AJ Hinch joins the Sports Office; Talking NFL Trade deadline

All right, good evening and welcome to the sports office on this Tuesday night. It is brought to you by the Detroit, by Chevy Detroit. I thought there should be more words. Let's get started. Let's, together, let's drive. Visit chevydetroit.com. We are not going, that's Will Birchfield. Hi, Will. Sorry I didn't introduce you. How's it going? Everybody's in here. I'm just so excited about our next guest. We're not going to waste any time. Yeah, I'm not the important guest. We're getting him up here right now. A.J. Hinch, the manager of the Detroit Tigers. So I actually had to look at my computer, AJ. This is going to be your seventh season in Detroit. I don't know. It kind of feels like you've been here longer. How does that resonate with you? Well, it's been the story of a couple of different paths, right? When I first got here, we were trying to get ourselves back to the playoffs. We did that a few years into that, a regime change. And now I look up and I call Michigan home longer than any stop along the way that I've had after playing. That's really- We love Michigan, I'm gonna- Forever have a place in Michigan and and hopefully bring more memories to the Tigers and the Tiger fans and we got some work to do to get where we want to get to and And eventually have a parade in downtown Detroit. Oh, God, and that'll be amazing. All right, you can text the show at 248-200-5042. Text in your questions for AJ if you'd like. We've got them for about 10 to 12 minutes here. And you can also hit that QR code and Zoom in. I know, Bertie, that you've got questions for the skipper, but we have to start right with one that you asked a lot this season. All of us. All of us. And that is about your Rookie of the Year. And it feels like we started talking about Kevin McGonigal as the potential Rookie of the Year in what? 2018. May? Well, maybe 2018. I mean, it really has been just a joy for you to see this come to fruition. What does it feel like? Yeah, I'm just glad he's getting the recognition, you know, that he deserves. I mean, it was so fun. And there's so many things that you guys got to see on the field. So many more things that I saw behind the scenes and in spring training when he walks in my office and he's a young kid trying to impress, what do I have to do to make this team? And then we look up and six, seven months later, he's had arguably the best rookie season. You know close to of all time around the game certainly in our organization. So I'm proud of him. It's nice to see him uncomfortable in front of the camera and he's got all his friends and family and I was texting back and forth with him today to see the calm after the storm a little bit. But you know it there's only one that they name in the rookie in their rookie class which is a really good rookie class in the American League and he's ours and he's ours for a long time and we need to build around him. AJ, we were just joking before the show that after he received the award a couple nights ago, you wanted to remind him, hey, back in the gym, back to work, hit the weights, work on that arm. In reality, he's probably the last guy you have to tell that to, right? He seems like he's just cut with the right hardworking mentality. Yeah, I mean, he's one of many. I mean, we are blessed with a lot of really good guys who take care of themselves in the offseason. We have coaches that stay in touch with them. And these guys are all, I've gotten video of Parker Meadows swinging down in Atlanta. And I've gotten, you know, I saw Reese Olsen playing catch the other day. We, I just was texting with Tork earlier. I mean, these guys are starting to get underway now. The calendar has turned November and baseball season's officially over. But the next portion of this becomes a really important offseason. We need a lot of guys to have good offseasons to get to the spring. And our guys work hard. Kevin's, you know, right at the top of the list. He's built that way. In a lot of ways, given that we didn't make the playoffs, which none of us were happy about, We had to scale back and make sure these guys didn't start their programs in mid-October because they've been itching to get back at it. You know, I will say when we were down in Lakeland in spring, well, it's February, when pitchers and catchers first reported and we came down for our annual little 48-hour stint there and packed it all in, and I asked Kevin McGonigle which players he admired kind of growing up. And when he said to me, Alan Trammell, I think that's when I knew that he was, Different. How just how different is he for people who don't have time to interact with him ever? Yeah, he's you know, he's mature. He's he's what, 21, 22 years old and he's mature for his years. He's also very process oriented. So when you know, and again, I think he's been that way since