Softy & Dick 6-5 Hour 3: Larry Stone, M’s, Seahawks Interest

In the third hour, Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain chat with Larry Stone about Andres Munoz’s status for the Mariners, their spending this year, and Scott Servais, then talk about the Mariners leading the West with a poor offense and the current Hawks interest.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
It's time for our weekly conversation withlegendary sportswriter Larry Stone, brought to you
by the Ram Restaurant and Brewery,Bigger, better and fresher since nineteen seventy
one, with eight fugit Sound locationsfrom Marysville to Lacey and everywhere in between.
There's the Ram. There you nowwith Softy and Dick. Here's Larry
Stone. All right, big thanksfor our friends at the Ram, by

(00:23):
the way, for sponsoring the shindigevery single Wednesday. We had to convince
our next guest and bribe him withfood to come on the radio program,
and like anyone, he obviously wouldagree to that proposition. Larry Stone was
with us, Larry, how areyou pal? I'm doing great. I'll
never turn down food thousand percent withyou man. Easiest way to my heart

(00:44):
is a free play to food,no question about that. Well, let's
first of all talk about the newsof the day. You saw the game
last night, Andress Munios tries tomake a play at the plate, has
to leave the game, and everybody'sholding their breath right now to find out
about Andress Munnios is back. Insimple terms, tell us how important this
guy is you think to this baseballteam, well, I think he's vital.

(01:07):
Uh. You know, they wentinto this season with designs on having
this lockdown back end of the bullpenwith Munos and Brash and Santos, and
now they're down to Munos and ifthey lose him, they'll have lose lost
their three big arms. Uh.It doesn't look that bad. That's the
word we're all getting from Twitter.Now that's the Scott's talk to the to

(01:30):
the to the media before the game. They don't have the MRI results down,
but the bullpen has looked vulnerable anywaya little bit the last few weeks.
You know, they they they weregreat in the Astro Series, but
at other times they they've been vulnerablein getting to Munios. So they have

(01:51):
Munhos goes down, go down.I would assume if he went down for
any length the time, Standic wouldtake over as the closer, I would
assume. But they need him.He's emerged as one of the top closers
in baseball and you feel really goodwhen you have a lead at the ninth
inning he goes out there. Sothey got to be hoping that it's nothing

(02:15):
serious because as many other problems asthey have. They don't need that one
too well, Larry, the winningpercentage is better than it was last year,
about the same as it was intwenty twenty two. But to my
eyes they don't look like as gooda team as I saw last year and
in twenty twenty two. Am Iseeing something wrong? Or is this less
of a team now than it wasthe last couple of years. I think

(02:38):
the pitching is better. I thinkthe rotation is better. I think one
through five, I think it's muchbetter. And that'll take you a long
way. The offense has not beenas good, that's for sure, and
the bullpen is probably a wash.It has the potential to be to be

(03:00):
better. I think if they doget Santos back, And now they're talking
about this Logan Evans, who Jerrythinks is like an impact arm who's in
Double A and was moved to thebullpen yesterday with a clear design on joining
the team at some point in thesecond half. He's at double A.

(03:23):
I mean he could be. Idon't know if you remember, but a
long time ago, Francisco Rodriguez krod when he came up to the Angels,
pretty much he came out of nowherein the second late in the season
and pretty much propelled him to theWorld Series, to the championship that year.
Uh, you know, you hopefor an impact like that. That's

(03:44):
probably asking a lot of them,But they rave about this guy, so
I think I think they're a littlebetter. I would disagree with you,
Dick, just because of the frontlinestarting pitching. Well, Paul Seawald got
the d Backs to the World Serieslast year. I mean it's obviously important.
But I just saw Adam Jude's Twitteraccount, Larry, I know you're
sitting around in retirement just watching Divishand Jude on social media, just wishing

(04:10):
you were them. Jude says Munno'sjust spoke with a small group in Oakland.
Says he's feeling much better and hopesto be available in the next couple
of days. Been managing the lowerback injuries since the second game of the
year. I mean, I canhandle the back right, But you start
talking about elbows and shoulders and thingslike that, Like, for example,
you heard about Jose Arkety and ChristianXavier from the astros rotation or out for

