Softy & Dick 2-24 Hour 3: Mike DeCourcy, Mariners and Chuck Powell

In the third hour, Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain chat with college basketball expert Mike DeCourcy about what Danny Sprinkle is doing at UW and the NCAA tournament, then discuss the Mariners and Jerry Dipoto’s answers before visiting with Chuck Powell.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's time for the latest on the madness of March.
Here's Hall of Fame college basketball writer for The Sporting
News and Fox Sports lead bracketologist, Mike Decorsi, brought to
you by Northwest Handling Systems. From forklifts to pellatres conveyors
to loading duck equipment, we sell, rent and service all
your warehouse he needs. Request a quote today at MWHS

(00:23):
dot com or give us a call at four two
five two five five zero five hundred. Now with Mike Decorsi,
here's Safti and Dick Alright.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Boys and girls, back here on a Monday night from
the Emerald Queen Casino sportsbook. Speaking of college basketball, looked
like the Michigan Nebraska game is getting underway from Lincoln.
Come down bet that game here at the EQUC. But hey,
big thanks to our friends at Northwest Handling Systems for
once again meeting Mike Decorsi's gigantic financial demands, caving to

(00:54):
the pressure of his representatives and securing the rights to
have him with us every week, start today through the
NCAA tournament.

Speaker 3 (01:02):
From the Big Ten.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
Network The Sporting News, our friend Mike de Corsi's back, Mike,
how are you man?

Speaker 4 (01:08):
Oh man, I was good with that beautiful announcement, and
then you call me greedy.

Speaker 3 (01:15):
Listen, I don't blame you. Pell.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
You gotta get what you can get for sure, get
it and then get the hell out.

Speaker 3 (01:20):
Well.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
Lots of stuff to talk about from a kind of
view from thirty five thousand feet. We can get in
the weeds on some of these games and some of
these teams. But because we are in Seattle, why don't
we just start off by getting your thoughts on Danny Sprinkling.
You're number one, I mean, obviously you're talking about a
last place team in the Big ten that is struggling
to win. What's your take on the job that Danny

(01:43):
Sprinkle's doing so far in year one here in Seattle.

Speaker 5 (01:46):
Yeah, here's what I love about what's happening? Okay.

Speaker 4 (01:49):
February fifteenth, Penn State win by two. February nineteenth, Play
Wreckers go to overtime. February twenty second, play Iowa lose
by six on the road.

Speaker 5 (01:59):
What does that tell you?

Speaker 4 (02:00):
That tells you they're playing, they're competing, they're not surrendering
at a time when they really could very easily do
any of those things. Just say, we're not. You know,
we're not all that, we're not making march. Let's just
go ahead and pack it in or worse.

Speaker 5 (02:18):
Maybe even than that is I'm getting mine.

Speaker 4 (02:22):
That's not We had them on the network a couple
of weeks ago when I was in and that's not
what I saw. I see a team that's still competing
really hard. We had that Penn State game and I
loved how hard they competed.

Speaker 5 (02:36):
Look, you're going to.

Speaker 4 (02:37):
Have to improve the roster, but you have a good
group of young players there that are continuing to make progress.
And I thought that Danny showed some really nice sprinkle
wrinkles let's call him, with some of the sets and
inbounds plays they called. I think that they're Look, they're
not where they want to be, and they're not where

(02:57):
their fans want to be, certainly, but you can see
the signs of something good happening there. If the roster
improves for twenty twenty six.

Speaker 6 (03:07):
I couldn't agree with you more. And not just the
energy and the effort. They're just a better basketball team, Mike.
I don't know how much you got a chance to
see them in November and December, but the confidence that
guys like Makai Mason and Tyler Harris have right now,
yeh got great o Sabors in better shape than he
was two years two months ago. I just think they're

(03:28):
not getting the w's and so people rip on me
for saying that they're playing good basketball, but I honestly
believe they're playing good basketball right now.

Speaker 5 (03:35):
Well, I think what I just cited.

Speaker 4 (03:37):
Look, those games were not against the elite of the
Big Ten for the most part, but they were competitive
games against teams like Iowa was an ok team that's
not a great team, it's not a bad team, and
a very good competition in that game. And again, there's
not enough there yet to win in the Big Ten.

Speaker 5 (03:57):
They're not deep enough. They need more size, certainly, and.

Speaker 4 (04:03):
They probably need someone to run the show at a
higher level some and I don't mean that from the bench.
I mean a point guard who can really set the table,
and that that'll come. And but right now I think
that I love that the fact that in year one,
when they could be just pat, you know, packing it in,

(04:24):
they're continuing to compete hard, They're trying to fight for
that opportunity to play in Indianapolis. I think that is
one of the things that's driving some of the teams
at the bottom end of the standings is they'd rather
not be excluded from that.

Speaker 5 (04:37):
They'd like to take their shot.

Speaker 4 (04:39):
And I think that's kind of good in some ways
for the for the Big Ten to have that the
teams aren't giving it up, they're continuing to compete hard
because that there's something to be gained.

Speaker 3 (04:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:52):
I think that's the type of stuff you say about
a last place basketball team. They're playing hard, yeah, right,
and that's great, right. I mean, the fact that they're
not quit at least is something for a first year guy.
I do think all of us can agree.

Speaker 4 (05:04):
Though.

Speaker 2 (05:05):
If we would have said a year ago that Danny
Sprinkle in the end of February is going to be
in last place in the conference, we would have been
disappointed by that tremendously. I mean, Dick, you and I
thought there was a chance this could be a tournament team. Yeah,
but then we saw the two fouls, then we saw
the talent, right, but still, I mean, this is not
where anybody thought they'd be. I guess the question is Mike,

(05:25):
going back to your point about the Big Ten tournament.
So for people that don't know and you correct me
if I'm wrong, Like, fifteen teams make it, three teams
go home if they don't make the Big Ten Tournament.
How big of a blow psychologically is that for a
program to not be among the fifteen of eighteen that
go to Indianapolis.

Speaker 4 (05:43):
I think it's a disappointment, but I don't think it's
a huge blow. I mean, you know, you're fifteenth or sixteenth.

Speaker 5 (05:49):
It's like you're.

Speaker 4 (05:51):
Still down there where you don't want to be. Washington
wants to be tenth or eighth or sixth or fourth.
I mean, that's that's where they want to be, and
that's where I mean. They have certainly had teams in
the past that would have been in those positions, and
they have to get back to that. They have to
to get back to bringing in the kinds of players

(06:13):
that were coming in the in the oos or whatever
we call that decade under Lorenzo Romar and Jim Shaw
and that group. They have to get back to that,
and I certainly don't think that that's beyond their reach.

Speaker 5 (06:26):
There's a lot to sell.