we got him and he's methodically worked his way through and he can retain a lot of information. He can go out and execute. He's. You know, he's built to care about winning. I mean, I know that this guy will go get two and three hits a night. And then if we don't win, like he's not a happy camper in the clubhouse. And I love that about him. And, you know, the way he's wired is to never be satisfied. And so he's going to get back to work. He's going to take his moments. And get all the love that he gets this week for the award that he got. But he wants to win, and he's committed to staying here. He's also dialed in with his teammates. And that whole package coming from a 21-year-old in his first year is pretty unique. And even the respect for... For Tram and and you know when I put him with Javi in spring training and they were taking ground balls together. I mean, he's not above anybody or anything and and he's got his his moral compass in a good place that that that knows what this is all about. Yeah, I did tweet yesterday after we found out he had won the award that this is a kid that will never rest on anything that his goal is to bring a championship. To Detroit, and I know, Will, you have been equally impressed by this kid and the way he handles himself, too. I would just say championships. Yeah, championships. I mean, that's definitely his ambition. AJ, is there an at-bat of McGonigle's this past season that comes to mind as maybe most emblematic of what a... Precocious hitter he is. I mean, whether it was like a 12-pitch battle against a hard-throwing lefty, the walk-off he had back in June, is there one that stands out to you as most representative of what a competitive at-bat he is? Yeah, so this is a pretty interesting story. So early in the year, we went to Minnesota. And if you check that on the schedule, I want to say it was like Maybe game 7, 8, 9, or 9, 10, 11, 12, whatever it was in the first 12, 15 games, we went to the Twins. Now, I don't love a lot about that trip because we didn't have a good series, but One night, Kevin got kind of out front on a split finger. He grounded out to first. He came back. He was super upset with himself that he was up there looking for a split off somebody that he knew the scouting report. And he rolls over to first base. Fast forward 24 hours later, and he moves up in the box on his own. He hunts that split, and he smokes the ball down the right field line for a double. Now, I've been in this league a really long time, and to see a player make that adjustment is always cool. He did that in the first week of his major league career. And so that's when I was like, whoa, this kid's a little bit different. He's built a little differently. He's dialed in on the things that he wants to do, and he can retain a lot of information. That, to me, was an eye-opener. I mean, of course, the debut with the two-RBI double to lead off his career and the walk-off hits and even the homer at the end to get his OPS over 800. And stamp his season with a home run oppo. To end the year last year. Those are all great. The little subtle adjustments that I'm trying to get five and seven and eight year career big leaguers to do. He's doing in week one. That's pretty unique. Yeah. It is a tribute to him. I mean, he really is the same guy every day. Steady as they come. We've got a couple of questions for you on our text line. What can you tell us about Bryce Rainer? Will we see him in Detroit this coming season? This is from Kevin and Katie Harkness in Wixom, Michigan. AJ. Right, right from McGonigal to Rainer. Good question. You know, I just saw Rainer. I was in Phoenix. I flew down to see a fall league game. I took the boys out to dinner trying to get them to the finish line. This is the longest these guys have played in their life. And Rainer's hurt, hurt his finger. He's not playing, but he's staying active and staying with that team until I believe it ends at the end of this week or maybe next week. So So Rainer's a talented kid, obviously has a big swing, he's kind of dialing it back a little bit and making some adjustments along the way. We've got to have some patience with him, and it's a true shortstop. He can really throw, he can really defend, he went through his own little set of injuries last season, and now we're just going to continue to put more and more in front of him. And I think Scott's talked a lot about this when he talks about our player development system. Like we respond to what the players. are doing and where we see them going, they kind of dictate their own path. So I don't know whether he can get to the big leagues next year. I think what Scott has proven as an organization, we're willing to push guys quickly when they earn it and when we feel like they're ready for the next challenge. And we've got to assess a lot of things before we get to that point. But when he comes, he's