June 17, 2024 • 34 mins
In the third hour, Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain chat with Steven Souza Jr about the Mariners sweep, Tyler Locklear, Julio Rodriguez, and a possible trade, then they talk about why the Mariners offense has improved so much of late and Dick’s Olympics poll.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Coming to you live from the EllietAvenue studios of Sports Radio ninety three point
three KJRFM. This is our weeklyvisit with former Mariners outfielders Steven Susa Junior,
powered by Taco Time. For allyour favorites and to order ahead from
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(00:26):
nineteen sixty two. Now with StevenSUSA Junior. Here's SOFTIANDIG. All right,
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com. Here he is courtesy atTaco Time our friend Steven Susa Junior.
How are you man? I'm doinggood, just finished watching that US Open
Big shouts to my buddy Greg Bodine, the caddy for Bryson de Shambo winning
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yesterday was really cool to watch onFather's Day. Did you hear our show
at four o'clock today? By theway, I didn't. He was on
the air with us. Thanks forlistening. Yeah he was, Yeah,
he was appreciate, you know,not kidding. Yeah, Greg, Greg
was on with us an hour ago. Man, what a what a cool
moment for him, dude, beingon the bag for Bryson for the US
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Open. He told the story aboutthe Dave Bryson called him and offered him
the job and what him and hiswife were going through with the miscarriage.
Man, But what an awesome guyand what a great moment for him.
Huh Yeah, I mean really oneof the quality guys that you root for
in the game. And he's reallypersevered from you know, Tony cutting him
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as a caddy and him trying tofind his way with Evergreen and then you
know, Bryson was going through somethingwith his dad and Greg's going through something
with his own family, and forthem to come together and be this successful
has been really cool to get behind. Very cool. What's what's your proximity
to the Hole from eighteen on thebunker out of the bunker. How close
are you getting out to the holein those situations, I'm one hitting another
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bunker shot out of that bunker.I mean unbelievably close. I mean,
I know he said it's the bestshot of his life, but I mean
he had a long way to goto get to that hole, and they
were rolling out hard yesterday. Soto landed where he did and get it
within four feet to win, itwas and that was something special. Yeah,
well, no question about it,man. And now he gets to
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go to Nashville with the live guysthis weekend and enjoy the thing down there.
But Steven Susan Junior's with us Maneight and a half games up on
first place, pal biggest lead intwenty three years since two thousand and one.
Is it time for fans to startbelieving these guys could accomplish something pretty
awesome this year? Yeah? Forsure. I think just if you watch
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the game alone and the way theyresponded to certain situations. I mean,
the Rangers came out and hit Luiscaand punched them right away, you know,
and they responded right away with aMitch Garver homer, And you know,
I still think they need another bat, I really do. I think
to set it home, they're goingto need another bat, maybe a good
bullpen arm. But these guys,this starting pitching is so special that it
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doesn't matter. They're going to bein every game the rest of the year,
playoffs, the regular season. Well, the pressure burden was clearly on
Texas coming in down five and ahalf games, so you would have thought
that, hey, they saw thisas a big series. So how much
mentally does this affect the Texas RangersWhen they go from five and a half
games to eight and a half gamesin one weekend in mid jem that's big,
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right, Like, I don't careat what point of the season you
are. Eight and a half isa lot to overcome. It's not like
the Mariners are going to all ofa sudden have a crazy collapse. I
mean, this starting pitching, likeI said, is so good that they're
they're gonna be right where they areregardless if they go on another run.
And so that's if I'm on aTexas Rangers, I'm concerned. I'm you
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know, it's they're gonna get healthyhere and they're gonna make their run.
But I just, you know,I think they realize the Mariners have recognized
some of the holes in that lineup, which is four teams at the top
of the zone, and they exposedit, and they exposed it and exposed
it. And if I'm Texas,I'm leaving there thinking we got to either
figure this out or we're not gonnahave a chance against these guys. Yeah,
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it's actually amazing the way they exposedit. To be totally honest with
you, it was a hell ofa game plan. It's almost like the
Mariner offense dealing with breaking stuff earlyin the year, which doesn't feel to
be as big of an issue nowas maybe it was a couple months ago.
But when they get healthy though,when they get sure's or they get
guys like the Grom back in thatrotation. I mean, eight and a
half seems like a lot, butit's not insurmountable. Man, are you?
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Are you kind of getting close tosaying this division race is over?
You still want to wait a monthor so? No, I wouldn't say
it's over. It's gonna be areal the hard climb. The reality is
is that Texas will go on arun. There's no doubt about it.
I just I don't think that theMariners are gonna go on to collapse to
give them an opportunity to take itover. Now, if the bats go
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quiet like they have for a coupleof weeks, we could be talking about
a different story. But I believewith the trade deadline coming up, I
think they're gonna put some additions inthe lineup. I think the guys are
starting to hit their stride a littlebit offensively. It's starting to warm up.
And we know again in Seattle,when the weather warms up, the
bats warm up, and the pitching'sgonna stay the same. And so I
have all the confidence more so inthe Mariners. But the Rangers are gonna
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go on a run, but Idon't think they'll be able to catch the
Mariners at all. Well, weknow that t mobiles gotten too the heads
of some Mariner bats in the past. I've talked to Mariner hitters that it's
gotten into the head. They've admittedit's gotten into their heads. But has
it gotten into the heads of theroad teams that come in. I mean,
my god, they have a roadteams have a one to ninety five
batting average and a four to seven, six to one strikeout the walk ratio
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in that park, is it mentalfor them? Yeah? You know,
I think actually across the board ofMajor League Baseball, homers are down.
I think they're on pace right nowfor eight hundred home runs less than last
year, which is a significant amount, right, And so you take that
with something's going on with the waythe ball is traveling, whether you admit
it or not. You bring inthe seattle in a ballpark that's pitcher friendly,
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and everybody's gonna struggle a little bit. I think, you know,
earlier on the other Mariners wanted totake advantage of the ballpark and use it
and collect the hits early, knowingthat it heat up. And I think
it took them a while to reallybuy into that. But these last couple
home stands, they've done a reallygood job of just buying into what they
can do and providing runs in differentways. You know, you watch Rojas
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steel home yesterday and stealing bases allaround and only having to get one hit.
That's great Mariner baseball, especially whenyou have the pitching staff you do,
and they're they're they're finding their identityreally quick, and I think it's
awesome. So are you seeing Stevenand again Steven Susie with us to see
a taco time every Monday here onthe show. Are you seeing enough out
of Tyler Lockley or to tell tyFrance to just hold off a bit when
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he comes off the al Well,it's more so like I want to make
sure that you don't feel like youhave to rush back to help us,
Like, listen, we want youon the roster. I think ty Franz
has a place on this roster goingforward, no doubt about it, especially
with the last couple of weeks hefinished with. But listen, let's make
sure you're healthy. We have aneight and a half game lead. We
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have a kid, a young kidat first base, so we're trying to
figure out if he has a placeon this roster. Let's see what we
got in him. Take your time, make sure you're healthy, because we
need you more at the end thanto rush this thing back and you have
to go back on the il.Well, do you think Tyler Lockley's got
a place on this roster when hecomes back, either at first or maybe
at DH. I do think Ithink he's got a spot in dah.
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If if Garber keeps going, it'sgoing to be a little bit tougher to
find spots. But I think hecan play third base if I'm not mistaken.
I may be wrong there, butI think I was looking at his
gut and report and he can tryand play third base. It's not as
easy if he hasn't done it inthe minor leagues out to look into that,
but I think his bat alone isworth it to me, whether it's
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a pinshit opportunity into lefty. Hedoes a fantastic job of staying inside the
ball. You saw from his firstpitch that he saw. He's aggressive,
he's not scared of the moment.He's good defensively to give Tye a break,
and I think it gives them moreoptions from the right side. So
I do I think when ty comesback, he's still got a spot.
Yeah. He played fifty four gamesat third at VCU in twenty twenty one.
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It looks like he got twenty twogames there at Modesto in twenty twenty
two. So as recently as twoyears ago and then a ton in college,
he was playing third base and hegot moved to first when he got
caught up to Arkansas and beyond.But Steven Susan Junior is with us on
the year. So Julio Rodriguez thelast twenty two games is on a thirty
seven home run one hundred and tenrbipace hitting three zero six with an eight
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to sixty yes. I think Iasked you a week ago if Julio was
back, and you said almost.Is he now back in your opinion?
