June 10, 2025 • 32 mins
In the second hour, Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain chat with Jerry Brewer about the small market NBA Finals and “star” players involved, plus the Julio Rodriguez feelings related to his expectations, then discuss the fallout from the latest Mariners arm injury.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's time for our weekly conversation with award winning Washington
Post columnist Jerry Brewer, brought to you by Northwest Handling Systems.
From forklifts to Pella jacks conveyors to loading dock equipment,
we sell, rent and service all your warehouse he needs.
Request a quote today at NWHS dot com or give
us a call at four two five two five five
(00:22):
zero five hundred. Now with Jerry Brewer, here's Softy and Dick.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
All right, four three on a Tuesday afternoon, are we
the conversation with the legend baby from the Washington Post.
Our friend, former KJR on air talent, former Settled Times columnists,
current Washington Post columnist and all around.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Great guy, Our friend Jerry Brewer. Jerry, how are you, man?
I'm doing great.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Man.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
That's awfully kind of you to consider me a former talent.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Well did I say former talent? It's a former KJR talent.
I mean you're still talented. You're just a former KJR talent.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
Yeah, yeah, I mean the KKR talent.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Yes. You know what, how about this? The hell with you? You're
no longer talented? How about that? Okay?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Ever since you left the radio station. You have no
talent whatsoever. I can't believe the Post even gave you
a second look for crying out.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
Jerry, tell there's a softie I know in love.
Speaker 5 (01:14):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Tell me Game one for Indiana was not in the
high water mark of this series for the Pacers.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Please tell me that.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
I can't tell you that. I do have hope that
they'll get another game and put a little more pressure
on on Oklahoma City, but I still can't see this
much going much further than six games.
Speaker 5 (01:37):
If they are going to get another game, it seems
to me like it has to be this one, right,
first game in Indiana.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
Yeah, I mean you still have that the fact that
other than Caruso, no one has been the distance for
Oka see, and I think that can still affect them.
I remember twenty fifteen is when the Warriors won their
first of four championships. They got down one, you know,
two to one to Cleveland and won the last three
(02:10):
had to come and rally. I'd love to see, let's
say Indiana turns the tables and wins this game by
like ten points, right, and okay, so he's down to one,
similar to how they they think they had to come
from behind against against the Nuggets, that kind of pressure.
I'd love to see what they're made of.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Well, Jerry, the ratings are terrible, right, I Mean we
all thought there's a chance with these two small markets
that ratings were not going to be good, But they're
even worse than we thought they were. I mean Game
two of the NBA Finals averaged with like eight and
a half million people, which was down thirty percent from
the Mavericks Celtics Game two of their Finals and lows
(02:53):
since the Bubble and Fall of twenty twenty. They're basically
getting the state of Washington to watch the games because
this state of Washington's got eight million people. That's that's
who's watching the NBA Finals. So do you blame the
NBA for not promoting more than Lebron and obviously the
Lakers and other great teams out there, so they have
(03:16):
promoted these teams more or is this just what happens
when you take the twelfth biggest market and trade it
in for a rattle like Oklahoma City.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
Yeah, I think it's just inevitable that that matchup was
going to do this. The NFL is still the only
league that can have two small market teams in this
championship game and not have to worry about what it's
ratings are going to be. It's the only one, you know,
everyone else. I keep hearing all this noise about how
(03:51):
market size doesn't mean anything in pro sports anymore, and
I think, like competitively, like the size of the market
is diminishing the most of the LEA, But in terms
of like what's in the best interest of the finances
of these sports, market size still still matters, or at
least like star power and celebrity still matters.
Speaker 5 (04:14):
Are you okay that that these small market teams are
able to compete more? Or is it better for the
league if just Philly and New York and Chicago and
LA and Miami were just bulldogs every single year, Because
I mean it almost would seem like that would that's
when the league has been the most successful, is when
(04:35):
those five six teams have been the best.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
Yeah, I mean, I'd be okay with it, Dick, if
it were like the Utah Jazz instead of the Thunder
against the It's the Pacers. So you know that that
part of it. But just in general, the idea of
two small market teams. I just want the finals to
be compelling, and I'll always been like, I'm a pro
(05:02):
dynasty guy because in my twenty five years now, since
I've graduated college covering pro sports, one thing I've learned
is that none of these owners really really want to win,
and like, the only thing that compels them to try
to win and not just look at how much money
(05:23):
they possibly could make now or down the road when
they sell the team is for there to be a
team that's just embarrassing the hell out of them. And
so there's a place for the Yankees, there's a place
for the Dodgers. There's a place for the Kansas City
Chiefs to build a dynasty, and the balanced NFL. There's
a place for the Warriors and the Lakers and the
Celtics because it pushes everybody to get off their ass
(05:48):
and I think that matters. And you know, I don't
like how the NBA, with its new rules, is trying
to force parody similar to the way has fourth parody,
because football is a different game, our obsession with it
is different, and so I still want the most interesting
(06:10):
teams and the most interesting players to have a chance
to build something special. I don't care who plays in
championship games, I get the competition, like the competition, Let
the competition decide who wins. What I want more than
anything is when I'm done watching, I want to feel
like I saw greatness. And sometimes I see greatness when
(06:30):
some dominant team blows out the field. And sometimes I
see greatness when it's like two evenly matched teams and
they play an epic kind of series, but close and
everybody having a chance does not equal compelling to me.
Not always.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Yeah, yeah, No, I think you're right.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
The King of the Hill mentality has served the NBA
and other sports very very well when there's one giant
target for everyone to go after. And I also do
wonder Jerry Jerry Brewer again our guest Tuesday at four,
courtesy of our pals at Northwest Handling Systems. If the
star power is is something the NBA is lacking in
this final series, because look, I mean, obviously Michael Jordan, Lebron,
(07:13):
James Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Kobe Bryant players like that
they transcended the NBA right, Like, if you're a Johnny
Coume lately, you're not a huge NBA fan.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
You know who those guys are is Shake.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Gildess Alexander really that kind of a name where he
is a household name that people that don't even really
follow the NBA religiously know who this guy is.
Speaker 4 (07:36):
Not yet, But I mean, I think a lot of
guys before they win a championship aren't. He's just not
an interesting character, right, Like, I mean, he's got this,
he's got this really, you know, it feels like he's
got a fake deep voice, you know, like the voice
that when you're a teenager you try to make your
voice a little deeper when you're talking to girls.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Like Dave Chappelle doing the All State Guy on SNL
exactly exactly.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
So it's kind of it's kind of a you know,
weird and you know, but I love his game. I
mean when he's not out hunting for files, like there's
there's that part of it around it. But he plays,
He plays both ends of the floor. He's a really
exceptional player. Like there's a lot of juice to his game.
