Wednesday, May 29, 2024 I Full Show

Where are we at in society today? Come after me. I'm a man, I'm forty. Go ahead, make my day every single week. I put my freaking heart and soul into this. I don't go out there and laugh. It's not funny. Nothing's funny to me. I don't wanna go out there and get embarrassed on Monday night football. For everybody, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. So I ain't nothing changed from yesterday. Still the same person I was yesterday, and I got the same

thing for you that I had yesterday. You know why I'm here. You play to win the game. You don't play to just play it. That's a great thing about sports. You play to win, and I don't care if you don't have any wins. Do you go play to win? When you start telling me it doesn't matter, I can retire, get out because the matters. The weather matters too. Unfortunately, weather does matter, and that's the reason the Tigers didn't play yesterday against the Pittsburgh Pirates. A double

dip. It's expected later on today. I've got a got a question for you, and a little surprised at the statements that have been made coming out of the Tiger's front office. We'll get to that coming up. By the way, Phillies lost one nothing to San Francisco yesterday, some first time. The Phillies have lost three in a row all year. That's they're the last team in the league to lose three in a row. Minnesota Stave's off elimination.

They beat Dallas one oh five to one hundred. Anthony Edwards had twenty nine points, ten boards, nine or sists. Do you like him? I do not because he's a really good basketball player, not because he's super athletic. No, I don't think he's the next Michael Jordan. Everybody's searching for the next guy, right, Who's the next Tom Brady, Who's the next Wayne Gretzky, Who's the next Michael Jordan? We want everybody, we want the next greatest of all time to be there. Let's just appreciate what

the greatest of all time ever did. That's okay too, and then to have another guy come in and be really impressive, that's fun too. We want a narrative and we hold everybody up to the highest of high standards. That is tough man. Luka Dancic is not gonna be the next Michael Jordan. People in Dallas wanting to be the next Dirk Novitsky. Why he's a former Dallas maverick. Do we measure every point guard to Isaiah Thomas? They're

different. I I've never heard anyone in Detroit say Kate Cunningham's gonna be the next Isaiah Thomas. Maybe you have, I have not. We sure can't expect hobby or bias to be Alan Trammel, though we do use the nineteen eighty four Tigers as a pretty consistent example for teams to reach because they won championships, and look, you're one hundred percent right. We're sure it's not going to compare them to crappy teams, are we? I would hope not.

I don't think anybody wants to go out there in a Detroit Tigers uniform. I mean, I think it probably gets a little challenging to constantly hear about the eighty fourteen if indeed players are are listening to that. But I don't think anyone's going out there and saying, you know what, let's compare him to the twenty two Tigers that won sixty six games and lost ninety six, Or how about the twenty nineteen Tigers. What a disaster. That was

forty seven wins for that team. And trust me, I know because I called every one of those one hundred and sixty two games. It's actually one hundred and sixty one. But I like Anthony Edwards. I think he's I think he's a dynamic player. Everybody in the NBA has to have some form of athleticism. He has as much as anybody. However, his postgame news conference is Look, he's really comfortable. He's a confident guy, which is great. Sometimes it gets a little almost over the top, but that's his

personality. I'm okay with that. It's better than me just stiff and giving you bland answers and leaning back and having a smug look on your face. He smiles a lot, he jokes a lot. He's he's kind of I suppose there are some people who feel like you could take him or leave him. I think he's kind of engaging. Anyway. He was big last night. Carl Anthony Towns was just as big. He had twenty of his twenty five points in the second half. Will make a lot, and I'm guilty

of it, as you can tell just now. We'll make a lot of the two big names and the two big scores. Those are the things that we immediately gravitate towards. When you look at a box score, ask me, answer me this. When you look at a box score, what do you first go to? Points? Right? Who scored the most points? I'm raising my hand right now. I'm guilty of it. Mike Conley was just as effective. Fourteen points, seven assists. Here's the key number coming

at you. Zero turnovers. He's the point guard. He got the ball in his hands as much, if not more than anybody else in the game, and he didn't have a turn The other player who was and look, Jade McDaniels have been really good for them most of the postseason. The other guy who was really good last night, twenty five steady minutes was Kyle Anderson. But here's the problem. He will go unnoticed, virtually unnoticed because he only scored a bucket. But he had four boards, four assists, and

three steals. Those are all part of it. So Minnesota stays alive, they stave off elimination, and they host games. What is it's three to one? Okay, so it's game five at home. Luka Doncic was incredible for Dallas twenty eight points, fifteen boards, ten assists. That is his sixth triple double of this year's playoffs. Here's the issue for Dallas. Kyrie Irving was one of six from deep. Kyrie Irving had sixteen points, but he had four turnovers. He lost the battle of the point guard position.

So Minnesota is still alive and heading home. Not that the Panthers were on the verge of elimination, but they did edge the Rangers three to two in overtime. Third straight game they've gone overtime. New York won the previous two and now the Rangers win three to two to even the series. Sam Reinhart scored a buck twelve into the overtime to win it. If you put the regular season of the postseason together, that's his sixty fifth goal of the year.

That's not even the surprising number. It's impressive, really impressive. But I think the bigger surprise, or the bigger eye popping number from Sam Reinhart is the power play goals. He is a power play machine. Sam Reinhart. During the regular season, of his fifty seven goals, twenty seven were with the extra attacker. Last night, he scored the game winner on the power play, giving him thirty one power play goals this year. That's amazing.

One more amazing number for you. The Panthers are eighty one, two and six when leading after forty minutes. Game five is Thursday in New York. This is ex'es and bros. We're just getting started on a Wednesday morning. It's ten after the hour, Ben as our producer, give me calling the Meyer hotline eight six six eight three eight forty eight forty three. An

issue with some of the things that the Tigers front office recently said. That's coming up next Heugh and sure for my good friends from Flying a S. Whiskey. Now it's an American made whiskey bottled right here in our great state of Michigan, and Flying a Swhiskey has partnered with the Folds of Honor Michigan chapter to help Michigan children of men and women injured or killed in combat and also the children of our first responders who are injured or die and making the

ultimate sacrifice while serving and protecting. And there's a simple, easy way for you to donate with that money going to the Folds of Honor Michigan chapter. Look for the Flying Ace Whiskey bottleneckers on bottles all across the state of Michigan here over the next couple of weeks and you can donate and that money will go directly to the Folds of Honor Michigan program on behalf of Flying Ace Whiskey. And also Flying Ace Whiskey has put up four scholarships for the children.

Flying Ace Whiskey an American made whiskey, taken a lot of pride in America. Look for it in stores and pubs all across Michigan. We played for the three. They're Russian field, but the deam on the line. I'm herming morg Lyons all Pro wide Receiver. Now with Eagle Casino in Sports, the new sportsbook app from Sornie Eagles anywhere I'm at. I'm still in the

game. Sign up now and get up to one thousand dollars that's right, up to one thousand dollars for a risk free bet on your next favorite underdog. Harley are Prop Eagle Casino in Sports made in Michigan, made for Michigan. Must be twenty one or older in Michigan to play eighteen after the hour welcome back, Matt Shephard with you on Exus and Bros. We're here with

you Monday through Friday from six until nine. This is a challenging and a very sensitive subject at times, but it's the reason I want to bring it up, and it's because I think you are emotional about the Tigers as am I. I have said this for a long time. It's on tape, so you can go back and look at it. The expectations need to be higher for this franchise. I think too oftentimes we get satisfied, borderline content with this team being competitive, when what we should really be doing is saying

this team should win the division. Set it a couple of years ago, I said, I'm tired of hearing about let's see what they do to the draft, to free agency, to trades and what they really should be. What we really should be saying is this team has to make moves in order

for it to win the division. Put the final touches on. Recently, President Scott Harris spoke with Brian Kenny on MLB Network and the gist of the conversation was, I need to make sure the foundation is there before we spend I'm watching this interview, and I'm thinking to myself, hmm A, when will you know that the foundation is there? B What if you don't have it? What if you don't have the foundation? Do you think you have? But now, who are members of that foundation? What do you like

most about that foundation? What needs to be added to the foundation from a younger perspective in order for you to add to the payroll. We've gone over this. If you've listened to this show, We've told you the Tigers payrolls one hundred and six million dollars. That ranks in the bottom half of the league. There are teams below Detroit who have better records. What does that mean? Do we always think spending money means better teams? I don't.

