Tigers New Coaches + Potential Trade Targets

Tigers New Coaches + Potential Trade Targets

Well, we’ve been talking about it all week. Thursday is a big day for the MLB off season as free agency opens and rumors are already flying. We’ll talk about all of those and how they could impact the Tigers all today on Locked on Tigers. You are Locked on Tigers, your daily Detroit Tigers podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. What is up everybody? Welcome back to another edition of Lockdown Tigers. I’m of course your host, Scott Bentley. Today is Thursday, November 6th, 2025. Thank you so much for making Lockdown Tigers your first listen every single day. We are free and available wherever you get your podcasts, including YouTube, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network your team every single day. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. So download said app today. Welcome in everybody. Happy Thursday here. Uh big day big day for the Major League Baseball off season. As we have discussed all week, Thursday is when a lot of deadlines happen. You got to make a lot of decisions when it comes to player options. You got to make Well, I mean, technically, you can start signing players on Thursday afternoon. Now, we know how the baseball off season operates, and that is almost certainly not going to be the case. I would love to be wrong. I would love to have a Friday show just riddled with moves, but I I think it’s safe to say we we have enough of a sample size of uh you know, all of our entire lives to know that um that that’s probably not going to happen. baseball off seasonason does not move quite the same, does not have the motion, if you will, of uh of the NBA or NHL or even NFL offseason in that regard uh when it comes to free agency and and you know, NBA is the the peak, right? Like free agency opens and every single person signs immediately. Um baseball’s different is different in a lot of regards. Um, and certainly that is one. So, uh, but again, negotiations will start. There will be more and more rumors. The the offseason hot stove, if you will, coined by, uh, well, a lot of different people over the years, but, you know, growing up, I’m a a a child of the MLB network era on cable TV growing up. So, um, that was always a fun time. So, there’ll be a lot of stuff to talk about going forward and heading into the weekend. today. There’s also still a lot to discuss about what already has been rumored. Um, I I want to start off by talking about Trick Scubble. The reason we’re starting off with it is because I want to get it over with. And as you all know, I’m already sick and tired of all of the Trick Scooble mock trade rumors this that and the third. But I I I think this one I don’t have any issue with Buster Only or or like the the piece that he put out Buster Only ESPN put out a piece on uh on on t late Tuesday, maybe early Wednesday, whatever, and basically stated that the Detroit Tigers were going to seriously consider trading TKO if they got the return they wanted. Sure. Sure. He listed the Mariners, the Mets, and the Red Sox as potential suitors in a trade and a potential fit for the Detroit Tigers as a trade partner. This report changes absolutely nothing for me. Um, this does not imply anything. And again, I have no issue with Buster only. He He’s just doing his job. He just reports what he is told. Like that’s the the life of of a journalist sometimes. But I can say that this report in a vacuum does not change my mindset on TKO going forward literally at all. Uh everybody’s retweeting it and going, “OMG, and and what is happening?” And oh no, they’re they’re going to do it or they’re not going to do it or whatever. This does not imply that they’re going to trade him. It also doesn’t imply that they won’t trade him. It is just that they will consider it quote if they get what they want in a trade. I could say that about literally every player that has ever been traded in the history of everness in any sport ever for good measure. That kind of rhymes too. measure ever. Yeah. Like, yeah, man. I if they get what they want in a player, then they’ll trade the player. You know, shocking development more at 11. Like, I I I just And they won’t trade him if they don’t. All this highlights to me is that he’s not untouchable. And I think it’s already fair to say from our perspective here, we already knew that, which is why again it doesn’t change anything necessarily for me. But now, Buster Only, one of the biggest baseball reporters on the planet in that, you know, big five with you like Passen and Rosenthal and and only, you know, you could argue that’s kind of the big three. He is now relaying the message to the masses, to his following that TKO is indeed not untouchable. So, if you do go through with it, you better pick an organization that has a really good farm system and uh that has some major league ready