How are the Tigers going to use Justin Verlander
this season? This is kind of a big, it's kind
of a big deal, a heartwarming little story to
start things off. Yeah, life truly does go full
circle and you can go home again. I think he
is going to be the fifth starter. I think he
is going to be a mentor in the locker room to
a lot of these young pitchers, the sage veteran
that they can lean on. Don't think his impact
will truly be felt though until probably all
-star break maybe after that But again a great
signing by the Tigers especially deferring the
money to 2030 because who the heck knows what's
gonna happen at that point in time You're listening
to the litter box a Detroit Tigers podcast with
your hosts Chet West and Bill Patterson Welcome
back, Tigers fans, to another episode of the
Litterbox, Detroit Tigers podcast. We have news
coming in hot and heavy to the point where Bill
and I have barely been able to put the microphone
down over the last couple of days. The Detroit
Tigers are bringing back A1 Justin Verlander.
Home sweet home for Justin. Looks like he's going
to cap his career off here in Detroit. We're
going to discuss that, the ramifications it may
have on our pitching staff, on our young pitchers
and players. We'll discuss the injury to Reese
Olsen and the news we got that he will be out
for the season. And we will touch on Dylan Dingler's
elbow cleanup procedure, which caught a few of
us by surprise. And then we're going to touch
on the spring training roster for you and get
you ready for things. Today is reporting day
for pitchers and catchers. Let's get things going.
Bill, talk to me about your feelings. Want to
know how elated you are with the Justin Verlander
signing? It's great I mean given that we're not
expecting him to be anything more than the fifth
starter what the Tigers have done is they're
taking a page from the Los Angeles Dodgers playbook
chat and That is you can no longer go into a
season with five starting pitchers. It's too
taxing hitters are too good And with pitchers
throwing spin rates the way they do, arms are
gonna go down, guys are gonna get hurt, they're
gonna get developed blisters, ailments. Look
at what happened last year between Jobe and Olsen.
We utilized like 40 starting pitchers last year
and that's not even counting the chaos. So having
eight starters is somewhat we're kind of counting
right now. We're having to go pretty deep on
that. It's a good thing, Chet. You can never
have enough pitching. You can never have enough
pitching. And I'm going to say it one more time.
You can never have enough pitching. So if the
Tigers don't get the bats that we are hoping
they need from within, guess what? They can make
a move in June. They can make a move in July
and pick up somebody either as a rental or as
a long term. And quite frankly, You know, for
those out there that were upset by the Tigers
not signing Bo Bichette, I think the two signings
between Valdez and Verlander are a much better
use of resources and lead me to believe that
the Tigers are all in for this season. Does that
mean it's going to happen? Chet, nobody knows,
but we can certainly hope. And I do think there's
a step in the right direction. For sure. I think
this team's floor is making it one Step further
than they have made it the last two seasons.
I expect them to be contenders in the American
League I expect them to be in the ALCS and we'll
see how the chips fall We just don't know but
the pitching not only starting in those eight
starters chat But also the bullpen depth that's
been accumulated the 4h chat. We're looking good
Looking great. I am so I think I'm in your camp
on verlander I don't know what to really expect
what we're gonna get from last year with the
Giants He had a really rough start to his to
his campaign there But then in the last half
of the season, I would have loved to have had
him on our roster So the Giants were neck -and
-neck with the Padres trying to gun for a playoff
spot They were his last 13 starts. He had a sub
-270 light out he was going seven innings almost
routinely exactly and he was he became call him
a horse in that rotation but he was he was much
better than they probably would have expected
him to be at all throughout the season The first
half was rough. There's no there's no discounting
that I get over a five ERA and no wins for like
the entire first half of the season. But he did
pull it around and gave us some vintage looking
Verlander out there for the second half of the
season. I'm only hoping we can see some of that
this year. I think he's going to get used as
more of a swing guy. more than likely depending
on injuries you never know but i think he's gonna
get used as more of a swing guy maybe a long
middle relief guy maybe a guy who spots starts
for people on days when they need it something
along those lines one more to add go i think
he's gonna be a home start specialist interesting
and so if i guess when you talk about him pitching
long relief that goes Against the counter intuition
that you and I have said that like chaos is dead.
