Tigers Season Ending Press Conference Recap: Harris and Hinch Off-Season Outlook

Tigers Season Ending Press Conference Recap: Harris and Hinch Off-Season Outlook

Scott Harris and AJ Hinch spoke to the media on Monday. Let’s talk about it all today on Locked on Tigers. You are Locked on Tigers, your daily Detroit Tigers podcast, part of the Locked On podcast 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 Tuesday, October 14th, 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 day. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Download the app today. Welcome in. Welcome all everybody. Today we are going to talk about the press conference, the end of season press conference that pretty much every team has at the end of every single team’s season. And obviously Tigers make it to the ALDS. So Monday afternoon or morning, late morning is when the team held theirs. Um yeah, first thought was first off it was AJ Hinch and Scott Harris. It was just those two. Uh first thought was like I was I was pretty fine with everything that was said, man. There was a couple of things I I really liked. There was a couple of things that I really didn’t like. Um but all in all, like it’s it’s a press conference. It’s like I I don’t have any glaring issues with anything. I There are a lot of people that hated every single thing that was said. Uh there are plenty of people that defended every single thing that was said. I I just This episode of this show is literally a guy talking about two other guys talking. So like all of this I I feel like is with a grain of salt. Um, actions speak louder than words to me. I I’m not going to get riled up and and fired up, uh, you know, read in the face mad over comments that are made. I’ll save that for January if the team does nothing all off season, right? So, I want all of this, good or bad, to be backed up with an impressive winter. Um, in terms of some of my frustrations that were said, uh, I I think there was somewhat of a a lack of acknowledging the collapse specifically. Now, he certainly said like September was really bad. He was very frustrated at it, whatever. But, you know, there there wasn’t a lot of talk specifically about like you had the division at hand and then like nothing happened. Um and and his response to the poor September was that the organization had the most organizational wins across every level in the 2025 calendar year. He is right. Okay, Scott Harris is right and that is a positive thing and that is something that I I think should be celebrated. I also think that in that moment and and in the present moment that just comes off as extremely tonedeaf, I guess is the the way to word that. Like I I I just don’t think anybody cares. Again, it’s it’s it’s a good thing. It should be celebrated. If you do care, then then that that’s great. I care to an extent about that. I that’s obviously a very important thing. But you just had the biggest collapse in Major League Baseball history and then just got eliminated from the postseason in the ALDS for the second year in a row. Your offense was absolutely horrible the entire last two months of play. I think people in general want to hear more and wanted to hear more about how that was going to be fixed and and what plans were in place to address that rather than about how if you take a step back everything actually wasn’t that bad. That that’s all. There was a lot of talk about development. development is obviously something that this organization has I I think it’s fair to say turned a corner in in the Scott Harris era. That’s certainly a green flag in his resume since taking over. Um it the the thing that frustrated me about that was when he was asked directly, are you going to be more aggressive in order to get over the hump? Right? that that you have now been stuck in for two consecutive seasons. His response was uh essentially that well one thing he made very clear was they’re going to stay to the development path and he he obviously mentioned the potential to get people from the outside at the deadline or in in free agency. But um that that’s great development that that’s great. That’s obviously a massive part. It’s maybe even the biggest part of winning in today’s day and age unless you have endless pocketbooks like, you know, the Mets and and the Dodgers and whatnot. But I also think it would be incredibly ignorant if the Tigers just were, you know, completely silent in the off season or didn’t do anything this winter and just said, “You know what? we’re gonna rely on a bunch of rookies is what they would be in 2026 to get us over said hump. Uh I think you can tow the line and do both. And he mentioned the line and and again I’m I’m not trying to like really bash him either way here. Um it just it frustrated me a little bit, but as I said at the top of the show, man, actions speak louder than words. I’m I’m going to wait until, you know, January, February to draw my conclusions about what the off seasonason is, not what the end of season availability in October that, you know, says it might or might not be. Um, said Melton was a deadline addition to the bullpen that continues to piss me off. Um, like no one wants to hear about how they didn’t trade for any relievers because they were putting Tyler Holton Tyler Melton. Goodness. Troy Melton. Wow. Tyler Holton. Troy Melton. I I I don’t think anybody wants to hear about that like that. That he was already on the team, man. I I I understand like in in essence, I guess he wasn’t in the bullpen and then he was, but the bullpen was still paper thin after Melton was in the pen. You could have done so much more. So, I don’t know. I I I just I I don’t want spring training to come along and for the conversation to be well our offseason ads were, you know, Kevin McGonagle and and Max Clark and Jose Basano or whoever