It's how you spend the money. Just just because you're spending twenty five million dollars a year on Javier Baiez doesn't mean that you're going to be better, right. I think you understand that, folks. The Mets spend three hundred eight million dollars on payroll, three hundred and eight million more than anybody else. The Mets are twenty two and thirty two. The Tigers have more wins and fewer losses than the high spending Mets. The Yankees spend three hundred and

six million dollars, they're in first place. The Astro spend two hundred and forty nine million dollars. That's their payroll, and the Astros right now are seven games under five hundred, so it doesn't equate necessarily to automatic wins. Teams like Tampa, Cleveland, Baltimore all spend fewer dollars than the Detroit Tigers, and Tampa's under five hundred two by the way, So I'm not a big believer that you've got to spend money, but here's what you do have

to do. You have to address your team's needs if you don't have them within house, and it's pretty obvious the Tigers don't. So saying you want to build the foundation before you spend money is very Nearrick. Can we be more specific on what the foundation is and does it have to be a youthful foundation. I'll give you an example. We think that the Tigers are young, and they are from a hitter standpoint, they are the fifth youngest team

in baseball. Okay, pitching age, they are the seventh youngest team in baseball, but hitting wise, as I mentioned they are the fifth youngest team in baseball. Here's the issue. Three of the teams that are younger than Detroit from a batting position average age are much much better than Detroit. Cleveland, Milwaukee, and Baltimore. Those teams are all younger per age per batter

than the Detroit Tigers. Tigers are twenty seven point two according to Baseball Reference, twenty seven point two, Cleveland's younger, Milwaukee's younger, Oakland, and Baltimore and Boston where they visit tomorrow is right there with them, basically tied. My confusion is Scott Heros says he's confident the resources will be here. He said, from the moment I got here, Chris Willich said that we would have the resources we would need to be a really competitive club. Resources

in payroll are different, right, you understand that, right? I mean resources could be a new team plane, which they got this year. Resources could be improved locker room, clubhouse. There's a lot of different ways to use resources. I'm talking about player payroll. What do you think? What do you and I what can we come to an agreement on the payroll should

be? I think it should be somewhere. I mean everybody talks about markets, we always hear about well, it's a small market, this, that, and the other thing, which always kills me because, like Miami, what do you mean by a market? Miami is a big market television wise, but people will say, well, it's a small market team. How so because they don't spend money, because they don't draw people. They've got people in Miami, it's no doubt about that. But you're trying to tell

me that it's a small market team. Huh? Why, it's very It's it's just kind of tell me the teams in baseball that are small markets. Kansas City, yep, right on, Cincinnati, yes, Tampa, uh huh. Oakland is a big market. Oakland is a big television market. That's where the market word comes from. If you're talking about fans, it's different. Although Oakland's got a ton of fans, they just don't go to games. They have three thousand a game because their ownership has given up on

them and they're moving. Why would you go the Tigers ranked twenty third? Do you believe Kansas City should be spending more than Detroit or Washington or Milwaukee? Milwaukee small market? Do you think Minnesota should be spending more than Detroit because they all do. Will continue this On the other side, the Meyer Hotline is open for you eight sixty six eight three, eight forty eight forty three. You can text the show sports Radio to twenty one thousand. This

is Exus and Bros. Throughout the Great State of Michigan on the Michigan Sports Networks Day with us all right thirty five after the hour. Welcome back Exus and Bros. Monday through Friday six till nine. The Meyer Hotline eight six six eight three eight forty eight forty three. We're getting right into it. You could text a sports radio to twenty one thousand. We're getting right into the conversation that Scott Harris had on MLB Network. Tigers didn't play yesterday because

of mother Nature. They were scheduled to have a doubleheader against Pittsburgh today, including Game two, which will be against Paul Skeens, who we talked about a little bit yesterday. But Kenny on the television program was asking President Scott Harris if the Tiger's planned to spend money like they used to. Everybody knows Detroit had a top ten MLB payroll for six seasons under Mike Killich. At one point it was over two hundred million dollars. In twenty sixteen, over

two hundred million bucks. That would be it was just a little over two hundred that would be eleventh right now in Major League Baseball. Folks, I'm not expecting them, nor should you, to spend that kind of money. But I think it's fair to say that this team, and we don't you know, we don't have access to the books, but I think it's fair to say this team can operate on a budget of about one hundred forty five one hundred and fifty million dollars. That's Colorado, That's that's middle of the

pack. Is that asking for too much? There's no salary cap in baseball. There's a lug youry tax if you exceed a certain amount of money. We understand that people in Houston are pissed at their owner that they're not spending money, and yet their payroll's third highest in baseball. Think about that? Is enough made that Detroit doesn't spend You knew and they spent more money last year than they than they do this year. That was because of the camera

contract. Everybody knows that, right Detroit ranked twentieth. A year ago in spending, it was still just one hundred. I say, just it's not my money. One hundred and twenty one hundred and twenty two. I'll round up one hundred and twenty two million dollars and that ranked twentieth again Milwaukee,

Seattle, Colorado spending more than Detroit. I wouldn't go into a season if I'm the owner or a general manager or a president in this case and saying we have to spend more than this team, let's just do it for the sake of doing it. That's ridiculous. You don't spend money just for the sake of spending money. You spend it wisely. Otherwise you get yourself in trouble. And it's pretty obvious the trouble Detroit has gotten into in the past

or are currently in see Javier Bias contract. I'm not and I don't think any sane baseball fan of the Detroit Tigers is suggesting you go out and throw a ton of money at some guy for the sake of doing it. You do not do that. But if you're looking for the foundation first, you have to be more specific on what that foundation is. What is the foundation of the Detroit Tigers, because then it makes you and I kind of guess, have an educated guess on what it should be. So let's do that.

What do we think the foundation of the Detroit Tigers is? It's Riley Green? Yes? Is it? Wentzi Perez? Could be a guy, could be a guy. Don't know if he's an everyday guy. It could be a guy. It's cold, Keith, Absolutely, it's cold, Keith. It has to be. Why you ask, well, isn't it pretty obvious when you go out and you're willing to spend and you know, kind of give this kid a long term contract when he hasn't played a single inning

in the majors? Then of course that commitment right there tells you he is a key piece moving forward. That's not hard to figure out. So what else? What else would there be? Trek Scubel, Well, I would hope so, and I think so. But he's a free agent in a couple of years. You get him this year and you get him next. Is it? Ries Olsen? Yep? Is it? Casey Mize and Spencer

Torkulsen. Just because they're one overalls doesn't mean that they're the foundation they should be, But it doesn't mean that they're the foundation because you could easily because they were drafted under a different regime. They haven't necessarily proven themselves long term. They haven't. It's tough to say that, but it's true. Would you have taken them if you were the general manager in charge of that draft? Probably? Yeah. Don't tell me you're taking anybody other than Spencer Trokosen.

You were okay based on what he did, and we hear this from fans all the time. This is what we need. You needed offense, that's what you were going to get. Okay. You would have faced severius severe backlash if you didn't. Serious second guessing myz might have been a little different situation, but a pretty damn good picture. At Auburn, I was a big Alec Bohm fan. With Chita State he went third overall, he's

been pretty damn good. Whatever, Okay, is the foundation? Max Clark who's in low A. By the way, why at Langford is starting for the Texas Rangers or playing significant games for the Texas Rangers anyway? Is it? Jackson job who's in double A? What is the foundation? Don't tell me the foundation is Jake Rogers, Mark Canna jave Er Baiez, it's not stop with that crap. So you're waiting to build the foundation before you're going

to spend money, or spend a lot of money. In other words, it's going to be a while because their offseason acquisitions did not address this team's most glaring needs. Anybody who disagrees, I don't know how you can disagree with that. I just don't. So that's part of my issue with what's going on here. Does it make it easier to argue because this team is twenty six and twenty seven, Yeah, it does, no doubt. I'm not going to get lost. I think I've been pretty level with this early

on. When they started six and oh, I was like, it's six games, let's relax. Then when they went through a prolonged losing streak struggled mightily, I said, relax. Does this team have the ability to turn around and win eight of eleven? I said, yeah, I think they do. There's a lot of things that have to go right, but I think they can do that. They lost a little bit more, they win three straight games. I'm not getting too caught up in that either. That's

the hard thing about baseball. I was thinking about this last night. You flip back and forth, you see the Phillies and Giants a little bit, and you're going, man, love that Phillies team. They're struggling to score runs here against San Francisco. They end up losing one ZIP in ten innings, and I'm thinking to myself, as good as that team is off to the best start in franchise history. And at one point, over a thirty

five game stretch, they were twenty nine at six. That's over a thirty five game stretch, twenty nine and six, which or maybe it was you know what, I think it might have been over a forty game stretch. Well, either way, it popped in my head how good the Tigers were in eighty four when they went thirty five and five. So, either way, Philly's off to the best start in franchise history. They've lost three in

a row. Are people overreacting in Philadelphia? The hard thing about baseball is to try and keep it level headed day in and day out, not rush to judgment day in and day out, get too high, get too low. It's very similar to what the athletes are going through and the managers are going through. There's no reason to panic. Just yet. But there does come a time where you start to buy in or you start to disbelieve. They have to give you something to force you to believe or opt out one

way or the other. And right now, this team ten games back in the division. It's a lot to make up against a quality Cleveland team. The Cleveland wins again last night, Jose ramiros homers again. The only way they're coming back to the pack is if he gets hurt. So what you have to do is you have to find out as a fan, am I in or am I out? But there has to be a moment of that

season in which it turns for you. I don't know if you've reached that point, but this discussion that Scott Harris had with Brian Kenny on MLB Network yesterday does not help those who want to buy in but are straddling the fence right now because you don't have a definition of what the foundation is. And if you believe the definition of the foundation is young everyday players, then the answer to that is it's not in place yet. Fair enough, how can

you argue with that because the young players are not in place. If you're looking at young players, you're seeing Riley Green, Spencer Torkulsen, maybe Carrie Carpenter, Wenzel Perez. But they're not playing every day. Hey, they sure hasn't They sure have not instilled the confidence you would like as a Tigers fan. You're not seeing the growth that you expected to see. There's a progress that you feel needs to take place in order for you to be emotionally

invested in buying in. I don't believe it's there. Meyer Hotline eight sixty six eight three eight forty eight forty three. You could text US Sports Radio to twenty one thousand, Ben. Who do we got this morning? Yeah, we got Maury and Grand Rapids. Maury, Good morning, Man. Good morning to you guys. Hey, I ask you, Chef, because I feel like your opinion in this area is probably a little stronger and more validated than most guys like myself, just because of your affiliation with the game.