He kind of reminds me Dick of of Penny Hardaway
(08:26):
in some ways. He's more shifty, but like I'm thinking,
like big guard who can just like manipulate the game
in a certain kind of way more of a score
than Penny ever was like the games are different, but
just the prototype is similar. But yeah, like I think
(08:48):
the NBA kind of going back to what we were
talking about earlier, does the league have a marketing problem
or does the league have an ESPN problem? What do
you think the way ESPN talks about sports right now
in this debate culture, and especially the way the ESPN
(09:09):
talks about the NBA, Because it's steven A's bread and butter,
what he came up in to have to turn on
the game, you know, you know, before every game and
then after the game, and here Steven and Kendrick Perkins
and Bob Myers trying to fit in and Malika trying
(09:30):
to quarterback all of these bozos. It's become a real
problem because like I've never heard any conversation about, you know,
what Okay See was doing to swarm Tyree'se Halliburton. It's
just like Tyrouse Halliburton used to step up, and it's like, well,
first of all, Tyre's Halliburton is a past first point
(09:51):
guard and sort of the John Stockton Steve nash Molde,
and he only averages fourteen shots a game for his
care he's taken thirteen a game in these NBA finals.
If you look at OKC, whether it's been Jokich who
had three really uncharacteristic bad games against OKC, or Anthony
(10:13):
Edwards who was like flummoxed a lot of the time,
like on what he was reading on defense, Jared Jackson
Junior and John Morant now Tyrese Halliburton and Pascal Siakam.
Their defense is so confusing to people that it takes
a long time for you to get adjusted to the
way that they play, and that is making stars lesser
(10:33):
stars in a way that we haven't seen in the
NBA in several years. No one has broken down the
why of that to me, and I think that's a
big ESPN problem. So their relationship with ESPN, now that
they've got NBC back on board, now that they're giving
Amazon games and making the package bigger, somebody needs to
(10:57):
talk about basketball way that we talk about football and
helping people really understand the game better and just think
about the general conversation we have and I know, like
we all go in in depth, you know, on the
Seahawks and the rest of the NFL, and it's one
game a week and it's the perfect setup, and so
(11:18):
there's a lot more time in between games to digest things.
But think about the way that we talk about football
versus just how surface level and stupid the basketball conversation is.
And you tell me that that's not affecting the way
that the game is portrayed to the public.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Good for you.
Speaker 5 (11:39):
No, it's it's junk food analysis. It's not meat and
potatoes analysis like you get like.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
You in the NFL.
Speaker 5 (11:45):
Jerry Brewer joining us brought to by Northwest Handling Systems.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
So I'm gonna give you.
Speaker 5 (11:49):
I'm gonna make you Jason kidd here, Jerry, and I'm
gonna give you the option to be the next head
coach of the New York Knicks. Or you get Cooper
Flag and just stay where you are and play with
Cooper Flag and Ad and when Kyrie's healthy, Kyrie, what
do you take.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
I'd rather stay in Dallas where James Dolan is not
the owner, and I would like to have a shot
at really really activating Cooper Flag. I think he's got
a chance to be a championship caliber, you know, number
one player and a guy you know like I think
Cooper and Dallas and Wimby and the Spurs. Like, if
(12:29):
you tell me who's got the best chance of getting
getting in the way of Oklahoma City becoming a dynasty,
I think I look at the Texas teams, you know,
Houston as well, so he should keep his butt there
instead of like, I mean, the Knicks are better, but
the Knicks are still a mess, and they can turn
into a hot mess with the snap of a finger.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Jerry Brewers with us, Jerry, I don't want to ask
you a leading question. I want to influence your answer whatsoever.
I was gonna ask a flat out you give me
your initial reaction, and I'm just going to read you
the tweet poll question I put out yesterday, and you
give me your answer. Since signing his contract, has Julio
(13:10):
Rodriguez exceeded met or fallen short of your expectations?
Speaker 4 (13:18):
He signed his contract what like at the end of
his first season.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
End of his first August time seven of his first season,
middle middle of his first season, basically up.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
You know, I mean I would say that that he's
fallen short of my initial expectations, you know, like the
guy the guy comes out, you know, as a rookie,
and what is he I mean, I think he was
six six six point two war. He had just a
phenomenal year, you know, and then the next year he
hit thirty home runs thirty two home runs, and then
(13:51):
you know, I mean last year was a was a
down year. This year is interesting because I don't know
if it's like how well he's played on defense, Like
we look at that ops right now, and he's what's
around what he was last year with like seven seven thirty.
But he's on pace, Julio to have his best war
of his career, right, And I think some of that
(14:14):
is that he hasn't missed He's missed one game, right,
I mean, I know he's gone out of games early.
I think he's missed one game. And I mean he's
really really good on the defensive end, and so like
I think he's becoming a better overall baseball player. But yeah,
if you ask me, like this is his age twenty
(14:36):
four season, right, is he has he turned twenty five yet? No?
He hasn't, Like he's a December kid. So yeah, like
this will be if he'll be twenty four all year.
And I thought I saw a projection. Here's my thing.
(14:58):
I saw a projection, like who's going to make the
All Star Team. And I think ESPN or somebody did it,
and they were talking about just how bad the American
League outfielders are this year, the options, and they already
had Julio in as a reserve, and I was like,
he'll know, Julio is not a reserve, right like. And
then I look it up and I'm like, man, like,
the American League outfielders are really terrible, you know, you know,
(15:24):
outside is like like Aaron, George Judge and Corby and
Carroll like that territory. Julio is not functioning like what
I thought he would be, which is a top ten
to fifteen player of significant impact. I don't just blame him, however,
(15:45):
softy like, I look at it and I think part
of it is just having the pieces around him that
are just I mean, they have two hitters in their
lineup that I even think about, right yeah, little you know,
and like half the time Julio doesn't scare you. And
I think a lot of that is just the people
around them. Uh, you need like real, real scary major
(16:09):
league hitters. You need like five of them, and the
Manners have two. They have two and one of them
like doesn't function like that. Well, you have one guy,
one guy that you don't want to pitch to, and
and that's and that's gonna start affecting Cal as the
year goes on. They're not gonna pitch to him at
all at some point this year. And so it comes
(16:33):
back to that same conversation we've been having, like put
pieces around these guys. Julio does not have someone that
he can look to in that lineup and say I
want to be like that guy, Like that guy right
now is better than me. And I just don't know
what team that wants to aspire to win a World
(16:53):
Series like just decides, you know, this kid had a
great rookie year. We're gonna give him this exact a
contract where he's guaranteed two hundred and eleven million dollars
and it could go up to all of this stuff
up to four hundred something with incentives. But then they
don't do anything to make him an a four hundred
million dollar player. They've essentially said, you know what, Uh,
(17:16):
we're okay if he's just like this two hundred million
dollar dude, you know, and like if he gets to
two eleven, like if that's the player, that he is,
and he doesn't access the other stuff in the contract
in terms of value, like he will outperform the value
of that deal. But the great thing about the deal
(17:36):
was that if he became you know, a Griffy level, right,
which like he's got that kind of raw talent, if
he became Griffy level, the money that you were going
to pay him, he was going to far out, far
exceed And so again it's just a matter of like
I just I feel I feel like the Mariners should be,
(17:59):
you know, they should be shooting for the moon, and
instead they're just very happy to be at just sort
of this really interesting competitive, competitive level. And it's not
good for anybody in Seattle. And I do have concerns.