gets, you know, Max Anderson, whoever gets the call at some point next year. Like those were our deadline or our offseason ads. So that’s why we weren’t aggressive in free agency or that’s why we weren’t aggressive, you know, in winter meetings at the trade market, etc. some things that I did like. He didn’t really hide from the criticism that was pointed his direction. Um, and and I mean, even in in a handful of instances, I would say that he got out in front of it, just started off, which I I’m sure was very intentional by him and the PR team, but like just started off the press conference by pointing out, you know, all of the the maybe shortcomings throughout the year. talked about how they wanted to cut down strikeouts and how there was way too much swing and miss, especially down the stretch. Um, I mean, even mentioned, you know, statistics and and and said that in the month that they had the lowest strikeout rate, which I think he said was June, they had the best offense in all of baseball in terms of just runs scored. So, I liked that he brought that up and that there’s clearly a an acknowledgment of, you know, cutting out and and limiting strikeouts and swing and miss going forward. He talked about the pitching depth taking a very large hit this year. I just talked about that at the end of last week, right? Like this is a an organization that a year ago I would have said pitching depth was a strong suit and now just 12 months later I it’s fascinating. I almost think it’s a weakness. So, you know, he talked about writing that ship and getting back to a point of depth on the mound. Um, said he wasn’t satisfied with the deadline. Also kind of covered his tracks a little bit. We’ll talk about that later. Um, and then yeah, like said that in general, the team hopes to have the high impact players in the minor leagues be a factor at the major league level next year. And that’s obviously something that everybody wants to hear. So, let’s get into a little bit more of the specifics as opposed to just like the general things that I liked and didn’t like. We’ll talk about the the specific um areas that were mentioned in this hour and six minute, I believe, press conference to end the season, which is pretty long. Uh you know, there there’s been some years in the past where it was that, you know, that thing was like 25 minutes in and out. Um, so I think that it’s it’s honestly kind of a good thing that there’s this much to talk about and that as they mentioned the bar has been raised, etc. So, we’ll go over those things right after this. First though, going to talk to about our friends over at Monarch Money. Most people can’t name all their financial accounts or even what they’re worth, whether it’s 401ks, properties, investments. And when you don’t have the full picture, well, you can end up leaving money on the table. That’s where Monarch Money comes in. It’s the all-in-one personal finance tool that brings your entire financial life together in one clean, easy to use interface on your laptop or your phone. Monarch is built for people with busy lives. If you’ve been organizing your finances, Monarch is for you. Monarch does the heavy lifting for you. You can link all your accounts in minutes, see clear data visuals, get smarter categorization of your spending, and finally feel in control of your money without ever touching a spreadsheet. There’s so many great features, so don’t let this financial opportunity slip through the cracks. Use code lockdown MLB at monarchmoney.com in your browser for half off of your first year. That’s 50% off of your first year at monarchmoney.com with code locked on MLB. All right, everybody. Welcome back here. Segment two, locked on Tigers. Appreciate y’all for tuning in as always, making us 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 as we keep the offseason train rolling. Today though we talked about the we will talk about we are talking about goodness um you know periods of time uh clearly very difficult for yours truly talking about this postseason media availability press conference if you will it was Scott Harris AJ Hinch on the podium in Detroit um they announced that AJ Hinch received a contract extension earlier in the season there was a report at the end of the year that they were in talks to extend AJ Hinch. And Harris laughed and said, “Well, that I I’m not sure where their report came from. Uh it’s completely wrong because we already got an extension done. He is under contract and his contract has been extended.” Um there’s an organization policy according to Scott Harris that they do not talk about contract details of nonplayer signings. So, we have no clue for the amount of years or or money that that contract is. Um, but AJ Hinch has been extended. He was already extended not too long ago. I want to say that was the end of the 2023 season, so maybe it was just like a one-year deal. Um, originally, and now he is being extended again. The one thing that was very apparent was that AJ loves it here and really wants to be here. I I know some people aren’t huge fans of his. my biggest thing and like I I feel like I have very clearly been an AJ defender. I get I don’t even he hasn’t been under like heavy criticism although again I read my own comments. I’m aware that a lot of people were frustrated with him down the stretch. Um but I I think he’s good for the organization. I I like the fact that he’s the manager of this team. And one of the biggest things that I always tell people, you know, that that maybe disagree with that is I promise you if he quit today, if he quit the Detroit Tigers today, he would be the number one spot on every vacancy list in all of baseball. Okay? Every managerial opening, he would be the number one on every one of those teams wish list. And there are even some teams that would