And I'm not suggesting anything when I ask you your opinion on this, but I think it's something that people like me fans think about eventually as pertaining the hobby bias. So when you see a guy with Hobby's talent struggle like he's struggling eventually, the question comes up, or the thought rather is, well, does this guy really care? You know what I mean? Like, yeah, he don't care? You know what I mean, Look at all that money's making that guy don't care? Man? You know, you

know he's getting paid. Sometimes that's where people's thought process goes, because it does get me fuddling, you know, when you see the history of the talent and then this guy just looking like he's lost. Now let's say that. I'm not saying he does or head does that, but let's say that he does. And I wonder how open guys like that are to their coaches and outside perspective once they've attained that level of success, you know what I

mean, Like, who's in this dude's ear? And is he really working hard or is it behind the scenes? I guess what, you know what hobby he just kind of gives everybody the hand and does his own thing. I would tell you this. I think Javier Bias crit cares a great deal. I think he does work hard. Could he work harder? I think everybody could. I don't think. You know, he's not the first one at the ballpark and the last one to leave. That doesn't always necessarily mean

you're not working hard. I think it's about what you do while you're there rather than the amount of time that you are there. I mean, you probably, as a young guy, used to go to the gym. Does it matter that you're there for two and a half hours and you don't work out that hard, or if you're there for an hour and you sweat everything you got in that hour. Here's this is what I've always said about Hovier Buys. And it's not that I don't like him, because I do like

him. I can't say that he was the first free agent shortstop I wanted the Tigers to sign. As a matter of fact, of the Big five during that season, he was last on my list. However, I don't believe that Javier Baiez has ever been this incredible talent that every team covets. He's a two time All Star, he's a goal one time goal Glove winner, and he won a Silver Slugger. He had an incredible season in twenty eighteen with the Cubs when he led the league in RBIs and batted two ninety.

That's the highest he's ever batted. He's always been a high strikeout guy always, so when people say, oh, this incredible talent. Look, he's got a flare at times. Defensively, I think there's a huge swing and miss factor there. Obviously, he led the league in strikeouts in twenty twenty one. He's you know, when you strike out one hundred and forty seven times, that's a lot. And he did that in twenty twenty two in a four one hundred and forty four games, he struck out one hundred

and forty seven times. So I guess a lot of this is about expectation because the amount of money he makes. Maury, I think people think he should be a lot better. If you look at his track record, he's been an okay player. He's he's been a good player. He hasn't been a great player. He's not a franchise player. I don't think he's ever been a franchise player. No, no, probably not. But I will say that ship when that dude was going right, you know, and consistent.

I mean, dude's a difference maker. I mean that much we've seen and I don't know. It's just like I said, not suggesting. I don't know the guy, but as a fan, eventually I feel like people get there. So I appreciate it. Yeah, yeah, listen, yeah you too, thanks to the phone call. I don't when he's going right? When has he gone right for the Tiger? And I'm talking about a season. I'm not talking about the end of twenty twenty two, when he

led the team in Homers was seventeen. I'm talking about a full season, which is hard. I understand that. I'm just asking when is he going right? I gave you one season when he was twenty five years old. He's thirty one. Now. It's not going to happen. That's my belief. I don't think it's going to happen. I think when players struggle. I'm not saying Mory feels is, but I think when players struggle, people say do they really care? Absolutely? He cares. There's no doubt about

it. No athlete, a type a person ever wants to go out and be embarrassed. Nobody wants to be booed at home. Nobody wants to go into a clubhouse and feel like they are not the guy when they expect to be the guy. He cares. He cares a lot. He just hasn't made the proper adjustments or cannot make the proper adjustments because the same issues are there Meyer Hotline eight sixty six eight three eight forty eight forty three. The text is sports Ready to twenty one thousand. The second hour of Exes and

Bros. Is on the other side. Stay with us. Imagine this the day filled with indulgence, bursting with excitement, impacts, with extraordinary moments that still memories to last the lifetime to day. There's unmistakably years at the place. There is undeniably attachment. Whether you're winning, big, dining, lavish flo I'm so contrable. It's your getaway reimagined. It's soaring Eagle casino and

resort. Matt Shepherd back with you on Exus and Bros. Thanks for listening wherever it is you may be, whether it be in Traverse City on wk D ninety three point seven f M The Ticket. Maybe you're driving around Patowski in the Charlevoi area and listening on The Ticket Northern Michigan w MBN one oh

four point seven FM. Perhaps in Midlands bag and a Bay City you've got us locked in on the met WLUN one hundred point nine FM in Grayling and galor WGRY one on one point one FM up North Sports Radio of course, the game in Grand Rapids on WMAX ninety six point one FM, in Flint WTRX Sports Extra thirteen thirty AM, and then Cadillac WKAD The Ticket ninety three point seven FM. Wherever it is you may be listening, We're honored that

you're part of it. Love to hear your thoughts on the Meyer Hotline eight sixty six eight three eight forty eight forty three. You could Tech Sports Radio to twenty one thousand. The Huge Show a little bit later on this afternoon from three till six on all these great station affiliates. Tigers reigned out yesterday because some other nature. They will be back in action in a double dip today against Pittsburgh. Meanwhile, in basketball, Minnesota beats Dallas one oh five

to one hundred. You know, the Timberwolves has led in the last five minutes in every game so far this year in this series, I should say, okay, anyway, they went at one o five to one hundred to stave off elimination. Anthony Edwards, Karl Anthony Towns combined for fifty four points. Luka, Doncis had another triple double. He's amazing, man. The more you watch him, the more. You think, as pure as stroke as he has, he's he might be a better passer than Shooter and it

shouldn't surprise us. I mean, he was second in the league in assists. I don't know if people realize that Tyrese Haliburton is the only one who had a better assist ra show than he did. Anyway, it's three games to one now. MAVs lead it two to two in the Eastern Conference playoffs in the NHL because Florida won in overtime Sam reyan Hart with the power play goal. They win an overtime three to two over New York to tie that

series at two games apiece. It is an exhausting series. I mean those the Stanley Cup playoffs, man, I mean it's just every other day. I love it. I love watching it, but playing in it, oh god, that's got to take a lot out of you, man, Simply incredible. We spent the first hour talking about and we'll try to dive into some football coming up here. I think there's I think there's quite a bit

of a football discussion to be had. But we spent the first half first hour of the program talking about Scott Harris's comments to Brian Kenny on MLB Network and how they have to build the foundation for the Tigers before they're going to increase or go ahead in payroll. I don't think any Tigers fan expects them to go two hundred million dollars. I think they understand the realities of what they face now. I think some of that is also self induced. It's

that chicken or the egg stuff, right. I mean, you got to win in order for people to come through the gates. You got to put a product on the field that people want to go see. On the other hand, you need money to spend. People are going to shake their heads and say, look, man, if you don't have the money. And again, I don't think it's two hundred million dollars. I don't think people

expect two hundred million dollars. What I do believe they expect is to be somewhere in the middle of the pack at least more than one hundred and six million dollars, and spend it properly, and spend it wisely, and spend it in an area talent wise field that's going to make you more competitive and a more enjoyable product to watch. Everybody knew everybody knew that they needed more power, they needed guys who can do some damage in the middle of the

lineup. I said, I'm not saying this now. I didn't say this in the off season. I said it during the season last year. This team needs to go out and get a bat like Matt Chapman. That's what I said. I said it in Boston and people were like, yes, yeah, that's exactly it. Matt, You're right about that. I'm not playing general manager here. I'm not sitting here trying to tell people this is the way I would do things, and it's the right way. Here's what