I do have concerns that the way that they structure things,
(18:22):
we're never going to see the best out of Julio
because it's putting it all on him to figure it out,
like and have the maturity to figure it out himself,
instead of the organization being the example that allows him
to like aspire to greater heights. It's too easy for
(18:45):
him to be the best all around player on this
team right now. And that's their fault, not his.
Speaker 5 (18:51):
Then why do we have a situation like we have
last night? We have a runner on in second, no
out in the second, sixth, seventh, tenth, and eleventh, and
you don't even care try to move a runner over
and get a guy in old school way because you
point it out, there's nobody to do it.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
Yep, I don't know, you know. I mean, I sometimes
sometimes I think they're just like, you know, overwhelmed because
they're just not talented enough. I just, you know, like,
I mean, we're asking, we're asking these guys, some of them,
you know, a lot of them, to play way above
(19:28):
their heads to like meet these expectations that we have.
And I just, I mean, I see another eighty five,
eighty six, eighty seven win baseball team, and like they
have to stretch to get that, and I just I
want it to be easy. You know. Again, something I
always say, how do you build a ninety five win
baseball team? You build a team that you think can
(19:50):
win a hundred games, and like you absorb the fact
that you had a little bit of bad luck. The
Mariners build a team that they think can win ninety
and then when they have a little bad luck, they
went eighty five and we're disappointed, and then we have
to hear about how, oh, well the floor is really high.
Well what about the ceiling, guys, what about the ceiling?
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Jerry, great stuff, man. Every week you bring it. We
love it, and we'll do it again next Tuesday.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
Man. Thanks, all right, take it easy.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
Jerry Brewer with us.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
We have an update on the Bryce Miller situation, and
it's not good. Next on ninety three to three KJRFM.
Speaker 6 (20:27):
Ken on Chesting Live from the R and R Foundation
Specialist broadcast studio. Now Doctor Saffie and Dig powered by
Emerald Queen Casino, the Vetty and capital of the Northwest.
On Sports Radio ninety three point three kjr FM.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
All right, some news in from Marinerland.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
You may have heard today that Bryce Miller is going
on the fifteen day il Tim Booth reporting. I think
this is just part of a media gaggle that Mariner
starter Bryce Miller met with doctor Keith Meister and we'll
receive a PRP injection and his elbow will be shut
down from throwing for at least two weeks, could be
(21:08):
available for activation in four to six if everything goes well.
So he's out for a month. Bryce Miller's out for
a month. Bryce Miller likely out until after the All
Star break, if not beyond.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
So what that means is a couple of things.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Number One, get used to seeing Logan Evans, who's pitching
tonight for the Mariners. Number Two, sixty percent of your
great rotation has been on the IL already this year,
in the first two months and ten days of the year,
meaning George Kirby, Logan Gilbert, and now Bryce Miller. Third
of all, thank god they didn't trade Luis Castillo, as
you said off the year. If they traded Castillo, you're
likely seeing Jonathan Diaz or you would have had to
(21:42):
have gone out and maybe gotten a starter to replace
what you lost in Luis Castillo. And then, fourth of all,
I hate to be that guy. And when people start
comments like this, you know where it's going. You know,
why do you do something if you hate to do something, Well,
I'm gonna do it anyway. This is exactly why you
had to strike last season when everybody was healthy, because
(22:05):
you knew this was coming.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
Did you not know this was coming?
Speaker 7 (22:08):
We said it was coming, Dave, you knew this.
Speaker 5 (22:11):
Now let's point pat ourselves on the back for a second,
because we said all off season, this is the same bait,
it's going to be the same record as it was
last year because your offense is going to be a
little bit better and your pitching staff is not going
to be as healthy as it was.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Last ye year.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
This is why you absolutely had to take advantage of
last season, because the idea that all five guys can
be healthy at the same time and you could be
that dominant pitching wise, those days don't come along very often,
and they are gone at least for this year. I mean, look,
there's a chance you get all these guys healthy by
you know, late July, early August, and they find a
(22:49):
way to kick ass and take you down the stretch.
But when opportunities like that come around and to just
pass on them, assuming that you'll have that kind of
luck again down.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
The road, it's foolish.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
It's foolish, and really it's naive, to be totally honest
with you. So either A the Mariners were naive or
b they just didn't give a damn and just don't
have the wherewithal to want to go out and take
advantage of something like that, whether the desire or the
financial wherewithal so you know this is gonna be something,
and I know that I've people give me grief for this.
(23:21):
You guys, give me grief. You say, let it go,
blah blah blah. What the Mariners did to their fan
base last year is unconscionable. What they did to this
fan base and what they did to this city last
year to have the first team lead the league in
era and missed the playoffs since the two thousand and
eight Toronto Blue Jays.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
To pitch the way they.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Did and not even get into the playoff tournament when
it's easier than ever to get into the playoff tournament
in Major League Baseball is an absolute crime what these
guys did, and you're reminded of that when things like
this happened today with Bryce Miller.
Speaker 5 (23:54):
There's a plan and then there's the execution of the plan.
And I've never had a problem with the Mariners.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
What is they're playing.
Speaker 5 (24:01):
The Mariner's plan is to be consistently a good playoff
caliber baseball team, because if you continue to punch your
ticket into the playoffs year after year after year after year,
eventually their theory is you're gonna make the World Series
and maybe even win a rush.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
What's the first part of that they're not doing.
Speaker 5 (24:21):
But exactly the execution of their plan. They've been quote
unquote good since twenty twenty one, and they've missed in
twenty twenty one, they missed in twenty twenty three, they
missed in twenty twenty four, and they're on pace to
miss in twenty twenty five now. So the execution of
their plan has been horrible and nullifies all there. You
might as well just go all in and go for
(24:42):
it one year. If you're gonna miss four out of
every five years.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Pull of Texas Rangers, right, and just go out and
win the damn World Series, which I'd be totally fine with.
I mean, hell, you come to me and you said, Hell,
you were willing to have the Thunder lose the NBA
Finals and lose fifteen games in a row. If you're
willing to do that, then you're certainly willing to blow
a couple of years and win a title. For God's
we've only won one game, right playing, Yeah, that was
on Sunday sertesy of George Kirby. The plan would be
to actually make the playoffs, right, I mean, the execution
(25:09):
of the plan falling. Sure it was shortened, Dick would
be to get into it and then never ever make
the World Series. But part one is making the postseason
and you're not even doing that. So again, I mean,
I just I get tired of complaining and yelling and
screaming about this. It's the same argument over and over again.