(04:32):
the year with elbow surgery. Ithink Javier might be having Tommy John by
the way, So when Scott's servispulls Brian Wu on Friday with sixty six
pitches and it explains later that hewasn't feeling great to begin with. There's
a general kind of feeling that theMariners are maybe babying their starting pitchers a
bit too much. And then youhear stories like Javier and Erkati obviously going

(04:57):
down with elbow problems. A lotof guys in baseball having elbow problems.
I get being a little defensive whatthese guys, But do the Mariners maybe
go a little bit overboard in yourmind, that's a great question. I
don't think they do, just forthe reason that you said that pitchers are
dropping like flies. I mean,that's one of the big storylines of this
season is the pitching injuries. TheSpencer Streyder and you know, all the

(05:23):
frontline pitchers who have been out forthe season. And the Mariners have a
pretty good track record of nursing theirstarters through a season. You have,
you lost Robbie Ray last year,but the young guys, they've been very
conservative with them, and I thinkit's it's paid off. And the specific

(05:43):
game with Wu that everybody was complainingabout and I kind of raised my eyebrows
too when they pulled them out withsixty some pitches and a shoutout, shutout
going. But you had a fourrun lead, you had a figure that
you could you could take that homeand win the game. This is a
guy who was coming off arm problemsat the beginning of the year. He's

(06:04):
had Tommy John surger me in thepast. I think it's okay to baby
him in May for the payoffs inAugust and September. You need those guys
down the stretch. So there's amethod to the madness. And I think
they just don't want to push tothe young arms and especially the dynamic.
They're heart throwing guys, and thoseare the with a lot of spin,

(06:27):
and those are the guys who gethurt. So I think you could pull
them too soon. It may costyou here and there, but I think
it will pay off in the longrun, and I understand what they're doing.
The stats seem a little contradictory though, because as the pitching injury percentage
grows, the innings pitch shrinks,So it's like we have pictures nowadays that

(06:48):
are throwing less and getting hurt more, which would lead some to believe,
hey, we just go back tothe way it was in the eighties and
how these guys throw eight innings onehundred and forty pitches because it builds up
their arm strength. Where do youfeel about What do you feel about that?
Yeah, you know there is partof me that wonders that too,
when you look at the innings pitchedthat used to pile up two hundred and

(07:12):
fifty to three hundred innings. Guyslike Ferguson Jenkins, you know, year
after year would throw three hundred inningsand get hurt too much. But I
just don't think they were throwing withthe with the speed and the spin and
the torque on their arm and stuffthat they that they are now. I
just don't think that that it's comparable. I think that's the reason for the

(07:38):
injuries. The arm is and they'redoing it at a young age. You
know, I've I heard a doctortalking the other day that you know,
you've got guys eighteen years old,sixteen, seventeen years old who are throwing
ninety five now, and you justdon't that's the arm's not built for that.
So it takes its toll and overtime. You know, by the

(07:59):
time they reached twenty their twenties,maybe they're hurt. So I don't think
the industry knows how to handle this, or they would have fixed it.
You know. Jeff Passing wrote thebook The Arm, which was a whole
examination of pitchers at their preservation andtheir and their injuries and their endurance.

(08:20):
And his conclusion was that there isno conclusion. You know, he talked
to all the experts, the scientists, the doctors, so you know,
they may come to a point wherethey go back to the old ways and
start grooming guys to go longer.Well, Larry Stones with us courtesy of
the RAM And I hate to giveJude another mention here on the show because
it's enough already for God's sakes,but you saw that. I think him

(08:43):
and Ryan caught up with John Stantonright a couple of years ago and he
said, look, you know we'regoing to go out and make this team
better. You know, we willspend the money to make this baseball team
better, to which a lot ofus said, well, if you have
the money, why not spend itover the off season? Number one,
But then number two, when hehe says spend money. What does that
mean, Like, do we thinkthat John Stanton will limit himself the players