I know. Matt Chapman. He's got an ops plus of one fourteen, and that's a big number for people in the Tigers front office. He'll scare you a little bit in the Giants lineup. This is a guy who has gold He's a Gold Glover. He's one four of them. He's not a all time great player. Defensively, he's one of the best to play his position. He's not an all time great player, but he will scare you in the middle of that lineup. He adds depth to the lineup, and

they sign him for three years. To the phones, we go, it's the Meyer hot line eight six six eight three eight forty eight forty three. Ben, who's next? Yeah, we got Jake and grand Rappins. Jake, thanks for listening, man. We appreciate you tuning in on Wmax ninety six point ONEFM. The game. Hey, chef I were doing for him. Good yourself. We're we're making it. It's another beautiful day in Michigan,

so we're going. All right. There's a couple of thoughts on the you know, the foundational pieces quote unquote, and obviously my head goes right to Green and Turklesen and as may they not be every single day players. There the two guys you would look to to be that for this team, and that the production has just not been there. You could see glimpses with

both of them. Obviously Green's a really good defender and does well with the bat, and then with Thornfelsen, he hits a home run here or there and he's like, okay, this is when he breaks out, and then he goes back into a two for sixteen plump. I was just getting your thoughts about, you know, when does this become hinching his coaching staff maybe not getting as much out of those players as comparedable some other coaching staff could get out of them. Yeah, I think it's a really fair I think

it's a really fair question. There's no doubt about that. At some point I knew this was going to happen. At some point, people have to look beyond the player. I think in baseball, I think it's really hard, especially during the season, to try and get a guy out of certain habits, change a guy's way of either swinging, standing, throwing, all these different things. I think it's really challenging. Are they reaching them. I know what they do. I know they have hitters meetings. I know

they look at the iPad. I know all the different things that they are going to do to try and help these individuals become better at what they do. Spencer Torkolsen is one of the first ones of the ballpark every single day. He and Riley Green are there, Carrie Carpenter is there. Those guys are our baseball rats. But at some point, I think you're right, it has to come down to, wait a minute, who is teaching these

guys. Maybe a different voices needed. I wouldn't say that from a managerial standpoint, but I understand why you might want to take a deep dive look into what you're hitting coaches or your coaches are doing with your players. Right. I got that. You also head on, you know, some of the guys that we know are foundational pieces, you know, markna Carson, Kelly, Jake Rogers. Those are guys that are just supposed to, you know, fill that void per se. But then I started thinking, Okay,

why is Dylan Dingler not up if we know that? Right? Is? Yeah, absolutely right, No, you're one hundred percent right, Jake. I could sit and thanks for the phone call. I could sit there and complain all I want about that. They don't have those foundational players, but they're because the guys who are supposed to be here aren't here because they're not good enough. So you're one hundred percent right about that. I'm not bringing Dylan Dingler up for the sake of bringing him up because he was the

second round draft pick. It's ridiculous. Don't be stupid. Oh, give him a chance, give him a chance. He's failing in double A, he's failed in triple A. Why would you bring him up to the majors and let him fail there? Meyer Hotline eight six, six, eight three eight forty eight forty three. Good call by Jake. We've had a couple of good calls this morning. Always enjoy it more with you on the other side on Exis and Bros. After this, there's a new player in town.

Hi. I'm hundred more Blans all Pro wide receiver and I'm talking about Eagle Casino in Sports, the real money mobile casino. It's so easy to play. You can go from wager to winner to wallack just like that. Sign out now and we'll match your deposit up to fifteen hundred dollars, or you can get a risk free bet up to one thousand dollars. Eagle Casino in Sports, Made in Michigan, made for Michigan. Let's think twenty years older in Michigan. You're playing all right back with you on XYS and Roads.

Yes, I'm well aware that Dylan Dinglars having a decent year John in Toledo right now. That's something that Jake and I were just talking about before the break. I've been pretty consistent with this. Now I'm gonna stay consistent with it, not overreacting and not in either positive or negative way. Dylan Dingler thirty four games in Toledo so far, batting three hundred. Great.

Don't get upset with me if I'd look at his twenty twenty three season, where he played parts of the year in Erie, in Lakeland and Toledo and combined bat at two fifty six, including two oho two in Toledo, I understand it's a long and sometimes treacherous route to the major leagues. Dylan Dinglar's twenty five, he's he's had some injuries. I am. I've got my fingers crossed, my toes crossed that the former second round pick of Ohio State

is going to be good enough to reach the majors next year. I would love to see that. I'd love to see it as close to an every day will Smith, like JT, really moved to a like catcher in the Tigers organization, being that we really haven't had one home grown since Lance Parish. As far as I'm concerned, I'm talking about an everyday catcher. I think when you look at baseball right now, you see the numbers down. Offensive numbers are down. They are It's what are we about a third of

the way through the season. Yeah, offense is down, average is down, ops is down. Era pitching has been better. Era is down last year four point three to three this year under four. I think what Tigers fans were hoping for and perhaps still are, is they're looking for the cornerstone piece. Bobby Witt, Junior, Kansas City fielding war leads all of baseball

three point six. He's the reason Kansas City is where they are. Kyle Tucker in Houston eighteen bombs more than Aaron Judge, Gunner Henderson who was leading the league in home runs for a while at seventeen and is playing pretty solid defense. Right, you're looking for something like that. You're looking for Ellie Da La Cruz. Two pitchers you're going to see today. You're going to see Jared Jones and Paul Skins, two guys who historically, and it's a

small history, throw the ball well over one hundred miles an hour. You're going to see some gas being thrown here today. Jones was a second round pick in twenty twenty and he's already there making things happen. So we were just talking about Dylan Dingler, weren't we. Yeah, Jared Jones was taken after Dylan Dingler. Now, he was taken after a lot of guys. So let's be fair here. It's not cool just bring up on one name. But we were talking about Dylan Dinglers, so I wanted to bring up

the guy who's starting Game one of the doubleheader today for Pittsburgh. Small sample size for him. I'm not going to sit there and say this is look at how great this guy. He's made ten starts in his major league career. Let's back off for a moment, and that's the year. By the way, Torkelsen was won one. We've got some texts you could text us Sports Radio to twenty one thousand, Ben fire Away. It says everyone is going to focus on the owner and resource quote, which is ridiculous in my

opinion. Let's focus on the flip flap of now saying kids in the miners can't get the quality at bats and the miners versus up here. Just call out Max Clark, McGonagall, Jayce Young, Ti Madden and Jackson job and give these guys the rest of this year and a real shot in spring training to stick to next year. Freddy, honestly, you want to call up a nineteen year old kid who has two hundred and ninety played appearances in the minor leagues, has not reached high A, and you want to call him

up to the major leagues. Are you kidding me? Why in the world would you do that? That makes no sense. You just want to You want to rush through life calling up every young kid. How long will you give him before he fails? And he will fail because he's feeling it at low A right now. You want to call him up just because he was a first round draft pick. Ti Madden has fifty nine starts. Fifty nine starts in his college and minor league career. That makes no sense either.

Four starts at Triple A, four starts at double A this year, last year, twenty five starts with a three four three ERA, and you want to call him up. He's got one hundred and eighteen innings at the double A level, but you think he's ready. I know guys make the jump from double A all the time. That doesn't mean that you have to rush a guy. That's crazy. Honestly, that that is that is simply ridiculous.

Why you would do that? You think you think that Max Clark, I'm not I am not one of those guys who believes you go low A, high A, Double A, Triple A majors bull crap. If a guy's good enough, if he has shown you that he's good enough to play, then you rate bring him up. Max Clark, Kevin mcconche have not shown you that at all. What was the other name I know, Tid Madden was one h Jase Young. Yeah. Look, first of all, this team doesn't necessarily need it doesn't need ty Madden, so bringing him up

makes no sense. Okay, it really doesn't. Don't bring him up because you're starting pitching for the most part, has been fine. Jace Young. He's having a nice year right now in Toledo. If he continues, I would have no issue with that whatsoever. I don't care that he's twenty three. I really don't be interesting to see where they put him defensively. But if he can hit and he can help this team, I'm all for it. Clark McGonagall, No way. Twenty seven after the hour. Got to

take a quick time out. We'll take more of your texts, more of your phone calls on the Meyer hotline when we return on Exis and Bros. After this, all right, thirty five after the hour, Welcome in Ben as our producer. Give him a call on the Meyer hotline eight sixty six eight three eight forty eight forty three if you are compelled to do so, or you can text a sports radio to twenty one thousand. Matt Shepherd here with you Monday through Friday, six until nine, talking about the articles written

about Scott Harris based off the interview he gave to MLB Network yesterday. Tigers will bring in or bring up the payroll as soon as the foundation is built. That foundation is not there right now. How frustrating is that for you? Knowing full well that this is a winnable division, that's the whole thing about it. You're gonna wait till the foundation is built? What just out

of curiosity? If you were to sign a guy like Matt Chapman, who I've suggested since last summer, If you signed a guy like that to the contract San Francisco signed him three years fifty four million dollars, which you could have done. Who is he blocking because you hadn't signed Geo Orchelley yet? What third basement prospect is he blocking over the next three years? Jayce Young? You can find out bets for Jay Young and it's not like he's going

to be a goal glove third baseman. A big concern within the organization is where are you going to play him? Much like Cole Keith, they're in lies part of the problem too, a different problem, And I'm not saying it's Scott Harris's problem because he didn't draft them. But you do have guys who aren't very good defensively. They don't necessarily have a home. But who's

he blocking? Just so unclear. You could bring in Ji or Schella and afford to have him as a blockade for one year, but you don't want a gold Glove All Star third baseman like Matt Chapman huh for two years after? That makes no sense. I wouldn't want to get caught up in long term contracts with older players. I wouldn't. It was the problem with Miguel

Cabrera. It's the issue right now with Javier Baiaz. We're talking three years and you knew you weren't going to have your future quote unquote third baseman this year, so that means it would be a two years he would have this year if you had signed Chapman wasn't blocking anybody desire. He might block somebody for two years. You can't find at bats for guys. Come on, sure you could just one example. I'm not saying I'm always right. I'm

just saying that that to me made a ton of sense. They needed a third baseman, they needed to improve their defense, they needed a middle of the order bat. Now, maybe he didn't want to come here. That's a that's fair. That's a fair defense. He didn't want to come here. I have not heard that that they reached out and he said, no, don't reach out, Ben. I know we got more techs. Fire away. Yeah, it says, uh rap, buy out Biaz if my