Speaker 4 (06:28):
The Big Ten is a tremendously competitive basketball conference. You
get a chance to play at one of the really
cool venues in all of college basketball. I tell all
the Big Ten people how much I love that building
and how much I think I've been there somewhere around
five or six times and absolutely treasured every opportunity to

(06:50):
see a game there. And of course Seattle is one
of the best cities in America to visit. I have
never lived there, so I imagine it's also one of the
best places to live.

Speaker 5 (06:59):
But I absolutely love visiting there. So it's it's there's
there's a ton to sell.

Speaker 4 (07:04):
And then obviously you have to have the uh, you
have to have the resources. And I assume that Washington,
like every other Big Ten school, will be able to
meet the standards of the House Settlement and and that
that the basketball program will be well funded in that direction.

Speaker 6 (07:23):
Well, Micah, there's another hurdle that these West Coast Big
Ten teams have to face, and that's the travel. And
we've heard Mick Cronin talk about it, you know, seeing
the Statue of Liberty three thousand times.

Speaker 3 (07:33):
Now it's Musselman, Now it's Muscleman.

Speaker 6 (07:35):
Muscleman went so far in the last twenty four hours
to say we got to win, just we got to
win extra games like there's it's such a disadvantage. And
the number of state I mean new acc team Stanford
and Cal oh and six when traveling multiple time zones.
The new Big Ten teams from the PAC twelve are
three and six when traveling multiple time zones. Will divisions

(07:56):
be created, you think, to try to lessen this these travel,
this travel of these guys.

Speaker 4 (08:01):
Yeah, I don't know, if I don't know if that's
the direction they want to go. I mean, I think,
first of all, you want UCLA to play Michigan in
a year when both are good, when Washington gets better,
you want them to play Ohio State.

Speaker 5 (08:15):
So I don't know.

Speaker 4 (08:16):
I think eventually teams will get more accustomed to it.

Speaker 5 (08:20):
This is a first for a lot of them.

Speaker 4 (08:22):
Also, the Big Ten traditionally three and six is not
a bad record. I mean, go on the road and
win three games out of nine is not bad. The
Big Ten has traditionally been one of the most, if
not the most difficult place to.

Speaker 5 (08:37):
Get a road win. Because if you look for as
long as the NCAA's.

Speaker 4 (08:42):
Been keeping statistics that I'm aware of, the Big Ten
leads the nation and attendance every year they pack their
gyms that's what they do.

Speaker 5 (08:50):
And so you're.

Speaker 4 (08:52):
Going into Wisconsin, you're playing the Badgers and eighteen thousand people,
and you go to Indiana and it's the Users and
sixteen to five. And that's how it always is, and
so you have to get accustomed to that. I mean,
there are times you go to Oregon State and what
you'd have to phase five thousand people.

Speaker 5 (09:10):
Maybe if that it's a lot different, and so you
have to get used to that.

Speaker 2 (09:16):
Well, it seems like every year there's a conversation Mike
and again Mike de Corsi's Sporting News Big Ten Network
with us every Monday at five courtiserver Pals at Northwest
Handling Systems about expanding the NCAA tournament. And I've been
watching you and keeping an eye on you on social
media with your take on this, and you and me
are in lockstep. I don't want to ruin your take,
So tell people your thoughts on If somebody came to

(09:38):
you and said, Mike, what do you think about expanding
the NCAA basketball tournament field?

Speaker 3 (09:43):
What would you tell them?

Speaker 4 (09:45):
It's a terrible idea on every level that you can
on every level that you can bring a level to me.
I can reject it as if I am a chem
Elijah lo On. There is no There is absolutely no
justification or expanding the NC DOUBLEA tournament from the standpoint
of what it would do.

Speaker 5 (10:03):
Let's start with the regular season right now.

Speaker 4 (10:05):
There are a lot of teams wanting to be the
in the NC double A tournament, well, Ohio State, Georgia, Arkansas,
Wake Forest. Getting them in there is hard, and it
should be hard. If it's not hard, then what is
the regular season about?

Speaker 5 (10:22):
I mean, think about this.

Speaker 4 (10:24):
If North Carolina, if we had a seventy six team
NC double A tournament, North Carolina would be comfortably in
this tournament. North Carolina has played eleven games against what
the Committee calls Quadrant one, which is basically the most
difficult games, the best teams that you play one to
thirty in their net rankings at home, one to fifty

(10:47):
on neutral floors, one to seventy five on the road,
the most difficult games in anybody's schedule. Carolina has played
eleven such games to this point. They have lost ten
of them, so they have won less than ten percent
of their toughest games. And that would be a clear
NCAA tournament team if we expanded the field, So you
are completely negating the importance of the regular season if

(11:11):
you if you expand to seventy six teams, so you
take away that, you take away the suspense of those
last couple of weeks. The bubble concerns of anybody that
can even bounce the ball three times is going into
the field at seventy six and so so that's the
first problem. The second problem nobody wants it. When I

(11:31):
say nobody, i'm talking about.

Speaker 5 (11:32):
The people who consume the sport.

Speaker 4 (11:34):
Coaches won it because they've deluded themselves into believing that
if they have a season like Carolina does or is
having and get into the field, oh, they'll keep their
jobs comfortably. Nobody will come to fire them when they're
one to ten against well, of course they will in
certain places. If you're in your sixth year and you've
done that three years in a row, they're taking your job.

Speaker 5 (11:57):
They didn't.

Speaker 4 (11:58):
They didn't hire you to go one in ten again
against Quad one. They hired you to go seven and
four against Quad one. That's what you're supposed to be doing.
And I'm not advocating for him to lose his job now.
It's because he's done good jobs in the path th
they just got to be better than this. But so
that's not the public doesn't want this, look you ask around.

(12:20):
At the Alabama game against Auburn two weeks ago, ESPN
did their gained Ay show from there, and Pete Dammel,
great reporter, did a piece about expansion, and as he
opened his report about the possibility.

Speaker 5 (12:33):
Of expanding to seventy two or seventy six and saying.

Speaker 4 (12:36):
That it was quite likely or possible, he got booed
or the idea got booed, And after a couple of minutes,
like a little bit of time, the Alabama fans thought, well,
it's not really his fault, so they stopped booing. And
then Rhys Davis, who is an Alabama guy, picked up
on it and basically asked the crowd, hey, you don't
sound like you like this idea, and then they really

(12:56):
brought it as.

Speaker 5 (12:57):
If they were booing Auburn. I mean that how much
they don't.

Speaker 4 (13:01):
Want this, so you're and and then the third element
of it is this, every time this comes up, people say, well,
money talks.

Speaker 5 (13:08):
That's that's what it's not about making money because there's
not more money in it.