We're not gonna do that We've sure graduated
from that which we all hope is true I think that
they are gonna pitch him almost exclusively at
Comerica as much as they can I mean, well, can
I explain why? Yeah, go ahead I mean dust off
your verlander jersey. The place is gonna be
packed. It's gonna be electric So you think he
needs that extra emotional boost to get himself
going for gay? No But think about where he pitched
the last 13 starts. I believe that more than,
well, two thirds of those were at Oracle or wherever
they're calling AT &T. He needs a pitcher's park.
He needs a pitcher's park. That's all I'm saying.
He couldn't. I get it. Pitch in Houston any longer.
So go ahead. We'll see how he goes. We'll see
how he goes So we were we touched on injury issues
there, right? We talked about when could verlander
get slotted in well within about 24 hours of
getting the verlander news We get Reese Olsen
news that he has now shut down for the 2026 season.
This disappoints me I really liked Reese Olsen.
I really wanted to see him make a comeback this
year and get in some pitching It does open things
up for my guy Melton in this rotation. It does
open things up to possibly see somebody like
a Ty Madden in spring trading, even though he's
being projected for the pen. He was at one point
in time, quite the prospect, with a great arm.
He did show some stuff when he came up. So we'll
see what happens. What do you think of the Rhys
Olsen stuff? I mean, is this is Rhys Olsen? Are
we ever going to see him pitch for the Tigers
again? Great question. Don't have an answer for
you. What frustrates me about this is not the
injury itself. The fact that he could have had
the surgery last October doesn't change anything.
He still would have missed this season It's pretty
intensive shoulder surgery from what I've read,
but he decided to try to rehab it and now that
really puts him further out, and I guess that
bothers me given that now we know the Tigers
are all in to win. Sure. What are your thoughts
on that? I'm just disappointed we're not going
to get to see him this year. Yeah, I like when
he pitches. It doesn't sound like the timing
of this surgery is going to put him back any
more than he would have if he had it last October.
He's missing the season, he's missing the season.
Exactly. So I'm just more disappointed we aren't
going to get to see him. It does. Let's be honest,
the signings for Framber The signings with Verlander
do soften that blow a little bit. Imagine if
we hadn't signed those two guys and you found
out Reese Olson wasn't going to be pitching.
Then you're sitting there saying, OK, now we're
now we're looking at Keiter Montero right off
the bat and the season starts. Now we're looking
at chaos when the season starts. Becoming the
best Korea Super League baseball fan, trying
to scour around where our next right hander is
going to grab another Drew Anderson or something
off the heap. Exactly. I am I'm I'm less disappointed
or I should say I'm more disappointed. He won't
be playing this year because I wanted to see
him. But I'm not as concerned based on what we
have in the till. And there are rumors, there's
rumors that the Tigers may not be done. Chris
Bassett may be in their plans for the right price.
People are saying they're still kicking the tires
on some starters. We'll see what happens. Nothing's
developed quite yet that we know for sure. Now,
I want to get to another injury bit of injury
news. Dylan Dingler. Dylan Dingler is going to
hit Dingers, but he had to have his elbow cleaned
out. He's had this done before. He's got a great
arm. I mean, if he's had it done before and he
performs as well as he does now and he's having
it done again, I'm hoping it's some preventative
maintenance that he's been advised to do on a
periodic basis. Now. I know you have concerns
about this because if he's had it once he's heading
into having it again When is elbow surgery gonna
happen? When is Dylan Dingler going to become
a first baseman instead of a catcher? I don't
know if that'll ever happen. But where do you
put him after that other than DH? What are your
thoughts on this whole thing? I don't share your
Optimism that it's just a cleanup. I feel like
anytime you're having a second Cleanup or surgery
and again, I'm not a elbow surgeon. It just concerns
me It also the timing and everything concerns
me a little bit as well It seems like the last
two weeks chat we get good news and it's like
hey chat I got your surprise birthday present.
It's on your front step And then the neighbor's
kids come over and put flaming dog poop in a
bag, you know, next to it. And, you know, so
you get a little bit of both heaven and hell,
whatever you want to say. They say he's going
to be ready by opening day. OK, so that would
be a non -issue. But but. I will focus a little
more on some of the catchers we have in spring
training like Joshua Roseno, Theron Lorenzo,
you know, Tomas Nido may end up being on the
team after all to begin the season. We'll see
how this thing goes. We don't know that this
is going to keep them out for any extended period.
But the starting pitcher was announced by A .J.
Hinche and that is going to be Tarek Schubel
in San Diego on the 26th of March. That sounds
right. I fully expect our mustached friend, Jake
the Snake Rogers in San Diego. All right. OK.
