Tigers Hitting Coach Change + Signings, Skubal, & More!

Tigers Hitting Coach Change + Signings, Skubal, & More!

Let’s talk about all of the news and notes out of Detroit this week. All today on Locked on Tigers. You are Locked on Tigers, your daily Detroit Tigers podcast, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. What is up everybody? Welcome back to another edition of Locked On Tigers. I’m of course your host, Scott Bentley. Today is Friday, October 31st, 2025. Thank you so much for making Lockdown Tigers your first listen every single day. We are free and available wherever you get your podcasts, including YouTube, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network your team every single day. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. So download said app today. Welcome in. Happy Halloween, everyone. Hope you all have a fun and safe October 31st this evening. I I was trying to think of like uh like, oh, how can I have like a Halloween themed episode and and like like then it would just be me like what’s scary about the tiger, right? Like I was trying to think of something corny and and and super cheesy like that, but that that ends up being oh like you know Riley Green’s whiff rate like you know what I mean? like it’s just going to be annoying. A annoying b it’s it’s going to be like bad things. Um so we’re not doing that. Actually, uh this transitions me into the the format of today’s show is really just going to be a lot of small news and notes that have happened throughout the week. And assuming there is enough news and notes in every week of the off seasonason, now obviously like we’re daily, okay? The show is daily. The show will continue to be daily. So if there’s any immediate news, big signings, whatever, then obviously we just talk about those the following day. But the smaller stuff like this, every Friday, I I’d like to just do a hey, this is what the last week has looked like out of the Tigers organization, and this is, you know, the news and notes, if you will, from the Tigers or that maybe we have not discussed this week. Today we start with Keith Borugard. announcing the Tigers. Well, actually the Tigers haven’t officially announced it yet, so I should choose my words carefully there. Uh, this has been reported by a few different people. I know Evan Pzled of the Freep. Put an article out there in regards to hitting coach Keith Borugard not returning to the Tigers in the 2026 season. I I have a few thoughts and opinions on this. First off, this is needed. And I want that to be like the overarching, you know, before you get mad at me over the next thing I say. I I I do think that this is needed and I I welcome this change. That being said, I do think that hitting coaches are very often the scapegoat for organizations and teams that don’t have good hitters. Um, the best hitting coach to ever walk the planet could not make me a good major league hitter. Okay, he could not make me a bad major league hitter even. Like I right like I there ultimately this is on the players ultimately it’s on the talent that is you know makes up the roster etc. Um there’s certain, you know, tweaks you can make and certain uh areas that you can improve players in as a hitting coach. And that’s obviously something that this team needed. Way too many strikeouts down the stretch. That was teamwide. Uh not very good in high leverage or risk situations in the second half. That was teamwide for a team and a lineup that was so good at that. They were one of the best in baseball in the first half almost 100 games with runners in scoring position and then just completely collapsed in that regard as well. So I I I think that this is a needed change. I I would like uh a different, you know, voice in the room, a different perspective for these guys that are still so young. Um, but it’s it’s also like I don’t know. I guess I’m trying to say don’t be shocked if like a new hitting coach comes in and stuff doesn’t like change a ton. Like I And this is a conversation I have every single time the Tigers change their hitting coach or pitching coach or whatever coach. Um, so it’ll be interesting to see who they go after, what kind of mindset they’re kind of looking for to add to this room. They do have three hitting coaches on staff, now just two. So, it’ll be interesting to see whether they rock with two, whether they want three and they go out and get another guy. I I mean, who knows? Um, but that is where the coaching staff stands currently. Um, another interesting thing kind of reading between the lines a little bit on a couple of articles. First off, this is me as like a fan and a reader of other people’s work. I do not have a report on this situation that um gives any like background information to why the decision was made or anything. So, I want to make that clear. But when you read the the wording in the articles put out about him, it it almost makes it sound like it was his decision or maybe at at best like a a mutual parting of ways. Um like it it made it sound like he