Uh? No, he's still.He's just answered a little bit more forward.
I want to see what's it gonnatake to oppress you. For God's
sakes, man, I want tosee that run. I want to see
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that Julio run where he goes onfor a week and it's a thousand yes,
and it's special, and it's maybefour homers in a in a week
or player of the week mentality,which is not out of the realm for
him. I mean, those aren'thigh expectations. It's what he's come to
do. And when I see somethinglike that and I and I'm there's no
doubt it's coming. I can seeit coming. It's still not there yet.
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I think we can finally announce he'sback. Do the home road splits
for the pitching staff concern you atall. They've got a two five four
era at home, it's two runshigher on the road or is it still
you know, too small a samplesize. Yeah. Again, I think
that that's a byproduct of our conversationwe had early right where it's like,
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hey, we're pitching in the pitcher'spark, where a flyball pitching team.
We can be aggressive with it here. We know what's we're successful with at
home, and we're going to exploitthat. I think they're trying to find
their identity on their road a littlebit and having to kind of step away.
And they've played in some some hitterfriendly parks on the road, which
you know a couple are, andhonestly gave up a lot of runs in
Kansas City, which wasn't a hitof friendly park. But you know,
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I'm still not quite ready to figureout to say that they've got a problem
with the road. I just thinkthe stuff is so special that they'll figure
it out. And Woody and thestaff, they do a good job of
making adjustments on the pitching staff.We've known that historically. So let's give
it to the end of June andif they already the same in this next
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next road trip, they don't figureit out, they're going to have to
find something to figure out. Well, there's a lot of people Steven again
that are pointing to the firing ofBrent Brown as kind of a reason why
the offense is starting to maybe turnthings around a little bit. I mean,
I know you talked to Brent alittle bit last week or a couple
of weeks go when he was letgo. Do you buy any of that
that them making that move is areason why things are starting to turn around.
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No, I don't buy it fora second. I think it's coincidental.
And I think, you know,Honestry, sometimes just a fresh voice
can can do do wonders at theend of the day. But you know,
they ran into Chicago, the Angelsin a banged up Rangers rotation right
now, right like, so afterthe firing, they had some good matchups
on their side, And you know, I don't think that by any means
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it was him. I mean,you know, in talking to him,
he did the same game plan inMiami that he did in LA and both
of those teams held him in highregards. So I don't think he comes
over here to Seattle and all ofa sudden it doesn't work anymore. You
know, now the team may havenot wanted to Puye into it, and
you know, without you know,giving too much away. There is some
pushback in the way that he wasdeveloping the plans from upstairs. And so
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I think that these guys have figuredout who they want to be, and
you know, they're not giving awayat bats, but there's still really there's
still a problem. I think offensively, there are very sporadic teams at times,
and as long as they continue tokeep the games close timely hitting will
matter, and they've done a goodjob of that so far. Steven,
how big is the gap between theMariners and the Yankees right now? Poof?
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You know it's I think now youlook at you're gonna start a series,
right, I just plant it outlike that, if they played in
the PLAYFFS, and you're gonna getGarrett Cole against Louis Castillo, You're gonna
get skill against you know, oneof Logan Gilbert or George Kirby or Brian
wu and and then you're gonna geteither Marcus Stroman or Carlos Rodon, which
Rodon is throwing the ball, andso I think those are pretty even matchups.
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And then the bullpens are pretty similarin the way they don't, so
then for me, it becomes offensively, and they have a massive edge on
the Mariners offensively, Like you know, if one of those guys happens to
give it up, they can theycan combat that with a big game offensively
from Aaron Judge or Juan Soto's on, Carlos Stanton and even Verdugo is having
a great year, and so Ithink if you add another guy Julio gets
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going, maybe that shrinks the gapa little bit. But I still think
they're a little bit ways ahead,but they'll figure out a way. That
pitching staff always figures out a way. Are you ready to put Andres Munoz
back in that closer role every gamefull time? Now? Is it time
now for that? Yeah? Ithink so. I thought I think it
was yesterday. I thought Scott dida really good job where it was two
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to one and he had Ezekiel Duranand that might have been Saturday, Ezekiel
Duran, Corey Seeger and Marcus Simoncoming up, and it was in the
eighth inning, and he decided togo with Munios in that inning, which
is the highest leverage because he's gotto go get the two best hitters in
the game out. That essentially wasa safe situation. So I don't mind
things like that where it's like theseare the most important outs and then the
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next guys we feel like we canget out with Stanek or somebody else.
So other than that, yeah,he's he's the guy. I mean,
he's a guy I want to whenI need to get four out three outs,
or I'm in a tough spot,he's the number one guy to that.
Ben. All right, here's yourtrade scenario of the week, Steven,
I love this. Jim Bowden.Today, Cave gave up five mock
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trades. The one that involved theMariners was Emerson Hancock to the Rockies for
Ryan McMahon, who, by theway, outside cors Field. Ryan McMahon
is a two to twenty three careerhitter with a six eighty two ops.
What's say you about Ryan McMahon.Yeah, that's an interesting one. I
you know, I like Emerson alot. I think with six years of
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control and him being that young andbeing competitive and coming back, I think
he has a really high upside.That being said, Ryan McMahon's a quality
big leaguer. I think you're askinghim to step into a role that he
hasn't quite had yet in Colorado andbe the guy coming over here. Or
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I guess what I'm trying to sayis you need to go get somebody that's
the guy. You need, aPete, a Lonza, somebody that like
when they went and got Luis Castilloand we were all fired up about it
and it moved the team to reallyfeel like we're pushing for it. That's
the move you need to make thisthis season. Put it in the in
in the heads that we are goingfor the World Series and we're going to
collect somebody that can handle the pressureof that. I'm not sure that Ryan
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McMahon has ever been put in that, and I wouldn't go for him right
now. Well I could. Icould tell you who would not want that
trade is Frickin Emerson Hancock. There'sno way Ierson Hando wants to go pitch
in Colorado, no chance he wantsto do something like that. Hey,
uh, Steven, let me askyou this, because Dick and I had
this conversation. I don't even knowwhat the genesis was about. Brian Wu
is Brian Wu for the most part. And look when we say untradeable obviously
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if the Yankees offer Aaron Judge goodbye. But in reality, in general terms,
is Brian Wu untradeable for you?Um? And listen, nobody's untradable,
right, I mean if you putthe right package of wants and knees
and and you get somebody in theminor leagues that gives you a surplus.
I mean, everybody's available for theright price. And I mean said,
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I know that there was a dealthat involved him, this winner with uh
offered for Evan Carter, So clearlyin the Mariner's eyes, he's not that
untradable, right, that was beforethis year. That was before this year
the start direct correct, Yeah,yeah, I would agree. The only
concern I have Thofty is that elbow, right, Like, I know that
the MRI I came back clean,and that's that's great. But you know,
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if if you get him for topitch rest of the year and then
something happens next year, you're goingto lose a year a half of them.
And I don't want to speak inin a negative way, but if
he can stay healthy, he's onfor me. He's Yeah, he's close
to untradable for how young he isand how dominant he is, no doubt
about it. How much more valuableis he than Emerson Hancock. I mean
he's gotten the opportunities more than Hancockhas, but he has been less durable
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than Handcock has. Yeah, forsure. Right, you measure it in
how how much time available do Ihave before a free agency, which for
Wo it's still six years. Andthen you measure have you shown consistent success
in the big leagues? And Ithink afore he's got Emerson right. Emerson
has been good in the big league, but Wu has been special, right,
Like, he's been really good.He's done on this run where he's
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looked like he's been there around it'sbeen easy for him. That fastball's effortless
is repeatable with his mechanics. We'restill kind of find trying to find out
who Emerson Hancock is in the bigleagues. I think we know who Brian
Wu is or who he can be, and so I think the value for
him is much greater than Emerson.Well, I hope they could do better
than Ryan McMahon. No, I'mjust looking at some numbers for him,
and he's a he's a course fieldbaby all the way. I mean,
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my god, that would say ifthat's the best they can do, is
adding a guy like that, that'snot good enough man for me, not
at all? So, uh,trade Hancock? Would you trade Hancock in
the package for Alonso or vlad GuerreroJunior or or Boba Schett those names float
your boat? Yeah, I mean, if you're gonna get Boba Schett.
