Matt Vierling

They did have Kevin McGonigal kind of arrived this year, have a very good season, 18 home runs, 72 driven in, 278 batting average, 376 on base.

you know, where's that long-term offense? What's that long-term core look like? Guys like Zach McKinstry, Colt Keith, Javi Baez for whatever he's got left, Matt Vierling.

These are kind of borderline fringe guys.

And, you know, so it's kind of crazy to me that they had that run that they had the last couple of years.

Let's just kinda take a look as we wrap up our arbitration talk this week, um, with the remaining players that are eligible for it and if the Tigers should offer them a contract.

Uh, Will Vest, Matt Vierling, uh, Tyler Holton, Bo Brisky, Reese Olson, Wencel Perez, and Parker Meadows.

Now, with Perez and Meadows, the injury bug has just unfortunately hit them with freak accidents.

Um, what they're estimating is if Perez and, uh, Meadows go to arbitration, if the Tigers offer it and, uh, they win, it'll probably be about a million dollars.

I, you know, he's eligible.

He'd probably get about four and a half million dollars.

Is that worth it for the Tigers? And Matt Vierling, kind of in the same boat.

They're projecting about three and a half to 3.75.

... $5 million.

Uh, Matt Vierling, about 3.7 is the RB number there.

Mm-hmm.

And Spencer Torkelson at 7.7. There's a 0% chance they tender a, a contract to Torkelson at that number.

The Tigers will have 11 players that will be arbitration eligible this winter.

Will Vest, Zach McKinstry, Matt Vierling, Riley Green, Spencer Torkelson, Kerry Carpenter, Tyler Holton, Bo Brisky, Reese Olson, Wenceil Perez, and Parker Meadows.

Varying degrees of salary here.

We...

They're not gonna non-tender Kerry Carpenter for $4 million, again, even if you don't want him on the team next year.

I think the really interesting conversation, to be honest, is, is toward the top of this list.

Will Vest, Zach McKinstry, Matt Vierling are all heading into their final years.

They're the only three of that whole list that have five years of MLB service already under their belt.

You know, you think back to after game six of the 2022 World Series, you know, a bunch of the guys are in the corner of the clubhouse and they were chatting.

It was, like, Schwarber, Castellanos, Matt Vierling, a bunch of guys, and they were having a beer, and it was kind of like they were going over the disappointment of losing the World Series, but it was also m- almost like an exciting, "This is just the beginning, fellas.

We're, we're just getting started, and things are gonna get really good and really fun." And now you think four years later they haven't won a postseason series since they beat the Braves in the 2023 NLDS, and it's just a whole different vibe in that clubhouse after the game, uh, on Thursday night.

I, did, I, I s- there was a lot of disappointment.

I mean, James Outman 217, Kerry Carpenter 212, Javy Báez 211.

Matt Vierling, in 73 plate appearances with runners on second and/or third, hit 190.

Zach McKinstry, a full season, almost 100 plate appearances, 182.

Wenceл Perez 182, Brett Callahan 174, Parker Meadows 167, Jamai Jones 129, Jake Rogers 0.95. Like, a- and yes, like they got rid of a, a handful of those guys for sure, but their at bats still counted when they did happen.

He doesn't hit for average.

And Matt Vierling, thanks for the memories.

You know, good luck in the near future.

So those are the arbitration.

Hope he's okay, and hope he gets healthy and finds work elsewhere, but I think his time as a Tiger is done.

Uh, Matt Vierling, I think is, uh, uh, I believe he has one year of team control.

Maybe I'm making that up.

Again, we'll- we'll break all this down much more in depth later.