Speaker 4 (13:12):
They're getting a one point one billion dollars from Turner
and CBS for the television rights.

Speaker 5 (13:19):
Which, although it could be more.

Speaker 4 (13:21):
If they had opened the if they had the ability
to open negotiations last year, the year before, whatever, one
point one billion dollars for three weeks of basketball sixty
seven games is a ton of money, right, And there's
and then, and Turner isn't saying, hey, we'll give you
another four hundred million or whatever if you give us
six more games.

Speaker 5 (13:40):
They're not saying that they don't really want it.

Speaker 4 (13:43):
Not that many people watch the Tuesday and Wednesday games.
They're not bad audiences, but they're not fuel to sixty
four audiences. It's like a million and a half people
on a good day for one of those games. If
they have somebody good in it, like a brand name
like Indiana, it'll bring in more people. But for the
most part, a million to a million and a half people.

(14:04):
They're not looking for more of those, and they're certainly
not paying more money for them or big money for them.
So there's no justification for this on any level other
than Great Sankee. A couple of summers ago started to
get worried that not enough of his teams would get in.
And now here we are in twenty twenty five, and
there are sixteen teams in the SEC, and there is

(14:25):
a possibility that.

Speaker 5 (14:27):
Fourteen of them could be in this field.

Speaker 3 (14:29):
Well, that's where I was going next.

Speaker 6 (14:31):
And Mike the Courzy joins us brought to you by
Northwest Handling Systems. Thirteen SEC teams in the top forty
three in the net rankings. Right now, where does this
SEC rank as far as the best conferences you've ever seen, Mike,
Cause it's got to be up there.

Speaker 4 (14:46):
Yeah, I mean, if you think about it in these terms,
like in nineteen eighty five, the Big East had Chris
Mullen and Patrick Ewing, both Hall of Fame players, surrounded
by terrific teams that both made the Final four, along
with Delanova.

Speaker 5 (14:58):
Which won the national championship.

Speaker 4 (15:00):
In that sense, it's not that I mean, we don't
have Patrick Ewing and Chris Mullen as seniors any longer,
but relative to the season in which this SEC is playing,
there's never been a.

Speaker 5 (15:12):
League like it. It's it's clearly the best.

Speaker 4 (15:15):
I covered the Big East in nineteen ninety one when
I was in Pittsburgh, when I was working for the
Pittsburgh Prests covering the pitt Panthers, and I covered that year.
That year they had seven teams out of a nineteen
conference that made the field. That's something like seventy seven
point eight percent I believe, and it almost was eight.

Speaker 5 (15:33):
Providence was very close.

Speaker 4 (15:35):
So right now, that's the standards, seventy seven point eight
percent of the field.

Speaker 5 (15:39):
If if the SEC gets thirteen, they break that record.

Speaker 4 (15:43):
And like I said, right now, I have thirteen in
my field. Others Jerry Paul might believe has fourteen. So
they're they're at least they're at least gonna come close.
They're gonna get there's no way they get fewer than twelve.
They're probably going to get thirteen, and there's a possibility
they get fourteen. They will get probably three number one

(16:03):
seeds that's only been done once twenty nineteen. Acc They
will get more top four seeds than any league's ever gotten.
So they are just shredding just about every standard that
there is relative to regular season performance. And then we'll
see what happens when they get into the ncaaa's.

Speaker 2 (16:23):
All right, Mike the Corsi's Sporting News Big ten Network
with us and Mike before you go, I'm just curious, man,
what the hell's going on in Lawrence, Kansas? I mean,
nine days ago they lost to a Utah team that
just fired their head coach today by the way, in
Craig Smith. And now they're out of the poll entirely
after starting the preseason number one.

Speaker 3 (16:42):
What is happening in Kansas?

Speaker 5 (16:45):
Yeah?

Speaker 7 (16:45):
I think that.

Speaker 4 (16:47):
First of all, I think that Bill has not embraced
this concept, the idea of bringing in players. Look, he
had a ton of transfers in twenty two, the last
time he won the tournament, the idea of kind of
building your team around transfers. Look at just about everybody
except for kJ Adams, who's been banged up.

Speaker 5 (17:06):
And I don't think.

Speaker 4 (17:08):
I don't have any evidence, but other than what I see,
I don't think he's totally one hundred percent. Dwan Harris
is a really fine point guard, but needs to be
surrounded by better players. I'm not a Hunter Dickerson guy.
I've watched him for three years at Michigan. I've watched
him now for two years at Kansas. I don't love
his game, I don't love his approach. But even at that,

(17:33):
look they almost beat Houston at home and gave it away.
They beat UCF by forty five or fifty earlier in
the year, and I believe.

Speaker 5 (17:41):
That was on the road. So they've played some good basketball.
I think they've lost their confidence. Their confidence is shot.

Speaker 4 (17:47):
It maybe bounced back a little bit over the weekend
when they want a game, and maybe they can recover
it at least well enough to get into the field
in a top six seed and do something in March.
He's got to recruit better to what he likes to coach,
because I don't think he did a.

Speaker 5 (18:06):
Very good job of bringing in players.

Speaker 4 (18:09):
Who would fit his coaching style in this particular season.

Speaker 2 (18:14):
Mike, we're so glad that you agreed to do this
show again every week, because if it weren't for you,
there'd be nobody here talking college basketball. Nobody answers the phone.
So we appreciate you saying yes when so many others
say no. You're the man. Great stuff, and we'll talk
in a week, buddy, appreciate it.

Speaker 5 (18:28):
Pal, can't wait. Guys, have a great week.

Speaker 3 (18:30):
You bet.

Speaker 2 (18:31):
Mike de COURSI with us follow him on exit TSN.

Speaker 3 (18:34):
Mike, he's one of the best. He's a Hall of Famer.

Speaker 2 (18:36):
He'll be with us every Monday at five throughout the
NCAA Basketball tournament. Chuck Palell is going to join us
by the way at six and kind of recap his
week down there in Arizona. Had a chance to check
in with the Depoto interview from last week.

Speaker 3 (18:50):
Gave some thoughts on that. I'll do it again coming
up next.

Speaker 2 (18:53):
We're at the Emerald Queen until seven o'clock tonight, Chuckle
join and talk some baseball at six pm right here
on ninety three three KJRFM.

Speaker 1 (19:01):
Live from the R and R Foundation Specialists Broadcast Studio.
Now back to Softie and Dick Gone, your home for
the Huskies and the Kraken Sports Radio ninety three point
three kJ FM.

Speaker 8 (19:14):
We're not growing our payroll at a rate that is
that is acceptable to the listening public in some way.
We have grown it year over year, you know five
this is now since twenty twenty one. We're one of
just two teams in Major League Baseball who's grown our
payroll each year. That's unique. We've just not grown it
as fast as people would like us to grow it.