My question would be, what areyou going to do with Jorge Polonka when
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he comes back? Is he goingto end up being a bench bet?
For what I think he's making sevento nine million, that ends up being
an expensive bench bat, which youdo need those guys in the playoffs.
But I think Pete Alonso moves theneedle for me, right Like, unless
you're confident a lot he's gonna doit, I would say, Pete Alonso's
the move right there. It's abig power hitter. He adds to the
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strikeouts, he adds to the slug. But listen, if you keep your
pitching that close, you can liveand die with the slug, no question.
All right, dude, great stuff. Man, appreciate this, and
we're talking a week palace, allright, guys. Sounds good, all
right, steven Susan junior, bythe way, is hitting like a Mariner
this year. Yeah, two thirtyseven average six twenty nine. People fit
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right in perfect. How many yearsleft on his contract? Because if it's
club control, he's coming to Seattle. We got a break. We'll do
a little uh you uh, youmake the call. Excuse me almost said
fun with audio. We've already donethat. Well, you make the call.
Let's come back and shot about wherethis baseball team is at because I
want to get the pole of thepeople. Do the people believe now in
this baseball team? Next on ninetythree three kJ RFM Live from the R
(19:07):
and R Foundation Specialist Broadcast Studio.Now back to Softie and Dick on your
home for the Huskies and the Crukin Sports Radio ninety three point three kJ
r FM. All Right, soour buddy Camden on Twitter. You know
our buddy cam You know him.You're a big cam fan right at Camden
(19:30):
underscore ten. But where the eis? There's a three if you want
to follow him on Twitter? Okay, do I want to follow? I
don't know. I mean, giveme, gave me the Brent Brown stuff
that we brought up last segment,with Steven Susa. I asked Steven Susa
if he believes that the Mariner offensehas been playing better because Brent Brown got
fired and so and But by theway, I'll just throw a disclaimer out
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there. I have no idea ifany of this is true, right word
for it. Well, I thinkwe have a bad habit of doing that.
Now, I'm not just saying meand you. I just mean society.
Society has a real bad habit.Jackson. Know you think that society
in general has a bad habit ofgoing online and looking at social media and
taking whatever they see is the truth. Yeah, I mean I think that's
generally good internet accepted ball. SoI'm glad that we all agree on that.
(20:17):
So this could be nonsense for alllines. Okay, but I'm gonna
read it anyway. All right,all right. Camden on Twitter says that
the Mariner offense has improved dramatically sinceBrent Brown got fired. From early March
to the end of May. WhenBrent Brown got fired, the Mariners were
tied for twenty eighth and run scored. Since he was whacked their ninth in
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that time span and run scored,their ops has gone from twenty eighth to
fourteenth. They're on base percent istwenty seventh to twelfth. Their walk rate
has gone from thirteenth to first,and their hard hit rate has gone from
number five to number two. Theirbarrel rate, I know you track barrel
rate has gone from fifteenth to firstduring that time, fans, So our
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buddy Camden says that Brent Brown gettingfired has made a major impact on the
Marina offense. All right, dowe believe I would submit you believe I
would submit this evidence to you?All right? Here's who they played since
Brant Brown was fired. Got thetwenty six, twenty eighth r team in
baseball in the La Angels, allright, the twenty third ERA team in
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baseball in the Oakland A's. Okay, the twenty ninth ERA team in baseball
the Chicago White Sox. Right,the sixteenth team in Major League Baseball tech
in the Texas Rangers, gotcha,And the Royals are the Royal ding Ding
Ding ding Ding. So they facedone good pitching team, one average pitching
team, and three horrible pitches.So we don't believe that Brent Brown getting
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fired yet is the reason. Whynot? We believe it? The offense
is playing better. We need alittle more of a sample size, that's
right, and sample size against somegood teams, like show me what they
do against Cleveland this week. Sure, absolutely, I mean I guess the
bottom line is they weren't hitting theball against anybody. Though before Brent Brown
got fired, they were struggling,right. I mean, Cleveland's cra is
basically exactly what the Marriagas cra is. Point four. They've definitely made some
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strides, There's no question, andI I just look, I'm gonna be
the simpleton here. I think abig reason, or the number one reason
why is because number forty four itis hitting the baseball. I just think
they're a totally different team when JulioRodriguez is a threat. I mean,
as as as he goes, theMariner offense goes. There's a reason why
you're paying the guy. Is thereason why you gave him a half a
billion dollars because he's he's impactful andthe job he's doing right now is amazing.
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I mean again, the last twentytwo games, he's got an eight
to sixty ops hit in three hsix on pace for thirty seven bombs and
one hundred and ten ribies in thatspan. I agree with Steven, there
is a Julio Express train kind ofrun coming here where he'll have like a
twelve to fifteen ops and be onan eighty home run pace over the course
of a week. He'll do that. He hasn't done that yet. And
that's what we found out in thefirst two years of his career, is
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that Julio, he gets his thousandOPS months is nine to fifty ops months
based upon ten days. Right,that's what he does. Sure, Julio
spends twenty about a really good month. Julio spends twenty days struggling and ten
days literally going twenty three of fortyfive with eight home runs in twenty rbi.
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Sure, that's what he does well. And again it's it's a very
short sample when you're looking at careersplits for Julio because he's only had you
know, two July's to August andtwo September so far to his career.
But Julio Rodriguez over the course ofhis young career so far, look,
the numbers say that he's going toheat up is the year goes by.
He's got a three fifty average witha nine to ninety one ops in August
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two ninety, in September nine thirtyfour ops eight to fifty, and in
July. He gets better. Asthe year goes by, he gets better,
as the weather gets hotter, hegets better as he gets more comfortable.
So that's coming. I think Polancocoming off the IL, I just
still want to believe. And maybeit's just the Homer in me that Hore
(24:03):
Polanco is going to offer this baseballteam something before the seasons I wanted to.
And I think if we had nothad the Colton Wong experiment last year,
I would feel more comfortable. Idon't know because of that, because
he is the most similar player tobe brought in here to Seattle. You
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know it kind of you know age, you know, an older guy,
not a power hitter, middle infielderwith successful someplace else, comes to te
Mobile Park and just does nothing.I kind of feel like we've seen this
before, and it was last year. So I hope you're right now.
I will give you credit. Poloncois a better player than Colton Wong is,
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But Colton Wong was coming off apretty darn good three war season in
Milwaukee that we were like, hey, this guy's gonna be a good top
of the order type hitter for you, and he just never was, which
is exactly what we said up Plonka. Well, I just like you said,
he's a better player than Colton Wall. He's put up better years than
Colton Wong. And if Mitch Handigerdoesn't start hitting and Garver just kind of
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does what he does and Rali hasdone what he does and Polanco's a zero,
then Jerry is going to have likean over in trademarket and free agency.
And I just I think even theworst GMS in baseball, and I'm
not saying that Jerry is one ofthe worst GMS in baseball, that's stupid.
What he's done with this pitching staffis ridiculously impressive. But even those
guys just fall into somebody performing whenyou make that many moves over the offseason.
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So you know, look, Imean, obviously the taoscar thing,
and I agree with what you've saidthat he's he's being helped out tremendously by
the guys around him in LA nodoubt, but one of these guys,
two of these guys, at somepoint is going to put together a little
bit of a run and give youwhat they've given you. And with this
eight and a half lead they've gotand with this pitching staff, that maybe
all you need. And then oncethe playoffs start, Hey, then you're
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a You're at an advantage because nowyou can maneuver your rotation, you can
maneuver your bullpen. Santos is gettingclose, knock on wood. Hopefully the
coming back, you're gonna have abunch of guys that will be battle tested,
like Standeck and Salsado that by thetime the playoffs come around, they'll
be in different positions than they areright now. So I just have the
same take on this thing as Ihad a week ago. I've said this
(26:22):
on the ear. I love wherethis team's at. I love the position
these guys are in, and Ireally hope that John Stanton agrees and they
give these guys the help they deserve. I think by now we know what
Jared Depoto's strength is. You know, he's got the tightest touch with relievers.