going to be able to do... A lot of things. Now, unfortunately for Rainer and others, McGonigal set the bar like crazy high when it comes to rookies breaking in. So I'm going to ask our fans for patience as more rookies come up to the big leagues. But he's a special talent. We're looking forward to him impacting our roster at some point. Yeah, well, Max seemed to wear it pretty well, although that kid wears anything well. He has got swagger beyond his years. Yeah. Somebody also said, could you possibly talk JV into being a closer? I know that's a hard no. Or maybe helping with the pitching staff, being a pitching coach. Have you had any conversations with JV about that? I mean if you have any if you have one conversation you have a ton of them with JV with you know he's opinionated he's got a lot of ideas and a lot of thoughts especially on starting pitchers and one of the things he did this year is I think he did help a lot of our young pitchers develop a mentality to pitch deeper into games and a little bit of that old storytelling and about the way that it used to be when when the manager hands you the ball what your responsibility is and so I know You know, with Cater and Melton and... Even Framber still, who he played with in Houston as well, when River got here, Jackson, when he got healthy, they all soaked up a lot of JV's expertise and wisdom. And so, you know, he's been doing, they did a little media circuit after, you know, I think we did as much as we could to usher him into retirement with a really special experience. I would hope that he knows he has an open-door policy to me and our team and be around the organization as much as his schedule is going to allow. And hopefully he pops in whenever he can and certainly continue to influence those pitchers that I mentioned and many more to come. Yeah, that would be cool. Hey, AJ, just zooming out league-wide for a sec. We hear this term baseball lifer for all the term. Certainly, JV embodies it. You yourself embody it. I don't know that anyone personifies it more than Pat Murphy, and it felt like the entire baseball world was rooting for him and the Brewers to win by the end of their run. I know certainly I was. Could you sense and feel the sport sort of rallying behind Pat Murphy, and do you know him well? Yeah, poor Kevin Cash. I know, man. You know, like. Kevin, I brought Kevin to the All-Star Game in 2018. And so he's a close friend of mine as well. So I found myself in a real dilemma watching those two guys go at it in the World Series. Murph is great. You know, Sort of an odd connection to him. He was at Arizona State when I was at Stanford. His assistant in college was my wife's college roommate. So I got introduced by her. On a blind date, now we're about to celebrate, I think it's 27 years together. So Murph and I go back a long time to my college days when he was still coaching. He recruited me at Notre Dame. And then I went at it with him in the old Pac-12. So Murph and I worked together in San Diego as well when I was in the front office. And he was getting thrown out like every third game in Yakima or wherever it was. Yeah. He's a tremendous baseball enthusiast. I love the way that he has really turned that organization and that club into his own. Unique personality, great storyteller, very much a good blend of old school and new school and to see him hold that trophy up, I reached out to him right away and told him those never go away and I'm really proud of him. So the whole baseball world, I think, appreciates the journeys that That all of us go through and many of us have given our entire careers to this sport and the sport gives it back in very unique experiences. Well, a fun young team to root for in Milwaukee as is the Tigers. And I cannot wait till we get to see you again down in Lakeland. We've got a little time still, but it's going to be another fun year. Thank you so much, AJ, for taking time out for us tonight on the sports office. We appreciate you. Thanks, AJ. My pleasure. Good to see you guys. All right. Likewise. Thank you. That's AJ Hinch, manager of the Tigers. Back after the break. We're talking PWHL hockey. All right, welcome back to the sports office. That is a close-up. Hi, it's just us in here. It's very intimate. Will Birchfield joining me. You had a birthday party over the weekend, didn't you, for the little man? We unfortunately had to cancel based on a last-minute illness. Uh-oh, foot and mouth? No, it wasn't that severe, but yeah, we had to cancel nonetheless. I just know that's been going around. It's been going around. Well, good. Then hopefully I can make the next part. Yeah, definitely. You're invited to all of them. You know that. You know that. Will Birchfield, 7-1, and our Lions pregame show. Our next guest joining us is a player for the Detroit Clutch. Watch. I love the name. Cheyenne D'Arcangelo. And D'Arcangelo. She