(09:05):
who are free agents. Will hego out and get a Vladimir Guerrero junior
type guy who's making twenty million,will make that much money likely in arbitration
next year. When he says spendmoney, what does that mean to you?
Yeah, it's a mystery because theyhaven't spent money. And when he

(09:26):
says something like we'll provide them theresources, I would hope that it means
that if they identify a bat thatthey think will be the difference maker in
bringing them to the playoffs and deepinto the playoffs, that they'll they won't

(09:46):
care if what the salary attached toit is. And that may include taking
on the twenty million of Guerrero nextyear or the fifteen million of Luvis Robert
next year. But you know,let's not be naives. They've reason,

(10:11):
as you pointed out, that they'rein this position is because they didn't pay
that money in the off season toget more reliable bats. So I think
their credibility is on the line.Though right now, they've talked and talked
and talked about having the making themove when the time comes, there's never
been a more definitive time to dothat, and right now it's a crying

(10:35):
need on a team that has thetools to go a long way, longer
than they've ever gone before, andit would be just the criminal if they
didn't seize every opportunity, even ifit meant you know, to me,
if you get a guy like VladGuerrero, you're just starting your team building
for next year early. Like Ithink that was their philosophy with Luis Castillo.

(11:00):
We need to go get a greatpitcher in the offseason. We'll get
him now. You know we're startingon next year's budget now. Vlad Guerrero
is was deemed a superstar a coupleof years ago. He hasn't quite lived
up to to the hype, buthe's still a very very good player.
He's still very young and his bestyears could still be ahead of him.

(11:22):
So if you have a chance toget a Vlad Guerrero and it's going to
cost you twenty million next year,you know that should be something you're willing
to pay because it's going to makethe team much better now and next year.
Larry, you covered the sport whena lot of baseball managers are just
megastars, household names. Eight toten baseball managers were household names. I

(11:45):
don't know if there's a baseball managerthat's a household name. Where do you
think they've gone in the last twentyyears? Yeah, I think the last
one was when Dusty retired after lastyear. Yeah, Buck, Buck,
Showalter. Those are probably the lasttwo, right, Yeah, yeah,
No. I distinctly remember when Ifirst started my career, Billy Martin was
still managing. That's how old Iam, and I and I remember going

(12:09):
into his office this is when hewas managing the Oakland Age and just being
in awe. This was Billy Martin. He was He was bigger than the
teams, the players. Yeah,and you know, a steady stream of
those guys Larusa, Whitey, Sparky, you know, all those guys I
covered at various points, and theywere larger than life. And you're right.

(12:31):
I think it's it's part of theanalytic movement in that I think that's
the biggest reason is that the manageris no longer really allowed to manage with
his gut, like like you knowLou and those guys did. It's sort
of more buttoned down computer, computeroriented, and I think that takes away

(12:56):
from the building of the personality.And the other thing I think is that
the instant replay has taken away thearguments. That's that's part of the uh
charisma and the appeal of a guylike Lou Panella was going out there and
throwing his hat and kicking off theumpire. But now now if the same
play that would set Lou off,he just he just you know, asked

(13:18):
for a challenge and it would beoverturned and he would relax. But but
that's that was fun. That wasfun to watch those kind of outbursts.
Billy Martin and you know Tommy Lasorda, the famous arguments that you can hear
on the when he was miked up. Those are classics. And I think
that built that built up those managers. By the way, I did,

(13:45):
I didn't realize you covered Billy Mario. I didn't know you were that old.
Oh what was Conny mack cover?He was John McGrath. You knew
John mcra very well. By theway, did you ever? Did you
know Tommy when he did that KirkBavakua thing that's on YouTube? Uh know
him? I mean I had coveredhim. I think that was a little

(14:07):
bit that was before I covered him, but I covered it pretty extensively when
I covered the Giants. At onetime, I went into his office to
do an interview at your stadium.And I had started my interview and the
PR man came in and said,you're going to have to leave now.
Torvell and Dean are here to talkto Tommy think they were figure figure skaters

