a you know a stop
09:29plug there but I think someone younger again like Diaz or Christian Walker
09:34makes some more sense I think the Tigers also have a bit of a dilemma on their
09:38hands and I asked Harris about this also like when they're talking to a player
09:41like Christian Walker who is a established right-handed hitting first
09:45baseman what are they telling him about their plans for Torkelson because
09:49publicly they have committed faith in Torkelson but if they can't go out and
09:53sit down with a player like Walker and expect him to be okay what splitting
09:58time with with an unproven 25 year old at first base so I wonder if they're
10:03sending different signals behind the scenes because otherwise they wouldn't
10:08seem like a likely destination for a player like Walker but I think again
10:12that a trade feels more likely than than a major free agent signing all
10:17right well final thing what are they getting an Alex Cobb and will they rue
10:21the day that they designated Akil Badu for assignment yeah you know we were
10:26just talking about that with AJ and there's a chance and probably a good
10:30chance because of Akil's salary that he ends up staying with the organization I
10:34don't know if any team is going to want to bring him on at his current cost so
10:39he might be a tiger nevertheless and and Alex Cobb they're they're getting a
10:4437 year old veteran who when he's been healthy the past two three years is
10:49quietly pitched really well and and and Harris was the GM with the Giants when
10:53they signed Cobb to a two-year deal back in 2022 and felt like they could unlock
10:58some things for him there and he proceeded to have a two best seasons of
11:01his career they like a lot of things about him he induces soft contact he
11:05attacks the zone and talk about that often obviously he has the third highest
11:10ground ball rate since he entered the majors in 2011 second only to Dallas
11:16Michael and Marcus Stroman so they think that he'll be a good veteran presence
11:20and that if he stays healthy they can take his game back to that 2022 2023
11:25version possibly better when Harris sat down with him for the first time this
11:29winter he said look we have some some pitching ideas for you that we think can
11:33take your game to an even higher level so they obviously have proven able to do
11:38that in the past but again to me and I think that to you and others like this
11:42Tigers offseason is going to be defined by whether or not they make a meaningful
11:47upgrade to the offense and it hasn't happened yet I don't think it'll happen
11:51down here the Tigers actually take off today like most teams but I do think
11:55there are significant trade talks going on behind the scenes and at some point
11:59we'll see something come to light well later today if they trade for Yandy Diaz
12:03or sign Rokey Sasaki we'll check in with you again okay
12:08sounds good I'll check in with those guys myself thanks appreciate it birchie
12:12all right you got it there's the birchie kid from down there in Dallas at the MLB
12:18winter meetings all right look I don't think many Tiger fans are on board with
12:24their approach and I don't blame you I'm not really either could it still
12:29work out it could still work out it's just they're gonna do it their own way
12:33and and nobody ever wants to hear that their owner at least is giving the
12:36presentation of being cheap I mean it just doesn't what fan base is like okay
12:41cool unless you are absolutely killing it in the prospect pipeline and it's
12:49look it's it's great what they've done with the young players and it's great
12:53what they did at the end of last year but is there a degree of sustainability
12:57there that's what everybody's worried about