There was a place and time where you thought Alex Bregman was an automatic going back to Houston. And then it wasn't after the trade that sent Kyle Tucker to the Cubs for Escoc Paradis and more, and the belief was Paradis was going to start at.
Third base for Houston.
I mean, he actually taking advantage of that short portion and left would be ideal for a guy like Escoc Paradis anyway, And I don't think the greatest third fielding third baseman, he's sure as hell, isn't a you know, an Alex Bregman four and a half war type of guy. But you know, Houston trying to save some money and doing what they feel like they had to do in
order for them to compete in the Al West. Now you've got a situation where they trade Ryan Presling, free up a little bit of money, and you think, all right, now they're back in the Bregman sweepstakes. Dana Brown. Actually it was left open by Joe a spot up right on the Houston staff, Dana Brown, their general manager, said during his annual media luncheon. He said this about Alex Bregman. He said, in so many words that it's not necessarily
going to happen. He mentioned twice about Bregman in past tents, saying that once the team had lost you know, saying, once the team had lost Bregman, it appears that they've decided to move on. That's the inference you get. And if that is the case, a guy who helped them win two World Series title, won a Gold Glove, silver slugger, two ball Stars, all these other things, where.
Do they go for them? But more importantly, where does he go?
The latest revelation is that the Boston Red Sox have talked with Saint Louis about acquiring Nolan Arnado.
So if you read.
Those tea leaves, if you're into a certain way that general managers talk about players in past tense, if you see that, you know, Boston's a team that might be able to acquire and upgrade in a certain position without Bregman. That leaves really just three teams, allegedly three teams in the Bregman sweepstakes. It would be Toronto, it would be the Cubs, ironically enough, and it would be the Tigers. Do you feel a little bit better about that?
Now?
What's interesting about that is that Boston and some people kind of, you know, turn their nose up at Bregman possibly going to the Red Sox because they already have a third baseman, Rafael Devers, who I like a lot as an offensive player, don't like him as a defensive player. Does his offense outweigh his poor defense? Probably? Probably? It's been good enough for Boston, But Bregman could play second
base there. He's willing to move, and he could play second base anywhere, right, he could mean Nico Horner with the Cubs. As at second base, you'd probably put Bregman at third there. Toronto, you'd play him at third for sure, or second, but probably third. So Detroit definitely third. I'd love him at either place because I'm not a big
glabor tourist guy. But Bregman's numbers, you know. There was an article yesterday from ESPN, I believe, but breaking down the concerns that they have for him one and this kind of validates what you and I have talked about during this entire free aage in process on whether or not he's the right fit for the Tigers. Does he make them better? You damn right?
He does?
Defensively for sure. Offensively, yes, doesn't mean that I want him on a long term deal. I've gone over that. I don't need to rehash it. But knowing that he turns thirty one next month, a little bit of an issue from a contract.
Standpoint, all right.
Because let's face it, it is a bit of a young man's game. But last year, again, as I mentioned earlier in the show, he's a four point one war that's an All Star. That's something the Tigers need, is something they haven't had in a long time, all right, So there's a concern there the offense for his games or for his season. Back in twenty nineteen, they bring up he drew a league leading one hundred and nineteen walks and struck out seventeen percent of the time. That
has plummeted. The walk rate now at six point nine percent, a career low. Three to one P five on base percentage last year. Hard hit ball rate not good, okay. Slugging okay, average eh, People can go past that nowadays, and they don't even look at batting average as much as they used to. Some people do, but most people in baseball are looking at ops on baseball, slugging, slugging and OBP on base percent and if your numbers are
going down, it's a bit of a red flag. And lastly, despite the gold glove surgery after the season to remove bone chips from his elbow, I don't think he's going to be the second coming of Butch Hobson. Butch Hobson was a former third basement for Boston, had bone chips in his elbow, all kinds of problems and long lasting. Otherwise a pretty good player. But perhaps it's a perhaps it's a thing. Perhaps it's team doctors looking at him
going m this is a red flag. I don't think I would necessarily not pass the physical, but I'd take a long shot at him, and that could be a problem for people too. So we'll see, we'll see what happens with it. But there's not many guys whose war goes up okay as they get older. Justin Turner is a bit of a freak in that regard his war. His wins above replacement averaged four point eight from the time he was thirty one to the time he was thirty four to thirty five. Don't think that's going to
happen with Alex Bregman. I think the numbers go down. Let's get to the phone lines the Meyer Hotline eight sixty six eight three, eight forty eight forty three, and Meyer brings you this hour of Exus and Bros. Who do we got.
We've got Mark, yesterday's chef.
We were talking about rivalries and sports and he just wants to call back on that.
Okay, Hey Mark, Hey, good morning, chef. Yeah, you were talking about Michigan State. Michigan. I'm looking forward to they still got both their games coming up, correct, correct, Yeah, okay, okay. On the inside of the state. It was a few years back we had Sports Illustrated do the top twenty rivalries in the country, and they had number seventeen. I think it was with Hope and Calvin and I don't know if you've ever heard of that that rivalry. I'm sure you probably have the.
Bats for sure. Yeah and my double A yep.
Yeah, yeah, they do. They draw quite a crowd and they have to turn people away on that. But I'm looking forward to the Tigers this year. I think their pitching staff is going to be awesome. Do you think that we'll ever get a no hitter or two out of that team this year?
I don't know about a no hitter.
Those are tough to come by, but I quite honestly, it doesn't matter to me. What matters most to me is you know whether those guys can go deeper into games, stay healthy all season long, and give their team a chance to win.