(14:28):
and the Olympic figure skaters. Igot kicked out of his office so that
he could schmooth with Torvill and Dean. How about that? Wow? Unreal
man, unreal Larry. Since we'retalking about baseball managers, Softie and I
have debated the worth of Scott's service. He certainly thinks that he knows better
than anybody else. Not you.Scott certainly thinks he knows better than everybody

(14:52):
else. What do you What doyou think? I mean? Where does
Scott service in the pantheon of MajorLeague Baseball managers? Uh? You know,
I think records. I know everyonecriticizes the manager and second guess is
the manager and has a million grievanceswith the managers. The manager, this
manager, I read the comments andeverything, but this is the most successful

(15:15):
stretch that they've had since since Flewleft. By far. This is going
to be their fourth straight winning season, their fourth straight contending season. I
think you got to give Service creditfor and in a lot of those years
they look down and out and hesort of guided them back into contention.

(15:37):
Yes, you can nitpick a lotof things and strategy and all that,
but I think he's a good managerand I think he knows how to how
to win. They maybe he hasn'thad the personnel to take it as far
as we'd all like to see themgo, but all things being equal,

(16:03):
I think Service is a good manager. Yeah. I just I just brought
it up on Monday for conversation that. I mean, you're looking at all
these hitters that are underperforming. Youdon't have Brash, you don't have Santos,
and yet as of now, you'rewhat eight games up and five and
eight games over, five and ahalf games up on the Texas Rangers.
I just tossed it ot there kindof casually before Dick just bit my head
off. How much does this guydeserve any credit for kind of keeping this

(16:27):
thing together with all the hitters underperformingand the injuries in the bullpen, and
he was a finalist for Manager ofthe Year twice. I believe in one
year I thought he should have wonit. The year they made the playoffs
and you know, ending the droughtthis year, you know, was there
was there optimism going into the season. No, and a lot of a

(16:48):
lot of people thought this team washopeless, you know, coming off a
lackluster what was perceived as a lastcluster winter of boosting the team and getting
rid of a lot of guys.And yet here they are, as you
said, five and a half gamesin first place. And for a while
there it was it was just becauseof a bad division, and that's still

(17:08):
a factor. But they're on pacenow to win ninety ninety one games.
I just figured it out before wewent on. If they win tonight,
they'll be on a pace. They'llbe on a pace to win ninety three.
So you know, that's legitimate territorywhen you get into the nineties.
So it's not just like they're sneakingin the back door. You know,
at this moment, with that thatcould change. If the other teams in

(17:33):
the division don't get better, youknow, maybe you could win it with
a five hundred record or something,but they're they're not playing five hundred ball.
Larry, next time you're on theair, we want Cy Young stories
from you. What was he likein person? Next week with Larry Stone.
Larry, you're the man, greatstuff. Enjoy the week and we'll
talk next Wednesday. Man, allright, thanks, getting all right Larry

(17:55):
Stone with us on the air.You know, he's the kind of guy
by the way. He seems likea sweetheart, art and a real all
around gentlemen. If we keep pokinghim about this age thing, he might
just snap at one point in time. There's only so much people can take.
Man five point twenty two will comeback with a lot more, including
Mike Florio in the six pm houron ninety three to three KJRFM. My

(18:18):
from the R and R Foundation SpecialistsBroadcast Studio. Now back to Softie and
Dick on your Home for the Huskiesand the Kraken Sports Radio ninety three point
three KJR FM. Alright, Safie, Dick and Jackson with you. It's
til seven o'clock and I Michael Florio, one of the nicest people I've ever
known in this business. It's allright, what did you share with eeanduring

(18:45):
cross Talk. Oh, so Ihave to text him every Wednesday to remind
him about doing the show. Mike. Yeah, Like, I've got all
kinds of alarms and notifications in myphone to go off and remind myself to
do this and do that. Hecan't do that for some reason, or
he just wants to bust my ballsand make me text him every Wednesday to