Speaker 2 (19:37):
So you guys were here, I was not Sophie Dick
Jackson from The Emerald Queen Casino Sportsbook. We really appreciate
you hanging with us here on a Monday afternoon. I'm
your commute home right here on ninety three to three KJRFM.
Chuck Powe will join us at six. But what was
the reaction to the Depoto interview where people please with
what they heard?

Speaker 3 (19:56):
Were they annoyed like they normally are? What was the
general reaction to what Chuck and Bucky did last week
with Jerry.

Speaker 6 (20:03):
Oh, I mean, I think the anger is probably worn't off,
and there wasn't really anything that he added that wouldn't
make anybody angry necessarily, But I do think it's just.

Speaker 3 (20:13):
We're done with it, right, We're over it.

Speaker 6 (20:15):
We've heard this soul song and dance before, and I think,
you know, we comments like that, you know, you got
to take them to task because they're very, very misleading. Yes,
you're assuming that we don't know the facts that you
spent more money in twenty seventeen in twenty eighteen that
you're spending right now.

Speaker 1 (20:33):
You know.

Speaker 6 (20:33):
Jackson and I did kind of a breakdown and we
started with twenty nineteen and then the day after I
came back on the air, and I was like, Jackson,
you won't believe this. They actually spent more in twenty
eighteen than they did in nights. So if you stretch
it back to eighteen seventeen, that's when the Mariners were
actually spending quite a bit of money on payroll, and

(20:55):
when they blew it up, you just assumed. I assumed wrongfully.
So I assumed that once they were back in championship contention,
they would go back to spending the type of money
they were.

Speaker 3 (21:06):
Spending in twenty seventeen and eighteen, and they never have.

Speaker 2 (21:09):
So there's a lot of media outlets now that they
have this new phenomenon that's pretty recent in the last
maybe five to eight years. They're called fact checkers. Yes, right,
there were no fact checkers when Dick and I were
growing up. By the way, Jackson, the idea of a
fact checker is a relatively new thing. And I feel
like every time the Poto speaks, we all go into

(21:30):
fact checking mode. Right, everyone goes into fact checking mode
to scramble to go to the internet to.

Speaker 3 (21:36):
Was it true? Was it not true? St He doesn't
lie to us, but he says misleading things.

Speaker 2 (21:41):
Well, like, for example, and I would just I mean,
I'll just bring this one up. And I'm honestly, and
I swear to God, this is I am tired of
the fact checking role. Tired of it, right, I mean,
like Jerry to Poto, talking is creating a lot of
work for me, and I don't like that. Okay, So
he he mentioned something with Chuck and Bucker. He said,

(22:02):
we're one of seven teams in baseball to finish above
five hundred four years in a row.

Speaker 3 (22:07):
Right, remember that.

Speaker 2 (22:08):
Yes, we're one of two teams in the AL to
win eighty five games or more four years in a row.
And I went and looked. I think the other team
is Houston. It's Ustin Houston, and that's it. But these
two things are not alike. Remember that game you'd play
back in the day when you were a kid. What
doesn't belong whatever? The square of the trains, all the
rectangle right, whatever? So, yes, the Mariners and the Astros

(22:32):
are one of two teams in the AL to win
eighty five games or more four years in a row.
But during that span, the Mariners have one playoff appearance.
The Astros have four, with three American League Championship appearances,
two World Series appearances and a title, so they're not
the same.

Speaker 3 (22:51):
They're just not.

Speaker 2 (22:52):
So it's almost like, is Jerry just trying to justify
everything they're doing. Is he trying to get people off
his back? Because what I would love for Jerry to do,
and I believe it's now year eleven with him as
the GM whatever it is president, was the first right,
So it's year eleven now, right, And I'm like, stop

(23:13):
doing that. Stop trying to win people over with what's
coming out of your mouth over the offseason. Stop trying
to win the pr battles, stop trying to win the
propaganda game. Win people over by winning more games. That's
the only thing you should care about. And if people
are mad, stop trying to present some numbers that you think. Nobody,

(23:34):
not one person who was upset with the Mariners and
Jerry to Poto, will hear that interview and hear Jerry say, hey,
we're one of two teams that have won eighty five
games or more four years in a row. Can you
imagine Dick Somebody's saying, huh, I didn't know that.

Speaker 3 (23:49):
I feel better? Well he's nobody will say that.

Speaker 6 (23:53):
No, I mean that, But the bar was set so
low at eighty five, right right, five right barely over five?

Speaker 3 (23:58):
Then why say it that?

Speaker 6 (23:59):
That's like bragging about bright nine and eight in the
NFL for four years?

Speaker 3 (24:03):
Then then why say it?

Speaker 4 (24:04):
Then?

Speaker 3 (24:05):
I mean, and I agree with you, by the way,
if I mean, what are you looking to do now?
You've done ninety five, sure, four years in a row.

Speaker 2 (24:13):
That's something to But if you've been ninety five four
years in a row, you're also in the playoffs every year,
and you might even be.

Speaker 3 (24:19):
In a World Series. So like, why why are we
doing this?

Speaker 2 (24:23):
Why do we keep taking the microphone and going on
radio and doing these press conferences and throwing these numbers
of people as if we're trying to convince people to
change their.

Speaker 3 (24:34):
Mind It's not gonna happen. It won't happen.

Speaker 2 (24:37):
The only thing that would change people's minds is winning
effing baseball games and making the playoffs and competing for
a World Series championship. So I look, I've said this before,
I'll say it again.

Speaker 3 (24:50):
It doesn't even matter.

Speaker 2 (24:51):
I don't have a problem with Jerry as a guy,
and Jerry's a good dude, and I agree with Chuck.
He's in a lot of awesome things for the franchise,
but pr Savvy is so bad. It's just awful. And
I don't understand why he keeps going down that road.
What I would have loved to have heard him say
with Chuck and Buck on Wednesday is exactly what I

(25:13):
told you I hoped he would have said on that
Zoom call.

Speaker 3 (25:15):
Hey, people are pissed. I get it.

Speaker 2 (25:17):
I totally get it, and I'm glad people are mad.
It shows passion and we have to do a better job.
I can throw some stats at you about what we've done,
but nobody cares. Nobody cares until we win games and
make the playoffs every single year. So my job's on
the line. It should be on the line. I have
not done a good enough job with the offense, and
I am planning on rectifying that this season. And I

(25:38):
just I would love to hear him say that. I
don't know why he doesn't. I don't get why he doesn't.