I think that the twenty twenty four Mariner baseball season,
(25:30):
and I don't know if I'm in the minority on
this one. Maybe I am because I'm a freaking luntict
and idiot, but the twenty twenty four Mariner baseball season
is gonna leave a scar on me for a while.
What these guys did to have that kind of pitching
and to not want to go out and burn every
bridge possible to take advantage of it is beyond insane
(25:53):
to me that an ownership I mean, there's ownership groups
in baseball that would die to have the pitching situation
the Mariners had to year ago, and to see the
Mariners respond to it the way that.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
They did is still unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
I mean, it's an open palm to forehead type of situation.
For me, it just completely rattles my brain when I
think about what these guys did with last year's pitching staff,
and you're being reminded now that those things don't happen
very often, if ever at all. Sixty percent of your
rotation is now on the IL, and god knows how
(26:27):
long they'll.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
Be out for.
Speaker 5 (26:28):
I still remember it was on the IL. Sorry, I
still remember that research that you did. We were sitting
at the Emerald Queen Casino. It was before a Monday
night football game. We had just missed the Marritors had
just missed the playoffs again for like the twenty third
time in the last twenty four years or whatever it was.
And you went through that research of number one teams
(26:50):
in EER and baseball and how many games they won
on average, and you found that those teams won between
ninety five and one hundred and five games every single year.
You went back forever and we read off the number
one team in ER and how many games they won.
(27:10):
It was like ninety eight one O two one hundred,
ninety eight one O two one hundred, and then here's
the Mariners can't even get into the playoffs because they
don't invest in the other side of the ball.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
Well again, I just I just I'm at a loss
for words.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
You know, I'm trying to come up with different adjectives
in different ways to say the same thing, fifteen different ways,
and it's getting harder to do as the days go by,
because I just think, again, this is one of those
moments where you really want to blow up a lot
of narratives. If you're an ownership group and you had
every chance staring you right in the face, well, at minimum,
(27:44):
at the very minimum, if they're gonna have this kind
of pitching staff, well this has gotta be the year,
right that they go out and they just go guns
blazing balls to the wall.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
And they didn't even do it.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
And they couldn't even do it either didn't want to
do it, didn't know how to do it, didn't give
a damn to do it.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
One of the other happened.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
So I think Jackson, for me, the absolute mental scar
that last year left on me, I will admit, is
playing a role in my analysis.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
Of this team as we speak today.
Speaker 8 (28:14):
Guys, I'm getting I'm getting close to that line again,
and you know, you know what that line that was for.
Speaker 7 (28:19):
Me, and all, yeah, I don't give it.
Speaker 8 (28:21):
I don't give it, damn, because because I was already
there at the start of April and like, and you
guys are April flipped me and I said, all right,
you've earned my attention.
Speaker 7 (28:30):
I'm gonna pay attention to you.
Speaker 8 (28:32):
I paid attention in the month of May so closely,
and damn it, Marritors, you did it to me again.
Speaker 7 (28:39):
And now as we creep here.
Speaker 8 (28:41):
Into mid June, I'm kind of like, you know, listen,
I'm still paying attention on a nightly basis. I'm still watching.
I still have Root Sports on Fubo. I got it back,
and I'm watching the Mariners baseball. But I tell you what,
we are creeping back towards apathy where it's just exactly softie.
It's the scar from last year and now such listen,
(29:01):
it finally covered itself, I think after April. But I've
been gnawing at it and I've just been scratching at
it for the last month and a half and I
can start to see the little bit of blood coming
through again, and.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
Damn it, give it.
Speaker 7 (29:14):
Get two more week's Mariners, and.
Speaker 8 (29:16):
The whole blood it's all just gonna start oozing out again,
and I'm not gonna take it anymore.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Yeah, Jackson's had enough, he's gonna start eating himself. Don't
make Jackson eating naws on.
Speaker 7 (29:26):
I don't want to keep gnawing away the star.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Right the scar of last year, it's starting to puss.
It's start the fester all over again.
Speaker 3 (29:33):
Man.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
I just think again, Like I said a lot over
the offseason, and as I said last year, I I
I do think that twenty twenty four was one of,
if not the worst things this ownership group has ever
done to its fan Me. You have to tease them
with a ten game lead with that pitching staff and
did not go out and even make the damn playoffs.
And I do think that it takes time take it
(29:55):
over something like that. I think that their credibility is
in the gutter already. Yes, think what happened last year
drove a lot of people away. I think it really did, guys.
I mean, I have no evidence, you know, to go
ahead and prove that to you, you know, with any
real accuracy. But it feels like the fan base kind
of broke last season after what they did.
Speaker 5 (30:17):
All you need to do is if the Mariners were
to just show a little effort financially into bringing in
guys in the offseason, that could really contribute to this offense.
I'm not talking about quote unquote aircraft carriers, but guys
that can supplement JP and Julio and Cal better than
Donovan Solano and Liote Tavaris and whatever crap you're bringing
(30:42):
in on a daily basis. And guys you're trying to
bring up from Triple A like Williamson and Cole Young.
God bless those guys, but come on, we're to hit
on a playoff team.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
Here's what I'm worried about. I'm worried about the Mariners
blowing it with their minor league system and their prospects
because let me ask you, Quoe question the value and
the perception of Cole Young and Ben Williamson is it?
Speaker 3 (31:06):
Is it higher or lower today than it was a
month ago?
Speaker 4 (31:10):
I think?
Speaker 5 (31:11):
I think offensively, they've shown that they can't hit it
this leg so.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
Far correct, so they can play defense. They both defender.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
I wonder if this will influence what they do with
Harry Ford, if they'll say, you know what, we got
to leave that guy into the minor leagues because we're
gonna have to trade them one day and we can't
afford to bring these guys up I mean, this is
why when you have a minor league prospect who was
getting his ass kissed by Baseball America and everyone thinks
he's a potential stud, nine times out of ten, the
(31:38):
value on those kids will never be higher than it
is at that exact moment. So for all these people
on social media, they sit on your ass and never
trade a prospect. Crowd, You guys are out of your
fricking mind, You really are. You're out of your damn
minds because most of these guys turn out to be bumps.
They do, and when they're in the minor league system,
(32:00):
they're in the top fifty or the top seventy five.
The value will never ever be higher. And you think
you're better off taking the chance that maybe they'll turn
into perennial All Stars, you're freaking nuts.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
These guys should have been.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
Traded years ago, years ago, months ago, weeks ago. And
how much can they get for them now? How much
will they improve, how much will they contribute, what will
their trade values be? You gotta be really careful about
this stuff, man. And I just feel like this idea
that we've got this incredible minor league system with all
these great prospects if it doesn't turn into a world
(32:35):
series appearances.
Speaker 7 (32:36):
Who gives it dance exactly? Who cares?