(19:06):
remind me. Really not come on, if you don't text him, he
might forget. It's exactly possible.One what might happen is he won't answer
the call and then say you nevertexted me, And that's certainly as possible.
So normally he'll write me back withsome smart ass response like up yours
or emoji middle finger, you knowwhatever, you know, f off forty

(19:27):
one yards, suck it whatever,something like that. I think he takes
pride in being disliked by people.Well, I think he takes pride and
busting my balls for sure, becausehe does the same thing to Paul Allen.
By the way, in Minnesota,he's on his show every single week.
So anyway, Mike Florio will joinus in the six pm hour as
well on the program. So Iremember following the Mariners in two thousand and

(19:49):
one and even later on when theywere having some pretty decent years. And
I feel like when the schedule getsto a point where your win loss record
and just follow me here, Okay, I'm gonna I might confuse people.
I'm gonna confuse myself. Okay.When the first number of the amount of
wins you have is double the firstnumber of the amount of losses you have,

(20:12):
you're really starting to kind of clicka little bit, right. Like,
for example, if you can getto forty wins before thirty losses,
I got right, all right,forty and twenty nine or whatever something like
that. You know, fifty oneand thirty eight, you really got something
going. So and this is whatlike Larry was talking, like, right
now, the Mariners are on paceto win ninety two games, Okay,

(20:33):
so this stretch they've got right now, two more against the A's, three
against Kansas City, four against theWhite Sox. That's a nine game run
here that they've got in the nextweek and a half. What do we
realistically think their record will be inthose next nine games. I think they'll
lose the three game series of KansasCity and they'll win the other ones.

(20:53):
Three to one and two one probably, okay, So they'll they'll win three
four, like a five and fourin the next nine games then, because
they'll lose the Kansas City Series.One win there, yeah, three wins
against Chicago and one more against theeighth yes, right, so five and
four, yes, okay, theygo five and four and they are a
forty and thirty one baseball team,and they're nine games up and they're on

(21:15):
pace to win ninety three games afterthat stretch. That's how quickly your win
projection can change if you had.Now, they've got some tough games coming
up after that. They got Minnesota, they got Texas, yah ya yah.
So this is why for this baseballteam, this run here is so
important to clean up. And they'vedone a great job thus far. Right,
they've done a fantastic job of beatingthe what we call yesterday the Quad

(21:37):
three teams, no such things asQuad three, but they've done a great
job of beating those crappy teams.And they're you know, they're fifteen and
four against those teams. We tooka look at that yesterday, and I
mean they're twenty seven and three whenthey score four and more runs, which
is absolutely amazing, which also infuriatesme that they can't score four more runs

(21:57):
more than thirty times. Thus farthis year, they're twenty five and zero
and leading after seven, so they'redoing all those things right. They're thirty
and twelve when their starter goes sixor more, so they're doing all those
things right. But you know,the question that I have, and the
million dollar question on this season iswill the pitching breakdown first or will the

(22:19):
offense click first? Right, Becauseif the offense clicks first, you're gonna
see one of those twelve game winningstreaks that we've had in a couple of
those other seasons in July and August. But on the flip side, if
the pitching breaks down, or godforbid, one of the two of these
starters goes down and the hitting stayslike this, then you're gonna go three
and eight over the course of elevengames. You're gonna go fifteen and twenty

(22:42):
five over the course of forty games, and you're gonna be in deep trouble.
I honestly think that the injuries,to me, is the bigger factor
with the pitching staff. I thinkas long as these guys stay healthy,
they'll be fine the entire year.I really believe that. I think they're
that good. So I'm not concernedabout that. And it's funny how I
am the glass half full guy overhere, Like I see a baseball team

(23:02):
that's eight games above five hundred withan offense that's done nothing so far in
two months of baseball, and yetthey're still eight up and five and a
half above the Rangers in the West. So I think the pitching is going
to be great the entire year.I'm concerned about the bullpen, just like
anybody else's that you got one guywho's really dominant right now and you could
use some help. And I thinkthey will get some help for the bullpen.