Speaker 6 (25:43):
Well, there has been some misfortune. There's has been some
bad luck because in two let's could just look at
the last four years. I mean, they won ninety games
in twenty twenty one, right, and they didn't make the playoffs.
That would have been enough to make it this last year,
would have been enough to make it the year before.
It just was enough in twenty twenty one. Then in
twenty twenty two they did make the playoffs. In twenty

(26:04):
twenty three they won eighty eight games, which incidentally would
have been enough to win the division the next year,
but wasn't enough to win the division or make the
playoffs the year they did it.

Speaker 3 (26:15):
So there has been In fact, they are only trailing.

Speaker 6 (26:19):
There's one year that Houston bombed us of those four years,
and that was actually the year we made the playoffs.
We won ninety Houston won one oh six. But in
the other three years, yeah, Houston barely edged us in
all three of those years.

Speaker 3 (26:32):
Well, you're right there with them.

Speaker 2 (26:33):
Sometimes that's the difference, right, There's one or two games,
and I just feel like you missed the playoffs by
winning ninety games. Hey, we can sit there and talk
about how much that sucks if you make it the
next year or the year before or two years later
like for example. And the other part of this two dick,
by the way, sorry, is that if you're the Mariners
and you're saying we're doing this, we're doing that, Okay, Like,

(26:56):
for example, Kansas City and Minnesota have both made the
playoffs one time in the last four years, just like
the Mariners have. And I'm using the four years because
Jerry brought that up on Wednesday show with Chuck and Buck.
The difference between US and Kansas City and Minnesota. They
don't have our pitching. They don't have our rotation.

Speaker 3 (27:17):
We do.

Speaker 2 (27:18):
We have this rotation. We should be doing more than
what those teams are doing. Yeah, you've won eighty five
games or more for four years in a row, but
nobody has your pitching, nobody has the best staff in baseball.
Like the Yankees have not done what the Mariners have done.
Eighty five wins are more four years in a row,
yet they've made the playoffs three times and made the
World Series. The Oriels have made it twice, The Guardians

(27:42):
have made it twice and went to the ALCS. The
Rays haven't done what the Mariners have done over eighty
five games for four years in a row, yet they've
made the playoffs three times in four years, and the
Blue Jays have made.

Speaker 3 (27:53):
It twice in four years.

Speaker 2 (27:54):
The Rangers only made it once, but they want a
damn title, so It's like, what do you want. You
want to win eighty five games for four years in
a row and make the playoffs one time, or do
you want to make it three out of four years,
play in the ALCS and go to the World Series.
I'll take the first latter, I mean every single time.
So why it's like we're supposed to celebrate that stuff.

(28:15):
And that's the concern Dick and Jackson is that when
he says things like that, people send these texts in
like they want to be good, not great, and you
get mad about it. This is why people respond like
this because they hear Jerry say things like that. Is
if he's telling us this should be good enough.

Speaker 6 (28:31):
Well, to your point about the pitching staff, I mean
I equate an elite starting pitching staff in Major League
Baseball to an elite quarterback in the NFL. How often,
and Joe Burrow's the only answer this year, but how
often does an elite quarterback.

Speaker 3 (28:46):
Not even make the playoffs?

Speaker 8 (28:48):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (28:49):
I mean that is and you've done the you've done
the research about elite starting staffs.

Speaker 3 (28:53):
The number one eras in baseball. Last time it happened
was two thousand and eight.

Speaker 6 (28:57):
It's been almost a decade that that team didn't make
the playoffs twenty years ago.

Speaker 3 (29:02):
Sorry two thousand, Hey, I thought eighteen.

Speaker 6 (29:06):
That's how bad the rest of your baseball team is
that you don't make the playoffs with that type of
starting rotation.

Speaker 2 (29:13):
Well, again, I hate to be repetitive, but I only
have so many creative thoughts on my brain. When the
president of baseball operations goes on the air and says
things like we've won eighty five games for four years
in a row, it's like he's selling us that. He's
telling us that because that should be okay. That should
be good enough to win eighty five games in a

(29:34):
row for four years in a row, and that should
mean nothing if it doesn't come along with the playoffs.
Playoff runs, and playoff runs into deep October. That is
all that this baseball team now should be judged by.
But unfortunately they can't do that.

Speaker 6 (29:52):
But I'll tell you I won't feel Let's say this
team does win ninety two games, right, and they make
the playoffs, and they win a playoff series and we're
having fun at T Mobile parking October. I'm still not
gonna forgive Jerry for and the ownership for what they
didn't do at the beginning of the season totally, and
I don't think fans should either. Men we can do
two things can be true. We can enjoy a run
and enjoy baseball all year and hope they win and

(30:15):
still say you fell woefully short between November and March.

Speaker 2 (30:19):
I mean the thing about like a GM that is
running a team that makes the playoffs or does well,
like Pat Gillick is celebrated. I think in this town
I feel deferently about Gillick versus Woody Woodward.

Speaker 3 (30:34):
I don't know what you.

Speaker 2 (30:36):
Fear with that, but I feel definitely and you know,
maybe we should give Woody more credit than we give him.
But John Schneider gets credit obviously for what he did.
Who was the guy that went to the Blazers wits
it gets credit for the Sonics for what he did.
I feel like Jerry is just nobody's in the mood
to give him credit for anything, you know, because they

(30:57):
win and they make the playoffs. So let's say they
make the ales, Yes, and that's something that should be
celebrated and something we should give him credit for, and
yet nobody will.

Speaker 6 (31:05):
But what's either won a championship? I know that got
him to the finals.

Speaker 3 (31:09):
I get that.

Speaker 6 (31:10):
I guess, Jerry, give us one run, right, and can
you give us like, if you gave us a run
to the World Series, what.

Speaker 3 (31:16):
Will it take to get people off his back? I
think World Series? All right?

Speaker 6 (31:19):
I think a World Series and I but then but
I think what it does? Then it validates what he
did the last four years. If they can make it
to the World Series. It's like Josh Allen. Every season
Josh Allen's career thus far has not been massively successful
because he hasn't done anything in the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (31:34):
If Josh Allen.

Speaker 6 (31:35):
Wins the Super Bowl, it kind of validates everything Josh
Allen has done up to the thing.

Speaker 2 (31:40):
The difference with Josh Allen is he's running into maybe
the greatest quarterback of all time.

Speaker 3 (31:43):
He's just run into a total buzzsaw.

Speaker 2 (31:45):
I mean, if the Mariners like man like like the
Oakland A's in two thousand and one, they won one
hundred They won one hundred games, I think, but they
finished second in the division behind the best team exte
for games in the history of base where you're like,
what are we supposed to do? We won one hundred
games and these Schmucks won one hundred and sixteen, but
he made a playoffs. We picked a terrible time to

(32:05):
win one hundred games. Yes, they made the playoffs, but
like if if the Mariners were in the NL West
and the Dodgers were just crushing everybody. Okay, I get it,
But my god, that's not been the case now for
a couple of years. Right, this thing is open, dude.
The division was great three four years ago. It's not anymore.

