Are Detroit Tigers and Tarik Skubal really $250 million apart? Here’s what we know

Are Detroit Tigers and Tarik Skubal really $250 million apart? Here’s what we know

Hello and welcome to Days of Roar, a Detroit Tigers podcast brought to you by the Detroit Free Press. I’m your host, Tigers beat writer Evan Pzled. And this week, once again, I’m joined by Chris Brown from Tigers Minor League Report. It’s been 10 weeks in a row doing this show together, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Chris, thank you for joining me. Oh, Shucks. Thanks for having me again. All right. Hey, first week of the off season officially in the books. Pitchers and catchers report to spring training in 113 days, which is just more than 16 weeks away. Game one of the World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays is scheduled for Friday. How about the Toronto Blue Jays in game seven of the ALCS against the Seattle Mariners? And how about George Springer with that swing? George Springer, by the way, AJ Hinch wanted him to be a Tiger, but instead the Tigers got Robbie Gman in this case. Now, in 2025, George Springer comes up huge with a big home run for the Blue Jays in game seven of the ALCS to send the Blue Jays to the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. As for the Tigers, not a lot of news this week, but we had a couple things. Catcher Dylan Dingler, outfielder Akquil Bedu, catcher Tomas Neato, first base coach Anthony Aposi. Those are some of the names in the news this week. Uh, I want to start with Dylan Dingler, named one of three gold glove finalists in the American League at the catcher position, joining Alejandro Kirk from the Blue Jays and Carlos Narvz from the Boston Red Sox. The winner is announced November 2nd. So, that’s coming up within the next two weeks. We can get into all the numbers, but what does it say about Dylan Dingler that he has been recognized in this way? It’s easy to forget just because what we’ve seen from this guy all season that this was his first full season in the big leagues. Yes, he came up at the end of last season at the trade deadline, the 2024 trade deadline. The Tigers moved on from Carson Kelly and called up Dylan Dinger, but 2025 was his first full season and it’s a pretty high honor for your first full year. Absolutely. Uh it and it is it is kind of funny to think about how, you know, he he wasn’t great down the stretch last year and there were some question marks and he kind of was forced into duty this year and it just how quickly he took the starting job. Like it was like, oh, all right, that’s it. uh cuz he’s so good on on both sides of the ball and and he gradually got better offensively in in certain ways over the the course of the year. He may have tired down the stretch, whatever, but you know, remember he started off not walking at all and he eventually improved his approach a bit, but yeah, he’s his calling card has always been his defense and it’s nice to see him come to the big leagues and that defense be MLV ready to the point where he is one of the three finalists for both love and he deserves it. So, that’s a really cool recognition of his skills and uh it’s nice. He’s kind of like a sneaky uh star for the Tigers, right? Like he just kind of popped up like, “Oh, all right. Well, I guess he’ll be really good for a few years.” Yeah. Cross your fingers and hope that he does it again next year. But I do think he’s on the right track. And it’s fascinating when you go and you look back, the 2024 version of Dylan Dingler did not play in a single postseason game for the Tigers and then a 2025 version of Dylan Dingler catches every inning of the postseason for the Tigers. So, it was just a dramatic shift for him, but he really stepped up. And then when it comes to who’s going to win, you have Dylan Dingler, Alejandro Kirk, and Carlos Narvz. Looking at it from a defensive run save standpoint. Dylan Dingler at plus 6 DRS, Alejandro Kirk at plus 9 DRS, and Carlos Narvz at plus 11 DRS. Both Kirk and Dingler were better than Narvz, I think, as all-around players, as offensive players. And I know offense is not supposed to have an impact, but offense can factor in to these gold glove votes because it’s managers and coaches who have a majority of the vote. Managers and coaches, they account for 75% of the voting with the other 25% from the Society for American Baseball Research. So when you have managers and coaches placing these votes, yes, it is supposed to be entirely defensive, but at the same time, the offense is going to creep in when these players are in the minds of the managers and coaches making the votes. So I don’t think Dylan Dingler is going to win. I think it’s probably going to be Alejandro Kirk, but I do think it is a high honor that Dylan Dingler has been named one of the three finalists. And look, if he keeps doing what he’s doing, he could be an all-star, silver slugger, and gold glove winner in 2026. He could hit the trifecta there. The sky is the limit for this guy and it’s nice to see him get honored for what he did in 2025. And we’ll see if he wins the Gold Glove award, but we won’t know that until November 2nd. As for other players in the news, outfielder Akil Bedu and catcher Tomas Neato, they elected free agency. Akquil Bedu 347 games for the Tigers over the past five seasons from 2021 to 2025. He was a rookie sensation, turned into a one-hit wonder, as I put in my headline at freep.com. He had his best season in 2021 as a rule five draft pick. Then his performance pretty much disappeared over the next four seasons. He contributed a little bit in 2022 in 2023, but by 24 and 25, he was an afterthought. I’m sure he’s going to latch on somewhere because he was successful in AAA and we’ll see if he can carve out a role in the big leagues again. I’m just not so sure it’s going to happen. You can’t hit below 220 in the majors, you know, for each of your last four seasons and expect to continue to get opportunities and has been below 200 in the past two seasons. Chris, do you have any thoughts on Akquil Badu? Obviously, with as much as you’ve covered the minor leagues, you you’ve seen more of the ABS down there in Toledo than I have. Do you think there is a chance that this guy not only latches on in Triple A elsewhere, but maybe can become a contributor at the big league level again, or or is that a long shot at this point? It’s probably a long shot that he’s uh I think he’ll get to the big leagues another time or two, but it is probably a long shot that he’ll stick anywhere. Um he was a tremendously gifted, you know, physical talent. He’s hit home runs over 450 ft very fast. Uh he improved defensively over the course of the time, which, you know, he came off, it was kind of rough, but it wasn’t shocking, right? He came straight from high a ball. That was one of the the cool stories about it was he was, you know, nobody comes from high a ball in the rule five draft and sticks in the big leagues. And then he came up and performed. It’s like, hey, maybe the Tigers have something like right here. And and he’s still I looked it up. He’s one of seven Tigers in franchise history to have double digit home runs and steals as a rookie. The other six names on there aren’t really all that great either, but you know, it was still it was an impactful rookie year and he had some key moments and I think he did have a walk-off hit last year even during their epic stretch down the run. So yeah, I mean it’s it’s a bummer to say goodbye, but he had, you know, this is the product of having a better overall organization is is players like him who used to get a lot of run just don’t have room for them anymore, but uh yeah, he’ll he’ll make it to the big league somewhere else. Probably a non-contender and he’ll probably forge a solid career. Tomas Neato served as the Tigers third catcher for the entire 2025 season. He played 10 games in April and May while backup catcher Jake Rogers, who then was the starting catcher, was injured. He served as a member of the Tigers taxi squad during the postseason. I really like Tomas Neato. This guy is a true professional 9-year NLB veteran. Pitchers rave about his game planning and his impact on games as a catcher. Whatever team lands him is going to be lucky to have him. And hopefully the Tigers bring him back on another minor league deal. He probably won’t sign until closer to spring training. But when that time comes, I would love to see Tomaso in the Tigers clubhouse in Lakeland, Florida. I think he’s good for the organization whether he’s at the MLB or AAA level and just what he brings from a veteran standpoint. The fact that he’s a solid number three catcher. I like Tomas Neo. I think he’d be a great fit to stick with the Tigers. Yeah, that was a really uh he did his job this year and it was great. Like he came up and and was getting bad luck all over the place. He putting the ball in play and getting hits and he was huge. was his veteran wildiness, if you will, was allowed Dingler to come up and and not come up, but Dingler was already here, but it allowed him to play every day and win that job. And having a a quality backup there is important. And I know that he was a fan favorite for the Mets, even though he is a backup catcher. You know, sometimes you just appreciate when guys do their job. And he did his job very well. And I’m sure he was a great help to the catchers down in Toledo and anybody else in the organization. And I I’m sure the Tigers would love to have him back, but he probably wants to go for a chance to make the big leagues again. And I don’t blame him for that. Yeah, we’ll see. Maybe by the time we get closer to spring training, if he hasn’t found one of those opportunities, the Tigers would then bring him back on a minor league deal, get him in their clubhouse in Lakeland, and then kind of see where things shake out from there. Probably sending him back to AAA if that happens. But I know the Tigers appreciated Tomas Nino. And I think from what I could tell, Tomasino appreciated the Tigers. Obviously, like you mentioned, he’s probably just looking for that solidified backup opportunity in the big leagues. and we’ll see if he ends up getting it or not. On the coaching side, first base coach Anthony Ayaposi won’t return to the Tigers coaching staff in 2026. Anthony Ayaposi joined the Tigers as the AAA Toledo manager in 2023. Then he became the Tigers first base coach in 2024 and 2025. Before joining the Tigers organization, he was a former minor league outfielder and a longtime hitting coach. He had been a hitting coach in the big leagues with the Texas Rangers and the Chicago Cubs. He also worked as a hitting coach in the minor leagues with the Florida Marlins, Toronto Blue Jays, and Boston Red Sox. Surprisingly, Anthony Ipossi did not have any hitting duties with the Tigers. He was the first base coach and an outfield instructor. I always thought that was kind of an odd fit considering his expertise is hitting. But when the Tigers moved Anthony Apossi from Triple A manager to MLB first base coach, manager AJ Hinch talked about the importance of his presence as some of the young players were about to advance from AAA for their MLB debuts. Guys like Cole Keith and Justin Henry Malloy and Dylan Dingler and Welo Perez. Just some of the names who played for Anthony Iaposi with the Mudens, then made their MLB debut in 2024 with the Tigers. AJ Hinch talked about having that presence there from 2023 to 2024 would be able to help those young guys adjust from TripleA to the big leagues. Obviously now Cole Keith, Jay Hen, Ding, Wel Perez, those guys have now adjusted to the big leagues. Anthony Iposi no longer with the Tigers. It’s unclear who will be the first base coach for the Tigers in 2026, but we do know that it will not be Anthony Aposi. As for the postseason picture, World Series time, Los Angeles Dodgers, Toronto Blue Jays. I’m going to put it on you. Who wins and why? I I mean, it’s so hard to pick against the Dodgers because they’re the Dodgers. They have Otani who I I’m convinced it’s an alien and I like he’s going to reveal himself after he retires and be like, “Oh, okay. It’ll make sense now.” Uh because baseball should not be that easy for you don’t see little leaguers do what he’s doing. But beyond him, you know, they still have Mookie Bets. They have Freddy Freeman. They have an incredibly powerful offense and they’re pitching. their starters have an RA like under one and a half over like the last 35 games or something absurd like that. So, they just have an incredible amount of talent. Now, the Blue Jays have a very talented