is born in Royal Oak, Michigan. All right, give us the little quick, the little Cliff Notes version of you're a girl born in Royal Oak, Michigan, and now you're playing for the Detroit Professional Women's Hockey League team. Did you ever think this day would come where the city would have that team? Or how much of a dream was it to kind of want it and now to achieve it? Yeah, absolutely. This is a dream come true. Growing up, I looked up to the Red Wings and never really thought about a women's professional team. Even a college, a Division I team was something that was a dream. But now for this to come full circle and be able to play here in Detroit, it's something pretty special. Tell us about that logo. They obviously unveiled the logo and the name. I love the gear. I think it's really cool in staying in tune with the The Detroit, the Motor City. Yeah, absolutely. I would say the same thing. I was really excited about seeing this logo. I think it's pretty bold, and I think it embodies, you know, Hockey Town, Motor City, and Detroit, and I'm really excited for the fans to all see it on the opening night in December. I remember. Cheyenne, you mentioned looking up to the Red Wings when you were growing up. experiencing your love of hockey for the first time. Who were your original hockey heroes? I imagine there were some on the women's side too. Was it someone like Hillary Knight? Someone like even Cammi Granato? Who were your sort of formative hockey heroes growing up? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, from the Red Wings, I would have to go with like Pavel Datsyuk at the time when I was little, I had those jerseys. But in the female game, Angela Ruggiero is somebody that sticks out to me. I received her book at a young age. And that kind of inspired me to want to play for the national team and continue and pursue hockey to the next level and play in college. And that's where I'm at today, too. So it's pretty awesome. And obviously, Being around people like Hillary Knight and other women playing and, you know, making history in the women's side of the game and being such huge role models is pretty awesome as well. It is really cool. Did you have a Datsyuk jersey growing up? I had a Shanahan one. Nice. I thought it was kind of cool just because it was similar to how I spell my name. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And so anyways, yeah. I've got to imagine it's also cool to play for a woman like Manon Rhéaume who is just like she is when I think of women breaking through and kind of breaking the glass ceiling. She's really one of the first that comes to mind for me with women's hockey. Yeah, totally. Absolutely. I mean, that was at a time when nobody, it wasn't normal to see women playing hockey, right? So she is definitely a trailblazer in that sense. And now to be able to play for her in Detroit and to build this franchise and work together to have something special here in Detroit is going to be awesome. And I'm really excited for it to get started. The crowds at LCA, when they would experiment with bringing the PWHL here the past couple years, have always been electric. Did you get the sense early on that this would be a great destination for the league to come to? Yeah, absolutely. I was fortunate enough to play in two of the Takeover Tour games in Detroit. And every time, it didn't matter if it was the first one or the last one I played in, I mean, the fans showed up and that's not even with them having a team. So now that we have a team and a name behind us, I'm really excited to see how we can pack the place and, you know, have some fun there. Am I seeing this correctly? You played in the inaugural season for the team in Boston. And if so, how did it help you kind of or how will it help you going from a team in Boston that played in their inaugural season to kind of helping launch things here and knowing kind of what the fans want? What types of things are expected of a young new professional team? Yeah, absolutely. I think those experiences definitely help, right? You learn and grow, and there's always obstacles starting a new franchise or it being an inaugural season and having gone through that. I think you can take some of those with you. And I was with Hilary Knight and Taylor Gerrard also in Boston, so it's pretty special to have them here again as teammates going through the same thing as we are part of this expansion team. I think it's only going to help, and yeah, it's pretty exciting. That's great. Hey, tell us the best attribute of your game. If you're going to hang your hat on one thing, you do best. I'm sure there are several, but what would you distill it down to? Yeah, I'm a power forward and a shooter, so probably my shot. That's why you have the Shanahan jersey. Yeah, right? Love that. Yeah, you got some Shanahan. You got to drop the gloves first game. I mean, you