May 17, 2024 • 17 mins
Bret Boone, former Mariners All Star second baseman, joins Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain to talk about the Mariners sitting in first place of a poor AL West, who they should trade for to add some offense, starting pitching injuries, and Cal Raleigh’s future.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Coming to you live from our ElliotAvenue studios of Sports Radio ninety three point
three KJR FM. It's time forour weekly conversation with former Mariners all star
Bret Boone, brought to you byVenue Kings. Visit venue kings dot com
for all your ticket needs now withBoonie, here's Softie and Dick. All
(00:20):
right, boys and girls, Bigthanks at venue kings dot com again.
Looking for Seahawks tickets in the fall, Husky tickets, Penn State on the
road, Iowa on the road,Michigan Right here, benu Kings dot com.
As you covered, be sure anduse code SOFIA checkout for whatever it
is you're looking for. I thinkI think I think our next guest,
by the way, speaking to JohnDaily, I think our next guest has
(00:41):
a John Daily story, oh thathe can tell. Do I have that
right, booneye? Do I havea John Daily story out of you?
I don't. I don't have Idon't have a good John Daily story.
Now. I spent some time withabout a year ago. It was fascinating,
fascinating. I spent twenty four hourswith them. We went from the
golf course to back to Ryan Franklin'shouse. He proceeded to put on a
(01:07):
concert for everybody visiting the Franklin residence. And uh, I'll tell you he
he don't stop. I heard,I heard you're talking about him on the
course today. That's exactly how heis. Couldn't have been more charming a
lot, though I didn't know howhe was going after twenty four hours.
(01:30):
Yeah, see yea, I thinkthere's more there that he just doesn't want
omitting people to know. Is itpodcast worthy but not on airworthy? Is
that the Is that the deal?No, No, No, I'd be
honest with you. I'd tell youSofty, well, first of all,
it's glad that it's good to haveyou back, Softly. Yeah, vacation
in quite a bit these days.But I figures where's Softie this time?
(01:55):
Is he Scotland? Maybe Hilton Head, Paris? Where you go Hawaii,
Pebble Beach, you go on theroad more than me. Anyway, whatever,
I would tell you. If Ihad a good story, I say,
I can't share with you. No, I really don't. I really
don't have that good, juicy,behind the scenes story. I do want
(02:15):
to get them on the podcast though, however, I have not had them
on. So anyway, all right, boonie, let's talk some about it.
That k that was kind of adud by the way answer. So
there's gonna be some story about yougoing through a pack of camels or whatever,
pounding fifteen DIA cokes and getting arrested. And I never transpired, No,
nothing, nothing good. I reallydon't have anything juicy for you.
(02:36):
So, boone, this baseball teamis hovering nicely around fifty four percent.
I mean, that's just kind ofwhat they've been doing. I'll tell you
what that that slip of the tongue, If it was a slip of the
tongue, man, that's going tolive on for you. It will time
until this team breaks through. Itwill. And my question for you is,
I mean, should we be They'rein first place? But are they
(02:58):
in first place because they're a firstplace baseball team or they in first place
because we might have the weakest topend of a division in all of baseball.
Now they're in first place because they'rein the American League West, to
be honest, But but we wewhat have we been saying for weeks?
Vulnerable as it gets this division thisyear, and Seattle's in this Division right
(03:22):
now with these teams and who's onthe field for these teams, that doesn't
surprise me there in first place.Good to see Wu back and he's given
up one run now combined with thewith his minor league stints, so it's
good to see him back now.I think they're a playoff team. I
do. I do they're a playoffteam. They're they pitch, they pitch,
(03:42):
they pitch. Okay, we knowthat it's kind of like beating a
drum, but if the if theoffense, you know, they strike out
more than anybody else in the AmericanLeague. That was that was something they
wanted to tackle this offseason. Wellit didn't work there. They're still punching
out more than anybody else. State. Their defense isn't what it was a
year ago. You know, they'redown defensively. They're at the bottom of
(04:06):
the American League defensively, but theypitch and they're gonna fluctuate. I think
they're fifth in the American League rightnow combined the bullpens sixth. You know,
that'll fluctuate. Next week. Theymight be third, they might be
fourth. You know, they justwon two out of three from a Kansas
City team. That nobody's talking aboutKanasity. Team's pretty good. They pitched
(04:27):
too. They pitched too. They'rethere, they're offensive, they struggle.