He is able to draft starting pitchersabsolutely high a high success rate,
and he has not been able tocrack the code bringing offensive players into this
(26:45):
ballpark. He just hasn't, right, I mean, he's not that he's
an over, but he's pretty damnclose to an over. I mean,
I can't think of a lot ofguys he's brought in here that have been
long term successful well. I meanone of the reasons why they're not long
term is because they didn't let himbe long term. They could have kept
Suarez and they could have kept TaoscarHernandez, and they said no to both
guys. I'm not saying that,hey, hey, Johaneo Suarez was gonna
(27:06):
be king Griffy Junior. But theywere good. I mean they were they
were good enough, They felt likethey were good enough, and they were
doing their job, and they letboth walk, so that's on them.
And then they let both walk becausethe strikeout rates too high. One now
they're striking out more than they didlast year. So I just think that
the good times dick for this offenseare coming because there was about a two
month period there where it could nothave been any worse offensively, and that's
(27:30):
the I feel like the bottom ofthe barrel was in April, and may
I really do believe that. Ithink that's fair. I would be surprised
if they had the same offense inJuly as they had in April. Yeah,
I would be really surprised. Thequestion is how much better does it
get vis a VI. How muchworse does the staff get when it worms
up when we have more road games. Hey, we played a heck of
(27:51):
a lot more home games than wehave road games. There's gonna be a
lot more road games coming in thenext month than we've had. So as
the weather warms up and we getinto these hitters part, how much does
the pitching come back down to earth? And maybe the answer is none.
Maybe the answer is these dudes arejust absolute cy Young caliber arms and the
pitching isn't gonna go down. Andif the pitching doesn't go down right and
(28:12):
the offense does what you think it'sgoing to do, yes, then we're
talking about a fifteen game lead inthe division. I think the offense will
be average the rest of the way, and they've been way below it lineups,
so they will be average the restof the way, if not slightly
above. Mariner's got to go fortyfive and forty three to get the over
on wins by the way, whichwas eighty seven and a half. They
gotta win forty five more. Yougonna play two games over against the second
(28:33):
easiest schedule in baseball. If youdid not jump on the eighty seven and
a half over, that's on youbecause that was taken Candy from a day
he did that and Mark god Livefrom the R and R Foundation Specialists Broadcast
Studio. Now back to Softie andDick Gone your Home for the Huskies and
the Kraken Sports Radio ninety three pointthree kjr FM. All right, so
(28:59):
that was the two thousand and threewhen Nolan Ryan beat the crap out of
Robin Ventura. Yeah, no,no, it wasn't too that. It
was ninety three. It was fortysix years old. Because his last year
was ninety three. Nolan Ryan wasfive years younger than I am now when
he retired from baseball. I justimagine how old he looked when he was
forty six. I'm five years olderthan now. You looked older than you,
was older than both of So,I asked Jackson off the air,
(29:21):
Jackson, you're thirty thirty one?Is that right? How old are two?
Now? Thirty two? Now?And you think Dick and I are
old old people? Yes? Wow, I don't think that's fair. You
just up yours man, okay,fine and sensitive son of a You know
what. You guys may not liketo hear it, but I know that
I understand that. I'm, youknow, eighteen years away from also being
(29:44):
old. Wow. Yeah, Butwhen I was in my thirties, I
didn't look I mean, gras andgas were fifty, and I didn't look
at them as old. Well that'snice. I always thought girls was old
as dirt. There you go.I think, who's the old guy?
I do think fifty is the line. I I think that, I mean,
dick, and I know you justhit it, so it's kind of
it's kind of an insult. Ijust tripped over the line. Fifties,
(30:07):
the fifties, the new seventies.What you were telling me? Man,
Holy moly, I don't know.I mean, I don't feel old.
Maybe it's because I don't have anykids. Started to get some gray hair,
you've had gray hair for twenty years. I thought you were old.
When you started using glasses a coupleof years ago. Wow, wow,
I saw it. I was prettysid about it. And one day you
boot out your glasses. I'm like, wow, softie's old. What about
(30:27):
when I began wearing diapers? Well, now, that we know that.
I started to tell you guys aboutthat. That's good. That's a new
thing for me. Man. Istill go back to a moment about five
or six years ago. Got outof bed. I don't know if I
had a long night the night beforeor late night or whatever. Maybe I've
been drinking. I don't know,but I got out of bed, and
(30:48):
I went to the bathroom and Ilooked at myself and please don't continue this
story, because I don't want toknow what happened. Rated. I forgot
you pull your head out of everybodysays X. There's a difference between X
rated and disgusting, so which oneis it's not discussed. I just looked
in the mirror, and for thefirst time in my life, right,
there was an old guy staring back. Yeah, and I had never felt
(31:12):
that in my life before. Iwas probably forty five when this happened.
I went, oh my god,So there just got old overnight. There's
an app out there, and Iforget which one it is. I don't
have it anymore, but an appwhere you can take a picture of yourself
and make it look old, right, I don't need one. Well,
I took a picture of myself andI and then I looked in the mirror
(31:33):
and I was like, okay,I'm there at that. I don't need
the app anymore. It's ridiculous,all right. You know what this is
making me feel ridiculous enough for thisconversation. You're making me uncomfortab You threw
a poll out there asking which playergot shafted more, Bryson d Shambau or
Caitlin Clark. By the way,real quick, did you see the Angel
reached foul on her yesterday when shesmacked her in the head, swinging the
(31:55):
forearm to the grill. So I'veseen a lot of different opinions on that.
Some people think it was just partof basketball. You gotta go for
a block you're gonna miss, andit was wasn't on purpose. Other people
say that she should be arrested andkick the w NBA for that. What
do you think about it? Well, what I did was I asked the
DPI. I showed the video toDixon and I did not tell him anything
(32:15):
about what my feeling of the playwas. I go, what did you
think about this? Did you thinkit was? Is she going for the
ball or is there something extra there? And he said, I think she's
trying to get a little something extraand maybe that background, but I mean
there was definitely a swing of theforearm and a follow through to the head,
(32:38):
and I definitely think something extra wasgoing on there. But to update
you on the poll, neither CaitlinClark nor Bryson D. Chambau will be
participating for the United States in theOlympics because Bryson doesn't have enough points because
they used the official World Golf Rankingand he doesn't get them on the Live
Tour, which is stupid, eventhough Bryson D is clearly a better golfer
(33:01):
than Wyndham Clark, clearly a bettergolfer, bigger a mission. Bryson fifty
three percent, Caitlin forty seven percent. Yes, thirty darn clubs. I
think it's Bryson. I think it'sBryson. He's I mean, even before
all this he was you know,he's one major's right, he's successful player.
I mean, Kaitlyn Clark has playedhow many games in the WNBA,
(33:22):
like fifteen whatever, So I meanI could see, you know, keeping
her off. She's a rookie whateverletter earner spot. But Bryson D.
Chambeau deserved it. I mean becauseof his history and the world golf ranking.
With this conversation over the weekend thatyou know, them not allowing live
in there, how much influence howmuch? How influential or influence? Excuse
me? Are they by the PGAof America not letting live be a factor?
(33:45):
I think they are influenced by them. I think it's a joke and
it's got to change because more andmore players will go to Live and that
means less and less players for themto choose from for the Olympic tame.
Well, it's you know, it'sanother bad weekend for those that hate live,
right, I mean Bryson Deejambo notonly did he win, Look at
the reception Bryson, it was anybodyat Piner's going, oh, I'm not
(34:06):
going to root for you because you'reon Live. That is so twenty twenty
two. They were changing Yon paidby Saudi Arabia beyond over. Yeah,
I was over at the day ithappens to you know me, I was
like, oh, whatever, lethim take the money. I mean,
if somebody offers you a gazillion dollarsto taken it, it's ridiculous.
Coming to you live from the EllietAvenue studios of Sports Radio ninety three point
three KJRFM. This is our weeklyvisit with former Mariners outfielders Steven Susa Junior,
powered by Taco Time. For allyour favorites and to order ahead from
any Taco Time restaurant, download theTaco Time Northwest app today from the Apple
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(00:26):
nineteen sixty two. Now with StevenSUSA Junior. Here's SOFTIANDIG. All right,
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com. Here he is courtesy atTaco Time our friend Steven Susa Junior.