Speaker 3 (32:24):
No, not at all. All right, five point forty two chuckle.

Speaker 2 (32:26):
Join us by the way at six to talk about
all that coming up on ninety three three KJRFM Live from.

Speaker 1 (32:31):
The R and R Foundation Specialists Broadcast Studio. Now back
to Softie and Dick on your home for the Huskies
and the Kruken Sports Radio ninety three point three kjr FM.

Speaker 2 (32:44):
All right, good conversation. I thought with Mike Decorsi at
the top of the hour. He'll join us every Monday
at five o'clock. Courty Saver Pals at Northwest Handling System.
I remember there was a time when you and I
were getting on John Wilner for underestimating Husky basketball.

Speaker 3 (32:58):
Remember that, Yeah, that was sight unseen, but he was right,
I mean, oh god, we would get on him. You're wrong.
They're making a tournament. Ah here they are.

Speaker 2 (33:07):
In last place. I mean, really, he should come on
the air and just throw that up on our face tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (33:12):
He won. But he's a pro. He's a pro. He's
not been wrong many times though, and well we throw
it in his face. Everybody's been wrong in this business.

Speaker 2 (33:19):
But yeah, I mean, I think if I would have
told you back in September that if we're sitting here
on February the twenty fourth and the Huskies are in
last place in the Big ten, you would have you
would have been surprised by that, and you would have
thought of that as a massive disappointment.

Speaker 6 (33:34):
I would have been surprised and thought of a disappointment
if you would have given me the caveat though that
dread Osabor was going to be out of shape and
Frank Kepnong wasn't going to play until late February, I
would have said, oh, okay, then there's there's really no
margin for error in this conference. Yeah, and you probably would.
I mean, you weren't gonna be higher than tenth anyway,

(33:54):
But tent is fine. Tent probably gets you. You know
tent might get you in, but I am going to
be the most optimistic of any Husky fan because I
ceased to watch Husky basketball with wins and losses as
a big objective, like a month and a half ago,
when I knew they weren't going to the tournament. So

(34:17):
I've watched it with a totally different lens and watching
it with a lens of what did the team look
like in December and what does it look like now?
That is what I'm watching the lens, and I am
seeing massive improvements from Makai Mason. I am seeing massive
improvements and confidence from Tyler Harris. I'm seeing a much
better in shape, great osa board than I did two

(34:40):
months ago. I'm seeing Zoom Diallo take the reins at
the point guard position, and while he's still not a
good three point shooter, he's gotten a lot more confident
in his mid range game, and he's a lot more
confident running the offense. They're just a lot better offensive team.
I think their defense still has a ways to go.
I would say it slightly improved over where they were

(35:00):
a couple of months ago, but the offense is just
massively improved, and that's what I need to see. I
need to see a coach in his first year at
my school being able to take a team that is
severely less talented than almost every team in the conference
and be able to compete with almost every team in
the conference.

Speaker 3 (35:16):
And he's doing that.

Speaker 6 (35:17):
He's gotten blown out a few times, but most of
these games have been very, very close.

Speaker 2 (35:21):
Yeah, I mean, look, I appreciate your optimism. I just
think that you're really reaching if you would have told
me that, Hey, look, I don't care what happens this year.
It's year one. It's a new system. They're doing this,
they're doing that. Sprinkle is going to be great. I'm
with you one hundred percent. I'm not looking at Washington
Basketball thinking, oh my god, we hired the wrong guy.

(35:43):
Not at all am I thinking that. But this year's
team is a huge disappointment, Dick, to be an eighteenth
place in an eighteen team league with what we thought
were some athletes that could run these big ogres out
of the building in the Big Ten, but.

Speaker 6 (36:00):
We lost our ath I mean, Kepnong's been a difference
maker since coming back.

Speaker 3 (36:03):
Well, he was gone most of the season.

Speaker 2 (36:05):
But okay, and I appreciate that, but I size earth. Yeah,
but I also think we kind of were kicking the
can down the road here a little bit, because you
and I were the same ones on the air who said,
all right, they got this stretch from hell right earlier
this year where they just played everything. They had like
eight games in a row against top thirty net teams

(36:26):
or whatever it was. It was with the Maryland game
on January second, Maryland, Illinois, Michigan State, Michigan, Purdue, Oregon, Ucla.
So they had seven games in a row against like
top thirty five net teams in college basketball, and both
of us said, hey, the schedule is going to open up. Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern,
Penn State, Rutgers. And they're three and four in their

(36:46):
last seven games. I mean, they had to make a
run that Rutgers game, they had to win the Nebraska
game at home, They had to win the Iowa game.
They could have won that game as well. They're just
giving up so many points in the second half. And
I think two facts and truths can exist at the
same time. Danny Sprinkle can be the right guy for

(37:07):
the job long term, which I believe he is. I
hope he gets the support he needs, but I believe
he is. At the same time, year one under him
also can be a massive disappointment, and it is. I mean,
four and twelve in this conference in eighteen, missing the
Big Ten Tournament. Potentially they got Wisconsin tomorrow, Indiana, USC Oregon.

(37:30):
They probably have to win three of the four right
to make the tournament, and that's gonna be tough to do.
So I think we can be disappointed in this year's
team and the results, but also be excited for what's
gonna happen starting next season.

Speaker 3 (37:42):
We're gonna break.

Speaker 2 (37:43):
Chuck Palell is gonna join us next on ninety three
to three KJRFM. All right, let's get to it. Enough
of that to hair talk. It's making me weird, feel weird.
Chuck Palell, who always makes me feel something, to something.
I'm not sure what it is, but I gotta be
honest with you. We aren't gonna be at the Sports
Star banquet on Thursday night. Right for the radio, I'd
like to introduce a new category for awards, the Interview
of the Year.

Speaker 3 (38:04):
Oh absolutely to submit the.

Speaker 2 (38:06):
Conversation that Chuck and Buck had with Jerry Depoto Wednesday
in Peoria as the early leader in the clubhouse.

Speaker 3 (38:14):
Chuck Powell with us, how are you man?

Speaker 7 (38:17):
Oh? Perfectly shorn?

Speaker 3 (38:20):
Yeah, see, it just doesn't work without.

Speaker 2 (38:24):
Yeah, the freaking powers out in the studio, dude, and
I have no access to my little sound wall back here, so.

Speaker 7 (38:30):
Oh I'm well aware. We arrived to it this morning.
That was fun in the How.