talent as well. Um, also speaking of TK Scubble, he was in the AFL. Uh, not only was he in the AFL, he was in the AFL wearing buffs because of course he was um trying to make it very difficult for the Tigers to uh to to not extend him and for the fans to to clamor even more as is his right and as honestly he should and pretty much anyone else would. Um, there was a picture of him talking to uh to Kevin McGonicle in the dugout. Like it’s a it’s really cool to see just one of the best players in the sport going to the Arizona Fall League with a bunch of prospects and talking to guys and and that’s just cool. He’s such a cool guy. He’s such a cool dude and I really really hope that he’s a Tiger for a long time. News around Major League Baseball that may affect the Detroit Tigers. a couple of uh of players that are now on the trade block potentially in that trade market as we approach free agency and and kind of the start of the real off season is is November 6th is today. So, we will talk about all of those and how again they could impact the Detroit Tigers right after this. First though, got to talk to you all about our friends over at FanDuel. The NBA is back and there’s no better place to get in on the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you miss the start of a game or want to ride a hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score to next fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. It is the best and it keeps everything exciting, especially when your team is making the late push. So, right now, FanDuel’s giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So, head to fanuel.com to sign up today and play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. All right, everybody. Welcome back here. Segment two, Lockdown Tigers. Appreciate you all for tuning in as always, making us your first listen every single day. Shout out to the everydayers that do tune in every day. And we will of course be back tomorrow with a Friday show for you as we kick off what hopefully is a relatively exciting first weekend of free agency being completely opened. Today, we kind of prep you for that with honestly some trade news. Like we’ve we’ve there there’s plenty of time. Okay, again, this is not other sports off seasons that the big names will wait until winter meetings at the earliest. Um, that there is still a lot of time and we will do full like player profiles on free agents and talk about fit and everything. But as these decisions of, you know, player options and team options and qualifying offers and all that, as these get ironed out, trade opportunities kind of find their way through the woodworks as well because you start realizing, hey, we don’t have a roster spot for this person or oh, oh, like we’re not interested in this person long term or oh, we’re not going to pick up this option anyway, so let’s try and trade him, etc., etc., etc. one of the players that has been in the trade market for every off season, I think since I was born, which obviously is not true, but it feels like it, is Nolan Areronado. Uh, ever since he got to St. Louis, it feels like literally every off season there’s some sort of speculation about him being traded. And that has really picked up in a big way over the last two off seasons. Now, I think that this year there may be and maybe this I’m just an idiot, but I think that this may have a little bit more legs to it this year than in previous years. He has two years left on his contract. He has a no trade clause that he’s already stated that he’s willing to wave. He even stated that last year um with a select few teams and I would imagine that list probably grows this year because I I I think it’s safe to say no disrespect that uh St. Louis is probably not going to find themselves at the top of the standings in 2026. So I think there may be a little bit more legs there. And then the contract is what I was saying. Um it’s I think 15 mil and 16 mil in these last two years. So, I mean, as salaries and as AAV continues to get higher and higher and higher, that’s not a bad price tag for a solid defensive third baseman. Now, this was a big topic of conversation for Tigers fans last off season. Um, man, he’s still a pretty darn good defender, okay? and he’s going to be, you know, in Hall of Fame discussions after he retires. I He’s one of the most fun players of like this generation in terms of just like highlight real stuff, okay? He’s incredible. He doesn’t strike out very much still at all. I just have zero interest in this, man. I I it it pains me to say I have zero interest and I had zero interest last year and people got mad at me. A and this year he then put up a 0.9 F4 season with like a 660 OPS. The power has just been zapped, man. He and he’s had a lot of back problems over the last three or four years. I’m sure that’s a contributor, but he at 237 with Yeah, literally a 666 OPS. And it’s not