How are you man? I'm doinggood, just finished watching that US Open
Big shouts to my buddy Greg Bodine, the caddy for Bryson de Shambo winning
(01:08):
yesterday was really cool to watch onFather's Day. Did you hear our show
at four o'clock today? By theway, I didn't. He was on
the air with us. Thanks forlistening. Yeah he was, Yeah,
he was appreciate, you know,not kidding. Yeah, Greg, Greg
was on with us an hour ago. Man, what a what a cool
moment for him, dude, beingon the bag for Bryson for the US
(01:32):
Open. He told the story aboutthe Dave Bryson called him and offered him
the job and what him and hiswife were going through with the miscarriage.
Man, But what an awesome guyand what a great moment for him.
Huh Yeah, I mean really oneof the quality guys that you root for
in the game. And he's reallypersevered from you know, Tony cutting him
(01:52):
as a caddy and him trying tofind his way with Evergreen and then you
know, Bryson was going through somethingwith his dad and Greg's going through something
with his own family, and forthem to come together and be this successful
has been really cool to get behind. Very cool. What's what's your proximity
to the Hole from eighteen on thebunker out of the bunker. How close
are you getting out to the holein those situations, I'm one hitting another
(02:14):
bunker shot out of that bunker.I mean unbelievably close. I mean,
I know he said it's the bestshot of his life, but I mean
he had a long way to goto get to that hole, and they
were rolling out hard yesterday. Soto landed where he did and get it
within four feet to win, itwas and that was something special. Yeah,
well, no question about it,man. And now he gets to
(02:35):
go to Nashville with the live guysthis weekend and enjoy the thing down there.
But Steven Susan Junior's with us Maneight and a half games up on
first place, pal biggest lead intwenty three years since two thousand and one.
Is it time for fans to startbelieving these guys could accomplish something pretty
awesome this year? Yeah? Forsure. I think just if you watch
(02:58):
the game alone and the way theyresponded to certain situations. I mean,
the Rangers came out and hit Luiscaand punched them right away, you know,
and they responded right away with aMitch Garver homer, And you know,
I still think they need another bat, I really do. I think
to set it home, they're goingto need another bat, maybe a good
bullpen arm. But these guys,this starting pitching is so special that it
(03:22):
doesn't matter. They're going to bein every game the rest of the year,
playoffs, the regular season. Well, the pressure burden was clearly on
Texas coming in down five and ahalf games, so you would have thought
that, hey, they saw thisas a big series. So how much
mentally does this affect the Texas RangersWhen they go from five and a half
games to eight and a half gamesin one weekend in mid jem that's big,
(03:46):
right, Like, I don't careat what point of the season you
are. Eight and a half isa lot to overcome. It's not like
the Mariners are going to all ofa sudden have a crazy collapse. I
mean, this starting pitching, likeI said, is so good that they're
they're gonna be right where they areregardless if they go on another run.
And so that's if I'm on aTexas Rangers, I'm concerned. I'm you
(04:08):
know, it's they're gonna get healthyhere and they're gonna make their run.
But I just, you know,I think they realize the Mariners have recognized
some of the holes in that lineup, which is four teams at the top
of the zone, and they exposedit, and they exposed it and exposed
it. And if I'm Texas,I'm leaving there thinking we got to either
figure this out or we're not gonnahave a chance against these guys. Yeah,
(04:29):
it's actually amazing the way they exposedit. To be totally honest with
you, it was a hell ofa game plan. It's almost like the
Mariner offense dealing with breaking stuff earlyin the year, which doesn't feel to
be as big of an issue nowas maybe it was a couple months ago.
But when they get healthy though,when they get sure's or they get
guys like the Grom back in thatrotation. I mean, eight and a
half seems like a lot, butit's not insurmountable. Man, are you?
(04:49):
Are you kind of getting close tosaying this division race is over?
You still want to wait a monthor so? No, I wouldn't say
it's over. It's gonna be areal the hard climb. The reality is
is that Texas will go on arun. There's no doubt about it.
I just I don't think that theMariners are gonna go on to collapse to
give them an opportunity to take itover. Now, if the bats go
(05:11):
quiet like they have for a coupleof weeks, we could be talking about
a different story. But I believewith the trade deadline coming up, I
think they're gonna put some additions inthe lineup. I think the guys are
starting to hit their stride a littlebit offensively. It's starting to warm up.
And we know again in Seattle,when the weather warms up, the
bats warm up, and the pitching'sgonna stay the same. And so I
have all the confidence more so inthe Mariners. But the Rangers are gonna
(05:33):
go on a run, but Idon't think they'll be able to catch the
Mariners at all. Well, weknow that t mobiles gotten too the heads
of some Mariner bats in the past. I've talked to Mariner hitters that it's
gotten into the head. They've admittedit's gotten into their heads. But has
it gotten into the heads of theroad teams that come in. I mean,
my god, they have a roadteams have a one to ninety five
batting average and a four to seven, six to one strikeout the walk ratio
(05:57):
in that park, is it mentalfor them? Yeah? You know,
I think actually across the board ofMajor League Baseball, homers are down.
I think they're on pace right nowfor eight hundred home runs less than last
year, which is a significant amount, right, And so you take that
with something's going on with the waythe ball is traveling, whether you admit
it or not. You bring inthe seattle in a ballpark that's pitcher friendly,
(06:20):
and everybody's gonna struggle a little bit. I think, you know,
earlier on the other Mariners wanted totake advantage of the ballpark and use it
and collect the hits early, knowingthat it heat up. And I think
it took them a while to reallybuy into that. But these last couple
home stands, they've done a reallygood job of just buying into what they
can do and providing runs in differentways. You know, you watch Rojas
(06:44):
steel home yesterday and stealing bases allaround and only having to get one hit.
That's great Mariner baseball, especially whenyou have the pitching staff you do,
and they're they're they're finding their identityreally quick, and I think it's
awesome. So are you seeing Stevenand again Steven Susie with us to see
a taco time every Monday here onthe show. Are you seeing enough out
of Tyler Lockley or to tell tyFrance to just hold off a bit when
(07:08):
he comes off the al Well,it's more so like I want to make
sure that you don't feel like youhave to rush back to help us,
Like, listen, we want youon the roster. I think ty Franz
has a place on this roster goingforward, no doubt about it, especially
with the last couple of weeks hefinished with. But listen, let's make
sure you're healthy. We have aneight and a half game lead. We
(07:28):
have a kid, a young kidat first base, so we're trying to
figure out if he has a placeon this roster. Let's see what we
got in him. Take your time, make sure you're healthy, because we
need you more at the end thanto rush this thing back and you have
to go back on the il.Well, do you think Tyler Lockley's got
a place on this roster when hecomes back, either at first or maybe
at DH. I do think Ithink he's got a spot in dah.
(07:49):
If if Garber keeps going, it'sgoing to be a little bit tougher to
find spots. But I think hecan play third base if I'm not mistaken.
I may be wrong there, butI think I was looking at his
gut and report and he can tryand play third base. It's not as
easy if he hasn't done it inthe minor leagues out to look into that,
but I think his bat alone isworth it to me, whether it's
(08:11):
a pinshit opportunity into lefty. Hedoes a fantastic job of staying inside the
ball. You saw from his firstpitch that he saw. He's aggressive,
he's not scared of the moment.He's good defensively to give Tye a break,
and I think it gives them moreoptions from the right side. So
I do I think when ty comesback, he's still got a spot.
Yeah. He played fifty four gamesat third at VCU in twenty twenty one.
(08:35):
It looks like he got twenty twogames there at Modesto in twenty twenty
two. So as recently as twoyears ago and then a ton in college,
he was playing third base and hegot moved to first when he got
caught up to Arkansas and beyond.But Steven Susan Junior is with us on
the year. So Julio Rodriguez thelast twenty two games is on a thirty
seven home run one hundred and tenrbipace hitting three zero six with an eight
(08:58):
to sixty yes. I think Iasked you a week ago if Julio was
back, and you said almost.Is he now back in your opinion?
Uh? No, he's still.He's just answered a little bit more forward.