Speaker 3 (38:35):
Did you do pull the plug?

Speaker 7 (38:38):
Uh? He just kicked it out of the socket. You
know I gotta do is just all you gotta do
is just unplug it and plug it.

Speaker 2 (38:47):
Back in and turn it off and turn it on again,
repower the thing. And has anybody tried that? By the way,
Jackson back in the studio turning it off, turning it
back on again, for crying. I got hit it on
the side like we used to attend smack with a
sledgehammer or something. Well, honestly, guys, Chuck, seriously, great job
with Jerry. I was out of town and Nick get

(39:07):
the hairy until this morning. Really well done. I thought
you guys really were fair but aggressive. Yeah, you asked
all the questions a lot of us wanted to hear.
Tell me about it. Did you feel good walking away
from that? Did you feel better worse about the team?
Does your opinion change at all after that conversation with Jerry.

Speaker 7 (39:29):
Well, I don't think my opinion changed on the conversation,
but I mean that was overdue. We haven't had a
conversation with them all off season, so we had a
lot of things built up to ask and we were
going to ask them. So for Dick Fane and others
to say that it was tough but fair, I think
that's exactly what we were shooting for. I got criticism

(39:49):
from Depoto haters who thought it was too soft, and
I got and I got kind of a cold shoulder
from a few Mariners people afterwards, which probably suggest that
it wasn't too soft. So to me, that was the
right response that I think you're looking for. That you
kind of fell somewhere in between and you angered people

(40:11):
on the fringes, and I think that it's exactly what
we should have done with Jerry last week.

Speaker 6 (40:18):
Well, I don't know what you would have said that
would have angered the Mariners, but.

Speaker 3 (40:21):
Whatever, that's that's their issue.

Speaker 6 (40:23):
But you know, Chuck, I was kind of teasing soft
Year earlier today because I said I have pulled the
plug on Root Sports after the baseball season ended, and
I can just pick it up. I can just push
a button on my Fubo and pick it.

Speaker 3 (40:34):
Up anytime I want. And I told him I'm not
doing it at Deel opening Day.

Speaker 6 (40:38):
So give me a reason why I should watch spring
training baseball because it has just burned me in the past.
Because the guys that look awesome in spring training start
one for forty in the regular season, and the pitchers
that look awesome in spring training get racked and though
in the regular season.

Speaker 3 (40:56):
So why should I be watching this the next month?

Speaker 7 (41:00):
Well, I mean I'm just a junkie, so I'm going
to watch. But I mean, yes, spring training numbers lie.
They're the biggest liars maybe in sports often, but I
think that the reason to watch is, you know, you
mentioned Lazara Montes. You know, this is the first time

(41:20):
I'm getting to lay my eyeballs on him. I mean,
he hits a bomb off the top of the backdrop
in center field. The batter's eye to see Montes, to
see young, to see Emerson, to see Arroyo, to see
some of these young and upcomers, I think that's something
that I'm fascinated by and interested in. And then you know,

(41:40):
there's a lot of this season resting on whether or
not Mitch Garver and Jorge Polanco or actually any good.
And I will tell you just eyeball, Mitch Garver has
really taken seriously his terrible season a year ago because
he's about ten pounds more muscular, so he's he's really
dedicated himself to try and to prove all of his

(42:02):
doubters wrong after that horrendous year he had. And man,
I just really still like Orgete Polonco. He admitted right
to our faces last week that it was just a
terrible year and he's got to believe that's all it was,
and that now that he feels a little bit healthier,
he's ready to be Jorge Polanco again. So a lot

(42:22):
is resting on those two guys. And I don't know
how much you can glean from spring training at bats
that if they feel more comfortable, but I am trying.
I am anxious to like watch them, particularly this spring,
because I think a lot of the season rides on
whether or not they're actually good or not.

Speaker 2 (42:41):
Well, let me go back to the Depoto conversation just
at least one more time, because Dick and I were
talking about, you know, I haven't had a chance to
discuss it and break it down, you know, criticize it whatever,
since it aired on Wednesday, and we talked about a
lot of things about the payroll, how they prefer to
develop guys from within, which everybody would prefer to do
that obviously, But then he throws this numbers out. I mean,

(43:01):
what was your reaction when he said, hey, we're one
of four teams to win eighty five games or more
four years in a.

Speaker 3 (43:07):
Row in the American League.

Speaker 2 (43:09):
I mean, does that do anything for you when a
guy says something.

Speaker 7 (43:13):
Like that, No, And I think that's when he gets
in trouble. I mean, Jerry's actually a pretty slick orator.
I think ninety five percent of the time he does
present something in a pretty slick fashion, But he has
this five percent of the time where it's comes off condescending,

(43:34):
it comes off smug. There is a label of him.
He thinks he's the smartest guy in the room. I
don't mind if he operates that way, but you can't
operate like you're the only smart person in the room.
And some of those numbers that he pulls to try
to defend himself, to try to defend the organization, I
don't even know if they're accurate, much less they need

(43:57):
to be brought up, like defending the by pointing out
WRC plus we were top ten team last year. Hey,
you're just finding some statistic out there that just doesn't
have any meaning, not to mention. It's so far out
of left field that no interviewer can be prepared to
come back at you for it. And I think it's

(44:20):
somewhat strategic that he does that, and he doesn't do
himself any favors. That's where he gets in trouble and
his press conferences, because overall he's actually a pretty good
presenter of the Mariners and where they see the team,
But he just has those statements every time he opens
his mouth, every time he does an interview, he usually

(44:40):
has one or two weird little facts that he brings
up that we're not even suer facts, and they certainly
don't belong in the conversation. And nobody wants to hear
some isolated way that you're trying to explain that the
Mariners are actually a big spending ball club, because it's nonsense.
There's no way that you can present yourself that way.

Speaker 6 (45:01):
Why don't you think they spend nearly as much as
they have in the past.

Speaker 3 (45:06):
This ownership group.

Speaker 6 (45:08):
Chuck in twenty sixteen, twenty seventeen, twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen.
They spend money. They spent more money than they're spending
now seven eight years later. Why do you think they
have stopped spending the way they used to?

Speaker 7 (45:24):
Okay, a couple of things I would say to that.
Number One, I don't think. I mean, John Stanton's the
figure had the face. He's not making all the decisions.
They have just way too many owners There's not like
a you know, a Stephen Cohen here that just says
give him the money. I mean, we don't have that.
He's it's a committee that that has to make some
of these decisions. Number Two, John Stanton himself off the

(45:46):
air after the Jerry Depoto interview, pulled me aside and
he said, Hey, I want to kind of deflect some
of this heat off of Jerry that you know, it's
my decision. I don't want to sign guys to long
term contracts and be paying them when the forty.

