May 16, 2024 • 44 mins
Chuck Powell joins the show again and we talk about the MVP's at the quarter point of the season. How urgent should the mariners be with regards to making trades? If you could only choose one position to upgrade what would it be?
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
And welcome back to another episode ofMariners Weekly, where we touch base just
about once a week. I andcan get some Mariner's topics in there.
The Mariners just came off of avery big series win versus the Royals,
after beating the Athletics as well,and then before that dropping three of four
(00:21):
to the Twins. So a mixedbag, but I think overall a pretty
positive outlook on the recent schedule foryour Seattle baseball team. And I brought
along a familiar voice with me today. Rory unavailable, so I got an
upgrade. I got myself, misterChuck Powell from Chuck and Buck in the
(00:42):
Morning, resident baseball expert here onKJAR. Chuck, welcome back to the
show. Maybe not a baseball upgrade, but with the lady, okay,
certainly. Wow, you'll have toteach me how that works. Yeah,
yeah, well maybe Rory too.Ory's got a thing or two to learn
it, he does, So maybethat it can be a separate episode where
we talk about that. Yeah,but big series win versus the Royals.
(01:07):
We can get into a couple extratopics, But I just want your kind
of general thoughts on maybe the lastthree series Royals athletics and twins. Isn't
it amazing that? I mean,hey, kudos. I mean eight out
of nine series that you've won,but you're still just four games over five
hundred. It almost seems impossible.Yeah, you're not. You haven't put
(01:30):
a little more distance. When youhear you want eight series out of nine,
it feels like you've just dominated.Yeah, it hurts when the one
series you lost was a four gamer, so right, like you lose three
instead of just lose one. Imean it's still eighteen and ten over that
time, right, and that's terrificbaseball. And as long as they keep
up the pace. I mean,it's just that's the pace. It can't
(01:52):
be kept up. R I mean, you're not going to win eight to
nine series the rest of the year. You're not going to keep that pace
up. And yet as long asyou do, I mean, you win
the American League West in a breeze, So credit to them. I mean
we still I think the offense isperforming better. I don't think it's atrocious
like it was. And so youmarry that with this staff that you and
(02:16):
I going all the way back tothe offseason, we're telling people that those
that are underestimating this staff. It'sthe best starting rotation in the sport.
So now that the offense is startingto carry a little bit of the weight,
still some consistency issues, but atleast we're starting to see some crooked
numbers put up there and then thereturn of JP and Dom to kind of
(02:38):
deepen your lineup and your roster andyour bench. It's in a good spot.
Ryeah now could be better, butit's in a good I completely agree,
and like I think, the lasttime we chatted wasn't necessarily on this
podcast, but on your show,was about, you know, the pitching
was so elite and the offense wasso subpar. I think both of those
(02:59):
have kind of geared towards the middlea little bit more. The pitching has
slowed down a little bit. They'restill great, but a couple of rough
outings from Logan Gilbert, one fromI think George Kirby recently, really just
one from Logan. He made onebad pitch, otherwise he was outstanding against
the Royals. That's true. Thatis true, And there is a little
talking point I want to get toyou on that because during that game I
(03:20):
had a nice conversation with a coupleof my buddies about what was going on
there with the bullpen decisions. SoI'm curious on your thoughts on that,
but yeah, I agree with you. I think offensively, it's starting to
come around a little bit. LukeRayley my Mariner of the week. I'm
just gonna put it out there.He's definitely proving that he should be an
everyday starter for this team. Aleft handed bat that we've desperately needed in
(03:45):
the lineup that has some pop,can run the bases, puts down a
bunt every once in a while,plays good defense. He's been an excellent
addition to this team. So Iwant to see him in the lineup every
single day. And Ty Franz startingto turn around the next last couple of
games, I want to see alittle bit more from him. I want
to see him walk a little bitmore to be have that process go through
(04:05):
the steps it needs to do.But he's shown some pop at the plate
a little bit, So I'm impressedwith what I've seen out of those two
guys. I think your assessment offthe air with the Bucky and I was
right. I think he's still pullingoff. I don't think Ty France is
still in ty France mode. Right. Raley had a terrific week. And
(04:26):
that's another one going back to ourStove offseason podcast, that we were excited
about that trade, even though Capaira, I think stile in like twenty bases
already. Yeah for Tampa. ButI think the significant news of the week,
though, Anders is getting Crawford andcan Zone back. Okay, because
I think that Mitch Haniger has beena little bit misused throughout this process,
(04:49):
but out of necessity. I don'tblame Scott for over using him. You
know, you had some injuries andyou were trying to find some professional in
those first six weeks of the seasonand they just weren't popping up from anybody
with the exception of Josh Rojas.And so I think Scott, and he
(05:11):
mentioned this in the dugout on Wednesday, I think he's finally getting the roster
that he couldn't wait to manage.And I think we're going to see even
though people hate to hear this,I don't know why, but they hate
to hear the word platoon. Platoonyeah, and I don't think they're going
to be strict righty lefty, no, but I think you could see more
(05:33):
and can Zone sharing a lot ofleft field, and I think you can
see Hanniger and Raley sharing a lotof right field. And I think that
Rojas has proven himself to be aneveryday player until he proves otherwise. So
Arius is going to have to fightfor some playing time at this stage.
But if Tied doesn't go into tymode, you might see Raley play some
(05:56):
first base with him. And obviouslyyou can have whatever fun you want to
have at the DH spot. Julioand JP are and Cal whenever he's available,
are probably your only like everyday guysat this stage. And so I
think this with can Zone and Crawfordcoming back, it's going to give you
an opportunity to sort of give Polonkosome res Hanneger keep him fresh, Garber
(06:19):
give him some rest. And thenof course the injury concerns about those three
dudes that you might be able toalleviate some of that by not playing them
every day. Yeah, you mentionedPolonko there ley obviously been the positive offensive
addition to this team from the offseason. Polanka's struggled out of the gate,
(06:40):
to put it lightly, At whatpoint, because when Luis Urias plays.
He seems to know what he's doing, plays decent defense, has some pop,
gets on base pretty well at agood clip. How close are you
to thinking about not throwing Polanco thereevery day on second base and maybe putting
Rojas Rorius there on the occasional,you know, third day or something like
(07:02):
that. Not I'm not close tothat. I think Dylan Moore has given
us an idea that maybe he's deserveda little more playing time and so maybe
he could get a little second baseaction in. And don't forget, you
still have Rojas that can play thatposition as well. I just believe in
Polonko. I don't know what happensto players that come from other organizations and
(07:24):
join the Mariners organization and for whateverreason they can't hit here. I don't
know. I mean, he's donenothing but hit his entire professional career.
Even when he had the injuries lastyear with the Twins, he comes back
from the injured list, they hithim third. Yeah, on a playoff
team. I mean that's in theplayoffs, in the playoffs, and that's
how that's how confident they were inthe player they have in Polonko. And
(07:46):
that's how confident I was the daythat they acquired him, So I'm not
really close to abandoning it. Yeah, I did. We had Mitch Garver
on this week on the radio show, and I asked him, how much
are you you using what they're teachingyou versus what you trust throughout your career,
and he said, almost all ofit is what I've trusted throughout my
(08:09):
career. So I don't you know, here's Garber saying, right from the
you know, the horse's mouth,you can't blame the Mariners for this,
right. I'm not hitting right now, but I feel like I'm coming out
of it a little bit and Iknow that I will. That's that's basically
the message. So I don't knowwhy this happens. Yeah, but but
I have every faith that Polonco's goingto be a valuable contributor to this team.
(08:33):
And you're gonna have to live withsome defense that's sketchy, But I
mean, they're gonna need him.They're gonna they're gonna need him to hit,
and I think that he will.Yeah, I'm kind of with you
there. Uh, maybe it's alittle biased because I was so thrilled about
the addition and I want to keepthat same feeling going through the season here,
but now I'm with you. I'mI have been impressed with Rius though
(08:56):
with house work. Yeah, andI want to see him maybe every once
in a while. I don't wantto just see him against you know,
righty's or sorry lefties. Yeah.So I don't know, there's a lot
of different decisions kind of going inespecially it's gonna make it even murkier when
JP comes back soon. I wantto give a quick update because last night
(09:18):
JP Crawford did have a rehab startin Tacoma got hit in the wrist with
the ball. It looked pretty badat first from the videos that have been
circling around social media, but theMariners did confirm that it wasn't a serious
injury. They don't know if he'sgoing to play again tonight, but they
(09:39):
avoided kind of the worst case scenariothere with JP Crawford. So hopefully that
doesn't push back his timeline to comeback during this next road trip to join
the team, because I think theMariners have desperately needed his bat and someone
who I don't know, maybe itaffects how he's batting, but Julio Rodriguez
has started to come around the litlebit too. Still not slugging like we
(10:03):
have expected and seen him do inthe past, but he's he's hitting the
ball hard, lots of line drivesand obviously playing great defense. What do
you think of what you've seen fromJulia the last week or so? I
mean, I mean, there's alwayslittle signs, and as soon as you
see a sign, you're like hereit comes, yeah, you know,
good? Ready now americanly, Iguess twenty twenty three repeating it's going to
(10:26):
happen at some point, but it'swe're reading into because of our expectations.
We're reading into two for four daylike it's all the floodgates are going to
open now. I suspect that theywill soon, and then once they're open,
they'll stay open. That's that's justgoing to be my expectation for him.