left. Like I I saw the word left multiple times out there. You know, he is is leaving, not he was let go or, you know, was was the Tigers decided not to resign him. Um I I know that a couple of the reports had him wanting to pursue other opportunities in baseball, whatever extent that means. So, um yeah, like all in all, clearly he was not doing the lineup any favors, especially in the second half. Um, and I I think the the biggest reason for me why I want a new voice in the room isn’t even anything from this year specifically. Like Bogard’s been here for a few years now. This is I think this was his third season, second or third season with the Tigers. So, it’s not even as much like, oh, the specific 2025 statistics. It’s more the fact that we have had a group of young players that we were incredibly excited about debut a and come up through the system and none of them have taken the huge leap forward. Colt Keith is literally one of the best Tigers minor league hitters I have ever seen. Riley Green, we know what happened with him this year. Spencer Torqulson got demoted after his rookie season which also wasn’t very good. Still has a lot of room for improvement as well. Parker Meadows has hit for like two months in his major league career, right? Like there’s all these guys that we were really excited about and we were begging for them to be called up, etc. And then they got here and it’s just kind of been meh. Varying degrees of that. Okay, I’m not trying to say 30 home runs and 115 RBI’s is meth, but the the the step forward, the continued progression has not been there. And so I think for me that’s that’s the biggest thing. There’s there’s approach with runners and scoring position. Again, teamwide that was awful. Um but I I think having just a different voice in the room can uh can help that. So we’ll see who replaces him, if he even has a replacement. And maybe they’ll just run with the two guys they have currently. Not sure. That’s two changes now to the major league coaching staff. And we will see whether there is more to come on that front or whether uh yeah, they’re just going to fill in those two spots or or just first base coach even and call it a day. We’ll see what happens. Let’s talk about another addition made well uh this time an addition. We just talked about a subtraction, I guess. Um, but another move made by the organization as they bring in some more front office personnel. 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Welcome back here segment two Locked On Tigers. Appreciate you all for tuning in as always, making this our first listen every single day. Shout out to the everydayers that do tune in every day. And we will of course be back on Monday giving you another offseason episode. We continue that. We got to get back on track with our player reviews. Um I’m sure there will be more, you know, smaller news and notes and then next week the World Series will end this weekend, right? So next week is when deadlines start, man. like it. I I’m telling you, it’s quick because the offseason deadlines are not based on like a a set calendar date. They are based on x amount of hours after the World Series ends. So whether that happens tonight, on Friday as you listen to this, or on Saturday night, there will be deadlines and decisions that have to start being made as early as the middle of next week. And so we will kind of start fully integrating into offseason mode as opposed to so far which has really just been like talking about offseason mode. We’ll actually be kind of in the thick of it after yeah after this weekend starting next week. Um today we just pick up on some news and notes throughout the Tigers organization. The Tigers add Alex Smith from the Cubs to their front office. Uh it is being called a an executive position and that position title is the VP of baseball strategy. This was reported by a couple of different people. I know that Cody Stavenhagen of the Athletic reported it. I also know that Evan Woodbury of M Live put a piece out about it too. Um so you can go read those, support them. Uh great reporters as always. This this is not really I mean any breaking news here. Um he’s been with the Cubs for about a decade and I’m sure is just another guy that him Scott Harris and Jeff Greenberg knew in Chicago and are now like hey we can get this guy that we liked in Chicago and trusted and think he’s smart and we can get him on our staff just like Harris did with Greenberg. Right. And uh so I don’t know. I mean, we’ll see. He’s been in a similar role in terms of, you know, strategy on the field uh with the Cubs for a while, so hopefully he can add some insight in that regard. But, uh, obviously not an earthshattering thing, but another member of the Cubs front office, now a part of the Tigers front office. Technically front office. I don’t know. It could be more of a a field position. We’ll see. Uh we we we’ll see what that title exactly indicates for this upcoming season. The Tigers also have made a few minor league signings throughout well the last I want to