Speaker 2 (32:38):
We're gonna break four forty two textimonials next, and then
John Wilner on a New Day and Age for college
athletics coming up at five on ninety three to three
KJRFM
It's time for our weekly conversation with award winning Washington
Post columnist Jerry Brewer, brought to you by Northwest Handling Systems.
From forklifts to Pella jacks conveyors to loading dock equipment,
we sell, rent and service all your warehouse he needs.
Request a quote today at NWHS dot com or give
us a call at four two five two five five
(00:22):
zero five hundred. Now with Jerry Brewer, here's Softy and Dick.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
All right, four three on a Tuesday afternoon, are we
the conversation with the legend baby from the Washington Post.
Our friend, former KJR on air talent, former Settled Times columnists,
current Washington Post columnist and all around.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Great guy, Our friend Jerry Brewer. Jerry, how are you, man?
I'm doing great.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Man.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
That's awfully kind of you to consider me a former talent.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Well did I say former talent? It's a former KJR talent.
I mean you're still talented. You're just a former KJR talent.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
Yeah, yeah, I mean the KKR talent.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Yes. You know what, how about this? The hell with you? You're
no longer talented? How about that? Okay?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Ever since you left the radio station. You have no
talent whatsoever. I can't believe the Post even gave you
a second look for crying out.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
Jerry, tell there's a softie I know in love.
Speaker 5 (01:14):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Tell me Game one for Indiana was not in the
high water mark of this series for the Pacers.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Please tell me that.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
I can't tell you that. I do have hope that
they'll get another game and put a little more pressure
on on Oklahoma City, but I still can't see this
much going much further than six games.
Speaker 5 (01:37):
If they are going to get another game, it seems
to me like it has to be this one, right,
first game in Indiana.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
Yeah, I mean you still have that the fact that
other than Caruso, no one has been the distance for
Oka see, and I think that can still affect them.
I remember twenty fifteen is when the Warriors won their
first of four championships. They got down one, you know,
two to one to Cleveland and won the last three
(02:10):
had to come and rally. I'd love to see, let's
say Indiana turns the tables and wins this game by
like ten points, right, and okay, so he's down to one,
similar to how they they think they had to come
from behind against against the Nuggets, that kind of pressure.
I'd love to see what they're made of.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Well, Jerry, the ratings are terrible, right, I Mean we
all thought there's a chance with these two small markets
that ratings were not going to be good, But they're
even worse than we thought they were. I mean Game
two of the NBA Finals averaged with like eight and
a half million people, which was down thirty percent from
the Mavericks Celtics Game two of their Finals and lows
(02:53):
since the Bubble and Fall of twenty twenty. They're basically
getting the state of Washington to watch the games because
this state of Washington's got eight million people. That's that's
who's watching the NBA Finals. So do you blame the
NBA for not promoting more than Lebron and obviously the
Lakers and other great teams out there, so they have
(03:16):
promoted these teams more or is this just what happens
when you take the twelfth biggest market and trade it
in for a rattle like Oklahoma City.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
Yeah, I think it's just inevitable that that matchup was
going to do this. The NFL is still the only
league that can have two small market teams in this
championship game and not have to worry about what it's
ratings are going to be. It's the only one, you know,
everyone else. I keep hearing all this noise about how
(03:51):
market size doesn't mean anything in pro sports anymore, and
I think, like competitively, like the size of the market
is diminishing the most of the LEA, But in terms
of like what's in the best interest of the finances
of these sports, market size still still matters, or at
least like star power and celebrity still matters.
Speaker 5 (04:14):
Are you okay that that these small market teams are
able to compete more? Or is it better for the
league if just Philly and New York and Chicago and
LA and Miami were just bulldogs every single year, Because
I mean it almost would seem like that would that's
when the league has been the most successful, is when
(04:35):
those five six teams have been the best.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
Yeah, I mean, I'd be okay with it, Dick, if
it were like the Utah Jazz instead of the Thunder
against the It's the Pacers. So you know that that
part of it. But just in general, the idea of
two small market teams. I just want the finals to
be compelling, and I'll always been like, I'm a pro
(05:02):
dynasty guy because in my twenty five years now, since
I've graduated college covering pro sports, one thing I've learned
is that none of these owners really really want to win,
and like, the only thing that compels them to try
to win and not just look at how much money
(05:23):
they possibly could make now or down the road when
they sell the team is for there to be a
team that's just embarrassing the hell out of them. And
so there's a place for the Yankees, there's a place
for the Dodgers. There's a place for the Kansas City
Chiefs to build a dynasty, and the balanced NFL. There's
a place for the Warriors and the Lakers and the
Celtics because it pushes everybody to get off their ass
(05:48):
and I think that matters. And you know, I don't
like how the NBA, with its new rules, is trying
to force parody similar to the way has fourth parody,
because football is a different game, our obsession with it
is different, and so I still want the most interesting
(06:10):
teams and the most interesting players to have a chance
to build something special. I don't care who plays in
championship games, I get the competition, like the competition, Let
the competition decide who wins. What I want more than
anything is when I'm done watching, I want to feel
like I saw greatness. And sometimes I see greatness when
(06:30):
some dominant team blows out the field. And sometimes I
see greatness when it's like two evenly matched teams and
they play an epic kind of series, but close and
everybody having a chance does not equal compelling to me.
Not always.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Yeah, yeah, No, I think you're right.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
The King of the Hill mentality has served the NBA
and other sports very very well when there's one giant
target for everyone to go after. And I also do
wonder Jerry Jerry Brewer again our guest Tuesday at four,
courtesy of our pals at Northwest Handling Systems. If the
star power is is something the NBA is lacking in
this final series, because look, I mean, obviously Michael Jordan, Lebron,
(07:13):
James Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Kobe Bryant players like that
they transcended the NBA right, Like, if you're a Johnny
Coume lately, you're not a huge NBA fan.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
You know who those guys are is Shake.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Gildess Alexander really that kind of a name where he
is a household name that people that don't even really
follow the NBA religiously know who this guy is.
Speaker 4 (07:36):
Not yet, But I mean, I think a lot of
guys before they win a championship aren't. He's just not
an interesting character, right, Like, I mean, he's got this,
he's got this really, you know, it feels like he's
got a fake deep voice, you know, like the voice
that when you're a teenager you try to make your
voice a little deeper when you're talking to girls.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Like Dave Chappelle doing the All State Guy on SNL
exactly exactly.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
So it's kind of it's kind of a you know,
weird and you know, but I love his game. I
mean when he's not out hunting for files, like there's
there's that part of it around it. But he plays,
He plays both ends of the floor. He's a really
exceptional player. Like there's a lot of juice to his game.