(10:46):
I think he's a spectacular talent.It'll be interesting to see because I
think from what I heard about thereport from JP, I'm kind of expecting
him to be back for the Oriolesseries. That's kind of the read that
I was getting from Scott that hemight be you, I mean, unless
this is a genuine setback, right, I think he'll be You'll see him
in the Orioles series. So whatdo you do? Your best hitter so
(11:07):
far this season, all year long, has been Josh Rojas. He's really
settled into the leadoff role. Sincehe's been put into that leadoff role,
you've probably played your best baseball asa team. Does JP get his leadoff
spot back, something he fought sohard to get to a year ago and
earned, and so do you?Does Josh keep his leadoff spot in front
(11:30):
of Julio? Do you move himthird and give JP a spot back?
I mean, right now, becausePolanko's not hitting, we don't have a
legitimate number three hole hitter right evenwith Rojas, that's still not a legitimate
three hole hitter. But I amcurious to see you know how they're going
to bracket Julio. Yeah, Ithink I think at first you have to
(11:52):
continue with what's worked, at leastrecently as what Bucky said and Josh Roja
and you mentioned, uh, JPearning that leadoff spot. I think Josh
Rojas has also earned that spot.So I think you continue with that,
maybe kind of ease JP into ita little bit, get him back on
the timing of course, that's kindof what this rehab stint is for.
(12:13):
But he's looked good in his youknow, warm ups and stuff. Is
what I've seen from the past homestandhe looks like he's ready to go.
So I wouldn't expect physically anything tobe an issue. It's just more getting
that timing back facing major league pitchingis going to be an adjustment for sure.
So I think, you know,Batam sixth, fifth, something like
that, just to kind of gethim back up into it a little bit.
(12:35):
And then Bucky said ninth, ninth, Okay, So I guess the
kind of a de de facto leadoffhitter from the second time through the lineup.
But I still think you want thata few more times through the order,
having that availability. I don't know. I'm not an expert on building
lineups, so I'm just that's justthrowing something out there. But if JP
comes back, Let's say it's Fridaynight, Baltimore. JP's back in the
(12:58):
lineup and you've moved Rojas, You'regonna have a feeling about that. I
will you have an opinion about it. Yeah, And let me preface this
by saying, I still think longterm, like a couple of weeks down
the road, maybe even not eventhat long from now, but it's it's
gonna be Jp Julio Rojas like leftright left. JP's kind of more of
(13:22):
a leadoff hitter profile get on bassreally well, you know, maybe not
the stolen base master as a lotof no, but he doesn't necessarily have
the pop and the I don't wantto say not the clutch factor, but
Josh Rojas is kind of the guywith people on base where you'd rather see.
Well, JP was the best hitteron the team in the clutch last
(13:45):
year. I mean, in hisnumbers career wise in the seventh, eighth,
and ninth inning are actually very impressive, even in his down years,
I think. I mean, I'mstill JP's leadoff whenever he feels comfortable.
Well, maybe it's not the firstday, you know, let him get
a couple of it bats down tothe bottom of the order, but I'd
still go him lead off. Juliosecond, And I'm still this goes back
(14:07):
to our previous conversation, I'm stillPolanco third. That's still got to be
the objective because I'm not sure ifRojas really strikes fear now, maybe you
go even if though it's left,he left him. Maybe it's backing Julio
up to third right. Maybe it'sJP and Rojas one two or Rojas JP
(14:28):
one two, something like that.So we'll see. I mean, I
heard you aloud and clear. You'renot really a lineup machinations kind of guy,
but you certainly are going to havea response. You're going to have
an opinion if you're following this teamon a daily basis like you and I
are. If you show up inBaltimore, JP's been activated and suddenly Rojas
(14:48):
is hitting sixth or whatever, you'regoing to have an opinion about it.
Yeah, And like you said,it's just he's played like he deserves it.
So and he's been your best hitterthis season, so you got to
keep that going. And in nomatter what the name says and what his
history says, he has been yourbest hitter. So and I'll also say
this, this is the one hillI will die on in terms of building
(15:09):
lineups. I still think Julio isbetter as a leadoff hitter, and I
don't know if it seems like itchanges his approach a little bit. I
don't know if it puts more pressureon him when he's hitting in the two
hole or the three hole. Itwas pretty good though. And Jp,
I mean, JP was one ofthe league leaders in on base percentage last
year. And I don't know ifhe's going to repeat that ever, but
(15:31):
he I think he feels he's earnedthat. Yeah, It's kind of like
when a quarterback gets hurt and thenthe backup plays really well. Does has
that Does the quarterback get the jobback? Yeah, you know that you
kind of have that to a muchlesser extent because you're still playing. You're
still going to play Rojas, butthere's sort of some of that that's involved
(15:54):
here. But I mean, youknow, that was a pretty magical combination.
It was for a couple of monthslast year. Now, granted,
Julio was the hottest hitter in theplanet in August July going into August,
but them going one and two,I'll almost bet you, I'd almost bet
you some money right here that Scottwants that to be. He does,
(16:15):
and he's mentioned that, he's mentionedthat before, like he when we talked
about I think we asked him duringthe Oakland series, you know, when
JP comes back, you know,and what does this do for Like Rojas
and other people that have been playingwell, Dylan Moore and then Scott like
kind of stopped the question was like, oh, we want him back,
We want him back in this lineupas soon as possible. Yeah, So
(16:37):
let me just put that right outthere. So you could tell that he
values JP's leadership, his defense,his at bats. Like you said,
professional at bats. He's been oneof the most consistent guys at that.
Even when he was struggling earlier inthis year, you could still tell he
was battling at the plate, takingtaking good at bats to seeing lots of
pitches. So and that, likeyou said, that is kind of a
(17:00):
very prototypical leadoff hitter. I justthink Julio is your best player, best
hitter. I still think his beststretch, long stretch, was when he
was hitting lead off on his rookieyear, and I just think, like
it reminds me so much of RonaldAcunya's skill set. I just think that's
who Julio could be. And that'skind of the role he plays in Atlanta.
(17:23):
But again, a much different offensefor sure, But they have a
lot of run producers they do.I mean, this this team's not you
know, quite as stock ye inthat area, and so old school guy
will say, why is he nothitting third? Your best hitter always has
to hit third. Well, they'veadapted that a little bit second to second,
and it's so that you are close, you get it close to his
(17:45):
the maximum amount of a bats whilealso giving yourself a chance to drive in
more runs. Yeah, no,I agree with that, And and there
are a few teams out there thathave even pushed it further to where your
best hitters hitting lead off, likeJudge, he hit ninety thousand homes.
(18:06):
And then I put Ronald Acunya.I think for a while, Mike Trout
is hitting lead off for the Angels, so like, there's some different ways
you can go about it, forsure, And and I just think for
anything else, if not for howwell JP has been playing, I just
think it for some reason, itchanges the way Julio takes at bats.
(18:27):
It's how young he is. Hewants to help the team, he knows
he's the guy. I just thinkwhen he was batting lead off, maybe
it was him just being a rookieand kind of having lower expectations overall,
but he was just focused on gettingon base. And then when he slugged.
He slugged, and then kind ofsets the tone for the rest of
the lineup, you know, youknow, take your walks, hit a
(18:48):
couple of singles, you know,steel bases, all that, and then
kind of let the power happen.I just I just feel like he was
at those kind of Julio at batsand his numbers were slightly down overall in
twenty twenty three and compared to twentytwenty two, not significantly, but I
just think that's the Julio that Iwant to get back to at that point,
(19:08):
and I think he's on his wayof getting there. I don't know
if batting leadoff is going to evenhelp that at all. I just that's
kind of the correlation that I putinto that. So yeah, next thing
I want to talk about. We'vetalked a lot about, you know,
hitters who have really improved, andlike in the Ty France category, Hopefully
he kind of continues that process alittle bit better. Julio's coming around.
(19:32):
I want to know. I wasgoing to preface it by saying non pitching,
but I think I want to leavethat out of it. I just
want your quarter of the season mostValuable Player for the Mariners so far.
Oh boy, Well, there's someinteresting cases to be made for a lot
of different people. Yeah. Imean we've mentioned Rojas. He's been your
(19:53):
best hitter. Yep. I meanhe has been your mirage in the middle
of the desert. Yeah, okay, yeah, you're I compared him.
Bucky called him a spark plug.I said, no, he's more of
like a feeding tube. Like thebody was dying and he was the only
thing keeping them alive life support.Yeah. I mean, the body could
(20:14):
be a lot healthier, but rightnow, you just got to pump the
minimum amount of nutrients in it inorder to keep it alive. And that's
sort of what Josh ROAs has been. I think there's an argument to be
made for munos on the back endof It's hard though, not to take
a picture. But then which onedo you take? Well, if you're
(20:37):
thinking most valuable right then like probablyGilbert, because Gilbert's been the best every
single start. He had the onebad start, but then again, you
started turning things around when Castillo gotdone with his two shoddy outings, and
then since that time he's been everybit the ace. Absolutely that this organization
wants him to be I still thinkhe's your best pitch. Bryce Miller has
(21:00):
been phenomenal, I mean, theonly one that you I mean, I'm
going to eliminate Kirby from the conversation, but I still think at the end
of the year he's going to endup being the best of this group.
I'm gonna go ahead and upset youthen, so I've run through the candidates,
I'm gonna say cal Raley. Okay, I'm going to say cal Rally
because of his role in both Yeah, like true, where would they be
(21:21):
without some of the home runs thathe's hit in the clutch situations and then
his managing of the pitching staff.He gets a little bit of credit,
I mean, line share goes toall the pitchers. Yeah, but he
gets a little bit of credit thereand then and then a lot of credit
for coming up with three or fourof the biggest hits so far this season.
(21:41):
And where would you be without thosethree or four hits? I mean,
because not only did you end upwinning those particular games, but if
you end up losing those games,what kind of a spiral effect avalanche effects
that have on you? So Idon't know, it's hard to take an
MVP on in May, in themiddle of May. But I'll go ahead
(22:03):
and I'll do something different out ofleft field. I'm gonna say cal Okay
that I don't I don't think that'sso much out of left field. I
think that would that would be myhitting choice, position player's choice. I
just think, you know, therewas a week stretch or something like that
where he hit like three game winninghome runs. It was pretty crazy.