team, too, and and they’re going to have homefield advantage and I wouldn’t it’s baseball. It wouldn’t shock me if they win, but I it’s hard for me to just pick against Dodgers. They just have so much talent, so much experience. Yeah, for me it’s the Los Angeles Dodgers. It’s because of the best player to ever play the game of baseball, Show Otani. I can’t say enough about what this two-way superstar did in game four of the NLCS against the Milwaukee Brewers, but there aren’t words in the dictionary to really describe what he did. I think the stats kind of speak louder than the words. Three for three with three home runs in one walk at the plate in six scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts on the mound. He single-handedly won game four in one of the greatest baseball performances ever and swept the Brewers, sent the Dodgers to the World Series, and now the Dodgers are going to try to repeat as World Series champions. But man, that game four in the NLCS, three for three with three home runs and one walk at the plate, six scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts on the mound. I don’t know if we’re ever going to see anything like that. I can’t imagine. I I mean, it’s it’s arguably the greatest single game sports performance in history. I I you know, you can go back and think like Will Chamberlain’s 100 points or I’ve heard other people try to come up with something similar and it just it’s insane. Like I said, like you can’t do that in a video game. You can’t do that in little league. It’s this is we saw we saw how the Tigers struggled to hit against, you know, in the postseason. Like they had two home runs for the first six or seven postseason games and he hit three in one game. It’s it’s he’s just on a completely different level. And it’ll be kind of fun like the subplot here. If we recall before he signed with the Dodgers, there was a report that he was flying to Toronto and then somebody reported that like there oh the giant sushi restaurant had been uh reserved and all this stuff and then so Toronto got their hopes up and it was like oh no that’s not true at all. So it’ll be interesting to see how how they receive Otani there. Toronto is a very cosmopolitan city. There are people from all over the world and I’m sure they’ll be sort of nice but uh they also can get a little rowdy up there. So we’ll see what happens. Hopefully nothing but respect for the greatness that is show Otani. But you know what? If he does strike out in the World Series, Blue Jays fans, they can clap and cheer a little bit louder. All right, let’s get into the big two. Question one of the big two. Are the Tigers and TK Scubble actually $250 million apart in contract negotiations. Now, John Haymon of the New York Post came out with a report that the Tigers and Terubal are $250 million apart in contract negotiations. But what I don’t think people understood, and part of that’s on John Heyman. I think he could have done a better job of explaining it out front, but if you read the story, that 250 million was based on the Tigers contract extension offer to Trick Scubble after the 2024 season and the market suggesting Trick Scooble will receive 400 million in free agency. To be clear, Terubel, who is represented by Scott Boris, is not and has not demanded $400 million. And to also be clear, I don’t think there has been any offer from the Tigers to Ter Scubble since the offer after the 2024 season. So, I wanted to learn a little bit more about that offer after the 2024 season. And John Haymon didn’t mention the details. So, I did some additional digging and it actually referenced the contract extension offer being 4 years on this podcast before. And last off season, I reported it as a non-competitive offer, but I did some additional digging to figure out the exact numbers. I wanted to get a little bit closer to what did this offer actually look like. And what I found out is that the Tigers offered 4 years and between 80 and 100 million. I think it was a little bit closer to 80 million than 100 million, but we’re going to go with less than 100, more than 80. And that offer from the Tigers to Scooble came after the 2024 season. The four-year offer would have bought out his final two years of arbitration and his first two years of free agency, making him a free agent after the 2028 season instead of after the 2026 season. Obviously, Terubel represented by Scott Boris turned that down. But let’s say it was like 4 years 90 million. Okay? Or even if it was 4 years 100 million because we know it was less than 100 million, more than 80 million. If John Haymon is saying $250 million gap, it might actually be closer to a $300 million gap. If we’re referencing the 400 million that Scoo is projected to receive in free agency and the contract extension offer for less than 100 million after the 2024 season. So, so maybe the 250 million gap should have been described as a $300 million gap. But again, I don’t think Terrick Scubble has ever asked for 400 million and John Haymon was basing the gap on an offer after the 2024 season. And I don’t think the Tigers and Scubble are actively negotiating anything. And if Scott Harris, the president of baseball operations of the Tigers, and Scott Boris, the agent for Terk Scubble, are going to talk. It’s going to happen at the upcoming general manager meetings here in November. So that’s kind of where the 250 comes from. Maybe more like 300 if you really dig into what the numbers actually are. And the market suggests that Terrick Scubel is going to be the first pitcher to ever sign for 400 million, but maybe he signs for more. Maybe there’s a bidding war in free agency and he ends up getting more than that. I don’t know. As you were reading, reacting, responding to the reports that came out both from John Haymon and then from what I had at the free press kind of what were some of your thoughts as all this unfolded? I think everybody kind of thought initially like, oh, they’re at $250 million standstill right now and and that just wasn’t the case. Yeah. Well, first of all, good good job on the reporting. I I got to give you credit there. That’s uh the source of a lot of the stuff. And uh and then Scott Boris is incredibly good at his job, right? Uh he’s had a couple hiccups here the last few seasons, but but by and large, he gets his players a lot of money and he knows what he’s doing. And John Haymon has a close relationship with Scott Boris and he knows what he’s doing. They’re they’re getting the the New York market whipped up into a frenzy because the Mets are one of the few teams that might possibly be able to just trade for Scooble and then give them immediately the $400 million or whatever they’re targeting. But it is slightly annoying because I agree with you. I there I don’t think there is a monetary gap. I I don’t think they’re negotiating. I I don’t you know I’m not I’m not an insider but I don’t think there’s any actual negotiation going on. The gap is non-existent. You’re spot on. Uh it and honestly like I don’t even know I don’t know what to say about the offer that they gave that that you reported. I don’t want to say it’s insulting because giving somebody tens of millions of dollars I don’t think could ever be insulting. But it’s so far below market value. It’s like Eduardo Rodriguez money. uh that not to disparage Jud BTO Rodriguez, but he’s like a mid-rotation starter and Scubble’s a young winner and younger and that I I I just don’t know what they were trying to accomplish. I I I don’t know if they’re just convinced that his arm’s going to blow up. And if that’s the case, then why aren’t you trading them or is it just to say, “Hey, we tried.” But it it just it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. And uh yeah, given that that was their offer before, I can’t imagine them coming back with like, “Oh, 300 million.” But we’ve talked a bunch uh about this before that it’s if Chris Illich wanted to make it happen, he could. But I think he’s letting Scott Harris do this. And Scott Harris is not gonna sign any pitcher to hundreds of millions of dollars for a long-term deal. I just don’t think that’s his uh his know. Yeah. The author from the Tigers to Ter Scubble before the 2024 season. Again, four years between 80 and 100 million. In that situation, the Tigers were wondering if Terubel was desperate to take the money, right? I mean, that that’s really where that offer comes from. And it’s almost like the Colt Keith contract extension, right? Where you want to see if a guy is desperate to take the money. team friendly deal, but see if he takes it. Obviously, Scott Boris was never gonna tell Terubble to take that deal. But at the same time, what if Terubel just so happened to be really desperate for the money and he decided to take it? Now, Colt Keith Pre MLB and Terubble about to win his first Sai Young are two completely different players. So, that’s where the offer becomes non-competitive and to your point, somewhat insulting. I wouldn’t be surprised if Terrick was insulted by that. I’ve never heard that. That’s just my guess. But if I’m a pitcher of Terub’s caliber and I am about to win the Sai Young award and there is an offer on the table for me that is 4 years 80 to 100 million I don’t know how I would feel about that especially when not too long after you see Garrett Crochet sign for 6 years 170 million and in that same situation Garrett Crochet was due to be a free agent after the 2026 season just like Terrick Schubel and he gets traded from the Chicago White Socks to the Boston Red Sox and then the Boston Red Sox s lock him up 6 years 170 with 2 years remaining before free agency and in Tubal’s case 2 years left until free agency the offer from the Tigers was 4 years 80 to 100 million that must have been really tough for TKO to digest after seeing what Garrick Crochet got not too long after the Tigers made that offer to TKO now if you go and talk to people from the Tigers they will tell you well look this offer it would have been a franchise record for a pitcher extension before free agency. The current record is held by Justin Verlander, who signed a 5-year 80 million contract extension in February 2010. So, it was nearly 15 years before the Tigers made this offer to Terk Scubble. You’re you’re kind of smiling over there and I know exactly what you mean. Yeah. Well, it’s it’s you know, you’re competing against your own spending before. Who cares? This is you got to compete against the other 29 teams and and I obviously, you know, he was under team control, so you can do what you Well, so it was 2024, not 2010. So like let’s I mean I mean again a lot has changed since 2010. And so yeah, if you were to go and and talk to people from the Tigers, they would tell you, well, you know, it would have been a franchise record. It would have been, you know, the highest, you know, the most total value in a pitcher extension before free agency since Justin Verlander. And it’s like, well, a lot has changed since 2010. And the market is what the market is. And I’m telling you after the 2024 season, the market valued trickle significantly higher than 4 years 80 to 100 million. Yeah. And you could tell I like I said once these reports came out, you just uh all the bloggers and radio hosts and particularly Mets fans just started going bonkers with, you know, video clips online talking about trade proposals and what they do and that they’re just foaming at the mouth. And again, I think that was the point, but uh we’ll see. We’ll see what happens. I I I don’t get any stronger feeling that the Tigers are going to trade him, but uh it’s out there now, right? So that people could think about it. We’ll get into more of that a little bit later on in the show. What will the Tigers do with Teroo? Extend him, trade him, try to win with him. But before we get to that, let’s do question two of the Big Two, and it’s another name that Tigers fans love to talk about. Alex Bregman. Alex Bregman, third baseman, Boston Red Sox. He is going to opt out of his contract with the Red Sox in favor of free agency. Alex Bregman, by the way, another Scott Boris client. Are the Tigers going to pursue Alex Bregman again? When I think about that question, it’s an easy yes. There’s no question about it. The Tigers made Alex Bregman their entire off season last year. They had plan A, plan B, plan C. They passed on their plan B and their plan C to continue to prioritize their plan A. And their plan A was Alex Bregman. And when you look at Alex Bregman as a player, he is everything that the Tigers were missing in the 2025 season. A middle of the order bat, everyday third baseman, a leader in the clubhouse. And then when you look at what the Tigers offered last year, and just how close these two sides were to coming to a deal. Tigers offered six years, 171.5 million with an opt- out clause after the 2026 season. Alex Bregman declined that. He took the short-term offer from the Red Sox because he knew that would allow him to test free agency again. There were there’s a three-year deal from the Red Sox with opt outs after every year, which allowed him then to to get back to the market, which he is now doing. But, and I mentioned this before, we’ve talked about it, Alex Bregman countered and had two offers that were sent to the Tigers. 