I want to see what's it gonnatake to oppress you. For God's
sakes, man, I want tosee that run. I want to see
(09:18):
that Julio run where he goes onfor a week and it's a thousand yes,
and it's special, and it's maybefour homers in a in a week
or player of the week mentality,which is not out of the realm for
him. I mean, those aren'thigh expectations. It's what he's come to
do. And when I see somethinglike that and I and I'm there's no
doubt it's coming. I can seeit coming. It's still not there yet.
(09:39):
I think we can finally announce he'sback. Do the home road splits
for the pitching staff concern you atall. They've got a two five four
era at home, it's two runshigher on the road or is it still
you know, too small a samplesize. Yeah. Again, I think
that that's a byproduct of our conversationwe had early right where it's like,
(10:00):
hey, we're pitching in the pitcher'spark, where a flyball pitching team.
We can be aggressive with it here. We know what's we're successful with at
home, and we're going to exploitthat. I think they're trying to find
their identity on their road a littlebit and having to kind of step away.
And they've played in some some hitterfriendly parks on the road, which
you know a couple are, andhonestly gave up a lot of runs in
Kansas City, which wasn't a hitof friendly park. But you know,
(10:22):
I'm still not quite ready to figureout to say that they've got a problem
with the road. I just thinkthe stuff is so special that they'll figure
it out. And Woody and thestaff, they do a good job of
making adjustments on the pitching staff.We've known that historically. So let's give
it to the end of June andif they already the same in this next
(10:43):
next road trip, they don't figureit out, they're going to have to
find something to figure out. Well, there's a lot of people Steven again
that are pointing to the firing ofBrent Brown as kind of a reason why
the offense is starting to maybe turnthings around a little bit. I mean,
I know you talked to Brent alittle bit last week or a couple
of weeks go when he was letgo. Do you buy any of that
that them making that move is areason why things are starting to turn around.
(11:07):
No, I don't buy it fora second. I think it's coincidental.
And I think, you know,Honestry, sometimes just a fresh voice
can can do do wonders at theend of the day. But you know,
they ran into Chicago, the Angelsin a banged up Rangers rotation right
now, right like, so afterthe firing, they had some good matchups
on their side, And you know, I don't think that by any means
(11:30):
it was him. I mean,you know, in talking to him,
he did the same game plan inMiami that he did in LA and both
of those teams held him in highregards. So I don't think he comes
over here to Seattle and all ofa sudden it doesn't work anymore. You
know, now the team may havenot wanted to Puye into it, and
you know, without you know,giving too much away. There is some
pushback in the way that he wasdeveloping the plans from upstairs. And so
(11:54):
I think that these guys have figuredout who they want to be, and
you know, they're not giving awayat bats, but there's still really there's
still a problem. I think offensively, there are very sporadic teams at times,
and as long as they continue tokeep the games close timely hitting will
matter, and they've done a goodjob of that so far. Steven,
how big is the gap between theMariners and the Yankees right now? Poof?
(12:20):
You know it's I think now youlook at you're gonna start a series,
right, I just plant it outlike that, if they played in
the PLAYFFS, and you're gonna getGarrett Cole against Louis Castillo, You're gonna
get skill against you know, oneof Logan Gilbert or George Kirby or Brian
wu and and then you're gonna geteither Marcus Stroman or Carlos Rodon, which
Rodon is throwing the ball, andso I think those are pretty even matchups.
(12:41):
And then the bullpens are pretty similarin the way they don't, so
then for me, it becomes offensively, and they have a massive edge on
the Mariners offensively, Like you know, if one of those guys happens to
give it up, they can theycan combat that with a big game offensively
from Aaron Judge or Juan Soto's on, Carlos Stanton and even Verdugo is having
a great year, and so Ithink if you add another guy Julio gets
(13:07):
going, maybe that shrinks the gapa little bit. But I still think
they're a little bit ways ahead,but they'll figure out a way. That
pitching staff always figures out a way. Are you ready to put Andres Munoz
back in that closer role every gamefull time? Now? Is it time
now for that? Yeah? Ithink so. I thought I think it
was yesterday. I thought Scott dida really good job where it was two
(13:31):
to one and he had Ezekiel Duranand that might have been Saturday, Ezekiel
Duran, Corey Seeger and Marcus Simoncoming up, and it was in the
eighth inning, and he decided togo with Munios in that inning, which
is the highest leverage because he's gotto go get the two best hitters in
the game out. That essentially wasa safe situation. So I don't mind
things like that where it's like theseare the most important outs and then the
(13:52):
next guys we feel like we canget out with Stanek or somebody else.
So other than that, yeah,he's he's the guy. I mean,
he's a guy I want to whenI need to get four out three outs,
or I'm in a tough spot,he's the number one guy to that.
Ben. All right, here's yourtrade scenario of the week, Steven,
I love this. Jim Bowden.Today, Cave gave up five mock
(14:13):
trades. The one that involved theMariners was Emerson Hancock to the Rockies for
Ryan McMahon, who, by theway, outside cors Field. Ryan McMahon
is a two to twenty three careerhitter with a six eighty two ops.
What's say you about Ryan McMahon.Yeah, that's an interesting one. I
you know, I like Emerson alot. I think with six years of
(14:35):
control and him being that young andbeing competitive and coming back, I think
he has a really high upside.That being said, Ryan McMahon's a quality
big leaguer. I think you're askinghim to step into a role that he
hasn't quite had yet in Colorado andbe the guy coming over here. Or
(14:56):
I guess what I'm trying to sayis you need to go get somebody that's
the guy. You need, aPete, a Lonza, somebody that like
when they went and got Luis Castilloand we were all fired up about it
and it moved the team to reallyfeel like we're pushing for it. That's
the move you need to make thisthis season. Put it in the in
in the heads that we are goingfor the World Series and we're going to
collect somebody that can handle the pressureof that. I'm not sure that Ryan
(15:20):
McMahon has ever been put in that, and I wouldn't go for him right
now. Well I could. Icould tell you who would not want that
trade is Frickin Emerson Hancock. There'sno way Ierson Hando wants to go pitch
in Colorado, no chance he wantsto do something like that. Hey,
uh, Steven, let me askyou this, because Dick and I had
this conversation. I don't even knowwhat the genesis was about. Brian Wu
is Brian Wu for the most part. And look when we say untradeable obviously
(15:45):
if the Yankees offer Aaron Judge goodbye. But in reality, in general terms,
is Brian Wu untradeable for you?Um? And listen, nobody's untradable,
right, I mean if you putthe right package of wants and knees
and and you get somebody in theminor leagues that gives you a surplus.
I mean, everybody's available for theright price. And I mean said,
(16:07):
I know that there was a dealthat involved him, this winner with uh
offered for Evan Carter, So clearlyin the Mariner's eyes, he's not that
untradable, right, that was beforethis year. That was before this year
the start direct correct, Yeah,yeah, I would agree. The only
concern I have Thofty is that elbow, right, Like, I know that
the MRI I came back clean,and that's that's great. But you know,
(16:30):
if if you get him for topitch rest of the year and then
something happens next year, you're goingto lose a year a half of them.
And I don't want to speak inin a negative way, but if
he can stay healthy, he's onfor me. He's Yeah, he's close
to untradable for how young he isand how dominant he is, no doubt
about it. How much more valuableis he than Emerson Hancock. I mean
he's gotten the opportunities more than Hancockhas, but he has been less durable
(16:55):
than Handcock has. Yeah, forsure. Right, you measure it in
how how much time available do Ihave before a free agency, which for
Wo it's still six years. Andthen you measure have you shown consistent success
in the big leagues? And Ithink afore he's got Emerson right. Emerson
has been good in the big league, but Wu has been special, right,
Like, he's been really good.He's done on this run where he's
(17:17):
looked like he's been there around it'sbeen easy for him. That fastball's effortless
is repeatable with his mechanics. We'restill kind of find trying to find out
who Emerson Hancock is in the bigleagues. I think we know who Brian
Wu is or who he can be, and so I think the value for
him is much greater than Emerson.Well, I hope they could do better
than Ryan McMahon. No, I'mjust looking at some numbers for him,
and he's a he's a course fieldbaby all the way. I mean,
(17:38):
my god, that would say ifthat's the best they can do, is
adding a guy like that, that'snot good enough man for me, not
at all? So, uh,trade Hancock? Would you trade Hancock in
the package for Alonso or vlad GuerreroJunior or or Boba Schett those names float
your boat? Yeah, I mean, if you're gonna get Boba Schett.