That's like, I don't know,it's not how war works, but you
(22:25):
could you could argue he was worththree wins just in that week, which
was pretty nuts. So yeah,I mean, just like you said,
clutch and just setting the tone inthe clubhouse, you could tell he's kind
of the guy. Now it's notas vocal as previous leaders in this in
this team, but you could tellwhen he walks by everyone kind of like
okay, let's focus now, okay, let's focus. He's the sheriff and
(22:47):
JP's the the fun yeah fun dad. Yeah, it's true. And he's
sort of like stern mom that everybodyneed approval exactly that sort of thing.
No, I completely agree with you, So he wouldn't be my overall choice,
but I think he's my hitting theside choice. There's a big argument
for Rojas for sure, because Idon't know, in terms of the term,
(23:10):
MVP gets thrown around way too much, and it's so often in actual
sports, like in the NBA,it's just, oh, who is the
best player of this season? Well, that's not necessarily what the MVP is.
That's the most valuable to your team. So, like you could argue
with Rojas because without him, thisoffense probably looks way worse at this point,
does Yeah, for sure, Sothat's just value wise, that's one
(23:32):
guy brings up your offense that muchthat that helps so much. But I'm
gonna go with you actually mentioned him, and I'm surprised you did Andres Munos
because with these injuries in this bullpen, they've had to really lean on him,
and if he hasn't been as goodas he's been this season, looks
(23:52):
a lot different. I think,like he's had five out save after four
out save, after cleaning up upfor Trent Thornton, after cleaning up for
Gabe Spire after, like he's he'sjust been the guy. And when Matt
Brash is out, when Santos isout, they've really had to lean on
him. I'm I'm not thrilled aboutwhat that might look like down the road,
(24:14):
but how much he's pitching lately,I hope Hope will get either a
trade or something. Those guys willcome back. When one of those guys,
Matt Brash, has not coming backthis year. But I just I
really really think that without him pitchingas well as he has been, we
really have a different outlook on thisseason. And he was kind of taking
some crap for some reason after onestart where he walked the bases loaded,
(24:36):
and then it's been a couple ofyears. Yeah, this three years,
we don't have a real closer.People wanted to spend off season resources on
a closer. I don't understand itat all. I don't I never have
understood it. You did not seethe potential. And by the way,
he wasn't closing for a while thelast couple of years with SEAWALLD. Yeah
(24:57):
with Seawald, but they were usinghim in every high leverage situation. He
has to face the best hitters inthe lineup every time he went out there
for two years and finally it lookslike he's won the closer role, which
some will argue we shouldn't even haveclosers. You just go with the matchups.
(25:19):
But as you see Scott, Scottwasn't about to take him out of
the game yesterday and turn over theninth to somebody else. So I love
the way, and you're right,I mean, Scott does not want to
use him this way. But whathas Scott's service done in the first two
months of the season. Some ofyou and I talked about a lot about
(25:41):
getting off to a good start.He is so he is valuing these early
season wins. He is determined notto fall into a funk to have to
crawl out of. They had todo it once, and so he's just
like, I'm gonna worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow. I you know, there
have been games where they're trailing byone. This is where I think you
(26:03):
could have used Munos there, right, Like, why are we not valuing
one run deficits? I mean,all that's that's a home run. You
got three innings, you got youknow, one run you need just somebody
run into one at that point.Like so, but but because now you've
seen him use so many times beyondone inning, it's something that they can't
continue to do. But I'm gladthey've done it to this point. I'm
(26:27):
glad that they have sort of valuedwe can't create this bad start again.
Our offense isn't hitting and so weneed five more outs. Am I going
to sit around here and you know, rub my hands together, wring my
hands together over Austin both getting usout of this? Or Am I going
to go to a two hundred andthirty five pound closer that should be able
(26:49):
to handle this so can't keep itup. Glad they've done it to this
point, and he has been spectacular, And I really don't know why the
mony has critics were so worried becauseit's always been there. Yeah, and
he has such good ride on thatfastball. He's starting to use the sinker
more, which I love. It'snot a strikeout pitch as much, but
(27:11):
he gets a lot of ground ballswith it, and that slider's as nasty
as it ever has been. SoYeah, I'm a huge fan of Munios.
I always have been. I thinkhe's been your MVP for this kind
of first part of the season.So I really hope that they This kind
of leads us into my next conversation, how urgent because of that situation the
bullpen where you really only have onehigh leverage guy. You could argue Spire
(27:33):
too, he's been good, butthey're using him so early they are.
It's kind of strange because I thinkhe's your second most reliable guy. I
agree, I'm with you, andI don't think he's a lefty lefty specialist,
which is something he worked at reallyhard in the offseason to not be
right. Yeah, so I thinkhe's your second most reliable guy, But
it seems like Scott's using him toget out of innings the sixth and the
(27:56):
seventh innings versus using him to it. And I think a lot of that
is because you're there's been a coupleof situations where they left in the starter,
maybe because you have a kind ofa shorter bullpen at this point in
the season, and maybe this isa situation where if you had a couple
extra guys, you wouldn't do thatas much. I think the classic example
(28:17):
is Logan Gilbert on Tuesday, wherehe had six strong innings, looked every
bit the part. The only blipson his radar were against the top of
the order. The top the orderis coming up in the seventh inning and
they leave him out there, twowalks, three run Homer. It's a
three to one game, it was. It was one zero Mariners lead at
(28:38):
that point. So yet he wasone pitch away. He was he had
owned Velasquez now entire game and evenand he was pitching around Perez. Yeah,
I'm leaving him in to get throughthat, and I'm frankly stunned.
I was stunned. I'm I'm operatingwith the belief that he's got him in
the bag and that this was theright decision and it's going to pay off,
(29:00):
and you just got to get throughthe eighth. However, you want
to match that up to get toMunos in the ninth, So I didn't
have a huge problem with that.I'll say this, the bridge to Munyos
should be the shortest in the sport. Yeah, and by a considerable margin,
whether on both sides, Munyos goinglonger or the starter going along with
(29:22):
this starting pitching that should be givingyou at least six innings most nights and
then Munyos and I do want tolimit him to three outs in the future,
but obviously he's showing I can giveyou more. So this should be
the shortest bridge from starter to closerin the entire sport. So for that
you probably can manage it for alittle while with what you have. But
(29:47):
once you get to playoff time,once you get close to play, you
know, sinching play, once youget later in the season, I think
you need another piece. Brash isn'tcoming back. I don't know what you
can depend on with Santos, andhe's never filled that role before right in
his career. He's only had ashort career with a really bad team that
never was in a position to battlefor playoff spots. I think they're going
(30:11):
to add another reliever at some pointin this process, not over an offensive
player before people panic, in additionto a bat that they'll add to the
lineup. But I think that that'sgot to be a priority for them because
you're not going to be able tojust get by, you know, kind
of crossing your fingers and so spireto me, I'd use more in the
(30:33):
eighth inning, but I'll give thema little bit of time to sort of
mix and match and see what theycan figure out, see what they've got
in house. But it should beone of the smallest windows to fill in
the entire sport. So your urgencyto get a relief pitcher maybe in the
(30:55):
next month or so is not there. My urgency isn't now. You know
you need to, but you you'rewilling to wait a little bit longer.
Yeah, yeah, I can.I'm not sitting here like, what are
you waiting for? Jerry? Okay, I'm not in that mode yet.
But I'm also one of the fewpeople apparently that follow baseball that don't think
(31:17):
that you should wait till July thirtyfirst to make a trade. I don't
know, I've never understood that.That's kind of what I wanted to get
into here. When you know youneed something and there are teams already selling
that if you went out and gotthat bat that you're looking for, you
get two extra months out of himbecause you don't wait till July thirty first.
And oh, by the way,while you're in negotiation, you're like,
(31:38):
you know what, you don't reallyneed that reliever. You're gonna win
fifty games this year, yep.So what will what will it take for
you to throw in? You know, Michael Kopek. Michael Kopek, what
will it take to throw in?Justin Lawrence from the Rocks. What will
it take to you know, throwin Tanner Scott from Miami, whatever the
case might be. So if ifyou're going to potentially work on a move
(32:01):
in late May or June, asopposed to waiting all the way till July
thirty, first you might as wellget a package deal. Get a hitter
and a reliever. Okay, youneed a boat, yeah you do.
But we've known for a long timethat this organization is not necessarily the one
to go over the top in additionsto the team, especially in the middle
(32:22):
of the season. If you couldonly choose one place to upgrade this team,
where would you choose? I thinkthat the obvious just the choices are
bullpen, corner, outfield, andthen maybe first base. But those are
the three that I kind of thinkof. I don't know if you have
others, but well, I thinkyou need more so than like a position.
(32:46):
And I'll answer your question, okay, but more so than a position,
I just want a difference maker.Okay. Dan o'doub calls him an
aircraft carrier. Yeah, Like,you can get by with this offense for
a while, but if you're goingto make a difference on this team,
(33:06):
get a real legitimate threat in themiddle of your order. I've thrown out
Lewis Robert in the past. Wellhe'll be healthy. He's not healthy right
now, but he'll be healthy.Our friend Luke Arkins hates the idea because
he doesn't think that. He doesn'tmake contact yet and he gets injured too
often. But just use him asan example as somebody that's going to be
(33:30):
available that you can put in themiddle of your order. So I want
I a significant that and what's thelikelihood what position is that likely going to
come from. That's probably going tobe corner outfield or maybe first base if
Ty just doesn't get it back together. Yeah, I'm at least open to
your idea of the off season ofupgrading the first base position. Pete Alonso
(33:53):
might end up being available at firstbase. Another strikeout guy, by the
way, but also somebody that andRain Terror can hit forty home runs yeah
on opponents. So I would saymore than anything, I just want the
bat and I can figure out howto move the other pieces around. You
have a lot of versatile players onthis team, right, Yeah, but
(34:13):
more likely it's coming at corner outfieldor first base. Okay, but if
I I don't feel like I needthe upgrade at third like we thought we
were going to need, which isweird at the beginning of the year.