They got two stars, they gotSalvator Perez, they got Bobby Witt.
They just went two out of three, two out of three from the A's,
which you expect. They got atough road trip coming up now though
they're gonna play Baltimore in New Yorkand New York surprised me. Both of
these teams have surprised me. Youknew Baltimore was good they won one hundred
and one a year ago, butI didn't think they were all that.
(04:49):
Man, they're proving me wrong.They are good, and the Yankees are
staying healthy and it seems like theydon't lose, which personally, I like
that from a family perspective. Otherthan that, I don't really care.
But they got a tough road tripand a young Washington team. These guys
are gonna be up and coming acouple of years from now. Washington's gonna
be really good. So they gota They got a tough road trip coming
(05:10):
up, but just keep doing whatthey're doing. Now. This is a
good team in the first place.Vulnerable division I like, I like if
I if I had to put itdown right now, I'll take Seattle.
Texas is a little scary for me. And you know the reason why they've
been decimated with injuries from Jung toLangford if all they went down, haven't
(05:31):
had the gram schuzers since day one. Dunning went down, Carter their star
from the postseason a year ago,Bradford's been down with a back, and
they're still hovering. They're they're agame and a half out. So Texas
scares me a little bit. AndI think it's kind of the under the
run end of the road for thatdomination for Houston. So I still like
(05:51):
Seattle. I just can't get pastthat staff. It can't get past me.
Well, if if it is theend of the road, the road
for Houston, it was a hellof a run for them, no doubt.
But let me just go back tothe Mariners for a second, because
I'm curious what a bigger concern foryou is right now the the offense or
the defense for this baseball team,Meaning, hey, the offense obviously a
(06:12):
much bigger impact than the defense,but the offense still has pieces. Polonko
Julio Crawford Garver that maybe haven't reallyclicked yet. The defense is the defense,
and I'm watching I'm watching Julio andHannegerre having problems in right center.
I'm watching Rojas babb La ball atsecond base that should have had Gilbert out
of the inning two games ago beforethe home run that lost the game.
(06:32):
How concerned are you about the defensecompared to your concern about the offense.
Well, I think when I thinka big piece of that Seattle team,
not only at the top of thelineup offensively, but but the middle of
the captive of that defense, Let'sbe honest, is Crawford. He's missed
a lot of time. I thinkhe changes a lot of things. Just
his presence out there changes a lotof things defensively. For me, They're
(06:56):
gonna defense fine, good enough,They're not going to be at the bottom.
I think when Crawford comes back asthe season rolls on, I don't
think this is one of the worstdefenses in the league by any stretch.
Offense. Offense for me is aconcern. Julio, he's not a concern
for me yet. But man,we're getting late into May and he's still
(07:17):
hanging around you know, real mediocreand not Julio type numbers. Last year
he got off to the real slowstart, but he picked it up and
he ended up he ended up makingan All Star team. So there's there's
still a lot of time. Uh. This offense, it's just it's it
never has excited me. It didn'texcite me going into the season. It's
(07:38):
not gonna incite me at the endof the season. It is what it
is. And I think I thinkwe we got to get past the fact
that, hey, this offense isgoing to get a lot better. It's
not. At best. They're middleof the road. That's what they are.
Though. This talent is they'll getbetter if and when they make a
deal. And we've already seen theMarlin's throwing the towel already they got rid
(08:03):
of their best hitter. And sodo you think we're gonna see more talent
dumping earlier than usual this year?And if you bring in a guy,
does he have to be a lefthanded hitter in this ballpark? Are you
okay bringing in a right handed hitter? Absolutely not. I bring in the
right hand hitter. I want abig league quality, good hitter oka and
I don't care if he's right hand, right handed or left handed. I
(08:24):
don't think that matters. Yeah,of course, everybody always talks about the
Friendly Cow fights Yankee Stadium, youknow Seattle. Yes, it does play
smaller to right, but it doesn'tmean you get a good left handed hitter
and he's just gonna come start hookingballs. You know, guys hit the
ball the other way too. It'sgood for Seattle. Plays kind of fair.