He kind of reminds me Dick of of Penny Hardaway
(08:26):
in some ways. He's more shifty, but like I'm thinking,
like big guard who can just like manipulate the game
in a certain kind of way more of a score
than Penny ever was like the games are different, but
just the prototype is similar. But yeah, like I think
(08:48):
the NBA kind of going back to what we were
talking about earlier, does the league have a marketing problem
or does the league have an ESPN problem? What do
you think the way ESPN talks about sports right now
in this debate culture, and especially the way the ESPN
(09:09):
talks about the NBA, Because it's steven A's bread and butter,
what he came up in to have to turn on
the game, you know, you know, before every game and
then after the game, and here Steven and Kendrick Perkins
and Bob Myers trying to fit in and Malika trying
(09:30):
to quarterback all of these bozos. It's become a real
problem because like I've never heard any conversation about, you know,
what Okay See was doing to swarm Tyree'se Halliburton. It's
just like Tyrouse Halliburton used to step up, and it's like, well,
first of all, Tyre's Halliburton is a past first point
(09:51):
guard and sort of the John Stockton Steve nash Molde,
and he only averages fourteen shots a game for his
care he's taken thirteen a game in these NBA finals.
If you look at OKC, whether it's been Jokich who
had three really uncharacteristic bad games against OKC, or Anthony
(10:13):
Edwards who was like flummoxed a lot of the time,
like on what he was reading on defense, Jared Jackson
Junior and John Morant now Tyrese Halliburton and Pascal Siakam.
Their defense is so confusing to people that it takes
a long time for you to get adjusted to the
way that they play, and that is making stars lesser
(10:33):
stars in a way that we haven't seen in the
NBA in several years. No one has broken down the
why of that to me, and I think that's a
big ESPN problem. So their relationship with ESPN, now that
they've got NBC back on board, now that they're giving
Amazon games and making the package bigger, somebody needs to
(10:57):
talk about basketball way that we talk about football and
helping people really understand the game better and just think
about the general conversation we have and I know, like
we all go in in depth, you know, on the
Seahawks and the rest of the NFL, and it's one
game a week and it's the perfect setup, and so
(11:18):
there's a lot more time in between games to digest things.
But think about the way that we talk about football
versus just how surface level and stupid the basketball conversation is.
And you tell me that that's not affecting the way
that the game is portrayed to the public.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Good for you.
Speaker 5 (11:39):
No, it's it's junk food analysis. It's not meat and
potatoes analysis like you get like.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
You in the NFL.
Speaker 5 (11:45):
Jerry Brewer joining us brought to by Northwest Handling Systems.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
So I'm gonna give you.
Speaker 5 (11:49):
I'm gonna make you Jason kidd here, Jerry, and I'm
gonna give you the option to be the next head
coach of the New York Knicks. Or you get Cooper
Flag and just stay where you are and play with
Cooper Flag and Ad and when Kyrie's healthy, Kyrie, what
do you take.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
I'd rather stay in Dallas where James Dolan is not
the owner, and I would like to have a shot
at really really activating Cooper Flag. I think he's got
a chance to be a championship caliber, you know, number
one player and a guy you know like I think
Cooper and Dallas and Wimby and the Spurs. Like, if
(12:29):
you tell me who's got the best chance of getting
getting in the way of Oklahoma City becoming a dynasty,
I think I look at the Texas teams, you know,
Houston as well, so he should keep his butt there
instead of like, I mean, the Knicks are better, but
the Knicks are still a mess, and they can turn
into a hot mess with the snap of a finger.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Jerry Brewers with us, Jerry, I don't want to ask
you a leading question. I want to influence your answer whatsoever.
I was gonna ask a flat out you give me
your initial reaction, and I'm just going to read you
the tweet poll question I put out yesterday, and you
give me your answer. Since signing his contract, has Julio
(13:10):
Rodriguez exceeded met or fallen short of your expectations?
Speaker 4 (13:18):
He signed his contract what like at the end of
his first season.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
End of his first August time seven of his first season,
middle middle of his first season, basically up.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
You know, I mean I would say that that he's
fallen short of my initial expectations, you know, like the
guy the guy comes out, you know, as a rookie,
and what is he I mean, I think he was
six six six point two war. He had just a
phenomenal year, you know, and then the next year he
hit thirty home runs thirty two home runs, and then
(13:51):
you know, I mean last year was a was a
down year. This year is interesting because I don't know
if it's like how well he's played on defense, Like
we look at that ops right now, and he's what's
around what he was last year with like seven seven thirty.
But he's on pace, Julio to have his best war
of his career, right, And I think some of that
(14:14):
is that he hasn't missed He's missed one game, right,
I mean, I know he's gone out of games early.
I think he's missed one game. And I mean he's
really really good on the defensive end, and so like
I think he's becoming a better overall baseball player. But yeah,
if you ask me, like this is his age twenty
(14:36):
four season, right, is he has he turned twenty five yet? No?
He hasn't, Like he's a December kid. So yeah, like
this will be if he'll be twenty four all year.
And I thought I saw a projection. Here's my thing.
(14:58):
I saw a projection, like who's going to make the
All Star Team. And I think ESPN or somebody did it,
and they were talking about just how bad the American
League outfielders are this year, the options, and they already
had Julio in as a reserve, and I was like,
he'll know, Julio is not a reserve, right like. And
then I look it up and I'm like, man, like,
the American League outfielders are really terrible, you know, you know,
(15:24):
outside is like like Aaron, George Judge and Corby and
Carroll like that territory. Julio is not functioning like what
I thought he would be, which is a top ten
to fifteen player of significant impact. I don't just blame him, however,
(15:45):
softy like, I look at it and I think part
of it is just having the pieces around him that
are just I mean, they have two hitters in their
lineup that I even think about, right yeah, little you know,
and like half the time Julio doesn't scare you. And
I think a lot of that is just the people
around them. Uh, you need like real, real scary major
(16:09):
league hitters. You need like five of them, and the
Manners have two. They have two and one of them
like doesn't function like that. Well, you have one guy,
one guy that you don't want to pitch to, and
and that's and that's gonna start affecting Cal as the
year goes on. They're not gonna pitch to him at
all at some point this year. And so it comes
(16:33):
back to that same conversation we've been having, like put
pieces around these guys. Julio does not have someone that
he can look to in that lineup and say I
want to be like that guy, Like that guy right
now is better than me. And I just don't know
what team that wants to aspire to win a World
(16:53):
Series like just decides, you know, this kid had a
great rookie year. We're gonna give him this exact a
contract where he's guaranteed two hundred and eleven million dollars
and it could go up to all of this stuff
up to four hundred something with incentives. But then they
don't do anything to make him an a four hundred
million dollar player. They've essentially said, you know what, Uh,
(17:16):
we're okay if he's just like this two hundred million
dollar dude, you know, and like if he gets to
two eleven, like if that's the player, that he is,
and he doesn't access the other stuff in the contract
in terms of value, like he will outperform the value
of that deal. But the great thing about the deal
(17:36):
was that if he became you know, a Griffy level, right,
which like he's got that kind of raw talent, if
he became Griffy level, the money that you were going
to pay him, he was going to far out, far
exceed And so again it's just a matter of like
I just I feel I feel like the Mariners should be,
(17:59):
you know, they should be shooting for the moon, and
instead they're just very happy to be at just sort
of this really interesting competitive, competitive level. And it's not
good for anybody in Seattle. And I do have concerns.