6 years 186 million with an opt- out clause after the 2025 season and 7 years 200 million. So the Tigers could have had Alex Bregman last offseason had they just accepted one of those two offers. Instead, the Tigers refused to do that. They offered the offer that I had mentioned, 6 years, 171 a.5 million with an opt- out clause after the 2026 season. Alex Bregman turns that one down, picks the Red Sox offer instead, and now he’s back on the market. We’re going to do this all over again. Do you see the Tigers going after Alex Bregman and is it a situation where it is Alex Bregman or Bust again this off seasonason or do you think there are other ways we should be looking at it? Well, I mean I wouldn’t say it’s Alex Bregman or Bust, but it sure would be nice uh to to get him land him after missing him last year. You don’t get a chance like that very often. Uh the question I have is is would they give him the same offer another six years 171 million or would they drop it down by a year? I do wonder, you know, he got the qualifying offer out of the way. There’s no longer a qualifying offer attached to him. the Tigers won’t have to forfeit any draft picks to sign him. So, I wonder if that would make them feel slightly more inclined to give him the six-year deal again. I think so. So, that might be something. And yeah, you just This is like you said, he is a perfect fit. He’s a right-handed hitter. He plays a position of need that they haven’t really had a stable presence for years. And uh he’s the the sort of veteran leadership. They control the strike zone. Everything that they need, he he does it. Now, again, he’s a year older. He’ll turn 32, right? I think right as the season is starting. So if you sign the six years, you’re getting him through his age 37 season, which is you’re getting pretty iffy there. That’s I’ve always kind of compared Bregman to Ian Kinsler. And I think 37 was when Ian Kinsler fell off the cliff. But you know what? If you get four good years from him and you get to the playoffs and you win a World Series or whatever, then I don’t think you worry about that too much. So I think they should definitely go after him. I think they will. I don’t think it’s their, you know, all or nothing plan this year though that you you see that they are they’ve got Kevin McGonogal playing third base in the Arizona Fall League a fair amount. They got Max Anderson playing at third base down there. I think I don’t think they necessarily want to fill their infield with young players as it were, but uh they they have that option supposedly or or or theoretically I should say. And uh and there are other free agents out there. I think Hassan Kim will probably be free agent again too. So that’s another guy. And I uh but yeah, they should just go get Breman this time and they should not wait all off season. Yeah. And that’s going to be the question is like what does Alex Bregman’s market actually look like? because yes, he is opting out of a three-year $120 million deal after one season of that deal with the Red Sox. He wants a longer contract. He wants more guaranteed money. This was a guy who he missed nearly 50 games with a quad injury, but he still made his third All-Star team. He finished the season with 18 home runs, had an 821 OPS, he had a 128 OPS plus. like there are going to be a lot of teams in the mix for Bregman, especially now that like you mentioned, he doesn’t have that qualifying offer attached. So, not only the Tigers, but also other teams won’t have to give up a draft pick for signing him. You can see him going back to the Boston Red Sox. You could see him going to the Tigers. You could see the Chicago Cubs, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Toronto Blue Jays, the Seattle Mariners. I mean, there are many teams in the mix. I could even see the New York Mets getting involved. You could see the New York Yankees getting involved. I mean, there are so many teams that could be in the mix for Alex Bregman. So, does this become more of a bidding war than it was last offseason? Because if you remember, as the Alex Bregman market dragged along last off season, different teams were just dropping out along the way. And it really came down to the Tigers, the Red Sox, and the Cubs were really the only three teams remaining, and that was once we got into spring training. So, I’ll be curious to see what that market actually looks like, how active it is early on, and how much bidding is actually done. But when you do look at Alex Bregman and who he is as a player, he’s just he’s a can’t miss type guy. I mean, he was worth more than three war in what’s now been four seasons in a row. And in three of those seasons, he was worth more than four war. He’s a guy who doesn’t strike out very often. He draws a lot of walks. He hits for power. He’s got the doubles. got the leadership behind the scenes and the leadership is one thing that I don’t think can really be quantified. Like how can you how can you put how can you value that like you value home runs or OPS or WRC plus or war, right? There is no there is no metric that describes leadership. And I think Alex Bregman would have been the guy that could have pulled the Tigers out of what they went through in September and maybe helped them get back on track. AJ Hinch talks about in game five of the ALDS just needing one more hit. Could Alex Bregman have been that guy? One more hit. I think maybe when you look at what, you know, the two through five hitters did in the Tigers lineup in that game five, could Alex Bregman have just gotten one more hit. Maybe he could have been that guy. And so I I really do think that when you look at going into the season, Colt Keith can play third base. Yes. Maybe he’s going to have to play second base. We’ll see if Kevin McGonagal is really ready for opening day. Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t. He still hasn’t played in AAA. I have almost viewed Kevin McGonagal as more of a midsummer promotion as opposed to an opening day promotion. But we’ll see what happens. But what if third base is wide open? What if it is Colt Keith at second base and it is Spencer Tolson at first base and you got Jav Bayz at shortstop and you need a third baseman and Kevin McGonagle is not ready. Like are you really willing to roll the dice with a Max Anderson or a Zack McKinstry or do you feel that much better about Alex Bregman? Yeah, it’s Bregman is is he’s an obvious target. He’s an obvious need. I think you would feel much much better with him in the lineup. It would give you, you know, a much stronger lineup. And it’s just a matter I think you made a great point though that there there may be a lot more teams after him this year and maybe they missed your chance. But they should come out with a very strong offer. If they still want them, blow them away. I it you know, you got so close. Like you said, you made 15 innings against a team that just went seven innings in the ALCS or seven seven games, not seven innings. Technically both, but yeah, like just get them right. Like don’t don’t quibble over $15 million when you saw what you did with $15 million last year. That’s essentially what it was though. But that’s essentially what it was when you go back and you look at it. I mean the Tigers offered $171.5 million. Bregman countered with $186 million. So the difference there quite literally was like $15 million. Now obviously the Tigers had the opt out clause after 2026. Bregman had the opt out clause after 2025. Those are two differences beyond the money in that offer. But when you look at what the Tigers offered and what Bregman countered, it was like a $15 million difference. So this time around, let’s just put that aside. To your point, make him an offer he can’t refuse and just get it done. I I like the sound of that. All right, let’s take a break. When we come back, we are joined by Mike Faren, co-host of Power Alley on MLB Network Radio to preview the World Series, but also to talk Tigers. We’ll be back with Mike Faren. Everyone, I’d like to welcome Mike Faren, co-host of Power Alley on MLB Network Radio to the Days of Roar podcast. We’ve had him on the show many times, including to preview the World Series for two years in a row and now three years in a row. This time it is the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays. Mike Faren, thank you for joining me. And before we get into the World Series, what was your reaction to game seven of the ALCS? It was I like I said after game five, I hope that these I wish that these teams could play like a 15 game series because I thought it was so much fun. Like the all the whole seven game run was tremendous. I mean, these were the two best vibes in baseball I thought this season. You Milwaukee was up there, too, but Seattle and Toronto, their fans could smell this. And to have it turn the way it did last night was incredible. George Springer’s been one of the best postseason players certainly the last 25 years. I know his totals are up there in historic, but he’s played a lot more postseason games cuz there are more postseason games than there were 50 years ago. But man, for that to happen in that spot and everything, I mean, you’ve got a managerial second guess, you’ve got, you know, injured hero comes through, right? You’ve got an entire country seemingly at that game. It was I thought it was incredible theater last night and and it was I mean a fitting end to what was a terrific league championship series. The big moment in game seven of the ALCS obviously George Springer hitting that three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning. It leads to the Blue Jays 4-3 win over the Mariners and to your point that guy has been there done that before and he had quite the season too. I mean it was almost a 960 OPS on the year for George Springer. What kind of impact has he had and what kind of an impact can he have on the World Series? Well, I mean, it’s not like there’s that much difference between this year’s position player group and last year’s position player group for Toronto. So, a lot of it came from internal improvements. You know, obviously they added Andres Amends from the outside, but he didn’t add a whole lot of offense outside of the two huge home runs that he hit in the ALCS, but I mean during the course of the regular season, he’s a tremendous defender. But, I think more than anything, it was like health and better performance from guys, and Springer was one of those. I mean, he had the worst year of his career last year. this is going to go down as one of the best of his career and as a guy in his mid30s you don’t necessarily expect that him to turn back father time for an extended period. So I think his performance this season has been huge. Obviously Vlad Guerrero Jr. has been a huge part of their story when they had a healthy Bob Bashette. I think he was a huge part of the story. I hope he gets back for the World Series because he’s such a special hitter. But I think Springer is, you know, I he’s a guy that has universal respect among his teammates. And I know he was part of the cheating scandal in in Houston. But he’s a guy that I think a lot of people around the game really love. And you know, he has proven time and time again that he’s able to come through in the big moments. I mean, I think back what was it game seven of the World Series in 2017? He was the one who hit the lead off homer off Darvish, right? That that got things going for the Astros. So, a lot of big moments for him and um I thought it was really I mean it was a really cool special moment. I also want to make sure we discuss game four of the NLCS in which the Los Angeles Dodgers swept the Milwaukee Brewers. And in game four, Shi Otani sent the Dodgers to the World Series by going three for three with three home runs and one walk at the plate, plus six scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts on the mound. Are