All right. OK. So we've gotten through that bit
of news. Let's talk a little about our spring
training roster, Bill Chet. The exciting news
about the 67 gentlemen that are going to be in
Lakeland, Florida, starting just on the 15th.
Left handed pitchers, we've got 11 of them in
my Pick to click chat only because of his name
is the first one on this list and manual de Jesus
Sean Gunther Tyler Holton Bailey horn Brant Herter
Jake Miller Connor Pinkleton Brian Sammons Turk
Scoobel Drew Summers and of course the newest
well second newest tiger Framper Valdez check
who excites you from the left -handed Stance.
I don't know if and manual day Jesus is my pick
to click He's not he's not on the 40 man, but
I'm gonna call him any from now on Because and
manual is a mouthful like you've got three of
the four eighth club here between Holton horn
and her Okay, I like that. I am gonna say I'm
expecting a big season out of Tyler Holton. I
have a feeling we're gonna see him Quite often,
maybe towards that setup or back end. I know
we've got a much, much improved back end. I mean,
Tyler might be. Tyler was our setup guy basically
last year. He might be in the sixth inning or
the, you know, to just keep us in a game or something.
I don't know how they're going to use him now.
Is he still a setup guy to you? I think he's
going to be the hold master, which the hold master.
Yes. Okay. Holton, the hold master. And he's
going to lean on his other 4 -H club gentlemen
to set him up. Yeah. To set him to hold. I think
he is just going to get us through the sixth,
seventh and eighth innings on rough days and
turn it over to Will Vest and some other studs
that we're going to talk about here. Let me throw
those at you. Let me throw the right handers
at you. I would appreciate that. We've got the
recently signed Drew Anderson for one year and
seven million dollars out of the KBO. Phil Bickford,
Bo Brischke. Dugan Darnell, Scott Efros of former
Chicago Cub fame, Kyle Finnegan, Jack Flaherty,
Sawyer Gibson Long, Brennan Hannafee, Kenley
Jansen, Jackson Jobe, Jack Little, Ty Madden,
Tyler Madison, Troy Melton. You've got Casey
Mize, Kyder Montero, Ree Solson. Dylan Smith,
Justin Verlander, Will Vest, a couple other guys
that have been invited. I'm not going through
the whole list, but Bill, we got 28 right -handed
pitchers in camp right now. We have 11 lefties.
That sticks out. Who's pooping that large right
-handed batch there are you excited to see this
year? Outside of the usual suspects. I'm going
to say that I think Kyder Montero is going to
be given every opportunity to pitch in some capacity
this year. Whether he takes advantage of that
opportunity is a totally different story chat.
However, we know that certain starting pitchers
last year, looking at you, Jack Flaherty, were
not as reliable game to game as they probably
should have been for the contract that was signed.
If that happens and let's just say Troy Melton's
not ready. I hope that's not the case. It could
mean that Kyder Montero gets, you know. Yep.
It's a nice backup to have, right? You just don't
want him starting all the time. You don't want
to go and plan for him to be in the top five.
And I did throw Reese Olson in there by accident
as I'm reading through my list. He is not going
to be there, obviously. We talked about that.
But as we move on, I'm excited for that back
end. I'm excited for Jansen. Finnegan invest.
That's going to be a great change. Yeah. That's
the big thing. I think that I'm most excited
about as well is just how they're deployed. We
since AJ's been here, we really haven't had the
pure starter 4 -H club. Let's just hypothetically
say set up and then move it to one of the guys
who shot it down. Yeah. And so I'm excited to
see how that plays out this year. Let's talk
about catchers chat. We talked about Dylan Dingler
and his injury. We've also got Jose Berseno,
we've got Feiron Lorenzo, Tomas Nido. If he makes
this roster, I will be dumbfounded. Yeah. The
aforementioned Mustachio, Jake Rogers, and Eduardo
Valencia. Anything there that you want to comment
on, any picks to click? In theory, you've got
four of those guys on the 40 man in Dingler,
Lorenzo, Rogers, and Valencia. I don't see, I'm
assuming, assuming, and I know you don't like
this, the Dingler is gonna be ready opening day.
I'm assuming it's Dingler Rogers and we're running
that back, right? Wouldn't mind seeing Lorenzo
pick it up this year and possibly get some playing
time. I think that we are gonna see a catcher
trade before - You think so? Before - Okay. Okay,
okay. All right. Yeah four catchers on the 40
man's a lot I mean that's you know, and then
you got two other guys who are viable options
there potentially and one that is Tracking as
a top one our prospect in Bersagno who should
be there So exactly. I mean, the only guy that's
really like a true Crash Davis career. Yeah.