Now they brought defences in. Itplays fair to right center for a
(08:46):
right handedator with power. So Idon't think it's necessary. I think you
get the best hitter available, notnecessarily always got to be left handed coming
to Key Mobile Park. No,I don't think that's necessarily. Well,
there's been two names that have beenbrought up more than any other. And
Larry Stone, you know Larry fromyour days in Seattle as at Matter,
was on with us and talked abouttwo names that a lot of people are
(09:07):
mentioning, and that's Luis Robert ofthe White Sox and Peter Alonzo. Wow.
I mean, if you could makea run at one of those two
guys, which one would you want? The only thing about Robert that scares
me is his help. He's proventhat he is not. You can't count
on him. But from a talentstandpoint, while a center fielder that runs
light tower powered, great player forme. For money's no object, I'll
(09:31):
take Pete Alonzo. I know whatI'm getting. He'll go to He'll go
to T Mobile and just put downthirty five homers. So, uh,
if money's not an object, doesn'tmatter. Gosh. The Robert talent is
so intriguing though, because it's it'sfive tools. Alonzo's basically a first basement
that hits bombs, hits a lotof them. But I know what I'm
(09:54):
getting with Alono. I don't knowwhat I'm getting with Robert. I'm gonna
take Alonzo, but let me letme to be on the field. Let
me add one thing, because partof the five tool Luis Robert Pie is
what he does in center field rightwith the White Sox. And he's not
playing center field here. So doeshe go left? Does he become your
DH? Where does he play here? Oh? He doesn't know? No
(10:16):
way. You keep that talent ofa guy as a DH's got to be
he's got to be on the fieldsomewhere. You go to the outfie he
plays one of the other positions.Yeah, definitely just too talented of a
defender to have him on the bench. He's not a dh Well Boonie Softie
mentioned Larry Stone, and I actuallytalked to Larry just a moment an hour
ago or so about this article thatcame. I don't know if you saw
(10:37):
it in the New York Times aboutthe baseball starting pitchers and how they are
now pitching six innings or less orless than six innings seventy percent of the
time. I mean almost seventy percentof the time. They're going less than
six innings. When forty years agowas it seventy percent and that only dropped
to sixty two percent ten years ago. It's falling off the face of the
(10:58):
earth. What can be done dothat? Does there need to be some
rule in baseball that keeps these startersin longer so we're not seeing one hundred
mile an hour fastballs for five consecutiveinnings to close games out. Well,
I don't know if they want that. You know, everybody's doing it.
That's the culture. That's how thekids are brought up. They're told at
a young age, just you knowfrom the draft is hey, we just
(11:22):
you got to give us five quality. And that's the mindset. You know.
We talked about it. I thinklast week with the Kirby situation,
you know, and maybe his maybehis once again, I'm gonna use this
twice. His slip of the tonguea year ago. Maybe it wasn't a
slip of the tongue. Maybe it'soh, we're gonna listen, and when
he gets to that, you knowthat pitch mark, we get Kirby out
of there. Well, that's howthey're brought up. Today's five and five.
(11:43):
And I did my job as astarter because we put a lot of
our finances in the bullpen these days. I hate the mindset. I think,
you know, people definitely for mygeneration hate the mindset. And I
think the days of Verlander that thatmindset. You know, he's forty forty
one years years old, but whenVerlander takes him ount, he's planning on
going seven eight innings. I thinkLogan Gilbert has that mindset a degree where
(12:07):
hey, give me the ball,get out of my way, and I'm
going till I can't go anymore.I love that mindset. I think it's
better for the game. I thinkit's better for the overall health. How
we develop young pitchers for their arms. You see more arm injuries than anytime
ever, and guys, especially startingpitchers, throw less than they've ever thrown.
So I don't know, do themath there. I don't know if
(12:30):
it's the right thing. This modernera of what we're doing is bringing the
starters fit starting pictures up to justthrow five innings. I think it's ridiculous.
Yeah, No, I don't thinkit's great for the game. I
don't either. It drives me nuts. But I'm fifty years old, man,
so I'm not you know, fifteen. Yeah, we're getting older.