you running out of ways to describe his greatness? You know, here’s the thing is that like I don’t know how you feel about this, but I mentioned this on the radio yesterday. Like I I don’t think people understand how uncomfortable those of us who’ve covered baseball for our entire careers are talking about someone in real time being the greatest player that we’ve ever seen, right? Like this is not something that feels like you should ever be talking about because it just doesn’t feel real. And it’s, you know, you you I think at times we become a prisoner of baseball’s history in that we can miss seeing greatness in real time. Like we can recognize that it’s happening, but how great it is. You I think Trout’s Mike Trout’s first 10 years kind of show that, too. But I’m not sure that we’ll ever see anything like this again. I mean, you know, we could say, well, he hasn’t done say Babe Ruth is the only one who’s done this. Babe Ruth didn’t do this as long as Joe Otani did where he was doing both. And yeah, Ruth had to play the outfield. Okay, great. This guy is dominating his league in a way offensively that is Ruthian in a lot of ways. I mean really only Judge is better Aaron Judge with the Yankees is better at dominating their league offensively right now than Otani. And then also like who cares that he’s not playing a defensive position. He’s also going out there and punching out 10 and six shot out innings. And I’ll tell you just from the eye test, he’s throwing the ball better than he ever has before. So, it’s really incredible to watch this guy perform because we just it it’s like imagine Legion Ball coming to the biggest stage every single night and we’re every fifth day I guess or sixth day. I’m like that’s what it is is he’s doing stuff that that you know you hear of amateur legends doing but he’s doing it against the best competition. He’s definitely ready for the next level up. I think when anytime he wants to get promoted I think he’d have a chance at the next level. You mentioned being uncomfortable. I thought Chelsea James from the Washington Post did a great job of putting into the written word what Shohi Otani did in game four of the NLCS in her story that she wrote. But again, you know, talking about it, it’s just it’s hard to talk about his greatness. Sometimes it’s easiest just to read the stat line and say, “Yes, this is exactly what this guy is doing.” It does make me wonder how long can he keep doing this? This is a guy who has shown that he can do it year in year out. He’s dealt with injuries. He’s bounced back from injuries. He’s now 31. How long can Sho Otani keep doing this, do you think? Yeah, I don’t know that he’s shown that he can do it year in and year out because he’s been hurt a fair amount as a pitcher, right? That’s impacted him. So, I think he does it until he decides that he doesn’t have the energy to do it anymore. I think it’s a lot of work that he puts in behind the scenes. He’s meticulous in his regimen. We’re going to get halfway through that contract, I would think, and he’s going to start at least thinking about making a good decision. That’s what three more years down the line. So when he gets to 35, I think he may have decisions to make, but we also like his body may make the decision for him. I mean, that’s the other part that as amazing as this is, he is 31 years old and at some point, you know, father time comes for everybody and you know, as he gets older, it’s going to get tougher to maintain that. Although that dude is an absolute unit. Like I don’t know that people I mean, you stood near him, right? Like I don’t know that I can explain to you how massive a human being he is. I mean, he’s like every bit of 65 and like shisel out of marble and like muscles on top of muscles. Like he is an absolute physical freak on top of everything else. So, you know, I don’t want to put anything against him because he’s already defied every bit of logic that we’ve seen. So, I’m I think at some point he’ll have to make a call, but I hope it’s not for a while because it’s really fun to watch. While we have it, let’s enjoy it. The World Series is set. Los Angeles Dodgers, Toronto Blue Jays. What are some of the keys to this series for you? Yeah, I think I I think one of the things that’s going to be really fascinating to watch is the Jay’s ability to make contact against the Dodgers ability to get swing and miss. The Jays are a little bit like those Astros teams in 17, 18, 19 in that they hit for a lot of power, but they make a lot of contact and that’s a real winning recipe in the postseason. So the difference between them and Milwaukee who you know struggled with Chase in the first couple of games in part because there were just like unbelievable performances being thrown at them. But this is a this to me is like one of the big stories is can they continue to put up at bats like they did in this series against starting pitching that’s a tick better than what Seattle’s was this year. I mean what the Dodgers are throwing out there right now is the a pretty incredible quartet. I think that’s the biggest one. And then you know like Toronto’s bullpen has been maligned this season but down the stretch they were pretty good. The Dodgers bullpen has been maligned this season and they have lived up to their name for the most part with the exception of a couple outings in the LCS. So I’m curious to see how that plays out. How Roki Sasaki looks in the ninth inning. Like there’s all these other right Sasaki and Otani in Toronto and like you know the there was the uh the flight supposedly had Otani on it to Toronto right and didn’t. and then the trade for Miles Straw so that they could get more uh international pool space. Toronto did to they took his contract from Cleveland so they could try and get Sasaki and then they didn’t and now Straw actually played a pretty big role for them this year. So there’s all these kind of fascinating little side stories but to me I think the biggest one is just in the batters box with Toronto’s bats against the stuff that the Dodger starters are featuring. I want to get into the Tigers. You’ve watched them closely over the years. You’ve called some of their games both in the regular season and the postseason. You talk to manager AJ Hinch every week on Power Alley on MLB Network Radio. How did you see their 2025 season unfold? Because when I step back, they didn’t sign Alex Bregman in free agency. The Alex Cobb and John Bre signings didn’t work out, but they added Gabber Torres, Jack Flity, Tommy Canley. They were the best team in baseball for more than a few months. Offense, pitching, defense, it was all clicking. They send six players to the All-Star game headlined by Trick Scooble and Riley Green. And then they go into the trade deadline and they add Kyle Finnegan, but they didn’t really make any big splashes. They opted for quantity over quality with a conservative approach. No David Bednar, no Au Heno Suarez, no Mel Kelly. And then they stumbled their way into the postseason. Terrible month of September. They get past the Cleveland Guardians in the AL Wildard series only to fall short in game five of the ALDS to the Seattle Mariners. It’s a lot to unpack, but walk me through your vantage point of the Tigers in 2025. Yeah, I mean, it’s hard. Like, it’s hard because I I have two things in mind. One is, hey, congrats on back-to-back postseasons and and a division series, and things are certainly trending in the right direction overall. And yet, I still feel like it’s a missed opportunity for the Tigers because of what you talked about. You know, I hate to go back and reitigate the deadline, but all those things you talked about this the the reliever depth, the starter depth, okay, that’s fine, but when you went into the deadline knowing that your three best offensive players were largely unplayable against left-handed pitching, and you didn’t do anything to address it, that to me was a problem. And that’s like, you know, that’s not to say that Cole Keith and Riley Green and and Carrie Carpenter aren’t going to get better against lefties. I mean, Green has been better against them in the past, but that was the case this year. And I thought a lot of what the Tigers dealt with was an offensive shortcoming because of of that because they just didn’t add any impact whether that was Bregman in the offseason and and Bregman’s second half was not particularly good. But you know obviously there’s a lot of we talked last offseason about the intangibles with that or adding you know like an AU Suarez who I know struggled in Seattle after that but that’s Monday morning quarterbacking at this point. like whoever it was being able to add somebody that could impact the lineup specifically from the right side and every day I felt like was a much bigger issue than what the Tigers felt like because I I was there right before the deadline and that was not on their radar at all and I was kind of surprised by that because I thought that was the clearest need that they had that the offense had to be better because it was a mixand match group. I think that there may be a little bit of a disconnect between how the Tigers view their system and how um some others in the industry do. I mean, I think everybody agrees that they’ve got three potential stars in McGonagal and Clark and Rainer. And I don’t think like I I don’t think anybody faults them for holding on to those guys. I think Troy Melton’s got a chance to be impactful. And I think his rise probably affected the deadline, too, because, you know, teams were really interested in him and and the Tigers were right to not trade him. But I think below that, they could have looked at more. Um, and they didn’t. And you know, and I think Scott Harris has been fairly defiant, I think, about that too, about the decision-making, right? So, we’ll see if he’s right in the end, but and there are many more October ahead, and I know that they’ve been hesitant to to, you know, to say that the window is closing because Scoob’s a free agent after next year, but they’re either going to have to sign him or figure out how to do it without one of the best pitchers on the planet. And so, this is becomes a pivotal year. So, I think it’s I think it was a good year of growth. I know I got off topic there a little bit. I’ve got a lot of thoughts on the Tigers. I think I find them fascinating. So, but I think it was a great year of growth overall. I think they achieved a goal of making the postseason and getting to the division series again, but I it felt like they couldn’t capitalize on the success that they had through the first week in July to the point where they were running everything through Detroit in the same way that Toronto did because I don’t see that there’s that big a gap between the Tigers and Toronto. Well, I mentioned Alex Bregman earlier because I do wonder, do you think Alex Bregman would have made a difference for this team both in terms of the AL Central and the postseason? Obviously, Bregman chose the Red Sox offer over the Tigers offer in free agency, but the Tigers also had two counter offers from Bregman’s camp on the table that they declined, so they could have had him. Do you think the Tigers win the AL Central and advance to the ALCS if Alex Bregman is on their roster in 2025? Yeah. I mean, what was he like a four-war player, right? And what was the that they got out of Mckinstry? And if you move him around, does that discounted some? I mean, the difference in the the really was like down to a tiebreaker, right? So, yeah, I think there’s a chance that they win the division without with him. Can they hold on to the top seed? Maybe. I mean, I think some of the the stuff that that you know, in addition to the the tangible production that you get with Bregman is different in that he’s just one of those few guys that takes over Clubhouse is a great teacher of baseball. I mean, like the stories of him signing with Boston and then asking to go on long bus trips in Florida so that he could be with the young players this year were like that’s the guys don’t do that. Veteran guys don’t do that. They like to get their work in and get out of there. Bregman wanted to like really understand what the young core that they were building there had and you start to impart like here here’s how we do it at the big league level. So I think that there’s huge benefits away from just the production for them. But yeah, I mean I think they probably end up in a pretty similar spot, maybe a couple of games better, which would have been enough to win the division and maybe end up with a buy. But