I feel like Rojas can hold itdown, and if not, you're just
said it the versatility. There's someother options to go there, and so
(34:35):
I guess, I guess I'm gonnago corner outfield okay, yeah, right,
or left field, somebody they couldplay every day. I guess that
would be what I would recognize atthis point my biggest need as well documented
as my I don't want to saydisdain, but my thoughts about ty France's
(34:58):
future with this team. I agreewith you, I think corner outfield's more
important to upgrade at this point inthe year. Mitch Hanneger just seems like
he's kind of hanging by a threadfor me. He's been pretty inconsistent offensively,
had a good start to the year, but like I think, over
a month now, he's had avery like a very low WRC plus like
(35:21):
you've been bad, Yeah, playand field. I was gonna say,
Defense two is not not great,and I know, I know you have
options there. Like you said inthe beginning of the episode, you had
you have can Zone coming back orjust came back. You have Luke Rayley
playing well you know, I don'tknow. I just Demo's gonna have to
be shifted around once JP comes back, so he could probably play there as
(35:43):
well. But I'm kind of withyou. I think you need a kind
of everyday guy and either right orleft field, so that those guys that
are supposed to be utility players slashnot everyday players. And I kind of
throw Mitch into that category, ifnothing else for his injury history, because
you know, you can't probably relyon him all year. It's what I
wanted all year. I mean,we were doing a podcast when the trade
went down, and I told youtwo pretty dramatic things at that time.
(36:07):
I said, I don't think hecan get help. I don't think he
can stay healthy for an entire season. And then number two, I don't
think he's an everyday player anymore.And so this is why I brought this
up earlier in our session here wasbecause with getting can Zone back, with
Rayleigh hitting, now, with gettingJP back, which frees Dylan up to
(36:29):
be that you know, utility playersuper utility player again, not only does
he not need to play every day. I don't think you want him to
play a great day and he'll bebetter for it. It might be hard
convincing him of that because he's asa bit of the red ass. He's
famous for having a bit of thered ass. But he'll be better for
(36:49):
it. He'll stay fresher and hehas a better chance of avoiding injury.
And you know, and I thinkyou get the I would rather have the
good version of Hanneger for you know, seventy percent of my games the rest
of the way, every three yeah, versus you know what we're watching right
now every day and crossing your fingers. One that he can produce and two
(37:13):
that he doesn't get hurt well.And it's not just Hanneger too, Like
Garver hasn't been amazing. You couldswap swap him into the DH spot and
that Garbon doesn't have to play everyday, That's what I mean, So
you can rotate whatever that position is. There's a lot of guys I think
on this team that can be good, but you shouldn't be relying on every
single day. And unless I wouldprove Poloonco in that, I agree.
(37:34):
As valuable as I find Polonko,he's got a lot of injury. He's
in his thirties now, and ifhe's not hitting, he's not very valuable
right to you. So he's anotherone that if you want to spell him,
spell him right, keep him,keep him healthy, keep him fresh,
keep him from pressing every single dayduring a slump. I agree.
And he can play DH for youas well, And you can get Dylan
(37:58):
Moore if you at bats there it'sright, put Ross at second and give
a Reas some time at third.Right, There's a lot of ways you
can go about it. I'm withyou now that I'm kind of here with
the way you're saying it. Iagree. Maybe it's not a specific position
you need to upgrade. There's alot of different kind of ways you can
spell people in different spots. Butyou need someone. You need someone who's
going to be And I still prefera lefty. I still think they need
(38:22):
a true left handed batt although Raley'skind of making that need a little bit
less urgent for me. They reallybelieve in can zone too, they do.
And he's got legit power. Hecan't field, yeah, and he's
a little goofy. I don't knowif I trust he has some weird at
bats too, weird at bats,I know, but there's he's there's something
there. I guess there is somethingthere. I mean, they believed in
(38:44):
Rojas, and a lot of peopledidn't believe that last year too, so
that maybe there's I don't know,that trade's looking better as the time goes
on. I don't think that itlooked bad for this player A, for
players B and C. But thetiming. It was the timing that was
the problem. Yeah, I meanI said it from the moment it happened.
(39:06):
This happens in the off season.I like this trade, Yeah,
but why are you making it now? Why are you weakening a tired bullpen
at the most important time of theseason. Yeah. They believed, I
think too much in their ability tokind of find diamonds in the rough bullpen
wise. Well yeah, and thenyou know what they did. They then
(39:27):
leaned on well, look how greatwe were for them. Yeah. I
know, but you pitched Munyos everyday, you pitch Brash every day,
suffered for Stember, and then Munosdidn't have any gas left and now Brash
is on the out for the year. Yeah, so you paid for your
decision, A bad decision. Yeah, I here's here's here's my wish Rayconcella
(39:47):
for this season. This is whyI like the way they've used munyos so
far this year. Go for thewins early, because I don't want it
to be I don't want it tohave to even be a decision. Yeah,
I want it to be known throughoutthe land and certainly throughout Seattle.
We're going for it, that weare in it. Let's go get some
(40:08):
pieces, even if we have tosacrifice a little bit of the future.
I don't even want it to bea thought. When it wasn't a thought,
when it wasn't a question mark.They went out and got Luis Castile.
Yeah, that's an aggressive I thinkthat's worked out pretty well, and
that's worked out tremendous. And thenthey've signed him long term and now he's
now look what he's doing. ButI don't that's my goal for these first
(40:32):
couple months. This is why Ilike that they're valuing these wins a little
bit more at the beginning of theyear, yep, and not thinking about
what we got to worry about tomorrow. It's because I don't want them to
have any excuses not to add atthe deadline. Okay, quickly before we
get out of here. Ten gameroad trip Orioles. Three in Baltimore,
four in New York against a verygood Yankees team, and three in Washington
(40:57):
taking on the Nationals and our bestfriend Jesse Winker. What I forgot all
about? Right now? He's actuallyhitting pretty well, she's not having a
bad year, and his teammates seemto like it. Yeah, it was
just weird. I don't know whatplanet, what do you a expect?
And B need the Mariners to goin the next ten games road trip.
(41:20):
I think the Baltimore Orioles are justthey're a wagon. They are so much
fun, They are so good,they are so young, they are so
gifted. But I don't think they'reas good as that they're going to be.
I completely agree, So get one. I think you can get too,
but you can win the serious Butbut get one. You gotta get
(41:42):
one already. You don't have to. But get one and I'll be Okay.
We've been talking about this like I'min a position of Zen on the
radio show. I'm not overly enthused, but I'm not discouraged either. I'm
just I'm really happy that we're talkingabout a team over five hundred in middle
May. And so I'm not gettinggreedy with the series. Just you know,
(42:06):
don't get swept. Keep chucking along, don't get swept, and more
often than not win two out ofthree the Yankees. I just am not
a big believer in them really stillsee I'm the opposite. I think they're
really really good, really good.I don't know. I had people telling
me that last year at this time, and well, we don't stand a
(42:27):
chance against the Yankees. No,we're better than them. Okay, I
thought we were definitely better than theYankees last year. But one So has
been one of the best players,probably could be MVP. They've added one
Sodo. Yeah, but and rightnow, everybody's healthy, Stanton's healthy,
Judge is healthy. Well you knowthey don't. They don't have coal back
So yet. So that's good.Yeah, because he's legit and so do
(42:49):
be able to avoid him. I'mgonna say this, We're gonna lose two
out of three to Baltimore. We'regonna take Yankees two out of three.
And it's four games against Yankees,three out of four. Wow, Okay,
out of four against the Yankees.They've struggled against our pitching okay for
the last two years, and Idon't think that changes. That's gonna be
a real wake up call. Ithink for the whole world, Okay,
(43:10):
to see us, you know,beat up on the Yankees. Interesting and
then you know, in typical Marinerfashion, that would be a very Mariner's
week with it. Yeah, I'mkind of in the same boat. I
think we win to out of threeagainst the Ools. I think we split
against the Yankees, and I thinkwe win too out of three against the
Nationals. I'm pretty heavly, heavilyleaning on this team to kind of go
(43:36):
out East and do their thing.They seem to play well on the road,
especially this year too, so thatYankee series will be big. So
what is that six wins? Yeah, six wins out of ten, that
just fine. I think if youwin five you'll be okay. Uh,
yeah, you're fine. Yeah.So I mean, if you win four,
you're okay. Yeah, it's nobig deal. It's it's early in
(43:58):
the press and these are two ofthe best teams right now in sport right
now really, so you know,but I can't wait to match up against
I can't wait either. This isa good like as they say litmus test
for the Mariners, So yeah,it's a kind of a good test.
Probably maybe some early playoff matchups.Great pitching beats great hitting. These are
two of the best hitting teams goingright now in the sport, and we
(44:22):
have the best pitching. We havethe best pitching. Let's prove it.
All right, thanks for topping onwith me today. Check. Yeah,
it's good. Good to chat withyou during the season. Hopefully I get
to get to again pretty soon.All right, we'll catch up soon.
Sounds good. All right, youlistened to this episode of Mariners Weekly.
Catch you next week at some point. Usually try to do days off for
the Mariners, but they play Ithink, what is that ten days in
(44:43):
a row, So we'll figure outa time. Just keep keep refreshing that
podcast page. You've been listening toMariners Weekly. I'll talk to you next time.