You know, we're going to getoff my long gut, no question.
Brett Boone's with us courtesy Avenue Kingsdot Com. Getting JP Crawford back,
(12:52):
hopefully soon. He got bean bya pitch in Tacoma the other night.
But give me your thoughts on howimpairedive it is to get that guy back
asap. I think his presence ishuge, and he's off to a slow
start this year offensively, but justhaving him in the middle of that infield,
you know, I think back tomy early days and I'm not going
to compare Crawford to a Barry Larkin, but the presence is on this particular
(13:16):
ball club. To Merrier ball club, It's like when Barry was in the
lineup and he was healthy and hewas playing short, there was a difference
out there. It's just he wasthe captain, not only in the infield's
kind of the captain on the field. I think Crawford is kind of you
know, Julio to a degree,but I think Crawford's kind of taken on
that role. Last year, Inoticed a top of the lineup guy set
in the tone and did a reallygood job, and I think grew up
(13:37):
a lot the second half of twentytwenty three. His presence and his numbers
are going to get better. He'snot going to hit below two hundred all
year. His numbers will get better, But I think his presence makes a
big difference to that ball club whenthey take the field. Looking at hard
hit rate and cal Rawly's at sixtypercent. The only other guys at sixty
percent are shohe Soto and William Parksin all of baseball. He's higher than
(14:01):
Judge, He's higher than lad what'skilling me with the hard hit rate?
Well, you want to do somethingelse. You going to go exit Vellow.
We can stop it, we cango exit Villo. He's right up
there with the same guys an exitVillo as well. My question to you
is, I'll go with you,what's this what's this guy's potential? Man?
I mean, are we like whatare we looking at? With?
(14:24):
Yes? I think cal Rawle's gonnahe's He's proven that he's durable. From
a catch throw standpoint, he's great, and he's just got that big power.
I think he's proven that you putcal Rawly in the lineup every day,
you're looking at thirty home runs everyyear, which from the catching position,
very few are able to do that. As far as you know,
(14:48):
he's a low average guy, hasbeen. I'd love to he's he's still
a little bit. He lacks alittle bit of plate discipline, which we
talk about a lot in this generation. But I think he's continuing to get
better and better. He's got tenhome runs already. I think he said
it. He stays health. He'sgonna hit thirty this year, right,
And he seems like a guy,you know, the big what do they
(15:09):
call big dumper, the big bumper. He seems to be a rallying cry.
It seems like he's the big guyin the clubhouse that everybody loves to
give a hug too. So Ithink that, you know, I get
on the offense, and I don'tmean to be real negative about it,
but I like the guys. Ilike the characters in that lineup. I
think they're good guys. Cal Rawleyanother guy that's he's the lovable guy in
(15:33):
the clubhouse that everybody just kind ofhugs onto. I think he's got a
lot of potential. I don't knowif we're ever going to see at cal
rally at the end of the yearhits thirty home runs in Man he hit
two eighty five last year. Idon't know if that's in his skill set.
Yeah, but if he can continueto get better like we all do
as young players, he's going tobe a force for many years. And
the thing I like the most aboutcal Rawley the thirty home runs awesome.
(15:58):
It really can't be duplicated. Onlya few catchers in baseball that have that
capability, but just his presence behindhome plate and in the ability to post.
He's shown the ability to post,and that's something in today's game.
I think the pitchers this really talentedstaff love throwing to him. I think
he gets on the same page asthese guys, and I think he does
(16:19):
a really good job. And thecatch throw is pretty much as good as
anybody in a real tough time tothrow out runners. With the new rules,
cal Rawley is about as good asit gets. But I love his
presence behind the plate number one andthen oh yeah, by the way,
he's also a guy that can getthirty four. I love having cal Rawly.
I think he's the guy you keeparound like Dan Wilson and was just
(16:42):
a fixture in Seattle. Most importantlybecause he comes to the ballpark and those
pitchers on the mount they get excitedto throw to him. And that's an
underrated quality that I that I startedto really appreciate after I retire body.
You're the man, great stuff.We'll talking a week. Pase appreciate this.
You got a guy, all right, Thank you, Brett Boone.
