Costa and Jansen explain the possible lineup chaos the Tigers may face this season.
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00:00Speaking of the Tigers, we went through pitching chaos last year.
00:04How do you feel about lineup chaos?
00:08Concerns that this season could go south given just what we're looking at right now.
00:11It's Parker Meadows.
00:12It's Matt Vierling.
00:14It's the unanswered question at third base.
00:15John, I was sitting here mapping it out.
00:17They've got four different players displaced on defense.
00:20That's half of the defense.
00:22I don't know if they've got enough bats.
00:24I don't know if they're going to play enough defense behind this pitching staff.
00:27I do have a concern that we could be living last year where we're wasting a pitching staff
00:32for much of the season.
00:33Well, I think that's a major concern.
00:35But I also am curious.
00:39Maybe the pitching chaos overshadowed the lineup chaos.
00:43And now this year, we're not even talking about the offensive side.
00:46We're just talking about defense.
00:47Who's going to play third?
00:49Who's going to play right field?
00:50Who's going to play center?
00:51It's going to be Riley Green.
00:52How much do you not want him to play center?
00:55Simply because you don't want him to increase his risk of injury when Seal Perez is going
01:00to be there.
01:02It's going to be a number of different individuals.
01:04But last year, it was lineup chaos pretty much throughout the course of the season.
01:10Because you have guys like Kerry Carpenter, who's going to probably be DH against all
01:16right-handed pitchers.
01:19He's not going to be DH against the left-handed hitter or pitcher.
01:22But maybe that is Spencer Torgelson.
01:24And so you have to constantly mix and match left-handed hitters with this pitcher, right-handed
01:31hitters with this pitcher.
01:32And then throughout the course of the game, you've got a pinch hitter, you've got a pinch
01:35runner.
01:36And then you're trying to figure out, well, maybe we can't pinch hit this individual.
01:39Because then we have no one else to play third base.
01:40It just adds another wrinkle.
01:42And it's completely insane.
01:44You could default to the position of, I trust AJ Hinch.
01:47And I'd understand it.
01:48AJ's a hell of a manager.
01:49They made it work last year with the pitching staff.
01:51And to an extent, manufactured what they could offensively, right?
01:54They sent the runners.
01:56They were aggressive on the base paths.
01:58They used every platoon leverage opportunity they could with pinch hitters and pinch runners.
02:04But it feels even more extreme right now.
02:07Tork is displaced.
02:08Keith is displaced.
02:10Green is displaced.
02:11Baez is displaced.
02:12Are any of them going to be upgrades?
02:14Like they like Riley Green in left field.
02:16If they have to play him more at center, that's not ideal.
02:19Green is playing the outfield for the first time since 2018.
02:22Is that ideal?
02:23Colt Keith's learning a brand new position where if you boot a ball over at first, that's
02:28an out that turns into a base runner and extends an inning.
02:31Javi Baez is already committing errors at third base.
02:33He hasn't played the position regularly again since 2018.
02:37Are any of these upgrades?
02:38I didn't even mention how they're going to do in the batter's box.
02:40You know what I'm saying?
02:41Like that's already the obvious question about Baez and Tork.
02:46Are we getting any better defensively while still having the same questions in the batter's
02:50box?
02:51I think there's a chance that Baez could be an upgrade over McKinstry or Abanez or down
03:00the list Colt Keith at third base.
03:02Defensively.
03:03Defensively.
03:04Yes.
03:05Oh yes.
03:06We're talking defense here.
03:07Offensively.
03:08Huh.
03:09Not the guy you want to bet on to be an upgrade anywhere at the plate.
03:13It's the third base thing, which is a thing, and it's the injuries in the outfield.
03:21It's Parker Meadows and it's Matt Vierling.
03:23And Scott Harris is not responsible for the injuries in his outfield.
03:26But there is a fair question about the organization's issues.
03:29He's responsible for depth.
03:31Depth and really the starting third base spot.
03:33So Jace Young gets sent down.
03:35He was not ready.
03:36No one's saying throw him into the fire.
03:38If he didn't perform in spring training, he should start in AAA.
03:41Jace Young is a college bat who this summer will be three years removed from college.
03:47It's kind of got to be soon here for Jace.
03:49And if he doesn't stick at third, it would be a long list of other guys they've tried
03:53at third.
03:54Twerk was drafted as a third baseman.
03:56Colt Keith played a thousand innings of third base in the minors.
04:00Jahan has actually played more games at third than any other position, but they've bumped
04:04him over as kind of a DH outfield first baseman.
04:09McGonigal who was drafted as a shortstop second baseman.
04:11He's playing third.
04:12Hi.
04:13You Lee was traded for as a second baseman.
04:14Now he's playing third.
04:15They're kind of haphazardly trying to find a third baseman.
04:18They tried for Bregman.
04:20It didn't work out, but they had no fallback.
04:22The plan was, I guess, veerling who, who again has hardly played third base in his career.
04:27They had no plan at third base backup plan, I should say.
04:31Right?
04:32Yeah.
04:33Cause the plan was, you know, now is now playing in Boston and that's, that to me is the big
04:37concern.
04:39We all applauded the fact that they made a legitimate offer, maybe the best offer to
04:44get a third baseman and it didn't work out.