(23:25):
I think they'll add a bat.But I think the real reason why
this baseball team will make a runis because Julio found his swing, Hanneger
kind of found himself a little bit, and Mitch Garver and Polanco start doing
what you brought them here to do. Because everybody looks at the deadline for
a savior, right everybody, andevery now and then a team will make

(23:48):
a move, right like when theYankees got David Justice twenty whatever years ago.
They'll look at a move like thatand say that's the reason why,
the reason why the Mariners make theplayoffs. Those reasons are already here on
the roster. You're making a deadlinedeal not just to make the playoffs,
but to go det rush. Youget though, Yeah, I mean you're
you're a playoff team right now justbecause of this division, right. I

(24:11):
mean, we just looked at welooked at the fangrafts have got. The
Mariners are like seventy four percent tomake the playoffs right now, I mean
three Think about that. I mean, how many Mariner fans would have given
them a seventy four percent chance whenthe season started to make the playoffs.
And that's where they are right now. But they're not at the level to
win an American League championship. They'renot at the level to win a World

(24:32):
Series. But they could get therewith the right moves. But now,
the good news is that you're stillfive and a half games up, and
the pressures not on Julio and MitchGarver and Polanco because hey, we suck
and we're still eight games over fivehundred. Imagine what the pressure would be
like on them if they were,you know, in second place, if
they were three games under five hundred, four games under five HUNTERD. Julio

(24:55):
will be looking to go, god, this is it's my fault. We're
not in first place. So nowyou can just say, hey, I
can relax a little bit. We'rewinning without me right now. So that's
exactly a little bit. I thinkthat's exactly it that they've gotten to this
point. I mean, I couldgive you the projected numbers for some of
these guys, it's gonna blow yourmind. I mean, Julio Rodriguez is
on pace for ten home runs andsixty RBIs right now. I mean,

(25:17):
who would have thought that that onthe fifth of June we'd be having that
kind of conversation with Julio Rodriguez.I mean, Hore Polanco hasn't even played
like enough games to give us projectednumbers, Mitch Garver's projected numbers, and
all of us were foughting over thesigning of Mitch Garver as the new DH.
He's gonna solidify. Go back inlast year they had Tommy la Stella

(25:38):
and Cooper Humble and the DH spot. Now they got a real guy in
Mitch Garver. He's on pace forthirteen home runs and forty four RBIs they've
done nothing nothing, So what dowe think is more likely that those guys
that they have that are underperforming rightnow? Mitch Garver is thirty three years

(25:59):
old, Okay, Hore Polonko,I think is thirty one years old.
Julio Rodriguez has been doing it nowfor two and a half years in baseball,
and maybe Julio is the most likelyguy to kind of maybe take a
step back a little bit, justbecause he's so young and there's not much
data on him. Do we thinkit's more likely that all of these guys
continue to struggle together, or thattwo or three of them find a way

(26:21):
to step it up in the secondhalf of the year and play to the
back of their baseball card couple.Yeah, I think that's fair. I
think Julio is one, and thenpick and choose your other one, whether
it be Hanniger, whether it beGarver, whether it be Planco. And
I think a couple of them arejust gonna suck all season long. So
but if even just get two ofthem. The one thing that worries me,
and we talked about this a littlebit yesterday here, I mean,

(26:41):
here is your al West expected winloss based upon run deferensial. Right,
now, Mariners thirty two and thirty, Texas thirty one and thirty, Houston
thirty one and thirty two expected winloss. You are basically the Texas Rangers
in the Houston Astros. Now you'vewon all these one run games. You

(27:02):
are thirteen and four in one rungames. Houston is five and thirteen in
one run games. Is that gonnacontinue? Are you going to continue to
win fifteen out of every twenty onerun games? I don't think you are.
No, But you'll continue to scoremore runs and get better offensively and
win games other ways. So Idon't know. I mean, maybe I'm
just the big sucker around here.I find myself that like roles have been