probably consider even firing their current manager literally so that they could get their hands on AJ like that. He is I I I promise he’s not perfect, but no manager is. He is an incredibly valuable asset to this organization and I celebrate the fact that he’s been extended. Um, yeah, we’ll we’ll we’ll we’ll see what the future holds, but um AJ Hinch extended for an undisclosed amount of time. So, we’ll find out what that is someday, I’m sure. Another big part I talked about at the top of the show was that Harris mentioned players that dominated DA should be a factor in the Major League Baseball season in 2026. that almost assuredly the one player that that definitely applies to is Kevin McGonagal who it already sounds like it’s all but a sure thing that he will crack the major league camp in spring training. That’s awesome and we’re going to celebrate that and that’s really cool. Uh we we’ve been calling for him to get an opportunity for most of the second half of the year now and for him to even if he’s not going to make the team out of camp, at least be in big league camp come spring training, I think is a big win for this roster. And I I think that that probably implies that even again if he doesn’t make the team out of camp that if he has a strong April and May, we’ll say in Triple A that uh we very well could see McGonagle at the major league level in 2026. Now everybody else, there’s varying degrees of certainty with, you know, promotion. Uh Clark Braseno, I can almost guarantee you will be in big league camp. Uh, and I think they fall under that umbrella of did well enough in the minor leagues this year. Both had phenomenal years. Clark even got better as he got promoted. Um, but it’ll be interesting to see if that’s as much of a knocking on the door scenario as McGonagal or if may there may be a step below that. That’ll be interesting. And then you have guys like if I run Loronzo, um Max Anderson, you know, some pitchers thrown in there as well that probably will maybe start off spring training on big league camp when it’s, you know, 60 guys or whatever and then there’ll be some of the first cuts and and we’ll see them throughout the spring. So, um, yeah, I mean, one of the things I talked about earlier that I I understand, but I don’t want to get too I I don’t want to be the cause of a lack of aggression. Is the arrival of these guys in 2026 impacting the decisions made this winter? Like, we’ll see. But the last thing I want to have happen is for them to not sign a second or third baseman, depending on which one Keith isn’t going to play, which we’ll talk about that later because McGonagal’s going to play there eventually, but then he also doesn’t make the team out of camp. So, you just have the exact same group you had on opening day, right? like you’re going to have to either get a stop gap, a long-term solution, or McGonagal is going to have to make the team on opening day. Um, and I I think that those, you know, center field, there’s a huge conversation with Parker Meadows about if he can hit consistently at the major league level. Then you enter Max Clark into that conversation, right? So, I I I’m again, it would be ridiculous to just say like, “Oh, they shouldn’t impact your decision at all.” Obviously, they’re going to. Obviously, they should. These are some of the best prospects in baseball we’re talking about. Um, but I I also don’t want it to be, oh, we weren’t aggressive because we’re waiting for them to come up at some point in 2026, whenever that might be. That’s all. Uh, he did talk about the slide in September. There was a big conversation point throughout really the entire press conference about the the strikeouts really climbing up significantly in August and September and then into October. Um constantly mentioned how he wants the team to make more contact and mentioned how the prospects that are coming up are good contact hitters which I think is a fair thing to bring up. Right. Max Clark specifically is is an incredible bat-to- ball skills guy that does not strike out very much at all and walks a lot. Um, so I I I again I love the fact that they’re going to hopefully be adding guys like that in 2026 that won’t strike out as much. I also don’t want that to prevent them from adding somebody of that profile over the winter just because, you know, player X, Y, and Z might get promoted next year. He prais praised Glabber Torres. One of the most fascinating things he said in the presser was he talked about bat paths and he talked about how there are some adjustments that he wants to make with the bat paths on the team because he felt like some of them got screwed up later in the year and there’s some adjustments that should be made there. It’s not directly talking about Riley Green, but it it it feels almost impossible to have a a conversation surrounding bat path and launch angle without bringing up Riley Green. He has metrically like measured by numbers the most uppercut swing in the entire sport of baseball and he had over 200 strikeouts this year. So, I feel like there is a way to continue maximizing the power of Riley Green that had over 30 home runs and over 111 RBI’s this year while also he’s never going to be a low strikeout rate guy. But if you can just shave it so that he’s not the most prolific strikeout hitter in all of baseball, that there’s a middle ground there. And I think that’s that’s really at this point all I’m asking for at least. I don’t want to speak for the whole fan base, but that like I would gladly take a version of Riley Green that strikes out somewhere in the 20, you know, percentage wise, somewhere in the 20s and puts up similar numbers to how he did this year. Okay, obviously Terrick Scubel was talked about, obviously the trade deadline was talked about. We got a lot more things to go over. We will do all of that right after this. First though, going to talk to you about our friends over at FanDuel. The NFL season is here. FanDuel has an offer you won’t want to miss. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and get 300 in bonus bets if you win. That’s right. You pick a bet, put down five bucks, and if it hits, you’ll unlock $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. I love how FanDuel gives me so many ways to play, right? You can uh bet in parlays, player props, even follow live lines during games. So, what are you waiting for? Visit fanuel.com to download the FanDuel app today and get started. All right, everybody. Welcome back here. Third and final segment locked on Tigers. Appreciate you all for tuning in as always. So, Ter Scooble um really there isn’t much to talk about here. He said he didn’t want to comment on it. Um said he was glad Scoo was a Tiger. said ownership will provide like he’s never had concerns about ownership providing the necessary resources to sign, you know, and make moves and sign players. Um, that that means nothing to me. Like until Scoo has a contract extension from the Detroit Tigers, I I don’t want to hear that. I I guess my point is he has to say it. What is he going to slander his boss and literally the owner of the organization? No. No GM or president of baseball operations has literally ever done that in the history of sports and kept their job. So like what else is he going to say? Okay, that means nothing to me. Until it’s done, I’m going to go under the assumption that ownership is not willing to pay Teroo. Um, and if I’m wrong, then I will very gladly and openly say that I was wrong and that Chris Ilich is, you know, awesome for putting, you know, forking over this kind of money in the front office did a great job retaining the best pitcher in the sport. But until that happens, I I like I don’t care what anybody says. I’m going under the assumption that I have. That’s really the only thing that I’m like really hard set on is is like, you know, you’re going to have to prove me wrong with that one. coaching staff, they said they determine uh at a later date. So, I’d imagine for GM meetings, there’s GM meetings in uh in November, even maybe late October after the World Series, there’s GM meetings, and then there’s winter meetings obviously in the middle of December. So, we will uh keep an eye on both of those for an update in that. Um the trade deadline was obviously a huge talking point. It’s probably the biggest talking point remaining. said he wasn’t satisfied, but also said given the trades he had on the table, he doesn’t regret not taking those. Um, yeah, like I I mean mentioned that there are certain guys that were offered that would have cost him players that were literally on the Tigers playoff roster and did better than the players that he would have traded. Like obviously, you know, and you don’t want to take those. Okay. If that’s uh the insinuation that, you know, Troy Melton was, you know, offered, obviously, no one wants to get rid of Melton, especially with how he looks down the stretch there. This just really did nothing for me. Everyone had a huge opinion of this and and you know was either pissed off that he said he didn’t regret anything or was understanding at the fact that you know he he said in hindsight he he doesn’t really regret a whole lot. I I just this was not a conversation that really provided me a whole lot. Um for me it’s a conversation of value, right? You look at the returns of a handful of players at the deadline, it still just does not track to me like in my brain that the Tigers couldn’t have done some of those and not given up a ton, right? Like again, for the millionth time, no one is saying that they wanted to trade Clark or or McGonagal or Brano or Melton or or like any of these like key fixtures in the Tigers development path. But you look around at some of these other returns. If he’s right and other teams only wanted those top players, then that tells me that the Tigers farm system is not actually as good as the media thinks it is. Both of those things can’t be true. You can’t look at, you know, certain relievers getting traded for like guys that aren’t even in the top 10 of other organizations, but also magically the Tigers asks from around the league were only the top five prospects in their organization. Like, yeah, like that that’s that that’s been the constant thought in my brain since the deadline. And and this did not clear any of that up. Um, I I just I I don’t think the only options to move and and improve the roster were top five prospects and Troy Melton or or something like that. So, um, time will tell and I I’m still very critical of the deadline. Again, this did nothing for me in either direction. I still disagree with the approach uh, immensely, but like, of course, I don’t want the future to look bleak either, and I I I don’t want any of those top guys to be traded. So, we will see what the future holds. Speaking of Troy Melton, um I I got a kick out of the fact that both of them actually laughed a at the fact that they had to specify that Troy Melton will be a starter next year. Like he was that good. It was like, okay, yeah, he was a reliever this year out of necessity. He will go into camp as a starting pitcher next year. And they literally like it was a joke to them that, you know, anyone could think otherwise. So that’s really exciting. Troy Melton, you can pencil him in for at least in the conversation of getting a rotation spot going into opening day. If not, just pencil him in for a rotation spot period to be honest with you. Talked about the playoff performances. Um, again, it was largely focused on the offense. He did highlight that the pitching was fantastic in the postseason, which I don’t disagree with. um and had I I think