04:46What's the backup plan.
04:48And when it Jayce Young, if that's your backup plan and he is not developing at the rate
04:53that you need him to develop.
04:56Now the answer needs to be, you've got to go get yourself a third basement.
05:00You've got to go get yourself a guy that can, that can man that position and has a decent
05:05bat at the plate.
05:06How do you do that?
05:07Free agency's over.
05:09You're not developing them right now.
05:10So you've got to go and trade for one.
05:12Yeah.
05:13The current crop would have Andy Abana's first game of the season against the lefty.
05:16He hits lefties, but by their decision-making, they don't like him against righties.
05:21So righties will be the majority of the time.
05:24McKinstry is a bad bat.
05:26He is.
05:27And bias is terrible against righties because they can just throw the slider in the other
05:31batter's box and he can't help himself.
05:32It's like me with pizza at the wedding.
05:34I mean, you just, those are the options.
05:37Yes.
05:39And to bring it all together, it was Tom who said pre-show, he goes, I am concerned that
05:43this goes South this year, that all the excitement of last year and being in the playoffs and
05:47being a win away from the ALCS, it's all wasted.
05:50I just don't think you can survive doing this for more than probably 30 to 45 days.
05:55Like you can, they can fight their way through the beginning of the season, piecing this
05:58lineup together.
05:59But defensively, I don't know how you can survive losing two of your starting outfielders
06:04basically, especially a center fielder who is outstanding at the position.
06:09And so the middle of the defense, you're going, don't worry about catcher defensively really,
06:14but middle of your defense is a second and short and then the center fielder.
06:17And then that in Comerica park, especially, I mean, bottom line is I thought Parker Meadows
06:22was probably the number one reason why they flipped last year.
06:27Like I'm not taking away from Tarek Scoble and Riley green, but the reason it changed
06:32in terms of winning and the way they want, the rate they want to, it was Meadows.
06:37They went 54 and 28 with him in the lineup.
06:40That's way too big.
06:41That's half a season in baseball.
06:43Yeah.
06:44I think if you talk to us at the end of last season, we would have said, boy, I could be
06:48convinced the 2025 is going to be a fun year because I'm getting a full year of Parker
06:52Meadows, right?
06:54I'm getting a third basement or someone on the left side of the infield.
06:57I'm not going to see hobby bias, right?
06:59All the things we would have talked ourselves into and none of them are happening right
07:02now.
07:03You could have said, Hey, maybe Jay Shung will solidify and it hasn't happened yet.
07:06All the things you would have pointed to didn't happen.
07:10So let me ask you this, Tom, surviving the first 30 or 45 days.
07:16What does that even mean?
07:17Because you've, we all know you're opening up with the Dodgers.
07:21You've got Seattle, you've got six games on the road to start the season.
07:24Then you come home for three against Chicago.
07:25Okay.
07:26Those should be winnable games.
07:27Then you've got the Yankees, you've got the twins on the road, you've got the brewers
07:30on the road, and then you've got four at home against Kansas city.
07:33And Oh, by the way, then here comes San Diego and Baltimore and Houston, right?
07:37So what is surviving the first 30 days look like?
07:41I think it's within a couple of games of 500, you know, you don't want to fall in a hole
07:45like last year where you're 10 games under 545 days into the season.
07:49The reason I'm using 30 to 45 is my anticipation is, is that Meadows will get this thing going.
07:55The nerve will activate, and then he's going to have to go to Toledo or wherever and get
08:01back up on timings, you know, ramped up.
08:04Yeah.
08:05And so you're looking somewhere at the end of April to mid May.
08:08That would be my guess on this.
08:09I'm no doctor.
08:10I'm just, I think that would be optimistic, right?
08:12That would be things wake up now.
08:14And then he gives himself a month to get his feet under him.
08:16Yeah.
08:17I mean, the, the vibe I'm getting from the tigers is, is that Meadows will be back.
08:23I, this is everything they say, but I do think with Vera Lane, it's, I mean, once he starts
08:31throwing, I don't know how a rotator cuff gets better, you know, and the moves, sometimes
08:35they tell you without telling you right hobby playing more third is a reflection of not
08:41having veerling as an option at third, having torque play a little right field.
08:46How much of that is a reflection of not having veerling for right field, Jim, me and you,
08:49if we had a rotator cuff issue, flare up.
08:52If we rested the doctors, let's, let's rest it, you know, and then let's look at it again.
08:57We could probably get away with not having a surgery.
08:59I don't know how a baseball player does.
09:00I'm just using common sense here.
09:02Maybe I'm wrong.
09:03I don't know.
09:04You're not a doctor, but the loose, both of them.
09:05I think the impact you're talking about, you talking about two guys that would be hitting
09:09one and two some days in your lineup and now the projected MLB.com lineup they just posted
09:15last night.
09:16Cecile Perez is your leadoff hitter opening day and he's playing in center field.
09:19Can you give us that full line?
09:20He's a solid player.
09:21I like it.
09:22Don't do it right now.
09:23We'll do it coming up next.
09:24We got some phone calls.
09:25Are you guys, is there kind of this dark cloud over what should be an exciting season of
09:28Tiger baseball?
09:30What's your mood as the injuries Mount and Jay Shung goes down.
09:32It's 97.
09:33One.