Aida continues to slip, move him to the pen. So Job and Madden can pitch, decide on Myz and Torque on what to do with them long long term by the trade deadline. And I would make that Steve Kemp move trade Riley Green. Yes, unpopular, but this team needs to put everything into a ziploc bag, shake it up and see what's left by making lots of trades to get his own players and see what he has now. Well, Jackson, Job again, I'm not pulling him up after five starts in

Eerie. I'm not doing that again. You're just rushing for the sake of rushing sakes. So that caught my ear and I would say no to that trading Riley Green. Look, we've talked about this with the Pistons for a long time. Which guys do you have to keep? Personally? I want to keep Riley Green. There is such a thing as as good players that you want and who can be your foundation. He's one of those guys. Wouldn't you agree with that? Don't you think he is one of the staples

of your team moving forward? Absolutely, you want your Steve Kemp deal, So this has got to be I would guess you know, I don't know who sent this text, but they've got their history down. Okay, so ste you went you want if people don't know Steve Kemp, who was a hell of a player at USC. But Steve Kemp was he was a good young player for the Tigers, and he was traded by Detroit to Chicago. He was He was a one to one for Detroit in nineteen seventy six and

then in nineteen eighty one they traded him Chicago for Chut Lemon. Later he would go to the Yankees and then to the Pirates. But that's neither here nor there. Trade for chet Lemon. Straight up, chet Lemon was, you know, a key piece to the Tigers run in nineteen eighty four. That was a straight up one on one for one deal. Who's the guy you expect to get in return for Riley Green? You're gonna get a left handed, decent power hitting, good fielding, everyday player. Those are the

things that we have to take into consideration. I believe. Look, I was reading about this the other day. This was a very risky but the organization felt like they had to do it. And this it's a different sport. I understand that. And I'm not saying everything is equal. All I'm saying is the Panthers became a pain in everybody's tail. They became the team that played with more sandpaper than just about anybody else, and they did so

when they acquired Matthew could Chuck from Calgary and it was roughly. It wasn't straight up, but it was. It was a very good deal for both teams. Fine, they were able to do that. That's when some would tell you that's when things changed for Florida. I can't say that it's definitive, but when you traded Jonathan Huberdough to Calgary for Matthew could Chuck things changed

a little bit. Nothing against Huberdough who was who had one hundred and fifteen points his last season there, But Flora said they needed a shift, so they send two guys to Calgary. They bring in Matthew Kuchuk, who had signed an eight year extension. It's surprised most it has worked out for Florida. Well, if you can find that deal. Depending on the deal, maybe it's worth exploring. Personally, I wouldn't do it because I think he's

a focal piece of this team moving forward. At some point, you guys, you got to say this guy's worth building around. You can do that. You know, there are certain players where you say, Okay, I'm good there. Let me move on to the next guy. To the Meyer hoighline, we go, who's up NEXTVN? Yeah, we got Scott in gr Scotty. What's going on? Hey, Bunny, Hopefully we had a better connection. I'm in the food industry, so I travel all the time, so I am everywhere. I wanted to give you the from yesterday.

First of all, I'm hoops, not football with us there in the late eighties early nineties, and I coached summer camps for three years as well down there, so I'll get to know Judd. I mean I became friends then now then I had Then I coached high school, varsity and JAV for thirteen years. So until my daughters, all my daughters, three daughters, thirty five, thirty two, and twenty nine all hit their you sports and I couldn't play it. I couldn't do it anymore, and Mamma said, you're

done. So that's the last time my coach was nine. Okay, all right, no excuse me two thousand. But anyway, Uh, I'm the stuff. I think what has to happen, and people have to take this sacrifice, and I'd love to see Scott Harris do it. The guys that have to be You're not trading Green, you're not training school ever, never out throw what started is they do that. Those are yours, those are your building pieces, those are your potential multi year All stars. But with

that, Joel, I would I would agree. I would agree with Riley Green, I believe it or not. I do not agree with Trek Skouble. I would reason why. Okay, I suppose the first thing you have to ask yourself, will you be able to afford him after next year because he's going to be a free agent in two years. The second thing is that the question, well, I think it's one of the questions why shouldn't Why shouldn't we be because this team is so depleted of everyday talent that you

may have to do that. Okay, well, I'm faying with these with these other young pieces, I think we can get some talent and spend a

little money and not as much. But with Manning and Mies and Joe who are will highly I wouldn't say highly, but sours out after and then you're probably going to have to look at Heathan cart and I don't want I don't want to get those guys up. But the thing that if you want to win, or if you want to be competitive, now we're heavy young and a lot of players are looked bad as I think all around the league is really good, really good pieces that people would like to work with, especially

some really good coaching. And then you were talking about the bias that if if I were to coach, I know they can't do this nowadays anymore. Back in the old days, i'd find him every time he swings at anything, anything from the black and beyond when every single picture throws in those swingers. And I don't know why he does. It's a mental thing, but I would. I know you can't do it anymore. It does, it doesn't equaint today's society. Of today's well. I don't think any coach,

no coach ever did that. No coach ever said anytime you swing at a ball, you're getting fined. You don't do that. I mean, no coach has ever done that. I'm not saying a ball, I'm saying any anything. If a picture can throw free on the black, how he can just sit stand there like house on the side of the road and walk back to the dug. But I don't think that can happen. I don't. I'm saying, yeah, I do. And thanks for the phone call.

I appreciate it. I don't think you do. You know, you want to change the eye level, you want to change his patterns, you want to change all that stuff. I get it, And I know how people I wouldn't. I would swinging a slider if i'm Sliders can be very They're very tempting. You know, we we sometimes forget you have just a millisecond to make a decision. I'm not making excuses for Howvey or bias, okay,

because he gets fooled way too often, especially with sliders. But I'm just I'm just saying that you've got to be you gotta be careful when you're throwing around ideas like, oh, you know, I would just find him every time he swings at a pitch on the black, or if you take three pitches on the black. Look, look what happened to why at Langford not too long ago, he gets wrung up by Angel Hernandez, which was

ridiculous on three pitches that were outside the black. You can't tell a guy just to sit there and take take take the only pitch you're going to swing. It is right down the middle. As for the schoobl situation, he's had a couple of surgeries, and that's the reason that I would be at

least I'm not saying to trade him. I'm saying I would be open to exploring that if your team is out of it, and a team like the Yankees or a team like the Dodgers, teams that have deep minor league systems, and you can get a close to baseball ready guy and you can address a couple of different aspects of your team, catching third, basement power, whatever things that you're lacking right now. Would you do it? I would,

knowing that pitching is your strength right now. You can't sit there and tell me that, Oh, you love Jackson Job, you love Tyme Madden, you love certain pitchers and you want you're hoping that they can come up sometime soon when they're already blocked by guys like Reese Olsen. You can find that veteran guy like Jack Flaherty, like a kent to my ETA for one season? Could you not while your younger guys are fitting into their roles.

Absolutely, Again, I'm not suggesting you do it. I'm saying you shouldn't be opposed to it. I wouldn't close it off automatically. I don't know how much he's going to command, Like, I don't think he's not going to be a forty million dollar pitcher. Verlander's forty three million, Sure's is forty three million, De Grahm's forty million, Cole's thirty six million, Patrick Corbyn's thirty four and a half million, Blake Snell's thirty two million, Carlos

Rodin's twenty eight million, Aaron Nola's twenty four and a half million. You think he's getting that, maybe somebody will give it to him. I wouldn't give him forty million dollars. I wouldn't give him thirty million dollars. But he is a Scott Boris client, and Scott Boris has got some big name guys who've gotten some big name deals. So would you do that. As far as the text saying I would buy out buy as well, that's because

that's because you're not the owner. He's gonna make twenty twenty five million dollars next year, twenty four, the next year twenty four. The next year, that's seventy three million dollars. You're gonna write him a check for seventy three million dollars. Go ahead, no problem, I'd just buy him out. There's seventy three million dollars, Roll down the window, open up the briefcase, and just throw it out the window. That's what you're doing.

See. I would like to be away from the contract too. That's where you and I do agree. But I'm not so naive to think that if I were the owner, that I would do that. Your owner has a problem spending money as it is. It is one hundred and six million dollars at a payroll that ranks twenty fourth in baseball. You think he's going to just go, ah, here's what I'm doing. I'm going to say so long and give him a seventy three million dollars for not playing. It's not

moneyball, Brad Pitt's not going no, Dave Justice. The Yankees are paying half your salary to play against them. That's not happening, you guys. And don't tell me you would do that if you were the owner, because you wouldn't. It's seventy three million dollars, not seventy three dollars, not seventy three hundred, not seventy three thousand, it's seventy three million. Quick

time out them back with a final hour of exces and bros. After this, April showers brought May flowers and so much more to Soaring Eagle Casino and Resorts. Your winnings are in bloom every Friday in May, every hour from three pm to eleven VM two. Lucky guess we'll have the chance to take a flower from the bouquet of premium play. Your next win is only a pedal away. You could win up to two thousand dollars in premium play Soory

Eagle Casino and resort your getaway reimagine. Visit Sooringeagle Casino dot com for complete rules and details. Get some facts and come back and Seebee. Get some facts and come back and Seebee. Don't throw out salaries or other things. Get some facts and come back and Seebee. You can't handle the true now told our players you need a bit more like a dog. We don't need a bunch of cats in here. Looking in the mirror, I look good. I got my extra bands on, I got my other shoes. Be

a doll. We don't need no mouns. We don't need no cats. We need more dolls. Why not a the tain? Are you not? That day we weren't good. There's no sense of asking any things about the game. I'm telling you. We laid an egg, So I'm not going to break it down for you. He socks, he sucked, but he laid an egg. That's all I have to say. Guys, I'm sorry. I'm not going to break it down for you. Nothing went well for

us. It's on us. We have to figure it out. And we went ah Yoda Final hower of the program, Glad you're with us sun Exes and Bros. Across the great state of Michigan. Just a reminder that later on today on all of these great station affiliates, the Huge Show takes place from three till six. The Meyer Hotline is open for you eight sixty six, eight three, eight forty eight forty three. You can text the program sports Radio to twenty one thousand. Tigers did not play yesterday. They get

the Pirates in back to back games today and they get two firebawlers. I made a lot of Paul schemes yesterday, and for good reason, because I think the dude is you know, he's thrown it at one hundred and two miles an hour. The guy throwing in Game one for Pittsburgh, Jared Jones, is just as effective with his heater. Let's see how the Tigers do against them double dip today at Comerica Park. Meanwhile, on ice, Panthers use overtime to beat the Rangers three to That series is even at two apiece.