With us, we will go overevery game of the Seahawks season, win,
(17:06):
lose or tie. Do not beta petty on anything until you hear
our take on how the season goesnext On ninety three to three KJRFM,
Coming to you live from our ElliotAvenue studios of Sports Radio ninety three point
three KJR FM. It's time forour weekly conversation with former Mariners all star
Bret Boone, brought to you byVenue Kings. Visit venue kings dot com
for all your ticket needs now withBoonie, here's Softie and Dick. All
(00:20):
right, boys and girls, Bigthanks at venue kings dot com again.
Looking for Seahawks tickets in the fall, Husky tickets, Penn State on the
road, Iowa on the road,Michigan Right here, benu Kings dot com.
As you covered, be sure anduse code SOFIA checkout for whatever it
is you're looking for. I thinkI think I think our next guest,
by the way, speaking to JohnDaily, I think our next guest has
(00:41):
a John Daily story, oh thathe can tell. Do I have that
right, booneye? Do I havea John Daily story out of you?
I don't. I don't have Idon't have a good John Daily story.
Now. I spent some time withabout a year ago. It was fascinating,
fascinating. I spent twenty four hourswith them. We went from the
golf course to back to Ryan Franklin'shouse. He proceeded to put on a
(01:07):
concert for everybody visiting the Franklin residence. And uh, I'll tell you he
he don't stop. I heard,I heard you're talking about him on the
course today. That's exactly how heis. Couldn't have been more charming a
lot, though I didn't know howhe was going after twenty four hours.
(01:30):
Yeah, see yea, I thinkthere's more there that he just doesn't want
omitting people to know. Is itpodcast worthy but not on airworthy? Is
that the Is that the deal?No, No, No, I'd be
honest with you. I'd tell youSofty, well, first of all,
it's glad that it's good to haveyou back, Softly. Yeah, vacation
in quite a bit these days.But I figures where's Softie this time?
(01:55):
Is he Scotland? Maybe Hilton Head, Paris? Where you go Hawaii,
Pebble Beach, you go on theroad more than me. Anyway, whatever,
I would tell you. If Ihad a good story, I say,
I can't share with you. No, I really don't. I really
don't have that good, juicy,behind the scenes story. I do want
(02:15):
to get them on the podcast though, however, I have not had them
on. So anyway, all right, boonie, let's talk some about it.
That k that was kind of adud by the way answer. So
there's gonna be some story about yougoing through a pack of camels or whatever,
pounding fifteen DIA cokes and getting arrested. And I never transpired, No,
nothing, nothing good. I reallydon't have anything juicy for you.
(02:36):
So, boone, this baseball teamis hovering nicely around fifty four percent.
I mean, that's just kind ofwhat they've been doing. I'll tell you
what that that slip of the tongue, If it was a slip of the
tongue, man, that's going tolive on for you. It will time
until this team breaks through. Itwill. And my question for you is,
I mean, should we be They'rein first place? But are they
(02:58):
in first place because they're a firstplace baseball team or they in first place
because we might have the weakest topend of a division in all of baseball.
Now they're in first place because they'rein the American League West, to
be honest, But but we wewhat have we been saying for weeks?
Vulnerable as it gets this division thisyear, and Seattle's in this Division right
(03:22):
now with these teams and who's onthe field for these teams, that doesn't
surprise me there in first place.Good to see Wu back and he's given
up one run now combined with thewith his minor league stints, so it's
good to see him back now.I think they're a playoff team. I
do. I do they're a playoffteam. They're they pitch, they pitch,
(03:42):
they pitch. Okay, we knowthat it's kind of like beating a
drum, but if the if theoffense, you know, they strike out
more than anybody else in the AmericanLeague. That was that was something they
wanted to tackle this offseason. Wellit didn't work there. They're still punching
out more than anybody else. State. Their defense isn't what it was a
year ago. You know, they'redown defensively. They're at the bottom of
(04:06):
the American League defensively, but theypitch and they're gonna fluctuate. I think
they're fifth in the American League rightnow combined the bullpens sixth. You know,
that'll fluctuate. Next week. Theymight be third, they might be
fourth. You know, they justwon two out of three from a Kansas
City team. That nobody's talking aboutKanasity. Team's pretty good. They pitched
(04:27):
too. They pitched too. They'rethere, they're offensive, they struggle.