Speaker 3 (46:00):
And wed that stay. Yeah.

Speaker 7 (46:05):
This was Wednesday after the interview with the Poto and
he also said, and I don't want to make trades
where I have a rental player and I have to
give up four prospects for Vladimir Guerrero Junior. So those
are philosophically things that I think they do subscribe to.
I think that they like the idea of a consistent

(46:26):
winner here, and they believe that it's going to be
built through the farm system. Now, I think where they
air is that there's a different mentality between building your
organization and then once the organization is built, they've built
a championship foundation. And they deserve credit for the pitchers

(46:48):
that they have and Julio and cal Raley and some
other really smart decisions that they've made along the way.
Where they're falling short and all of our eyes is
all right, you've done the whole hard work to create
a championship foundation. Now you've got to start acting like
a champion. Now you've got to start making those moves
that making a little financially uncomfortable, or where you have

(47:10):
to part with a prospect that you really loved, that
you found and drafted and groomed and got ready for
the major leagues. Now you've got to do those finishing moves.
And that's just what's been invisible from this team, particularly
this offseason, and that's kind of what I took Jerry
to task for on Wednesday, was I agree with sort

(47:34):
of your principle on how to build a sustainable, winning product,
but there's also a time where you've got to make
go for it moves, and we're just not getting them,
and it's very frustrating, very disappointing, and Jerry really does
to have a great answer for it. As a matter
of fact, you just called that a fair critique and
kind of moved on from it. So they certainly have

(47:56):
this philosophy of wanting to build a long term winner
not having to rebuild again, which I can respect. But
part of that is their stubbornness to actually go for
those go for it moves, because what's the point of
having winning seasons if you don't come away with a
championship along the line.

Speaker 2 (48:16):
Well, Chuck Palle's with us, and I thought one of
the better parts of that conversation was the little after
party that you and Bucky had on the air reacting
to it. I heard that entire thing, and I heard
you say, Hey, why don't you kick that mother f
and door down right? Let's make that one move and
kick that freaking door down, and then Jerry goes on
the year with you and says, Hey, these top tier
free agents, they're just not for us or we're not

(48:37):
for them, which reeks of we don't have the money
to bring those guys in. And if you don't have
the money, if you're not going to do that now,
to kick that door down, that mother effing door now,
which I gotta be honest with you, I was slightly
aroused when you said that, by the way, because I
totally agree with you.

Speaker 3 (48:54):
When will you kick that mother f and door down?
If not now? When?

Speaker 7 (48:59):
Well, I mean I get it. I mean I get
that people think that every baseball owner is sitting on
just a mountain of gold, bullyon and just flaunt their
riches right in front of our faces. It's the only
sport that has to deal with it because it doesn't
have a salary cap, and fan bases from us to
the Yankees all thinks that they're just sitting on all
their money and they're laughing in our faces and they

(49:20):
won't spend more aggressively like the Dodgers and the Mets, who,
by the way, are insane. Those two organizations and they
should be the outliers and not belong in this conversation.
So I get I do. I get that Juan Soto
is not in play for the Seattle Mariners, and I
get that a lot of big and I even buy
into the I don't want to sign Chris Bryant's to

(49:42):
eight to ten year deals who have a hit injury history,
And now I'm on the hook for twenty five to
thirty million dollars a year for a guy that has
not been productive one day since he signed that big
contract with the Colorado Rockies. I get sort of shine
away from those. What I don't get is why don't

(50:03):
you go three years seventy million dollars on Christian Walker?
Does that not sound doable? Why don't you trade two prospects,
a top twenty hit, a top twenty prospect, and a
second round pick for a Josh Naylor somebody that gives
you a chance to win. Now, So I'm going to
side with them, I really am, and not getting getting

(50:24):
the long term contracts because I think they can debilitate
a franchise. Most franchises out there, not the big boys,
because they've got the money to make up for mistakes
like that. But a lot of markets, not just Seattle,
A lot of organizations can't sustain ten year deal thirty
million dollars a year for a guy that ends up

(50:45):
being worthless two years into the contract. So I get
shying away from those. But there are you guys know this,
There are a lot of those good players, good pickups
that you could pick up on short term deals, even
if they're only under control for one year in a
Mariner uniform. Who cares. That's a go for it move
that that I think this organization needs to make, and

(51:08):
they're even shying away from that. If you're not going
to spend, then you've got to get creative with trades.
Having an entire offseason. I'm not doing anything is unacceptable
at this stage in the process.

Speaker 6 (51:18):
No, I totally agree with you, and it's softie, and
I've almost come to blows because my take has been
exactly like yours.

Speaker 3 (51:24):
I don't want to spend that that type of mind.

Speaker 2 (51:26):
I actually did suck him once he did such where
I came from.

Speaker 6 (51:30):
But when you talked to I want to go back
to your conversation with Stan, did you say that, like,
did you mention that to him? And what did he
say about like, hey, you're so close, just sign this
guy and this guy.

Speaker 7 (51:43):
Yeah. Well, it was kind of a brief conversation and
I was like in between segments, so we weren't I
wasn't able to conduct an interview like I was with Jerry.
But it was him, I think, listening to that interview
in the car and then coming out and saying, Hey,
I appreciate you coming out here. I appreciate how much

(52:03):
you guys talk about our baseball team, and here's what
you need to know. And so I think that's what
it was, and there wasn't really time for back and
forth between he and I, and I don't even know
if I'm supposed to be talking about it on the air.
He didn't say off the record, but nonetheless it was
sort of him saying there are some restrictions here, and

(52:28):
I think for good strategical reasons. I think that's what
he was trying to deliver to me. Doesn't mean that
we have to accept that, but I don't think it's
just him necessarily being miserly. I think more it is
sort of a philosophy that they have to keep spending
down where they do remain competitive and they feel like

(52:52):
it's back to the fifty four percent line. They kind
of like this philosophy of like, we can do that
every year. We're going to get in the playoffs quite
a bit and maybe make it to the World Series
and win one. But nobody likes that. Nobody else likes
that as a philosophy. I told Jerry, I said, you've
done a nice job of creating a series of teams
that can win between eighty five and ninety games. When

(53:13):
you're so close to creating consecutive seasons of ninety five
to one hundred, why are you stopping short? And that,
to me is just the big mystery haunting this organization
right now. Both John and Jerry.

Speaker 3 (53:28):
No doubt.

Speaker 2 (53:28):
Hey, good work, man, and again I hope your work
is honored at the Sports Star banquet on Thursday. If
it's not, I will find a protest on your behalf,
I promise you. All right, man, good stuff

Speaker 7 (53:40):
All right, great to hear you guys back together.