like, okay, the power is completely gone, but he’s getting on base and getting hits. I just mentioned 237 average. He had a 289 on base percentage, dude. That is that is brutal. Like I said, 0.9 F4. the Tigers platoon of Colt Keith, Zack McKinstry, Andy Abanz, and even Jace Young who who had negative war and I guess like one game of Matt Verling that accounts combined for 1.1 F4 at the third base position for the Detroit Tigers in 2025. So literally the the platoon mishmash of just a ton of different players whoever didn’t have a spot somewhere else in the lineup that day were more valuable than Nolan Areronado in 2025 and he still has two years left on this deal. If you get him for like completely free, I I guess like whatever. Like maybe. Okay. Again, he still was graded out as a plus defensive third baseman, but like this does not help your offensive issues literally at all. There’s an argument that the numbers will continue to get even worse. and they were already pretty comparable offensive stats to literally Jav Bayz aside from the fact that Javi strikes out and and Aronado doesn’t. I I just I have no faith in what the next two years will look like for Aronado. And again, I say that very unfortunately. He’s like everybody who’s my age and younger, he’s like, you know, a third base legend. That’s really tough to justify though in the year 2025 and and well it would be in the year 2026. Now two other guys that there’s a report out there um their team may be looking to trade them is Joe Adell and Taylor Ward both of the Los Angeles Angels. First off, from the Angels perspective, I think that this is the right move. And I also think that that’s devastating to hear for if you’re an Angels fan. I have a lot of friends who are Angels fans. I don’t know how that happened in my life. I I’ve been born and raised in Detroit in Metro Detroit for my entire life. I have no idea how I, you know, got a plethora of friends from the West Coast that are big Angels fans. But here I am. My heart breaks for them, okay? Because Joe Adell is 26, was a former first round pick, was a former top prospect, still has two years of team control left, and just had a 37 home run season. Finally figured it out and it clicked. Taylor Ward had a 36 home run season. They’re the only two hitters, not named Mike Trout, obviously, that have value in that lineup. you could argue and the Angels are like, “Yeah, we should probably trade them.” A and again, it’s not like, “Oh, that’s stupid.” No, like I agree. I guess maybe again I’m stupid, too. But like I don’t know, man. I I that they are in a a position where are they going to compete in the next two seasons? Ward under team control for one more year, Adele for two. Are they going to compete in that time frame? I would argue absolutely not. The offensive the the the roster in general is not there. And on top of that, the farm system, you know, like usually we see teams that that are like, oh, they’re in the bottom, but like their farm’s really good. They’re up and coming. The Angels have nothing, man. There’s a couple players I like over there. I really like Christian Moore. We’ll see what happens in the future. So, can the Tigers or would the Tigers take advantage of a team like the Angels putting guys like Joe Odell and and Taylor Ward on the trade market? Um Ward, we’ll start with him, is 31 years old, is a right-handed hitter that again just hit 36 home runs and plays all three outfield positions. He also walks a really really solid amount. um has better numbers with runners in scoring position than he does with than his season stat line, I should say. Um and he crushes lefties as a right-handed hitter. OPS well over 900. Those are all things the Tigers would like to improve. The downside is his strikeout numbers are still below league average and his batting average was in the 230s. So, you’re getting a a profile that is probably somewhat similar to what you got out of somebody named Torqulson, someone similar to to Torqulson in that regard. And like that’s not necessarily a bad thing. You add another again 36 home runs in this case to your lineup. That’s more than Torque had. But I I I I go back and forth a lot is ultimately I I think where I stand is if I can add someone who has 40 home run potential to this lineup and draws walks, I’m going to do it if it’s for a reasonable price and I will worry about addressing the the strikeouts and whatnot later. Now, Ward is also not like, “Oh my goodness, he’s striking out at like Joey Gallow levels.” Okay. Joe Adele, on the other hand, kind of a little bit does fall into that category more, which is why I’d be much more in favor of it’s only a year or two, maybe the asking price isn’t as high for a guy like Ward. I I I would be totally down for them to add someone like that. Adele is only 26 years old, which is wild to me. This dude I feel like has been, you know, on the verge of breaking out or or like been talked about for like the better part of eight years now. He’s also a righty. He crushes the baseball man. All of his metrics are incredible. Um he hits lasers. 