They got two stars, they gotSalvator Perez, they got Bobby Witt.
They just went two out of three, two out of three from the A's,
which you expect. They got atough road trip coming up now though
they're gonna play Baltimore in New Yorkand New York surprised me. Both of
these teams have surprised me. Youknew Baltimore was good they won one hundred
and one a year ago, butI didn't think they were all that.
(04:49):
Man, they're proving me wrong.They are good, and the Yankees are
staying healthy and it seems like theydon't lose, which personally, I like
that from a family perspective. Otherthan that, I don't really care.
But they got a tough road tripand a young Washington team. These guys
are gonna be up and coming acouple of years from now. Washington's gonna
be really good. So they gota They got a tough road trip coming
(05:10):
up, but just keep doing whatthey're doing. Now. This is a
good team in the first place.Vulnerable division I like, I like if
I if I had to put itdown right now, I'll take Seattle.
Texas is a little scary for me. And you know the reason why they've
been decimated with injuries from Jung toLangford if all they went down, haven't
(05:31):
had the gram schuzers since day one. Dunning went down, Carter their star
from the postseason a year ago,Bradford's been down with a back, and
they're still hovering. They're they're agame and a half out. So Texas
scares me a little bit. AndI think it's kind of the under the
run end of the road for thatdomination for Houston. So I still like
(05:51):
Seattle. I just can't get pastthat staff. It can't get past me.
Well, if if it is theend of the road, the road
for Houston, it was a hellof a run for them, no doubt.
But let me just go back tothe Mariners for a second, because
I'm curious what a bigger concern foryou is right now the the offense or
the defense for this baseball team,Meaning, hey, the offense obviously a
(06:12):
much bigger impact than the defense,but the offense still has pieces. Polonko
Julio Crawford Garver that maybe haven't reallyclicked yet. The defense is the defense,
and I'm watching I'm watching Julio andHannegerre having problems in right center.
I'm watching Rojas babb La ball atsecond base that should have had Gilbert out
of the inning two games ago beforethe home run that lost the game.
(06:32):
How concerned are you about the defensecompared to your concern about the offense.
Well, I think when I thinka big piece of that Seattle team,
not only at the top of thelineup offensively, but but the middle of
the captive of that defense, Let'sbe honest, is Crawford. He's missed
a lot of time. I thinkhe changes a lot of things. Just
his presence out there changes a lotof things defensively. For me, They're
(06:56):
gonna defense fine, good enough,They're not going to be at the bottom.
I think when Crawford comes back asthe season rolls on, I don't
think this is one of the worstdefenses in the league by any stretch.
Offense. Offense for me is aconcern. Julio, he's not a concern
for me yet. But man,we're getting late into May and he's still
(07:17):
hanging around you know, real mediocreand not Julio type numbers. Last year
he got off to the real slowstart, but he picked it up and
he ended up he ended up makingan All Star team. So there's there's
still a lot of time. Uh. This offense, it's just it's it
never has excited me. It didn'texcite me going into the season. It's
(07:38):
not gonna incite me at the endof the season. It is what it
is. And I think I thinkwe we got to get past the fact
that, hey, this offense isgoing to get a lot better. It's
not. At best. They're middleof the road. That's what they are.
Though. This talent is they'll getbetter if and when they make a
deal. And we've already seen theMarlin's throwing the towel already they got rid
(08:03):
of their best hitter. And sodo you think we're gonna see more talent
dumping earlier than usual this year?And if you bring in a guy,
does he have to be a lefthanded hitter in this ballpark? Are you
okay bringing in a right handed hitter? Absolutely not. I bring in the
right hand hitter. I want abig league quality, good hitter oka and
I don't care if he's right hand, right handed or left handed. I
(08:24):
don't think that matters. Yeah,of course, everybody always talks about the
Friendly Cow fights Yankee Stadium, youknow Seattle. Yes, it does play
smaller to right, but it doesn'tmean you get a good left handed hitter
and he's just gonna come start hookingballs. You know, guys hit the
ball the other way too. It'sgood for Seattle. Plays kind of fair.