I do have concerns that the way that they structure things,
(18:22):
we're never going to see the best out of Julio
because it's putting it all on him to figure it out,
like and have the maturity to figure it out himself,
instead of the organization being the example that allows him
to like aspire to greater heights. It's too easy for
(18:45):
him to be the best all around player on this
team right now. And that's their fault, not his.
Speaker 5 (18:51):
Then why do we have a situation like we have
last night? We have a runner on in second, no
out in the second, sixth, seventh, tenth, and eleventh, and
you don't even care try to move a runner over
and get a guy in old school way because you
point it out, there's nobody to do it.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
Yep, I don't know, you know. I mean, I sometimes
sometimes I think they're just like, you know, overwhelmed because
they're just not talented enough. I just, you know, like,
I mean, we're asking, we're asking these guys, some of them,
you know, a lot of them, to play way above
(19:28):
their heads to like meet these expectations that we have.
And I just, I mean, I see another eighty five,
eighty six, eighty seven win baseball team, and like they
have to stretch to get that, and I just I
want it to be easy. You know. Again, something I
always say, how do you build a ninety five win
baseball team? You build a team that you think can
(19:50):
win a hundred games, and like you absorb the fact
that you had a little bit of bad luck. The
Mariners build a team that they think can win ninety
and then when they have a little bad luck, they
went eighty five and we're disappointed, and then we have
to hear about how, oh, well the floor is really high.
Well what about the ceiling, guys, what about the ceiling?
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Jerry, great stuff, man. Every week you bring it. We
love it, and we'll do it again next Tuesday.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
Man. Thanks, all right, take it easy.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
Jerry Brewer with us.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
We have an update on the Bryce Miller situation, and
it's not good. Next on ninety three to three KJRFM.
Speaker 6 (20:27):
Ken on Chesting Live from the R and R Foundation
Specialist broadcast studio. Now Doctor Saffie and Dig powered by
Emerald Queen Casino, the Vetty and capital of the Northwest.
On Sports Radio ninety three point three kjr FM.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
All right, some news in from Marinerland.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
You may have heard today that Bryce Miller is going
on the fifteen day il Tim Booth reporting. I think
this is just part of a media gaggle that Mariner
starter Bryce Miller met with doctor Keith Meister and we'll
receive a PRP injection and his elbow will be shut
down from throwing for at least two weeks, could be
(21:08):
available for activation in four to six if everything goes well.
So he's out for a month. Bryce Miller's out for
a month. Bryce Miller likely out until after the All
Star break, if not beyond.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
So what that means is a couple of things.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Number One, get used to seeing Logan Evans, who's pitching
tonight for the Mariners. Number Two, sixty percent of your
great rotation has been on the IL already this year,
in the first two months and ten days of the year,
meaning George Kirby, Logan Gilbert, and now Bryce Miller. Third
of all, thank god they didn't trade Luis Castillo, as
you said off the year. If they traded Castillo, you're
likely seeing Jonathan Diaz or you would have had to
(21:42):
have gone out and maybe gotten a starter to replace
what you lost in Luis Castillo. And then, fourth of all,
I hate to be that guy. And when people start
comments like this, you know where it's going. You know,
why do you do something if you hate to do something, Well,
I'm gonna do it anyway. This is exactly why you
had to strike last season when everybody was healthy, because
(22:05):
you knew this was coming.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
Did you not know this was coming?
Speaker 7 (22:08):
We said it was coming, Dave, you knew this.
Speaker 5 (22:11):
Now let's point pat ourselves on the back for a second,
because we said all off season, this is the same bait,
it's going to be the same record as it was
last year because your offense is going to be a
little bit better and your pitching staff is not going
to be as healthy as it was.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Last ye year.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
This is why you absolutely had to take advantage of
last season, because the idea that all five guys can
be healthy at the same time and you could be
that dominant pitching wise, those days don't come along very often,
and they are gone at least for this year. I mean, look,
there's a chance you get all these guys healthy by
you know, late July, early August, and they find a
(22:49):
way to kick ass and take you down the stretch.
But when opportunities like that come around and to just
pass on them, assuming that you'll have that kind of
luck again down.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
The road, it's foolish.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
It's foolish, and really it's naive, to be totally honest
with you. So either A the Mariners were naive or
b they just didn't give a damn and just don't
have the wherewithal to want to go out and take
advantage of something like that, whether the desire or the
financial wherewithal so you know this is gonna be something,
and I know that I've people give me grief for this.
(23:21):
You guys, give me grief. You say, let it go,
blah blah blah. What the Mariners did to their fan
base last year is unconscionable. What they did to this
fan base and what they did to this city last
year to have the first team lead the league in
era and missed the playoffs since the two thousand and
eight Toronto Blue Jays.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
To pitch the way they.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Did and not even get into the playoff tournament when
it's easier than ever to get into the playoff tournament
in Major League Baseball is an absolute crime what these
guys did, and you're reminded of that when things like
this happened today with Bryce Miller.
Speaker 5 (23:54):
There's a plan and then there's the execution of the plan.
And I've never had a problem with the Mariners.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
What is they're playing.
Speaker 5 (24:01):
The Mariner's plan is to be consistently a good playoff
caliber baseball team, because if you continue to punch your
ticket into the playoffs year after year after year after year,
eventually their theory is you're gonna make the World Series
and maybe even win a rush.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
What's the first part of that they're not doing.
Speaker 5 (24:21):
But exactly the execution of their plan. They've been quote
unquote good since twenty twenty one, and they've missed in
twenty twenty one, they missed in twenty twenty three, they
missed in twenty twenty four, and they're on pace to
miss in twenty twenty five now. So the execution of
their plan has been horrible and nullifies all there. You
might as well just go all in and go for
(24:42):
it one year. If you're gonna miss four out of
every five years.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Pull of Texas Rangers, right, and just go out and
win the damn World Series, which I'd be totally fine with.
I mean, hell, you come to me and you said, Hell,
you were willing to have the Thunder lose the NBA
Finals and lose fifteen games in a row. If you're
willing to do that, then you're certainly willing to blow
a couple of years and win a title. For God's
we've only won one game, right playing, Yeah, that was
on Sunday sertesy of George Kirby. The plan would be
to actually make the playoffs, right, I mean, the execution
(25:09):
of the plan falling. Sure it was shortened, Dick would
be to get into it and then never ever make
the World Series. But part one is making the postseason
and you're not even doing that. So again, I mean,
I just I get tired of complaining and yelling and
screaming about this. It's the same argument over and over again.