And welcome back to another episode ofMariners Weekly, where we touch base just
about once a week. I andcan get some Mariner's topics in there.
The Mariners just came off of avery big series win versus the Royals,
after beating the Athletics as well,and then before that dropping three of four
(00:21):
to the Twins. So a mixedbag, but I think overall a pretty
positive outlook on the recent schedule foryour Seattle baseball team. And I brought
along a familiar voice with me today. Rory unavailable, so I got an
upgrade. I got myself, misterChuck Powell from Chuck and Buck in the
(00:42):
Morning, resident baseball expert here onKJAR. Chuck, welcome back to the
show. Maybe not a baseball upgrade, but with the lady, okay,
certainly. Wow, you'll have toteach me how that works. Yeah,
yeah, well maybe Rory too.Ory's got a thing or two to learn
it, he does, So maybethat it can be a separate episode where
we talk about that. Yeah,but big series win versus the Royals.
(01:07):
We can get into a couple extratopics, But I just want your kind
of general thoughts on maybe the lastthree series Royals athletics and twins. Isn't
it amazing that? I mean,hey, kudos. I mean eight out
of nine series that you've won,but you're still just four games over five
hundred. It almost seems impossible.Yeah, you're not. You haven't put
(01:30):
a little more distance. When youhear you want eight series out of nine,
it feels like you've just dominated.Yeah, it hurts when the one
series you lost was a four gamer, so right, like you lose three
instead of just lose one. Imean it's still eighteen and ten over that
time, right, and that's terrificbaseball. And as long as they keep
up the pace. I mean,it's just that's the pace. It can't
(01:52):
be kept up. R I mean, you're not going to win eight to
nine series the rest of the year. You're not going to keep that pace
up. And yet as long asyou do, I mean, you win
the American League West in a breeze, So credit to them. I mean
we still I think the offense isperforming better. I don't think it's atrocious
like it was. And so youmarry that with this staff that you and
(02:16):
I going all the way back tothe offseason, we're telling people that those
that are underestimating this staff. It'sthe best starting rotation in the sport.
So now that the offense is startingto carry a little bit of the weight,
still some consistency issues, but atleast we're starting to see some crooked
numbers put up there and then thereturn of JP and Dom to kind of
(02:38):
deepen your lineup and your roster andyour bench. It's in a good spot.
Ryeah now could be better, butit's in a good I completely agree,
and like I think, the lasttime we chatted wasn't necessarily on this
podcast, but on your show,was about, you know, the pitching
was so elite and the offense wasso subpar. I think both of those
(02:59):
have kind of geared towards the middlea little bit more. The pitching has
slowed down a little bit. They'restill great, but a couple of rough
outings from Logan Gilbert, one fromI think George Kirby recently, really just
one from Logan. He made onebad pitch, otherwise he was outstanding against
the Royals. That's true. Thatis true, And there is a little
talking point I want to get toyou on that because during that game I
(03:20):
had a nice conversation with a coupleof my buddies about what was going on
there with the bullpen decisions. SoI'm curious on your thoughts on that,
but yeah, I agree with you. I think offensively, it's starting to
come around a little bit. LukeRayley my Mariner of the week. I'm
just gonna put it out there.He's definitely proving that he should be an
everyday starter for this team. Aleft handed bat that we've desperately needed in
(03:45):
the lineup that has some pop,can run the bases, puts down a
bunt every once in a while,plays good defense. He's been an excellent
addition to this team. So Iwant to see him in the lineup every
single day. And Ty Franz startingto turn around the next last couple of
games, I want to see alittle bit more from him. I want
to see him walk a little bitmore to be have that process go through
(04:05):
the steps it needs to do.But he's shown some pop at the plate
a little bit, So I'm impressedwith what I've seen out of those two
guys. I think your assessment offthe air with the Bucky and I was
right. I think he's still pullingoff. I don't think Ty France is
still in ty France mode. Right. Raley had a terrific week. And
(04:26):
that's another one going back to ourStove offseason podcast, that we were excited
about that trade, even though Capaira, I think stile in like twenty bases
already. Yeah for Tampa. ButI think the significant news of the week,
though, Anders is getting Crawford andcan Zone back. Okay, because
I think that Mitch Haniger has beena little bit misused throughout this process,
(04:49):
but out of necessity. I don'tblame Scott for over using him. You
know, you had some injuries andyou were trying to find some professional in
those first six weeks of the seasonand they just weren't popping up from anybody
with the exception of Josh Rojas.And so I think Scott, and he
(05:11):
mentioned this in the dugout on Wednesday, I think he's finally getting the roster
that he couldn't wait to manage.And I think we're going to see even
though people hate to hear this,I don't know why, but they hate
to hear the word platoon. Platoonyeah, and I don't think they're going
to be strict righty lefty, no, but I think you could see more
(05:33):
and can Zone sharing a lot ofleft field, and I think you can
see Hanniger and Raley sharing a lotof right field. And I think that
Rojas has proven himself to be aneveryday player until he proves otherwise. So
Arius is going to have to fightfor some playing time at this stage.
But if Tied doesn't go into tymode, you might see Raley play some
(05:56):
first base with him. And obviouslyyou can have whatever fun you want to
have at the DH spot. Julioand JP are and Cal whenever he's available,
are probably your only like everyday guysat this stage. And so I
think this with can Zone and Crawfordcoming back, it's going to give you
an opportunity to sort of give Polonkosome res Hanneger keep him fresh, Garber
(06:19):
give him some rest. And thenof course the injury concerns about those three
dudes that you might be able toalleviate some of that by not playing them
every day. Yeah, you mentionedPolonko there ley obviously been the positive offensive
addition to this team from the offseason. Polanka's struggled out of the gate,
(06:40):
to put it lightly, At whatpoint, because when Luis Urias plays.
He seems to know what he's doing, plays decent defense, has some pop,
gets on base pretty well at agood clip. How close are you
to thinking about not throwing Polanco thereevery day on second base and maybe putting
Rojas Rorius there on the occasional,you know, third day or something like
(07:02):
that. Not I'm not close tothat. I think Dylan Moore has given
us an idea that maybe he's deserveda little more playing time and so maybe
he could get a little second baseaction in. And don't forget, you
still have Rojas that can play thatposition as well. I just believe in
Polonko. I don't know what happensto players that come from other organizations and
(07:24):
join the Mariners organization and for whateverreason they can't hit here. I don't
know. I mean, he's donenothing but hit his entire professional career.
Even when he had the injuries lastyear with the Twins, he comes back
from the injured list, they hithim third. Yeah, on a playoff
team. I mean that's in theplayoffs, in the playoffs, and that's
how that's how confident they were inthe player they have in Polonko. And
(07:46):
that's how confident I was the daythat they acquired him, So I'm not
really close to abandoning it. Yeah, I did. We had Mitch Garver
on this week on the radio show, and I asked him, how much
are you you using what they're teachingyou versus what you trust throughout your career,
and he said, almost all ofit is what I've trusted throughout my
(08:09):
career. So I don't you know, here's Garber saying, right from the
you know, the horse's mouth,you can't blame the Mariners for this,
right. I'm not hitting right now, but I feel like I'm coming out
of it a little bit and Iknow that I will. That's that's basically
the message. So I don't knowwhy this happens. Yeah, but but
I have every faith that Polonco's goingto be a valuable contributor to this team.
(08:33):
And you're gonna have to live withsome defense that's sketchy, But I
mean, they're gonna need him.They're gonna they're gonna need him to hit,
and I think that he will.Yeah, I'm kind of with you
there. Uh, maybe it's alittle biased because I was so thrilled about
the addition and I want to keepthat same feeling going through the season here,
but now I'm with you. I'mI have been impressed with Rius though
(08:56):
with house work. Yeah, andI want to see him maybe every once
in a while. I don't wantto just see him against you know,
righty's or sorry lefties. Yeah.So I don't know, there's a lot
of different decisions kind of going inespecially it's gonna make it even murkier when
JP comes back soon. I wantto give a quick update because last night
(09:18):
JP Crawford did have a rehab startin Tacoma got hit in the wrist with
the ball. It looked pretty badat first from the videos that have been
circling around social media, but theMariners did confirm that it wasn't a serious
injury. They don't know if he'sgoing to play again tonight, but they
(09:39):
avoided kind of the worst case scenariothere with JP Crawford. So hopefully that
doesn't push back his timeline to comeback during this next road trip to join
the team, because I think theMariners have desperately needed his bat and someone
who I don't know, maybe itaffects how he's batting, but Julio Rodriguez
has started to come around the litlebit too. Still not slugging like we
(10:03):
have expected and seen him do inthe past, but he's he's hitting the
ball hard, lots of line drivesand obviously playing great defense. What do
you think of what you've seen fromJulia the last week or so? I
mean, I mean, there's alwayslittle signs, and as soon as you
see a sign, you're like hereit comes, yeah, you know,
good? Ready now americanly, Iguess twenty twenty three repeating it's going to
(10:26):
happen at some point, but it'swe're reading into because of our expectations.
We're reading into two for four daylike it's all the floodgates are going to
open now. I suspect that theywill soon, and then once they're open,
they'll stay open. That's that's justgoing to be my expectation for him.
(10:46):
I think he's a spectacular talent.It'll be interesting to see because I
think from what I heard about thereport from JP, I'm kind of expecting
him to be back for the Oriolesseries. That's kind of the read that
I was getting from Scott that hemight be you, I mean, unless
this is a genuine setback, right, I think he'll be You'll see him
in the Orioles series. So whatdo you do? Your best hitter so
(11:07):
far this season, all year long, has been Josh Rojas. He's really
settled into the leadoff role. Sincehe's been put into that leadoff role,
you've probably played your best baseball asa team. Does JP get his leadoff
spot back, something he fought sohard to get to a year ago and
earned, and so do you?Does Josh keep his leadoff spot in front
(11:30):
of Julio? Do you move himthird and give JP a spot back?