That's what matters most to me.
Yeah, you look at low scoring this year, do you think we're going to score some runs?
I think they're going to have a hard time putting to There's a number of There's a three players, I would say, man, maybe four four players who I'm really interested to see if their numbers will continue to rise. Riley Green, Parker Meadows, Cole Keith, and Kerry Carpenter. Now Kerrie Carpenter, are they going to strictly use him as a designated hitter? That's tough to do at that age. I think he'll get a little bit of time. I'm
in right field. It'll be interesting what happens with wensil Perez because of the crowded outfield mix.
So let's see what those guys do.
If they take that proverbial next step, then I think Detroit is going to be in really good shape. The problem is they're all left handed hitters. They need a little bit more punch from the right side.
You think Spencer's going to come back? I got to drop off. I want to hear your all one.
I appreciate it.
Mark Tiger's biggest rival, the Tiger's biggest rivalry. Who do you think that is? And I'm wondering if you think Spencer's going to come back this year with a good bat, I'll talk about you later.
Thank you, Okay, thank you. I hope Spencer Torkolsen does. It's going to require a big spring, but I think spring training is it's for players who need to win jobs. And I don't even even if he has a great spring, I you know, I think Cole Keith is going to have a really good spring too. What happens if they both have great springs and Labor Torres has a creddi one, What do you think is going to happen? You think suddenly they move Cole Keith from first base bat to
second base. I think they've made their decision. I think Spencer Torkosen is going to have to make this team as an extra guy, and I think a guy like him, it's hard because if you're not getting a lot of AB's.
He's that type of player.
Now, I know you'll probably say plenty of AB's last year cheap, but he didn't do squad. Yep, you're right one hundred percent about that. But I don't think he's a guy you can just use as your pinch hitter and your your spots starter. I think it's too kind of up and down with him, and you've got to ride those those waves. I'm not saying you should. I'm just telling you. You asked the question, do you think
he's going to bounce back? I think it's going to be hard for him to bounce back if he's not playing on a regular basis, And you've got to.
Earn that, all right.
You have to earn your way into a lineup in baseball in most situations. So that's number one. As far as this team scoring a lot of runs, yeah, I think a lot depends on some of those young guys that I've mentioned.
But I am worried about the lack of power from the right side.
And if you're all you're doing is counting on the labor torres for that and an occasional bomb from Jake Rodgers what had a career high at Homer's last year, But he's not one of those guys that pitchers shiver when they're on the mound. So your right eyes think about your right handed hitters in the lineup right now, Matt Ververling, how your bias labor, Torres, Jake Rogers. Three of the four have something in common. Do you know
what I'm talking about? Torres bias and Rogers do a lot of what striking out, swinging and missing a lot of swing myths there. So I think that's why I believe a lot of people. I think it's the name first and foremost for fans. But it makes a lot of sense for Detroit to continue the pursuit of a guy like Bregman. You already know my feeling about it, so I'm not going to rehash it in terms of whether they should go get him and whether or not it should be a long term deal.
You know how I feel about that, all right.
But.
A guy like this, if you got the pre twenty four version where he's getting on base a lot and he's taking more walks, you know I should the money matter all that much. Detroit ranked what twenty eighth the
payroll last year. Had they done anything this year to make them go up exponentially, a one year fifteen million dollar deal by Alex Cobb, a one year fifteen million dollar deal by Labor Torres, a one year seven point seventy five million dollar deal that went to Tommy Kinley, and a twenty five million dollar deal for Jack Flaherty. It's thirty six overall, but it's twenty five this coming season with a ninety I think their end of the year payroll was ninety six ninety eight million dollars, So
have they really added to it exponentially? That makes you go, I don't know, we're getting pretty close to that threshold. The answer to that would be no, all right, it's not a lot higher than it was a year ago when they first started the season, And to me, this is the time to spend, but not spend unwisely. Detroit third baseman, do you know what they hit last year? The guy's moving in and out of that position.
You know what they hit? What to thirty four? I was going to guess two twenty five, so I lowball them. Do you how many homers they hit? Twelve eleven, eleven? How many were I don't know. I don't know.
How many people feel like certain positions you got to have power. But that was the old cliche, the belief growing your power has got to come from third base and first base, and you want your corner outfielders to have pop as well. You'd love it if your catcher did. Detroit's catcher's got some, but not enough, I think to scare many pitchers. If that's the case, there's not a lot of pop in the lineup.
If that's how you define it. I mean Riley Green.
How many homers do you think you're gonna get out of him?
Twenty to twenty four? Twenty five? Good?
That's great, man. I love Riley Green. You know that right field, whether it be Vererling or maybe Carpenter. Carpenter can give you thirty Yeah, that would be great, but he's not gonna be playing right field. He's gonna be more of a DH.
Maybe one series, is that right?
You?
First base? Yeah, what's that? Wants a series? You think they'll put Carpenter on right?
I think it depends on pitching matchups. I don't think aj Hinch goes by x amount of starts per series. As a matter of fact, I know that's what he does. It's all about the matchups. Third base is going to be veling again again. Career high in homers last year, but not a ton right first base. How many homers for Cole Keith? What do you project him being as do you project him to be a big home run hitting guy? And maybe power is not just home runs
either extra bases. It's driving in runs and things like that. Good hitters they could do that right. You don't always have to leave the yard, but you have to have that threat of doing just that if those are your power positions. Try doesn't have a lot of power in that regard. Bregman would add something to it.