I think that the twenty twenty four Mariner baseball season,
(25:30):
and I don't know if I'm in the minority on
this one. Maybe I am because I'm a freaking luntict
and idiot, but the twenty twenty four Mariner baseball season
is gonna leave a scar on me for a while.
What these guys did to have that kind of pitching
and to not want to go out and burn every
bridge possible to take advantage of it is beyond insane
(25:53):
to me that an ownership I mean, there's ownership groups
in baseball that would die to have the pitching situation
the Mariners had to year ago, and to see the
Mariners respond to it the way that.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
They did is still unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
I mean, it's an open palm to forehead type of situation.
For me, it just completely rattles my brain when I
think about what these guys did with last year's pitching staff,
and you're being reminded now that those things don't happen
very often, if ever at all. Sixty percent of your
rotation is now on the IL, and god knows how
(26:27):
long they'll.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
Be out for.
Speaker 5 (26:28):
I still remember it was on the IL. Sorry, I
still remember that research that you did. We were sitting
at the Emerald Queen Casino. It was before a Monday
night football game. We had just missed the Marritors had
just missed the playoffs again for like the twenty third
time in the last twenty four years or whatever it was.
And you went through that research of number one teams
(26:50):
in EER and baseball and how many games they won
on average, and you found that those teams won between
ninety five and one hundred and five games every single year.
You went back forever and we read off the number
one team in ER and how many games they won.
(27:10):
It was like ninety eight one O two one hundred,
ninety eight one O two one hundred, and then here's
the Mariners can't even get into the playoffs because they
don't invest in the other side of the ball.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
Well again, I just I just I'm at a loss
for words.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
You know, I'm trying to come up with different adjectives
in different ways to say the same thing, fifteen different ways,
and it's getting harder to do as the days go by,
because I just think, again, this is one of those
moments where you really want to blow up a lot
of narratives. If you're an ownership group and you had
every chance staring you right in the face, well, at minimum,
(27:44):
at the very minimum, if they're gonna have this kind
of pitching staff, well this has gotta be the year,
right that they go out and they just go guns
blazing balls to the wall.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
And they didn't even do it.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
And they couldn't even do it either didn't want to
do it, didn't know how to do it, didn't give
a damn to do it.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
One of the other happened.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
So I think Jackson, for me, the absolute mental scar
that last year left on me, I will admit, is
playing a role in my analysis.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
Of this team as we speak today.
Speaker 8 (28:14):
Guys, I'm getting I'm getting close to that line again,
and you know, you know what that line that was for.
Speaker 7 (28:19):
Me, and all, yeah, I don't give it.
Speaker 8 (28:21):
I don't give it, damn, because because I was already
there at the start of April and like, and you
guys are April flipped me and I said, all right,
you've earned my attention.
Speaker 7 (28:30):
I'm gonna pay attention to you.
Speaker 8 (28:32):
I paid attention in the month of May so closely,
and damn it, Marritors, you did it to me again.
Speaker 7 (28:39):
And now as we creep here.
Speaker 8 (28:41):
Into mid June, I'm kind of like, you know, listen,
I'm still paying attention on a nightly basis. I'm still watching.
I still have Root Sports on Fubo. I got it back,
and I'm watching the Mariners baseball. But I tell you what,
we are creeping back towards apathy where it's just exactly softie.
It's the scar from last year and now such listen,
(29:01):
it finally covered itself, I think after April. But I've
been gnawing at it and I've just been scratching at
it for the last month and a half and I
can start to see the little bit of blood coming
through again, and.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
Damn it, give it.
Speaker 7 (29:14):
Get two more week's Mariners, and.
Speaker 8 (29:16):
The whole blood it's all just gonna start oozing out again,
and I'm not gonna take it anymore.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Yeah, Jackson's had enough, he's gonna start eating himself. Don't
make Jackson eating naws on.
Speaker 7 (29:26):
I don't want to keep gnawing away the star.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Right the scar of last year, it's starting to puss.
It's start the fester all over again.
Speaker 3 (29:33):
Man.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
I just think again, Like I said a lot over
the offseason, and as I said last year, I I
I do think that twenty twenty four was one of,
if not the worst things this ownership group has ever
done to its fan Me. You have to tease them
with a ten game lead with that pitching staff and
did not go out and even make the damn playoffs.
And I do think that it takes time take it
(29:55):
over something like that. I think that their credibility is
in the gutter already. Yes, think what happened last year
drove a lot of people away. I think it really did, guys.
I mean, I have no evidence, you know, to go
ahead and prove that to you, you know, with any
real accuracy. But it feels like the fan base kind
of broke last season after what they did.
Speaker 5 (30:17):
All you need to do is if the Mariners were
to just show a little effort financially into bringing in
guys in the offseason, that could really contribute to this offense.
I'm not talking about quote unquote aircraft carriers, but guys
that can supplement JP and Julio and Cal better than
Donovan Solano and Liote Tavaris and whatever crap you're bringing
(30:42):
in on a daily basis. And guys you're trying to
bring up from Triple A like Williamson and Cole Young.
God bless those guys, but come on, we're to hit
on a playoff team.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
Here's what I'm worried about. I'm worried about the Mariners
blowing it with their minor league system and their prospects
because let me ask you, Quoe question the value and
the perception of Cole Young and Ben Williamson is it?
Speaker 3 (31:06):
Is it higher or lower today than it was a
month ago?
Speaker 4 (31:10):
I think?
Speaker 5 (31:11):
I think offensively, they've shown that they can't hit it
this leg so.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
Far correct, so they can play defense. They both defender.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
I wonder if this will influence what they do with
Harry Ford, if they'll say, you know what, we got
to leave that guy into the minor leagues because we're
gonna have to trade them one day and we can't
afford to bring these guys up I mean, this is
why when you have a minor league prospect who was
getting his ass kissed by Baseball America and everyone thinks
he's a potential stud, nine times out of ten, the
(31:38):
value on those kids will never be higher than it
is at that exact moment. So for all these people
on social media, they sit on your ass and never
trade a prospect. Crowd, You guys are out of your
fricking mind, You really are. You're out of your damn
minds because most of these guys turn out to be bumps.
They do, and when they're in the minor league system,
(32:00):
they're in the top fifty or the top seventy five.
The value will never ever be higher. And you think
you're better off taking the chance that maybe they'll turn
into perennial All Stars, you're freaking nuts.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
These guys should have been.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
Traded years ago, years ago, months ago, weeks ago. And
how much can they get for them now? How much
will they improve, how much will they contribute, what will
their trade values be? You gotta be really careful about
this stuff, man. And I just feel like this idea
that we've got this incredible minor league system with all
these great prospects if it doesn't turn into a world
(32:35):
series appearances.
Speaker 7 (32:36):
Who gives it dance exactly? Who cares?
Speaker 2 (32:38):
We're gonna break four forty two textimonials next, and then
John Wilner on a New Day and Age for college
athletics coming up at five on ninety three to three
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