Bless You Boys: for Detroit Tigers fans

There is no more recognizable voice in Detroit Sports media than that of Jeff Riger. As a reporter and broadcaster, he's made a name for himself by his willingness to ask the questions fans want asked, and at time irritate the powerful. Joined by Mark Gorosh from the Don't Call it a Rebuild, it's a Team Build podcast, we had a fun chat about the Tigers past, present, and future, got some good Jim Leyland stories, and talked the state of talk radio in the social media era.

The first hour is devoted to the state of the Tigers and some of Jeff's experiences covering the team. Starting at about the hour mark we get into Jim Leyland stories. Three way calling via Skype remains a bit of a crapshoot, and the sound is not ideal. My apologies. We have some investments coming up that should make for a more consistent product going forward.

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What wizardry was this? Certain that the White Sox would hire the former Astros skipper, we didn't really allow ourselves to hope this would happen. Now, as we record on the evening of Thursday, October 29th, A.J. Hinch appears to be a lock to become the 49th manager in Detroit Tigers franchise history. For this episode we're fortunate to be joined the Tigers beat writer for the Athletic Detroit, Cody Stavenhagen. He'll provide his own inside insight into how this decision came to pass.

-White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf goes old-school, does it his way.

-A.J. Hinch is coming to Detroit (we're 99 percent sure).

-We'll explore how Hinch can overcome his damaged reputation, and why he feels like such a perfect, and necessary, fit for the Tigers.

-We'll preview what promises to be a slow moving offseason market.

-Finally we'll talk a bit of instructional league ball and Tigers farm system and player development staff.

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Brandon Day and Ashley MacLennan back to discuss a very interesting two weeks of Tigers baseball. After pushing to the .500 mark, they've slumped to a 3-7 record over their last 10 and now look at a three-game road series in Chicago. At the end of a stretch of 12 games over 10 days, there is no choice but to win. A tired Tigers club has their backs against the wall now, and somehow need to find a way to take the series if their impressively scrappy campaign for a wild card spot is going to live a little longer.

-A couple of brutal losses have laid bare how far the Tigers have to go to becoming a legit threat in a normal length season. But that doesn't mean baseball can't produce a miraculous little run over their final 15 games. Anything can happen in 15 games. We'll discuss the fun and disorienting ride of the 2020 Tigers.

-The compressed nature of the season has produced a wild rollercoaster of narratives, and not enough bankable information. Jeimer Candelario and Victor Reyes seem like viable pieces, but the track records are still a little hard to trust. Meanwhile Mize, Skubal, and Paredes haven't impressed much, while Willi Castro has. Knowing the numerous wild swings in performance that accompany the average player's regular season, how much can we really trust in such an odd, short, season of baseball?

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Monday night after a trade deadline with no real action from the Detroit Tigers, we're back with part two of our midseason review. Mark Gorosh of the Don't Call it a Rebuild, it's a Team Build podcast joins host Brandon Day for another wide ranging conversation.

We'll reflect on what was already expected to be a pretty quiet deadline, and was in fact very quiet. That's not necessarily a bad thing either, but whether a team makes real moves or doesn't, they're telling you something about how they see themselves.

The position players are our focus tonight after talking about the pitching staff last time out. With the Tigers in it to win it, kinda, how do you best optimize this roster and still work to develop your young players? How much of the surprisingly strong performance through 32 games is real, and how much just a temporary streak? You probably won't love the answer, but there are also real positives throughout the organization now, and the team has been fun no matter how it plays out in the end.

We both believe the Tigers have a mountain to climb to return to being a regular postseason threat, but for now we'll take the club's cue and enjoy the show for another month.

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Well here we are now, and the Tigers are actually entertaining us. The Motor City Kitties are just a game under .500 and right on the heels of the final Al Wild Card spot. Things couldn't be going too much better.

Brandon Day and Mark Gorosh got together Friday night prior to the club's Saturday doubleheader victories over the Twins to take stock of what we've seen from the surprisingly resilient Tigers over the first half. This will be another two part epic, with this episode focused on the pitching staff.

First we'll talk about the big news of the week, namely Matt Manning and Alex Faedo getting shutdown with forearm strains. We'll consider why the Tigers seem down on Jake Rogers, and then we'll get into general impressions of the 2020 Detroit Tigers thus far.

We'll talk about the rotation first, and we're definitely feeling more optimistic about that group with Casey Mize and Tarik Skubal in the mix. Matt Boyd should settle in, and some of the concern there is overblown. Michael Fulmer is a bit of a problem, but Daniel Norris and Tyler Alexander have generally had some solutions. And finally, Spencer Turnbull just needs to go out there and play catch, because as long as he's throwing strikes, they can't hit him.

From there we ponder the question: Now that we have a bullpen what are we gonna do....with it?

Hope you enjoy. We'll be back with part two, mainly focused on the lineup, the trade deadline, and who we may yet see called up from Toledo, early in the week. Take care, and thanks as always for your support.