My question would be, what areyou going to do with Jorge Polonka when
(18:00):
he comes back? Is he goingto end up being a bench bet?
For what I think he's making sevento nine million, that ends up being
an expensive bench bat, which youdo need those guys in the playoffs.
But I think Pete Alonso moves theneedle for me, right Like, unless
you're confident a lot he's gonna doit, I would say, Pete Alonso's
the move right there. It's abig power hitter. He adds to the
(18:22):
strikeouts, he adds to the slug. But listen, if you keep your
pitching that close, you can liveand die with the slug, no question.
All right, dude, great stuff. Man, appreciate this, and
we're talking a week palace, allright, guys. Sounds good, all
right, steven Susan junior, bythe way, is hitting like a Mariner
this year. Yeah, two thirtyseven average six twenty nine. People fit
(18:44):
right in perfect. How many yearsleft on his contract? Because if it's
club control, he's coming to Seattle. We got a break. We'll do
a little uh you uh, youmake the call. Excuse me almost said
fun with audio. We've already donethat. Well, you make the call.
Let's come back and shot about wherethis baseball team is at because I
want to get the pole of thepeople. Do the people believe now in
this baseball team? Next on ninetythree three kJ RFM Live from the R
(19:07):
and R Foundation Specialist Broadcast Studio.Now back to Softie and Dick on your
home for the Huskies and the Crukin Sports Radio ninety three point three kJ
r FM. All Right, soour buddy Camden on Twitter. You know
our buddy cam You know him.You're a big cam fan right at Camden
(19:30):
underscore ten. But where the eis? There's a three if you want
to follow him on Twitter? Okay, do I want to follow? I
don't know. I mean, giveme, gave me the Brent Brown stuff
that we brought up last segment,with Steven Susa. I asked Steven Susa
if he believes that the Mariner offensehas been playing better because Brent Brown got
fired and so and But by theway, I'll just throw a disclaimer out
(19:52):
there. I have no idea ifany of this is true, right word
for it. Well, I thinkwe have a bad habit of doing that.
Now, I'm not just saying meand you. I just mean society.
Society has a real bad habit.Jackson. Know you think that society
in general has a bad habit ofgoing online and looking at social media and
taking whatever they see is the truth. Yeah, I mean I think that's
generally good internet accepted ball. SoI'm glad that we all agree on that.
(20:17):
So this could be nonsense for alllines. Okay, but I'm gonna
read it anyway. All right,all right. Camden on Twitter says that
the Mariner offense has improved dramatically sinceBrent Brown got fired. From early March
to the end of May. WhenBrent Brown got fired, the Mariners were
tied for twenty eighth and run scored. Since he was whacked their ninth in
(20:38):
that time span and run scored,their ops has gone from twenty eighth to
fourteenth. They're on base percent istwenty seventh to twelfth. Their walk rate
has gone from thirteenth to first,and their hard hit rate has gone from
number five to number two. Theirbarrel rate, I know you track barrel
rate has gone from fifteenth to firstduring that time, fans, So our
(21:00):
buddy Camden says that Brent Brown gettingfired has made a major impact on the
Marina offense. All right, dowe believe I would submit you believe I
would submit this evidence to you?All right? Here's who they played since
Brant Brown was fired. Got thetwenty six, twenty eighth r team in
baseball in the La Angels, allright, the twenty third ERA team in
(21:22):
baseball in the Oakland A's. Okay, the twenty ninth ERA team in baseball
the Chicago White Sox. Right,the sixteenth team in Major League Baseball tech
in the Texas Rangers, gotcha,And the Royals are the Royal ding Ding
Ding ding Ding. So they facedone good pitching team, one average pitching
team, and three horrible pitches.So we don't believe that Brent Brown getting
(21:45):
fired yet is the reason. Whynot? We believe it? The offense
is playing better. We need alittle more of a sample size, that's
right, and sample size against somegood teams, like show me what they
do against Cleveland this week. Sure, absolutely, I mean I guess the
bottom line is they weren't hitting theball against anybody. Though before Brent Brown
got fired, they were struggling,right. I mean, Cleveland's cra is
basically exactly what the Marriagas cra is. Point four. They've definitely made some
(22:10):
strides, There's no question, andI I just look, I'm gonna be
the simpleton here. I think abig reason, or the number one reason
why is because number forty four itis hitting the baseball. I just think
they're a totally different team when JulioRodriguez is a threat. I mean,
as as as he goes, theMariner offense goes. There's a reason why
you're paying the guy. Is thereason why you gave him a half a
billion dollars because he's he's impactful andthe job he's doing right now is amazing.
(22:36):
I mean again, the last twentytwo games, he's got an eight
to sixty ops hit in three hsix on pace for thirty seven bombs and
one hundred and ten ribies in thatspan. I agree with Steven, there
is a Julio Express train kind ofrun coming here where he'll have like a
twelve to fifteen ops and be onan eighty home run pace over the course
of a week. He'll do that. He hasn't done that yet. And
that's what we found out in thefirst two years of his career, is
(22:57):
that Julio, he gets his thousandOPS months is nine to fifty ops months
based upon ten days. Right,that's what he does. Sure, Julio
spends twenty about a really good month. Julio spends twenty days struggling and ten
days literally going twenty three of fortyfive with eight home runs in twenty rbi.
(23:18):
Sure, that's what he does well. And again it's it's a very
short sample when you're looking at careersplits for Julio because he's only had you
know, two July's to August andtwo September so far to his career.
But Julio Rodriguez over the course ofhis young career so far, look,
the numbers say that he's going toheat up is the year goes by.
He's got a three fifty average witha nine to ninety one ops in August
(23:42):
two ninety, in September nine thirtyfour ops eight to fifty, and in
July. He gets better. Asthe year goes by, he gets better,
as the weather gets hotter, hegets better as he gets more comfortable.
So that's coming. I think Polancocoming off the IL, I just
still want to believe. And maybeit's just the Homer in me that Hore
(24:03):
Polanco is going to offer this baseballteam something before the seasons I wanted to.
And I think if we had nothad the Colton Wong experiment last year,
I would feel more comfortable. Idon't know because of that, because
he is the most similar player tobe brought in here to Seattle. You
(24:25):
know it kind of you know age, you know, an older guy,
not a power hitter, middle infielderwith successful someplace else, comes to te
Mobile Park and just does nothing.I kind of feel like we've seen this
before, and it was last year. So I hope you're right now.
I will give you credit. Poloncois a better player than Colton Wong is,
(24:48):
But Colton Wong was coming off apretty darn good three war season in
Milwaukee that we were like, hey, this guy's gonna be a good top
of the order type hitter for you, and he just never was, which
is exactly what we said up Plonka. Well, I just like you said,
he's a better player than Colton Wall. He's put up better years than
Colton Wong. And if Mitch Handigerdoesn't start hitting and Garver just kind of
(25:11):
does what he does and Rali hasdone what he does and Polanco's a zero,
then Jerry is going to have likean over in trademarket and free agency.
And I just I think even theworst GMS in baseball, and I'm
not saying that Jerry is one ofthe worst GMS in baseball, that's stupid.
What he's done with this pitching staffis ridiculously impressive. But even those
guys just fall into somebody performing whenyou make that many moves over the offseason.
(25:37):
So you know, look, Imean, obviously the taoscar thing,
and I agree with what you've saidthat he's he's being helped out tremendously by
the guys around him in LA nodoubt, but one of these guys,
two of these guys, at somepoint is going to put together a little
bit of a run and give youwhat they've given you. And with this
eight and a half lead they've gotand with this pitching staff, that maybe
all you need. And then oncethe playoffs start, Hey, then you're
(26:00):
a You're at an advantage because nowyou can maneuver your rotation, you can
maneuver your bullpen. Santos is gettingclose, knock on wood. Hopefully the
coming back, you're gonna have abunch of guys that will be battle tested,
like Standeck and Salsado that by thetime the playoffs come around, they'll
be in different positions than they areright now. So I just have the
same take on this thing as Ihad a week ago. I've said this
(26:22):
on the ear. I love wherethis team's at. I love the position
these guys are in, and Ireally hope that John Stanton agrees and they
give these guys the help they deserve. I think by now we know what
Jared Depoto's strength is. You know, he's got the tightest touch with relievers.