37 home run season for him again at just 26 years old with two years of team control left. The downside with Adele is he strikes out so much. Like one of the highest clips in baseball. He swings and misses so much. One of the highest clips in baseball. And it would be one thing if he did that and did the Schwarber, right, where he hits 40 homers. Well, Schwber hit, you know, like 55 or whatever. Um, but he hits a ton of homers. Um, and he strikes out in swings and misses, but he walks a lot. No, he also does not walk literally ever and has never walked in his entire career. Also, defensively, Joe Adell was one of the least valuable center fielders literally in the entire game of baseball from a defensive perspective despite being an athletic and fast dude. So, you can acquire these guys to add power and you can acquire these guys as right-handed hitters that in an outfield that is full of lefties. You can add a righty to that that has legitimate pop and can hit left-handed pitching better. Those are all beautiful things. You can throw him in the corner. Carrie Carpenter can DH anyways. Bada bing, bada boom. You’re beautiful. Okay. I I don’t know, man. I I think they could do a lot worse. And I also don’t know if it would cost you an arm and a leg. Um it it just might not be the low whiff rate guy that people want. You also get this. Okay, I know this is a fascinating concept here. You can add both. You can not both of these guys. Don’t do that. You can add both a one of these two gentlemen plus a low whiff rate guy plus multiple even low whiff rate guys. We’re not looking at just trying to add one player to this team all winter. So you add, let’s say you add Ward, 36 home runs around an 800 OPS strikes again, like his strikeout numbers actually aren’t terrible. They’re below league average, but they’re they’re really not like an abomination. It’s around 30th percentile in baseball. And you add somebody like maybe Bregman, just hypothetically, stay with me, a a a guy that has an 820 OPS last year and doesn’t strike out or swing and miss hardly ever. Bregman and Ward would have ranked first and third respectively in Tigers OPS in 2025, and Ward would have been tied for the team lead in home runs. And they both are righties. You’re telling me that this lineup doesn’t look substantially different with Ward in right field and Bregman at third base? I’m not saying these are your only choices, okay? I I I don’t I I’m not even in love with either player. I’ve I’ve, you know, kind of thrown out there the the downfalls of them. But looking at the free agent market and looking at what’s available, I think you could do a whole heck of a lot worse than these two guys that pushed 800 OPS’s and and also pushed 40 home runs. I’m not advocating for it in the sense of like this is the only move that can happen or else this offseason’s a failure. It is literally just a thought that came with a report. Okay, I if you disagree that is fine and beautiful. I I am I do not need either of these guys to for me to be like in on the Tigers in 2026. I’m just saying you could do a lot worse and they might not cost that much. Okay. Uh let’s head to our final segment and then we’ll end on some additions to the Tigers coaching staff. We will do that right after this. First though, going to talk to you all about our friends over at Prize Pick. This episode brought to you by Prize Picks, you and I make decisions every day. But on Prize Picks, being right can get you paid. Don’t miss any of the excitement of this sports season. Whether you’re following the NFL, the NBA, or both, there’s no better time to jump in on the action. If you haven’t tried it yet, Prize Picks is the simplest way to play. You just pick more or less on two at least two player stats, and if you get them right, you win. It takes less than 60 seconds to make your lineup, and you can play anywhere Prize Pix operates. That includes California, Texas, and Georgia. I’ve been using prize picks during both Football Sundays and NBA tipoffs. It just keeps every game exciting. So download the Prize Picks app today. Use code lockdown MLB to get $50 in lineups after your first $5 lineup. That’s code lockdown MLB for $50 in lineups after your first $5 lineup prize picks. It’s good to be right. All right, everybody. Welcome back. Your third and final segment locked on Tigers. Appreciate you all for tuning in as always. Uh, really quick here, just want to go over some housekeeping stuff. The Tigers did sign two coaches to their 2026 coaching staff. That would be Anthony Sanders of the Baltimore Orioles, formerly of now obviously of the Detroit Tigers, and Cody Ash, formerly of the Baltimore Orioles. So, two Orioles staffers. Now, given what the Orioles have