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We're back in the wake of an exciting week of call-up, that, unfortunately, did little to curb the Tigers rapid descent to last place. Brandon Day and Ashley MacLennan meet up for an admittedly lengthy podcast (sorry about that) recorded on Thursday night after the Tigers were swept by the Chicago White Sox.

We'll talk about the happy stuff first, as the Tigers addition of Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal, and Isaac Paredes is going to make this a fun five weeks of baseball. We'll then discuss the host of Dombrowski guys in their late 20's and whether any of them have a place in the Tigers future. We'll expand from there to see if anything more can do down to stave off the suck factor.

At about the 40 minute mark, we'll get into a long segment of listener questions (thank you!).

Finally we wrap up with the old boys network being a pain in the butt to the rest of baseball fans everywhere. Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a 3-0 grand slam with a seven run lead and a bunch of people were upset. Fortunately, everyone else piled right in on social media to shut that nonsense down. Finally, we'll wrap with the ugliest story of the week, as Reds broadcaster Thom Brenneman showed his true colors in a hot mic moment and probably got himself fired. He of course followed up with the save my job style apology and played the victim while taking a long time to even apologize to the community he slandered. Not good. Not good in society. Not good for baseball, and definitely not good for baseball having a strong future that welcomes all fans to the table. We're really sick of this crap. Imagine how others feel.

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Hi folks, we're back with another podcast summit with the Don't Call it a Rebuild, it's a Team Build podcast. Our special guest is Cody Stavenhagen, Tigers beat writer for The Athletic Detroit.

Thanks to Cody for sitting in with us yet again as we recorded Monday night during the Tigers' loss to the Chicago White Sox. With the imminent debuts of three of the Tigers top prospects, there was much to discuss.

We'll kick things off discussing Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal, and Isaac Paredes, and get the latest word from Cody on reports out of Toledo prior to their call ups. Then we move on with a little speculation as to who else might find their way to Detroit in the very near future. We'll also get into the sense that these call ups mark the end of the teardown phase, and the beginning of Al Avila's mark finally making itself felt on the major league roster, for better or for worse.

Of course, this isn't your Daddy's AL Central either. The competition appears set up to be a lot fiercer than during the Tigers 2011-2014 run atop the division.

Finally, we discuss the struggles of Miguel Cabrera and Matt Boyd, debate the merits of the Jhonny Peralta card where Paredes defensive home is concerned, and consider which Tigers prospects will now get the invite to Toledo to work out with the Tigers alternates.

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After a night of pure dominance from the vaunted Tigers bullpen (just go along with it) the club is out to a solid 3-2 start in this compressed season of madness. The Tigers have a tendency to look their best early in a season before the long fade to the bottom begins, so don't get too excited, but there are at least reasons for optimism and in 2020, optimism is an especially valuable commodity.

Hang in there long enough, Tigers, and your front office may reward you with some top prospect backup in the rotation and bullpen. In the meantime, Daniel Norris seems soon to return, and the club could really use him right now.

Hosts Brandon Day and Ashley MacLennan will talk early returns from the Tigers' position groups. Obviously the flame-throwing work of relievers Gregory Soto and Jose Cisnero has been the most obvious thing to get too-soon excited about, but overall there are encouraging signs from the offense as well. We knew they'd be better this year, and if they could just trim the punchouts a little bit they might surprise with league average performance.

Michael Fulmer's return to action went reasonably well, but oddly it's the rotation where the club now looks weakest. At least for the moment. Funny how things change.

From happy thoughts on the Tigers, we'll then wrap the show discussing the league's miserable handling of the Miami Marlins COVID-19 outbreak, why we still have no idea if baseball can pull this off, Justin Verlander's injury, and a few more odds and ends before we wrap.

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Summer Camp has only been underway for about two weeks, and yet here we are only another week until Opening Day. Co-host Ashley MacLennan is back as we take a look at the early returns.

We discuss baseball without fans and how best to present this unusual package via television broadcast. We'll take the temperature of the notables based on their performance so far, and consider the possibilities for the starting rotation and the bullpen.

Then it's on to some of the fringe candidates fighting for a job, and the likelihood the league can pull off a complete season without having to shut it down due to COVID-19 cases spiking in one or more organization. We'll talk about speculation over players who haven't reported yet and why it shouldn't be assumed they have the virus.

First though, we must marvel at young Riley Greene who has repeatedly looked like the best player on the field over the past week. That has been quite fun, as Mr. Greene seems to do something spectacular every time he's in a game.

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Welcome back. Thanks for joining us for round two. As these do, the conversation stretched out into a two-hour marathon last Friday night, and so here is the second half of our chat with Cody Stavenhagen, Detroit Tigers beat writer for The Athletic Detroit.

In this half, we'll talk bullpen, you'll hear why Brandon and Mark regard Spencer Turnbull as a bit of a hot potato, and then talk turns to some of the position players hanging onto a spot on the Tigers' roster but in need of a modest breakout to secure their role. Guys like JaCoby Jones, Jeimer Candelario, Harold Castro and more will take their turn under the lens.

Finally, we'll talk about the AL Central, the impossibility of making predictions this season, and then chat Cody up about the COVID enforced sabbatical from baseball and how he spent the break.

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