you know, like I don’t know what it does in the playoffs. If you can tell me what how to predict any playoff series, please let me know because I’ I’ve been unsuccessful for 25 years and will undoubtedly continue to be unsuccessful because that’s baseball. All I know is that in the playoffs in that game five of the ALDS, the Tigers two through five hitters were 0 for 23 and AJ Hinch talked about if we just had one more hit and I just wonder would Alex Bregman have been able to provide that one more hit? And with that being said, how important could this offseason be? Because Alex Bregman is a free agent once again. Should it be Alex Bregman or Bust for the Tigers when it comes to this off seasonason or are there other options for them? Yeah, I mean it should be signing Ter Scubble to a market value deal or bust. I mean really I think that’s the thing that that is that I mean everything changes a year later, right? So I don’t know. I mean, I I think man like the Scooble story is going to follow the Tigers around all witter because if you don’t extend him and listen like it’s I know his agent Scott Boris has a reputation for not doing extensions. He will. Um he’s not going to do a team friendly deal, right? Unless the player is pushing for it. And so for the most part, what he’s doing is he’s like, I’ll pay if you want to extend him, you can extend him at the top of the market. And if the Tigers do that, well, certainly they have enough financial flexibility moving forward that they should be able to afford that and still build a competitive roster around him. I think that’s going to be the bigger story line than, you know, what they add from the outside offensively. And I do think that they need to add, right? Kevin McGonagal is probably going to impact that roster sooner rather than later. I would think Max Clark is going to impact them at some point in the 26 season, but I don’t know what you can count on from those guys right away because the the learning curve is steep, right, for young players. So, you know, it could be 200 plate appearances of, you know, mediocre to bad production until they get their feet under them. I think they’re both going to be good players. Clark’s defense will help. McGonagal is just, you know, he’s a really talented hitter, but even the most talented young players, you struggle at times and probably like I think Cole Keith’s a great example, right? Like I think Keith had a pretty decent rookie year overall when you look at it a whole but think about what the peaks and valleys were like for him, right? They were pretty high and pretty low. You could have that again. So finding some more certainty offensively certainly would help, but I mean it’s scooble scoo. It starts and ends with trickle. What do you think is going to happen then? Extend him. I don’t know. Trade him? Try to win with him? Like for me I think extending him is probably the least likely scenario. I think trading him is easier said than done. Maybe you just hold, you try to win with him and you take the draft pick when he walks away. Is that the route that the Tigers have to take? Because even if they were to go and and say, “Hey, you know what? We’ll do a we’ll reset the market. We’ll sign you to an extension.” What’s to say that Scott Boris isn’t like, “Wow, well, if the Tigers are willing to do 400 million in an extension, maybe the Mets will want to do 500 in free agency, right?” Like, I almost see it where it’s almost impossible to extend. And it feels that way at least when you think about, you know, what a bidding war could potentially be in free agency. Yes. I think I mean I do think it’s really difficult. It’s always difficult to extend guys in the last year of their contract, but it’s not impossible. See Vlad Guerrero Jr., right? Like that’s what Toronto did right at the end of spring training. So I I do think it’s probably unlikely. I don’t I cannot imagine how a school trade would be felt about by like the problem is that because the Tigers are in a win now like then I know that they won’t call it a win now window but they’re competitive now is that you have to in that kind of deal add major league talent back and so what do you need to get for trickable? Well, you probably need to get somebody to at least help replace the innings and then you need to get somebody who can impact your lineup. That’s just not easy to find that and trade either. I don’t, you know, it’s not a rebuilding team where you’re like out there trading for prospects. So, it’s a very difficult situation. My guess is that Scubble plays for the Tigers in 26. That would be my I think that’s the safest bet. And then I would actually think that an extension is more likely than a trade cuz I just don’t know that anybody in that organization can stomach a trade. Like they shouldn’t stomach a trade, right? Like it’s when you have to trade players like that, it’s extremely difficult. It’s emotionally taxing on a front office for that because they don’t want to trade them. So I think you you keep trying to work and hope that you can get something done because the one difference with pitchers and position players when it comes down to that last year is there is inherent risk, right? If you are a pitcher, you could get hurt on any throw in a way that you really just can’t as a position player. And so that has to factor into to both Scoo and Boris’s equation as well and will like they’re going to be unbelievably prepared for this. But yeah, that number is going to be high. It’s going to be a lot of money and he’s based on the market, he deserves it. Terooel, Alex Bregman, two topics that will be at the forefront of the baseball world all offseason, especially as it pertains to the Tigers. But beyond those two players, how do the Tigers improve for 2026? Is it Riley Green cutting down on the strikeouts? Is it Jack Flity coming back and having a bounceback season after an up and down year? Is it the Tigers signing Bob Bashette to be their shortstop or Dylan CE to be the number two starter? Is it Kevin Legonagle coming up and being a stable presence in the middle of the lineup? Where does this team go from here and what can they count on to improve in 2026? Yeah, I mean I think all those things are possibilities, right? I mean I think you you need probably more depth on the pitching staff whether Flity exercises a player option or not, right? So you need to add there. You need to find better health for Reese Olsson. I mean that the Olsson injury really impacted them in the second half of the year. I mean, I think that and that’s two years in a row that they’ve had significant injuries to a guy I think is one of the most underrated pitchers in baseball. So, they need to be able to fill out some of that depth. They need to find a way to, I think, get fewer matchups and more impactful everyday players. Betta is a great name, but I would not play him at shortstop. That is not the position for him. He was statistically one of the worst defenders in baseball this year. And the Blue Jays defense without him has been sensational with Jimenez at shortstop and Clement at second or Clement at third and Connor Fa at second as they’ve had the last couple of days. Like they’re just better defenders than Bashett as short. Now, could he handle second base or third base? Yeah, definitely. I think that’s fine. I mean, you’re going to have to replace Glober Torres production either with Gleber Torres or somebody like him. So, those are all things that they have to do, but they probably need to address a couple of lineup spots. Um, and they probably need to address at least one rotation spot if Flity comes back and they need some bullpen depth. And I think, you know, the listen, you could go and do that in free agency and maybe they can find some short-term deals to do it and it makes sense and they can do that. But the other thing is that they could trade from their system and they really should if there are teams that like the players that they have beyond those guys that we mentioned before. And and listen, I think Troy Melton’s gonna have a big impact on the 26 campaign so long as he’s healthy. That I’ll tell you this, he came in in what was it? The two of the division of the wildard round against Cleveland. I can’t remember what it was. He didn’t he didn’t pitch particularly great, right? He gave up a home run. Did he give up the home runo? Um we got to the break and Kyle Peterson, who is doing the game with me, is ESPN’s lead college baseball analyst and obviously Melton’s college days. Like it was a bad outing. KP is a former first round draft pick. He knows the game inside and out. He looked at me at the break and he was like, I’m buying stock in that guy. It’s that obvious to people that like Troy Melton’s going to be a really impactful big leager as either an impact closer or more likely as a guy that pitches towards the middle of a rotation. I think he’s really good and I think he’s going to be a big story for the Tigers in 26 as well. I was going to ask you about Troy Melton, but now that you’re so high on him, I am curious. What do you think the ceiling is there? Because the Tigers are planning to give him an opportunity to start in 2026. That’ll be the plan for him. I love the fact that the fast ball and just misses bats all over the place in the zone, out of the zone, he can miss bats with the fast, which somebody like Jackson Joe, for as highly regarded as he was as a prospect, has never been able to miss bats in the zone. Troy Melton does that at a pretty elite rate. What do you think is the upside for him? Could he be a frontline starter one day, or do you see him more as like a really good 34 type starter? Yeah, I think it’s more in that 34 range. I mean, I think it’s like and and this is not meant to sound like a pjorative, but like an average to above average starter. Average starters are really good. I mean, those are guys that that go out and pitch the sub four eras that give you a lot of innings over the course of the season, 170 innings. So, I think he’s capable of doing that without a doubt. Now, now those I mean, like Carrick Scubel wasn’t viewed as a top of the rotation starter until after his uh really after his flexor tendon surgery, right? when he came back and all of a sudden it looked different and everybody was like, “Okay, well this might, you know, even though he had good prospect pedigree and that he would, you know, led the minor leagues in strikeouts.” So I think Milton has a chance to be I think he’s got a chance to be a really good big league starter, which means that you could go into next year with Scooble and Flity and Mai and Melton and Olsen. And that’s where like I think you need one more because you need the depth because you can’t get to a spot where if Olsson’s gonna miss significant time that you don’t have a good spot to backfill that. So like the upside of that quintet is pretty good. And that’s not even counting, you know, like if Job comes back in the second half of next year from Tommy John. So I like where those guys are at. Like I said, I think there’s a lot to be excited about with the Tigers future despite the fact that the that the last half of the regular season. So let’s get back to the World Series then we’ll get you out of here. Same question for both teams. Why can the Dodgers win the World Series and why can the Blue Jays win the World Series? Take it away. I think why the Dodgers can win the World Series is because they have the most talent. Like that’s what it is. They’re going to make the best swing decisions. Uh they have the best stuff from their starters. I think overall they’re the most talented. why the Jays can win it is I think that their offense is the kind that can battle the Dodgers pitching staff and I think that their defense uh will can suffocate the Dodgers. So I think those are kind of the ways that I view how each team can win. The Dodgers are going to be heavy favorites, right? Like that’s I mean they’re healthy, their pitching staff is healthy or at least their starters are. I think there are a lot of people that are excited about that, but I think this is going to be a pretty competitive series because of Toronto’s offense. I wouldn’t be surprised if we go six or seven games. All right, Mike Faren, thank you for joining me to break down the World Series between the Dodgers and the Blue Jays along with sharing your analysis on the Tigers coming out of the 2025 season. And as always, thank you for joining the Days of Our Podcast. It is always my pleasure, Evan. It’s good to see you. Everyone, that was Mike Faren, co-host of Power