I said this before Sam Reinhard scores one to twelve into the overtime. It's a sixty fifth goal of the year. He scores three He's got thirty one power play goals this year, at twenty seven during the regular season by far and away the most in the NHL, and now with the postseason added, he's got thirty one. Also this the Panthers are eighty one two and six when leading after forty minutes of play. That's amazing. Minnesota shows some

amazing fortitude. They beat Dallas one oh five to one hundred to stay alive. It's three to one in the series of the Western Conference Finals in the NBA. Dallas is up. The NBA is off today because Boston swept in the They are waiting. Let's see if the weight hurts them. You know, it's always rest versus rust in sports. Uh, let's go back to the Meyer hotline. Eight six eight three eight forty eight forty three, Ben, who's waiting for us? Yeah, we got Freddy on the line.

All right, Freddy hope you had to get a good weekend. Man, what's up? Yes, you too, Chep. I forgive me for calling, but when you're reading my text, the platform kind of cut out, so I I ain't here here half of it, and I kind of wanted to finish the conversation. Yeah, what was I forget which text it was. We've had some texting. Yeah, I mean this whole situation is kind of a funning to me. I mean, no one's right, no one's

wrong. It just I guess you know what I took out of yesterday was for me, I kind of want to put the owner to the side. Okay, forget this, forget about the owner in this situation. You know, you know I've heard for years. Number one, I've heard through years guys that turn out of MIC. I've heard from fans. Owners need to hire smart guys and just get out of the way. You know, if Tom Gorz would even do that, that would be that would be great.

But we've seen it in the past where owners hired smart guys and just got out of the way. So that's why I kind of want to take Chris out of the equation for a second. Is I'm a little confused why Scott Harris was brought in. Now, I understand Avila had to go. That

was I was one of his fans. But I understand he had to go, So they probably are Scott Harris. And where I'm confused is I don't tell me if I'm wrong from what I heard yesterday was yesterday I heard more of Hey, these young batterers are struggling in Major League Baseball because of the pitchers that they're seeing nowadays, and they're doing they're going so hard that they

can't get that in the minor leagues. So when I sent you the text to day, they said, Okay, well we'll call up all these young kids to bring them up. If your plan is not to make the playoffs this year, bring them up and see what you got for the next two years. That's where I'm kind of confused with Scott heres is. He's been here, I think almost two years, and he's made a couple of trades,

but he's really feeding off of feelos guys. So you know, the beginning of this year, I think what happened was they really think on Parker Medals to be that leadoff hitter it's got and hetorical seem to be that number three four hitter, and they blow up in their face. So now they

have nowhere because he's got a feelis guys. I don't know if they're right or wrong, But that's where I'm confused, is why is Scott here has brought in if he's just sitting there with a Felis guy who's are being made, whether it's a trade or bring these guys because you just got done saying that in the minor leagues they don't see the same pitching as they do in the major leagues and there's not enough for them. That's where our purfiel is shot. Okay, yeah, no, I get it. First of all,

you can't take the owner out of it. When the president is basically said, we've got to have the foundation before we spend money. You can't take the owner out of it. When the payrolls at one hundred and six million dollars and in ranks twenty fourth. It is all part of the process. So that's number one. Number two. Their plan was never to have Parker Meadows be the leadoff guy. They didn't. He didn't show that in the minors that he was necessarily a leadoff guy or lead off capable. He

was more of a bottom of the order guy. That was never the That was never the plan. The other part is Spencer Torkels. Yes, I think they thought he was a middle of the order guy. They perhaps may maybe they still do think he's the middle of the order guy four or a five, three probably not. Riley Green would probably be more of you, your two or your three. It shows you, I think, just our conversation here, Freddie, it shows you the lack of talent this team has

to fill those specific spots. I'm not going to sit here and try to tell you that the ultimate leadoff guy is the ultimate leadoff guy back in the day when I watched baseball as a kid and Ricky Henderson, I don't think. I think things change. Okay, It's just like basketball. I mean, there's no you don't have to have Isaiah Thomas. If you have Luka Doncic handling the basketball and you know he's six' nine, six' ten, that's okay. That's the way base That's the way basketball is today.

You don't have the pocket passers in football always you got guys who roll outside the pocket and so on and so forth. So I don't think there's that standard. Here's your leadoff guy's got to be fast, him, got to be able to bunt and have a great eye. And then number two is this and number three is that you want your best hitters getting as many at bats as possible. And I don't think Detroit has enough really good hitters where you and I would say, I gotta have these three guys getting the most

at bats. That's part of the problem. Well that that's fair, and then the Parker Metal's thing. I think more. I think they were baking on him playing, even if it was bottom of the word batt in two fifty two seventy, getting on base to cause some handvic and playing good well, well bet look, batting, getting consistent at bats and being the leadoff guy are two different things. You said they were banking on him being the

leadoff guy, and that's not necessarily true. That's number one and number two. I don't know that in a perfect world they would love for him to be a two seventy hitter, Freddy. He wasn't a two seventy hitter in the minor leagues, so why would you think he was going to be a two seventy hitter at the major leagues? That they're not. They're not so naive to the fact that the expectations people have outside the clubhouse is all that

different from those who I have expectations from who are inside the clubhouse. They didn't think he was going to be a two seventy hitter. No, No, he's a two forty five hitter in the minors. Just okay, okay, okay. But my thing is, I'm I'll be honest with you. I'm with him saying, Okay, let's build a foundation before we spend money. I'm with Okay, I totally agree with that. Okay. The problem is for me is why did you bring Scott Harrison if you're still gonna be

playing with a Vilas Polker? Well, because you can't. Here's the reason. I gotta let you go. Because they got to go to a break. And I'll address this afterwards. You can't just read an entire roster. You can't just take everybody, what them out and bring new guys in just because his new president. You have to. He's got to see what he has. And we'll get to that when we come back after this. It's ten after the Hour on Exis and Bros. In with Dan Dickerson. Step

up to the plate at Eagle Casino. In Sports, the Bobo Sportsbook app that you can bet on all your favorites all year round, including of course, our national pastime. So download the app and start winning today at Ego Casino in Sport, made in Michigan, made for Michigan must be twenty one years or older and in Michigan to play. In the two games of this Pittsburgh series, We're going to see three of the hardest throwing starters in the

major leagues. And it makes me think about some of the ideas baseball is kicking around to save the starting pitcher since throwing hard is linked to arm injuries. One of the ideas is to penalize a pitcher for every pitch over ninety four miles an hour, which is absurd. What that argument is missing is it's not necessarily throwing hard. That's the problem. It's throwing hard without the proper movement. Vigers have a staff that teaches things like the kinetic chain using

ground forces to take pressure off your arm. Throwing hard doesn't have to be a sure road to surgery, and the Tigers are showing the rest of the league the way to do it. Hey, Michigan, let's go, baby. I'm humming more allions all pro wide receiver and I'm talking real big time winning on the hottest slots and table gains on one incredible app Eagle Casino in Sports. Sign up now and get up to fifteen hundred dollars. That's right.

We'll match your deposit for up to fifteen hundred dollars and you'll get one hundred free spins. Eagle Casino in Sports Made in Michigan, Made for Michigan. Must be twenty winters over in Michigan to play eighteen after the Hour, Welcome Back Exits and Bros. Monday through Friday from six until nine. Join the Huge show Bill. Simons and my friend will be on from three to six on these same grade stations. He is there Monday through Friday, three

till six. He'll have huge opinions, no doubt on a lot of things that we are talking about here today, if he didn't have them yesterday. You know the other thing we have to remind ourselves, And we just got done with with Freddie who called in and wanted to know why Scott Harris is and he's what's the point of bringing him in if he's just going to use Alavila's players. Well, you know, there are certain things in baseball you

have to you have to understand on how you go about a process. You want Max Clark, and you want Kevin McGonagall, and you want Time Madden, and you want all these different guys. You know, you do have to make you do have to adapt to a forty man roster too, Like none of those guys who you mentioned are on the forty man roster. And I think the Tigers have been for years have been way too protective of their forty man. If you got rid of a certain guy, made him available.