(27:26):
reversed. Remember the movie Big Yes, right when they were in each other's
body. I feel like I'm inyour body and you're in my body,
and if you beat on it.By the way, if you wake up
and look in the mirror and seethis body getting out of the shower,
you're gonna freak out. Man.Okay. So I feel like I'm the
optimistic ali around here. I'm theone that thinks this baseball team is in
a really really good spot. AndI just hope that John Stanton and Chris

(27:48):
Larson and the puppets that pull theguys that pull the puppet strings agree with
all that. But I just don'tthink that you're in My opinion of where
this team's going is that much different, really, right. We both think
they're probably be the best team inthis division. We both think they're going
to the playoffs. Like, whereis the disagreement? Lot, I think
they're about to take off offensively,okay and very fast? All right?
Yeah that's what Yeah, I disagree, Yeah, Okay, I mean,

(28:12):
hey, I hope you're right,man, I you're right. I think
you hope I'm wrong. Just soyou can be right, we'll gotta break
Mike Florio coming up on ninety threethree kJ r FM Live from the R
and R Foundation Specialist Broadcast Studio.Now back to Softie and Dick on your
Home for the Huskies and the KrukenSports Radio ninety three point three kJ r

(28:34):
FM. Alrighty, update from ComericaPark. I almost said Tiger Stadium.
By the way, were you aroundJackson for Tiger Stadium? Last time I
saw Tiger Stadium? Dick and Iwere at the final four in Detroit.
I think it was the Michigan Statefinal four. Yeah, this is where
we saw Plexico Buris in the hoteland asked him he shot his leg off

(28:55):
or whatever it's wearing that he hadlike a big New York Yankee, you
know, medallion around his neck.And I went by the old Tiger Stadium
and it was like half blown tobits and the outfield grass was all weeded
over and nasty looking. Blah blahblah. But anyway, no idea why
I told you guys that stuff.By the way, the Detroit Texas series
is actually in Texas, not evenDetroit, so horrible timing for the Tiger

(29:18):
Stadium story. But one nothing Texasbottom second against Detroit. They got runners
on first and third, two outsin the bottom of the second against the
mighty Detroit Tigers. So you know, Jackson Dick and I were talking off
the air about the biggest story rightnow in Seattle, and you said the
Maritors, And then you said somethingoff the air about the Seahawks that kind
of made me raise my eyebrows alittle bit about the lack of interest you

(29:42):
think people have in this football teamright now. I think the lack of
interest at this particular moment like Junethe fifth. I think once Seahawks season
starts, people will be interested.I think the difference between Seahawks now versus
Seahawks seven eight years ago is itdidn't matter the month, it didn't matter
the day you turn on the radioand talk Seahawks, and everybody was in

(30:06):
dying to hear every second of Seahawktalk. And I think there is a
because of that. And I waspushed back against that back then. I
was like, gosh, it's freakingMay. We don't need to be teaking
about Seahawks every day. And nowI think there's Now there's Seahawks fatigue.
I think there's a Seahawks off seasonfatigue. And I don't think people are
very interested listening to Seahawk talk unlessthere's something to talk about. Okay,

(30:30):
first of all, you would goabsolutely nuts in Tuscaloosa, absolutely because no
question, all they do is talkAlabama football and a little bit of Alabama
basketball because of NATO's That's all theydo. I mean, and the lines
on Ryan Fowler's show are packed everysingle day. Now he's a lot like
have you heard a show by theway Ryan Fowler, he's a lot like
Clayton and that he'll put a calleron and let the guy hang on for

(30:52):
fifteen minutes, you know. AndI'm coming back from Mobile Roger from rally.
I mean, they got guys fromNorth Carol, from Georgia. It's
unbelievable. So you would go bananasin a place like that. That's all
they do. And I like totalk about what's going on at the time.
I will be honest with you,I am not getting enough Seahawk talk
for me. For myself. Ithink there's been a lot of other stuff,

(31:15):
obviously Mariners, w A, NBA, Caitlin Clark, things like that,
whatever, But I think that thisshould be a time for Seahawk fans
to really get fired up for whatthis staff is doing. And Mike McDonald's
defense, I think is going tobe unbelievable. I know that we had
ray Sean Jenkins on the other day, and obviously a guy that plays for