I mean, right now, becausePolanko's not hitting, we don't have a
legitimate number three hole hitter right evenwith Rojas, that's still not a legitimate
three hole hitter. But I amcurious to see you know how they're going
to bracket Julio. Yeah, Ithink I think at first you have to
(11:52):
continue with what's worked, at leastrecently as what Bucky said and Josh Roja
and you mentioned, uh, JPearning that leadoff spot. I think Josh
Rojas has also earned that spot.So I think you continue with that,
maybe kind of ease JP into ita little bit, get him back on
the timing of course, that's kindof what this rehab stint is for.
(12:13):
But he's looked good in his youknow, warm ups and stuff. Is
what I've seen from the past homestandhe looks like he's ready to go.
So I wouldn't expect physically anything tobe an issue. It's just more getting
that timing back facing major league pitchingis going to be an adjustment for sure.
So I think, you know,Batam sixth, fifth, something like
that, just to kind of gethim back up into it a little bit.
(12:35):
And then Bucky said ninth, ninth, Okay, So I guess the
kind of a de de facto leadoffhitter from the second time through the lineup.
But I still think you want thata few more times through the order,
having that availability. I don't know. I'm not an expert on building
lineups, so I'm just that's justthrowing something out there. But if JP
comes back, Let's say it's Fridaynight, Baltimore. JP's back in the
(12:58):
lineup and you've moved Rojas, You'regonna have a feeling about that. I
will you have an opinion about it. Yeah, And let me preface this
by saying, I still think longterm, like a couple of weeks down
the road, maybe even not eventhat long from now, but it's it's
gonna be Jp Julio Rojas like leftright left. JP's kind of more of
(13:22):
a leadoff hitter profile get on bassreally well, you know, maybe not
the stolen base master as a lotof no, but he doesn't necessarily have
the pop and the I don't wantto say not the clutch factor, but
Josh Rojas is kind of the guywith people on base where you'd rather see.
Well, JP was the best hitteron the team in the clutch last
(13:45):
year. I mean, in hisnumbers career wise in the seventh, eighth,
and ninth inning are actually very impressive, even in his down years,
I think. I mean, I'mstill JP's leadoff whenever he feels comfortable.
Well, maybe it's not the firstday, you know, let him get
a couple of it bats down tothe bottom of the order, but I'd
still go him lead off. Juliosecond, And I'm still this goes back
(14:07):
to our previous conversation, I'm stillPolanco third. That's still got to be
the objective because I'm not sure ifRojas really strikes fear now, maybe you
go even if though it's left,he left him. Maybe it's backing Julio
up to third right. Maybe it'sJP and Rojas one two or Rojas JP
(14:28):
one two, something like that.So we'll see. I mean, I
heard you aloud and clear. You'renot really a lineup machinations kind of guy,
but you certainly are going to havea response. You're going to have
an opinion if you're following this teamon a daily basis like you and I
are. If you show up inBaltimore, JP's been activated and suddenly Rojas
(14:48):
is hitting sixth or whatever, you'regoing to have an opinion about it.
Yeah, And like you said,it's just he's played like he deserves it.
So and he's been your best hitterthis season, so you got to
keep that going. And in nomatter what the name says and what his
history says, he has been yourbest hitter. So and I'll also say
this, this is the one hillI will die on in terms of building
(15:09):
lineups. I still think Julio isbetter as a leadoff hitter, and I
don't know if it seems like itchanges his approach a little bit. I
don't know if it puts more pressureon him when he's hitting in the two
hole or the three hole. Itwas pretty good though. And Jp,
I mean, JP was one ofthe league leaders in on base percentage last
year. And I don't know ifhe's going to repeat that ever, but
(15:31):
he I think he feels he's earnedthat. Yeah, It's kind of like
when a quarterback gets hurt and thenthe backup plays really well. Does has
that Does the quarterback get the jobback? Yeah, you know that you
kind of have that to a muchlesser extent because you're still playing. You're
still going to play Rojas, butthere's sort of some of that that's involved
(15:54):
here. But I mean, youknow, that was a pretty magical combination.
It was for a couple of monthslast year. Now, granted,
Julio was the hottest hitter in theplanet in August July going into August,
but them going one and two,I'll almost bet you, I'd almost bet
you some money right here that Scottwants that to be. He does,
(16:15):
and he's mentioned that, he's mentionedthat before, like he when we talked
about I think we asked him duringthe Oakland series, you know, when
JP comes back, you know,and what does this do for Like Rojas
and other people that have been playingwell, Dylan Moore and then Scott like
kind of stopped the question was like, oh, we want him back,
We want him back in this lineupas soon as possible. Yeah, So
(16:37):
let me just put that right outthere. So you could tell that he
values JP's leadership, his defense,his at bats. Like you said,
professional at bats. He's been oneof the most consistent guys at that.
Even when he was struggling earlier inthis year, you could still tell he
was battling at the plate, takingtaking good at bats to seeing lots of
pitches. So and that, likeyou said, that is kind of a
(17:00):
very prototypical leadoff hitter. I justthink Julio is your best player, best
hitter. I still think his beststretch, long stretch, was when he
was hitting lead off on his rookieyear, and I just think, like
it reminds me so much of RonaldAcunya's skill set. I just think that's
who Julio could be. And that'skind of the role he plays in Atlanta.
(17:23):
But again, a much different offensefor sure, But they have a
lot of run producers they do.I mean, this this team's not you
know, quite as stock ye inthat area, and so old school guy
will say, why is he nothitting third? Your best hitter always has
to hit third. Well, they'veadapted that a little bit second to second,
and it's so that you are close, you get it close to his
(17:45):
the maximum amount of a bats whilealso giving yourself a chance to drive in
more runs. Yeah, no,I agree with that, And and there
are a few teams out there thathave even pushed it further to where your
best hitters hitting lead off, likeJudge, he hit ninety thousand homes.
(18:06):
And then I put Ronald Acunya.I think for a while, Mike Trout
is hitting lead off for the Angels, so like, there's some different ways
you can go about it, forsure, And and I just think for
anything else, if not for howwell JP has been playing, I just
think it for some reason, itchanges the way Julio takes at bats.
(18:27):
It's how young he is. Hewants to help the team, he knows
he's the guy. I just thinkwhen he was batting lead off, maybe
it was him just being a rookieand kind of having lower expectations overall,
but he was just focused on gettingon base. And then when he slugged.
He slugged, and then kind ofsets the tone for the rest of
the lineup, you know, youknow, take your walks, hit a
(18:48):
couple of singles, you know,steel bases, all that, and then
kind of let the power happen.I just I just feel like he was
at those kind of Julio at batsand his numbers were slightly down overall in
twenty twenty three and compared to twentytwenty two, not significantly, but I
just think that's the Julio that Iwant to get back to at that point,
(19:08):
and I think he's on his wayof getting there. I don't know
if batting leadoff is going to evenhelp that at all. I just that's
kind of the correlation that I putinto that. So yeah, next thing
I want to talk about. We'vetalked a lot about, you know,
hitters who have really improved, andlike in the Ty France category, Hopefully
he kind of continues that process alittle bit better. Julio's coming around.
(19:32):
I want to know. I wasgoing to preface it by saying non pitching,
but I think I want to leavethat out of it. I just
want your quarter of the season mostValuable Player for the Mariners so far.
Oh boy, Well, there's someinteresting cases to be made for a lot
of different people. Yeah. Imean we've mentioned Rojas. He's been your
(19:53):
best hitter. Yep. I meanhe has been your mirage in the middle
of the desert. Yeah, okay, yeah, you're I compared him.
Bucky called him a spark plug.I said, no, he's more of
like a feeding tube. Like thebody was dying and he was the only
thing keeping them alive life support.Yeah. I mean, the body could
(20:14):
be a lot healthier, but rightnow, you just got to pump the
minimum amount of nutrients in it inorder to keep it alive. And that's
sort of what Josh ROAs has been. I think there's an argument to be
made for munos on the back endof It's hard though, not to take
a picture. But then which onedo you take? Well, if you're
(20:37):
thinking most valuable right then like probablyGilbert, because Gilbert's been the best every
single start. He had the onebad start, but then again, you
started turning things around when Castillo gotdone with his two shoddy outings, and
then since that time he's been everybit the ace. Absolutely that this organization
wants him to be I still thinkhe's your best pitch. Bryce Miller has
(21:00):
been phenomenal, I mean, theonly one that you I mean, I'm
going to eliminate Kirby from the conversation, but I still think at the end
of the year he's going to endup being the best of this group.
I'm gonna go ahead and upset youthen, so I've run through the candidates,
I'm gonna say cal Raley. Okay, I'm going to say cal Rally
because of his role in both Yeah, like true, where would they be
(21:21):
without some of the home runs thathe's hit in the clutch situations and then
his managing of the pitching staff.He gets a little bit of credit,
I mean, line share goes toall the pitchers. Yeah, but he
gets a little bit of credit thereand then and then a lot of credit
for coming up with three or fourof the biggest hits so far this season.
(21:41):
And where would you be without thosethree or four hits? I mean,
because not only did you end upwinning those particular games, but if
you end up losing those games,what kind of a spiral effect avalanche effects
that have on you? So Idon't know, it's hard to take an
MVP on in May, in themiddle of May. But I'll go ahead
(22:03):
and I'll do something different out ofleft field. I'm gonna say cal Okay
that I don't I don't think that'sso much out of left field. I
think that would that would be myhitting choice, position player's choice. I
just think, you know, therewas a week stretch or something like that
where he hit like three game winninghome runs. It was pretty crazy.