There's a lot of teams they're not taking certain players. They're just not. But you still would have to make room for those three guys. Okay, now who would you keep if you're Scott Harris, do you just want to if you're just saying, like Freddy said, if all you're gonna do is going to use your guys, then you might as well get rid of the certain players on the forty man. Say goodbye to Bowbriski, Say goodbye to Alex Fayato, say goodbye to Wilmer Flores. Say goodbye to Jason Foley.

Say goodbye to Tyler Holton. Actually you brought Tyler Holton. Then, say goobye to Alex Lang. Say goodbye to Matt Manning. Good Bye to Casey Mice, Goodbye to Riese Olsen, go out to trek school. Good Bye to Will Vest Goodbye to Joey Wentz. These guys are all those are Alavila guys. You think that Scott Harris's job, Freddie, is just to bring in guys that he is supposed to sign or draft. No, but he does have to add two and decide which guys are going to stay and

not. Buddy Kennedy doesn't move my needle. Eddie's Leonard doesn't move my needle, but he brought him in. Jee Orchella doesn't move my needle. He can't play all the games with just the Matt Verlings of the world and the Mark Cannas of the world because they were quote unquote his guys. Now, has he done enough to filter in the necessary talent to go with some of the younger guys. That's a question that you have to ask yourself, and I'm sure most people would say right now. No. Back to the phone

lines and the Meyer hotline eight sixty three. What's up, Ben, Who do we got? Yeah, we got Robin Rockford, the Rockford Rams. Hey, Rob, how you doing good, chef? How you doing this morning? You seem a little tense. You need someone there to give you a hug because you just seem a little tense, and I just want to kind of offer my opinion on some of this stuff. Fire go ahead. I know I'm frustrated. I'm a frustrated Tigers fan this year too, and

I just think it's, you know, it takes. It's been a rebuild for quite a long time, but frankly, the first rebuild, I don't you know, just wasn't going to work. And they brought in Scott Harris to bring the Tigers into the twenty first century. And that's not just with players, but also analytics and all that other stuff that they're using. They've always been behind on that stuff that other teams have used for quite a few years, and that's where why Scott Harris is brought in. He's bringing in

a certain type of player. It's going to take a while, though. You know, some of these other players added Vila got fors, they're going to be there, Guys like Riley Green, Cole Keith. Not so sure about Thorkilson and stuff like that. But some of those guys will be there and they will be the foundation. But he's only had one draft and those guys are all at double or you know, high A and single A. Right now. It's going to take a couple of years for them to fill

Trump there. That's just the way it is. I know it stinks. I'm tired of rebuilds myself. Three out of our four teams are still rebuilding and it gets frustrating. But I think they're on the right track. Yeah. No, I think when you look at a baseball team that is spending one hundred and six million dollars and you feel like they could spend a little bit more, I'm not asking to double the amount of money. I'm asking you to be in the middle of the pack. I don't think that's too

much for Tigers fans to ask. That's where the conversation began. And as far as far as Skyper, yeah, yeah, and you're right, Scott Harris came in. Analytics was a big part of it, for sure, But this is would you agree this is one of the weaker divisions in all of baseball? I would have agreed before the season started. Right now you got Cleveland playing just great baseball and even Kansas City, and I think that's where a lot of Tiger's fans are frustrated. They see a team like Kansas

City, who's yell stunk last year they've been rebuilding. Now they're up there. They see a team like Baltimore who was drafting and getting ill stunk for a while. Now they're up there, and then they see the Tigers and nothing much has changed. But I mean, Cleveland is just playing lights out.

I can't believe they're playing this good. I thought when they lost Francona, you know, they would go take step back, and frankly, if Cleveland keeps slaying like they are the rest most of this year, it ain't gonna matter. We're not going to touch them. So well, I was, I agree, I thought going into it was a weak division. I'm not thinking that anymore. I understand that because of Cleveland, and you're right Kansas City's surprise success. I mean, this is a Kansas City team.

That is, they were last in twenty twenty three, they were last in twenty twenty two, they were second to last in twenty twenty one. But people look at Minnesota, who in twenty twenty one finished in last place in the in the Central Division. Okay, and then the following year they made an increment and they were middle of the pack, and then last year, what did they do? They went up and they won the division and they

don't, like fans, do not see Detroit doing the same. Now, you're right, you have to be somewhat patient with some of the younger guys, but you can still add players who can make a difference for your team while helping the young guys along at the same time. And this organization has not been able to do that very well. Well. I think some of them, you know, tell you the truth, Like you know, you

didn't mentioned Matt Chapman, and I like the guy. I think he's a good player, but I just don't see guys like him unless they don't have a choice. They're not going to come to Detroit. Number one. That ballpark's not going to fit his style of play at all far as hitting goes. And they just don't see Detroit, I think as a destination. Yet, you know, yeah, they got to get that ballpark a little more.

You're a little more conducive to guys with the right handed pull power, and I think that just you know, turns people off, and then they just they have to get that foundation built. I look at a team like Houston, Matt, you know, for seven years, they make the Championship Series, but they never sign a big free agent. They always build from within. When Korea leaves, they get pain you. When Springer leaves,

they go on and get they have Kyle Tucker ready to replace him. That's where Detroit has to get to be to be a long time, long term consistent contender. Yeah, signing guys is great, but man alive. I saw a lot a lot of guys last teams last year signed all these big free agents and hardly any of them did much. Well, that's why I said world series. But yeah, that's why I said, you don't.

You don't have to spend a lot of money to win. And thanks for the phone call, Rob, I think you have to spend it wisely. The only thing I would say about the Matt Chapman thing is the San Francisco ballpark, especially because of the wind and so on and so forth. That's

not conducive to him either. Okay, So if you're looking at home runs, for example, San Francisco and it's a beautiful ballpark, it gives up the fewest home runs, fewer than co America Park, at least so far this year, eighty home runs in San Francisco, eighty five at co America Park. So I maybe you're maybe you're right about the destination for Detroit.

I've never been a big fan of that phrase because I think players want to go where they can win, and I think that says something about what's going on too. But it's a good conversation. I appreciate it very much. Twenty seven after the hour, I'm not stressed at all. This can be an emotional issue, and I think there are certain things that you can and cannot do as an organization. The Meyer Hotline eight sixty six eight three,

eight forty eight forty three. We're back with more right after this. Across the great state of Michigan on Exis and bros Hey, you're coming off Memorial Day. I get that you had grilling, you had people over your house, you paid tribute to those who are fallen heroes. I understand all that. But my hope is that if you didn't know before, then at least you learned now. By going to Meyer. You get that certified Angus beef that tasted so good at your dinner table, and aint your cookouts yesterday or

over the weekend. Make it a habit. Keep doing that, known for its marbling, its flavor, its tenderness Certified Angus beef is the way to go. It's delectable, man, it's your main course. You don't want to scrimp on that. Only three to ten cattle meet the high standards of becoming certified. Where do you go to get it? You go to Meyer, as simple as that. And we've been talking a lot about Tigers, right, we want people to support them. You want your Tigers gear,

don't go to the shops around the ballpark that are super expensive. Go to Meyer. You get the same quality, same gear for better pricing. You want your hoodies, they've got them. Your ball caps they've got them. You want your t shirts, They've got them. Meyer's got everything you could possibly want. It's a one stop shop and it's the best place to go. Hey, welcome back. Glad you're with us. I appreciate Robin Rockford, Yeah, kind of lending a helpful hand there because he said, you

know, you sound a little stress. It's not stress, it's emotion. There's a difference. I want this team to win, said this for a long time. You know, forget what what happened to me with that team. It doesn't take away the fact that you want him to be to be successful. You want the city to be successful. I want every Detroit team, every Michigan based team to have success. There's no doubt about that. How do you go about that? How do you gain that success? And

I don't think I'm an impatient person. It's been a long time, you guys, It's been a really long time, and I think Tigers fans deserve better, that's all Ben. Do we have any more techs? Do we have any more phone calls at the moment? Okay, okay, let me shift gears here, because we've spent the entire show talking about this. I think it's been a really good discussion. I've enjoyed it very much, but I want to bring this up. I really like Jason Kelsey. He's the

former center played thirteen years, I believe with the Philadelphia Eagles. I really like him. He's going to shift moving from player to broadcaster, which is pretty commonplace today, and he's going to be part of the Monday night football pregame and postgame show or pregame show on ESPN, part of their Monday Night countdown and so on and so forth. And one of the things he'll have

to do knowing that the Dallas Cowboys will be a topic of discussion. Is he's going to try his best to put his if you want to call it a bias, he doesn't use that word aside. He's going to have to be able to have conversations about a team that he simply hates. And he said this, He goes, I have no bias. I just don't like

them. I give them their props. There's a rivalry, But the reality is, even though I hate the Cowboys fan base, I was at a charity golf outing not too long ago and there was a kid there and he said, Hey, I'm a Cowboys fan. And Kelsey said, oh, are you from Dallas? And he said no, I'm from Philadelphia. And Kelsey said, what are you? A Lakers and a Yankees fan too? Like, what are we doing? We're just picking whatever team we want.