Minor leaguer is Tomas Nido. Yeah. But he was
so great last year that, like, we're all cheering
for him. He was pretty good, right? Well, I mean,
just his story. Yeah, yeah. No, I get it. So
infielders, let's jump over to these infielders.
Matt Sanderson, Javier Baez, Trey Cruz, Jace
Young, Colt Keith, Howie Lee, Kevin McGonigal,
Zach McKinstry, John Peck. Trey Sweeney Spencer
Torkel sending Gleyber Torres. I am most excited
I think for the obvious which is let's see what
Max Anderson and Kevin McGonigal can do I hope
one of the two makes the big league roster coming
out of this if the Tigers are in it to win it
and One of those two showing any life in at bats
Let's not ignore service time and all that. I
don't think they're going to do that, Bill. They're
going to look at service time. McGonigal's not
coming out of spring training. He'll be like
third week of April or whatever it takes to get
him around the service time. I'm not saying that
that's what's going to happen. What I'm saying
is what I'd like to see happen. Now, the other
part of that, Chet, is Max Anderson and Kevin
McGonigal need to earn that. So let me flip this
a little bit to something that I think we can
both agree on. I think the player under the most
scrutiny is going to be Jace Young. I think this
is his final. It's his Waterloo, if you want
to use that. I think Jace Young and possibly
Trey Sweeney are going to get hard looks this
spring as to whether they're ready to go or if
they're, you know, going to get dropped off at
the next stop. Exactly. Can I move over to outfield
or is there anything? Fire it up. All right.
Kerry Carpenter, Max Clark, Riley Green, Jami
Jones, Corey Jokes, Ben Malgeri, Parker Meadows,
Wensil Perez, Austin Slater, and Matt Furley.
Boy. Well, OK. So Kerry Carpenter, Riley Green,
they're locks for their positions and aren't
going anywhere. We have to deal with Centerfield
at some point in time on this team. Max Clark
is the guy, right? He's who we got coming up.
What do you do in the meantime? You know, Parker
Meadows kind of falls into that Jace Young, Trey
Sweeney, time to prove it deal for me. He's in
that same crew that's going to get looked at.
Matt Vierling, to me, is going to always be a
bench player. We tried so hard to make him the
All -Star, the incredible player that we thought
was going to save the season last year and didn't
really happen. Jermy Jones is my spark plug.
I like him off the bench. What are your thoughts?
I've got a funny story for you. Yeah. So Parker
Meadows is in Lakeland, and I don't know if you
heard this today, but when everybody reported,
he looked over at Justin Verlander in the locker
room and asked the clubhouse attendant, what's
he doing here? He had no idea that they had signed
him. There's a lot going on in a guy's life,
you know? I mean, he doesn't watch the news like
we do. Or he keeps his phone turned off and is
just - Or that. He's just working out, watching
video, sleeping in a van by the river or something.
Hyperbaric chamber with oxygen flowing. I think
he's probably just not paying attention or maybe
it was a joke, Bill. Maybe it was like, hey,
who's that guy? It was meant to be laughed at
and it was a joke. Do you think that could have
been it? It was reported, but we'll see. Well,
depending on who reported it. Anyhow, so that's
your squad. That's what we have going into spring
training. Usually you and I pick a guy somewhere
around now. I think we're going to hold off one
more episode to pick our guys. That might be
a topic for the next episode is Chet and Bill
pick their guys for the season. It's kind of
an early time to do it, but let's let's get out
early and we'll have the whole spring training
sweat to go. Listeners, I do want you to know,
though, I do get to pick first this year because
I won last year's by picking Dylan Dingler. You
did depict Dylan Dingler. I don't remember that,
but I'm sure it happened. You cheered for him
a lot. All right, listeners, thanks for tuning
in. This is a little spring training update to
throw at you. If anything else pops up, we'll
be sure to pass it along. Thanks for listening.
Go Tigers. Go Tigers. All right. That's gonna
do it for this episode of the Litterbox, a Detroit
Tigers podcast. Thanks for hanging out with us.
We're Bill and Chet. We'll be back soon with
more Tigers Talk. If you're enjoying the show,
be sure to follow or subscribe on Spotify, Apple
Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
And hey, if you got a minute, leave us a quick
review. Till next time, go Tigers.