the only thing that he said about the trade deadline that I did somewhat appreciate was that you know he was asked maybe it was Reager of 971 um somebody asked him about you know if he could go back and make some trades that he didn’t make would he and and he dismissed that which frustrated me but then the followup was if he could do anything at the deadline it would be to try to get ahead of and get to the bottom of the collapse that would ensue offensively. And so I I think there’s something to be said for that, right? Like we can talk about what they could have done if and what the team would have looked like if they signed or or traded for rather, you know, certain players that were available. Yenno Suarez who had a 50 home run season or whatnot. Like we can talk about that till we’re blue in the face. Ultimately, this team was never going to go far if Green, Torqulson, and Carpenter performed like they did in the regular season down the stretch. Now, obviously, Carpenter had like a miraculous, incredible postseason, but like those three were like Yuenos Suarez wasn’t going to score five runs a game by himself. Like, they they needed those three guys that were already on the team to continue hitting. And so I at least appreciated again the acknowledgement of like something needs to change here with the guys we do have before we start focusing on a ton of the guys that we did did or didn’t get at the deadline. So in conclusion again like I I think I’m more interested in the media availability for GM meetings and then for winter meetings. Um I think there will be some more pressing questions within that. um some more answers as well in terms of Glabber Torres in the interest that both parties may have. Um Harris said that, you know, he’s earned the right to be a free agent because he had a good year. So, you know, we’ll see what happens with that. Um, I I think there will be more pressing questions in terms of scoo and I also think that there will probably be more of a uh urgency or or maybe even the word I want to use is requirement to answer those in those settings as opposed to just like the end of the season after just getting eliminated. Um, so yeah, like I again I don’t think anything said here really bothered me and I if anything I think he did a good job acknowledging the issues that people have, but I I just like I’ve been very critical of this front office this calendar year. I I’ve been incredibly critical of the front office this calendar year. A press conference just doesn’t like matter to me. I I’m I’m I’m going to save my thoughts for what they do or don’t do this winter as opposed to like what they say they might do. You know what I mean? That that’s just kind of how I feel about these in general. Um at the bare minimum, this presents itself as again at least not being completely blind or or ignorant to the clear concerns surrounding this organization and the players on it. Um, I I also think really no matter what your opinion of Scott Harris is, that he’s not going anywhere. I I’ve seen a lot of fire Harris, fire AJ stuff online. Um, that like that’s not happening. And I’m not telling you that from a position of like you should or shouldn’t feel that way. You feel however you want to about it. I’m I’m the messenger here. That’s not happening. Okay? like he he has a very highly regarded farm system and just made the playoffs two years in a row. He he he is going nowhere. And again, AJ extended, neither is he. So, um yeah, I I they have a lot more to prove to me until I’m like really in their corner defending the front office and and defending, you know, both these guys in terms of what happened this year. I I think this is still a a really disappointing end to a season that shouldn’t have been very disappointing. I think there was a lot of still, you know, kind of like I don’t want to say victory laps, but talking about everything that’s good that’s happening. So maybe we don’t like remember everything that like bad like I we got to focus on the task at hand. Again, he did acknowledge and point out the shortcomings, which I appreciate. Um, I I I really just try to keep as level of ahead as possible throughout, you know, moments like this. Again, I’m not really lenient one way or the other on uh on like did this piss me off or make me happy? Was this awesome or terrible? It I I’m right in the middle of that, dude. I I my my thoughts and opinions of this organization are the exact same, literally copy and paste the exact same as they were 24 hours ago before the press conference. That is the point that I have been repeating and and trying to say while stumbling over and repeating myself for the last five minutes. So, we can move on. Um, all you all in all like you can talk all you want about this stuff and and what happens and what you want to address and it’s not going to affect me a ton either way because talk is cheap and and we’ll be waiting to see in the offseason if it’s backed up um or or not. And uh until then, I’m I’m not going to fall really too far either way. So, thanks for making lockdown on Tigers. Your first listen every single day. Shout out to everydayers that do tune in every day. We will of course be back tomorrow as we continue putting a bow on this season doing our season review stuff. And yeah, you can go watch the press conference on I mean the Tigers just posted the live video all over their social media stuff. You can find on the website, etc. Pretty easy to find. Word. Let me know what you thought. Peace and love. Going to therapy is dope. And I’ll catch you all tomorrow, baby. Go Tigers.

Today we discuss the Detroit Tigers end of season media availability by Scott Harris and AJ Hinch. We talk Tarik Skubal, Riley Greene, Gleyber Torres, Troy Melton, and more!

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