say eight days and all of them are are very small in terms of magnitude and you know impact on the roster and impact on the opening day roster. So we’re just going to go through all three of them today. Uh earlier this week, the Tigers signed Troy Watson to a minor league deal with an invite to spring training. That report from Evan Pzelled of the Freep. At least that’s the first person I saw. Um yeah, I mean the Tigers acquired him at the end of the 2024 season and they just keep resigning him. Um just this is uh this is the second time they’ve resigned him despite the fact that he’s never played a Major League Baseball game. He’s now 28 years old, is a starter now. Um has been a reliever earlier in his career, but transitioned to a starter and it worked and he had a great season down in the minor leagues to the point where he was promoted up to AAA. Uh, and Evan Pzled in his piece on the freep obviously and in his story covering this actually mentioned that like there was a at one point kind of a coin flip chance that Watson was going to um was going to make his major league debut and was going to start in September, but obviously the the organization leaned toward Troy Melton instead. Um, so yeah, I mean he had great stats this year, has a a pretty solid pitch mix. He’s a guy that I’ve watched a couple of his starts this season. Shout out Minor League Baseball TV and yeah, I mean it’s it’s a it’s a solid, you know, mid90s fast ball and he’s got four pitches, five pitches. Um, so yeah, like clearly the organization likes him. Uh, and we’ll see how he looks in spring training. Part of the minor league deal, as I mentioned, is an invite to spring. So, we’ll see how he does. We’ll see how he fares in that regard. But, at 28 years old is probably like put up or shut up time in terms of uh, you know, being like a major league starter, kind of breaking into a role like that. I would imagine that if he were to make the team on opening day, it would be again as a reliever. But, um, I don’t know. We’ll see. I a guy that it wouldn’t shock me if we saw him, you know, injuries, whatever at some point in 2026. So, we’ll keep an eye on him. Another fan favorite is returning. Tomas Neato is back. Signs a minor league contract with the Detroit Tigers on Thursday, October 30th. Uh saw that report from Evan Woodbury. At least again, just first report that I see uh on on my feed or whatnot. Uh yeah, I mean I I think it’s pretty obvious he’ll be the third string catcher going into camp. Uh it’s it’s the top two are not going to change, man. I know people have their issues with Jake Rogers offensively and whatnot. It it it is what it is. He he’s a backup catcher. There’s I’ve said this before on this show, there’s not too many teams in all of baseball that have two good hitting catchers. that that’s just completely an anomaly if you have that. You’ll take really good defense out of a backup catcher and uh Jake Rogers has obviously proven that he can do that in stretches. So, uh yeah, Tomas Neato’s going to again I would be shocked if he wasn’t. He’s going to be the third string quote unquote. He won’t be on the 40man roster or anything. Um but he’ll uh he’ll be there throughout training camp. And I if either of the two starters get hurt just like last year, I’d imagine he’s the first call up. He uh he hit pretty well. It was I not a I mean he hit like 360, but he he didn’t even have 30 plate appearances, I don’t think. Not a sustainable level of production, but did well at least. And uh yeah, everybody in the organization talks about all the pitchers talk about how much they like throwing to him. All the coaches talk about how great he is. I think he’s a guy that might have a career in coaching like so many catchers do. You know, obviously the geniuses that uh that the catcher position are. Um and then the third signing and the final signing we’ll talk about is Sammy Zoraga, who has barely pitched as a professional, uh is 20 years old, is a righty out of Venezuela. This one’s kind of a just an organizational development project to see if he turns into anything. Um, there’s obviously a really solid chance that he doesn’t, but yeah, a 20-year-old that throws hard and and was just kind of out there. Again, he has literally like barely pitched any innings professionally and and the professional innings he has are uh are in a Venezuelan league. So, like we we have I I have no clue whether that’s going to translate or or what not. I have no clue where he’s even going to start off. I’m sure they’ll, you know, get him here when uh you know, in February and and just kind of see where he’s at. But yeah, this is obviously isn’t like a major league edition. He’s not going to pitch in the major leagues this year or I mean again, who knows, maybe ever. Um, but uh kind of a fun story just to keep track of because you don’t usually see guys that are that old. Like most of the people you see coming out of Venezuela or the Dominican Republic or Puerto Rico, you know, those guys are getting signed at like 14, 15, 16. Uh, so