Now they brought defences in. Itplays fair to right center for a
(08:46):
right handedator with power. So Idon't think it's necessary. I think you
get the best hitter available, notnecessarily always got to be left handed coming
to Key Mobile Park. No,I don't think that's necessarily. Well,
there's been two names that have beenbrought up more than any other. And
Larry Stone, you know Larry fromyour days in Seattle as at Matter,
was on with us and talked abouttwo names that a lot of people are
(09:07):
mentioning, and that's Luis Robert ofthe White Sox and Peter Alonzo. Wow.
I mean, if you could makea run at one of those two
guys, which one would you want? The only thing about Robert that scares
me is his help. He's proventhat he is not. You can't count
on him. But from a talentstandpoint, while a center fielder that runs
light tower powered, great player forme. For money's no object, I'll
(09:31):
take Pete Alonzo. I know whatI'm getting. He'll go to He'll go
to T Mobile and just put downthirty five homers. So, uh,
if money's not an object, doesn'tmatter. Gosh. The Robert talent is
so intriguing though, because it's it'sfive tools. Alonzo's basically a first basement
that hits bombs, hits a lotof them. But I know what I'm
(09:54):
getting with Alono. I don't knowwhat I'm getting with Robert. I'm gonna
take Alonzo, but let me letme to be on the field. Let
me add one thing, because partof the five tool Luis Robert Pie is
what he does in center field rightwith the White Sox. And he's not
playing center field here. So doeshe go left? Does he become your
DH? Where does he play here? Oh? He doesn't know? No
(10:16):
way. You keep that talent ofa guy as a DH's got to be
he's got to be on the fieldsomewhere. You go to the outfie he
plays one of the other positions.Yeah, definitely just too talented of a
defender to have him on the bench. He's not a dh Well Boonie Softie
mentioned Larry Stone, and I actuallytalked to Larry just a moment an hour
ago or so about this article thatcame. I don't know if you saw
(10:37):
it in the New York Times aboutthe baseball starting pitchers and how they are
now pitching six innings or less orless than six innings seventy percent of the
time. I mean almost seventy percentof the time. They're going less than
six innings. When forty years agowas it seventy percent and that only dropped
to sixty two percent ten years ago. It's falling off the face of the
(10:58):
earth. What can be done dothat? Does there need to be some
rule in baseball that keeps these startersin longer so we're not seeing one hundred
mile an hour fastballs for five consecutiveinnings to close games out. Well,
I don't know if they want that. You know, everybody's doing it.
That's the culture. That's how thekids are brought up. They're told at
a young age, just you knowfrom the draft is hey, we just
(11:22):
you got to give us five quality. And that's the mindset. You know.
We talked about it. I thinklast week with the Kirby situation,
you know, and maybe his maybehis once again, I'm gonna use this
twice. His slip of the tonguea year ago. Maybe it wasn't a
slip of the tongue. Maybe it'soh, we're gonna listen, and when
he gets to that, you knowthat pitch mark, we get Kirby out
of there. Well, that's howthey're brought up. Today's five and five.
(11:43):
And I did my job as astarter because we put a lot of
our finances in the bullpen these days. I hate the mindset. I think,
you know, people definitely for mygeneration hate the mindset. And I
think the days of Verlander that thatmindset. You know, he's forty forty
one years years old, but whenVerlander takes him ount, he's planning on
going seven eight innings. I thinkLogan Gilbert has that mindset a degree where
(12:07):
hey, give me the ball,get out of my way, and I'm
going till I can't go anymore.I love that mindset. I think it's
better for the game. I thinkit's better for the overall health. How
we develop young pitchers for their arms. You see more arm injuries than anytime
ever, and guys, especially startingpitchers, throw less than they've ever thrown.
So I don't know, do themath there. I don't know if
(12:30):
it's the right thing. This modernera of what we're doing is bringing the
starters fit starting pictures up to justthrow five innings. I think it's ridiculous.
Yeah, No, I don't thinkit's great for the game. I
don't either. It drives me nuts. But I'm fifty years old, man,
so I'm not you know, fifteen. Yeah, we're getting older.
You know, we're going to getoff my long gut, no question.