(31:36):
the football team is going to tellyou that they're going to be better off
defensively than what they were a yearago, right, But the numbers for
the Seahawks football team defensively were justnot very good. Under Pete Carroll,
and I think that's going to changedramatically in year one. I'm buying what
Hugh Millan's selling. I'm drinking thekool aid, all right. I'm getting
suckered in because look at where theywere last year defensively, they were twenty

(31:59):
fifth and points thirtieth in yards twoyears ago twenty fifteen points, twenty sixth
in yards. I think Mike McDonald'sscheme is going to be responsible for a
massive jump for the Seahawk defense nextYear's a question that fires me up.
Here's a question who is higher rankedin twenty twenty four, the Seahawks defense
or the Seahawks offense. It's noteven a question defense has better players.

(32:25):
There's no questions to see defense havebetter players. But I think the Sawks
offense is going to finish top tenfairly easily, and I think the Seahawks
defense is going to finish anywhere betweenright around fifteen pass a gigantic jump.
That's a well, you just paintedit. You're talking Dodgers, digit win
team, Archer scoring playoffs ard.You're scoring fifteenth points? Yeah points is

(32:49):
real defense? Yeah? Okay,Well if they go well, that's That's
a big difference, though, JI think is a lot better. Are
they are? They are? Theyare? They red zone d centric like
the five football team that wasn't greatin yards, but they were great in
scoring because they shut people down inthe red zone. So this is that's
a question that really centers on whyI don't have a lot of Seahawk interest
right now because I simply and listen. I can listen to Hugh Millin for

(33:12):
sixty minutes each hour and for twentyfour hours a day and him explaining to
me exactly what the Mike McDonald defensewill look like. But the reality is
I gotta see it. I gottasee it, and until I see it,
until that first preseason game where Isee what this team looks like,
I'm sorry, Seahawks, I'm sorry. I just don't have a ton of

(33:35):
interest until I see it. Butthat's different than not having interest, Like
being skeptical is not being disinterested.No, that's that's what I'm saying.
You're telling me he's disinteresting. Solet me just say the words again.
You just said you have to seeit to believe it. No, no,
no, no, I have tosee it to be interesting because I
just don't know what I'm gonna get. And I can hear all about it
over and over again, but thereality is they're just words. I need

(33:59):
to see it on for me.Actually, have you won't. You won't
get really excited and interested in thisuntil you see it right in front of
your face. Yeah, well,here's the deal with the Seahawk defense.
You tell me if they have asuperstar player on their defense right now.
Leonard Williams, Jaren Reed, DraymondJones, boy A Mafe, Terrell Dodson,
Jerome Baker, hu Chennan Wosu,Michael Jackson, Ray Sean Jenkins,

(34:22):
Julian Love, Riquill, and DevinWitherspoon is a super maybe Spoon Spoon.
Maybe Spoon has the potential to bea super But there's no obvious superstar on
that team. So you've gone fromyou, You've now pulled a complete one
eighty, not a complete maybe aninety degree turn, where you have all
these incredible names eleven years ago tonow a bunch of guys that there's a

(34:44):
bunch of dudes that I think theaverage fan doesn't really know yet. The
hardcore geeks like us may know whothese guys are. But you know Sally
from Shelton who goes to five gamesa year to sit with her husband,
Bob the mechanic, you know him. I have no idea who these people
like. I can't remember seeing raceOn Jenkins play one play. I can't
remember seeing Tyroll Dodson play one play. Now I'm sure I watched him play

(35:07):
because I watched the Buffalo Bills play, but I mean, I don't know
anything about him. I think thenumber one thing that I am most excited
about is Mike McDonald's defensive mind.Number two is Ryan grubbs offensive mind.
I am more excited for the coachesthat I am the players. I'm with
you. I'm totally with you,because what players should you really be excited

(35:29):
about? I mean, there's justnot a lot of superstar names on this
team. You see, we justspent a good five minutes having an immedy
seahawk conversation and Jackson couldn't care less. We're gonna break