never know. You won a gold medal at Worlds in 2016 with Team USA. You've got, what, four teammates, I think, playing in Worlds right now. How much fun is it to root them on, and how much did they ask you about it going forward? Yeah, absolutely. They're over in Denmark. It's pretty special to be able to watch them. You know, I think we're all excited now. This Worlds is happening right before the season. We're about to get started next week. So it's kind of just a lot at once. And then with the name being released and things like that. But yeah, always supporting and cheering them on while they're over at Worlds. But they're just as excited to get back here and start our season with the PWHL. Well, I absolutely cannot wait to be down at Little Caesars Arena to see you guys. No doubt. Getting ready for the season. Thank you so much for joining us. A member of the Detroit Clutch, Cheyenne D'Arcangelo. Thank you. That was awesome. And we'll see you down at the rink soon. Look forward to seeing you guys down there. You're the second member of the Clutch to join us on the sports office. We did have Jesse Confer on earlier this year. So you'll have to tell all your teammates that we are friendly and kind and we don't bite. Yeah, perfect. Pass it on. Thanks, Cheyenne. Have a great evening. We'll see you at the rink soon. All right, back on the other side of the break. Closing thoughts. Maybe we have to talk about the trade deadline. I guess. A little bit. It did happen. That's what we love about our picks this weekend. Yeah. That doesn't happen often. Couldn't miss. Stick with us. We're back after the break. Break on the Sports Office on this Tuesday night. Right. Alright, back on this Tuesday night on the Sports Office. The Motor Casino Hotel Live Line has been blown up well. And you know what they want to know? How we feel about the Lions standing pat. I mean, they added Andre Cisco yesterday. But we saw so many other things moving and shaking around the league and in the division specifically. What are your thoughts on what they didn't do, did or didn't do? I was surprised. That the only move they made was Andre Cisco, who's a depth safety. I really thought after they were heavily pursuing Joey Porter Jr., acknowledging publicly their need for a difference maker at corner, that they would go out and find one. I know they were hunting one for the past two months after missing out on Porter Jr. I know that hunt extended up until the deadline today. They just weren't able to find a deal, apparently. But I do think that this could be a day that they look back on with regret. I think they're putting a ton... of stock in how the defense and the secondary in particular has played in the past four games. And it's played well, but it's played well against other than Jordan Love and the Packers. Malik Willis and the Dolphins. Who's no longer, he had an injured groin even. He wasn't even 100%. Jacoby Brissett and the Cardinals and Kyler Murray and the dead body of the Vikings offense. So if they're proven right and those strides are real, then they won't think twice about today. If they regress and it was more of a mirage, I think they'll regret That not being more aggressive and trying to find a corner. Or simply not making the same offer that the Bills made for Amani Hooker. I saw that. Was it a third? Was it a second round? They got a fifth round pick back. But Imani Hooker leads the league in interceptions this year. And is signed for two more years. I think there were players moved that could have helped the Lions for reasonable prices. Yes. And as well, the Chargers sent that linebacker to Denver. To Denver. Correct. And so, I mean, a lot of guys changing hands at positions. Questions of need for the Detroit Lions. We're gonna drop Fabian in here real quick. We've got Fabian in the Zoom room. I just wanna ask you, how do you feel after that trade deadline, Fabian? I just don't know what was we thinking about? I mean, I just can't believe it. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I think that sums it up pretty much for everybody. It's a little bit of a head scratcher, truly. Always going to make some noise. They know what we need. Yeah, they know what we need. We have the finances to go and get it. We always miss out on that. I don't know. I just, okay, we're going to keep on rolling, keep on rocking. How are we doing today? Look, we mentioned players that were, Jesse Bates would have helped this team, too. I mean, he leads the NFL in interceptions since he entered the NFL. He cost a second-round pick. Again, I think that would have been worthwhile. He's going to count us down. Fabian, thank you always for watching, for chiming in. We appreciate you. Will Birchfield, thanks for being here. Thanks for having me. Paul Sturge right now. Thanks to A.J. Hinchin as well. Yeah, thank you, A.J. and Cheyenne. Have a great day.