Brett Boone's with us courtesy Avenue Kingsdot Com. Getting JP Crawford back,
(12:52):
hopefully soon. He got bean bya pitch in Tacoma the other night.
But give me your thoughts on howimpairedive it is to get that guy back
asap. I think his presence ishuge, and he's off to a slow
start this year offensively, but justhaving him in the middle of that infield,
you know, I think back tomy early days and I'm not going
to compare Crawford to a Barry Larkin, but the presence is on this particular
(13:16):
ball club. To Merrier ball club, It's like when Barry was in the
lineup and he was healthy and hewas playing short, there was a difference
out there. It's just he wasthe captain, not only in the infield's
kind of the captain on the field. I think Crawford is kind of you
know, Julio to a degree,but I think Crawford's kind of taken on
that role. Last year, Inoticed a top of the lineup guy set
in the tone and did a reallygood job, and I think grew up
(13:37):
a lot the second half of twentytwenty three. His presence and his numbers
are going to get better. He'snot going to hit below two hundred all
year. His numbers will get better, But I think his presence makes a
big difference to that ball club whenthey take the field. Looking at hard
hit rate and cal Rawly's at sixtypercent. The only other guys at sixty
percent are shohe Soto and William Parksin all of baseball. He's higher than
(14:01):
Judge, He's higher than lad what'skilling me with the hard hit rate?
Well, you want to do somethingelse. You going to go exit Vellow.
We can stop it, we cango exit Villo. He's right up
there with the same guys an exitVillo as well. My question to you
is, I'll go with you,what's this what's this guy's potential? Man?
I mean, are we like whatare we looking at? With?
(14:24):
Yes? I think cal Rawle's gonnahe's He's proven that he's durable. From
a catch throw standpoint, he's great, and he's just got that big power.
I think he's proven that you putcal Rawly in the lineup every day,
you're looking at thirty home runs everyyear, which from the catching position,
very few are able to do that. As far as you know,
(14:48):
he's a low average guy, hasbeen. I'd love to he's he's still
a little bit. He lacks alittle bit of plate discipline, which we
talk about a lot in this generation. But I think he's continuing to get
better and better. He's got tenhome runs already. I think he said
it. He stays health. He'sgonna hit thirty this year, right,
And he seems like a guy,you know, the big what do they
(15:09):
call big dumper, the big bumper. He seems to be a rallying cry.
It seems like he's the big guyin the clubhouse that everybody loves to
give a hug too. So Ithink that, you know, I get
on the offense, and I don'tmean to be real negative about it,
but I like the guys. Ilike the characters in that lineup. I
think they're good guys. Cal Rawleyanother guy that's he's the lovable guy in
(15:33):
the clubhouse that everybody just kind ofhugs onto. I think he's got a
lot of potential. I don't knowif we're ever going to see at cal
rally at the end of the yearhits thirty home runs in Man he hit
two eighty five last year. Idon't know if that's in his skill set.
Yeah, but if he can continueto get better like we all do
as young players, he's going tobe a force for many years. And
the thing I like the most aboutcal Rawley the thirty home runs awesome.
(15:58):
It really can't be duplicated. Onlya few catchers in baseball that have that
capability, but just his presence behindhome plate and in the ability to post.
He's shown the ability to post,and that's something in today's game.
I think the pitchers this really talentedstaff love throwing to him. I think
he gets on the same page asthese guys, and I think he does
(16:19):
a really good job. And thecatch throw is pretty much as good as
anybody in a real tough time tothrow out runners. With the new rules,
cal Rawley is about as good asit gets. But I love his
presence behind the plate number one andthen oh yeah, by the way,
he's also a guy that can getthirty four. I love having cal Rawly.
I think he's the guy you keeparound like Dan Wilson and was just
(16:42):
a fixture in Seattle. Most importantlybecause he comes to the ballpark and those
pitchers on the mount they get excitedto throw to him. And that's an
underrated quality that I that I startedto really appreciate after I retire body.
You're the man, great stuff.We'll talking a week. Pase appreciate this.
You got a guy, all right, Thank you, Brett Boone.
With us, we will go overevery game of the Seahawks season, win,
(17:06):
lose or tie. Do not beta petty on anything until you hear
our take on how the season goesnext On ninety three to three KJRFM,
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.