Alley on MLB Network Radio. We have more to discuss this week about the Tigers with co-host Chris Brown. But first, let’s take a break. All right, thanks again to Mike. Always a good time. Always happy to have him on a friend of the podcast. One of the best in the business. Chris Brown. Let’s get back to it and we got to get right back into more TKO conversation because this is going to be the talk of the off season. If you’re the Tigers, what do you do here? Do you extend him? Do you trade him? Or do you try to win with him? I’m still on the try to win train here as it were. Like I I think you just don’t get pitchers like this to come around very often. And when you do, you basically for team like Detroit, you have to grow them yourself, right? And they did. And I understand. We’ve we’ve talked, you know, you could you could help remake your team a little bit if you get the right prospect package. And I would be open to that. I just I don’t see a team really giving them that crazy offer for one year of of Scooble. Uh now maybe if they can somehow work out an extension beforehand, you know, shenanigans and so forth, but I think you just you got a team that’s made the playoffs the last two seasons. There’s a young core in place. You’ve got some more young players coming up. You’ve you’ve tried to supplement with veterans. You’ve like they’ve spent money a decent amount, right? They’re not going crazy, but they’ve spent money. If they could just be a little bit wiser with the money they spend, maybe spend on Alex Bregman and keep Scoobble around. They add another starter and some bullpen help. I I I think they could make a real real run. like that there’s this I mean Cleveland is a monster under the bed always for some reason but there’s nobody else in the AL Central is really that scary at the moment I I think maybe the White Socks can pop up and and make some noise but you got to be the favorite to win the division and as you know once you get in the playoffs anything can happen and you you know if you remove school from that equation I don’t think you’re the favorite to win the division anymore you might still be but just by a hair so uh yeah I just you know go for it you that we had a decade plus of uh or about a decade of not making the playoffs and I you know, you get kind of used to it and add addicted to it. So, stick with the guy who helped you get there. In 2024 and 2025, the Tigers had a 42 and 20 record in ter starts. In non-trak school starts, the Tigers had a 131 and 131 records. They were a 500 team without TKO. With Terubble, 42 and 20. That’s in the 2024 and 2025 season. You talk about the impact of TKO. I want to dig into a couple of these different scenarios. Trading Trick Scooble, I just think it’s so much easier said than done. It’s so easy to say, “Oh, just trade him. Just trade him and get as much as you can back.” Like, the Tigers are going to demand a Hall in return for a Teruba trade because he is valued as the best pitcher in baseball, but I don’t think that any team is going to gut its farm system for one year of his services. And at the same time, I do think this allure of a bidding war in free agency, it makes a trade and sign scenario unlikely. You even mentioned like the New York Mets, maybe they could trade for him and then give him the 400 million. But at the same time, like think about it this way. If the Mets were willing to trade for Scooble and extend him for 400 million, wouldn’t Scott Boris want to see if the Dodgers would offer$ 450 million? And if the Dodgers did, what would stop the New York Yankees from jumping in at 500 million only for then the Mets to counter with 550 million? Like seriously, think about it that way. Like it’s it’s so easy to say, “Oh, the Mets could just trade for him and sign him.” But I don’t think it’s just that easy to sign him. So even these big spenders like the Mets, the Yankees, the Dodgers, I think they will still view Scooble as a one-year rental when it comes to a trade situation. So no matter what, Terrick Scubel is viewed as a one-year rental on the trade market. So the Tigers, they’re going to demand a lot because he’s the best pitcher in baseball. But is a team really going to give up prospects for one year of TKO? And I’m not talking about just any prospect. I’m talking about their farm system, the core of their farm system. I just don’t foresee that happening. And now the Scooble situation is somewhat comparable to when the Milwaukee Brewers traded Corbin Burns to the Baltimore Orioles in February of 2024. or that was ahead of Corbin Burns’s final season before free agency. The Brewers got Joey Ortiz, DL Hall, and a competitive balance round a draft pick. At the time, Joey Ortiz ranked number 63 on MLB pipelines top 100 prospects list. Scubble more valuable than Burns, but on the trade market, the difference might not be as large as expected just because both players have one season remaining before free agency and it just limits that controllable value that teams covet so much. So maybe the Tigers will be wise to set a firm price on Scubble and trade talks and just not budge and you hope a bidding war breaks out, but if no team meets their demands, then you can hold them. I I just wonder if if it’s impossible to really trade Terubel as the best pitcher in baseball like to get that true value back. I just don’t foresee it happening. Yeah. I mean, the one other sort of similar trade that I think of in recent years is is Kyle Tucker to the Cubs. Now, it’s a position player versus a pitcher, right? But from a value standpoint, Scubble has been more valuable than Kyle Tucker over the last couple years just uh by pure war, right? It’s like six to four. Uh, and the Astros got a pretty good young veteran, a hitter in Isaches, who actually fits their stadium very well. I don’t, you know, he was hurt a lot this year. Little Tiger’s great, Esak. And they also got a recent first round draft pick, a pretty good prospect in Cam Smith and a pitcher. That’s a pretty good hall for one year of a player and and it Tucker is going right to free agency. So like if you find a team that is willing to give you a package somewhat like that. So say in Scubble’s instance instead of another quality, you know, veteran hitter, you’re getting a solid number three starter who still has team control for 2, three years and a prospect. It’s something you you should consider. I think it’s just a matter of, you know, is there a fit out there and does that really make you better and give you a better chance for the next couple years or is it just smarter to just go for it this year? Who knows? Make win it all and uh and everybody gets drunk and then they pay each other. How about trying to win it all with Terubo? Maybe you do go for it. I do think that probably is the most likely outcome of all this that the Tigers just stick with Terrick Scubel and they try to win with him. Um, also too, and again this sounds bad, but the Tigers best chance of keeping Ter Scuba long term is if his performance plummets or he suffers a major injury in 2026. I don’t think regression is going to happen from a performance standpoint. But injuries, they’re unpredictable. Like anything can happen. So that could be one way that Terrick Scubble ultimately ends up staying with the Tigers long term as if he suffers an injury. But if Scubble stays and he stays healthy, I think the Tigers could get aggressive in pursuit of trying to win the World Series in 2026. But why didn’t they do that in 2025 then? And that’s where the problem lies with me is Scott Harris has said that he does not believe in a window to win with Scooble, calling that idea an illusion. So, I don’t think we can count on Scott Harris to suddenly go all in and build a championship caliber roster for 2026. And by that, I mean spending significant money in free agency and trading significant prospect capital to build a roster that is capable of on paper defeating the Dodgers in the World Series. Like, will Scott Harris build that type of roster, spending money to do it, and giving up prospect capital? when he talks about not believing in a window to win with Scubble and he calls that idea an illusion. I’m not so sure the Tigers are just going to suddenly go allin with Terk Scubble and call it World Series or bust in 2026. That is kind of my only concern. I do think it would be nice if the Tigers went out and got Alex Bregman to play third base and Dylan CE to be the number two in the rotation and they promoted Kevin McGonagal to be on their opening day roster. Let’s just say as their everyday shorts stop. Maybe they traded with Boston Red Sox to go get outfielder Jiren Durant and that was when they maximized their odds of winning the 2026 World Series before Terrick Scuba leaves. That sounds great. But if Scott Harris actually going to do that, I think that’s the real question we should be asking. Yeah, it seems seems unlikely to me. I think and then the moves you you mentioned would make sense. They could do that and would help them in the future too, right? It’s it’s not the sort of the idea where you just like you’re going crazy all in and you’re making bad deals. you’re signing Prince Fielder to a 12-year deal or whatever, you know, just because somebody got hurt. But yeah, you could you could go all in this year and still be set up for success over the next four or five seasons thanks to some of your young hitters coming up and controllable hitters that are there now. And uh you know, you could do that. But yeah, I tend to agree with you. I I think we just haven’t seen evidence that the Scott Harris front office is willing to do stuff like that yet. They seem to operate on the margins and trying to, you know, make smart smaller deals. They haven’t all worked out. you know, and you could argue a lot of them didn’t work out at all this year, but they, you know, the team has has been competitive, and I think it just feels that like that’s his his way that he wants to do this is to keep pushing the team to get to the playoffs. And obviously, he wants to win at all, but he I don’t think he’s going to ever go all in. It’s like that poker where you just you just play smart and you’re going to you’re steadily grow your your stack, but you might not uh you’re not going to win and knock somebody out immediately. You’ll just be around the table for about 12 hours. He won’t go all in until he needs to save his job one day. And who knows when that’s going to be. But also too, if Scooble stays through 2026, the Tigers will then extend the one-year qualifying offer worth 22 to 23 million at that point. And when Scubble rejects it and sign signs elsewhere, the Tigers will receive a draft pick after the first round of the 2027 draft. That’s if Scooel stays with the Tigers. The Tigers offer the qualifying offer and Scubble rejects it and signs elsewhere. When all that happens, the Tigers will get a draft pick after the first round in 2027. The Baltimore Orioles, for example, received the number 30 overall pick in the 2025 draft after Corbin Burns, whom they acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers, declined the qualifying offer and signed a six-year, $210 million contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2024. So, that’s a pretty high draft pick for losing a guy like Terrick Scubel. You look at what, you know, how valuable is the number 30 overall draft pick? Well, where was Kevin McGonagal drafted at? Well, Kevin McGonagle was the number 37 overall pick in 2023. So, maybe the Tigers could lose TKO if they keep him, of course, and they get another version of Kevin McGonogle. That certainly is one way to look at it. All right, I want to shift gears away from TK Scubble finally. And we’ll be talking about him more this offseason, but let’s dig into who are the Tigers free agents and should the Tigers bring any of them back? We have Alex Cobb, Kyle Finnegan, Tommy Canley, Rafael Montero, Chris Paddock, Paul Seawald, Glaver Torres. In the Glaver Torres situation with the qualifying offer, do you feel differently about him knowing that he played the final month of the season and into the postseason with a hernia that is now going to require surgery? Should the Tigers try to bring back Kyle Finnegan? What do you think about Glaver Tours and the qualifying offer? How does all that unfold? What do you think about this crop of players? Alex Cobb, Kyle Finnean, Tommy Kanley, Raphael Monto, Chris Paddock, Paul Sewald, and Glamber Torres. Yeah, you know, I think two months into the season, I would have thought that they would be trying to get Tommy Kanley back for