seeing a guy out of Venezuela at 20 is uh is pretty interesting. So we’ll see. We we’ll see if he turns in anything. Um, let’s talk TKO. Unfortunately. So on Thursday there was a report that John Haymon put out. I think this was actually on Wednesday. John Haymon reported that the gap between the Tigers and Scooble may actually be even bigger than we already thought it was because he updated his report that the Tigers offer was not just less than Garrick Crochet’s money or just around a hundred mil. It was about four years and potentially less than $80 million. So, there’s a couple of notes here. One, this is still just him finding out more information on the same offer made I in the 2024 off season. So, like this was not this year. This was not a recent thing that that happened. The Tigers didn’t just today offer TK Scubble, you know, 77 mil or 80 mil or whatever. Um, but the last time we talked about it that the number the first time this report came out, we talked about it on this show a couple weeks ago, the number was a hundred and now it’s, you know, even even less obviously. And I had mentioned in that episode how eventually you get to a point where it is so offensive that it it’s actually worse to even offer it. like it’s it’s so egregious and you’re so far away from his value and his asking price that it literally is more beneficial to just not offer anything. And I think this is absolutely absurd if it’s true. To put it in perspective, the Detroit Tigers signed Alex Cobb to a one-year $15 million contract. For those math whizzes at home, four years 80 mil is 20 mil a season. That is ridiculous. Javi makes more than 20 mil a season to have like a 660 OPS and a you know is a one- win player. It’s it it is so awful that I legitimately have a hard time believing it. Like straight up. Um it’s that’s how absurd it is where even I’m like, “Okay, that someone is is lying here.” Like there there’s no way that that can even possibly be true. And look, we’ve had conversations before. I mean, plenty. You know what I think? I think we should pick a week this off season and and not mention TKO’s name the entire week. We just have a whole normal 5day week of episodes and we don’t mention the ter school. We just pretend like it doesn’t exist for a week. I I don’t think my therapist would find that very healthy, but I I think I I kind of want to do it. We just we just don’t even discuss it and we just talk about bigger and better things and give everybody, myself included, a break from the daily reporting that is going to go on for the rest of the off season in regards to this story. We’ve had the conversation before of what is his value, what is he worth, would you pay him $400 million, etc. Right? And there are plenty of people out there, Tigers fans, that don’t think he’s quote unquote worth 400 mil, right? That that’s if it’s 10 years, that’s 40 mil a season. He’s the highest paid pitcher in baseball history by almost $und00 million, right? It’s a lot of money. To each their own. I I you know, it’s not my money. It’s very easy for me to say I would do it in a heartbeat. But the one thing we can all agree on is that he’s worth way more than $20 million a year. If that is a true and accurate report, that discre discrepancy is so large that you’re I I mean, you’re back to to square one in terms of what do you do this off season, right? Do you trade him knowing there’s no chance you’re ever going to reach that price tag and and there there’s way too much ground to make up, so you trade him or are you super aggressive around the elsewhere and other places in the roster to be as competitive as possible in 2026 to try to win in the last year that you have the best pitcher on the planet? And it’s it’s really I mean it’s crazy at this point. I I’m not sure there’s any chance he comes back, man. Like that that is not that I really I I mean I I’ve been telling y’all for three weeks already. Nonetheless, dating back to last year at this time that I don’t think he’s coming back, but that is that is just a mind-boggling offer if that is even remotely true. Okay, let’s talk about the Arizona Fall League for a little bit. Then we’ll talk World Series. We’ll do both of those things right after this. First though, got to talk to about our friends over at FanDuel. The NBA is back and there’s no better place to get in on the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you missed the start of a game or just want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live betting on everything from who will score the next point, the next basket, two fourth quarter comebacks, and everything in between. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. It keeps the game exciting, especially when your team is making a late push. Right now, new customers, FanDuel is offering new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So, head to fanduel.com and sign up today to play FanDuel and play your game, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. All right, everybody. Welcome back here. Third and final segment of Lockdown Tigers. Appreciate y’all tuning in as always. Um, don’t have too much to say about the Arizona Fall League. uh just that Kevin McGonagal has completely taken over. I I know I think the last update we gave maybe a week week and a half ago. We obviously the talk at the time was Max Anderson still is. He’s still hitting very well. Um but McGonagal had like an 850 or an 860 OPS. We’re like, “Yeah, it’s really good. I don’t really care about his hitting though. Like I know he’s going to rake. It’s just, you know, more of a of a defense thing.” Um well, he apparently wanted to prove that it’s about both. and and now he has like some of the best numbers in the entire AFL and for the last two weeks has been their best player. So, uh the best player in the league at the plate certainly. Um so yeah, like again we know that he’s going to dominate. We know that he’s going to rake. He’s arguably the number one prospect in all of baseball for a reason. And I think again I’ll reiterate that this is far more about him being comfortable at third base than it is about the offense. So, we’ll see if he even finishes the AFL or if they just kind of pull him out of it or if you know they want to get him his defensive reps and that’s kind of just all they care about. Um, yeah, World Series. Haven’t talked about it yet, I don’t think, on this show since it started. At the time of this recording on Thursday evening, the Blue Jays have a 3 to2 lead. I I mean, just this is a classic World Series, man. Especially if this ends up going seven and the Dodgers win on Friday. This is going to be one of the better World Series in recent memory. Regardless of what happens in game seven and regardless of who wins it, you have Yamamoto in game two throwing the first complete game in a World Series in about a decade. You have an 18in game three. And that 18 in game three was in a 1-1 series like that. That is it’s so massive to win that game. You also end that game with a walk-off home run by Freddy Freeman. Uh you have Vlad Jr. who’s hitting like I I was going to say Vlad Senior. I don’t even know if that does it justice. He’s absolutely raking. Then you have the opposite side, right? You have Blake Snell who I think has given up what nine or 10 earned runs in his two World Series starts. You have Mookie Betts who has hit horribly in the World Series up to this point and now you have the final two games in Toronto. You’re either going to have the Dodgers win back-to-back World Series, which no Major League Baseball team has done since the Yankees three peed in the late 90s. And uh they said on the broadcast the other night that a national league hasn’t done it since the big red machine in the 70s. Dude, that’s crazy. That’s that’s and that’s why baseball’s the best, right? Parody unmatched in any other sport. Um and so it is you either have that which is a fascinating story or and then you know all the stuff that comes with the Dodgers winning. Should there be a salary cap? You know how look how much money they’re spending. Otani now with two rings. Just all of the drama and conversations that come with that outside of the first team to be backto back in in two and a half decades. But then you also have if the Blue Jays win, it’s a World Series for Canada. It’s the first World Series by the Blue Jays since they went back to back in the early 90s. And Vlad Jr. has a ring. He can give it to to Vlad Senior who’s a Hall of Famer. and it was one of my favorite players ever growing up, but never won a World Series. Like the the a and Vlad to to win a World Series, Vlad Jr. like dad plays for the Expos was, you know, like lived a lot of his childhood in Canada to win a World Series for the Blue Jays in Canada would just be so so just poetic. So that there there’s there’s so much and that’s honestly like all of those things is only even kind of scratching the surface. Um I I mean Glass now, right? Like his out I would imagine he’s going to pitch one of these last two games if there is two more games. Um Yamamoto almost assuredly will get game six here. Um but I don’t know man. It it’s it’s I I I don’t really like either team. Not really sure. I’m rooting for either team. I’m just rooting for good baseball. So in, you know, like I’m going to be rooting for a seven game series because this has been absolute classics all throughout and that’s really fun. So it’s also been one of the most watched World Series uh just for TV ratings in quite a while. Understandably so. Can’t wait for the Tigers to get back there, man. Thanks for making lockdown on Tigers. Your first listen every single day. Shout out to the everydayers that do tune in every day. And we will of course be back tomorrow. That’s a lie. We’ll of course be back on Monday. Peace and love. Going to Therapy’s dope. And I’ll catch you on Monday, baby. Go Tigers.

Today we discuss the Detroit Tigers news and notes from this week. We talk hitting coaches, Tarik Skubal, the 2025 MLB World Series, and more!

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