He is able to draft starting pitchersabsolutely high a high success rate,
and he has not been able tocrack the code bringing offensive players into this
(26:45):
ballpark. He just hasn't, right, I mean, he's not that he's
an over, but he's pretty damnclose to an over. I mean,
I can't think of a lot ofguys he's brought in here that have been
long term successful well. I meanone of the reasons why they're not long
term is because they didn't let himbe long term. They could have kept
Suarez and they could have kept TaoscarHernandez, and they said no to both
guys. I'm not saying that,hey, hey, Johaneo Suarez was gonna
(27:06):
be king Griffy Junior. But theywere good. I mean they were they
were good enough, They felt likethey were good enough, and they were
doing their job, and they letboth walk, so that's on them.
And then they let both walk becausethe strikeout rates too high. One now
they're striking out more than they didlast year. So I just think that
the good times dick for this offenseare coming because there was about a two
month period there where it could nothave been any worse offensively, and that's
(27:30):
the I feel like the bottom ofthe barrel was in April, and may
I really do believe that. Ithink that's fair. I would be surprised
if they had the same offense inJuly as they had in April. Yeah,
I would be really surprised. Thequestion is how much better does it
get vis a VI. How muchworse does the staff get when it worms
up when we have more road games. Hey, we played a heck of
(27:51):
a lot more home games than wehave road games. There's gonna be a
lot more road games coming in thenext month than we've had. So as
the weather warms up and we getinto these hitters part, how much does
the pitching come back down to earth? And maybe the answer is none.
Maybe the answer is these dudes arejust absolute cy Young caliber arms and the
pitching isn't gonna go down. Andif the pitching doesn't go down right and
(28:12):
the offense does what you think it'sgoing to do, yes, then we're
talking about a fifteen game lead inthe division. I think the offense will
be average the rest of the way, and they've been way below it lineups,
so they will be average the restof the way, if not slightly
above. Mariner's got to go fortyfive and forty three to get the over
on wins by the way, whichwas eighty seven and a half. They
gotta win forty five more. Yougonna play two games over against the second
(28:33):
easiest schedule in baseball. If youdid not jump on the eighty seven and
a half over, that's on youbecause that was taken Candy from a day
he did that and Mark god Livefrom the R and R Foundation Specialists Broadcast
Studio. Now back to Softie andDick Gone your Home for the Huskies and
the Kraken Sports Radio ninety three pointthree kjr FM. All right, so
(28:59):
that was the two thousand and threewhen Nolan Ryan beat the crap out of
Robin Ventura. Yeah, no,no, it wasn't too that. It
was ninety three. It was fortysix years old. Because his last year
was ninety three. Nolan Ryan wasfive years younger than I am now when
he retired from baseball. I justimagine how old he looked when he was
forty six. I'm five years olderthan now. You looked older than you,
was older than both of So,I asked Jackson off the air,
(29:21):
Jackson, you're thirty thirty one?Is that right? How old are two?
Now? Thirty two? Now?And you think Dick and I are
old old people? Yes? Wow, I don't think that's fair. You
just up yours man, okay,fine and sensitive son of a You know
what. You guys may not liketo hear it, but I know that
I understand that. I'm, youknow, eighteen years away from also being
(29:44):
old. Wow. Yeah, Butwhen I was in my thirties, I
didn't look I mean, gras andgas were fifty, and I didn't look
at them as old. Well that'snice. I always thought girls was old
as dirt. There you go.I think, who's the old guy?
I do think fifty is the line. I I think that, I mean,
dick, and I know you justhit it, so it's kind of
it's kind of an insult. Ijust tripped over the line. Fifties,
(30:07):
the fifties, the new seventies.What you were telling me? Man,
Holy moly, I don't know.I mean, I don't feel old.
Maybe it's because I don't have anykids. Started to get some gray hair,
you've had gray hair for twenty years. I thought you were old.
When you started using glasses a coupleof years ago. Wow, wow,
I saw it. I was prettysid about it. And one day you
boot out your glasses. I'm like, wow, softie's old. What about
(30:27):
when I began wearing diapers? Well, now, that we know that.
I started to tell you guys aboutthat. That's good. That's a new
thing for me. Man. Istill go back to a moment about five
or six years ago. Got outof bed. I don't know if I
had a long night the night beforeor late night or whatever. Maybe I've
been drinking. I don't know,but I got out of bed, and
(30:48):
I went to the bathroom and Ilooked at myself and please don't continue this
story, because I don't want toknow what happened. Rated. I forgot
you pull your head out of everybodysays X. There's a difference between X
rated and disgusting, so which oneis it's not discussed. I just looked
in the mirror, and for thefirst time in my life, right,
there was an old guy staring back. Yeah, and I had never felt
(31:12):
that in my life before. Iwas probably forty five when this happened.
I went, oh my god,So there just got old overnight. There's
an app out there, and Iforget which one it is. I don't
have it anymore, but an appwhere you can take a picture of yourself
and make it look old, right, I don't need one. Well,
I took a picture of myself andI and then I looked in the mirror
(31:33):
and I was like, okay,I'm there at that. I don't need
the app anymore. It's ridiculous,all right. You know what this is
making me feel ridiculous enough for thisconversation. You're making me uncomfortab You threw
a poll out there asking which playergot shafted more, Bryson d Shambau or
Caitlin Clark. By the way,real quick, did you see the Angel
reached foul on her yesterday when shesmacked her in the head, swinging the
(31:55):
forearm to the grill. So I'veseen a lot of different opinions on that.
Some people think it was just partof basketball. You gotta go for
a block you're gonna miss, andit was wasn't on purpose. Other people
say that she should be arrested andkick the w NBA for that. What
do you think about it? Well, what I did was I asked the
DPI. I showed the video toDixon and I did not tell him anything
(32:15):
about what my feeling of the playwas. I go, what did you
think about this? Did you thinkit was? Is she going for the
ball or is there something extra there? And he said, I think she's
trying to get a little something extraand maybe that background, but I mean
there was definitely a swing of theforearm and a follow through to the head,
(32:38):
and I definitely think something extra wasgoing on there. But to update
you on the poll, neither CaitlinClark nor Bryson D. Chambau will be
participating for the United States in theOlympics because Bryson doesn't have enough points because
they used the official World Golf Rankingand he doesn't get them on the Live
Tour, which is stupid, eventhough Bryson D is clearly a better golfer
(33:01):
than Wyndham Clark, clearly a bettergolfer, bigger a mission. Bryson fifty
three percent, Caitlin forty seven percent. Yes, thirty darn clubs. I
think it's Bryson. I think it'sBryson. He's I mean, even before
all this he was you know,he's one major's right, he's successful player.
I mean, Kaitlyn Clark has playedhow many games in the WNBA,
(33:22):
like fifteen whatever, So I meanI could see, you know, keeping
her off. She's a rookie whateverletter earner spot. But Bryson D.
Chambeau deserved it. I mean becauseof his history and the world golf ranking.
With this conversation over the weekend thatyou know, them not allowing live
in there, how much influence howmuch? How influential or influence? Excuse
me? Are they by the PGAof America not letting live be a factor?
(33:45):
I think they are influenced by them. I think it's a joke and
it's got to change because more andmore players will go to Live and that
means less and less players for themto choose from for the Olympic tame.
Well, it's you know, it'sanother bad weekend for those that hate live,
right, I mean Bryson Deejambo notonly did he win, Look at
the reception Bryson, it was anybodyat Piner's going, oh, I'm not
(34:06):
going to root for you because you'reon Live. That is so twenty twenty
two. They were changing Yon paidby Saudi Arabia beyond over. Yeah,
I was over at the day ithappens to you know me, I was
like, oh, whatever, lethim take the money. I mean,
if somebody offers you a gazillion dollarsto taken it, it's ridiculous.
Dave 'Softy' Mahler and Dick Fain News
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