That's like, I don't know,it's not how war works, but you
(22:25):
could you could argue he was worththree wins just in that week, which
was pretty nuts. So yeah,I mean, just like you said,
clutch and just setting the tone inthe clubhouse, you could tell he's kind
of the guy. Now it's notas vocal as previous leaders in this in
this team, but you could tellwhen he walks by everyone kind of like
okay, let's focus now, okay, let's focus. He's the sheriff and
(22:47):
JP's the the fun yeah fun dad. Yeah, it's true. And he's
sort of like stern mom that everybodyneed approval exactly that sort of thing.
No, I completely agree with you, So he wouldn't be my overall choice,
but I think he's my hitting theside choice. There's a big argument
for Rojas for sure, because Idon't know, in terms of the term,
(23:10):
MVP gets thrown around way too much, and it's so often in actual
sports, like in the NBA,it's just, oh, who is the
best player of this season? Well, that's not necessarily what the MVP is.
That's the most valuable to your team. So, like you could argue
with Rojas because without him, thisoffense probably looks way worse at this point,
does Yeah, for sure, Sothat's just value wise, that's one
(23:32):
guy brings up your offense that muchthat that helps so much. But I'm
gonna go with you actually mentioned him, and I'm surprised you did Andres Munos
because with these injuries in this bullpen, they've had to really lean on him,
and if he hasn't been as goodas he's been this season, looks
(23:52):
a lot different. I think,like he's had five out save after four
out save, after cleaning up upfor Trent Thornton, after cleaning up for
Gabe Spire after, like he's he'sjust been the guy. And when Matt
Brash is out, when Santos isout, they've really had to lean on
him. I'm I'm not thrilled aboutwhat that might look like down the road,
(24:14):
but how much he's pitching lately,I hope Hope will get either a
trade or something. Those guys willcome back. When one of those guys,
Matt Brash, has not coming backthis year. But I just I
really really think that without him pitchingas well as he has been, we
really have a different outlook on thisseason. And he was kind of taking
some crap for some reason after onestart where he walked the bases loaded,
(24:36):
and then it's been a couple ofyears. Yeah, this three years,
we don't have a real closer.People wanted to spend off season resources on
a closer. I don't understand itat all. I don't I never have
understood it. You did not seethe potential. And by the way,
he wasn't closing for a while thelast couple of years with SEAWALLD. Yeah
(24:57):
with Seawald, but they were usinghim in every high leverage situation. He
has to face the best hitters inthe lineup every time he went out there
for two years and finally it lookslike he's won the closer role, which
some will argue we shouldn't even haveclosers. You just go with the matchups.
(25:19):
But as you see Scott, Scottwasn't about to take him out of
the game yesterday and turn over theninth to somebody else. So I love
the way, and you're right,I mean, Scott does not want to
use him this way. But whathas Scott's service done in the first two
months of the season. Some ofyou and I talked about a lot about
(25:41):
getting off to a good start.He is so he is valuing these early
season wins. He is determined notto fall into a funk to have to
crawl out of. They had todo it once, and so he's just
like, I'm gonna worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow. I you know, there
have been games where they're trailing byone. This is where I think you
(26:03):
could have used Munos there, right, Like, why are we not valuing
one run deficits? I mean,all that's that's a home run. You
got three innings, you got youknow, one run you need just somebody
run into one at that point.Like so, but but because now you've
seen him use so many times beyondone inning, it's something that they can't
continue to do. But I'm gladthey've done it to this point. I'm
(26:27):
glad that they have sort of valuedwe can't create this bad start again.
Our offense isn't hitting and so weneed five more outs. Am I going
to sit around here and you know, rub my hands together, wring my
hands together over Austin both getting usout of this? Or Am I going
to go to a two hundred andthirty five pound closer that should be able
(26:49):
to handle this so can't keep itup. Glad they've done it to this
point, and he has been spectacular, And I really don't know why the
mony has critics were so worried becauseit's always been there. Yeah, and
he has such good ride on thatfastball. He's starting to use the sinker
more, which I love. It'snot a strikeout pitch as much, but
(27:11):
he gets a lot of ground ballswith it, and that slider's as nasty
as it ever has been. SoYeah, I'm a huge fan of Munios.
I always have been. I thinkhe's been your MVP for this kind
of first part of the season.So I really hope that they This kind
of leads us into my next conversation, how urgent because of that situation the
bullpen where you really only have onehigh leverage guy. You could argue Spire
(27:33):
too, he's been good, butthey're using him so early they are.
It's kind of strange because I thinkhe's your second most reliable guy. I
agree, I'm with you, andI don't think he's a lefty lefty specialist,
which is something he worked at reallyhard in the offseason to not be
right. Yeah, so I thinkhe's your second most reliable guy, But
it seems like Scott's using him toget out of innings the sixth and the
(27:56):
seventh innings versus using him to it. And I think a lot of that
is because you're there's been a coupleof situations where they left in the starter,
maybe because you have a kind ofa shorter bullpen at this point in
the season, and maybe this isa situation where if you had a couple
extra guys, you wouldn't do thatas much. I think the classic example
(28:17):
is Logan Gilbert on Tuesday, wherehe had six strong innings, looked every
bit the part. The only blipson his radar were against the top of
the order. The top the orderis coming up in the seventh inning and
they leave him out there, twowalks, three run Homer. It's a
three to one game, it was. It was one zero Mariners lead at
(28:38):
that point. So yet he wasone pitch away. He was he had
owned Velasquez now entire game and evenand he was pitching around Perez. Yeah,
I'm leaving him in to get throughthat, and I'm frankly stunned.
I was stunned. I'm I'm operatingwith the belief that he's got him in
the bag and that this was theright decision and it's going to pay off,
(29:00):
and you just got to get throughthe eighth. However, you want
to match that up to get toMunos in the ninth, So I didn't
have a huge problem with that.I'll say this, the bridge to Munyos
should be the shortest in the sport. Yeah, and by a considerable margin,
whether on both sides, Munyos goinglonger or the starter going along with
(29:22):
this starting pitching that should be givingyou at least six innings most nights and
then Munyos and I do want tolimit him to three outs in the future,
but obviously he's showing I can giveyou more. So this should be
the shortest bridge from starter to closerin the entire sport. So for that
you probably can manage it for alittle while with what you have. But
(29:47):
once you get to playoff time,once you get close to play, you
know, sinching play, once youget later in the season, I think
you need another piece. Brash isn'tcoming back. I don't know what you
can depend on with Santos, andhe's never filled that role before right in
his career. He's only had ashort career with a really bad team that
never was in a position to battlefor playoff spots. I think they're going
(30:11):
to add another reliever at some pointin this process, not over an offensive
player before people panic, in additionto a bat that they'll add to the
lineup. But I think that that'sgot to be a priority for them because
you're not going to be able tojust get by, you know, kind
of crossing your fingers and so spireto me, I'd use more in the
(30:33):
eighth inning, but I'll give thema little bit of time to sort of
mix and match and see what theycan figure out, see what they've got
in house. But it should beone of the smallest windows to fill in
the entire sport. So your urgencyto get a relief pitcher maybe in the
(30:55):
next month or so is not there. My urgency isn't now. You know
you need to, but you you'rewilling to wait a little bit longer.
Yeah, yeah, I can.I'm not sitting here like, what are
you waiting for? Jerry? Okay, I'm not in that mode yet.
But I'm also one of the fewpeople apparently that follow baseball that don't think
(31:17):
that you should wait till July thirtyfirst to make a trade. I don't
know, I've never understood that.That's kind of what I wanted to get
into here. When you know youneed something and there are teams already selling
that if you went out and gotthat bat that you're looking for, you
get two extra months out of himbecause you don't wait till July thirty first.
And oh, by the way,while you're in negotiation, you're like,
(31:38):
you know what, you don't reallyneed that reliever. You're gonna win
fifty games this year, yep.So what will what will it take for
you to throw in? You know, Michael Kopek. Michael Kopek, what
will it take to throw in?Justin Lawrence from the Rocks. What will
it take to you know, throwin Tanner Scott from Miami, whatever the
case might be. So if ifyou're going to potentially work on a move
(32:01):
in late May or June, asopposed to waiting all the way till July
thirty, first you might as wellget a package deal. Get a hitter
and a reliever. Okay, youneed a boat, yeah you do.
But we've known for a long timethat this organization is not necessarily the one
to go over the top in additionsto the team, especially in the middle
(32:22):
of the season. If you couldonly choose one place to upgrade this team,
where would you choose? I thinkthat the obvious just the choices are
bullpen, corner, outfield, andthen maybe first base. But those are
the three that I kind of thinkof. I don't know if you have
others, but well, I thinkyou need more so than like a position.
(32:46):
And I'll answer your question, okay, but more so than a position,
I just want a difference maker.Okay. Dan o'doub calls him an
aircraft carrier. Yeah, Like,you can get by with this offense for
a while, but if you're goingto make a difference on this team,
(33:06):
get a real legitimate threat in themiddle of your order. I've thrown out
Lewis Robert in the past. Wellhe'll be healthy. He's not healthy right
now, but he'll be healthy.Our friend Luke Arkins hates the idea because
he doesn't think that. He doesn'tmake contact yet and he gets injured too
often. But just use him asan example as somebody that's going to be
(33:30):
available that you can put in themiddle of your order. So I want
I a significant that and what's thelikelihood what position is that likely going to
come from. That's probably going tobe corner outfield or maybe first base if
Ty just doesn't get it back together. Yeah, I'm at least open to
your idea of the off season ofupgrading the first base position. Pete Alonso
(33:53):
might end up being available at firstbase. Another strikeout guy, by the
way, but also somebody that andRain Terror can hit forty home runs yeah
on opponents. So I would saymore than anything, I just want the
bat and I can figure out howto move the other pieces around. You
have a lot of versatile players onthis team, right, Yeah, but
(34:13):
more likely it's coming at corner outfieldor first base. Okay, but if
I I don't feel like I needthe upgrade at third like we thought we
were going to need, which isweird at the beginning of the year.