done in the last two seasons, I’m not sure that exactly injects a lot of hope and optimism into a Tigers fan base uh that is is coming off of the heels of one of the biggest collapses ever. Um Anthony Ayapose out. We’ve talked about that over the last couple of weeks at first base coach. Anthony Sanders will replace him. Sanders has been a coach for years now, four or five years at the major league level. um has been the Orioles first base coach just last season, but has also held a few other titles over the years with the Orioles and the Rockies. Cody Stanhagen of The Athletic put out a great article that kind of highlighted his path to getting to where he is now. So, go check that out. Cody also just like support the Athletic and Cody’s work, Tigers territory, all that. They him and uh Kieran do a fantastic job. Um, then in terms of hitting coach, now Cody Ash was not at least currently brought in to be the like head hitting coach, but I’m not sure. There’s I don’t know. It’s It’s a weird thing that they just have so many coaches the Tigers do. It sounds like they want to roll with three again. Some other people brought back. Michael Berdar was ressigned, so he will be back in 2026. Cody Ash will be replacing Keith Bogard as an assistant hitting coach next season as well. Ash was the offensive strategy coach for the Orioles in 2023 and 2024 and was the team’s hitting coach in 2025. Again, Cody David Hagen of the Athletic, great article highlighting his path to get to where he is now with the Tigers as well. There’s not a whole lot of redeeming qualities in the Orioles offense in 2025. Uh you look at the reaction from Baltimore Orioles fans when Ash was signed by the Tigers and it is very celebratory. Um we’ll see what happens. I I I’ve tried to highlight this point a lot over the years. Hitting coaches are hired to be fired, right? There are very very few hitting coaches in baseball that can like completely reinvent an offense that just doesn’t have talent on it. Okay. Ultimately, it comes down to the amount of talent you have in the batters box for every pitch. And I just think the Tigers have lacked in that department for the better part of a decade. So, we’ll see. But like the Orioles, I mean, literally, they’re honestly kind of near the Tigers in a lot of regard. They were uh they struck out a lot. They didn’t walk very much and uh they scored significantly honestly fewer runs than the Tigers in 2025. But uh the Orioles have been kind of a disaster for the last 20 months or so. So, we’ll see if he can bring a new perspective. Again, other Tigers hitting coaches are staying. Who’s to say whether it’s going to work or not? We’ll see what he brings to the Tigers organization. Gary Jones sadly will not return to the Tigers coaching staff either. Not even sure exactly what he was the coach of necessarily other than he was just on the staff, but he he was he he’s the man. Gary Jones rocks. Uh so hopefully he finds some work somewhere else and uh yeah, he’s on to bigger and better things. other news around baseball. The only other piece of big news we haven’t talked about so far is uh that it sounds like you Darvish is going to miss all of the 2026 campaign. Um you know I mean given I’m not even I can’t even tell I’m not a doctor. I can’t even tell you what the injury full name of it was off the top of my head. But it is impressive to me that you Darvish at this point in his career, like pushing 40, gets an injury of that severity. And it’s not just like, oh, he’s going to hang him up and retire, you know, like even just like 20 years ago, 15 years ago, that that probably is for a lot of guys in his shoes, but he’s, you know, you Darvish has 37 different pitches he can throw and is the man is so cool. Um, man, the hype around him when he first came over, I will never forget. There are some players, Yenna Sespodus is in that category, too. There are just some players that just when when when they were international free agents were just huge huge deals and and you Darvish for you know people of my generation was that um when he got when he was a free agent uh for the first time and and and came over from Japan. And I I mean it was a really really big deal and uh wishing him the best and hopefully hopefully this is not the last time we will see him pitch on a major league mound. Thanks for making it locked on Tigers your first listen every single day. Shout out to the everydayers that do tune in every day. And we will of course be back tomorrow as we send you off into the weekend with the biggest note biggest knows. That’s me. The biggest news rather that free agency day one will provide us. Peace and love. Going to the stove. I’ll catch you all then, baby. Go Tigers.

Today we discuss the Detroit Tigers newest coaches. We also talk about Taylor Ward, Jo Adell and Nolan Arenado and if they fit in Detroit.

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