sure, but is he kind of unraveled, so I I don’t think that’s a real option. I’m sure Finnegan coming back, I think a lot of people would like that. I bet the Tigers would like that. But the way he he got one year and 6 million last year, the way he performed, I assume that he’s going to get a multi-year deal, probably closer to 8 n 10 million a year. So, if you know, if you’re going to if you believe in him as a legitimate late inning reliever, go for it. But, you know, I think he’s going to explore his options there cuz he probably will have more. Um, the Torres one is is is tough for me. I know I don’t think they should send extended qualifying offer to him because I feel like he’ll take it. Uh, I I’m sure he doesn’t want to take it. Like, he’d rather get that 5year $100 million deal, but he got $15 million this year and then was just kind of the same player. Obviously, the the injury plays into it, but he’s a year older. injuries are something that you worry about. You know, it’s a hernia is not necessarily something that’s going to keep happening, but the greatest indicator of future injury is is past injuries. So, now he’s got that uh on his on his medical card. And I just um I I wouldn’t hate bringing Glabour back, but it’s the the qualifing offers $22 million. And if you think you can replace his production somewhat internally, that’s $22 million more dollars you can spend elsewhere to improve the team. Now, he was a great addition to this team and I liked him a lot, but I I just don’t view him as a must must sign. Yeah, Kyle Finnegan, just to start there, the Tigers obviously showed interest in Kyle Finnegan last offseason in free agency. Then the Tigers acquired Kyle Finnegan from the Nationals at the trade deadline. So, I would expect the Tigers will still be interested in Kyle Finnegan this off season. I will be interested to see what the market for Kyle Finnegan actually looks like, but I think more importantly than anything, Finnegan wants to pitch for the Tigers. He wants to be here. I think it always means something when a player says that at the end of the season for Finnegan that tells me that he likes his teammates in the clubhouse. He likes his role. Even though it’s not the defined closer role and he likes the pitching coaches. So even if the Tigers don’t bring Finnegan back, it’s always good when a player is saying those things about what you’re doing in the big leagues because it’s a reflection of your entire organization. And Finnegan accomplished great things in Detroit. I mean, this guy had a 4.38 erra with a 19.6% 6% strikeout rate with the Nationals. After the trade, he posted a 1.50 ERA with a 34.8% strikeout rate. So, he basically goes from like a 20% strikeout rate guy to a 35% strikeout rate guy from going with the Nationals to the Tigers. A lot of that stems from throwing his splitter more often than his fastball, doing so for the first time in his career. That was something the Tigers told him to do. No wonder he likes the Tigers and wants to stay with him. They helped him improve his performance. As for Glaver Torres, that is such an interesting situation. And how that unfolds is going to be fascinating to watch because this is a guy who is set to become a free agent, but the Tigers can extend the one-year qualifying offer that’s worth just more than 22 million. Then Torres will have to decide does he want to accept it or reject it. If he accepts it, then he returns to the Tigers 1 year 22 million. If he declines, then he enters free agency. And this is a guy who signed one year$15 million in hopes of getting a h 100 million in free agency. So if he got the qualifying offer, I wonder if he would reject it in hopes of getting $100 million. But maybe he looks himself in the mirror and he says, “Hey, I’m still only 28 years old. Maybe it wouldn’t be the worst thing to return to the Tigers for$ 22 million. Try to have a more complete season again.” He was an all-star for his performance in the first half, then he really fell off in the second half. And then to be able to go back into free agency again at age 29 to 30, that’s not too bad. And at the All-Star break, it seemed like Labor Tours was going to receive the qualifying offer, decline it, and then get the $100 million that he wanted in free agency. I mean, he made the All-Star team and was among the top 10 in the big leagues and on base percentage and then he really fell off in the second half. I’m sure that changed his market. We learned that he had, you know, the hernia that requires surgery. Played through that. Maybe I give him a little bit of grace for his struggles down the stretch, but the performance is the performance. And if he was healthy enough to play, then I have to judge him on the back of the baseball card. And so with that, maybe instead of the four or five years, 100 million in free agent that he hoped for, maybe he’s looking at 3 years 45 to 50 million, somewhere in that range. And if that’s the case, he should take the $22 million qualifying offer if the Tigers give it to him. So that is the big question. Do the Tigers give it to him? I don’t know. I don’t know if they give it to him. And if the Tigers extend it, like if they do give it to him because they want to get that draft pick once he signs elsewhere, whether that’s a draft pick after the first round if he signs for a bunch of money or if it’s a draft pick later on because he signs for less money, they have to be ready for for Glaver Torres to come back for $22 million. Even though this guy wants a multi-year contract in free agency, the Tigers, if they’re going to offer that, they have to be prepared for Glaver Torres to accept it and come back for $22 million. And if you go and you look at his war 2.6 F4, he was valued at about 21 million in 2025. So would the Tigers be willing to pay him 22 million to return in 2026? I don’t know. I mean, I kind of think so. That’s why I think they’ll extend the qualifying offer, but I completely understand where you’re coming from. The Tigers may not want to do it, but I just think the opportunity for them to get a draft pick, the chance that maybe he could come back in one year, 22 million. It’s not so bad when you consider that based off of his war, he was valued at about 21 million in 2025. I don’t know, man. I’m kind of I’m kind of reeling on this one. Yeah. I mean, it it’s it’s like right at the edge, right? And if they believe in there, they would know better than just about anybody. Like, you know, how much the health issue sapped his power, you know, how long he was really deal like maybe he was dealing with it even earlier and it just eventually kind of warmed down. They would get, like I said, if they feel like they can get more out of them, that’s that’s fine. And if they think that’s the best use of the resources, you know, and I sometimes I just look at everything through kind of the minor league lens because that’s my focus and it’s probably not ideal, but they they’re just kind of swimming in second base at the moment. They’ve got so many second and obviously none of them, you know, none of them have proven to be as good as as Cleber Torres. Colt Keith has a chance to be that player. He was pretty close this year. McKenry is on the roster and then you’ve got McGonogal and you’ve got Max Anderson and you’ve got Jace Young and you’ve got Hulu Lee and like all these bodies now. Like I said, Jay Young has come up and hasn’t really proven anything in the big leagues and and we haven’t seen most of the other guys, but they have a whole lot of options there and it’s it’s one of those situations where they’re not going to get caught without a body there. So, it’s just like, is that the way they want to spend their 22 million if they have to? Or would they be better going toward Alex Bregman in filling second base with a prospect? I don’t know. It’s going to be a tough call. I just wonder if they’re so determined to get that draft pick once Claver Torres signs elsewhere that they almost walk themselves into a bad situation there. We We’ll see what happens. Teams must extend qualifying offers to eligible players within 5 days after the conclusion of the World Series. So, we’re going to find out on that in early November. And then players have 15 days after that to decide whether to accept or decline the qualifying offer. The next player on the list who has a decision to make, Jack Flity. Will he accept or decline his 20 million player option for 2026? That decision is due 5 days after the World Series. What do you think’s going to happen? And do you think Jack Flity is worth 22 million? Because here’s how that could become a factor. If Flity declines the 20 million player option, the Tigers could give him the $22 million qualifying offer and then it’s a $22 million decision for Jack Flity, not a $20 million decision. Well, yeah. I mean, that’s interesting. I I feel like he would take the 20 million. I I just again like you want these free agents to I I’m big on free agency. I’m happy for the players if they can go out there and get the money and go do it. But, you know, he he wasn’t getting the big long-term deal after last season where he performed much better than he did this year. And I think you have to be realistic about that now. Yeah. Maybe maybe he knows if he turns down the 20, the Tigers will give him the qualifying offer and then he’ll just take that to get the extra 2 billion, which would that would be smart on his part, too, I guess. But I I it’s hard for me to picture him wanting to go out in free agency after his performance last year. Like the underlying metrics were fine, but the RA was 46, I think. And it’s just, you know, that’s not going to get you a ton of money. Yeah, a few things there. I mean, obviously, if the Tigers are able to somehow get Jack Flity back for that 20 million player option, then they could after the 2026 season, slap the qualifying offer on him and hopefully get a draft pick later on. Whereas Jack Flity, maybe he would be more inclined to get the qualifying offer now, get it out of the way, so then after 2026, he’s not eligible for the qualifying offer again, and that doesn’t hurt him in free agency. So, the Tigers probably want Jack Flity to opt in and accept the player option and come back to the Tigers for 20 million. Whereas Jack Flity, he probably wants to decline it and then get the qualifying offer for 22 million. But at the same time, if he does decide to decline the player option, to the Tigers, give him the $22 million qualifying offer. Those are all questions that we’re going to have to wait and see on. I, you know, I think they would just He went up there and gave him 31 starts, 160 innings. I think there’s a lot of value in that even if the RA wasn’t great. Uh, and that’s another thing that might need to be discussed down the road is is Casey M. Everybody talks about Ter School. Casey M is going to be a free agent after next year as well and he gave him 150 innings of sub four RA this year. So, but yeah, I think I think the Tigers would like to have him back because I think they know that he can be better than he was this year. They saw it last year and uh and they need those innings honestly. After game five, the ALDS manager AJ Hinch told his players the Tigers were not going to run it back again. He relayed that to us during the end of season press conference. With that being said, should we expect the same core of players to return in 2026? And if not, who will the Tigers trade away? For me, I don’t think not just going to run it back is all about roster changes. I don’t think it’s entirely about personnel. I think it might be more about internal improvement, whether it’s the coaching staff, the front office, the players. For example, Riley Green can’t just run it back. He needs to figure out how to cut down on the strikeouts, specifically how to stop chasing bad pitches. Cole Keefe can’t just run it back. He needs to hit for more power. Carrie Carpenter can’t just run it back. He needs to draw more walks. Spencer Tolson can’t just run it back. He needs to cut down on the swings and misses. So that’s how I view can’t just run it back. But I do think it is fair to wonder if there are some personnel changes that are included in that. And so that’s where the question comes up. Should we expect the same core group of Tigers back in 2026? And if not, who’s on the move? Yeah, I mean that’s a good point. I I think that and you see this you see other teams, the Blue Jays who are heading to the World Series, they had a rough year last year and a lot of the improvements they had this year were from