I feel like Rojas can hold itdown, and if not, you're just
said it the versatility. There's someother options to go there, and so
(34:35):
I guess, I guess I'm gonnago corner outfield okay, yeah, right,
or left field, somebody they couldplay every day. I guess that
would be what I would recognize atthis point my biggest need as well documented
as my I don't want to saydisdain, but my thoughts about ty France's
(34:58):
future with this team. I agreewith you, I think corner outfield's more
important to upgrade at this point inthe year. Mitch Hanneger just seems like
he's kind of hanging by a threadfor me. He's been pretty inconsistent offensively,
had a good start to the year, but like I think, over
a month now, he's had avery like a very low WRC plus like
(35:21):
you've been bad, Yeah, playand field. I was gonna say,
Defense two is not not great,and I know, I know you have
options there. Like you said inthe beginning of the episode, you had
you have can Zone coming back orjust came back. You have Luke Rayley
playing well you know, I don'tknow. I just Demo's gonna have to
be shifted around once JP comes back, so he could probably play there as
(35:43):
well. But I'm kind of withyou. I think you need a kind
of everyday guy and either right orleft field, so that those guys that
are supposed to be utility players slashnot everyday players. And I kind of
throw Mitch into that category, ifnothing else for his injury history, because
you know, you can't probably relyon him all year. It's what I
wanted all year. I mean,we were doing a podcast when the trade
went down, and I told youtwo pretty dramatic things at that time.
(36:07):
I said, I don't think hecan get help. I don't think he
can stay healthy for an entire season. And then number two, I don't
think he's an everyday player anymore.And so this is why I brought this
up earlier in our session here wasbecause with getting can Zone back, with
Rayleigh hitting, now, with gettingJP back, which frees Dylan up to
(36:29):
be that you know, utility playersuper utility player again, not only does
he not need to play every day. I don't think you want him to
play a great day and he'll bebetter for it. It might be hard
convincing him of that because he's asa bit of the red ass. He's
famous for having a bit of thered ass. But he'll be better for
(36:49):
it. He'll stay fresher and hehas a better chance of avoiding injury.
And you know, and I thinkyou get the I would rather have the
good version of Hanneger for you know, seventy percent of my games the rest
of the way, every three yeah, versus you know what we're watching right
now every day and crossing your fingers. One that he can produce and two
(37:13):
that he doesn't get hurt well.And it's not just Hanneger too, Like
Garver hasn't been amazing. You couldswap swap him into the DH spot and
that Garbon doesn't have to play everyday, That's what I mean, So
you can rotate whatever that position is. There's a lot of guys I think
on this team that can be good, but you shouldn't be relying on every
single day. And unless I wouldprove Poloonco in that, I agree.
(37:34):
As valuable as I find Polonko,he's got a lot of injury. He's
in his thirties now, and ifhe's not hitting, he's not very valuable
right to you. So he's anotherone that if you want to spell him,
spell him right, keep him,keep him healthy, keep him fresh,
keep him from pressing every single dayduring a slump. I agree.
And he can play DH for youas well, And you can get Dylan
(37:58):
Moore if you at bats there it'sright, put Ross at second and give
a Reas some time at third.Right, There's a lot of ways you
can go about it. I'm withyou now that I'm kind of here with
the way you're saying it. Iagree. Maybe it's not a specific position
you need to upgrade. There's alot of different kind of ways you can
spell people in different spots. Butyou need someone. You need someone who's
going to be And I still prefera lefty. I still think they need
(38:22):
a true left handed batt although Raley'skind of making that need a little bit
less urgent for me. They reallybelieve in can zone too, they do.
And he's got legit power. Hecan't field, yeah, and he's
a little goofy. I don't knowif I trust he has some weird at
bats too, weird at bats,I know, but there's he's there's something
there. I guess there is somethingthere. I mean, they believed in
(38:44):
Rojas, and a lot of peopledidn't believe that last year too, so
that maybe there's I don't know,that trade's looking better as the time goes
on. I don't think that itlooked bad for this player A, for
players B and C. But thetiming. It was the timing that was
the problem. Yeah, I meanI said it from the moment it happened.
(39:06):
This happens in the off season.I like this trade, Yeah,
but why are you making it now? Why are you weakening a tired bullpen
at the most important time of theseason. Yeah. They believed, I
think too much in their ability tokind of find diamonds in the rough bullpen
wise. Well yeah, and thenyou know what they did. They then
(39:27):
leaned on well, look how greatwe were for them. Yeah. I
know, but you pitched Munyos everyday, you pitch Brash every day,
suffered for Stember, and then Munosdidn't have any gas left and now Brash
is on the out for the year. Yeah, so you paid for your
decision, A bad decision. Yeah, I here's here's here's my wish Rayconcella
(39:47):
for this season. This is whyI like the way they've used munyos so
far this year. Go for thewins early, because I don't want it
to be I don't want it tohave to even be a decision. Yeah,
I want it to be known throughoutthe land and certainly throughout Seattle.
We're going for it, that weare in it. Let's go get some
(40:08):
pieces, even if we have tosacrifice a little bit of the future.
I don't even want it to bea thought. When it wasn't a thought,
when it wasn't a question mark.They went out and got Luis Castile.
Yeah, that's an aggressive I thinkthat's worked out pretty well, and
that's worked out tremendous. And thenthey've signed him long term and now he's
now look what he's doing. ButI don't that's my goal for these first
(40:32):
couple months. This is why Ilike that they're valuing these wins a little
bit more at the beginning of theyear, yep, and not thinking about
what we got to worry about tomorrow. It's because I don't want them to
have any excuses not to add atthe deadline. Okay, quickly before we
get out of here. Ten gameroad trip Orioles. Three in Baltimore,
four in New York against a verygood Yankees team, and three in Washington
(40:57):
taking on the Nationals and our bestfriend Jesse Winker. What I forgot all
about? Right now? He's actuallyhitting pretty well, she's not having a
bad year, and his teammates seemto like it. Yeah, it was
just weird. I don't know whatplanet, what do you a expect?
And B need the Mariners to goin the next ten games road trip.
(41:20):
I think the Baltimore Orioles are justthey're a wagon. They are so much
fun, They are so good,they are so young, they are so
gifted. But I don't think they'reas good as that they're going to be.
I completely agree, So get one. I think you can get too,
but you can win the serious Butbut get one. You gotta get
(41:42):
one already. You don't have to. But get one and I'll be Okay.
We've been talking about this like I'min a position of Zen on the
radio show. I'm not overly enthused, but I'm not discouraged either. I'm
just I'm really happy that we're talkingabout a team over five hundred in middle
May. And so I'm not gettinggreedy with the series. Just you know,
(42:06):
don't get swept. Keep chucking along, don't get swept, and more
often than not win two out ofthree the Yankees. I just am not
a big believer in them really stillsee I'm the opposite. I think they're
really really good, really good.I don't know. I had people telling
me that last year at this time, and well, we don't stand a
(42:27):
chance against the Yankees. No,we're better than them. Okay, I
thought we were definitely better than theYankees last year. But one So has
been one of the best players,probably could be MVP. They've added one
Sodo. Yeah, but and rightnow, everybody's healthy, Stanton's healthy,
Judge is healthy. Well you knowthey don't. They don't have coal back
So yet. So that's good.Yeah, because he's legit and so do
(42:49):
be able to avoid him. I'mgonna say this, We're gonna lose two
out of three to Baltimore. We'regonna take Yankees two out of three.
And it's four games against Yankees,three out of four. Wow, Okay,
out of four against the Yankees.They've struggled against our pitching okay for
the last two years, and Idon't think that changes. That's gonna be
a real wake up call. Ithink for the whole world, Okay,
(43:10):
to see us, you know,beat up on the Yankees. Interesting and
then you know, in typical Marinerfashion, that would be a very Mariner's
week with it. Yeah, I'mkind of in the same boat. I
think we win to out of threeagainst the Ools. I think we split
against the Yankees, and I thinkwe win too out of three against the
Nationals. I'm pretty heavly, heavilyleaning on this team to kind of go
(43:36):
out East and do their thing.They seem to play well on the road,
especially this year too, so thatYankee series will be big. So
what is that six wins? Yeah, six wins out of ten, that
just fine. I think if youwin five you'll be okay. Uh,
yeah, you're fine. Yeah.So I mean, if you win four,
you're okay. Yeah, it's nobig deal. It's it's early in
(43:58):
the press and these are two ofthe best teams right now in sport right
now really, so you know,but I can't wait to match up against
I can't wait either. This isa good like as they say litmus test
for the Mariners, So yeah,it's a kind of a good test.
Probably maybe some early playoff matchups.Great pitching beats great hitting. These are
two of the best hitting teams goingright now in the sport, and we
(44:22):
have the best pitching. We havethe best pitching. Let's prove it.
All right, thanks for topping onwith me today. Check. Yeah,
it's good. Good to chat withyou during the season. Hopefully I get
to get to again pretty soon.All right, we'll catch up soon.
Sounds good. All right, youlistened to this episode of Mariners Weekly.
Catch you next week at some point. Usually try to do days off for
the Mariners, but they play Ithink, what is that ten days in
(44:43):
a row, So we'll figure outa time. Just keep keep refreshing that
podcast page. You've been listening toMariners Weekly. I'll talk to you next time.
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