That's where we're at. I like Jason Kelsey. I would tell him, first of all, the Cowboys being hated by so many is almost to compliment. Don't you think has Detroit or the state of Michigan ever had a team that was universally hated? And if so, how did you feel about that? The team that comes to mind there's two teams that come to mind. One is, of course the Bad Boys Pistons. That's because everybody in the country took their cue from Michael Jordan, So that's that's the first team that

came to mind. I think Detroit and michiganers embraced it. I think they loved it. They loved the fact that our team are the bad dudes, we wear the black hat and everybody is against us. I think it's part of the reason those T shirts of Detroit versus everybody is there. The other team is based on a different reason. And people didn't like the Pistons because they felt like they were bullies. I think people didn't like the Red Wings

over a stretch of time because they were so successful. Outside of Detroit, the red Wings success is a big rea. Like it was great when they won when they beat the Flyers to win the Stanley Cup, to snap that a fifty year drought, whatever that was, people were thrilled. I think nationwide people are like, Wow, that's really cool. Hockey worldwide, that's really cool. An original sixteen that's been without a Cup for that long, that's awesome. Then they win another one. Wow, that's you know,

the storyline there with Vladimir Constantinov and so on and so forth. Pretty they you know, then they went a couple more in that stretch and people are like, Okay, the time to move on. Outside of Detroit, of course, Dallas is universally hated, just like the Yankees are universally hit. Now there's many people who tell you they're universally loved too. You can go to a ballpark when the Yankees come to town and there's a ton of Yankees

fans. Are they from that city? I don't know. Are they transplants? I'm not sure. But people love success, so you're going to have a lot of people who are fans of that team outside of Texas, outside of Dallas. I think it's quite a compliment. But I guess my comment to Jason Kelsey would be this, where have you been? There's plenty of people who are in a certain city supporting a different team that might be a rival of their city's team. Unfortunately, now you can't tell people who to

root for, right. You can't sit there and say you've got to be a Tigers fan. You've got to be a Lions fan. If you don't vote, if you don't root for the Pistons or the Red Wings, so on and so forth. You can't do that. But my hope is that there's a lot of parents out there who have their kids and they're saying, hey, you know what, you root for whoever you want, but this is our hometown team. I have that debate with my brother in law.

My brother in law has a young son. His favorite basketball team is the Philadelphia seventy six Ers. His favorite football team is San Francisco forty nine Ers. He has jerseys of those two teams. So being the that's Martin alec uncle. Oftentimes, when the Niners played the Lions in the NFC Championship game, I said to him, how in the world can you root for the Niners? So he had a fun little conversation. Sometimes it's for no reason at all. You know how kids are. It might be the colors of

the uniform, might be one specific player. As a kid, I loved George Gervin. He's one of my favorite players. I loved George McGinnis and Julius Irving. But I wouldn't have rooted for the Sixers over the Pistons. Even though I don't think guys like Eric Money and Kevin Porter could beat them, or John Mengelt, but I would have rooted for the Pistons against them,

right. But I didn't have a problem with the Sixers at that time, being six usful, I didn't have any specific reason to like George McGinnis or well a lot of people like doctor J. Same thing with San Antonio. It wasn't because Wow, George Gervin played at Eastern Michigan. No, it was I liked the way George Gervin played the game of basketball. I liked Alex English and the way he shot the basketball with the Denver Nuggets. Doesn't mean no, it's a huge Nuggets fan, just meant I liked that

specific player. So I found it interesting that Jason Kelsey was surprised at that based on what that young boy said to him at a charity golf outing. But the other thing is I just to have a team that is so universally despised because of their success. I think that's a primary reason for it. I'm on there, but maybe it's two because of the attitude of their fan base that could be part of it too. Are there are there teams?

Is there a specific team in this state or in Detroit that you feel warrants that Meyer hotline eight sixty six eight three eight forty eight forty three, or you can text the show sports Radio to twenty one thousand. I'm sure there are there are some that people feel warrant a little bit of negativity around. You know, their fan base is a is a little holier than thou,

They get more credit than they probably deserve, things of that nature. On top of all that, speaking of football, I saw an article that ranked the NFL's most vulnerable division winners coming up. Which division winner is most susceptible to losing their perch in their division. My thought immediately was, Okay, I want to see where the Lions are ranked here. Because we love the fact that Detroit finally wins the division, they get to the NFC Championship Game.

They are one of those teams that should be threatened or be threatening for a Super Bowl appearance. This is living large. This is living large right now in the state of Michigan because our team is finally arrived. Don't put a damper on it. Let's hope that their vulnerability ranks pretty damn low. In other words, no one's going to overcome them. Here's the issue. The NFC North is pretty good. Chicago got better, especially if Caleb Williams

is as good as people think he's going to be. But their defense was already good. Green Bay deserves a lot of respect because of what they showed a year ago. Right, absolutely, they were really impressive. Detroit, of course, Minnesota maybe not so much. So I wanted to know where the Lions rank in terms of vulnerability among division leaders. So there are eight division winners, ben where do you think the Lions ranked in terms of vulnerability?

Number one would be the most vulnerable division winner, the team that is in the most precarious spot that could be overtaken by another team within their division. So where do you think the Lions of the eight? Where do they rank? Somewhere around the middle of the pack. I think you're right, it's right around the middle of the pack. Let me give you, in as sending order, how it goes. Kansas City is number eight, eleven

and six. A year ago, they've won eight straight division titles. Of course, they won the Super Bowl, so people feel like they're no one's catching Kansas City, at least this year. And of course, when you have some of the players that they have Chris Jones on the defensive line, Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelcey on the offense. Of course they're going to be reckoned with. But I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that Denver is not going to be very good. The Raiders are just

kind of and the Chargers are not expected. It's almost by default. With all due respect to Kansas City, not that they aren't great, because they are, but their division is not all that great. Number seven is San Francisco. Is this because they won the NFC a year ago and went to the Super Bowl. Look, Rams were decent a year ago. Seattle's Okay, Arizona might be better than you think because they lost a lot of close games, but they were outscored by one hundred and twenty five points, So

I think you do have to take that into account. You really do ye out scout boar one hundred. I mean, there's only three teams who were outscored by more than the Arizona Cardinals. But San Francisco a lot of that has to do the fact that they went to the Super Bowl last year, so they are number seven. Number six is the Houston Texans. We're talking about teams that are vulnerable to lose their division. Houston won the AFC South a year ago by a game. They are the third most vulnerable or third

least vulnerable. I should say Jacksonville Indianapolis, Tennessee is how they finished a year ago. Number five is your Detroit Lions, and here's what they write. The Lions are unmistakable favorites to speak to the progress overseen by Dan Campbell Brad Holmes regime, but patiently built around Jared Goff to the point the ex ram cast off once again registers as a reliable borderline top ten starter. The balance of their roster is enviable, with a dynamic backfield and explosive number one

receiver, not to mention a defense infused with fresh secondary talent. Why then aren't they the slam Dunks to repeat? Because every team in this quartet has reason to believe they will be better. Packers may have an MVP type gunslinger at Jordan Love. Vikings are giving Ricky quarterback JJ McCarthy elite skill weapons and Brian Flores led defense, and even the Chicago Bears, with the number one pick Caleb Williams, have an upgraded offensive infrastructure there you go. You notice

they bring up quarterbacks for all teams, which I mean Minnesota. Yeah, Brian Flores led defense. Let's see, they've got some skilled weapons. One of those weapons, justin Jefferson is pretty pissed off right now. So you have to be careful there, just so you're aware. Baltimore is number four, Buffalo number three. A FC East is good man, it really is. Miami's Miami's dynamite, right. You've got of course, you've got Buffalo. You've got some rock solid teams. I believe in that division. I

think it's really hard. I don't want to say it's the best division because I still think the AFC North is. But when you see what could happen in the AFC East, New England is terrible. I know the Giants, the Jets are are one of those teams where so much rides on an Aaron Rodgers. We talked a little bit about that yesterday. But Buffalo, Miami good battle and many people feel like the Jets are really good. Number two

is Tampa. They are the second most susceptible in the NFC South, And without reading too much into it, people probably feel that you know Atlanta's going to be a lot better, and I get that. And the number one susceptible team as a division winner is the Dallas Cowboys, and that obviously is because Philadelphia is much better. And Philadelphia lost by just a game in that division a year ago. I think Washington's going to be okay, not great,

They'll be okay. Our thanks to Ben, our producer, and our thanks to all the great calls that we had this morning, the emotional, the well thought out. We really appreciate you taking some time to join us. We appreciate the text as well. We hope you can join us again tomorrow six o'clock here across the great state of Michigan. Don't forget Bill Simonson and the Huge Show coming your way later on this afternoon on these great affiliates

from three to six here on the Michigan Sports Network. Have a great rest of your Wednesday, everybody, what's up, Michigan. I want to give some love to Ben Glaze producing another great SHEP broadcast, Superflies producer My show later today at three, the Huge Show on the Michigan Sports Network. Friday, July twenty sixth, that's Soaring Eagle Casino in Resort the off Spring Rudy Fly for What, same show, same night, Simple Plan plus special guest

Who Mustang. Part of the Soaring Eagles Summer out Door Cosser Series. Tickets as low as twenty six dollars and on sale now at the Soaring Eagle Box office or online at detix dot com. Party hard Rockharder the Offspring Simple Plan in Humus Dang, July twenty six, showtime seven pm. Details at Soaringeaglecasino dot com