guys who were still on the roster. They just they got better and they they went to the lab or whatever and got it done. There’s an article on on Drive Line about that. So, that’s certainly some some aspect of that. I I do think it’s hard to go out and predict like some someone from this young quartet can quintet is going to get traded. I oddly enough I feel like Dylan Digler is the most untouchable. Maybe that’s not even that odd. You know, he’s got the most team control and he is not really replaceable. I hear a lot of people talk about how oh you know the Tigers have all these catchers in the minors and it’s not true. It’s not like they have some prospects in the minors who are catching but they’re not anywhere close to being ready to catch the big league level. That’s just the way it is. And some of them aren’t going to be catchers at the big league level. Let’s just be honest. Yeah. So, like you have a huge asset in Dingler right now. And I just you don’t even entertain trading him. And and I would think that you wouldn’t entertain trading Riley Green either e either after, you know, this 36 home runs. It was a down season in terms of, you know, the strikeouts, but other than that, yeah, like that’s that’s the guy in the middle of your lineup. Carpenter Tolson maybe. I don’t know. And I think Cole Keith is probably here to stay. Although again, you have an army of second baseman, third baseman, and he has a pretty team friendly contract. You signed him to that because you believed in him. But if another team believes in him too, then maybe you can move him for something that you need. But yeah, I tend to think it’s probably still going to be I I think your point is probably more true to what that phrase meant, running it back, is is that they’re gonna they got to improve. They can’t just be the same guys next year and expect to be better because it won’t happen. But if the Tigers were to trade one of their core players, I do think Cole Keith is probably the perfect trade candidate. Like especially if you’re going to sign Alex Bregman, if you have Alex Bregman at third base, and if Kevin McGonagal can’t play shortstop and needs to be at second base, and Spencer Tolson is at first base, and Carrie Carpenter needs to be the designated hitter to stay healthy for a full 162 game season. Then where does Cole Keefe play? Like it’s hard to find an everyday spot for him if Alex Bregman is at third base, Javier Bayz is at shortstop, Kevin McGonagal is at second base, Spencer Tolson is at first base, and Carrie Carpenter is at designated hitter. That doesn’t mean Cole Keith isn’t a valuable player. He can play second base, third base, first base. He’s just 24 years old. He is owed just$19 million over the next four seasons before the three club options kick in. like it is an extremely team-friendly contract. So even the lowest payroll teams would be able to take on his contract. Almost all 30 teams would be able to trade for Cole Keith. Whether it’s the positional versatility, the age, the contract, all of those things make him an ideal trade candidate. So if the Tigers were to move one of their core players, Cole Keith is probably the guy that is most likely to be traded all things considered. But aside from those core players, Riley Green, Carrie Carpenter, Spencer Tolson, Dylan Dingler, Colt Keith, what do you think the future looks like for Parker Meadows, Trey Sweeney, Wel Perez, Matt Verling, Zach McKinstry, Andy Abanz, Jamai Jones, Justin Henry Malloy, Jace Young. I think you could even lump in guys like how you Lee and Max Anderson into that mix as well, who are not the upper echelon prospects, but they are more of your mid-tier type prospects. What’s the future like for these guys? Do we foresee more opportunity for Parker Meadows and Trey Sweeney and Weno Perez and and Matt Verling and Zack McKinstry and Andy Abanz and Jamai Jones and and Justin Henry Malloy and Jay Young like especially the guys that have already gotten opportunity? Is more coming or has the runway finally ran out? Yeah, I mean I think I think it’s different for all those guys, right? I I have a feeling that that we’ve seen the last of Andy Abanz. I think that Jamai Jones being so good at that lefty mashing job this year helped push him out there. And I also think they’re they’re almost certainly going to add how Lee to their 40man roster. He’s rule five draft eligible. And he’s a guy that one thing he did in TripleA this year was really mash lefties. You know, he he struggled otherwise, but he’s a guy who could come up and fill that role if you need him. At least he’s a body who could do it, right? And Abanz is arbitration eligible. He’s going to get a couple million or whatever. So they that might be somewhere where they just, you know, thanks for your service. Thanks for that hit against Josh Hater. Uh we’ll always remember you. good luck elsewhere. Um the other, you know, I think they’re going to keep Mckinstry around. You kind of have to, right? He had a really good year. Like obviously people were like, “Ah, he didn’t really think he was going to keep this up.” And of course he could, but it was a still a good year for Mckenry. I think they want to lose that. Matt Verling is an interesting one. That’s that’s they they went the whole year basically without him. He had what did he hit one home run? It was a big home run. think is injured all year and and you hate to just get rid of a guy because of that, but he’s kind of there are other players that need playing time and he’s especially again if if Bregman is comes on board. I mean, I don’t know if you can make that decision first, but he’s not going to be playing third base at all. So, then he’s another outfielder and he’s just a platoon outfielder and you’re going to pay him three and a half million or whatever that. Yeah. Like, I think I think they’ve seen what Parker Meadows can be at the big league level and and I think they want to give him another shot to be that player. At least I I would because when he is at his best, he’s really impacting the game in a lot of different ways. They haven’t seen him that be that player all the time and that is concerning. You worry that that’s just not who he is. But I think you can give him this year, keep the seat warm for Max Clark, if you will. Like if if it doesn’t work out, you’ve got another potential big league centerfielder right behind him. But he’s a guy that I would keep uh keep around and and likewise with Winsel Perez. You see a lot of good things with Winel Perez. He might not be an everyday player, but he can be a pretty pretty darn good fourth outfielder for you. a really good option. You can play him, you can get him 450 played appearances a year just by spelling guys every day and pinch hitting and all that stuff. So, I think he sticks around. I think it’s getting real late early for Trey Sweeney even though they don’t have, you know, a ton of shorts stopped options. He just he he didn’t look like a big leager this year. He came up with some huge moments in 2024 and you give him credit for that, but he just he did not look good at the plate or in the field this year and and you saw they didn’t even use him in the playoffs, I don’t think. May maybe in one of the AL the wild card games. I I don’t even remember. So he I there’s not an obvious replacement there for him, but it wouldn’t shock me if you know he does get surpassed by someone down the road and it’s I sort of same feeling with Jace Young and Justin Hermanoy. You know, they brought Jayce Young up for all of what three days and that was just because Keith was injured and I like Justin Herman Malloy a lot and he could be another one of those, you know, right-handed hitting bench bats, but you know, the defense is never going to be better than kind of fringy at best. And do you really need a right-handed bench bat who can play first base in the corner outfield? Kind of. It’s it’s just he’s a very fringe roster guy that it does feel like he might get pushed out eventually just because that they’re going to need more room. But uh so yeah, I mean I think we might see a handful of those guys get moved around, maybe even, you know, as a second or third piece in a trade, but I don’t think we’re going to see them all in the roster next year. We can get into this more as spring training approaches. But how much leaf do you give Parker Meadows? Because I do think that the Parker Meadows conversation kind of impacts a lot of this. Like Matt Verling, does he have a role or does he not? Well, maybe you need him to play center field if Parker Meadows isn’t going to be that guy. You know, do you really want to rely on Wo Perez to be your everyday center fielder if you need to? How about Javier Bayz? Do you need him to play shortstop or could he slide out there and play center field if Parker Meadows isn’t going to get the job done for you? And if Javier Bayz is playing center field, then who’s playing shortstop, right? Like, how does all that work? And I think a lot of it is predicated on Parker Meadows and obviously the Tigers are going to try to stick with him and see what they have because Parker Meadows has shown flashes of being a really good young player and I know that the injuries came back to bite him and you know he missed a lot of time early and then he missed some more time after he came back and you know two injuries in one season limiting him to less than 60 games in the regular season and that never helps a player but again the numbers are the numbers and the performance is the performance and when you’re on the field you’re going to be judged based on what you you regardless of if you’re coming off injury or not. Parker Meadows is at a point now where he’s going to go into next season at at age 26. This is a guy that they can count on not only long term, but just count on in 2026. I think Parker Meadows is kind of at the center of a lot of these roster questions that we have aside from the core players. Yeah, I think his health is going to be really really important if he stays healthy and and uh looks like he’s the same defender that he was last year, not in 2025. He just looked a little tentative at times in 2025. Wasn’t making the catches you, you know, he still made some spectacular plays, but he wasn’t the guy he was the year before. And I have to think that some of that has to do with, you know, that was a quad injury that they maybe told him to just not necessarily go 100% or or he couldn’t physically do it. But, you know, I think if he’s playing the defense that he’s capable of, you get a little leeway with the bat. And I’m not necessarily expecting him to hit like he did in 2024, but you probably don’t want him to hit like he did in 2025 either. Maybe somewhere somewhere in the middle. Like an OPS plus of 90 while playing plus defense, I think, is perfectly fine. And again, he might just get displaced by Max Clark down the road anyway. But, uh, I I think you got to give him that chance to be that player just because he was a two-war player in half a season in 2024. You don’t want to give up on a guy like that right away. Uh, we want to give him as many chances as you as you can. All right, let’s get out of here. Thank you to Chris Brown from Tigers Minor League Report for hopeo co-hosting with me again this week. Thanks to everyone for listening to the latest episode of Days of Roar. Please rate, share, and subscribe. Drop us a rating. Comment what you think about the show and stick with freep.com/sports for the latest Tigers coverage. I would like to thank the editor of the free press, Nicole Avery Nichols, sports editor, Bill Bradley, our magical producer, Robin Chan. For the Detroit Free Press, I’m Evan Pzled. We’ll catch you next week. Until then, go in. Peace.

The Detroit Tigers are officially in offseason mode with big questions looming. On “Days of Roar,” Evan Petzold and Chris Brown (“Tigers Minor League Report”) dive into two of the biggest questions: Are the Tigers and Tarik Skubal really $250 million apart in contract talks? Will the Tigers try to sign Alex Bregman again in free agency? Later, Mike Ferrin, co-host of “Power Alley” on MLB Network Radio, joins the show to preview the World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays, along with sharing all of his thoughts on the Tigers. We also take a look at the Tigers’ free agents, the upcoming Jack Flaherty and Gleyber Torres decisions, and what manager A.J. Hinch meant when he said the Tigers won’t “just run it back” in 2026. Could the Tigers trade one of their core players?

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